AI Favors the Activists (the other kind); Quantifiable AI Benefits Rising; Oil Matters Less than it Used to; The Most Expensive Affordable Grocery Store Ever
Great article, as usual. That said, I think the grocery store analysis is a bit misleading - New York is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so of course it’ll cost more to build a grocery store there than OH/FL or across the nation as an average. Understandably, we probably don’t have the public data from other grocers to compare NY build costs, but I think there’s too much variance in a nationwide sample for it to be a helpful comparison.
FWIW, I’m also skeptical the stores will be successful, but I don’t think it’s helpful to write them off already based on this analysis.
I’m also highly skeptical of state run grocery stores, but to neither adjust for nor acknowledge the single greatest cost driver in real estate (location) undermines all credibility.
The "quantifiable AI benefits rising" frame is the quiet tell here. Most AI ROI debates have been stuck on unmeasurable productivity gains, which is why pricing defaulted to tokens — vendors billed for effort because nobody could agree on outcome. The moment benefits become quantifiable is the moment pricing flips to outcome-based, and that's where the category separates winners from the rest.
Great article, as usual. That said, I think the grocery store analysis is a bit misleading - New York is one of the most expensive cities in the world, so of course it’ll cost more to build a grocery store there than OH/FL or across the nation as an average. Understandably, we probably don’t have the public data from other grocers to compare NY build costs, but I think there’s too much variance in a nationwide sample for it to be a helpful comparison.
FWIW, I’m also skeptical the stores will be successful, but I don’t think it’s helpful to write them off already based on this analysis.
I’m also highly skeptical of state run grocery stores, but to neither adjust for nor acknowledge the single greatest cost driver in real estate (location) undermines all credibility.
The "quantifiable AI benefits rising" frame is the quiet tell here. Most AI ROI debates have been stuck on unmeasurable productivity gains, which is why pricing defaulted to tokens — vendors billed for effort because nobody could agree on outcome. The moment benefits become quantifiable is the moment pricing flips to outcome-based, and that's where the category separates winners from the rest.
Great read