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EP315 - 2023 Turkey5 Recap with Salesforces Rob Garf Episode 315 is a recap of Turkey5 (The five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday) 2023 with Rob Garf, Vice President and General Manager, Retail at Salesforce. This is Robs' Six time on the show, having previously been on episodes 110, 248, 282, 299, and 313. Jason and Scot discuss the "Turkey 5" with their guest Rob Garf, VP and GM for retail at Salesforce. They analyze data from various sources to provide insights into the holiday shopping season. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, e-commerce grew 7.75% in Q3, while total retail only grew 2%. Jason emphasizes the need for e-commerce to grow at least 7.7% in Q4 to stay on track. Adobe's data shows that Black Friday sales were up 7.5% and Cyber Monday sales were up 12.4% from the previous year. The speakers also discuss data from BigCommerce, MasterCard, and Salesforce, highlighting growth in online sales on Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Rob Garf adds his observations on retail industry trends, noting an increase in demand and robust pricing. He mentions a rebound in demand in Europe, excluding the UK, and highlights retailers' focus on profitability and inventory levels. The discussion then turns to Amazon's innovative advertising approach during a Friday NFL game, where shoppable ads were displayed via QR codes. Jason believes this strategy will benefit Amazon, as it monetizes viewership and reinforces the brand. Discounting played a significant role in driving demand during Cyber Week, with retailers offering an average of 30% off. Consumers were patient, waiting for attractive deals, while retailers managed their inventory and discounting strategies well. The luxury category, however, did not perform as strongly, with only a slight increase or even a decrease in sales. The hosts touch on the resale market and the growing popularity of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options and mobile wallets. They discuss the potential impact of mobile wallets on shopping behavior and note that BNPL resonates with new consumers and has replaced layaway. Finally, the hosts mention the passing of Charlie Munger and the filing of an IPO by Xi'an, encouraging listeners to support the show and announcing more holiday shopping data and reports on Salesforce.com. 0:00:46 Introduction to the Jason and Scot Show 0:05:04 Black Friday: First Sales for Vendors 0:14:06 Softness in Consumer Electronics and Toys Market 0:14:55 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Impact on Holiday Season Shape 0:16:32 Retailers' Inventory Management and Positive Growth Forecast 0:17:47 Retailers analyzing profitability and customer profitability. 0:18:29 Increase in Demand and Robust Pricing 0:22:34 Amazon's Innovative Advertising and Potential Profitability for Holiday 0:26:27 Discount rates over Cyber Week in comparison to previous years 0:29:04 Retailers' management of inventory and transparency in discounting strategy 0:31:52 Consumer behavior and the rise of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) 0:33:32 Mobile wallets and the impact on checkout process and shopping experiences 0:35:26 Buy Now, Pay Later Growing and Replacing Layaway 0:37:22 Charlie Munger's Passing and Xi'an's IPO Announcement Throughout this episode make liberal use of real-time data from Salesforce Shopping Insights HQ, which tracks how 1.5+ billion consumers are shaping shopping trends. You can see a real-time holiday dashboard, powered by Tableau so you can interact with the data yourself on the Salesforce Holiday Insights page. Episode 313 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Tuesday November 28th, 2023.  http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:23] Welcome to the Jason and Scot Show. This is episode 315 being recorded on Tuesday, November 28th. I'm your host, Jason Retail Geek Goldberg, and as usual, I'm here with your co-host, Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:39] Hey, Jason, and welcome back, Jason and Scot Show listeners. Vigilant listeners will remember that we promised you a delicious turkey five Introduction to the Jason and Scot Show [0:47] sandwich starring none other than Rob Garf, VP and GM for retail at Salesforce. And that's what we're delivering today. Rob was here way back on episode 313 on November 8th. And he is back here today to tell us what happened during the Turkey 5. Welcome back, Rob. Rob: [1:05] Thanks for having me, Jason, Scot. Always a pleasure and look forward to getting into some of this really fun data. Scot: [1:12] Yeah, this is your record sixth time. So your old hat here. Before we jump in, we do want to just kind of set the table, keeping with the post-Thanksgiving, theme with some leftovers. I saw what you did there. Yeah. And we, meaning Jason and his army of interns, have gathered a bunch of data from other sources. So we just want to give listeners that, and we know you have your own data, and we want to paint a complete picture. So, Jason, give us the quick and dirty rundown of other data that we've seen out there covering the holiday period so far. Jason: [1:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's do it. And side note, Rob, we're going to keep making you come back till you get it right. Rob: [1:50] I appreciate it. I'm here. Jason: [1:52] I'll do what you need. Awesome. So, super quick reminder, Q3 data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, e-commerce for the quarter grew 7.75%, over, the previous year. year, total retail only grew 2% from the previous year. And so if you take e-commerce out of total retail, brick and mortar in Q3 2023 only grew 1.08%, so lower than traditional. So when you come into the beginning of Q4 and holiday in particular, in my mind, e-commerce has to grow at 7.7% just to stay at par. And brick-and-mortar has to grow more than that one percent. [2:37] So, and I like to start with the lesser data and work our way up to the gold standard, very best data we have, which is, of course, the Rob Garth. So our friends at adobe which have a different data set but similar methodology and slightly different definition so you can't perfectly compare apples to apples, they said black