Today, we will be breaking down Pinduoduo. Founded in 2015, Pinduoduo used a ‘team buying’ social network concept to build what is now China’s largest e-commerce platform measured by annual active users.
In this breakdown, we’ll explore Pinduoduo’s value proposition to a niche but incredibly large merchant segment and its role in the daily lives of hundre ... Show More
Oct 22
Affirm: The Internet’s American Express - [Business Breakdowns, EP.249]
Today we're breaking down Affirm, the buy now, pay later company founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin. Affirm processes more than $50 billion in annual purchase volume and is growing over 30%, even after its stock fell more than 90% following its IPO. Joining me is Fraser, an ... Show More
1h 11m
Jul 2026
Applied Intuition: A Billion Intelligent Machines - [Business Breakdowns, EP.248]
Today, we are breaking down Applied Intuition. Our guests are co-founders Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig, who started the company in 2017 with a mission to make a billion machines intelligent. The simplest way to understand Applied Intuition is that it builds the brains for machin ... Show More
47m 13s
May 2026
Toast: Sticky SaaS - [Business Breakdowns, EP.247]
Today, we are breaking down Toast, a name we have covered before but are revisiting because the story has changed enough to be worth telling again. Most listeners will have tapped a Toast terminal without thinking much about the business behind it. Our guest is Sean Barrett, foun ... Show More
49m 24s
Apr 2021
Shopify: The E-commerce On-Ramp - [Business Breakdowns, EP. 01]
Welcome to the first episode of our newest show, Business Breakdowns, featuring deep-dive conversations on individual businesses. In each episode, we will dissect a new company with investors and operators that know it best. We’ve already released the first three episodes on Shop ... Show More
1h 6m
Oct 2022
Lessons in Purchasing Economies from Costco, JD and Pinduoduo (142)
<p>This week’s podcast is about economies of scale in purchasing power. I go through Walmart and Costco as traditional examples. And point to JD, Apple, and Pinduoduo as digital examples.<br/><br/>You can listen to this podcast <a href='https://jefftowson.com/2022/10/4-lessons-fr ... Show More
35m 11s
Sep 2025
The Future of E-Commerce: Trends, Tech, and Tactics
For today’s episode, we have a panel from this year’s Inc’s Founders House in Philadelphia. Social media director, Andrea Hardalo and her fellow panelists: Woodie Hillyard, co-founder and CEO of the men’s personal care brand W, Arthur Leopold, co-founder and CEO of the ad platfor ... Show More
35m 1s
Dec 2024
Fast Five Shorts | SHEIN And Temu Are Making Inroads On The Toy Market
In the latest edition of Omni Talk’s Retail Fast Five, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Avalara, Mirakl, Ownit AI, and Ocampo Capital Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga discuss SHEIN And Temu Making Inroads On The Toy MarketFor the full episode head here: https://youtu ... Show More
5m 27s
Jun 2024
The Deal Room: Shein 2024 IPO & Business Model Strategy
<p>The online fashion giant Shein is on the verge of an Initial Public Offering on the London Stock Exchange. </p><br><p>With advisory support from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley, Shein's valuation is projected to reach £50bn, marking it as London's most high ... Show More
47m 42s
Mar 2021
Meituan
We dive into the history behind Meituan, the juggernaut Chinese "super-app" which dominates China's services economy, offering consumers everything from food delivery, restaurant reviews, travel booking, bike-sharing, movie ticketing, and countless other entertainment and lifesty ... Show More
2h 15m