Every four years, someone writes a nine-figure check to put their logo next to the words “World Cup.” This July, three guys pushing eighty got the same real estate for the price of a Spotify link. The Rolling Stones didn’t sponsor anything. They didn’t need to. They built their own tournament, borrowed the shape of … Read more
I stayed up late last night reading through the notes from a fascinating podcast conversation about FIFA’s financial transformation, and I’m still thinking about it this morning. Not because of the numbers themselves, though a jump from $7 billion to $13 billion in one World Cup cycle is certainly eye-popping, but because of what those … Read more
The most valuable thing about PEAK’s Future of USA SportsTech Report 2026 is not that it tells us what’s new. It tells us what now matters. SportsTech has moved from “look at this cool tool” to “show me the operating model, the data layer, and the revenue path.” Why This Report Lands Right Now Sports … Read more
When the Door Closes on the Biggest Player in the Room Here’s what actually happened between Google and OpenAI — and why the story everyone’s telling misses the point entirely. I’ve been watching this unfold with the kind of fascination usually reserved for watching two tech giants play chicken on a highway. On the surface, … Read more
Here’s a delicious irony for you: sometimes the best way to win attention is to be told you can’t have it. I’ve been thinking about the Levi’s Stadium debacle at the World Cup. You know, the one where FIFA forced them to cover up their branding. Instead of fading into obscurity, they turned that awkward … Read more
When I first looked at Zoom Slides, my immediate reaction wasn’t “Zoom built a PowerPoint competitor.” Instead, I saw another step in a journey I’ve been writing about for nearly twenty years. Back in January, while previewing the sessions I’d be moderating at ITExpo, I wrote that the future of Unified Communications wasn’t simply UC … Read more
For years, I’ve watched startups, telecom companies, SaaS providers, and platform businesses obsess over one thing: differentiation. The pitch usually goes something like this: “We’re faster.” “We’re cheaper.” “We have more features.” “We’re AI-powered.” That’s all well and good, but being different and being relevant are not the same thing. In my years helping companies … Read more
Something shifted this summer, and it wasn’t just the score on the board. When the USMNT beat Australia 2–0 on a Friday afternoon, 14.78 million people watched on English-language television alone, making it the fourth-largest audience for a men’s World Cup match in U.S. history, behind a record set just one week earlier when 18.04 … Read more
Yesterday I wrote “The Transcript Was Never the Point,” and it’s driven some interesting commentary. Today, I want to go one step further because, as we broaden the scope, it’s obvious that everyone is watching the wrong race. The conversation in tech circles, boardrooms, and venture portfolios has been locked on a single obsession: which … Read more
Spotify is moving into YouTube’s territory as they want to be the “artists direct” upload home where fans can discover video content. On paper, it “sounds” good. But it’s really not. Here’s why: This deepens the artist audience ownership problem because Spotify is not just adding another content format. It is expanding the surface area … Read more
