Doug Devine

@OfficialLoganK @GoogleAIStudio 🙋‍♂️

Big upgrade to vibe coding in @GoogleAIStudio lands in Jan, but if you want to test early… 👇🏻

@m0ldilocks @cantos @collabfund labs

Three years ago I got sick from something most people overlook: mold exposure. Today, that journey comes full circle: we’re announcing MoldCo’s $8M Seed (total $11M), led by @cantos + @collabfund, to build the new standard of care for mold and chronic inflammation. The mission is clear: to serve patients who’ve waited far too long for answers. To celebrate, we’re giving away 50 free lab tests. Comment “labs” to claim one and we’ll DM you!

@AlexAndBooks_ Goldfinch, Shantaram

What's a long book that's actually worth reading?

@ColeSouth Why would you do this to yourself?

Asymmetrical fit socks are the Cadillac of laundry. Each player is dealt two socks face down. There’s no other form of laundry in which fortunes can change so much from load to load. Some people, pros even, won’t wear ‘em. They can’t handle the swings.

@ankurnagpal @sebfung ✈️

Everyone should learn how to use credit card points to travel the world in style We recorded a premium video course with an expert @sebfung to break down exactly how it works The course is typically $299, but free for the next 24 hours RT or Comment ✈️ and I'll DM it to you

@ColeSouth Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog 😭

Just what I needed, an official 10 hour (!!) version of this Mickey Mouse song my kids always ask for 😂

@ColeSouth Congrats, Cole!

Got my final stripe in Jiu Jitsu. The belt system has pros and cons… it’s a lot like comparing yourself to others in any area of life. On one hand, it helps you measure progress. On the other, it can stoke ego or imposter syndrome. I’ve beaten black belts in competition, but I also still occasionally have trouble with tough blue belts in the gym. It’s a good reminder never to get too hot on your successes or too beaten down by your failures.

How to royally piss off your mailman

@balajis State provided childcare would be a great start. Often families with young kids largest expense (besides taxes). France is a good example of this.

The cost of raising a family spans everything from real estate prices to education, so it’s a whole-of-society thing rather than just a business thing. But businesses can do a lot here.

We need to hyperdeflate the cost of raising a family.

@ColeSouth 👏

Just wrapped up my 4th Jiu Jitsu competition in 4 months (after a long hiatus). Learned a ton in each one, for me they’re equal parts fun and nerve-wracking. Felt good to line up a couple of W’s today and bring home my first 🥇

@ColeSouth Enjoyed reading this. Surprised to read how quickly you could drive brand value down due to being out of stock for a short period.

Thrasio (we sold a brand to them in 2020) is going bankrupt after raising $3.4 billion and ALMOST making it to IPO 😵 several people asked me, "will there be good opportunities to try to buy their assets?" here's why the answer is no, and 3 factors that killed their business. from 2019 to 2021, Thrasio was hoovering up any Amazon-centric ecommerce brand that hit the market. they raised billions of dollars to do so... and they weren't paid to sit on that money. so they did a ton of deals. the brands they were buying had short histories, and huge Amazon platform risk. an algorithm change, poorly timed stock-out, or review sweep could tank their portfolio overnight. it's similar to mortgage backed securities in 2007; buying 150 Amazon-heavy brands doesn't really give you diversification, it just handcuffs you to the Amazon ecosystem. Thrasio's team were experts at finance and doing deals. in our experience, they were an awesome acquirer and great to do business with. but i think they were pretty naive when it came to e-commerce operations. the brands they bought were not scams or anything, but their extreme Amazon dependence basically had Thrasio walking a tight rope where any operational error could push them off a cliff that would be very hard to climb back up. running out of stock is one key example. selling on Amazon is all about momentum. as your product sells more, Amazon ranks it higher, then it gets more reviews, so it converts better, so it sells even more... it's a flywheel that is awesome on the way up. but if you interrupt the flywheel with poor inventory forecasting and are out of stock for 60 days, it can be incredibly difficult to revive a listing. we've experienced this a few times where we had a product that was going absolutely gangbusters (and inevitably ran out of stock), we placed a huge reorder, but then we were never able to regain traction and had to write off a bunch of dead inventory. between operational missteps and who-knows-what that's going to happen in the bankruptcy process, i think most of the brands Thrasio owns will end up worthless. it's a lot easier than you might think to send an Amazon-heavy brand's value straight to $0 through operational error or plain bad luck. the brands Thrasio owned have mostly binary outcomes where they are either doing well or are completely worthless (as opposed to say slowly bleeding down 15% year-over-year). here are the 3 main factors that i think did Thrasio in: 1. overpaying: Thrasio raised an incredible amount of money and spawned tons of copycats. the market for e-com businesses got so frothy as all of these aggregators bid on every listing as soon as hit the market. they also generally did not get super high quality assets for the prices they paid. at one point they were public with their portfolio of brands, and it looked pretty questionable. they suffered from adverse selection where anyone with a 'meh' brand was for SURE going to try to sell it in 2020... but a lot of the real gems just stayed pat and cashflowed. 2. shaky operations leading to underperformance: Thrasio drastically underestimated the complexity of running 150 e-commerce brands. they mostly pushed the founders/owners of brands they bought to the side after closing, which didn't help either. again they just didn't have much margin for error here; 20% worse execution than the previous owner could easily lead to a 100% destruction of value. 3. variable rate debt: combine overpaying with underperformance... now sprinkle on a bunch of debt, and drastically increase the interest rates on it. revenue is decreasing as fast as debt servicing costs are increasing, and at some point the debt just becomes impossible to get out from under. Thrasio came soooo close to making it to IPO, but the macro climate turned against them just in time to sink their plans. in 2021, everyone and their mom was trying to launch a new Amazon aggregator. this phenomenon was one of the most interesting parts of this cycle, and with Thrasio going under it's coming to a close.

@TheAnnaGat Trust? Just happened to me.

Not going to name names but how can a top 10 publishing house’s new release in 2023 be so crappily bound that the moment you open the book the first chapter’s pages fall out?

@waitbutwhy bowerswilkins.com/en-us/product/…

My Apple Airpods Max have decided to randomly permanently die. Unimpressed. Which over-ear noise canceling headphones should I replace them with?

Act out of inspiration, not out of obligation.

@nevmed I wonder what was going on w/ beef in 1963 that made “govt expected” a selling point

The image alone does most of the talking in this 1963 Whopper ad. It has 4 pieces of copy I really like: - “It’s a meal in itself!” - “Only 39¢” “- Actual Size” - “Try one with a Coke!” I kind of want a Whopper now 👀

@MehtabKarta Haven’t heard of this sites. Will check them out. Thanks!

@MehtabKarta Very cool watch! Just curious, how do you discover watchmakers like this?

@JoePompliano Huge mistake for Nike but also no way they could have kept both Steph and LeBron happy coexisting as Nike signature athletes

Stephen Curry felt disrespected by Nike in 2013. So he left the iconic brand to sign with Under Armour. This partnership will probably make him $1 billion or more — and it's one of Nike's biggest screw-ups ever. Here's the crazy story:

@JMatthewMcGarry Sell

Want to sell ads in your newsletter? You need a great media kit. I curated the 20 best media kit and sponsorship page examples. It has slide decks, pages, and self-service examples from top media companies and creators. Like & reply "Sell" and I'll DM you the link.

Gandalf Matt Damon with his hat.