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inkweaver22-blr · 3 years

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Welcome to lucky chapter 13!

A few announcements before we begin!

First, we got fan art! Shout out to @ooflifeshard for their art of the Jin/Yin/Tang fusion!

Second, I post extra thoughts on my writing process and the chapter in general on my Tumblr! Look up the tag Fanfiction Live Blogging to read them!

Now let’s get on with the story!

AO3 Link

Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Thirteen: Aspects of Arachnids

The Spider Clan is made up of some interesting people. That includes MK this time.

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“So what did you want to talk about Mr. Tang?”

They were taking a walk through a secluded park. Tang had asked to speak with the young man privately once he had woken in this cycle to address a recent memory he had received.

“I wanted to apologize to you, MK,” Tang said. MK tilted his head in confusion.

“What for?”

“For the way I treated you last week.”

MK tensed.

“I- I don’t know what you mean,” he said.

“MK.” Tang turned and placed his hands on MK’s shoulders, looking him in the eye. “It’s okay. I know.”

“Know what?” MK was trembling now. He avoided Tang’s gaze, wide eyes darting around as if to look for a place to hide.

Tang gave him a reassuring squeeze and kind smile.

“I know you are the spider demon we saw.”

Last week had been before Tang had woken in the cycle. They had all rushed over to where MK had been fighting a demon alone only to find a spider demon they had never seen before wearing MK’s jacket and bandana while holding the Monkey King’s staff.

The group had, predictably, reacted with hostility. They threatened the demon and attacked him. They hadn’t been able to actually harm him before he got away, and MK had shown up perfectly fine the next day.

Physically at least.

When Tang had gone over the memories earlier this morning, it was obvious to him who the demon actually was. It certainly wasn’t the first time MK was something other than human.

He was also able to see the signs of emotional distress MK was showing over the past week. It was clear that their reaction to his true form was devastating to him.

Tang intended to fix that.

“I didn’t figure it out until this morning,” Tang said when it was clear MK had frozen in fear and wasn’t going to say anything. He pulled him into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry I didn’t see it right away. You are very important to me and I am ashamed to have made you feel like you were unwanted.”

“You- You don’t mind?” MK clung tightly to the scholar, as if afraid he’d vanish at any moment.

“Of course I don’t. What you are or what you look like isn’t important to me. What matters is who you are and I happen to care about the person you are quite a lot.”

Tang held the young man as he trembled in his embrace. He pulled away after a few minutes, wiping his eyes and giving Tang a watery smile.

“Thank you, Tang.”

“Any time, MK.”

“Do the others know?”

“I haven’t told them anything,” Tang said as they continued their walk. “This is your secret and you should be the one to reveal it when you’re ready.”

“But what if they react like last time?” MK kicked a rock out of his path and seemed to fold into himself. “What if they don’t want to be friends with something like me?”

“First off, that would be pretty hypocritical of them considering both Pigsy and Sandy are technically demons as well and Mei is descended from a dragon. That actually makes me the odd one out in our group as the only human.”

“Huh. Didn’t think of that,” MK said.

“Second, I know they all care about you, MK. I sincerely doubt they wouldn’t be able to look past appearances and see the person we all love.”

“Love?” MK stared wide eyed at Tang.

“I like to think of us as a family,” Tang said. “Even if we aren’t the typical kind, families love each other, and you are a part of that.”

“Family…” MK smiled sadly into the distance. “It would be nice to have more family.”

“There is no ‘would be’ about it.” Tang slung his arm around MK’s shoulders. “We are family and you’re stuck with us no matter what.”

MK gave him a wide grin, leaning into the sideways hug as they continued on their path.

“Aren’t you curious by what I meant by ‘more family’?”

“Of course I am,” Tang said. “But it’s not my place to pry. If you want to talk about that then I’d be more than willing to listen.”

“Oh, well okay,” MK said, perking up a bit. He began to enthusiastically speak about his other family, but never giving any names.

Tang was able to piece together who he was talking about rather easily.

The Spider Queen was his mother. It wasn’t much of a surprise for Tang as she had filled that role for MK in the past, but never quite so literally. From what MK was saying, she seemed to still be that lovingly supportive yet protective type that he had encountered in previous cycles.

The fact that she was a much more active villain in this cycle that MK constantly fought was not addressed.

Huntsman was ‘Uncle H’. He seemed to be the type of person that gave small children lessons on knife wielding just so they could protect themselves. MK had learned all his combat skills in his spider form from him.

Huntsman was certainly a focused and skilled combatant, but, as his many friendships with Sandy across time showed, he also knew how to enjoy the quieter moments in life.

