Posts

I quit my corporate job at 25 to sell pizza with a friend. Now we have 9 locations.

Image
Chris Brady quit his corporate job to sell pizza. Courtesy of Chris Brady Chris Brady was 25 when he quit his corporate sales job to start a mobile pizza business. He and his business partner sold pizza out of a 1967 baby blue Chevy truck around Washington, DC. Since then, he's franchised Timber Pizza Co. and has nine locations and five mobile pizza ovens. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chris Brady, founder and president of Timber Pizza Co . It has been edited for length and clarity. By the time I started my second job in tech sales in my early 20s, I knew I had no desire to keep working in the corporate world and wanted to do something on my own. My coworker Andrew Dana also felt the same way, so we'd brainstorm different business ideas over lunch. I had a lightbulb moment while talking to a potential client. I was selling catering and wedding venue advertising and called on a pizza company . The owner started telling me more about his mobil...

Medvi, glorified by the NYT as a two-employee startup with $1B+ in revenue, is a warning about how AI can be misused for shady business and marketing practices (Gary Marcus/Marcus on AI)

Image
Gary Marcus / Marcus on AI : Medvi, glorified by the NYT as a two-employee startup with $1B+ in revenue, is a warning about how AI can be misused for shady business and marketing practices   —  AI isn't the only thing behind Medvi  —  On Thursday, The New York Times published a thing  —  and it went viral, declared as a victory for AI: from Techmeme https://ift.tt/dwB1QE3

I spent 11 hours in Korean Air's business-class suites. My seat felt more private than I expected and had cool perks.

Image
I tried the Prestige Suite 2.0 business-class cabin on my Korean Air flight from Seoul to Bangkok. Amber Gibson I flew with Korean Air and spent a few hours in business class in the Prestige Suites 2.0. My seat felt spacious, and I liked that it had walls around it. The food was great, too. I wish my flight came with complimentary WiFi. Otherwise, it was pretty great. I recently chose Korean Air for a business-class flight from Chicago to Bangkok because it was the most convenient and affordable option. The round-trip ticket cost $5,468. Since there are no direct flights from the US to Bangkok, I had to connect somewhere in Asia, which turned out to be a bonus. It gave me the chance to try Korean Air for the first time and compare its two different business-class cabins . On the shorter leg from Seoul to Bangkok, I flew in the newer Prestige Suites 2.0. This flight offered me more privacy than I expected. Amber Gibson Compared to Korean Air's older 2-3-2 busine...

Drift details how suspected North Korean attackers stole $270M posing as a quant trading firm in a 6+ month operation with in-person meetings and a $1M+ deposit (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)

Image
Shaurya Malwa / CoinDesk : Drift details how suspected North Korean attackers stole $270M posing as a quant trading firm in a 6+ month operation with in-person meetings and a $1M+ deposit   —  Attackers posed as a trading firm, met Drift contributors in person across multiple countries, deposited $1 million of their own capital … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/dwsRbWn

VCs are covering expenses like rent for young college dropouts founding AI startups; Antler: average AI unicorn founder age fell from 40 in 2020 to 29 in 2024 (Kate Clark/Wall Street Journal)

Image
Kate Clark / Wall Street Journal : VCs are covering expenses like rent for young college dropouts founding AI startups; Antler: average AI unicorn founder age fell from 40 in 2020 to 29 in 2024   —  Venture capitalists are stepping in to cover expenses like rent while dropouts from Harvard to Stanford chase their startup dreams from Techmeme https://ift.tt/yKG7AqI

5 AI-powered consulting startups to watch

Image
Aily Labs CEO Bianca Anghelina and Tanmai Gopal, CEO of PromptQL. Ruder Finn; Bonfire Partners AI is transforming the consulting industry with new tech startups in Silicon Valley. These startups aim to help companies manage data and optimize technology using AI. These four companies have collectively raised over $300 million. AI is upending a business that hasn't changed in generations. Over the past year, a new wave of consulting tech startups has emerged in Silicon Valley. These companies are helping clients manage their data, make better decisions, and optimize their technology, all through the use of AI. While some on the list are not shy about their ambitions to eventually take a slice of business from the Big Four or the MBB, others are looking to complement the established players' work. Business Insider asked a handful of investors to identify a few of the most promising startups to watch in this emerging category of consulting tech. Here are five AI-powe...

NeeDoh squishies have gone viral. 'It wasn't intentional,' the CEO tells me.

Image
The Nee Doh gumdrop squishy has a very pleasant handfeel. Katie Notopoulos / Business Insider NeeDoh squishies have gone viral on social media over the last few months. They're made by Schylling, a 50-year-old Massachusetts company that makes vintage-style toys. NeeDohs are now hard to find. Now, there are knock-offs and huge prices from resellers. Courtney Sullivan, a lawyer in Scottsdale, Arizona, was tasked with a mission: Her nieces in Texas wanted NeeDoh squishies, but their dad (her brother) discovered they were sold out everywhere he looked. Luckily, Sullivan found some in a local store and mailed them over state lines to her nieces. NeeDohs, colorful rubbery balls and cubes of varying textures, have gone viral on social media — and the demand is outpacing supply. It's caused a mini- Labubu effect : Kids (and parents and aunts) are desperate to find them in stores, while knock-offs flourish and resellers jack up prices on the real thing. The "Nice Berg...