Measuring Impact: Capsule Raises a Round, Diversity Officers Raise the Bar, Adobe Charts Reopening Progress, Qualcomm Beats + More
Even more than usual, this was a week about numbers. We got lots of financial results from big technology companies (and most did quite well); we also got numbers that informed us about how well the U.S. economy is recovering from the pandemic and what work remains to do.
I talked to pivotal leaders from companies large and small about some of those numbers and trends, whether it's prescription delivery, food delivery or semiconductor supply. And numbers are important within a workforce, too; we talked diversity and representation. That's why the theme of the week is Measuring Impact:
Basecamp's Policy on Politics: On the Other Hand
Banning social issues and politics at work: smart management or muzzling employees? I argued both sides of the Basecamp controversy in the latest edition of On the Other Hand, on CNBC's Squawk Box:
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Capsule Raises $300 Million Hoping to Transform Consumer Health: Founder & CEO Eric Kinariwala
Digital health startup Capsule got its start in pharmacy delivery. It just raised $300 million to fund its evolution into a one-stop shop for healthcare. Founder and CEO Eric Kinariwala joined me this week to talk details.
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Adobe Partners With FedEx for Fast Delivery, Small Biz Momentum
On CNBC TechCheck, I talked to Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen about his company's partnership with FedEx's ShopRunner, digital momentum for small business coming out of a pandemic, and whether Apple's privacy controls in iOS 14 will really hurt the ecosystem. The upshot: demand for convenience has kicked into a new gear, and Apple's changes might not be as disruptive as Facebook has made them sound:
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Qualcomm's Incoming CEO on How Tech Giants Beat the Chip Shortage
In Qualcomm's last quarterly report before he takes over as CEO, Cristiano Amon explained how planning, scale, and demand at the high end of the smartphone market allowed the company to report a surprisingly strong winter quarter and project a vibrant spring:
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DoorDash Lets Restaurants Go A La Carte
DoorDash Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne joined me this week as the company announced changes to how it charges restaurants. It could shake up the local delivery business:
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Tech Companies Team Up for Metrics on Diversity
The top executives leading diversity efforts at Intel (Dawn Jones), NTT DATA (Terri Hatcher), Nasdaq (Supriya Jha) and Snap (Oona King) joined me and Jayson Council in the latest Fortt Knox: March Forth. The topic: how their companies (and Dell Technologies) are developing a shared set of metrics to chart progress and boost accountability:
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Overcoming Setbacks: Fortt Knox on CNBC TechCheck
We all suffer setbacks. The question is how we recover. For Fortt Knox, remixed for CNBC TechCheck, MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria, Replicant CEO Gadi Shamia and Pegasystems founder and CEO Alan Trefler all shared their struggles along the course of their careers, and the lessons they learned along the way. (A shout out to CNBC's Fahiemah Al-Ali and Allison Councill for weaving these stories together masterfully.)
Many readers of this newsletter will be familiar by now with my latest project, The Black Experience in America: The Course. I designed it last year after the tragic killing of George Floyd, and I'm building out an online learning experience based on the content.
The students, faculty and alumni of my alma mater, DePauw University, gained access to the course material this year. I'm looking forward to more collaborations that lead us to a deeper understanding of this moment in history, the ideas that got us here and the work to move forward.