Grammar

_posts/2024-06-09-old-school-business.md

@@ -25,13 +25,13 @@ In the 90s, first-time homebuyers could only view houses through agents who had
 
 It's remarkable how a 50 year-old paper about powerful, dishonest sellers still resonates! Akerlof introduced how markets counteracted buyer uncertainty with tactics like guarantees, brand names, and certifications. However, the 20th-century economist had no chance of foreseeing the most revolutionary, scalable way to inform buyers... the world wide web.
 
-In 2004, Rich Barton was shopping for a house and couldn't find a house's pictures, price, or even the address without an agent. Inspired by *The Market for Lemons*, he and his team started organized public data, developed estimation algorithms, and threw it on a free website. [They called it Zillow.](https://www.npr.org/2021/06/11/1005526927/expedia-zillow-rich-barton) Overnight, *Zillow dramatically diminished the information gap between buyers and sellers*. Now, consumers can appraise an entire county's housing market before lunch. Although agents are still required in a housing transaction, Zillow is a tool to keep the institution in check. 
+In 2004, Rich Barton was shopping for a house and couldn't find a house's pictures, price, or even the address without an agent. Inspired by *The Market for Lemons*, he and his team started organizing public data, developed estimation algorithms, and threw it on a free website. [They called it Zillow.](https://www.npr.org/2021/06/11/1005526927/expedia-zillow-rich-barton) Overnight, *Zillow dramatically diminished the information gap between buyers and sellers*. Now, consumers can appraise an entire county's housing market before lunch. Although agents are still required in a housing transaction, Zillow keeps the institution in check. 
 
 The infinite scale of the Internet has disrupted the world by increasing transparency to traditionally opaque industries. Similar transformations occurred with Expedia (travel), Carfax (used cars), Glassdoor (employment), and Yelp (restaurants).¹
 
 ### Old vs. New
 
-"Old School Business" is relationship selling in a less-connected world where sellers had more control over the buyer's information- an era where a review, a price check, and a competitor wasn't a click away. It fails to recognize that technology has completely changed the buyer-seller dynamic with market transparency. In an era where negotiation was a core profit driver, there were no advantages in sharing information with customers.²
+"Old School Business" is relationship selling in a less-connected world where sellers had more control over the buyer's information- an era where a review, a price check, and a competitor wasn't [a click away](https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidwismer/2012/10/14/googles-larry-page-competition-is-one-click-away-and-other-quotes-of-the-week/). It fails to recognize that technology has completely changed the buyer-seller dynamic with market transparency. In an era where negotiation was a core profit driver, there were no advantages in sharing information with customers.²
 
 "New School Business" is a reaction to the technological progression of abundant information and competition. If your website doesn't show price, a competitor's will. If you misrepresent your product, Redditors will surely correct you. If you sell a lemon, the market of ideas will figure out you're a fraud pretty quickly. In New School Business, transparency, product-market fit, and customer success win in the end.