Disruptive Times

The Context

We are living through the most consequential business disruption since the Industrial Revolution.

The Perfect Storm

Three forces are converging to create unprecedented opportunity:

AI as the Great Equalizer: For the first time, startups have access to the same cognitive capabilities as Fortune 500 companies. 78% of organizations now use AI, and the global AI market is projected to explode from $189 billion in 2023 to $4.8 trillion by 2033. Code generation, content creation, customer service—all democratized overnight.
Political & Market Fragmentation: Traditional institutions are crumbling. Trust in government and established brands is at historic lows—confidence in major U.S. institutions hit 26%. 93% of multinationals have incurred losses from political instability. Consumers are tribal, polarized, and hungry for authentic alternatives.
Media Chaos as Attention Arbitrage: The information ecosystem has exploded. Social media (54%) has overtaken TV as Americans’ top news source. Traditional media is in freefall—CNN down 35%, MSNBC down 48%. Streaming now commands 44.8% of TV viewership. TikTok algorithms decide elections. Podcasters have more influence than newspapers.

The Disruption Playbook

This isn’t about technology—it’s about timing. Every industry is vulnerable. AI could contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030, yet only 49% of tech leaders say AI is “fully integrated” into their strategy.

The winners will:

Move first while competitors debate
Embrace AI as core competency
Build direct relationships
Create new categories

The losers will:

Wait for “proven” strategies
Treat AI as a cost center
Rely on traditional media
Optimize existing businesses instead of building new ones

The Choice

Option 1: Keep optimizing your existing business. Hope disruption passes you by.
Option 2: Embrace the chaos. Make the bold bet. Build the future instead of defending the past.

The Bottom Line

The next five years will determine which companies survive the next fifty. The question isn’t whether disruption is coming—it’s here. The question is whether you’ll be the disruptor or the disrupted.

Let the Unsolicited Biz Advice Begin!

Dear Andy Jassy (CEO of Amazon),

My unsolicited biz advice to Amazon: Buy WordPress for $25B.

While everyone obsesses over AI chatbots, Amazon could own the entire e-commerce website platform market with one purchase. WordPress powers 43.6% of ALL websites—that’s not market share, that’s market dominance.

The Play

Buy WordPress for $20-25B and instantly control the $15B+ website platform market. Yes, some WordPress sites compete with Amazon retail, but most expand their total addressable market. Every small business that builds on WordPress becomes a potential Amazon ecosystem customer. Further, I know that 'buying WordPress' isn't like buying Shopify... BUT, they could make changes to the code going-forward - even in a open-sourced world, ownership has benefits.

Why Now:

LaaS Integration: Amazon’s logistics-as-a-service + website building = complete business platform
AWS Stack: Seamless hosting, security, and scaling for 44% of the internet
AI Revolution: No-code tools will explode, and Amazon’s Bedrock gives them the AI advantage
Displacement Opportunity: Shopify ($9B revenue), Wix, Squarespace become obsolete overnight

The Honeycode Reality Check

Yes, Amazon failed at app building before. But buying market dominance is different than building from zero. WordPress brings 70,000+ plugins, millions of developers, and proven product-market fit.

The Economics

Even if WordPress is “overvalued” at $25B, Amazon isn’t buying a company—they’re buying 44% of the internet’s infrastructure. Shopify trades at 11x revenue for 10% e-commerce market share. WordPress at 35x revenue for 44% website market share? That’s a bargain.

The Math

Amazon generates $35B+ in free cash flow annually. $25B is 8 months of cash generation to own nearly half the internet’s websites. For a company that spent $13.7B on Whole Foods to sell bananas, what’s a few billion here or there to own the digital real estate of the internet?

Dear Adrian Mardell (CEO of Jaguar Land Rover),

Go From NOO! to 007

Adrian, the world screamed “NOO!” at your November rebrand. 97.5% sales collapse. Only 49 cars sold in April vs 1,961 last year. From 180,833 global sales in 2018 to 26,862 today. The market delivered its verdict: androgynous models without cars isn’t “fearless creativity” - it’s brand suicide. But here’s the irony: your Type 00 concept is actually brilliant. The problem isn’t the car - it’s everything else. From Public Rejection to Retail Revolution.

The “NOO!” Moment

November 2024’s campaign eliminated cars entirely. “Copy Nothing” became “Copy Disaster.” Even Elon Musk asked “Do you sell cars?” Your showrooms emptied because you discontinued ICE models but won’t deliver EVs until late 2025.

The "007" Solution

Type 00 represents everything Jaguar should be - dramatic, sophisticated, unmistakably British. It’s the electric Bond car Amazon desperately needs for their $8.5B MGM investment.

The Retail Disruption

Sell the Type 00 directly through Amazon. First luxury car ever sold on the platform. Pre-order the “007 Edition” exclusively on Amazon Prime.

The Three-Step Recovery: NOO! to WOW!

Amazon Retail Partnership

Launch “007 Edition” Type 00 pre-orders exclusively on Amazon
$175K price point with Prime member early access
Amazon handles logistics, delivery, and customer experience
Revolutionary: “Add to Cart” a $175,000 Bond car

Brand Rehabilitation

“From Shaguar to 007” campaign with Mike Myers
Amazon Prime exclusive content series documenting the partnership
Position as “the future of luxury retail” not just cars
Bridge Austin Powers nostalgia with Bond sophistication

Stunt or Strategy Test: Win/Win

Option A: One-time marketing stunt (500 units, massive PR)
Option B: Genuine test of luxury e-commerce future
Either way: Billions in earned media, cultural relevance restored
Amazon’s platform reaches 200M+ Prime members globally

The Amazon Advantage

Amazon needs automotive credibility for the Bond films. You need distribution innovation. Combine Type 00 launch with Bond movie marketing. Amazon Prime members get exclusive access. Revolutionary retail experience.