That left Goliath as ‘Uncle G’. The large spider may seem like just a brute who relied on his strength, but Tang had witnessed his soft side a few times. MK spoke fondly of the lullabies Goliath had sang when he was still little as well as his delicious cooking.

Tang wondered how it compared to Pigsy’s creations and mused on how he could try and get a cook off set up.

MK did not speak of Syntax. That made sense as it was still somewhat early in the cycle and the scientist hadn’t really joined up with the spiders until after Demon Bull King’s second invasion.

Tang did his best to recall what he knew about the man. They had been friends and colleagues once in a cycle where they had been professors at the city university.

Syntax could be a bit standoffish to those he didn’t know. Once he warmed up to you though, he loved to go on long tangents about chemistry, biology, and computer engineering. He could also be surprisingly thoughtful, having dropped by several times with an extra cup of coffee on those late nights Tang had been stuck in his office grading papers.

Tang never knew why he started working for the Spider Queen. The scientist had always been a bit ambitious, so he supposed working on something as unique as a serum using bits of the Monkey King’s power was more than enough to sway him.

It was a shame the serum was then used against him and he seemed to lose all memories of his human life.

Tang forced himself back into the present as MK finished up an anecdote about Huntsman and Goliath nearly panicking after MK had fallen asleep in his hiding spot during a game of hide and seek.

“They all sound wonderful,” Tang said once MK had finished.

“Yeah, they are.” MK sighed wistfully. “I haven’t spoken to them in a while though.”

“Why not?”

“It’s… Complicated.”

Tang could certainly understand that considering how they fought each other on a nearly weekly basis.

“Well whatever the reason, it sounds like they care about you just as much as we do,” Tang said. “I’m sure they’d be more than happy to welcome you back into their lives.”

“I know that,” MK said with a huff. “I’m just not sure they'd approve of me being the Monkey King’s successor.”

“I see.”

Tang did see. He had been a part of demon families before and knew how leaving one’s blood to side with an enemy could tear relationships apart. He hoped that wouldn’t happen here with MK.

“In any case, I just hope you know that you have people that care about you and if you ever need help to just ask, okay?”

“Yeah, I know. Thanks Tang.” MK gave him another smile before frowning in thought. “I’m still not sure if I want to tell the others though.”

“That’s perfectly fine,” Tang said. “If you aren’t ready then you aren’t ready. I won’t say anything to anyone before you do.”

“Really?”

“I promise.”

The rest of the walk was spent discussing lighter subjects such as the latest Monkey Cop movie and which types of noodles were superior.

Tang decided to not bring up his curse this cycle. He knew he could get around the memory seal by simply stating he had a curse but not exactly its effects, but MK already had quite a lot to deal with this time. He didn’t want to add on to that stress with something that couldn’t be fixed.

He hoped that the Spider Clan would come to accept MK as he was, successor to the Monkey King and all. Not just for his sake either, as Tang could already feel four spots slowly opening up in his heart where he kept his love for his family.

It would be hard to bring them into the fold. Much harder than Macaque, the twins, or even the Demon Bull Family.

But Tang was patient.

He would use this cycle to get to know the spiders better. They were already MK’s family this time around.

Perhaps, in time, they could become his as well.

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Things went to Hell rather quickly.

New Years went the same as usual, but this time with the added horror of a mutated Macaque.

The shadow demon had been willingly experimented on by Syntax after he had failed to steal the Monkey King’s powers from MK. He now sported an extra set of arms and eyes, had lavender fur, and was in constant pain from the modifications. Wukong had offered him sanctuary, and Macaque had accepted.

MK hadn’t taken it well when he learned that it was his mother who had convinced Macaque to go through with the procedure.

Now something even worse was happening. This was a cycle that not only changed MK’s background, but someone else’s as well.

Lady Bone Demon was much more impulsive this cycle.

She had attacked them all directly this time, before even gathering up the artifacts she needed. They had all been overwhelmed pretty quickly and everyone except MK had been captured. She had then given him an ultimatum.

Give her the Monkey King’s power, or MK’s family would perish.

Lady Bone Demon then ‘graciously’ gave MK twenty four hours to think about it before teleporting away with her captives.

“Hey, where are you taking him?!”

Tang glanced up as he realized that he hadn’t been placed in the same cell as his family. Pigsy and Mei glared at the skeleton guards while Sandy tended to the unconscious Wukong and Macaque.

“Boss only wants five to a cell,” guard one said.

“Hope your friend here isn’t afraid of spiders,” guard two mocked.

Tang blinked at that as the others began to protest loudly. The guards simply laughed and led him away.

Well, he had wanted to get to know the Spider Clan better this cycle, hadn’t he?