friday sales were nine point eight billion in the us which is up seven point five percent from the year before so that would basically be right at that par i was just talking about, they said cyber monday was up to twelve point four percent and that was hot off the press so i wasn't able to do the math on what growth rate that was. They said for the whole month of November year to date, that they see November up 4.6% from last year. So kind of below that par. These are all numbers Adobe is giving for e-commerce. [3:26] And of particular note, and I know we'll talk about this more, they've seen a significant uptick in use of Buy Now, Pay Later services, and they've seen deeper discounting than we saw last year. Now, Shopify is really out there with a big news cycle. And I don't want to say they won up Salesforce, but they bought the sphere in Las Vegas and broadcast their data on the outside of the sphere, which visually is, is super cool. But their data isn't so useful because they don't report same store sales. They had a, you know, some unknown basket of merchants that sold a bunch of stuff last year, and they had some unknown basket of merchants that sold more stuff this year, and we don't know if the same merchants were here this year and last year or if they added a bunch of merchants or, or if this is true growth. So, so while the Shopify numbers are interesting, if you're investing in Shopify, they don't tell us a lot about what's happening in the e-commerce world. I did see a super interesting quote from Harley Finkelstein, who's the president of Shopify, and it's possibly, possibly that he just misworded this, but he was excited after Black Friday and he said 17.5, thousand. So $17,500. [4:41] Vendors made their first sale this Black Friday weekend. So I took that to mean, not that they launched on Friday just in time for Black Friday, but that this was their first Black Friday where they sold anything. So that's 17.5 thousand new merchants. [4:58] And then he said, in total, 55 thousand merchants set their all-time daily record on Black Friday. Black Friday: First Sales for Vendors [5:05] And while those two numbers sound impressive, if you kind of think about it for a second, you go, wait, the vast majority of merchants on Shopify that are B2C are going to sell their record. Cyber Monday hasn't happened yet, so take that out of the equation, are going to set their all-time record on Black Friday. So not surprised, you would expect the vast majority of all merchants to set their Black Friday record. And 17.5 thousand of them are new. So what that says is there's only 37 thousand merchants that are a year old on Shopify that sold more this Friday than last year on Black Friday. And that's, I guess, less than I would expect based on the usual reports we get from Shopify. So that, I'll just record that as a moment and our stock analysts that cover Shopify listening on the call can weigh in on that one. [5:58] BigCommerce, a slightly weirder data set. They saw an outlier, they saw 14% growth, but again, random, they're not trying to report at the industry, they're just reporting their clients. And then a particularly interesting one to me is MasterCard. I have a love-hate relationship with MasterCard. Unlike all the rest of you, MasterCard gets a set of data for stores and retailers, so they try to forecast what happened in retail, which is super valuable. Historically, I've seen some weird deviations from MasterCard that make me cautious about their numbers. But this year, they reported Black Friday, they did not report Cyber Monday. Their Black Friday number was up 8.5% year over year for eCommerce. [6:39] Which is at the high side of the mean for all these other datasets. And they reported that on Friday, total retail sales were up 2.5%. But if you back eCommerce out of that number, brick and mortar was only up 1.1%. So basically, I would call all those numbers par with our Q3 numbers. So, that kind of sets the table. Scot, take us through what we learned from Salesforce. Scot: [7:11] Yeah. So, a million questions, Rob. Let's start with, it seems like one of the biggest interesting battle royales is, A, why was Rob's face not on the sphere? And then B, it seems like one of the data sets is saying Cyber Monday is much bigger than Black Friday. And then in your pre-show, you had said you guys are seeing Black Friday exceed Cyber Monday. So let's start there. Which was bigger? Rob: [7:37] Yeah. Well, first of all, I lost the coin flip and Astro or Cody, which are critters in Salesforce world, won. So they got their faces along with Einstein on the sphere a couple of weeks ago during F1. So I'm still going for it next year, but we'll see what happens. But I digress. Let's get into the numbers. So yeah, we are seeing, you called it a battle royal. I appreciate any reference to 1980s wrestling, by the way. So thank you very much, but let's not go down that path. That could be a whole other podcast. But what we are seeing is, as you mentioned, a battle between Cyber Monday and Black Friday for supremacy. [8:19] And they are going back and forth. What we found in our data in 2019, Black Friday eclipsed Cyber Monday and has remained there, especially outside of the United States. And so we're seeing big growth and, you know, partly what's contributing to that is not only Alibaba, which has been in place for some time, but Timu and Xi'an, which I know you gentlemen like to talk about. So regardless what I think, two things based on all the data that you provide, and I appreciate the broad perspective that you share here, is people are actually buying. They might not be buying as much as they were in the past and throughout the pandemic, but But there is demand. And you know, I think that's important because when we look at our numbers and just to put it out there for Cyber Monday, and we can bounce around here wherever you'd like to go, is we chalked our number at 12.6. [9:13] Billion in the United States, and that's a growth of 3%. And I'll call it a healthy growth of 3%. And the reason being is, for the first time in five quarters, we saw growth being generated by increased consumer demand and not just merely higher prices, which is our indicator for inflation. And just to put it in perspective, let me talk about Black