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

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

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

Instagram recently released Checkout, its new all-in-app service for brands to sell products directly to consumers with a couple clicks on a photo. The beta release is rolling out with heavyweight brands, including Zara, Nike, and Prada. For this teardown, I’ll walk through the overall product, my impressions from the buyer and seller perspective, and … More Product Teardown – Instagram Checkout