During the last week of 2018, I set aside some time for a lengthier personal reflection. Over the course of the upcoming year, I knew that I’d be transitioning from the life of a college student to working full-time in the business world, and I wanted to make the most of this end and beginning. … More 2019 Reflections Part 1: Winter Quarter Adventures
LinkedIn’s preeminence as a “professional” social network has changed the paradigm for maintaining connections in the business world. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for LinkedIn’s Groups feature. I’ve often felt that Groups has so much potential as a key feature for LinkedIn, but various issues hinder its usefulness. For this modified teardown, I’ll give … More Product Improvement – LinkedIn Groups
The NCAA recently opened the door to allowing college athletes to be compensated for the use of their likeness, names, and images. In a statement, the board of governors for the NCAA has officially begun the process, although the exact details remain uncertain. I won’t dive too much into arguments for or against compensating student-athletes … More Econ in the News: NCAA and Athlete Pay
I can be very bad with email, but perhaps not in the way that you might think. Some people carry a massive “email debt” — tens of thousands of emails piled up in their accounts that they know they’ll never read. I, on the other hand, check my email very frequently. If I see over … More Living with (Email) Uncertainty
To support its Emmy-nominated program “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Amazon’s marketing department partnered with dozens of businesses in Los Angeles for ‘Maisel Day’ on August 15th. From a gas station charging 30 cents a gallon to burgers, fries, and a slice of pie for 80 cents at a diner, this clever marketing campaign uses some … More ‘Maisel Day’ and the Power of Nostalgia
Have you ever wondered why gas prices can vary significantly, even when the gas stations are within a block of each other? There are a lot of factors in play that cause these price differences, and with a few economic models and methods, we can start to tease out reasons for the variation. Focusing on … More Econ in the News: Gas Price Variation from Pump to Pump
Just like many other Stanford students about to switch from full-time student to full-time in the business world, I’ve spent the past 1.5 months looking for housing. Last year, my housing search prompted me to write about the search itself. This time, I want to focus in on Facebook Marketplace’s “Rentals” housing tab. Instead of a … More Product Improvement: Facebook Marketplace Rentals
It’s remarkable how many talented musicians I know who haven’t played their instruments in years. They practiced for hours a day, went to competitions, mastered the standard repertoire, and, somewhere along the way, forgot about the joy of making music with a group of people. For the last five years, I was both a violinist … More Musician Burnout and Rekindling Joy
“Suppose you need to borrow $100. Which is the lower amount to pay back: $105 or $100 plus three percent?” Half of the adults surveyed in a huge Gallup poll got the answer wrong (the correct answer, in case you were wondering, was $100 plus three percent: $103 < $105). In a humorous article on … More What about Financial Ed?
Turo is a car sharing platform that I first heard about at the Stanford fall career fair, where an engineering VP and I had a good chat about how their market had grown thanks to the increasing acceptance of “sharing economy” transactions. Now that I’m using the app myself to plan transportation for a future … More Product Teardown – Turo