Friday here, because you mentioned the battle that's happening here. We saw 16.4 billion in online sales for Black Friday in the US, and that was up 9%. And so, as I mentioned, what this shows us is people are buying. What it's also showing is that there's a high concentration of online sales for those two days. And sure, you two gentlemen are laughing because that's been that way since Cyber Monday was coined in 2005, but there has been a smoothing out of demand, particularly around Cyber Week or cyber five for the last several years, but there's been a stark shift back to those two prominent days. Jason: [10:27] So interesting on the top line numbers, one of the, you mentioned that you're, you're seeing items increase, not just prices, right? Which kind of opens the whole specter of, of it's, we're not just seeing growth for from inflation, right? Are there any categories that you're like going into the holiday? It was like, hey, the growth was in essentials and food and things like that. And discretionary items like apparel and electronics and toys were not doing well. Did you guys see, like, are people opening their wallets on discretionary items or are sales continuing to be these kind of essentials and affordable luxuries? Rob: [11:06] Yeah, it's a mixed bag. And I do want to underscore your point, Jason, around. Growth being generated by more volume and not just higher prices. So that's exactly what we saw. 3% growth when you're seeing 9% increase in inflation is a tough equation to, be profitable and to work out in the consumer's favor. But in this case, we are seeing more demand. And the demand, as I mentioned, is a mixed bag. On one hand, we are seeing really nice growth in areas like makeup and health and beauty, skin care. We're also seeing nice growth in active apparel and active footwear as well. I categorize that actually as comfort. In uncertain times when consumers certainly are looking to really take control of their household balance sheets, oftentimes you migrate to comfort. You know, you can talk about comfort food, but this is just comfort gifting and comfort what you put on your body, both clothes and literally on your skin. And so we are seeing nice growth there where actually, if you think about it over the last 12 months, those categories have been hit a bit in terms of the growth curve. [12:20] And what you're seeing on the other side actually is luxury is softening a little bit, which which I think is important to note because for the last, I mean, gosh, through the pandemic and after, luxury was one of the most, no, not one of the most, was the most resilient categories. And we're starting to see a bit of breaking down, especially around the aspirational luxury side. So we're going to keep an eye on that. I will mention one other thing, actually, as it relates to categories that are doing well in the holiday and that is food and beverage and gifting, you know, in terms of. What people look to for comfort and experiences, they are gifting chocolate, they're gifting wine, they're gifting various gift baskets. We saw really strong growth, even starting, you know, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and working its way through the entire holiday. Jason: [13:22] Interesting. One category or two categories that come up a lot, like coming into holiday, electronics had been in a pretty big swamp, like for the whole pandemic. And I'm curious, I've seen conflicting data about whether electronics are back or whether they're still soft. Traditionally, electronics would be one of the fastest movers for holiday. Rob: [13:43] Of course, of course. Yeah, I mean, consumer electronics, toys, right? Those two are still pretty soft. I think you really though need to put it in perspective in terms of the astronomical growth we saw on those categories over the last four years. I haven't done the math. You're really good at this, Jason. So I'm gonna put you to task maybe on your next LinkedIn post, but I am willing to wager, and I'm not a betting person, so I'm not really willing Softness in Consumer Electronics and Toys Market [14:07] to wager, but I'd love to see the CAGR of those categories over the last four years. I'm guessing they're in really strong, like high team growth, which any retailer would be happy with that on a given holiday time period. So there is a bit of softening, but I think it's really important to understand it in context with the growth that they've seen over the last several years. Scot: [14:32] Cool. Um, so, you know, with these good showings and Cyber Monday and Black Friday, what's that mean for the rest of the season? Are you guys like doubling your forecast, tripling or, and what's that mean for the shape? We talk a lot about the shape of the holiday. Any, any, any changes to your thoughts on those? Rob: [14:49] Yeah. The shape or the anatomy. I've been asked this by a lot of retail executives because they're being asked by their board, like, are you sandbagging us? Black Friday and Cyber Monday Impact on Holiday Season Shape [14:59] We need to really relook at this forecast. We crawled through the data over the last couple of days just to look through our model and see if we could see the data in different ways through different lenses. The reality is what we're seeing is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday were taking market share from the bookends of the holiday, from earlier on and later on, right before the shipping cutoff date. And so for the last five years or so, we have been seeing a smoothing out of demand for the seven days that we define as Cyber Week, Tuesday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. And Thanksgiving became a really strong and important day, especially on the mobile device, especially as consumers. [15:47] Either being distracted or inspired, whichever you want to think about it, on the couch after Thanksgiving meal, looking at social. [15:54] But we've seen a snapback of the higher concentration of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So it's not like there's incremental sales, and that's what I think you were getting at, right? I don't think there's incremental sales that we can now account for. We're still staying to our forecast of 1% growth in the US for November and December. That's