Presented by Travis May, Digital Specialist at Fairfax Media.

1. H O W T O T H I N K A B O U T
The
Future

2. A G E N D A
Disruption
•
Exponential Advancement
•
How Unicorns Think
•
Virtual Reality & Artificial Intelligence
•
What Does All This Mean?
•
What You Can Do Now

3. Education (like media!)
is ripe for
disruption

4. • Information Technologies (of all kinds) double their
power (price performance, capacity, bandwidth) every
year
• We’re seeing this also translate over to communication
technologies
• Progress over the next two decades will see greater
gains than we’ve had in the previous two hundred years
Exponential Advancement

5. Peter Thiel’s Formula
- Make incremental advances
- Stay lean and flexible
- Improve on the competition
- Focus on the product not sales
- Better to risk boldness than
triviality
- A bad plan is better than no
plan
- Competitive markets destroy
profits
- Sales matter just as much as
profits
How Unicorns think
Old New

6. zero to 1
OLD 1 to n = horizontal progress
(copying things that work)
NEW 0 to 1. Make vertical
progress (do new things)

7. Competition is
overrated.
Competition means no
profits for anybody, no
meaningful
differentiation, and a
struggle for survival.

8. NETWORK EFFECTS ECONOMIES OF
SCALE
BRANDINGPROPRIETARY
TECHNOLOGY
Build Monopolies

9. Don’t disrupt. Get the
last mover advantage.
Make the last great
development in a
specific market and
enjoy years of
monopoly profits.

11. To Become a Billionaire,
Help a Billion People.
Technology is
democratizing the
power to change the
world.
- Peter Diamandis

13. A student learning about
dinosaurs in the Jurassic
period won’t have to just
read about it in a textbook
– they’ll be able to put on
a VR headset and literally
explore the VR equivalent
of Jurassic Park.
Imagine This…

14. Students studying physics
will be able to “step
inside” a virtual
environment where the
build (and destroy) huge
structures, fly through
planets and stand next to
Isaac Newton as he
discovers the laws of
motion.
Imagine This…

16. A virtual version of the
world’s best history
professor delivers a
personalised lesson at a
pace and language best
suited to every student.
Imagine This…

17. What does this mean?
Rapidly iterate and ceaselessly experiment until you get it right
Think about what you want to own and where you can partner
Emphasise a customer-centric approach
Rely on fundamental truths
Be a rational optimist
Think in probabilities
Think long-term

19. Q&A
Travis May
travis.may@fairfaxmedia.com.au
0421 701 857
linkedin.com/in/travisdmay