Hello ,

Last week I got to write about a conversation I had with a marketer named Bem Joiner. Bem is from Atlanta and actually went to high school in the same building as me. He worked in the music industry for years and now runs an agency called Atlanta Influences Everything, which is focused on developing brands that are from the city. The big takeaway from Bem has to do with a previous post, Dot Connectors, there is a lot of power in getting the right people together.

On Thursday I published a post called Atoms vs. Bytes. It is all about how the internet is beginning to penetrate the real world by using bytes to move atoms. This seemed to be the common thread among the most successful companies of the last decade. Some interesting information I found in my research had to do with how quickly the internet economy is growing, particularly with e-Commerce. My favorite piece I read was from Flexport's CEO, he talks about how important it is to master the intersection between software and people. Our world is still physical and relies on interactions to keep moving.

I've now been asked a few times where I find topics to research and write about. I use Exploding Topics, a free tool that looks at search engine data to identify things that are gaining momentum. It's definitely worth a look if you're interested in what people are discovering. I've also found a bunch of interesting products and have sunk a few hours looking for meta trends.

Hope you have a great week,

Julian