how we define holiday and in the US and we're looking at 4% growth globally, really led by Europe. And I want to just put a caveat on this. Not only again, are we seeing that growth come from increased demand, but retailers have gotten smarter. Retailers' Inventory Management and Positive Growth Forecast [16:33] I don't know if it's smarter, but they were very deliberate going into this holiday starting six months ago about managing inventory levels and margins. So there's been a lot of talk about how are we going to handle shipping? How are we going to handle our return policies? And also, how are we going to think about our open to buys? And so I think most retail executives, especially on the merchandising side, are feeling pretty good because they're working their way through the inventory, which by the way, as you know, has been a big glut over the last couple of years, especially in 2021, when so many products were stuck in the port of LA. I mean, that just created this bullwhip effect that we're still just getting our arms around now and getting over the hump. And so that's my long way of saying is we're not reforecasting. We still feel positive with that 1% and 4% growth in U.S. and global, respectively, because. [17:24] Retailers are taking a very close look at overall profitability and this concept of customer profitability as well. Scot: [17:32] Yeah. You'd said, so it seems like the curve was kind of flattening out and now it's like steepening again it's like kind of coming in at the edges and in kind of like shaping up in the middle part of the bell curve which is like the that, Retailers analyzing profitability and customer profitability. [17:48] cyber week. Is that that's right. Okay. Rob: [17:51] That's really good. Yeah. It's kind of snapped back. Right. Yeah. Definitely. Yeah. Scot: [17:56] It's going to make that sound. Rob: [17:58] Where's the sound effects in turn? Are they there? Are they on call? Can we get that bullying? Jason: [18:02] I'll be adding that in post. Scot: [18:06] You had said something that kind of piqued my interest. You said people are kind of, you know, I may be rephrasing this wrong, but you said kind of demand is back. Like I knew it almost felt like you were saying before there was, you know, people were shopping, but it didn't seem like, you know, a new increase in demand. And now it is because you're seeing robustness in pricing and stuff. Is that say a little bit more about that? I'll make sure I understand what you were saying. Increase in Demand and Robust Pricing Rob: [18:32] Yeah, you got it. So yes. And I, again, and don't think retail executives are doing backflips and thinking that we're getting back to roaring double-digit, growth coming out of the holiday. But what this is an indication, and by the way, we're seeing this as a leading indicator in Europe, let's exclude the UK, which is probably in the same rebound curve as the United States and Canada, but you take continental Europe and who are about two, maybe three quarters ahead of us in terms of the rebound, we're seeing inflation settle, the average selling prices settle down and people are buying more. So we're seeing average orders volume higher. We're seeing slight uptick in units per transaction, only slight. But the order piece is super interesting. We're seeing traffic. We're seeing continued really strong traffic. People are just really being diligent and patient and shopping a lot and looking for the best deals. And we'll have to talk about that in terms of what discounting patterns we saw as well. So that's my long way of saying Scot is people are buying more, they're doing it. By still making trade-offs. So there is a sense of let's load up on some essentials while we're getting good deals. [19:57] Let's look for travel, entertainment, like experiences. And you have to also think of the adjacent categories like luggage, as an example, if you're going on a trip, do you need something new to put your clothes in? And though they are, again, increasing, as I mentioned. So as I think about the sentiment, even with a 1% in the US growth, 4% global is what we're forecasting for the full holiday, retailers are feeling good about that. They want to exit this holiday on a really good foundation of profitability, a really good foundation on inventory levels. And most every retailer I'm talking to has a growth mindset. They're thinking about customer acquisition, finding new ways to do that because customer acquisition costs are still off the charts, but also loyalty, finding new ways to create stickiness, looking for adjacent categories, adjacent services, looking for partnerships to supplement what they're doing organically. And I mean, this would take us down a whole other path, but they're leaning into data. They're leaning into AI to better understand who those consumers are and what they're likely to buy and making sure they're able to create profitable customers. How was that soapbox? I just rattled off too much, too fast. Jason: [21:13] So hopefully you were able to digest it. But you kind of, you glossed over what they're really looking at is just selling ads to brands. Rob: [21:18] That's fair. Thank you. I could have just said that. You're right. That's a very good point. And yeah, we could, I love your take actually, seriously, given that on Amazon's move for the football game on Friday. Jason: [21:31] Yeah. So that's a great point. And maybe just to catch up listeners that might not have followed it. Something very different and unique for this year is that the NFL, you know, normally they have a Thursday game and they have Sunday games and a Monday night game. On Thanksgiving, they have Thursday day games during Thanksgiving. This year, they added a Friday game for the first time. And the sponsor of that Friday game was Amazon. It was broadcast on Amazon Prime, and Amazon actually had shoppable ads via QR codes in the broadcast, all sort of innovative, cool, new stuff. [22:11] The early read is that the viewership was pretty good for the Friday game. There's no history, so we have nothing to compare it to. I would argue fewer people are going and standing in line at brick and mortar stores for door busters. You know, the little bit of data we do have on brick and mortar shows that, like, there