iPhone Generation: Lonely & Depressed

Loser: Unsustainable internet companies. Pureplays like Wayfair and Blue Apron are getting Amazon-like valuations without a critical component: a business that works.

Loser: The brand-industrial complex. Startup Brandless sells generic household items for $3 each, pointing to a larger shift in consumer behavior.

Loser: The smartphone generation. Three-quarters of American teens own iPhones, and the devices are making them more lonely -- but also less likely to do drugs.

(0:13) “Meal-Kit Maker Blue Apron Goes Public, Demand Underwhelms As Amazon Looms,” Reuters, June 2017. http://reut.rs/2toDqYV
(0:13) “Pioneering Beauty Startup Birchbox Turns Profit After Tough 2016,” Forbes, April 2017. http://bit.ly/2fvh96f
(0:13) Google Finance, August 8, 2017.
(0:25) “New Amazon Data From Wall Street Should Terrify All Retail Stores In The US,” Business Insider, September 2016. http://read.bi/2bX6tG6
(0:30) “How Many Americans Are Amazon Prime Members?” The Motley Fool, April 2017. http://bit.ly/2fuXqmU
(0:30) “Share Of Internet Users In The United States Who Live In A Household With An Amazon Prime Subscription As Of November 2016,” Statista, November 2016. http://bit.ly/2vn3eob
(0:30) “Sixty-Four Percent Of U.S. Households Have Amazon Prime,” Forbes, June 2017. http://bit.ly/2usxrU8
(0:38) Value Investors Club, April 2016.
(0:43) L2 Analysis Of SEMRush Data, June 2017.
(0:47) “AMZN Cash Reserves,” Quandl, June 2017. http://bit.ly/2vIetIY
(0:53) “Burning Cash And Losing Customers, Wayfair Is Running Out Of Options,” Seeking Alpha, May 2017. http://bit.ly/2rqZ5dJ
(1:00) L2 Analysis of iSpotTV Data.
(1:12) L2 Analysis Of SEMRush Data, June 2017.
(1:31) “Blue Apron Significantly Lowers Its Valuation With Slashed IPO Pricing,” techcrunch, June 2017. http://tcrn.ch/2t1AIG0
(1:37) “Blue Apron Is Spending More Than $400 For Every New Customer — And That's Creating A Major Problem For The Company,” Business Insider, August 2017. http://read.bi/2vIHeVL
(1:45) “Form S-1,” Blue Apron Holdings, Inc., June 2017. http://bit.ly/2qGf2No
(1:50) “Blue Apron Vs. HelloFresh: A Look At Multiples And Valuation History,” CB Insights, June 2017. http://bit.ly/2uK03Dl
(1:50) “Blue Apron: 5 Things To Know About The Meal-Kit Delivery Company,” Market Watch, July 2017. http://on.mktw.net/2rtG3VH
(2:51) Cadent Consulting Group, 2016.
(3:42) “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The Atlantic, September 2017. http://theatln.tc/2u3JDX6
(3:42) “Millennials Surpass Gen Xers as the Largest Generation in U.S. Labor Force,” Pew Research Center, May 2015. http://pewrsr.ch/1KAFrQ0
(3:54) “2016 Overview Key Findings on Adolescent Drug Use,” Monitoring The Future, January 2017. http://bit.ly/1WumBiz

Episode 136