Will's Weekly Roundup

Nov 21 - 27

November 28, 2022

Will’s Weekly Roundup is a weekly newsletter of curated tech, business, and startup news (and some of my thoughts).

What I read this week

  • How much did Thanksgiving cost this year (CNN)

  • Qatar spent $220 BILLION on the 2022 World Cup. Their GDP is just $180B (VK)

  • ​​Are crypto bros really selling their Lamborghinis? (VERGE)

  • Jeff Bezos’ top tips for managing the economic downturn (CNNBIZ)

  • The FDA just approved the first lab-grown ‘cultivated’ meat (FASTCO)

  • FTX Says Substantial Amount of Crypto Assets Stolen or Missing (WSJ)

  • Apple and Elon Musk’s Twitter are on a collision course (CNBC)

  • Why Airbnb sees in-house advertising creative as key to brand success (FASTCO)

  • Here’s when Wall Street thinks inflation could finally end (CNBC)

  • The individual FTX investors who can't get their money back (AXIOS)

  • U.S. men's soccer sends a golden generation to the World Cup (WSJ)

What I listened to

  • FBI Agent Who Took Down Silk Road w/ Chris Tarbell (Lex Fridman Podcast Ep. #340 - LINK)

  • Bryan Johnson: How He Is Getting Biologically Younger, Selling His Company for $800 Million, and More (MFM Podcast Ep. #388 - LINK)

  • Climate Change Debate w/ Bjørn Lomborg and Andrew Revkin (Lex Fridman Podcast Ep. #339 - LINK)

  • Building the Right Product, At the Right Time, For the Right People - with Jack Butcher (Where It Happens Podcast - LINK)

2 Startup Ideas

A/B Testing for Menus

 (idea first featured in the Oct 24th edition of Will’s Weekly Roundup)

Problem: it is difficult to test the performance of restaurant menus.

Solution: the world of QR code menus now allows for the opportunity to test different menu formats/menu items to see which ones yield the most spending from customers. By using different QR codes, restaurants are able to gain insight into the habits of their customers and rapidly adapt their menus (idea inspiration: Steff Smith).

Gamification of Airport Flight Departure Boards

Problem: there’s nothing to do at an airport when you arrive 3 hours early for your flight.

Solution: an app that lets you place live bets on actual plane departure times and under/overs on what the new times will be. This generates additional revenue for the airport (“the house”) and keeps travelers entertained before their flights.

2 Life Frameworks

The World is Run by People No Smarter Than You

Steve Jobs said, “When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

Never Go At it Alone

Over 70% of incidents in aviation are attributable to amateur pilots. The risk of flying alone is too high, and the math shows it. Remove yourself from this statistic. Never fly alone, whether it's in an actual plane or in some other area of your life (Source: Bryan Johnson).

2 Quotes

“Consistency beats talent every time.” - Aaron Brimhall

“When you view people as different instead of better or worse, you learn that there's almost always something that you can learn from anybody” - Steven Bonnell

Hot Startups

  • Dent Reality - built a GPS system for navigating inside grocery stores and other physical spaces

  • Partiful - an event invitation system like Paperless Post built for GenZ

  • Maxine - Nvidia’s new AI software for virtual meetings that make your eyes look like you are looking directly into a camera even if you are looking down at your notes

  • StormTec - built rapid expandable sandless storm “sand bags”

  • Red Brick AI - created a collaborative medical data annotation system

  • The Light Phone - a minimalistic phone with no social media, clickbait news, email, or an internet browser. It only calls and texts.

  • Swell Energy - solar power and energy storage kick for uninterrupted electric supply at home

  • Putt Cups - turn your floor AC vent into a putting green hole

  • Kernel - brain data helmet that measures your brain activity

  • Notch - insurance for your Instagram account

Best Of Twitter