wasn't a huge, huge spike in in-store shopping. I feel like Friday has become more of an online shopping day, Amazon's Innovative Advertising and Potential Profitability for Holiday [22:36] which means people are home more, which means there's an opportunity to watch a football game. I kind of don't imagine that the interactive ad formats, like, you know, we're high volume and really move the needle, but they're innovative. And I do think that that Friday game is likely to be a new tradition as the holiday shopping season goes from an omni-channel thing to an online thing. At least that's my POV. Rob: [23:03] Yeah, I am super interested in your point of view given how close you are to this. So I guess I'm gonna put you on the spot. Wow, look at me, I'm totally turning the table here, but this has been on my mind. And actually, interestingly enough, over the weekend at a party, somebody who's not in like retail, you know, he shops. That's the extent of it. He pointed out what Amazon did and thought it was really clever. So what did I hear? Like, did they spend a hundred million dollars for that? Regardless, do you think they made the money back going to your point, Jason, on selling ad space in there and kind of even if it's a break even and or they're gaining more prime members, it was a good day for Amazon? Jason: [23:42] Yeah, I am pretty confident it was a good day for Amazon. Like, one thing to remember is Amazon has a better model for monetizing eyeballs than anyone else, right? So, like, if you're Coca-Cola and you sponsor a football game, you're trying to get eyeballs and the only way you have to monetize those eyeballs is to get them to drink more Coke. Rob: [24:03] Right. Jason: [24:04] If you're Amazon, here's what you do. You get a bunch of eyeballs. You try to sell them something that you make money on. And after you do that, you sell ads to other people for more than you paid. And they try to sell something to that person, right? And so, you know, the combination of the ad revenue that Amazon generates and the top of funnel, and bottom of funnel benefit that Amazon gets, again, they're building their brand. Your friend that was just talking to you, he wasn't talking about a particular product he was shopping for. The brand he remembers is Amazon, right? And so you got that Amazon top of the funnel benefit, which is valuable and important. Amazon probably sold some stuff to people. So you got that Amazon bottom of funnel benefit. And then we know Amazon sold a bunch of ads, which is, you know, a huge, huge driver of incremental profit. So yeah, I definitely think we can call Amazon a winner there. I think when it all settles, we're also going to see that it was just a pretty good sales day for Amazon as well. Rob: [25:09] Yeah, I bet you're right. Yeah. The last point and then we can move on and by the way, welcome to episode one of the Rob Garf podcast, is the fact that I mean, knowing Amazon, those ads that you're getting are personalized in terms of them understanding who you are and even if it's a different size or a different brand or a different you know, whatever, even what they know about what's in your shopping cart, what you bought in the past. So anyways, it sounds like, as I would have suspected, you're pretty bullish about it and I am too. Jason: [25:37] So yeah, I do want to cover something just kind of fundamental. So, so we rebounded a little bit and we got bigger sales on, on Friday and Monday. Potentially we might've just pulled some sales in that were going to happen later in the month per your, your comments about not wanting to re-forecast. Did we partly pull those in by giving deeper discounts than we usually give? Like what, what did you see from a discounting standpoint and what does that say about potential profitability for Holiday? Rob: [26:03] Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we actually looked at this going into the Holiday and we went back to 2019 and I have the team look at discount rates starting in November 1st for 2019, 2021, and 2023, what we had anticipated for this year. And what we saw and actually came true is we saw discount rates over Cyber Week hover just north of where they were in 2019. Discount rates over Cyber Week in comparison to previous years [26:31] Don't forget, 2021, there were the lowest discount rates that we've seen because the product just wasn't there. So retailers, it was the first time they won the game of Discount Chicken. The short answer is yes. Retailers did discount the heaviest they have all year, right around 30% on average. And I think that's important. It's on average. I mean, we've all seen discounts of 40%, 50%, really creative discounting strategies. And so that definitely drove demand. I mean, going back to the consumer, while they're buying more, they're making trade-offs and they were really diligent. [27:09] They were really patient and they waited and they waited and they ultimately saw the attractive deals starting in earnest on Black Friday. They weren't even that great on the Monday, Tuesday, I'm sorry, the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thanksgiving, Thursday until Black Friday, and then they started to buy. So they held out and they ultimately purchased those attractive deals. In terms of margin, I think we're doing okay. And the secret here is when we looked at the data, given all the inflation that happened, And actually, consumers are still, even with these deep discounts, paying more than they were in 2019. The optics are there. They're feeling like they're getting a good deal, but the reality is they're still spending more. So I think they'll be okay. And there wasn't this protracted discounting that did happen. And because they manage their inventory well, the retailers, and their discounting strategy as well, I don't think they're going to be forced with the hail Mary discounts that you often see right before the shipping cutoff date. So I think that retailers actually managed it pretty well. I give them credit too, by the way, what we saw in our data as well is retailers were a lot more transparent around their discounting strategy. [28:23] Many were offering price match guarantees. If they saw, you know, the consumer saw the price for less, and they were also much more transparent