The X

Since Covid-19, retail sales on digital platforms have increased by 32% and that’s led to massive changes in how we buy and sell products. Bryan and Demetrius talk about how the pandemic threw gasoline on the fire of the online-retail takeover. The guys discuss how consumers are leaning into the future and major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target are right there with them...but what about the smaller retailers? Can enterprising tech entrepreneurs give small brick-and-mortar retailers a democratizing voice in e-commerce?

Bryan and Demetrius talk about the hugely popular, controversial, confusing, frustrating, and exciting topic of cryptocurrencies and how they’ve been transformed from currencies into an asset class. They discuss the fantastic potential of blockchain technology, like enabling extremely secure transactions. And they tackle the concerning things that are being done with them, like ASICs impacting energy grids. They also take a look at the fact that major investors are establishing controlling positions in some cryptos and what that means for smaller investors. Then they take a peek into the future. Could fiat currencies run on blockchain one day?

The guys look back on the predictions they made last year and see how things have changed and what trends are emerging for 2021. They dig into some tectonic shifts in the streaming wars and some services still struggling to take off, all while discussing some of their favorite shows. They also get into where movie theaters fit into the new media landscape and discuss a future where content takes a backseat to new features and experiences.

For the last 16 years, Phil Wagner has been helping individuals and companies acquire and defend patents for their inventions and has become a prominent patent agent here in Silicon Valley. Phil stopped by The X to talk about how patents work, why we need them, when to get them, and how we should reform the patent system to help innovation continue to thrive.

In 2011, the world heard the name MoviePass for the first time. It was a dream come true for movie lovers who wanted to frequently see movies at the theatre but not necessarily pay the full price every time. The service quickly rose to over 3 million subscribers but crashed quickly when the economics did not work. Bryan and Demetrius review this story and discuss what went wrong and why the idea itself was great and something we might see again in the future.