đ Play it smart today. That message really needs to reach the 4.2m+ people using â123456â as the password for their personal and corporate accounts. Is this a one-time faux pas? Nope: The password has topped the charts for five out of the last six years, being ousted only once by âpassword.â
đ§ On the pod:Why companies struggle when onboarding new employees.
NEWS FLASH
đ» Canât make this up: The California Insurance Department said four Los Angeles residents were arrested in connection to âOperation Bear Claw,â an insurance scam that raked in ~$142k with a fake bear attack. The individuals provided insurance companies with video footage of a âbearâ crawling inside a Rolls-Royce and two Mercedes, as well as photos of scratches on the seats and doors. The catch? A state biologist concluded that the beast was âclearly a human in a bear suit.â
đ§ A surprising turn of events:The Onion will turn Alex Jonesâ Infowars into a website parodying âweird internet personalitiesâ after purchasing it via bankruptcy auction for an undisclosed amount. Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, lost a $1.4B defamation lawsuit in 2022 related to Jonesâ claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. The sale of Infowars and its assets will compensate the families of those victims.
đŠ Ice cream of the⊠grocery aisle?Dippinâ Dots, the so-called âice cream of the future,â has typically been found at amusement parks or venues where it can be sold out of its own freezer. Thatâs because the flash-frozen dots wonât stay beaded in typical ice-cream freezers (usually set to zero degrees Fahrenheit) and must be chilled at minus 40 degrees. Yet J&J Snack Foods, which acquired the 36-year-old brand in 2022 for $222m, has finally found a way to expand into grocery stores: Dippinâ Dots Sundaes, prepackaged dots and cookie pieces insulated with regular ice cream and sauce.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Amazonannounced fixed pricing for treatments of conditions like hair loss and erectile dysfunction for Prime members. The update, which lets members see the cost of a telehealth visit and desired treatment before booking, sent Hims & Hers Health stock tumbling.
A Chipotle shareholder is suing the chain, claiming it didnât communicate the extent of customer backlash over inconsistent portion sizes amid its âskimpgateâ PR nightmare, leading to âsignificant losses and damages.â
The EU fined Meta$840m, claiming the company violated antitrust rules by linking Facebook Marketplace to its social network and âimposing unfair trading conditionsâ on other classified ads services. Meta intends to comply in the short term, but will appeal.
CASH IN QUICK
How to tackle raising more capital?
Pause all fundraising efforts (for a few minutes). We asked 500 founders from the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, and France to tell us what theyâre seeing in the field.
Hereâs the gist on earning more investments:
Yes, AI startups are winning: 53% of startups raising $4m+ in seed funding are AI-based.
No, rejections donât mean death: Over 50% of founders pitched their business 10x-50x before locking in investors.
Timelines are getting longer: as in, an average of 3-4 months to seed funding, 14-18 till Series A, and 20-24 to Series B.
Leverage your network: A whopping 56% of founders received pre-seed/seed funding from family and friends (39% from angel investors, 36% from VCs, and 29% from crowdfunding).
The most vital metrics to investors? Revenue growth rate, gross margin and profitability, market traction, and ARR, in that order.
Is the key to scaring sharks the worst thing about driving?
Ninety-one people were bitten by sharks in 2023, but biologist Dr. Laura Ryan may have a way to drop that number: lights!
Outside of a Jaws: The Revenge situation, sharks generally attack people when they confuse something unappetizing, like a surfer, for something tasty, like a seal. Ryanâs work involves arranging LEDs on seal-shaped decoys to see if sharks are less likely to attack, per The Times.
Lit decoys were attacked less often than unlit control decoys.
The brightest lights resulted in zero incidents.
Ryanâs team is now developing anti-shark lighting arrays for surfers.
But you donât have to be a sharkâŠ
⊠to hate having lights shined in your eyes. You could also be a motorist driving at night.
Youâve likely noticed car headlights getting brighter over the last decade or so, which is due to bluer LED lights on new cars.
New LED headlights are only as bright as old halogen headlights, but the system used to measure them doesnât account for the brighter blue tint.
The human eye can clearly perceive the difference, which is why theyâre so unpopular.
Whatâs the solution?
âAdaptive driving beamâ headlights that automatically adjust around other vehicles.
Theyâre available almost everywhere but the US, where outdated regulations have made it easier for automakers to just install bright LEDs and call it a day.
This raises the question: Are the sharks getting confused, or do they just hate those damn LEDs shined in their lifeless, black eyes? Sharks arenât so different from us after all â Who doesnât love a tasty seal?
Want to find your target audience? AI can help â shocker. Hereâs how to make it happen.
You know the Happy Meal, you love the Happy Meal, but you probably donât know its quirky history and its unexpected tie to Guatemala. Weâll explain.
Itâs finally Friday. Use your weekend to get a little smarter with these helpful links:
AI image generation can be tricky â learn how to avoid these three common missteps.
Want to feel really behind?Meet the 14-year-old entrepreneur who has already launched two businesses.
An operatorâs insights: Tune in for lessons learned on the journey from army to billion-dollar company.
AROUND THE WEB
đź On this day: In 2001, Microsoft released the Xbox, making it the first US company to enter the console market (then dominated by Japanâs Sony and Nintendo) since Atari discontinued its console in 1996.
đč Video: YouTuber Mechanistic 3D-printed a tiny piano. Hereâs how.
đ§ Marketing Against the Grain: What AI voice tech means for business development and customer support.
Itâs the stuff of our literal nightmares: Saunas are becoming the hot new place for professional networking, according to The Wall Street Journal. In the search to find a meeting place other than a bar, entrepreneurs and investors are turning to social sauna companies, like Othership and Portal, that provide a sober â albeit sweaty â place to meet up and make deals. For obvious reasons, the practice might take a little getting used to, as Laila Danielsen, the CEO of an AI software company, aptly put it after forgoing a sauna sit.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Interplanetary travel will have seasonal price fluctuations during specific times due to proximity between the two planets.SOURCE
