BetsyVK

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Shinola: 鈥淲here American is made.TM鈥�
BetsyVK
Last modified on December 7, 2015 at 9:33 pm
Shinola, whose watches have been rising in popularity (Bill Clinton has reportedly purchased more than a dozen [2]) is attempting to build its brand on the city in which it is made: Detroit.

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On December 13, 2015, BetsyVK commented on Shinola: 鈥淲here American is made.TM鈥� :

Thanks Gabo! I definitely think Shinola should at least be considering/investigating building their own components, but without knowing more granular detail about their cost structure it’s hard to say if the added value would indeed merit the investment. Also, since they have established a close partnership with their Swiss movement component supplier (Ronda LTD, who facilitated their employee training) it’s possible that they may be locked into a purchasing agreement with them for some amount of time.

On December 13, 2015, BetsyVK commented on ARTSY: Finding Art at the Intersection of Science and Technology :

Very interesting post! Pandora came to mind immediately when I read 鈥淎rt Genome Project.鈥� As someone who appreciates art but is not very educated about it, I find Artsy鈥檚 value proposition intriguing and will definitely be checking out their site. I also love that they provide a variety of images free to download for educational use (based on a quick peek at their homepage).
I found Nina鈥檚 question around the role of galleries in the future to be a really interesting one. I鈥檓 curious to see how Artsy鈥檚 relationship with galleries will continue to evolve moving forward. It also brought to mind the 鈥淚ron Law of Distribution鈥� from marketing (I know, I know, isn鈥檛 that class over already?) 鈥測ou can choose who does a function but you can鈥檛 eliminate the function.鈥� Artsy should take care to know what function galleries are providing if they do look at disintermediating them in the future.

On December 13, 2015, BetsyVK commented on Palantir: The Hottest Startup You鈥檝e Never Heard Of :

Great post Nate! I鈥檓 curious how the payments work for a second contract after the initial deployment contract? I expect that Palantir鈥檚 costs are significantly lower for extending a second contract to an existing client, so I assume that either 1) Palantir captures significantly higher margin on follow up contracts with existing clients or 2) Palantir charges less for continuing clients. I had not heard of Palantir before, so this was a really interesting read.

On December 8, 2015, BetsyVK commented on Shinola: 鈥淲here American is made.TM鈥� :

They are currently competing more in the middle ($500-$1000) with a few higher price tag limited edition models (>$2000). Right now they assemble in Detroit but purchase their movement components from a Swiss company, and they are quartz watches. I think there is definitely an opportunity for them to manufacture more of their own components as they grow, but not sure if they will venture into the high-end mechanical space.