This week took a few turns but we all just want to be back like Ty Haney. If you’re unfamiliar with the Ty and Outdoor Voices lore, you can read a bit about how she created “a darling of the industry and ran it to $100 million” literally everywhere. Her and her team killed the media coverage this week. We liked the Texas Monthly and TBPN interviews the most.
Some of us are traveling and some of us have been drilling - this is what Jack and Macke refer to as working btw. Either way, going into this weekend, we all feel a little bit more motivated to bleed passion into the work we do after seeing Ty’s founder comeback. Congrats to the OV and TYB teams. Thanks for the inspo.
Top of Mind
AI is eating the Internet (Pao Ramen)
Even Google, realizing its core search business is at risk, has decided to commit seppuku rather than be usurped by outsiders.
There is doubt we are witnessing a shift due to revolutionary large language models that are impacting how all of us use the internet on a daily basis. Who will come out the other side (we generally agree with the two takes in the article) and what is the new operating model of the internet as the scales tip from search to large language model chat interface?
Getting Away With Murder (Paul Skallas)
“Of 2,604 identified serial killers in the United States during the twentieth century, an astonishing 89.5 percent (2,331) made their appearance between 1950 to 1999, with 88 percent of those appearing in just the three decades from 1970 to 1999—the ‘epidemic’ peak years”
The serial killer obsession is a weird thing, hopefully we can all agree on that. We had no clue this period was such a concentrated time for this specific style of criminal. Skallas proposes we see the spike due to the transition from a close knit, neighborly social structure to one where people were able to move around relatively anonymously. As technology began to reconnect us in new and surprising ways in the 90s, we see the killers fall off. Fascinating stuff.
Personal Superintelligence (Mark Zuckerberg)
“Over the last few months we have begun to see glimpses of our AI systems improving themselves. The improvement is slow for now, but undeniable. Developing superintelligence is now in sight.”
AI AI AI… it is the current thing and by now everyone outside of TPOT is probably sick of hearing about it. However, it isn’t isn’t going anywhere. Zuck is dolling out $1b+ pay packages, Meta’s capex for next year is set to be north of $100b+, and Anthropic is raising at a $170b+ valuation which is just almost triple their series E in March! I (Zach) am all for slamming the throttle on this sector, as a forward deployed technology brother, onwards!
ICYMI: Happy Hour Edition
Figma more than triples in NYSE debut after selling shares at $33 (CNBC)
High Noon x Celsius mixup! Someone out there recently woke up, cracked a Celsius before their 8am stand up, and started rocking a buzz (Bloomberg)
Shocked no one had the Ethel Cain x NYT collab prediction on Polymarket… (NYT)
AI Is Wrecking an Already Fragile Job Market for College Graduates (WSJ)
The 1975’s Matty Healy warns against the loss of indie music venues (Dork)
Best of Substack this Week
This Week in Relay’s Shopping Cart
ALD / New York Yankees Denim Shorts, Zach
I’ve been looking for a pair of jorts for some time, eyeing these overpriced ALD yankee’s collab. As a New Yorker, these feel right at home. As an aside, ALD just expanded their end of season sale, check it out!
Men's L.L.Bean Organic Cotton Waffle Sweater, Rollneck Crew, Jack
Honestly I think I’m just ready for fall and this is a feeble attempt at trying to make it come quicker…
It’s Not That Deep, Randy
Thanks for reading — or for mega scrolling all the way down here.
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Appreciate the shoutout! 🫶
ur welcome for the inspo <3