Spotlight: Humans (and dogs) vs machines and bringing people together, apart
The Thursday Trio: Three notes across entrepreneurship, culture, and community
š¶ Spot, the 4-legged robot by Boston Dynamics, is now available for $74,500.
Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Hudson sure thinks so. At the very least, he wants a chance to train Spot to be a Superdog.
Do you know how many treats $74,500 could buy? For that, I will learn tons of cool tricks AND give you lots of love and companionship. Isnāt that what you humans need these days anyways?
- Hudson
The Thursday Trio
Three notes across entrepreneurship, culture, and community every Thursday.
šŗā½ļø Most watched Premier League match in 3 years.
Last night, English football-starved fans tuned in big on the first night of football matches since the pandemic started. I happened to be at the second to the last match pre-lockdown when Manchester United beat Man City at Old Trafford. That was the loudest sports event I had ever been to and may very well be the last of its kind. The Arsenal vs Man City match last night drew the largest audience on Sky Sports in 3 years with 75% of the viewers choosing to watch WITH crowd noise. Another example of people craving some sort of normality.
MoreĀ here.
Do you think once stadiums open to fans, online viewership will continue to be as strong? This startupās FanFest product is certainly banking on reaching sports fans beyond stadiums and monetising them.
š§ Never say never.
Another momentous occasion happened last night. For the first time, Hawk-Eyeās goal line technology failed to capture a goal at the Sheffield United vs Aston Villa match, so the goal didnāt count. All seven of its cameras monitoring the goal were obscured by either the goalkeeper, a defender or the goalpost. It has never happened before in more than 9,000 matches using the system which is why the referees didnāt question the technology.
The video assistant referee had not intervened due to the "unique" situation of the on-field match officials not receiving a signal. - Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL)
More here.
My take: As it turns out, we canāt rely on technology by itself. But, shouldnāt we as humans leverage the qualities that make us humanā¦like intelligence?
š Together, apart.
How do you build products that bring people together, in the most human way possible, when they are physically apart? This is the challenge and opportunity for many startups at the moment. When it comes to events, I rarely found the content at conferences to be all that useful. The primary reason for attending was to meet people. Now that everything is online, there is that added pressure for the content to be super high quality and differentiated. But even more so, how do you create those moments of serendipity where you meet someone interesting and have an insightful conversation? Here are some companies that are tackling this:
Run the World
Hopin
HeySummit
Eventloop
My take:Ā The events industry is ripe for transformation. Nothing can replace IRL experiences, but long gone are the days of general, big-budget, multi-day, multi-track conferences. There is a real opportunity for startups to address how to bring highly curated groups of people together around shared interests without friction.
ā And now, this weekās dose of delightā¦
If only I could get in for a haircutā¦goals.
Be well,
Gina š„
Hi! šš¼ ItāsĀ Gina KingĀ fromĀ Rooks Nest VenturesĀ andĀ Supernode. Thanks for reading Spotlight. Iād love your feedback - feel free to email me atĀ gina@supernodeglobal.com.