surgieboi ✨

Perplexity just launched its "Shop Like a Pro" feature to enable native commerce in the Perplexity search engine. There are lots of trendy commerce experiences that either take a long time to play out the hype cycle or never materialize (VR Commerce, QR Code Commerce, Blockchain Commerce, etc...) I'm putting my chips on this one being important. AI based agents taking over the shopping research and (eventually) buying responsibilities for us has the potential to be hugely disruptive. When I was a kid we used to have to hang out at Tower Records (shout out to Kevin Ertell) or read Billboard magazine (kids: blogs used to be printed on papyrus and mailed to us) to find out what music to try. Now Spotify/Apple/Amazon do a pretty amazing job of uncovering new music that meets our tastes, and music stores and magazines no longer exist. AI Agents have the potential to do the same thing to a significant portion of all are retail purchases. Do I really want to use a website just to make sure I don't run out of paper towels? Do I really want to spend an hour on CNET and Wirecutter to figure out what Inkjet printer to buy for my mother-in-law during Thanksgiving? I'm confident Websites won't be the only glass for digital commerce in the long run. AI Agents are a good bet. At the moment this is too slow (and probably took out a rain forest for all the required compute power). It seems like the early integration for Perplexity is primarily with Shopify. What happens when Amazon, Walmart, Temu, Shein, Shopify, and Etsy are all integrated into a much faster AI Agent based shopping experience?

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Nike is blogging about how their digital collectibles won't require a wallet, cryptocurrency, or blockchain. They quietly closed RTFKT and are now putting out .Swoosh content without any cumbersome blockchain crap. So let's pour one out and continue to piss on the grave of the dead 'web3' movement that got EVERYTHING wrong about digital collection. Don't worry most of the 'web3' folks have rebranded to 'Gen' AI and now love the Cloud. And Games continue to lead with digital inventory because we have functional uses for it... IN GAME. ---- Jan 12, 2024: "An Update on the Future of .SWOOSH" "In 2023, we’ve learned so much about virtual products, co-creation, and self-expression. We hosted community learning workshops in over 10 cities, launched a signature collection, debuted “Airphoria”, our first game world in Fortnite, and invited fans to unlock physical sneakers tied to virtual products." "We also confirmed that a virtual product’s value should be based on the enjoyment it gives you when using it to express yourself or unlocking access to physical product. It’s more about the joy of collecting — of being a true fan — not just a transaction. In the next year, you’ll see this come to life as we launch more variations of virtual products that expand your love of self-expression. We’ll go way deeper into video gaming with the launch of a new line of virtual products — Nike In-Game Wearables. In-Game Wearables are different than our digital collectibles because you can purchase and wear these collections directly in your favorite video games. You’ll also be able to unlock exclusive physical apparel and footwear in the real world based on the in-game wearables you purchased. You won’t need a wallet to store any of these new products — you’ll just link your game accounts to Nike. More on that later." (keep reading) Nike .Swoosh Blog: https://lnkd.in/gFDMUvuw ----  APR 15, 2024 (Richard Lawler): The Verge: "Nike’s 404 Error Air Force 1 arrives on April 23rd.Despite being a .Swoosh-exclusive this BSOD-themed shoe doesn’t have any NFT links or crypto wallet requirements (although you will need to register an account by April 18th). Nike’s web3 plans for .Swoosh seem mostly dead, with a January blog post saying digital gaming item tie-ins will skip the blockchain and instead just link to Nike accounts." TheVerge: https://lnkd.in/geJvzNTR ---- Nike .Swoosh and the 404 error shoes that no longer use anything 'web3'. https://www.swoosh.nike/ ---- Back in 2022 Nike wanted .Swoosh to mean something schmetaverse. That lasted for a year: Nov 14, 2022: The Verge: "Nike is still trying to make NFTs happen with .Swoosh/ The company’s launching .Swoosh, a Web3 platform that will eventually let users buy, sell, and trade virtual shoes and apparel." The Verge: https://lnkd.in/gGfA4Fsx ---- Mar 18, 2024: "Nike to shut down RTFKT this year following acquisition in 2021" Twitter: https://lnkd.in/gUGPstXB #schmetaverse #web3 #webisajoke

