The Non-Obvious Insights Blog. Non-Obvious Insights
The Non-Obvious Insights Blog.

Dedicated To Helping Readers
Be More Interesting
Since 2004.

As Featured In:

Why The NFL’s Newest Stadium Will Have $2 Hot Dogs and $5 Beer

In a league often defined by greed, with unscrupulous owners who are sometimes hated by their entire fan populations (like Daniel Snyder of the Redskins), it may come as a surprise that there are some who do care about more than the bottom line. Instead of requiring vendors to buy expensive sponsorships and then subsidize them with … Read more

Uber Releases Its Original Pitch Deck From 2008

Despite their recent troubles and exit of embattled CEO Travis Kalanick – the rise of Uber is one of the undeniable success stories from Silicon Valley. This week co-founder Garrett Camp shared the original Uber pitch deck from when the company was just a concept seeking funding. Although it is just 25 poorly designed, the … Read more

How Brands and Small Town America Are Cashing In On The Eclipse

As the highly anticipated solar eclipse approaches, there are plenty of towns and brands finding creative ways to cash in. Chiquita created a humorous video about the impending “Banana Sun,” there are “eclipse chasing” flights selling for $10,000 and Krispy Kreme even created an “eclipse donut.” This article takes a deeper look at the windfall that seems to be approaching small … Read more

New Survey Finds Recent MBA Grads Don’t Want To Work On Wall Street

A new survey shows that jobs outside of Wall Street are increasingly being preferred by MBA graduates as just 19% of respondents selected Wall Street as their top employment choice – a drop of 7 percent from last year and the lowest level in the 8 year history of the survey. While the survey only … Read more

How “The Backscratchers” Are Reinventing The Agency Model

Back when I worked in the agency world, I remember the angst every time an unreasonable demand came in from a client without a “proper” brief. Rather than try to change this sad reality of last minute requests (or complain about it behind the client’s back), “The Backscratchers” agency have created a model that embraces … Read more

What VCs Look For In Robotics Startups (And What It Can Teach You)

As investing in robotics takes off, this story about what VCs and investors look for has a valuable insight as shared by investor Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital: “what I recommend in two words is: make magic … when we feel that we’ve seen something that nobody else has seen, that we’ve seen something that … Read more

Why Chief Marketing Officers Don’t Last

The tenure of most Chief Marketing Officers is woefully short, but this fact is often dismissed as a symptom of changing leadership or sometimes ineffective results. New research points to the fact that CMOs often suffer from vaguely defined job responsibilities and confusion between whether more strategic thinking or focus on commercialization (or a hybrid) … Read more

Famous iPhone Hacker Creates Tool To Let You Hack Your Car

The more technology gets baked into things that we once enjoyed in simpler formats ,the more people will choose to “Strategically Downgrade.” Many farmers, for example, have turned to new ways of hacking the software on their tractors themselves. Now there is a new tool, from the same hacker that famously hacked the iPhone when he … Read more

7 Inventions That Will Change The World (Or Fail Spectacularly)

Inventions are fun and world changing … but sometimes they are also dumb and head-scratching. In this week’s email, I’ll share a few of both. You’ll read stories about Intel’s secret plan, the future of aquaculture and perhaps the most gratuitously pointless product ever. Some of these inventions may be ahead of their time and … Read more

Kodak Brings Back Film, How To Be Funny On Stage, and the Professional Snowball Fighting League

The stories this week offer a valuable reminder that while we tend to focus a lot of our attention on looking forward toward the future, there can be a beautiful resonance that comes from looking in the other direction from time to time. Kodak brings back film, the ultimate “device like no other” from a … Read more

The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter. Non-Obvious Insights
Layer 97
The Non-Obvious Insights Newsletter
Layer 118

Skip the obvious and anticipate the future with our weekly newsletter. Join over 25,000 subscribers and start receiving the stories (and insights) you’ve been missing.

All Books

#1 WSJ & USA Today Bestselling Author

In addition to Non-Obvious Thinking, Rohit is the author of 10 books on trends, the future of business, building a more human brand with storytelling and how to create a more diverse and inclusive world.

Contact ROHIT

Have a Question or Inquiry?

Just fill out this form, and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours!

Contact

About You

What Are You Contacting Us About*:

Your Message