☕ 5 things to know in 5 minutes

👋 Hey, I’m Jaryd. I share one stealable idea with you a week on product, growth, AI, marketing, or strategy. My goal is to help with the hard part—growing the thing you’re trying to build. For more: Explore the top ideas | Videos

Good morning guys, happy Friday!

I’ll just tell you that I’m very pissed and sad about this whole Jensen being kicked out thing. Sure, cheating is bad but like…who actually gives a fuck?! The man runs one of the most important companies in the world…the one literally propping up the AI market bubble if you will…and he’s being pushed out for it? Let’s all mind our own business and let the man cook. It’s not a big deal—this is a COORDINATED COUP to boot him, I promise you.

So what that he played a little The Spy Who Shagged Me, but I’m sorry, this is not a scandal I care at all about. Why are folks so up in arms…

Everyone is quick to put him on the wrong end of viral outrage and panic, but he made a lot of people (i.e at least anyone who holds an index fun) very good money and I think this is bullshit. Jensen is a cool guy and did good things and does not deserve this.

I hope he get’s the break he deserves and enjoys GTA 6 next week. I totally see him playing GTA 6.

Ok, before we start, two quick house keepings
1. For everyone who shared their product link with me for feedback, I’m working my way through them! If you haven’t heard from me yet, I promise you will
2. If you’d like me to review your product, sharing feedback on first impressions and what I like/would change…drop your product link and email here. 100% free.

In the next 5 minutes over your coffee: the election data centers lost, the book gap pushing boys away from reading, Apple reversing it’s stance on AI, Google’s “no AI, no search” ultimatum, and the App Store’s new age gate.

What’s going on: All of this nonsense could happen because of a simple majority vote, just because Nvidia has one class of stock and Jensen had no structural protection whatsoever. Zuck and Larry Page can’t be fired btw; Steve Jobs in 1985 could…and was. I know he “stepped down”, but please.

Why it matters: Founders lose control when they raise, one term sheet at a time. The median founder owns about 56% after seed and about 16% after Series C, which is often less than the option pool.

The idea behind this: Zuck is a good example. Fight for control early when it’s cheap. Founders want a high-vote share class before institutional money and a supermajority to fire the CEO, which is exactly what Anthropic’s founders did before next week’s IPO.

What’s going on: So Anthropic is going public next Thursday. They’re also holding back up to 20% of the shares for regular people. The norm is 5% to 10%. FYI Reddit did 8% for its users and mods. The people most likely to buy are the ones who are heavy Claude users, and shareholders don’t bounce to Gemini or OpenAI when they ships something shiny.

Why it matters: Ownership is a retention feature and it’s spreading downmarket: WeShop launches in the US on Monday paying people who shop there in points that become real shares. Customers’ who owns a slice of you forgive you faster and use you more. Same theory I mentioned around Elon giving away SpaceX to kids.

The idea behind this: There’s lots of ways to lock in loyalty with bigger users. Like founding-member tiers that never loses its price and have special benefits, a referral cut that’s real money, or a sliver of equity for the first 100 customers who got you to PMF. Give your heaviest users a reason to want you to win.

What’s going on: The Commission’s Digital Fairness Act bans manipulative app design, gives you the right to switch off the addictive stuff (infinite scroll, autoplay, the “we miss you” pings, AI companions), bans paid loot boxes for kids, and fines up to 6% of global revenue if you break it.

Why it matters: We’ve been told phone addiction is our own weakness, when really it’s the apps using smart tricks to keep us hooked (the inventor of the infinite scroll publicly regrets it). This is the first law that goes after the design of the app instead of the content inside it. Hey, if most of society is addicted, maybe it isn’t a willpower problem anymore.

The idea behind this: So it’s not law yet, there will be lobbying of course. Realistically this could be 2028. But I work in the travel industry with lots of consumer compliance stuff, and it’s always good to get ahead of the buck early. Worth seeing what the

What’s going on: Google’s Gemini glasses went on preorder Wednesday, sold as Warby Parker from $395 and Gentle Monster from $449, in stores December 10, and the Google logo is nowhere.... Thirteen years ago that face had a camera bar on it and got people thrown out of bars 😂

Why it matters: Meta proved with Ray-Ban that the smart-glasses business is an eyewear business, so Google is renting the two things it can’t build: a brand people already want on their face and a store that does eye tests. It even priced $54 under the newest Ray-Ban Meta.

The idea behind this: When your brand is the risk, borrow someone else’s (see last Tuesday’s partnerships idea). Warby Parker makes a computer on your nose feel like a pair of glasses, and that’s what Google needs.

What’s going on: Instagram is rolling out long-form video and is paying $50K to $500K for YouTubers to post the same long video on Instagram the same day. Not even for exclusivity, just to post it. “Features” is IG’s new 90-minute horizontal format.

Why it matters: A new format with nothing there is a dead end people try once and don’t come back to, so Instagram is buying the content the same way Meta pointed house ads at Muse. The catch is YouTube pays 55% of ad revenue to anyone who qualifies, forever, while Instagram has no long-form rev share yet and tried this exact play in 2021 with funded shows nobody watched.

The idea behind this: Pay for your first 20 suppliers, it’s the fastest way to make an empty marketplace or community look worthwhile.

That’s it for this week guys!
—Jaryd