The Tok of the Town
Happy Monday. Today is August 3rd which means it’s time to announce the winner of the $100 Bombas gift card. Big thank you and congratulations to Lana Ziegler! I’ll be messaging you with more info on how to redeem your prize.
Luck wasn’t on your side this time? Keep sharing with friends and spreading the word. I plan to do more of these in the future.
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⏱️Time is Tik-ing
Over the weekend, President Trump announced that he would be banning social media app TikTok by early this week. Only a few hours later, news broke that Microsoft was looking to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations. While this might not seem like a perfect fit, it’s not as crazy as it sounds. If all goes well, Microsoft hopes to have a deal done by September. Let’s break this down a bit further.
For TikTok: TikTok has over 70 million active users (and growing) in the U.S. and has finally started to monetize this audience. This is a massive market that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, could literally lose overnight and a situation where they have essentially zero bargaining power. This isn’t a strategic move for them, it’s a business critical one. This vulnerability is what makes the deal so attractive to Microsoft and other potential investors. Get an ownership stake in a social media behemoth respectively early and at an undervalued price. No brainer.
For Microsoft: Traditionally, Microsoft has stuck to its roots in enterprise software, hardware, and cloud computing. Even with acquisitions of LinkedIn and Minecraft, Microsoft has never left a footprint in the social media space. However, Microsoft is an investor in Facebook. This has been a very fruitful partnership for both parties, with Microsoft most recently closing its gaming platform Mixer and directing all users towards Facebook Gaming. An acquisition of TikTok could ruffle some feathers as Microsoft would now become a substantial player in social media. Zuckerberg has already announced that Facebook will be developing a TikTok competitor to go along with Instagram’s Reels. It was reported last week that Instagram would be paying creators up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to make content on the platform.
What Microsoft lacks in social media know-how, it makes up for in data security and technical knowledge. In order for this deal to go through, TikTok would need to separate completely from ByteDance. Data, servers, software and all. This requires money, skill, power, and global relationships. Microsoft checks all the boxes.
Competitors: Amidst the data privacy concerns, a handful of large creators have started to migrate away from TikTok to competing apps such as Triller and Dubsmash. Upon TikTok’s ban in India, Triller became the number one photo & video app in India’s App store within 24 hours. This was done without spending a dime on marketing. Although significantly smaller (Triller has 130 million downloads to TikTok’s 2 billion), Triller is starting to position itself as a serious competitor.
Last week, Triller named TikTok creator Josh Richards as its Chief Strategy Officer. Richards and other widely followed creators Griffin Johnson and Noah Beck, announced that they would be migrating all of their content to Triller. The transition was fairly seamless, as each creator was able to successfully carry over their following to the new app.
Bottom-Line: An outright ban of TikTok without an acquisition would be bad news for Trump’s re-election campaign. No way to rile up a group of young adults getting ready for their first election like taking away the only thing keeping them entertained during a nationwide quarantine. While an acquisition by a company like Facebook would make more sense, it would be hard to sell this one to Congress in the wake of a scathing antitrust hearing. Whatever ends up happening, it’s sure to be the Tok of the town. (Sorry, I had to.)
📛The Value of Culture
Earlier this year, I attended a networking event in New York City. The theme was “The Value of Culture.” At the start of the event, each person was given a name tag and asked to answer a question that many companies, both small and large, struggle with today.
Which is more important? Profit or Culture?
The entrepreneurial capitalist in me immediately jumped to profit, but at the same time, I knew the answer wasn’t that straightforward. As someone who at the time was working at a company exemplifying poor culture and management, I knew the effect that these shortcomings could have on employee productivity, turnover, and ultimately the bottom line.
As members of Gen-Z begin to enter into the workforce, their desire to work at a socially conscious, people-first company can trump most priorities, many times even their short-term financial aspirations.
Young professionals are no longer fooled by the ping pong tables and free beer on tap. Instead, we want kindness and empathy, an understanding that both mental and physical health are the first priority. Always. We are seeking a job that provides us with purpose as we work towards a mission that is bigger than ourselves. We don’t want to feel like an ID number or an easily replaceable cog.
The premise is simple. Treat your employees with care, respect and understanding, while also providing them with development and incentives and in exchange they will be happier and more productive.
Make these changes and quickly you will see that not only the employee’s productivity will increase, but your profit will too.
Here’s a quick equation to reiterate:
Empathy + Purpose + Incentive = Employee Productivity + Happiness
Employee Productivity + Happiness = More Profit
Therefore: Empathy + Purpose + Incentive = More Profit
It’s not rocket science.
These culture driven benefits can come in a variety of different forms such as unlimited PTO & WFH, health and wellness stipends, company outings and more. One might point out that these are all extra investments, but I assure you that if provided properly and genuinely, the return will be massive.
Not only will the increased productivity likely drive more revenue for your company, but you will also have no problem landing (and retaining) top talent, ultimately saving you both money and time when it comes to hiring and retraining. Not to mention the invaluable word-of-mouth and earned media marketing boost that comes with being a culture driven industry leader.
Without culture, your talent will flee, your employee productivity will dip and the word will get around rapidly making it harder to hire new talent in the future. Invest the extra time and money in your team. It’s worth it!
🧰Tool of the Week
With Canva, anyone can create beautiful digital assets in minutes. Yet, I’ve always felt there was one feature missing. The ability to strip an image from its background. While simple in concept, without using Photoshop or tinkering around with the Lasso tool on Preview, it’s been a challenge that many people, myself included, have faced for years.
Enter Slazzer.
I came across Slazzer on ProductHunt and immediately fell in love with it. Just upload an image, click a button, and the background is gone. Once the background is removed, you can switch in a different preset background and/or download the image in whatever format you need.
It’s only been a few days and this tool has already helped me on numerous projects. I have a feeling this will be the case for you too.
As always, if you liked what you’ve read you should share it with a friend! The constant support is greatly appreciated.
Until next time,
Randy