around their return policies as well. So people felt a little more comfortable buying earlier, even if the prices weren't exactly where they wanted it. So the long of it is, or the short of it, whichever way I look at it, is there were healthy discounts. Consumers took advantage of them. I'm still feeling more positive, especially than I have from last year, about margins. Scot: [28:57] Cool. You said something I want to dig into, and then I want to pivot to be in PL. You said luxury was a little soft. What do we make of that? Retailers' management of inventory and transparency in discounting strategy Rob: [29:06] Yeah, and like I said, it's had a run, like I haven't seen before in any one category. I mean, don't get me wrong. Consumer electronics really strong and some other categories in the pandemic home looked really strong as well. But it continued after the pandemic, both in store and online. What we saw compared again, just to put in perspective, three percent increase on Cyber Monday in the U.S., nine percent increase in Black Friday in the U.S. [29:34] There was a tick low beyond flat for luxury. What it also showed is they started to. [29:41] Discount more than they typically do. You think of luxury, they're going to hold their really price and be sensitive around preserving their brand and their margins. And we were seeing that tick up as well. I think the ultra luxury is still alive and kicking, no problem. It's more of that aspirational luxury. One area that I think is really important to point out is the resale market. More and more luxury brands are playing in the luxury market game. I'm sorry, the resale market game, because they realize people are doing it anyways, and they might as well offer that in many cases on their own website. So like Coach as an example, Canada Goose as an example, have the capability to exchange product, which then allows existing customers to likely buy something at a higher price point. And then if the product is in good enough shape, they're able to resell it and allow for aspirational shoppers to actually access that brand and buy it where they might not have been able to in the past. So yeah, I'm not overly concerned about luxury. I mean, the brands are so strong and there's so much loyalty there, but it just does show that in the aspirational space, people are trading down to a degree. [30:55] You know, they're trading down for value in the resale market. In many cases, they're trading down for vintage. It's amazing to see how many, you know, sneaker brands and specific models are hot that we all remember from our high school days. And you know, even the younger generations like to save the world a little bit as well. Scot: [31:14] Yeah. So I guess what I'm getting at is, do we think the consumer's rolling over and that's kind of the BNPL question too, because one way to read BNPL increasing is people are under financial stress. So they're stretching out payments. Another way is, you know, seeing all this data and it's always sponsored by one of the BNPL providers. So I'm never sure how to take it, but it shows that, you know, millennials and Gen Zers like, they don't like open credit. And it's weird because my kids have this perspective too. I thought it was like, I thought it was totally made up and then they're like, oh no, I, you know, I hate having like these credit cards with big limits. And I'm like, well, if you don't use it, it doesn't matter. It just makes them Consumer behavior and the rise of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) [31:52] nervous for some reason. And do you think it's a generational thing or is it a little sign of softness on the consumer? And maybe the luxury is another indication that it feels like the consumer is rolling over a little bit or you don't see that. Rob: [32:06] Yeah, I mean, I think it is a bit generational to your point. I don't have those data's points to substantiate what you're describing. But a lot of what I learned is from my 17-year-old and 14-year-old because they're right in the smack dab of purchasing and trends and so forth. Don't worry, we have a lot more data at Salesforce to back this up, billions and billions of shoppers. But in any case, the anecdotes definitely help provide a full commentary. But we saw an outpay later over Cyber Week increase 7%. So that's healthy. It's a little slower than we've seen in past. What we're also seeing, and it started last year, is it's on lower and lower price point merchandise. So that also speaks to the adoption as well. It's not just on the big ticket items. I think if I zoom out for a moment as well, mobile wallets were really strong. Mobile wallets were really strong. We saw about a 50% increase year over year in that. Now, of course, it's a smaller base than traditional credit cards and debit cards. But still, it's showing the adoption because it's really breaking down the friction in the checkout process. But we keep a close eye on buy now, pay later, because you're right. It could be an indication, especially as consumers look to buy lower price merchandise, that it might be a softening in the market. But we're not quite there in proclaiming that. Scot: [33:25] You said a mobile wallet. That is catnip for retail geek, so I'll get out of his way. I bet he has a million questions. Jason: [33:32] Yeah, no, Scot knows I love a good mobile wallet and I'm sure everyone's already heard this, Mobile wallets and the impact on checkout process and shopping experiences [33:37] but I have a hypothesis that some of the popular shopping behaviors we see in Asia aren't as popular here because we don't have as good a penetration of mobile wallets and that if you have mobile wallets, it makes certain experiences like shopping on social media and things like that easier because it only requires one hand instead of three hands. So I'd be curious, do you guys think you're seeing more mobile wallet users, or do you think you're seeing more transaction from the existing users, or do you have the ability to? To see between those two? I suspect I just asked you a question you're going to now have to go do research on. Rob: [34:17] Nick Neumann We may have that based on some of the primary research we do. We don't have access to personally identifiable information, so we can't