Lana Del Rey knows you like her music sped up
Lana Del Rey knows you like her music sped up
Her new single responds to TikTok virality
HAPPY FRIDAY. Hope you all had a good week. I’m happy about this weather, I think I always do my best work in the summer. Probably because I pride my work/reporting on being around people and absorbing what they get activated by. Sitting outside and drinking and eavesdropping with my friends on a park bench in the dark, or laying on a couch in the middle of a party and laughing at ridiculous debates in the background. Spontaneous and awkward coffee meetings with people I meet on the internet, or long-awaited dinners at tables for 6 with friends who I haven’t seen all winter.
I know a lot of people use the summer to check out, dip from the office early, slam the laptop shut, but it’s really when I’m the most motivated to make something of myself. Anyway, watch this space, big things coming, etc.
Some news.
GoPuff appears to have launched their own white label brand. A friend tipped me off to “Dado Foods” that was included as a surprise in her phone charger purchase last week in LA, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. They’re running a tried and true playbook — Trader Joe’s has done it since the beginning of time. Margins are low on grocery, like 4-5% in store, and private label gets them around 6-7th%. So now I’m on a manhunt to meet who wrote the descriptions of these products, like Pearl’s Pretzels: “These tasty pretzel pieces create a perfectly imperfect piece of comfort to munch away your cravings. So…crack open your favorite flavor because they are packed with taste.” Am I late to this?
Bumble has acquired Official, an app that helps couples strengthen their relationship. The sum has been undisclosed, which is something I think we’ll continue to see during the current funding crunch. Official is an app that’s meant to build stronger relationships for couples through mood check-ins and date planning. The industrial logic with Bumble acquiring is that it extends the customer relationship, Official will remain as a standalone app for the time being but the same team can run the product. If I wanted my boyfriend to plan a date, that man better just plan a date without an app. My relationships aside, I hope this helps couples communicate, a lost art. Last year, Bumble made its first acquisition with a deal for French Gen Z dating app, Fruitz. Shares of Bumble are down 77% since its public debut and down 17% year-to-date.
Only 35 of the top 100 VC’s tweet at least weekly, and only 2 of the top 10. I think the takeaway here is that some people have mafia-status networks where they don’t have to Tweet, but people who have to market themselves and ideas can use Twitter as a tool to do that. Midas list VCs and their firms are good at controlling their message. They get a lot of press mentions, and they're active on industry podcasts recently to share it directly.