Today, we closed our acquisition of Eucalyptus, advancing our position as the world’s largest consumer health platform. When @_Timdoyle and I first met, healthcare looked very different (and so did our lives - I was a first-time dad, still on paternity leave when we had our first lunch). Proactive healthcare still felt niche and the concept of direct-to-consumer access was misunderstood as a trend. Five years later, the world has changed (and so has life – I’m now a dad to three boys, and Tim’s a father, too). People are no longer willing to navigate through arbitrary barriers for the simplest kinds of care. Healthcare innovators like drugmakers and diagnostic companies have realized connecting directly with individuals is the most powerful way to grow. But what has stayed the same is how aligned Tim and I are on what the future of health can and should be. It’s simple, deeply personal, and built for everyday life. It became clear at the end of last year that the time has never been more right to come together. Today, we’re operating as one company, focused on reaching millions of people around the world with a version of health that feels like a luxury, but doesn’t cost like one. Combining Eucalyptus’ local expertise with our scale means we can serve millions of people around the world and expand the network effects of the platform. We’ll become an everyday health companion and a partner to other healthcare innovators who want to build long-term relationships with their customers. I told the entire team this morning: The most enduring consumer companies are the ones that create a completely new way of experiencing the most personal parts of our lives. My kids deserve a different version of health than I got. So do Tim’s. So do yours. That’s what we’re building at Hims & Hers and I can’t wait for the world to see what’s possible. news.hims.com/newsroom/how-w… Read more here, including important footnotes and disclaimers: investors.hims.com/news/news…

Nailed every action the government should do 🥇🏆 "Australia does not lack money. It lacks discipline. It lacks courage. Most of all, it lacks a governing class that understands prosperity is built by people who work, save, invest, invent, hire and take risks."

Underlying the budget debate is a debate about what sort of a country we want to be. Firstly do we want to be a country where most young Australians can afford to buy a house, or can afford to pay their rent. I think the answer from just about all of us is yes. State and Federal Governments have let young Australians down over the last 30 years; buying your own house has become an impossible aspiration for millions of (mainly younger) Australians. In that context budget changes to CGT and negative gearing as they relate to residential property should be welcomed. Truthfully they aren’t going to help as much as we would all like as the fundamental issue in Australia is lack of supply and, by the Government’s own admission, the budget does little to increase supply. The second question is whether we want to be a society that encourages and incentivises hard work and entrepreneurship AND at the same time helps Australians who are doing it tough. I think the answer to the 2nd question should also be an unambiguous yes. That is the fundamental problem with the budget. The rhetoric is all about Intergenerational fairness but the reality is that it takes from business builders in Australia and it doesn’t give something back to other Australians. The CGT changes will just discourage business building and job creation and the extra revenue will fall into a massive fiscal black hole. A budget that reduces incentive for Australians to build businesses and employ people is a bad budget. People can use whatever labels they like but if people think there is something wrong in advocating for wealth creation in this country then it just means they have a different vision for this country. My vision is the vision articulated by the Hawke Keating Government and then by the Howard Costello Government. That is the Australia I aspire for us to be. The CGT hike for business builders will do nothing to increase prosperity or fairness unless your definition of fairness is reducing incentive for Australians to build successful businesses. Yes, if you build a successful business you will generate wealth for you and your family but you will also share that with the country via job creation, increased tax revenue and better products and services for Australians. I am old enough to remember when we called that a win win.

link (not paywalled) capitalbrief.com/article/the…

vibe shift bingo: dr karl relentlessly dropping factory tours on abc science

ready to build a brick wall and run through it

Well done to @gearside for putting the ABC’s Bluey blunder back on the agenda last week. The ABC now says it’s cost them at least $300m in lost revenue. I reckon it’s a lot more.

3 out of 4 of @dwarkeshpodcast's latest guests have been Australians. AI = Australian Intelligence.

winning is a mindset and australia has lost its winner's mentality (and the cultural and economic confidence that comes with it)

I’ve seen some responses to this like “the ABC would have just spent the money on cuck shit anyway” which is a total loser mentality. @gearside isn’t just some guy who got lucky. He has built multiple startups that have been incredibly successful. If you hadn’t noticed, Australia doesn’t make that easy. Instead of moving to California or starting some current thing ™ charity to get himself invited to the right parties he is putting that effort and resources towards arresting our cultural and economic decline and maybe even turning it around. And he has hit on something really crucial, the importance of risk appetite and the economics of cultural products. For too long these have been controlled by bureaucrats that are incapable of creating good cultural products because the current thing ™ always takes precedent over enduring narratives and themes. But that’s why when Australia does something like Muster Dogs it’s hard for it to be about anything other than growth, the bond between man and dog, and to be authentically Australian and so it succeeds inspite of the ABC not because of it. If we can take back even just part of the culture, Australia is capable of great and enduring art and there is a demand just waiting for it. But we need to recapture some economic control of the means of cultural production. We either take it because from the bureaucrats in some way or we take some inspiration from @gearside and startup culture. Start small, take a risk, iterate, and grow.

it still kills me… we could have funded the abc and aussie film for 20 years

This is exactly what @gearside and @build_aus have been saying afr.com/politics/federal/lab…

australia's renaissance will be an aesthetic one

this is where it started x.com/gearside/status/195542…

ngl im excited to hang one of these in the studio