see by user. But my thesis there is it's both. There are more people adopting mobile wallets because they see the convenience and the friction that's removed. And then once that happens, they're buying more. I think you go back to the Amazon example, part of why that's probably a home run for them is because it's a lot easier for somebody to buy in that form factor than let's say Roku or other Verizon user interfaces that you don't have a wallet associated with it. I didn't go through the shopping process on the Friday NFL game, but I can only imagine it was much easier than having to do it through other types of media. So I think that, yeah, I agree by the way, with your hypothesis that, you know, embedded commerce or shopping at the edge has been a bit stunted because, the wallet piece is not there or as accessible as it is in other countries. Buy Now, Pay Later Growing and Replacing Layaway Jason: [35:30] Yeah. Two things I'll just throw out there on buy now, pay later. I mean, I do, I think it, it legitimately resonates with the new crop of consumers. And so I think it's growing for all the reasons that the Buy Now Pay Later people claim it's growing. But I would, there's two accelerators that are just kind of convenient in there. Holiday used to be a big time for this payment method that the youngsters on the call wouldn't have heard of called the layaway. And almost no retailer that I'm aware of has brought back layaway, like they all retired it in the last several years, largely because Buy Now Pay Later has replaced it. And so, you know, layaway is most popular around holiday. So, you know, to the extent that buy now pay later is the digital version of layaway. It kind of makes sense that you would see a spike over a holiday. Also, digital is growing much faster than brick and mortar. Buy Now, Pay Later is disproportionately online. So that, you know, is another reason you would expect Buy Now, Pay Later to spike. One thing that's a little alarming slash interesting to me is that Buy Now, Pay Later gets used for a wider range of purchases and merchandise than LayAway did. Like, LayAway tended to be big ticket items, your kid's aspirational toys, but Buy Now Pay Later gets used for food and consumables and things that economically you would argue probably don't want to be financing something that you need to rebuy every month. Rob: [36:52] Yes. Jason: [36:53] So I'll just throw that out there on Buy Now Pay Later. We are coming up on our allotted time. I do have two other pieces of news that just kind of interrupted the Turkey Five news cycle. And one of them I'm super sad about, and it's actual breaking news that happened while we were recording this show, Charlie Munger just passed away at 99. Rob: [37:13] Oh, wow. Scot: [37:14] That's terrible. Jason: [37:15] Warren Buffett's partner, and I just, I feel like, very admirable person. I've learned a lot. He and Warren Buffett, like, are super generous with sharing Charlie Munger's Passing and Xi'an's IPO Announcement [37:23] all this thought leadership, and I just want to say best wishes to all his family and loved ones. Seems like you had an amazing life. Rob: [37:31] Yeah, I echo your sentiment. Jason: [37:33] Yep. And then in the middle of Cyber 5, you guys teased this a couple of times talking about Xi'an. and Xi'an disclosed that they filed an IPO. So that came out yesterday. It's a confidential IPO, so we won't actually see the prospectus until probably 2024 sometime. Okay. And the theory is that it's going to be, because of their not super transparent ownership structure and their Chinese ownership, it's gonna have extra regulatory scrutiny. And so the reason you'd file a confidential IPO is so you could start talking to regulators and negotiating what you're gonna do and what you're gonna disclose. And so they're probably working through all that stuff to then do the public IPO later. But it's, I'm excited for when that gets disclosed because there's a lot of speculation about how big Shein is and how profitable or unprofitable their model has been. And we're gonna be able to do away with all that speculation and get some real certified data. Rob: [38:38] I can't wait to listen to that show when you dissect that. It will be super interesting to see where they're allocating the investment and the capital. Beyond, obviously, hiring people, but what parts of the business. Jason: [38:51] I totally agree and that's going to be a great place to leave it because we have used up our allotted time. Rob, so grateful and congratulations on being our first six-time guest. And as per usual, if you enjoyed this episode or it was useful to us in any way, the two ways you can reward us are to do a giant enterprise contract for all your marketing services with Salesforce.com or, you can leave a five-star review on iTunes for Scot and I. So, you know, those are the two paths, choose whichever one makes most financial sense to you, but appreciate it if you do one or the other. Rob: [39:29] Yeah. And if I could say too, I know we're running up against time, but I want to give a big, sincere thank you. Obviously we just came out of Thanksgiving, so I want to show my gratitude. You know, it's amazing. Anytime I'm on the show, the people that reach out to me, not only talking about the show, but how much they've learned from you. And so for you to trust me and providing my perspective and Salesforce perspective means a lot and just thanks for being such good friends. Scot: [39:56] Robert Leonard Jason said, no, but I overrode him just so you know the history. I thought, you know, Jason's like, I'm the retail geek. We don't need any Garfies in here. Rob, remind us where could people go? You guys will be updating your data. I assume, you know, this is the last time you'll be on for this year, but I'm sure you'll be publishing more data as we get deeper in the holiday. Where do people go to see that? Rob: [40:19] Jason Cosper Yeah, we have our Shopping Insights HQ on salesforce.com. We will be updating the information. We'll do a mid-season report right around the shipping cutoff window, and then we'll do an all-wrapped-up just around the beginning of NRF. So keep an eye out. Scot: [40:34] Awesome. Well, thanks, everyone, and until next time... Jason: [40:38] Happy commercing!