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I just went through 244 websites from the latest YC batch and as a designer, I’m going to pick out my favorites The first is Actionbase (YC S24) I like this one because it has an intriguing headline. So many of these companies are just stating what they do. Or at worst, state what they do and do something cringey like “AI automation at the speed of thought”. Don't do that!! You have to understand your customers, what their motivations are —  as a developer, I’m at least intrigued about using this product The second is Unriddle (YC S24) Super clean. Great black/white theme which I associate with writing papers. I think the headline is strong and action-oriented. The third is expand.ai (YC S24) This isn’t a super exciting page, but it doesn’t have to be. It tells me who I am as a customer — and importantly — shows me a demo! If you can show off how your product works without a 30s video. Go for it. Time-to-value there is everything. Next, is Mito Health (YC S24) Honestly, I think I like this site because it dares to be DIFFERENT. All of the other sites are headline/subheadline/cta/product image — which is fine! Those are definitely best practices, but I like seeing companies take a gamble. There’e something about the small video that makes it weird/compelling and makes me want to learn more! And finally, pap! (YC S24) This one is my *favorite* because it doing the 3 core things really well: 1. GREAT headline. It not only tells you what they do, but it invokes an emotional reaction: I’m getting ripped off by the man, and we’re the robin hood who’s going to fight for you, the consumer. I love that. 2. Really simple but effective imagery — just cutouts of images quickly cycling. Just so the customer knows: "Ok. Got it. This is for physical products." 3. Social proof. Their designer was able to seamlessly blend the main imagery with the positive feedback. Honorable Mention: Quetzal Labs Big bold claim: Copy and paste one line int my codebase and see if it works immediately. This is about time-to-value: If I can copy this, and have this translate my product in under a minute, you’ve definitely earned my business Remember: If you’re making a site, especially for a new product, make sure to have copy and imagery that not makes the customer say “Oh, I get it”, but also “And I totally understand the value” If you have that — you’re way ahead of the pack

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Crypto.com bites back Sues SEC Over "Unlawful" Crypto Crackdown Remember that Wells Notice Crypto.com got back in August? Well, they're not taking it lying down. The exchange just filed a lawsuit against the SEC, claiming the agency is playing judge, jury, and executioner with its "unlawful" crypto regulations. 🤯 Crypto.com argues the SEC is acting like a bull in a china shop, lumping nearly ALL crypto transactions as securities - except, of course, for their golden boys, Bitcoin and Ethereum. 🤔 Talk about playing favorites! This lawsuit is HUGE. Not just for Crypto.com, but for the entire industry. Could this be the beginning of the end for the SEC's crypto crackdown? 🔥 What do YOU think about Crypto.com's move? Let's hear it in the comments! #CryptoVsSEC #CryptoRegulation #CryptoNews #CryptoCommunity #Blockchain

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Which tools do collectors need? 🔨 Today, I’m going to share the starter set of tools that every collector needs to achieve their goals and stay on budget. 🕵️ Sourcing cards The best collectors are hunter gatherers. Here are the top places to hunt: 1) Marketplaces and Live Shopping: eBay, Myslabs, BuySportsCards.com, PWCC Marketplace, Mercari US, CardHobby, Whatnot and Fanatics Live are great starting places. 2) Card Shows- We love big regional shows like the Midwest Monster in Indiana but follow Sports Card Investor's calendar of shows for the latest near you. 3) Local Card Shops like Piece of the Game, Bleecker Trading, Roadshow Cards and thousands of others offer the best selection of products. As a bonus, they host events and offer great insight on how to build out your collection. 4) Collectible groups on Facebook, Instagram, X and Discord offer direct access to thousands of fellow collectors who are often looking to move assets. 📋 Tracking cards Once you have started buying cards, you need to track what you have, what you've spent, what they are worth and where they are stored. We strongly recommend keeping digital records in the event of fire, theft or other disaster. 1) Invest in a Ricoh Document Scanners US to quickly scan singles. You'll need a flatbed for graded cards and you'll great images for future sales and reference. 2) MAGPIE makes it easy to add thousands of products at once, track prices and sell them later. MAGPIE's wishlist will be available later this year which is great for tracking all the card you are on the hunt for. 3) For pricing, MAGPIE partners with WaxStat and 130PT for the most up to date information on collectible prices. 🖼️ Displaying and Storing Cards One of the best parts of a large collection is showing them off. 1) Show Your Slabs and Stand Up Displays have incredible display cases for every size collection. 2) Zion Cases and gun safes are essential for storing graded cards 3) You can also vault and show them off on platforms like Arena Club, PWCC Marketplace, Professional Sports Authenticator, and Collectors. 💰Selling cards When you are ready to sell your cards, there are quite a few options to consider depending on how much time and effort you want to invest. In fact, the circle of collecting goes back to the beginning. Digital marketplaces, card shows, local card shops and social media will be the best place to connect with collectors looking for your cards. Share what you think of the collector tools in the comments below. ⬇️ #thehobby #whodoyoucollect #sportscards #topps #paniniamerica #panini #basketballcards #tradingcards #baseballcards #nba #footballcards #psa #rookiecard #mlb #nfl #cardcollector #rookie #baseball #autograph #HobbyShop #HobbyTrends #HobbyBusiness #SmallBusiness #RetailTrends #RetailBusiness  #alternativeassets #fanatics  #sportstech  #nhl #mls #collectibles #collecttech #cardshow #innovation #pokemon  #magicthegathering

