Sunday Dinner with Indian Dad
The November 3rd week in review from your Indian Dad.
Growth Headline of the Week
Not going to talk about a company today, I’m going to talk about a potential seismic shift in search.
This past week, ChatGPT Search was released. It was accompanied by totally nuanced headlines like “Did ChatGPT Search Just Kill Google?”
Well, I just checked, and Google still exists.
So first things first, how do you use ChatGPT Search?
You need to be a paid user
You click on the little globe icon in the GPT text entry area and then type something
How well does it work?
Well, if I’m being honest, it kind of stinks. In my limited experience, every thing I’ve searched just returns the link to the corresponding Wikipedia article. I actually have found better results when simply asking ChatGPT a question.
What are the implications on SEM (Search Engine Marketing)?
Today? None. I think the implications on Search and search volume are and will continue to happen through contextual interactions with GPT, not just via it’s “Search” capability per se.
It will be interesting though to continue to monitor search volume through all the major players, and SEM ad spend as things evolve over time.
The Best of LinkedIn this week
Kieran Flanagan makes another appearance here, and will probably make more.
Startup of the Week
Nmbr- Embedded payroll for Canada, launched by some of the folks behind Humi. These folks recently announced a $7M+ seed financing round. Embedded products in finance and HR tech are so hot right now. A key pillar of ZayZoon’s GTM strategy has been embedding in HR software systems. Embed plays are great, because you can leverage someone else’s go to market efforts (which are the absolute most difficult and expensive part for a startup to build). There’s a huge market opportunity selling embedded products to companies that are already offering HR solutions, restaurant management systems, or other line of business apps. I’ll definitely be following the Nmbr journey with interest.
Sports Moment of the Week
Deion Sanders’s son, who’s coached by Deion Sanders, threw a Hail Mary as time expired to tie a college football game. It was a wild play.
Parenting Moment of the Week
Well it was Halloween this week. My kids are getting older but this is still my favorite night of the year. Highlight this year was my 8 year old, upon returning from each door, giving a detailed accounting of the specific treats she received at that particular house, and what she was hoping to acquire at the next house. Basically a perfect 1-1 update for her manager (Mom). What she accomplished, including numbers with respect to targets, and what she was planning to accomplish at the following milestone date (2 minutes later).
Chip of the Week
Ruffles All Dressed - Very much a Canadian thing. For 30 years now, a very very good chip. Sponsor me Lay’s. Also, spoiler alert, Indian Dad Chip Power Rankings are going to drop in November.
What Dad watched
Reminder on the rating system:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ = “What happened to the other 0 stars?” = The maximum rating we can give out.
Dad TV - No Dad TV update cause I started taking Magnesium Bisglycinate before bedtime and have been going to sleep much earlier than normal. So no TV rating but I’m going to do my first every supplement rating.
Supplement review: “What happened to the other 0 stars?”
Parents Movie - The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes - I really like the Hunger Games books and the original three movies. As a result, my expectations were quite low for this film. The first two thirds were actually terrific, but the last third was pretty disappointing. So all in all, better than we expected, but not as good as we wanted.
Movie review: “What happened to the other 3 stars?”
Family Movie: Happy New Year - It wasn’t just Halloween this week, it was also Diwali. So this weekend was back to back Hindi movies. This movie is the most Bollywood movie Bollywood has ever made. It’s silly, but it handles all that silliness with a wink. And the songs are bangers.
We give it a: “What happened to the other 2 stars?”
What Dad listened to
I said it was Diwali this week, so lots of the old Hindi hits on repeat. Here’s a link to an old ZayZoon Bollywood playlist.
Business Book of the Week
Tate Hackert, Founder of ZayZoon, recommended this book to me a couple of years ago. It’s called The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. It’s an absolute must read for scaling tech company leaders, particularly if that scale up is a Fintech. Some things I love most about it:
Identifying the most important thing to be done, and then being maniacal about getting that thing done
De-risking growth
Non-Business Book of the Week
My friend Garth initially put me on to this author and this series, and I’ve been revisiting it lately.
The book series is Cradle by Will Wight. It is a ton of fun, and there’s a lot of books. A perfect series for vacation, or late summer nights, or cold winter weekends. I’ve gone on to read a bunch more Will Wight, and all of his books are a lot of fun.
