The Economist - USA (2019-07-13)

64 Business The EconomistJuly 13th 2019

E

venfuture-obsessedSiliconValley

occasionallylooksbackintime.A

caseinpointisSuperhuman,a service

thataimstoreinventsomethingasante-

diluvianasemail.It hascreatedmore

buzzthananythingfora whileinthe

world’stechcapital,bymarryingtwoof

technologists’biggestdesires:foreffi-

ciencyandstatus.

Manya venturecapitalistorentrepre-

neurintheValleywouldsympathise

withDavidUlevitchofAndreessenHoro-

witz,a bigventure-capitalfirm,who

recentlylikenedhisoverflowinginboxto

thefinallevelofTetris,a classicvideo

game.It isjustasengrossing;techtypes

oftenspendfourhoursa dayfielding

emails.Superhuman(inwhichMrUle-

vitch’sfundhasinvested)triestospeed

emailingup—nocommandismeantto

takelongerthanone-tenthofa secondto

execute—whilemakingit lesstaxing.

Keyboardshortcuts,conversionofmes-

sagestotasks,instantunsubscribing

fromnewslettersandothertricks,plus

nudgestogetpeopletousethem,cancut

emailingtimebyhalf,boostersclaim.

Thefirmregularlyquizzesusersand

addsfeaturesrequestedbythemost

committedamongthem.

Butitsgreatestsuperpowermaybeto

makeadoptersfeelspecial.Thisispartly

bydesign.“Weaspiretotreatyoulike

you’reouronlyuser,”explainsRahul

Vohra,thefirm’schiefexecutive.Forget

“onboarding”(startupspeakforsetting

upyouraccount)witha fewtapsonan

app.Superhumanhasyousitthrough

video-conferencetutorials.Thislimits

uptake—butincreasesexclusivity,fur-

theraugmentedbyrequiringaninvi-

tationtojoin.Theservicehaswelcomed

15,000users,eachpaying$30a month

fortheprivilege.Thewaitinglistexceeds

200,000names.

Superhumanisnotinvincible.Last

weekit facedthefirstbacklashwhenit

emergedthatsenderscantrackwhenand

evenwhereemailshavebeenopened.

Theproblemhassincebeenfixedbut

othersmayprovehardertosolve.Oneis

thatoncetaughtSuperhumantricks,

userscouldeasilyreplicatethemin

Gmailandotherfreeservices.A bigger

oneisthatbyfocusingonpowerusersit

maybecomea nicheoffering.Thiswould

limitthescopeforfulfillingSilicon

Valley’snumber-onedesire—forgrowth.

MrVohraarguesthatservingone

groupofcustomerswellisthefirststep.

Withconfidencetypicalofa startup

founderhebelievesgrowthopportuni-

tieswillpresentthemselveslater.Reci-

pientscould,forinstance,havethe

servicechargesomesendersforpostage.

Superhumancanprobablyaffordto

bideitstime.Witha steadyrevenuefrom

subscriptionsand,forthetimebeing,no

cash-hungrycustomer-acquisitioncosts

tospeakof,it hasa goodshotatmaking

moneysoon.If it managestogrowand

makemoneyatonce,thatwould,ina

worldofperenniallylossmakingstart-

ups,bea superhumanfeatindeed.

Fasterthana speedingbullet

Electronicmail

SANFRANCISCO

It’sa bird,it’sa plane,it’s...email

“I

s this howwe should show up before

you come to our games?” read the frus-

trated slogan of the French national team,

posing nude during the women’s football

World Cup in 2011. At this year’s tourna-

ment in France figures smashed records

without such desperate measures. fifa,

the game’s governing body, estimates that

it drew a total of 1bn viewers, up from 750m

four years ago in Canada. The semi-final

featuring England was the most watched

television programme of the year so far in

Britain. Some 14m Americans saw their

team beat the Dutch 2-0 to win their fourth

title on July 7th, more than tuned in to most

basketball and baseball league finals.

Sponsors have taken note. Visa, a pay-

ment-card network with a taste for sup-

porting high-profile sports events, spent as

much promoting it as it did on the men’s

competition. Earlier this year Barclays, a

bank, became the first ever title sponsor of

the English Women’s Super League (wsl) in

a deal said to be worth over £10m ($12.6m).

On July 5th Alipay, China’s electronic-pay-

ments giant, announced a 1bn yuan

($145m) ten-year deal with the Chinese

women’s football team.

The women’s game is luring brands

which have previously been shut out of the

sport because of the way sponsorships of

women’s teams were bundled with those of

men’s sides. Avon, a beauty and cosmetics

company, became the first to sponsor a

women’s professional football club, sign-

ing an exclusive deal with Liverpool fc

Women in 2017. In April Boots, a pharmacy

chain, struck partnerships with the nation-

al teams of England, Scotland, Wales and

Northern Ireland, as well as the Irish Re-

public. Arkema, a chemicals firm, recently

bought the naming rights to the top French

women’s league in a deal worth €1m ($1.1m)

a year over three years—peanuts compared

with the €15m a year the men’s league re-

ceives from its main sponsor, but a start.

Sixty percent of women’s football teams

in the biggest leagues now sport front-of-

shirt patrons different to those for the

men’s team at the same club, according to

Deloitte. The consultancy reckons this

could approach 100% by the next World

Cup in 2023. The number of European na-

tional associations with dedicated wom-

en’s football sponsors rose from nine in

2013 to 17 in 2017. 

Kelly Simmons, director of the profes-

sional women’s game at England’s football

association, says that these multi-million-

pound deals have been transformative. The

big bucks, though, will come with broad-

casting rights. Men’s English Premier

League games bring in more than £3bn a

year from broadcasters. France’s top female

league sold five-year rights to Canal+, a

pay-tv firm, for €6m—a trifle but six times

more than two years ago. tf1, the most pop-

ular French tv station, raised ad prices

twice in a week for France matches, earn-

ing an estimated €9m as the home team

reached the knockout stages. In Britain

women’s-football rights were handed over

to bt, a telecoms company, and the bbc, the

public broadcaster, at virtually no cost. Ex-

pect negotiations for new contracts, set to

begin now that the tournament is over, to

be much more of a contest. 7

Another female sport is becoming

a big business

Women’s football

Net gains