A look into leading subscription box companies and some major subscription-based businesses. The key thing to be aware of is that this book looks at these selected companies and their entire rise to prominence (their evolution from beginning to present), rather than looking at the vast ecosystem of subscription models and practices. Its focus is more on clever startup pivots than the evolving world of subscription models.

The companies covered are Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, Shopify, Spotify, and many physical subscription box companies (ipsy, birchbox, glossybox, boxycharm, plated, barkbox, dollar shave club, gentleman's box, etc). Many popular IPO stories and the history of Napster are in here too.

This book just left a lot to be desired. Given the subtitle, I expected a deep dive into how everything is transitioning into a subscription model over one-time payments. How have companies and individuals adapted to the subscription model? Individuals and businesses whose source of income is through recurring payments, Patreon, Youtube/Facebook paid channel memberships, Onlyfans, paid podcasts like Anchor, and so many others: are they faring better in a subscription model? How have we collectively changed with this transition? We now use subscriptions for software, music, news, tv+movies, video games, productivity apps, and everything that can be physically delivered to the house (food, clothing, household items). Has it been a net positive for consumers, or are there downsides? What are game passes, loot boxes, and player packs doing to kids who grow up with them? I don't know, I just keep thinking of things I would have rather heard about than subscription boxes.

Even when companies like Netflix are discussed, I was expecting more talk about their retention rate, or how they get users back, and how they keep a user's profile for a set time after canceling, etc. I would've also liked to know more about the automotive industry getting into the subscription business. New services offered by Audi and Porsche are mentioned in the beginning of the book, but only a brief mention.