?? Silly Valley News: September 17th 2024 ??

The first ever Corp Classic wasn't just the best day of my life, but the best day of everyone's life who was there and participated. We shanked, sliced, hit bombs, and Sahil Mansuri finished it off by putting in sandals in OT. I can't thank everyone who participated in and helped organize this glorious day enough. 'Til next year, enjoy your victory James Boucher & Ira Weiss . Also shoutout to Bravado and ZoomInfo Labs for being top notch sponsors despite the fact that there was not even a concept for ROI.

This Week's Piping ???? (Hot 'Tent)

?? Is This Man Killing Nike?

??? Billy McFarland is Out of Prison and Planning Fyre Fest 2

?? Self-Driving Trucking Company Attempts Pivot to AI-Generated Video Games Amid Legal Disputes

?? More bits of knowledge to make your brain grow by 21% this week...

The Silly Valley

?? Spotify Opens Wallet to Compete With YouTube in Video Content. After driving the podcast boom with over $1 billion spent on acquisitions, Spotify is now shifting its focus to video content. The shift comes as Spotify develops its video ad product, positioning itself to compete in digital advertising. The platform is offering seven-figure deals to YouTube creators in an effort to build its video catalog. However, the deals don’t seek to produce or sell ads exclusively; instead, they aim to bring video content onto the platform to attract more viewers. For video creators, it’s basically free money as they continue posting on YouTube, but Spotify has money to blow since it’s never been profitabl e.. BTW if you’re reading this Spotify and want to send some shekels my way, my email is [email protected] .

?? Self-Driving Trucking Company Attempts Pivot to AI-Generated Video Games Amid Legal Disputes. TuSimple, once a leader in self-driving trucks, is in the process of moving assets to China in order to fund a new AI-generated animation and gaming business based on the sci-fi series "The Three-Body Problem." Unsurprisingly, shareholders are puzzled and outraged. Many are accusing the company of misusing funds. TuSimple, which IPO’d in 2021 and peaked at? $62.58 per share, has since plummeted to just $0.19. Now you may be wondering, “why The Three-Body Problem?” The answer is that it is enormously popular in China and also a personal favorite of co-founder, Mo Chen. If you think this makes no sense, there are so many other baffling twists in this so if you want the full story, read this TechCrunch article .

?? TikTok Ban Heads to Court. TikTok will challenge a law in court that would force its parent company, ByteDance, to sell the U.S. portion of the business or face a nationwide ban. The case focuses on whether the law violates Americans' free speech rights and if divestment is a reasonable solution. TikTok argues it has already addressed national security concerns through work with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), but that the process became entangled in political issues. The U.S. government sees divestment as the only viable resolution, emphasizing national security over free speech . Some of the government's evidence includes classified information, leaving TikTok’s legal team at a disadvantage as it lacks access to all details.

Sales Tip of the Week

Referrals are 4 times more likely to make a purchase than leads generated from other channels. Source: Nielsen.

Outside the Bubble

??? Billy McFarland is Out of Prison and Planning Fyre Fest 2. ICYMI, Fyre Fest was a 2017 music festival in the Bahamas that featured… zero musical performances. While Blink-182, Major Lazer, and Ja Rule were headliners in the run-up to the event, all of them dropped out when they realized there was zero organization and sub-standard equipment to actually perform. Organizer Billy McFarland was sentenced to 6 years in prison and fined $26M for fraud. Now, McFarland is out of prison and announced plans for Fyre Fest 2 . Tickets range from $1,400 to a $1.1M VIP package that includes luxury yachts, scuba diving, and island hopping with Billy himself. As for the musical acts, no one is booked.

?? Mark Cuban’s New Mission is to F*$& Up America’s Pharmaceutical Industry. In an interview with Wired magazine’s Lauren Goode, Mark Cuban says he wants to “fix the healthcare system.” He wants to do it through his company, Cost Plus Drugs. Cuban’s interest in the high cost and limited availability of generic drugs began after he received an email in 2018 from a pharmacist named Alex Oshmyasky. Oshmyasky proposed a pharmacy that would sell critical, hard-to-find medications for about as much as they cost to produce . With the broader issue of price manipulation by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), Cuban saw an opportunity to cut out middlemen and offer drugs at significantly lower prices. Inspired by cases like Martin Shkreli’s price hikes, Cuban expanded the mission to include manufacturing drugs in short supply. Cuban plans to scale Cost Plus Drugs by selling all legally permitted drugs and manufacturing medications on the FDA shortage list. And for that reason, I’m in.

?? Is This Man Killing Nike? John Donahoe, a veteran tech executive, took over as Nike’s CEO in 2020. He replaced the design-focused Mark Parker, who had led the company since 2005. Donahoe was brought in to modernize Nike’s e-commerce and cut costs. His approach was to revive classic sneaker models while reducing Nike’s retail partnerships to focus on direct-to-consumer sales. Though initially successful, with revenue soaring to $50 billion, the over-reliance on lifestyle shoes like the Panda Dunk eventually backfired as they became oversaturated and sneakerheads universally called them the “worst shoe in the world.” Nike’s innovation pipeline also slowed and competitors filled the retail space Nike vacated, which cut into market share. Donahoe then implemented more cost-cutting measures including layoffs. This resulted in Nike’s stock plummeting from highs of $180 in 2021 to around $80 today. While Founder Phil Knight says he still supports Donahoe, his contract ends at the end of ‘24 and there’s widespread speculation that he's gonna be placed on PIP.

Last Week's Piping ???? (Hot 'Tent)

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