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Excellent example of how a deep investment in branding in the early days will help you tell the story so well you can leverage it into your marketing (and not have to spend so much later!) One of my fave brands to follow Fishwife 👏🏽 👏🏽

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Turn one event into 2.8+ million impressions? New case study w/ Vin Matano 🐝 and Demandbase out now! - Follow our DICE framework to maximize your event ROI so you don’t have to roll the dice with in-person content. D-esign I-deate C-apture E-dit - DESIGN your event content plan before the event. Factor the RSVP list, influencer partners, and key marketing messaging before the start time. This will inform the topic selection and shot planning during the event. The more homework you do upfront, the easier it is to hit a home run at the event. IDEATE on content topics and thoroughly prepare. Be intentional and formulate a concrete shooting plan. This can include video topics, storyboarding, branding, and questions for the participants. You want to focus primarily on execution during the event, so it’s key to get the preparation in order. CAPTURE your event in a versatile manner. Now that you have your content plan, you can focus on 1) DOCUMENTING the event and 2) CREATING original content at the event. You want a fair balance of both so you can produce versatile videos (short form, interviews, hype video, recap, long form) with original b-roll. EDIT your raw assets into usable content. Think carefully about how you want to distribute the content. Fast-paced short form is great for organic social while more cinematic shots can serve as promotional reel for future events and sponsor activation. DO NOT post anything raw. Create with audience enjoyment top of mind. - Watch the full video for a detailed breakdown. Hosting an event and interested in turning it into a content factory? Hit up EventShark 🦈

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Here's my 2024 LinkedIn Rewind, by Coauthor: 2024 taught me that you can go from cannabis POS systems to bank VP without losing your sense of humor... or your appreciation for good air purifiers named after one of your smartest family members, Steve. Between managing product at Herring Bank and 13 years running Safe and Sound, I've learned something unexpected: the best innovation happens when you stop trying to fit into traditional boxes. Other important lessons from this year: You can't make everyone happy, and when your business model is working, stop messing with it and focus on scaling. Some proof points from 2024: • Promoted to VP from Director • Expanded Safe and Sound's security and technology services into new business lines. • Providing refurbished laptops to families who need them. • Grew LinkedIn connections to 10,926 (despite my best efforts to post irregularly and use sarcasm as a second language) Three posts that actually mattered this year: "In 2010, before the emergence of MJ Freeway..." Because sometimes the best way to understand where we're going is to remember where we started - with Quickbooks POS v8.0 and creative naming conventions. https://lnkd.in/gJ4w6NwP "I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position..." On taking the leap into banking leadership while keeping both feet in technology innovation. https://lnkd.in/gv_gWYhd "Wow, wow, wow, I'm beyond impressed..." Because sometimes the best insights come from watching others excel at what they do. https://lnkd.in/gFvNG42v Looking ahead: 2025 will be about scaling services and product innovation while continuing to drive technology solutions that make real differences in people's lives at Safe and Sound - from enterprise systems to community small business and residential systems. And yes, Steve the air purifier will still be keeping the air clean. With his mustache and glasses, of course. #BusinessTime #ThisIsNotHowHashtagsWorkDan #LinkedInRewind #2024wrapped #Coauthor -- Get your 2024 LinkedIn Rewind! Go to coauthor [dot] studio in your browser

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Sky, previously known as MakerDAO, is a major player in the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) space. Recently, it announced plans to gradually remove wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) from its collateral assets due to concerns related to its association with Tron founder Justin Sun. This decision is significant as wBTC plays a critical role in DeFi lending, with over $200 million in loans collateralized by the token on Sky's platform. Sky's governance token has also rebranded from MKR to SKY, making the token more accessible by offering a 1:24,000 conversion ratio, which aims to attract more participants. This change is part of a broader strategy to evolve its decentralized stablecoin ecosystem and improve accessibility for a wider audience. #BinanceTurns7 #defi #sky #mkr #justinsun

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One thing to look out for when buying a meme coin is community, if not... Beliefs and what they stand for. Trends is the lifeblood of the meme industry in the crypto market. $sun has it all. Big wins for #Tron #holarex #meme #memecoin #LCDFMX2 #LCDLFMX2 #GranHermanoChile

