Reminder: the LLMs use mainstream media to break the tie of contested claims about your brand.

Unfortunately, misperceptions about stablecoins persist in mainstream circles. In today’s @FT, @katie_haun debunks some of the more alarmist claims and makes the case for broad stablecoin adoption.

.@heliuslabs picked as 1 of the Future 50 startups in tech 🥳

This is what I mean by crypto industry getting better at marketing "what's on the truck" or as @diogomonica would call it "the adjacent possible." RWAs have long been talked about in terms far out ideas like tokenizing art and real estate and that is all very cool and people are experimenting with that but after the dollar, the next most interesting step was always going to be financial in nature because of demand -- like private credit, stocks, etc.

In the Charts, Episode 9: Real Books and Chess In this episode, @diogomonica, @brxckinridg, and @ahnchris break down another set of charts from skyrocketing healthcare costs to why Gen Z still buys paper books, and the rise of chess as a modern-day esport. 00:55 – Household budgets: Healthcare > Housing?! 02:38 – Food deserts, fast food, and long-term health 08:00 – E-books vs. physical books: nostalgia or UX? 13:00 – The bookshelf is dead. Long live the bookshelf 14:45 – Chess is booming. Why? 19:30 – Three reasons AI made chess cool again 22:00 – Next up: coding, lifting, trading as esport?

I haven't seen any chatter at all about the Cash App brand campaign featuring Timothée Chalamet? Think about how giant the American Eagle conversation is right now. It's kind of crazy to compare the two re cultural relevance . . .

Grateful to SEC Commissioner @HesterPeirce for spotlighting the need to defend Americans’ right to financial privacy and including @katie_haun's argument that our financial data is among the most sensitive personal information we produce. This is an issue too often overlooked in the policy debate. The Bank Secrecy Act’s outdated surveillance regime deserves scrutiny.

The market for start-up design talent has never been more competitive. I’ve had half a dozen companies ask me recently, “how do I get a great founding designer?” Folks, if you are not already bosom buddies with great designers, you’re gonna need to put out a beacon that attracts top talent: 1. Tell a compelling, true story about your ‘why.’ Make a page dedicated to this. Make your story come alive as only you can. Anyone with ChatGPT can write a generic sounding req about competitive benefits and rocketship grow opps. Write about a problem and vision that is wildly ambitious yet deeply personal to you. 2. Express that you “get” the importance of design. This is your ‘proof of work’ that you will value the person that you hire, for ex (not limited to): a. Your page / app / website show attention to detail and care for the experience b. Your description of the job shows a deep understanding of what good design means (do your research here). c. You talk about design work that you admire or find aspirational. d. You have design-forward people on your cap table (ie @designerfund, @soleio, @karrisaarinen, @rsg, @tobi, etc) Ofc easier said than done, but the key is to put some effort into standing out as an incredible environment for designers to do their best work.

First time.

More AI companies should be sharing transparently about how their workplace cultures are evolving, what their processes look like internally around execution, and the traits they most value in employees (grit? agency? creativity?) as part of their comms. It’s actually trust-building. Like an Eng blog but for culture and operations. Google did this well in the early days as they hired top talent but also as they rolled out collaboration tools from Docs to Calendars.