After being marched down many winding corridors, Tang was thrown unceremoniously into a different cell.

Tang picked himself up and was confronted with the scowling faces of the Spider Queen and her entourage. They had certainly looked like they had seen better days.

After demanding why he was there, they had dismissed him and went back to trying to come up with a way to escape.

They had mused about eating him for a bit, Huntsman even going as far as to restrain him and brandishing a knife, before Tang had been forced to break his promise to MK. They were skeptical at first, but once Tang began telling the stories he had heard from MK, they believed him.

Spider Queen was emotionally distraught at the thought of harming her baby, but became more resolved than ever to beat Lady Bone Demon once she realized they were being used as hostages against her son.

Huntsman had been a bit more accepting, bragging about how the only reason MK had beaten them so often was from all the training he had given him. Goliath had just asked if he was eating well.

Syntax had been standing off to the side looking uncomfortable before Tang assured him that MK would be more than happy to get to know him.

The Spider Clan had invited Tang into their scheming quickly afterwards. None of their plans were very feasible, but Tang felt his connection to the four grow stronger.

Strange were the bonds you could make when in prison.

Before they could act on any of their plans, the twenty four hours were up and they were whisked away by the magic of their captor.

Tang opened his eyes to find the ten of them suspended in the air by blue ropes as Lady Bone floated in front of them. On the ground was a horrified looking MK.

“Now it is time you choose,” she said. She reached out and grabbed Tang and Spider Queen by their arms, pulling them forwards. “Your powers? Or your family?”

“Don’t listen to her, baby,” Spider Queen called out. “We’ll be fine! Just get out of here!”

“M-mom?!” MK’s mouth had dropped at being recognized.

“Sorry, MK. I broke my promise,” Tang said. “To be fair, your family was planning on eating me before I told them.”

“We said we were sorry about that-”

“ENOUGH!” Lady Bone Demon’s bellow shook the ground. “What is your decision?!”

“I- I can’t-” MK was trembling as he gripped his staff tightly.

“Wrong answer.”

Tang and Spider Queen screamed as they each had one of their arms shattered in her grip. Lady Bone Demon tossed them behind her, the blue ropes re-materializing to bind them as she summoned a large scythe.

“One last chance.” She pulled back the weapon, preparing to strike. “Give me the Monkey King’s power!”

MK roared in rage and seemed to explode into gold, purple, and green light.

Tang gasped in pain as he tried to stay awake. He stared in shock as the light expanded and formed into a giant figure.

Tang had seen the giant form that Wukong would occasionally become to take on much more powerful opponents. Macaque had access to this power as well and so would MK sometimes. It had no official name, but a scroll he had read many cycles ago had described it in a way that Tang couldn’t help but agree with.

Aspects of Destruction.

It resembled MK’s spider form, but with his human half looking more like a monkey’s instead. He had four arms now and each one held a copy of the Monkey King’s staff. The twelve eyes glowed with a burning green malice as they glared at Lady Bone Demon.

Faster than he could blink, Tang watched as MK swung one of his staffs and batted the white demon away from them. MK roared and leapt after her.

The pain from having his bones crushed soon became too much and Tang passed out.

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Tang woke up on Sandy’s airship.

He learned it was a few days later. MK hadn’t been able to defeat Lady Bone Demon, but had managed to buy them all the time to escape. They had also managed to pick up Red Son somewhere along the way.

Now, all twelve of them were out of the city looking for a way to defeat her.

The Spider Clan had seemed to integrate easily into their group over the next few weeks.

Spider Queen had already gotten to know Macaque over the course of the experiments, but once Wukong decided to go through the same procedure and gained two extra pairs of arms, she seemed to start flirting with the both of them.

Neither monkey seemed bothered by this and flirted right back.

Huntsman had decided Mei needed proper weapons training with her sword and whenever he wasn’t giving her pointers was drinking tea with Sandy.

Goliath shared cooking duty with Pigsy. The pair gave each other tips and techniques and their meals only became tastier from the collaboration.

Syntax had seemed a bit lost at first, but after completing one of the internet memes MK had quoted, became fast friends with him. He even got to have stimulating scientific discussions with Red Son.

Tang sighed in contentment at dinner one evening as he listened to the conversations around him.

He had never thought he would have longed for a large family, but this just felt right to him.

Tang hoped he would get to experience it more often in future cycles.

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The Spider Clan joins the ranks!

I think that leaves only two characters left out of Tang’s family. Considering who they are, I doubt that will happen any time soon.

This chapter takes place in @strange-lace's amazing Spider Monkie AU! It has some great angst and fluff as well as absolutely lovely spider-monkey designs for Macaque and Wukong! Go check it out!

