Don't forget. Time is not the enemy of greatness. It's a prerequisite. Stop taking shortcuts.

When I say 'Fuck a Funnel, Build a Cult', it's not a hypothesis, but a tried and true method I've personally experienced. This is me 8 years ago. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, part-time Twitch streamer! Little did I know playing video games online would impact so much that I do today. There's so much I learned navigating the live streaming ecosystem. First and foremost, the power of community, and how you can harness it's power into a cult-like brand (in the best way possible). I started with 0 viewers, 0 followers. Just myself, an empty chat, and the game at hand. But I kept showing up as my authentic self, made a point to create a personal connection with my viewers, and build a place for people not just to watch, but to collaborate and convene. But it really started to take off when I built out my own private Discord channel for my most avid watchers. Here is where the bonds deepened and the incredible multiplier effect of community kicked in. The emotional connection between my viewers and me blossomed into such a shared sense of vision and purpose that they started to move mountains for me. My viewers, at no cost to me, started to: - Talk about me in other streams, referring my channel - Moderate my chat for bad behavior and be viewer support - Build all my creative assets including page banners and custom emojis And most importantly, they would show up every... single... day... no questions asked. I started to create an army of rain or shine supporters... and I knew something meaningful about every single one of them. I never got to scale that channel (I had kids, so naturally side hustles went by the wayside). So I don't know where it would have gone. But I'll never forget those lessons I learned, and the heartwarming experience it was. Fast forward to today. With my co-founder Kaylan Sliney, we built @magnetiq_xyz , a platform that helps growing CPG brands unlock the same magic as I experienced in my Twitch-streaming days. I'll never forget that time in my life, and I'm so excited to re-create it for so many others!

Bruh, I'm sorry, but when I get sent a random newsletter I've never subscribed to before from Substack, I'm pressing the big, fat, SPAM button. Even if it's interesting. I get recommended enough crap via socials, I can't have that invading my inbox as well. Good riddance.

It’s time to get rid of engagement based algos on socials. We’re starting to manifest the real world consequences of elevating the most controversial content to the broadest of audiences. It means no more “for you” feeds and back to chronological content based on who you follow. I think it’s what we all secretly desire anyway. Solution is easy. Slap section 230 on anything curated by an engagement based algo. Deem that to be editorial. Then anything that is opt in and produced directly by who you follow is not. This doesn’t have to be hard.

If I were running a beverage brand looking to differentiate from my competitors, here's what I'd do step-by-step: 1️⃣ Identify the most creative and popular ways my product is used. Maybe it's a key ingredient of a mocktail, used in cooking recipes, or pairs well in special situations. 2️⃣ Create content around it, but don't release it on to socials! Maybe it's recording recipes or building out instructional PDFs on how to use it.