Nasdaq Tower

I had a big week in New York for work. 

I think moments like this make startup work super rewarding.

In bigger companies, you don't have the freedom to build stuff the same way. A larger, more established company would have never let me put a 20-foot skeleton shooting lasers out of its eyes on the Nasdaq tower. 

Summer 2024 Updates

→ 1 Year Later
This summer has been spent working to get our house's exterior dialed in. New windows. New siding. New gutters. Landscaping. Lighting. It's been a process, but we feel very happy with the progress we've made in the year since we bought it. Little by little.

More on Nike's "epic saga of value destruction" (Nike has its lowest share price since 2018, - 32% since the beginning of 2024):

The trouble began after Donahoe, the former of C.E.O. of Bain and eBay, then ServiceNow, the cloud computing company, decided to end Nike’s relationships with several wholesale partners—including Zappos, DSW, and Dillards—to focus on its direct-to-consumer business. Theoretically, this made sense. On some level, Nike is a luxury brand, like Apple or Dior, and it should be sold direct for all the obvious reasons—relentless focus on the product and narrative, scarcity, vertical integration, harvesting data, etcetera.

But unlike the luxury market, where multibrand retail continues to contract, outlets like Dick’s Sporting Goods or Zappos offer an essential and convenient service. If you stop selling via Zappos, for example, it’s not like all those sales are suddenly going to funnel to Nike.com. (Beauty works similarly—look at the dominance of Sephora and Ulta.) By pulling back from normie wholesalers, Nike made room for Hoka and On, among others, to snag market share. Deckers, which owns Hoka, has seen its stock rise 73 percent over the past year. On’s shares are up 18 percent. (Read More: Nike’s distribution snafu covers over a far more significant mistake).

Nike Is in Trouble. Can the Olympics Save It?
Let's be honest, for most Americans the Olympics are not a big deal and will not change buying behaviors. Emerging brands like On are eating into Nike's revenue because people want something new and different. On has a ubiquitous design, and their recent partnership with Zendaya signals their intention to capture the younger buyer. At the end of the day, I think On is designing better looking shoes than Nike right now and doing a better job at getting their shoes on their target demographic (I swear 50% of every Barry's class are in On). I just bought Steph a pair this week (don't tell her if, they show up later this week – they were sold out in stores).

The Most Terrifying Part

President Biden stepped down without even a formal address—just a tweet on a  Sunday. We haven't seen him since. 

Meanwhile, the RNC is parading out Kid Rock, Dana White and Hulk Hogan (who rips his shirt off and yells Trump Mania!) as Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen dump millions into the Trump campaign:

Elon Musk plans to commit ~$45M per month to America PAC, a new pro-Trump super PAC; other backers include 8VC's Joe Lonsdale and the Winklevoss twins

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have told a16z staff in recent days that they plan to make large donations to PACs supporting Donald Trump's campaign

It's all just so laughably bad. Like how did we ACTUALLY get here? Where are we? It's like we are living inside a bad Bravo reality show that we can't escape.

The most terrifying part?

I'm not sure we even care anymore... Maybe we just sit back, enjoy the show, and send our loved ones memes as our republic slowly crumbles, amirite?

The Kirkland Signature White T-Shirt

I'm here to tell you that I'm turning 40 and somehow just discovered that the best white T-shirt on the planet is available in a six-pack for $26 at Costco.

Don't waste your youth searching and spending money on white t-shirts. I've done Uniqlo, Gildan, Muji, and J.Crew... The Costco T-shirt is better. AND IT'S A FRACTION OF THE COST (honestly spending $45+ on a single white t-shirt is insane). As I rapidly age, price point and quality matter... luckily with the Kirkland Signature Men's Crew Neck T-Shirt, YOU GET BOTH!

Also, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK those dorks at Buck Mason. The dudes that work there are too much. 

Have you ever been in before? Beeeeeecause we do things here a little differently – the first thing you'll notice is our T-shirts are curved at the bottom. 

Despite all buzz, I think their white t-shirts are soooooo bad – for me they fit like total shit. There is something very unnatural about a t-shirt with a curved bottom hem (not a hem God ever intended). When I told them that I hated the fit they took it VERY personally and became very rude, encouraging me to go "check out "UNTUCKit." Which was very good BURRRRRRN, but totally unnecessary. It was almost as if they associated the bad fit with the curved bottom hem and felt like I must require a shirt that is longer in the front? Or they were just being dicks and insinuating that I had poor taste because I didn't like their shirt. Regardless, the whole experience turned me off of the brand. 

Kinds of Kindness was good, but it felt like they were trying a bit too hard. Like the writer saw Poor Things and said, "I can do this shit" and hired the exact same cast. 

Good Email Sign-Offs

And in case I don't see you, good afternoon, good evening, and good night,
Don

With loving scrutiny,
Don

May thy knife chip and shatter,
Don

Who really cares anymore,
Don

Malibu, CA

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