Now technically this AU doesn't have a kaiju form for MK, but I wanted to introduce the concept to the story and it didn't fit anywhere in the coming chapters.

There’s going to be some plot in the next chapter so look forward to it! Until next time!

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kae-karo · 6 years

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knlalla’s fics of 2018

hello dears! now that the year’s coming to a close, i wanted to round up a quick post of all my fics from this year, please enjoy! i’ve highlighted my personal faves/the ones i’m most proud of :’) it’s been a wild year, so thanks so much to everyone for all your kind support!

one-shots

<2k

Phancakes (x) 1k (g) - the bois being domestic on pancake day (look okay we don’t have pancake day in america i have to live vicariously through dnp), insp by this tweet and the iconic vid no tw! just domestic fluff

did you make me a video for valentine’s day? (x) 1k (g) - Dan has a tradition, every year on Valentine's day he asks Phil the same question... no tw, minor angst

my talents include... (x) 1k (g) - Dan's whiny because Phil won't pay him any attention, so he sends out a passive-aggressive tweet. shoutout to @daliensgrandads on tumblr for bugging me to write this (instead of my current wip whoops) no tw, unless whiny!dan counts

Days like this (Security) (x) 800 (g) - Some days just aren’t good ones. tw depression

Balance (x) 1k (t) - Phil wants to post the bunk bed insta story, but Dan just wants to sleep. no tw

i missed you (x) 1k (g) - basically their history as told by dan no tw

the way you look tonight (x) 1k (g) - dan has a vid to edit. phil has other ideas. you have to listen to the way you look tonight by frank sinatra (youtube, spotify) whilst listening to this okay no tw

Chan (x) 1k (g) - insp by the anon that sent "demon hc: phil just chuckling fondly at dan thirsting over chan, while chan searches the bus and they’re both stood outside in pyjamas on the canadian border. idk, it’s just the kinda fond, secure bde that phil exudes these days" no tw

morning coffee (x) 1k (t) - inspired by the lovely anon who sent me "I dreamed Dan posted an insta story of Phil drinking coffee in bed and he was laying on his shoulder and I kept trying to show people how cute it was but no one cared, and when I woke up I remembered that you would care, and I realized it was a dream and now I’m a tad disappointed in my subconscious for trolling me." no tw

doing nothing often leads to the very best of something (x) 2k (g) - based on this (x) and a lil imagine i wrote (x) and expanded on so thanks to the lovely anon who originally sent "that pic phil posted of dan for his bday i think where dan is making a funny face and theres a nearly empty wine bottle in the background hhhhh that makes my demon heart drop" and to the lovely anon who asked for more! no tw

The House at Pooh Corner (x) 1k (g) - insp by the anon that sent "Full demon mode: Im just finishing up the Undertale series for the first time and all I can think about as Dan and Phil talk back in forth in their different character voices is how #blessed any future child of theirs is. Just imagine them snuggled up with a kid on each of their laps, reading Winnie the Pooh and doing voices for all the characters. RIP my heart." and the anon that sent "I've been having a really bad day. And something that I find really cute is imagining what Dan and Phil would be like as parents. (noting that you don't have to have kids ever to be a fulfilled human, just that people being good parents warms my heart). Hypothetically, what do you think it'd be like? I bet Dan would surprise himself by being a good dad. b/c he'd want his kid to feel free to be themselves and we all know he can be very protective when he needs to be." no tw, parent!phan

waffles (x) 2k (g) - phil goes to the 24hr diner with the hopes of seeing his favorite waiter (insp by me seeing a cute waitress at a diner. unfortunately none of the rest actually happened to me lmao) no tw, meet cute

it’s not living if it’s not with you (x) 800 (g) - dan and phil in bed at phil's parents' home, briefly reminiscing no tw

>2k

if we stopped shipping phan (x) 8k (g) - what would happen if the entire phandom just...stopped shipping phan? insp by this post about not shipping phan for a month cause they'd freak out. Happy Valentine's day, @phantasizeit! no tw, friends to lovers

sleepover in the moon room (x) 6k (g) - It's a tradition they've had for years (Note: this was written with the intent that it can be read completely platonically or non-platonically, whichever you prefer. It's not written to imply one way or another.) a platonic fic sorta lmao

printer error (x) 16k (m) - Dan's a fanfic writer who's desperate to meet the AmazingPhil, but one printing mishap could bring him closer to his idol than he ever anticipated. no tw, strangers to lovers with a bit of fic commentary

everyone knows that (x) 5.5k (g) - They fight more often than they don’t, but that’s just how relationships are. Everyone knows that. Phil bakes when he’s worried, especially when he's worried about Dan. And Phil bakes quite a lot. Dan hates that he's the cause of Phil's nervous baking, that Phil's always so stressed because of him, but Dan has a hard time feeling too bad when the outcome is a plate of warm cookies. no tw just some angst

