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Collection of memos

Who doesn’t love learning how the inner workings of famous companies work? We can learn how people actually think and communicate.

I’ve pulled together all the internal memos that got made public for your reading, nerdy pleasure.

A lot of companies blog about being fecked. You might like this blog Help, We’re Being Disrupted!

Apple

Microsoft

Google

Yahoo!

Big company stuff

  • New York Times’s internal innovation report – Leaked internal New York Times report on innovation to survive the changes in news.
  • Nokia CEO Stephen Elop’s Burning Platform– The memo describes in brutal terms how Elop saw Nokia’s business — as an oil rig that’s on fire, forcing workers to jump into the North Sea. Clinging to a “burning platform” only means certain death.
  • The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience – Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz sends a memo to executives to share his concern they are becoming a sterile without the warmth of a neighborhood cafe
  • Fix it or changes – Neal Patterson, CEO of Cerner Corporation sent an email to light the fire under managers to get staff to work harder. It didn’t work out well for him

Startup stuff

Media

  • Brian Graden on the future of VH1 – Brian Graden wrote a 66-page memo on the future of VH1 and how to fix the struggling music channel in the early 2000s.
  • Dave Goldberg’s plan to save the music labels – Dave Goldberg emails Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton with his ballsy views on how music labels need to dramatically restructure to become more profitable. The plan is to focus on catalog revenue and heavily cut costs.
  • P&G memo on Brand Men by Neil H. McElroy – Neil McElroy, a junior at P&G sets out the roles and responsibilities of brand men, or brand managers.
  • Jason Kilar’s “Here Are My Thoughts On Hulu And The Future Of TV” – Hulu CEO Jason Kilar posted the following on Hulu’s blog as Hulu announce the return of some Viacom content. He discusses the future of TV and content owners
  • Some Thoughts on Our Business – Jeffrey Katzenberg head of The Walt Disney Company’s motion picture division sends a long memo on how to turn around in the wake of a big failed movie.
  • How to Write – David Ogilvy’s 1982 memo ‘How to Write’ offers timeless advice: clarity, audience focus, strong headlines, thorough editing, research, and storytelling

Investment

  • Chamath SPAC for FVAC – Chamath Palihapitiya invested into a publicly listed company called Fortress Value Acquisition Corporation. It’s a one page investment memo.
  • Chamath SPAC for OpenDoor – Social Capital Hedosophia II, the blank-check company associated with investor Chamath Palihapitiya, announced that it will merge with Opendoor, taking the private real estate startup public in the process.
  • Chamath SPAC for SoFi – Social Capital Hedosophia V, the blank-check company associated with investor Chamath Palihapitiya, announced that it will merge with SoFi, taking the personal financial services company public in the process.
  • Coho Capital on Spotify – a 13 page memo focused on the value case of Spotify.

Business history

Fun to read for shites and giggles

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    Comments (2)

    • I think you may have misspelled the name of the author of “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber”. You have it as “James Dalmore.” Everywhere I look online it’s spelled: “James Damore.”

      • Bill – Cheers for sharing mate. Have changed (This and staging site!).
        Sure, his name is in the memo (easy check).
        TBH, I made this quickly to just ship something in a night. Quick isn’t compatible with the dyslexic thing ;).
        ADJ

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