Skip to content
dr.Pep
dr.Pep
knows better
  • Single Sentence Summaries
  • Baking
  • AI & Data
  • Recent posts
Copyright © 2025 Pepijn van der Laan.
All rights reserved.
From the start, WeWork’s business model was eerily similar to that of Regus while Adam Neumann’s main skill was conning investors

From the start, WeWork’s business model was eerily similar to that of Regus while Adam Neumann’s main skill was conning investors

Eloit Brown and Maureen Farrell – The cult of We

The book is too overtly written with the benefit of hindsight, which makes the cautionary tale less compelling.

A start-up in retail should resolve significant friction in the value chain and/or the consumers’ lives

A start-up in retail should resolve significant friction in the value chain and/or the consumers’ lives

Christiane Lemieux and Duff McDonald – Frictionless

Story on repeat: X had a frustration, X is so privileged that she can raise at least a couple of $100k from friends and family, and X starts an amazing company to solve the problem – at least in theory – for herself and the rest of the world.

A good archeologist makes Sherlock Holmes’ deductions look rather elementary

A good archeologist makes Sherlock Holmes’ deductions look rather elementary

Mary Beard – Pompeii

The best feature of the book is that the author explains how archeologists infer facts about life 2000 years ago.

China’s debt-fueled economic growth cannot continue in the same way

China’s debt-fueled economic growth cannot continue in the same way

Dinny McMahon – China’s great wall of debt

October 2021: Apparently, the financial troubles of Evergrande are the first cracks in the wall.

July 2019: Interesting perspective on China’s impressive rise over the past years, providing more context to the recent trade war with the US and contrasting the view of Kai-Fu Lee.

Apparently, the success factors that made Jack Ma are his command of the English language, his showmanship

Apparently, the success factors that made Jack Ma are his command of the English language, his showmanship

Duncan Clark – Alibaba

After a reasonably insightful chapter describing Alibaba’s strategy, the book slides into an enumeration of facts that illustrate the way in which China’s government steers private enterprise.

Tags
AI (17) Analytics (6) Art (14) Biology (7) Brain science (6) Business (10) China (8) Culture (50) Data (6) Data science (8) Design (6) Economics (34) Economy (16) Entrepreneurship (25) Ethics (18) Evolution (9) Hacking (6) History (88) Innovation (68) Intelligence (7) Investing (7) IT (13) Japan (6) Journalism (12) Leadership (32) Linux (8) Management (8) Marketing (11) Mathematics (8) Philosophy (18) Physics (14) Politics (65) Psychology (12) Retail (6) Science (48) Silicon Valley (11) Sociology (13) Start-ups (7) Startup (14) Statistics (18) Strategy (10) Technology (64) Ubuntu 20 (8) USA (42) War (9)
Archives
Copyright © 2025 Pepijn van der Laan.
All rights reserved.