The Seven Deadly Insta Stories (x) 7k (e) - A collection of seven short fics based on the seven deadly sins, as told in the form of insta stories dnp didn’t post. as a prompt from @phanfichallenge to post a fic every day this week, have my tour fic twist on the seven deadly sins!! no tw, tour fic(s)

i’d do anything to not be alone (x) 16k (t) - I don’t know why I bother waking up. It’s one of those nonessential activities, like eating or drinking or breathing. But I do it, because if I don’t, then nobody would water the plants. Phil left and Dan doesn't know why. But he has to take care of the plants, because Phil would be so disappointed if he came back and his plants had died. no tw, just lots of sadness n a bit of angst but it does, as always, end happily i promise

dark purple sky (darkness comes out to play) (x) 4k (e) - It’s not that he hates parties, it’s just that- well, no, he hates parties. And costumes. And showing up to parties in costumes, and showing up to parties decidedly not wearing costumes, and all the mumbled judgements that come along with doing so. And he hates sweets - really, the only things he does like about Halloween are the autumnal vibes and the cool weather, and experiencing those certainly did not require his friends dragging him out to some abandoned castle grounds for a half-assed late-night party. Or the one where Dan gets a blowjob from a complete stranger in the middle of the forest on Halloween. no tw really, strangers to lovers?, mostly just pwp

Properly (x) 10k (e) - Dan's been trying to take advantage of the all-hours pool for a late night swim, but some guy always shows up before him. no tw just pwp and some strangers to lovers

chaptered

Demons and Diners (x) 65k (m) - A broke Dan, on the run from his previous life, finds temporary shelter in an abandoned diner...for the night? tw depression, some blood mentions, but happy ending as always!

What day is it? (x) 32k (t) - It's the first day of the semester, and it's already gone to shit: Dan's late to his first class, finds out his mortal enemy, Phil Lester, is the TA, and gets rejected by the girl of his dreams, but at least tomorrow's a new day...right? Aka the one where Dan and Phil are stuck reliving the same day over and over and can't figure out why. no tw except some major angst, uni au, enemies to lovers

Axiom (x) 31k (t) - Axiom: a proposition that is not actually proved or demonstrated, but is considered to be self-evident and universally accepted. Dan's out for the umpteenth time at the bar for its weekly speed-dating night (not that they'd actually call it that). tw depression and a really cliche plot twist whoops but a happy ending, always

one second (x) 41k (e) - When you spend your life getting glimpses of a myriad of possible futures every time you get a little emotional, you tend to lose sight of reality, of the present; a bad day turns into a bad week because all you see are the worst-case futures. You get a little excited about something, things start to go your way, but then all you can see are the realities where things are even better. Life tends not to measure up. Or the one where Dan meets Phil on a plane, and maybe reality starts to become better than even Dan could predict. no tw really, strangers to lovers

slow-closing doors (x) 44k (t) - SECRETS, DRAMA, BETRAYAL (okay no betrayal dw). Phil's agreed to be an RA for his floor this year at uni, and he's determined to be the best RA ever - after all, this is these students' first year, he wants them to have the best year ever. Loosely inspired by Freeze Tag by Caroline B Cooney. tw minor violence nothing graphic just a lil scary, uni au strangers to lovers

Peter Phan (x) 37k (m) - Phil's woken in the middle of the night by a mysterious guy at his window who's intent on dragging him off on an adventure, and for some inexplicable reason, he agrees. Dan's stuck - quite literally - in his own head, and he's desperate for anyone to help him escape. Maybe, if he's lucky, that person could be Phil. He hopes it is. tw depression and suicide attempt, implied/referenced non-con, lots of angst, but definitely a happy ending, strangers to lovers

angel boy (x) 22k+ (e) - for the anon that sent "Oh fuck, now I need a smutty fanfic with twink!Dan taking it from behind with his angel wing tattoo (or real ones for that matter... actually, yes please, real ones. And Phil has a kink for being a bit rough with them... maybe Phil's a demon... fuuuck, someone write this for me?)" Aka the one where angel!Dan goes into a demon club looking for a bit of entertainment. no tw, my attempt at pwp turned into porn with a plot lmao

Sea Glass (x) 58k (t) - Phil arrives on the Isle of Man to house-sit at his family's cabin while it's repaired and sold. Except the cabin's in far worse shape than expected, and Phil's got to find somewhere else to stay no tw really but like i updated this a few times this year so i’m counting it

Exile (x) 172k (e) - Exile's a fucking bitch. Dan finds himself kicked out of town and searching for literally anywhere out of the rain - somehow, he must have just enough luck, as he stumbles upon a seemingly abandoned house in the middle of the forest. Except it isn't abandoned, and the resident isn't exactly...normal...

