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Author Archives: scuttleblurb

[APPN, PEGA, SMAR] No/low code evolution

There are some smart people who think that our brains are wired to process the world hierarchically[1][2].  For instance, neurons in one part of the visual cortex fire when they detect lines tilted at particular angles, sending those patterns to a “higher” layer where certain other neurons are attuned to the detection of particular letters, […]

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FICO and the Consumer Credit Bureaus: Part 2

From the early 2000s to now, EET have evolved from credit reporting agencies selling indistinguishable datasets to information technology companies offering predictions[1].  Over time, all 3 bureaus have gotten bigger, their delivery mechanisms have changed (from phone calls and paper reports to software), their data sources have expanded – to encompass different kinds of data […]

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FICO and the Consumer Credit Bureaus: Part 1

This circuitous 2-parter is going to open with the consumer credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion – EET), switch to FICO, and loop back to the bureaus…apologies in advance for the disorienting structure. Let’s start with Experian, which like many companies formed through motley acquisitions, wasn’t so much created as it was allowed to emerge. […]

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Some thoughts on Gartner

I sometimes flatter myself by thinking this blog offers interesting insights when in fact I know a key reason that many of you subscribe is to save time: You could spend dozens of hours talking to management and combing through annual reports, proxies, and transcripts, or I can just do it and share what I’ve […]

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[LILAK – Liberty Latin America] Once more unto the breach

LILAK, the widow maker.  For many years, a core holding of Generic Value Partners.  This stock has been pitched many times, each new pitch underpinned by sensible-sounding premises that are by now so familiar that their recitation seems almost tiresome: cable moat, Malone, consolidation, forced selling, insider buying, secular growth.  And yet, since it began […]

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Broadridge and blockchain

When someone says they own shares of X, what they typically mean is that a broker owns shares of X on their behalf in “street name”[1].  But wait, no, the broker doesn’t really own the shares either.  Shares are held and legally owned by Cede & Co., the nominee of the Depository Trust Company (DTC)[2], […]

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[CACC – Credit Acceptance Corp] Value in subprime auto

Most auto lenders won’t finance cash strapped buyers with deeply tainted or limited credit histories.  Credit Acceptance Corp, founded in 1972 by Chairman and 11% owner Donald Foss[1] to collect loans originated by his own dealerships, steps into the breach with an unorthodox lending scheme that goes like this:  the used car dealer originates a […]

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[CDNS – Cadence; SNPS – Synopsys] The evolution of the EDA industry and competitive positioning therein

It used to be that a chip engineer would design an integrated circuit by hand drawing a few dozen pages of schematics using standard templates, the resulting patterns X-ACTO knifed out of plastic film.  But with transistor density doubling every 18 months, this manual process couldn’t scale and was eventually replaced with a technology called […]

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