The Precedent

Tesla proved direct-to-consumer works. Amazon proves e-commerce scales. Combine them for luxury automotive’s first platform disruption. Go from industry laughingstock to retail revolutionary. The Type 00 can save Jaguar. Partnering with Amazon makes history.

Dear Brian Niccol (CEO of Starbucks),

Revive Starbucks’ Soul

Your company is dying. 5 consecutive quarters of same-store sales decline. Suspended 2025 guidance. Stock down >9% over 2 years. Howard Schultz's "third place" has turned into a drive-thru quick service restaurant.

The Original Vision (In Howard's Own Words):

"Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow."

The Third Place:

"When I first discovered in the early 1980s the Italian espresso bars in my trip to Italy, the vision was to re-create that for America - a third place that had not existed before... a place to go other than home or work."

Prediction: The proliferation of AI online will drive people to make ‘real’ in-person connections again.

Starbucks can be that third place again.

What You've Built Instead

Removed ~30,000 comfortable seats, installed hard stools
Over 70% of sales now mobile/drive-thru
Staffed by only one side of the political spectrum
American fast food instead of European coffeehouse fare
The "third place" became "the app"

The Turnaround (Complete Howard’s Vision):

Reclaim the Third Place

Providing comfortable seating, power outlets, ambient lighting
Hiring baristas who love coffee, not causes
Clean appearance codes, coffee expertise training
Local neighborhood focus, not corporate messaging
The one place Americans escape tribalism
Competitive moat: welcome everyone while competitors alienate 50%

Authentic European Food Program

Fresh-baked biscotti, real Italian pastries
Proper panini with prosciutto, mortadella, fresh mozzarella
European-style croissants, pain au chocolat
Artisanal soups, authentic bruschetta
Apply the same premium ethos to food that Howard applied to coffee

Rebuild Culture

Turn passionate customers into micro-influencers
Baristas as coffee education content creators
Explicit political neutrality policy
AI-powered personalized service (customer preferences, conversation starters)
Predictive community building (connect customers based on shared interests)

Howard once said:

"Authentic brands don't emerge from marketing cubicles... They emanate from everything the company does."

Stop the political activism. Return to European coffeehouse craftsmanship.

Dear Nelson Peltz (Founder of Trian Fund Management),

Forget Fixing Disney. Build a Disney-Killer Instead.

Your Disney proxy battle failed. Time for Plan B: Help Comcast dethrone the mouse.

The Disney Reality

Brand reputation: #5 → #77 (Axios Harris Poll)
$965M box office failures in 2023
Stock down 50%+ from peaks
69% don’t want brands taking political stances (Dig insights Study)

Why Disney Can’t Be Fixed

When content becomes divisive rather than unifying, the entire flywheel reverses: controversial content → subscriber churn → reduced park attendance → damaged brand equity.

The Universal Strategy: Epic Games + Paramount+ Double Acquisition

Epic Games ($30B): 400M users live in Fortnite’s metaverse. $22.7B gaming market growing 39% annually.
Paramount+ ($15-20B): 79M subscribers, NFL/sports content, Star Trek/Mission Impossible franchises.
The Integrated Ecosystem: Paramount+ creates stories → Epic builds interactive experiences → Universal provides physical immersion.
Cross-platform content reduces costs 30-40%.
Virtual theme parks with infinite capacity.

The Peltz Pivot

Build what Disney used to be—unifying families, not dividing them—for the digital generation.

Dear Tim Cook (CEO of Apple),

It’s Not You, It’s Your AI Strategy

Tim, you have $133B in cash and the world’s most valuable brand. Stop having “internal talks” and start making moves that would make Steve proud:

Buy Perplexity. Tomorrow. Write the $14B check. But don’t Apple-ize them—make Perplexity’s leadership your new AI brain trust. You need agentic innovation leaders, not more sustaining innovation managers.
Kill Siri. Birth the Apple Agent. Stop fixing a broken brand. Replace Siri with “Apple Agent”—AI that anticipates needs, not just responds to commands. An intelligence that knows you have a meeting in 20 minutes and suggests leaving now.
Make AI the Center of Everything. Your advantage isn’t hardware—it’s intimate data relationships with a billion users. Your AI should know I bought AirPods yesterday, have a flight tomorrow, and always forget to charge devices. Proactively suggest charging AirPods tonight.
MCPs for Every App Store App. Implement Model Context Protocol across your ecosystem. Let Agent seamlessly interact with every app. “Agent, plan my weekend”—it books dinner, orders Uber, queues Spotify. That’s reimagining smartphones.
Turn Apple Watch Into Your AI Advantage. Here’s what Jony Ive doesn’t understand: AI needs data, and data needs peripherals. His $6.5B OpenAI device is a “third core device” that sits on desks—but nobody wants to carry multiple computers. Your Watch is already on users’ bodies, capturing biometric data, location, and audio context that no standalone device can match. Make it your AI’s sensory system—always listening, learning, anticipating. The killer use case isn’t health tracking—it’s being the most contextually aware device ever built. While Ive builds screen-free gadgets that compete with iPhones, you should build screen-free experiences that enhance them.