#phanfic

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joehas · 4 years

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We are all SaaS Companies Now. - The Real Work Begins After the Sale.

There are now two types of businesses in the world, those who know that they are a SaaS business and those that do not know it yet. It is the message I have long been sending to the participants of the Owners Scaleup Program at IE Business School. If anything, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has reinforced my view that this is the direction that all companies must go.

SaaS and me have a long history. Twenty years ago, at the height of the dot.com boom, I left the world of Management Consulting. Along with five others, we formed Marrakech, a SaaS solution for the back office problem of e-procurement. Seventy five million dollars in Venture Capital and over 250 employees later, the company was sold. Even people who worked there do not believe me when I sell them that the software they wrote still operates today. The lesson here is that a good SaaS solution can take a long time to reach its potential but once it does, it´s almost impossible to move.

Luigi Mallardo

So what is Software as a Service (SaaS) then? Here I turn to Luigi Mallardo, the Professor who teaches the classes on SaaS for the Owners Scaleup Program. The mistake, he tells me, is to think only about the technical implementation of running software in the cloud. Instead you need to think of SaaS as an mindset. It´s not so much what it takes to set up a SaaS platform but what having a SaaS platform enables you to do. You are not so much selling a product but instead creating a lifetime customer by delivering a superior experience. The real work begins after the sale.

One of my interests is adventure sports, specifically climbing mountains. I spend a completely indefensible amount of time reading the Gearguy on Outside magazine. Next year´s Arc'teryx hardshell jacket will be lighter! Are Lowe Alpine going to do a twenty five liter backpack without the annoying crossloop? These might mean nothing to weekend ramblers but to expedition climbers, the details are a very, very big deal. And once a new piece of kit comes out, the question arises as to the best place to get it? I drive my wife crazy with the amount of price watching I do at The North Face Outlet Store just outside Madrid.

But what if I decided that I would be Alex Honnold and only wear The North Face? What if TNF could be like Netflix whereby in exchange for paying them a monthly subscription, I got access to a superior experience beyond what was available to their retail customers? If I could engage with their product designers about what I liked and didn´t like, I could help design their future products. If I was prepared to give them some data on how I used their products, in time they would know what I needed before I did.

A good first question when I give a masterclass is “How did Warren Buffet make his money?” Everyone knows that he is a value investor but much less people know what sectors he has invested in. At least one of the answers is insurance. Buffett has said that had he not acquired an insurance business “Berkshire would be lucky to be worth half of what it is today.” And why? For the “predictable and recurring premiums”. The Sage of Omaha was into SaaS business models before there was even a cloud.

In almost every respect, the Irish retailer Primark has done what a Business School Professor would advise. Experiment until you find a formula then double down on that to the exclusion of everything else. This is what allows you to grow exponentially. When analysts pointed to the British online fashion and cosmetic retailer ASOS, Primark would point to the queues outside their stores on Europe´s major high streets. Then the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit and all their stores had to close. Without any online channel, sales went from £650m per month to zero. Z-E-R-O.

Jason Lemkin

The scaling up phase of a business is what happens after you find a scalable and repeatable business model through experimentation. In particular, the benefits come from the tight integration of an ERP with your SaaS platform. It takes patience and time but the result is recurring revenue, low churn and high margins that grow every year. A great reference text for those new to this area is Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin´s 2016 book From Impossible to Inevitable: How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue.

Jason likes to talk about the rise of the SaaS Decacorns, over 20 companies worth $5b or more. Here are their names: Salesforce $180bn, Shopify $90bn, ServiceNow $70bn, Zoom $48bn, Atlassian $45bn, Workday $40bn, Square $35bn, Veeva $30bn, Twilio $29bn, RingCentral $23bn, DocuSign $24bn, Okta $23bn, Datadog $22bn, Slack $17bn, CrowdStrike $17bn, Coupa $15bn, MongoDB $13bn, Wix $11bn, Dropbox $9bn, Cloudfare $9bn, Zendesk $9bn, Avalara $8bn, Hubspot $8bn, Five9 $7bn. And we are only getting started! The real benefits will come when the software world connects with the physical world. As with Apple, stores have a role to play in this as well.

