June 4, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
While the capitalist market is based on self-interest and driven by material gain, the social Commons is motivated by collaborative interests and driven by a deep desire to connect with others and share. If the former promotes property rights, caveat emptor and the search for autonomy, the latter advances open-source innovation, transparency and the search […]
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Superpartners: A House of Cards?
April 30, 2015 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
Background Anyone who has watched the series House of Cards would know that it is a compelling example of high quality content designed specifically for television (and even smaller screens). Fewer would be aware that it was developed by and for Netflix, and that it represented part of our inexorable journey towards a Zero Marginal […]
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Capital Efficiency, Marketing and the Journey Towards Zero Marginal Cost
February 3, 2015 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
Introduction From inception Mclowd has been run along the strictest of Lean Start Up principles, and as a consequence of being capital constrained traditional marketing activity has been largely absent, both as to capabilities and execution. Interestingly however, the Community has continued to grow, which has got me thinking about what the implications of Lean […]
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Why Context Matters: Class Super and The Journey Towards Zero Marginal Cost
October 31, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
“Summers and DeLong found themselves hopelessly trapped. Although economists and entrepreneurs never intended for the capitalist system to self-destruct (they expected it to reign forever), a careful look at its operating logic reveals the inevitability of a future of near zero marginal cost. A near zero marginal cost society is the optimally efficient state for […]
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Energising Your Practice: Structural Shifts in the Professional Services Sector and Implications for SMSF Practitioners
September 22, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
Energy retailers are faced with a slide in profitability and declining relevance unless they succeed in broadening their market offering especially with the steady increase in the number of households installing solar photovoltaic systems. In a blunt warning, the outgoing head of Momentum Energy, who lifted annual revenue of the retailer to $1 billion in […]
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Cloud Computing and Market Definition: Implications for Incumbents
July 1, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
Introduction I recently received an email from our hosting provider AWS describing a number of new functions that have been enabled as part of its infrastructure offering (as usual at no cost). While the email may seem innocuous enough, it should strike fear into the hearts of any application software developer, because it signifies a […]
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Perception and Action: The Two Phases of Dis-intermediation
June 6, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
Introduction Over the next few months Mclowd’s free SMSF accounting Platform will begin to approach what we call ‘fit-for-purpose’. This description is used to define the point at which the functionality provides an effective alternative to the software offered by incumbents such as BGL and Class (albeit without some of the bells and whistles). This […]
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Self Interest and the Decline of Rent-Seeking Behaviour
June 4, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
While the capitalist market is based on self-interest and driven by material gain, the social Commons is motivated by collaborative interests and driven by a deep desire to connect with others and share. If the former promotes property rights, caveat emptor and the search for autonomy, the latter advances open-source innovation, transparency and the search […]
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Sophie's Choice: Disclosure Obligations and the Class Super IPO
March 19, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 2 comments
Introduction About 12 months ago I wrote a blog post about the potential balance sheet impacts of cloud computing and crowdsourcing. Those impacts stem from the gulf that has quickly opened up between the historical cost of software development (on which many incumbent balance sheets are based) and a new cloud-based, crowdsourced replacement cost. Much […]
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The Role of Opportunity Cost in the Market for Professional Services
February 11, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
Introduction Yesterday I was chatting with an SMSF Trustee who was considering migrating their Fund to Mclowd. With a very basic portfolio he had been doing almost everything himself via a spreadsheet, and was looking around for a more scalable solution without changing his cost structure. While we discussed the relative merits of Mclowd and […]
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Enabling Disruption: Price Deflation in the Market for SMSF Actuarial Certificates
February 5, 2014 / by Ashley Porter / Blog / 0 comments
Introduction In a Fairfax interview just before Christmas BetaShares co-founder Alex Vynokur was quoted as saying: “Finance has not had its Spotify moment yet. Industries like media and telecommunications have gone through years of innovation and disruption that have improved outcomes for consumers but made incumbents uncomfortable. I think the financial services sector is on […]
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