Ben’s List 22
Looking at ponzi schemes, marketing, urban planning and music – among other disconnected topics.
Also see more startups coverage: /startups/
This week’s reading list is shorter and nerdier than usual.
I was especially fascinated by the analysis of urban entropy based on city planning and street network orientation… discovering what Singapore, Rome and Sao Paulo have in common.
But first, let’s start with YouTube’s playbook for product-led growth.
Growth
Rituals for hypergrowth: An inside look at how YouTube scaled
Finance
Just found this gem, it’s really nerdy >> a review of the ponzi schemes of the month.
Marketing
Why brands like L’Oréal are creating their own TV shows
“It’s not a coincidence that so many brands are investing serious ad budgets into delivering distinctly non-advertising content. It’s getting harder to reach people through TV ads as ad-free streaming has gone from a novelty to becoming the expectation of TV audiences, especially for millennials and gen Z.”
Data / Urban Planning
Urban spatial order: street network orientation, configuration, and entropy
Music
How Bach Will Save Your Soul: German Philosopher Josef Pieper on the Hidden Source of Music’s Supreme Power
“Both kinds of music, the ‘happy sound’ as well as the numbing beat, claim legitimacy as ‘entertainment,’ as means, that is, of satisfying, without success, the boredom and existential void that are caused and increased by each other and that equally have become a common and pervasive phenomenon.”
