We’re joined by Tock CEO Nick Kokonas to discuss how they’re “arming the restaurateur rebels” versus DoorDash / Uber Eats, in much the same way Shopify has done so for ecommerce merchants versus Amazon. This episode is full of lessons on how to execute a counter-positioning playbook to disrupt entrenched incumbents, including the influence of Nick’s friend / Tock investor and Nobel prize winning economist Richard Thaler. Whether you’re an entrepreneur who’s also building a “picks & shovels” type business or an investor interested in the future of the food industry or disruption in general, this is not one to miss.
See Ben's original Tweet that spurred the episode here: https://twitter.com/gilbert/status/1277740701246083072
There are lots of great replies to help understand the restaurant tech ecosystem, and of course, Nick chimed in with a tweet that led to him coming on the show. (Thanks to Matt Shobe for connecting us!) You can read distilled observations from all the replies here.
“Even if you’re long on Tesla, don’t buy Tesla Options.” – Nick Kokonas
(Instagram: @nkokonas, Twitter: @NickKokonas)
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Show Links:
Tuesday is Not Saturday
Tim Ferriss Interview w/ Nick:
Show Bookmarks:
[02:20] – The Beginning of Tock
[06:18] – The Margins of (most) Restaurants
[12:00] – Margins & Food Delivery Platforms
[16:20] – Building Tock / SaaS in Restaurants
[32:20] – March 06: The Oh Sh*t Day
[44:55] – Elevated Carry Out
[50:15] – Tock20: Operating a Restaurant in 2020
[56:45] – Nick’s Journey through Venture Capital
People Worth Knowing:
Nick Kokonas
Mark Canalis
Jeff Kaplan
Richard Thaler
Steve Burnaki
Steve Hafner
Grant Achatz
Kimbal Musk
Howard Schutlz
Companies Mentioned in Episode:
Tock
Alinea Group
Canalis
Postmates
Opentable
Grubhub
Doordash
Ubereats
Royster
Next
Rezy
Booking.com
Shopify
Zyrmed
Bane Equity
Origin Ventures
Square
Tesla
Shopify
Episode Specific Terms:
No-Show Inefficiency
Demand Variability
Margin
Sunk Cost
Fixed vs Variable Costs
Adwords Arbitrage
Customer Incentive Misalignment
Operating Leverage vs Downside Protection
Time-Slot Based Businesses
Clearing Risk
Kitchen Pacing vs Incremental Sales
Elevated Carry-Out
Gross Merchandising Volume
On-Prem Services vs Cloud Based
Dislocation
BATNA
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What is ACQ2: The Acquired Interviews?
ACQ2 is Ben and David's conversations with expert founders and investors. Acquired the stories of great companies — and ACQ2 dives deeper into the lessons we can learn from them, often with the protagonists themselves.