Friends,

I’d like to thank you for reading this newly launched newsletter. I hope you’ve found a few things of interest, and the odd unexpected delight too. I also want to send over some holiday recommendations since this is a time to relax and catch up on things.

Thank you for coming with me this far.

Happy Holidays,

Björn

Things I’ve written in 2019

Some of this may be a repeat, but here are the best articles that I wrote in 2019.

Telecom & Media

• The Telco Identity Loop: What Disney+ does for Verizon
• Three Acquisition Predictions

Kids Media

• The Kids App Market Part 1: A Strategic Overview
• The Kids App Market Part 2: Q&A
• The Kids App Market Part 3: A Wish List
• In defense of screen time

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Strategy & Business

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• The Strategy Tax
• Two Types of Strategy Tax
• The Curse of the Modus Operandi
• Startups and Unions
• Sans-serifs as comfort

Two podcast episodes worthy of your time

• Julie Lindahl, on The Portal with Eric Weinstein This is something so unusual as a deep, thoughtful, and respectful conversation about a highly complicated and emotionally loaded topic. Julie Lindahl explores her family history reveals a dark, yet open, secret. This is a must listen.
• Coffee – In our Time, BBC Radio 4 Apart from Melvyn Bragg being delightfully British, this conversation around coffee and its history is fascinating. Full of great anecdotes and cultural context.

Two simple and relaxing books for the holidays

• American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road, by Nick Bilton This is non-fiction, but it reads like a light thriller. You have to constantly remind yourself that these things actually happened. The pages turn themselves.
• This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community–a Life in Streetwear, by Bobby Hundreds This is the story about the streetwear brand, The Hundreds. But it is just as much a story about finding your own way, and fostering a community around you.

Two different types of Christmas albums

• Tinsel and Lights, by Tracey Thorn A lovely concoction of pop, emo, and a tiny bit of Christmas cheer.
• The Christmas Song, by Nat King Cole The king of Christmas delivers silky smooth classics.

Originally sent as a newsletter on December 19th, 2019. Read the original.