Scott Galloway is a professor of marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business. You may know him from his twice weekly podcast with Kara Swisher on Vox, the weekly Prof G show or his new show No Mercy, No Malice on VICE TV. Scott likes to big up the “rundle” short for “recurring revenue bundle”. He argues that in truth consumers want LESS, not MORE choice in their busy lives. They are happy to go with one brand 99% of the time if they trust that brand will not let them down. It´s really an extension of Clay Christensen´s jobs-to-be-done methodology. In areas such as media, apparel, travel and health, we all want the “job” to be done for us. For a monthly fee and engagement via an app your FOMO disappears. Perhaps a rain jacket for another company is better, but no one was ever laughed at for wearing The North Face.

The more I checked in with the past participants of the Owners Scaleup Program, the more the challenges they were facing stayed the same. No predictable and recurring revenue, no real customer stickiness, no information on which to make product decisions about the future. I´m thinking in particular with one founder. Let´s call him Pierre (for that is his name). Pierre has been success at most things that he has done but he has never had to face anything like Coronavirus (COVID-19). The call started with a catchup but then the familiar issues emerged. As time ran out, he told me that the call had been very useful, when could we talk again? “Pierre, I love you man but I´m not in love with you. Call me when you are ready to admit to yourself that you are a SaaS company, until then you are just wasting my time.”

Professor Joe Haslam is the Executive Director of the Owners Scaleup Program at IE Business School. You can follow him on Twitter at @joehas

Read the article on the South Summit website here.

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Ask D'Mine: On Diabetes Superpowers and Old Flames

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Ask D'Mine: On Diabetes Superpowers and Old Flames

Need help navigating life with diabetes? Ask D'Mine! That would be our weekly advice column, hosted by veteran type 1, diabetes author and community educator Wil Dubois. This week he's taking on some pretty unusual queries, about sports and love with the Big D. Read on.

Got your own questions? Email us at [email protected]

Anne from Oregon, type 1, writes: Hi Wil, I love reading your column! It is a wonderful treat to sit down to every Saturday morning 🙂 As a newly-diagnosed type 1, I (of course) have a million questions. But the one I want to focus on is a fun one: Do we as PWDs have a "super power?" Where I'm going with this is that Gary Scheiner has a figure in his book Think Like a Pancreasshowing athletic performance vs. blood sugar level. There is no reference for the figure, but it shows that performance peaks at a BG of around 150 mg/dL. My recollection is that non-PWDs can't get that high with their blood sugars, thus the "super power" question, i.e. can we outperform them at a certain BG level?. Of course, this assumes that we can keep our blood sugar in that range during physical activity...

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: We type 1s tend to be super-stubborn. We learn to be super-tough. But sorry, no super-powers beyond that. And a damn lucky thing, too. Can you imagine if having slightly too high blood sugar made us perform better or smarter? Wall Street sharks would be getting pancreatectomies, athletes would be taking insulin-suppressing illegal drugs, school children would be saying "I wish I had diabetes," and the fastest-growing employment section in the nation would be for dialysis technicians and nurses.

The performance chart you referred to is on page 144 of the original 2004 edition of Scheiner's landmark book, but is missing from the latest version (which I bought as soon as it came out, but confess I haven't read yet). I think what Scheiner was trying to show us was NOT that athletic performance was supersized for everyone at 150 mg/dL, but rather that exercise for PWDs is dangerous when you're too low, and you perform rather badly when too high. But I'll admit, at a glance it looked pretty damn exciting.

In his new edition, Scheiner tells us "Elevated glucose can reduce your strength, flexibility, speed, stamina, and endurance." He reminds us that too much sugar in the blood leads to strains, sprains, and stiffness—actually making exercise harder.

Oh, in case you haven't read Gary Scheiner yet, you really should. His knowledge is top-notch and his writing style is highly entertaining, with good humor. (Example: "Raise your hand if you like being tired all the time. Okay, raise your hand if you're too tired to raise your hand. Elevated blood glucose reduces energy levels.")

He's my second-favorite diabetes author, after... you know... me!

Anyway, like I said, I haven't sat down (yet) to read Scheiner's revised classic from cover-to-cover, so to double check on the whole superpower thing, I emailed him about it. You know, just to be sure. Here, straight from the horse's mouth, is his answer:

"Unfortunately, there is no evidence that people with diabetes hold a competitive advantage over their non-diabetic counterparts when exercising at certain glucose levels. That's not to say that living with diabetes doesn't have its advantages; people with diabetes are generally more in-tune with nutrition, fitness, and how the body responds to various forms of physical activity than the average person."

So there you have it, Anne. Welcome to the family. Sorry. No X-ray vision. No super strength. No breathing underwater. We're not bullet proof. Or any of the rest of it.

