M.

Invest in yourself. Do what you love and do it for you, not for anyone else. Take the leap in your life that you would regret if you didn’t.

Seiko Quartz 2A32-5120 wristwatch ft a Virgin of Guadalupe dial. It was made in Japan during the late 1980s to early 1990s

@michaelmiraflor You’re him

I have been unblocked by Marc Andreessen. What does this mean?

Creativity is showing other people what you see

Anthropic just took a big swipe at OpenAI's decision to put ads in ChatGPT. Anthropic is airing ads mocking ChatGPT ads during the Super Bowl, and they're hilarious 😅 Anthropic is also committing to no ads in Claude theverge.com/ai-artificial-…

WIP or not WIP?

@VictoriaFutures Looks like Lifetime Fitness 🤷🏻‍♂️

Would you know this is a Lululemon window if I didn’t tell you? A brand desperately crying out for a more distinctive approach, especially when it comes to copy and typography.

shoutout to the greatest AI-assisted X-mas song ever: L’il Jon’s “Get Low Holly Jolly Christmas”

@unusual_whales How is internet adoption declining?

Rate of adoption of AI, per NYT:

@michaelmiraflor Yea I’d prob bet the latter.. similar to why you see a bunch of youth in Europe and Asia reviving Avirex 😅

@_MLIU Hmmm so maybe it’s more of a back and forth over the decades, with this organic adoption by hip hop and subcultures being part of the reason why the Euros started WIP?

A fun AI prompt is to ask what the deal is between Carhartt USA and Carhartt WIP. They have almost nothing to do with each other at this point apart from the exclusive licensing arrangement. The latter’s halo effect on the former is palpable, but most people have no idea about how independently they operate from each other and that’s why you get really bad amateur TikToks about why “Carhartt is cool” but it’s really… Carhartt WIP is cool and fashionable and that halo effect makes the generic $20 Carhartt USA beanies feel like a great value. It’s a pretty incredible setup that is almost happening by complete accident at this point even though they share the same logo. An unintentional flywheel that is on autopilot on opposite ends of the consumer spectrum. A top brand history story up there with the Dassler brothers or Nike using a literal waffle iron. Etc.

No culture is safe from nerds in Japan. Any song your people have or dish they make. Japanese autism will seize it and do it ten times better than your ancestors could’ve ever imagined.

What happened to uber pool. I remember being in a car with 3 complete strangers driving all around the city for $2.67

Practice any art. Not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming. To make your soul grow.

So good

@michaelmiraflor Sending more info DMs 🫰

@_MLIU Did your agency have a CVC arm that made investments into some of these startups (how did you take equity from the accelerator)? I can see this as a win-win, but without long term incentive I can also see it ultimately being a waste of time for all involved as well.

Are there any VC firms that are willing to partner with big agency holding companies for GTM partnership? You and your startups get access to potential customers and get real world feedback (also a line into holdco CVC, if that exists). Holdco agencies get potential first look at new tools and ways of working.

@michaelmiraflor Always had ambition to expand relationship to shared equity bw agency x brand x VC, but never got to it. We haven’t formally ran a program like this in years. Still a firm believer in it though.

@michaelmiraflor My department built something like this in 2013, led by my prev boss - then me, created an accelerator type environment for VCs to connect their portcos with our clients to co-create and find PMF/GTM. Worked w FirstRound, SoftBank, Bloomberg beta et. We made fun products together

Painting the wall, and then being in disguise to be the one to “clean it up” to actually make another statement is very Oceans Eleven

@aagave Him conceding to being a highlight driven sport is a bad thing. It’s accurate though 🤷🏻‍♂️

@aagave I feel like he’s also pointing out the flaws that the NBA “product” has aka the games. The league and product of the nba has been very unappealing as these streaming agreements put strain on having more ad breaks, more games, and more injuries. Games just aren’t as exciting

Not clear if Silver intended to criticize his new broadcast and streaming partners here, but this point about free highlights meeting most fan needs exposes a key flaw in ESPN’s $30/month app fee. Other, complementary DTC models can capture and monetize digital fandom.