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PSA: To all of the 1800+ early stage founders on our platform: If you want the clearest, fastest, cheapest path to growing your brand, get into the stores and demo. I understand that you are super busy building and running a company, and I get it, that this isn’t scalable once you are big. But an actual founder demoing their OWN product in a store is 100x more powerful than a bib tag, a shelf talker, or retailer training. Shanyi’s Co-founder Elise Popped into Fresh Thyme yesterday and promptly sold the store out of every last unit on their innovation endcap. The store has already reordered and there are 8 more cases on the way. In 2002 I saw Vitamin Water demoed almost every single day at my store in WFM, and product flying off the shelves one store at a time. 5 years later, they sold to Coca Cola for $4.1BN. My recommendation to all of the emerging local coffee/cheese/beer/bakery vendors that I approved into my stores was to follow in those footsteps. The ones that took that advice were MUCH more successful. Remember: The #1 KPI a retail CM is being evaluated on is YoY comp sales. If their comp is below the company average, that is bad for them, and therefore bad for you. If your SKUs are selling 3-5 units per week, it means you are INCREASING their comp compared to some other replacement product on the shelf, and you will stick around. if you get into a few stores every month and blow them out of their inventory while connecting with a few hundred consumers, you will move the needle. Pod Foods #innovation #grassroots #nobadfood Fresh Thyme Market

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I am supremely proud and VERY relieved to officially announce Hoodie's launch of a fully integrated, Measurement Intelligence Product. We are bringing brand share metrics, and product sales velocity measurement to our customers. Nothing is worth doing unless it is extremely challenging. There is nothing harder that wrangling cannabis product data into reliable sales projections. 'People' including me, will use terms like 'AI', 'ML' and big record counts to mystify you...but what ultimately matters is the time and energy you put into build a solid foundation for data quality. Otherwise it's garbage in - garbage out. Where the time really went was in the foundational work to maintain and improve our data quality as we grow. We spent the money and time and took no shortcuts. All told we have probably put in at least 10,000 man hours in development across the team to get to our velocity metrics. I am so proud of our entire team's effort in the past two years. Most especially the past 6 months as we've been in beta collecting valuable feedback from sales and customer success. We are cumulatively rolling up over 5 billion rows of daily distribution data and 10's of Billions in Wholesale & POS data in an entirely new way of projecting from the past models you are used to. Also, unlike any other data company, we have heavily used Machine Learning to project store level sales, a first in the industry. Book a demo and I assure you its something you've never seen from anyone in market. No hyperbole from us...just show and tell. https://lnkd.in/g69MtAr8

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Introducing Our New AI Chatbot for Cannabis Compliance! I've developed an AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT to simplify cannabis compliance for businesses and professionals. This chatbot is designed to provide accurate, timely, and user-friendly answers to your most pressing cannabis compliance questions. In an industry where regulations can feel like a moving target, having a reliable and accessible compliance tool is more critical than ever. This chatbot aims to: ✅ Streamline access to compliance information ✅ Save time and resources ✅ Ensure you stay informed and compliant in a rapidly evolving industry If you're interested in exploring how AI can make cannabis compliance easier, let's connect or chat in the comments! DM me for ways I can help you leverage AI to grow & protect your business! #AI #CannabisCompliance #Innovation #ChatGPT #ComplianceTools #CannabisIndustry https://lnkd.in/evfDsHSR

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Will Ahmed has fantastic advice here that goes beyond hardware/software startups. Here are my takeaways: It’s crucial to have a strong long-term vision for what you’re building, but equally important is the ability to distill that vision into a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and have a clear plan for scaling. I’ve learned firsthand that trying to scale too quickly without the necessary infrastructure can lead to a loss of quality or burnout. I highly agree with point #4 on CAC and referrals. Securing high-value influencers who are genuinely invested in your product can significantly drive referrals. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, and it takes time to find the right partners. The key is to focus on 2-5 partners who believe in your vision, can provide valuable insights to refine your MVP, and will drive referrals through authentic recommendations. Will’s insights are a reminder that building a successful company is about balancing vision with execution. You need to have a great big idea, but know how to break it down, scale it smartly, and build genuine relationships that fuel your growth. The right focus, the right people, and the right timing can make all the difference. What are your thoughts on this approach?

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Earlier today I saw a post from Zelle on this site trumpeting that 99.94% of transactions on their payment platform do not result in a fraud or scam complaint. Sounds great until you read there were 2.9 billion Zelle transactions last year, and that 0.06% of that number translates to about 1.74 million fraud/scam complaints. Which led me to do the numbers on airline safety. According to the FAA, there are about 10 million scheduled airline flights per year. If only 99.94% arrived safely, that would mean .06% of them did not. And that means there would be 6,000 crashes per year, in the US alone. (In reality, there were no US crashes resulting in mass loss of life since 2009, meaning that only 1 in 140 million flights crashed, or .0000007%. Hope I counted the zeros right!) As for Zelle, I understand they have taken steps to improve safety, but still have a long way to go. For example, the safest way to be sure you're paying the right person is for that person to send you a Zelle payment request. Unfortunately, most of the small biz tradespeople I use do not know how to do this. So when I'm paying someone for the first time, I send $1 first, wait for a phone or text confirmation that the dollar arrived at the right place, and then send the rest.

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