But you can wear a cape if you want to. And it's OK to store all your diabetes supplies, gear, and meds in your own personal Bat Cave in your basement.

Oh!

Wait a second!

I was wrong (it happens occasionally). We do have one superpower, after all. And that's the power of community. It's more a "power of numbers" than an individual thing, but you are now connected in a unique and powerful way to other people who share your hopes, fears, experiences, and struggles.

You don't need to have super powers of your own.

You've got us.

Sherrie from Minnesota, type 3, writes: I just rekindled an old flame. He is an easygoing spirit and the man I should have married. My problem is, he is diabetic, too. His numbers are all over the place, from 500 or down to 120. He takes two types of insulin and a pill, but he doesn't eat right. He complains of headaches, but he doesn't respond when I try to get him to eat healthier. Help -- I don't know what to do.

Wil@Ask D'Mine answers: Diabetes. That I'm good at. Romance? Oh boy... I'm not sure I'm qualified for that. But what the hell, I've never been afraid to say what I think. And I think this is right out of Shakespeare! Lost lovers reunited. As easygoing hero and a fretting heroine. The long shadow of a threatening chronic illness. Secret messages to a bard (that would be me), pleading for advice. It's got all the trappings of a great play.

And we all know that Shakespeare plays can end rather well for the cast of characters, or end rather badly. The same, I daresay, is probably true for your situation.

What you're facing is the largest challenge in diabetes, or in life in general, for that matter: How to inspire change. Let's assume for the moment that your flame's therapy is appropriate (although he should check in with his doc) and that the pair of insulins and the pill should be able to do the job. I think that's a safe assumption as in diabetes, a pair of insulins is the equivalent of a royal flush in poker, so there's no reason that his control shouldn't be better.

So if he's got a wining hand, why's the game going so badly? Most likely because he's playing it poorly. I think you need to communicate with him about why you are worried and try to find out how he's feeling about all of this. I know you've tried, but I have an approach you might not have used yet.

In medicine we often use something called Motivational Interviewing (M.I.), which was "born" here in New Mexico back in '83 at our big university. All it is, is a way of making people think. You'd be surprised how little most people think. Oh, and it's also a form of communication, and I can't think of a couple in the world who couldn't communicate better—old flames, or new. You can watch my buddy Dr. Keri talk more about M.I. on You Tube, if you like video.

The key is to remember that you're going to be talking about something he most likely doesn't want to talk about in the first place. As such, you need to stick with open-ended questions. Don't ask anything that can be answered with a single syllable. For example: don't say "Can't you see how much I worry about you?" Because then he can say either "yes" or "no." The conversation just ended before it started, and he didn't even have to use his brain. Instead, say something more along the lines of "How do you think it makes me feel to watch you suffer so from your diabetes?"

Hah! Just try and answer that one with one word!

The long-term goal here is to plant the seeds of change, water them a bit, and hope to hell they grow. Future thinking never hurts either. Ask him how he sees the two of you a year from now. In two years. In five. Ten.

How will his diabetes affect that vision, if it's left raging out of control? His vision may be that in ten years everything will be the same. Yours might be of seeing-eye dogs and dialysis centers. I don't like "going negative," but I think honest fear is valid, and he needs to know how you feel.

So the brain mechanics (psychologists and psychiatrists), who study the way people change, tell us that we go through a predictable series of steps. I won't bore you with them all, but the first two are pretty interesting. They are pre-contemplation and ccontemplation. For instance, let's take something simple like binge drinking. If you're thinking about cutting your boozing down, you've probably already accepted that there's a problem and that you want, in theory, to do something about it. That's contemplation. You really aren't ready to take action—not yet—but at least the groundwork is laid, and you'd be open to the next step in change, which is actually doing something about the problem.

However, before that contemplation step, our brains are stuck in pre-contemplation, which means we haven't even acknowledged that there is a problem. I drink. I get drunk. I fall down. No problem.

M.I.'s goal is to light a fire under pre-contemplation and heat it up to the contemplation point. To get people thinking. Once the brain actually faces up to realities, it can do amazing things.

So my advice to ensure that this play will be a Romance, or maybe even a Drama or Comedy—but not a Tragedy—is to start talking to Mr. Easygoing in a way that forces him to think. To contemplate. And not just about him. And not just about the here and now.

But about both of you. And the future.

This is not a medical advice column. We are PWDs freely and openly sharing the wisdom of our collected experiences — our been-there-done-that knowledge from the trenches. But we are not MDs, RNs, NPs, PAs, CDEs, or partridges in pear trees. Bottom line: we are only a small part of your total prescription. You still need the professional advice, treatment, and care of a licensed medical professional.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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