Why Read Tanner on Tech

The tech world is full of amazing products and services. What interests me is whether they actually make strategic and economic sense.

Tanner on Tech is a collection of short, opinionated essays about technology, investing and business strategy. Rather than reporting the news, I try to explain what it means—and especially where I think conventional wisdom has it wrong.

You'll find arguments about AI, semiconductors, Big Tech, competition, incentives and the occasional spectacular corporate misstep. Sometimes I'll be right. Sometimes I'll be wrong. But every article starts from the same premise: the most interesting questions in technology are often business questions.

If that sounds like your sort of thing, subscribe. If not, I hope you'll at least find something worth arguing with.

About Rob Tanner

I graduated from Warwick University in 1990 with a degree in Industrial Economics. Unfortunately, graduating into a recession meant my first job was in accountancy. Those are the breaks sometimes. Not the career I had imagined, but years later I have come to appreciate understanding accounting jargon and principles.

After qualifying, I spent a few years teaching new accountants before fleeing to the United States to complete an MBA at the University of Chicago. From there I joined The Boston Consulting Group, which I also did not at all enjoy (don't worry, the bad job streak ends below), although it did help me realize strategy was up my alley.

Next, was a PhD in consumer psychology at Duke University and, eventually, a twelve-year career as a marketing professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I actually enjoyed this! The research taught me to think carefully about evidence, incentives and human behavior—skills that have proved surprisingly useful in investing.

Outside academia I manage our own investments, with a particular interest in technology. I was early to Arm Holdings, and when that got sold from underneath me o Softbank in 2016, I was early to Nvidia with the proceeds. my original thesis was parallel processing, but immersing myself in that tech did lead me to seeing AI early. I'm a big believer in going super deep on only 1 or 2 industries. I was lucky to pick semi's .

Then life intervened. Lyme disease forced me to rethink priorities. After beginning to recover, I decided life was too short to work everyday (the privilege of the fortunate investing) and even though I had tenure, and loved the job, I retired at 52. No regrets, except not beating my dad who retired younger than me.

So here we are.

When I'm not wandering around with a camera hoping a Borrowing Owl will cooperate, you'll probably find me thinking about AI, semiconductors, branding, or why the market seems to have misunderstood something. Tanner on Tech is simply where I write those thoughts down. I have no goal. I might retire it tomorrow.

If any of them make you rethink your own views—or convince you that mine are completely wrong—then this experiment will have been worthwhile....