McAlvany Weekly Commentary 40% of personal income taxes are sucked up to pay interest on US Debt Seven US Banks closed 42 branches in one week 50 Billion a month is fleeing China in the form of gold and other creative alternatives. The post Almost Half of My Taxes go to Pay Interest! appeared first on McAlvany Weekly Commentary.

With over 30 years of M&A Experience and 13 acquisitions exceeding 2-Billion, Richard Parker has come to the show to share his path to success with us. Parker also has a best selling course "How to Buy a Business at a Great Price" which has obtained over 100,000 downloads. Give us a listen and learn about how to successfully acquire a successful business . --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/betterself/support

Miguel Armaza sits down with Ohad Samet, CEO & Co-Founder of TrueML, a leading platform of fintech products to enable intelligent, digital customer communication, which in clues TrueAccord, a leading debt recovery and collections platform with a consumer-friendly digital experience. They are backed by AmEx, Arbor Ventures, BoxGroup, Felicis, Homebrew, Nyca, Max Levchin, and many more.Ohad is also an industry veteran and previously held leadership roles at PayPal and Klarna.We discuss:Lessons learned at PayPal and Klarna. What drives the success of these organizations?How TrueAccord has pioneered a humane, consumer-friendly approach to debt collectionThe state of BNPL and why Ohad thinks the category is here to stay and he hopes it displaces payday loansAdvice on managing your relationship with VCs… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 60,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIp

In today's episode, Jacques sits down with special guest Jeff Walker, the creator of the renowned Product Launch Formula (PLF). Get ready to be inspired as Jeff shares the incredible story of how he generated a staggering $1 billion in course sales using his launch formula. From integrating webinars into the launch process to utilizing the power of storytelling and building trust, Jeff reveals invaluable insights and strategies for successful online course creators. Join Jacques and Jeff as they discuss the evolution of marketing, the enduring effectiveness of the Product Launch Formula, and the importance of creating urgency and scarcity in your offers. Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your course business to the next level, this episode is packed with practical advice and inspiration from the master himself. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into the world of online course launches with Jeff Walker!

Five men in their 20's came up with a way to share videos with each other. The idea was called YouTube! They sold it to Google for 1.6 billion dollars. All you need to do is get 1 creative idea a week and write it down. In 5 years you have 250 ideas. If you acted on just 10% of them you would have 25 ideas that would give you a unique edge in any field! This course - 7m Mastery is all about thinking outside the box! You'll love it.

Fidelity Investments ($4.5 Trillion Asset Manager) spot Bitcoin ETF is inevitable with their new updated application. Fidelity talked about a 5% allocation into BTC and predicts the Bitcoin price reaching $1 billion per coin by this date. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Associated Press reports on the increasing importance of GivingTuesday for nonprofits, especially amid concerns of declining donations. GivingTuesday, which began as a hashtag in 2012, has grown into a significant fundraising event where many nonprofits leverage matching campaigns to maximize donations. The end of the year traditionally sees a surge in charitable giving. The AP notes that organizations like Fidelity Charitable are optimistic about end-of-year donations, contrasting with the National Council of Nonprofits' concerns over falling support and a general decline in the number of Americans donating. Whole Whale, the publisher of this newsletter, predicts approximately $3.45 Billion in predicted donation revenue for nonprofits this Giving Tuesday, based on an analysis of historical trends and movements in search volume. In addition to traditional fundraising vehicles, observers are acutely paying attention to trends in alternate forms of giving, especially crypto donations, like those fueled by platforms such as Whole Whale partner The Giving Block.   Warren Buffett donates $870 million to charities ahead of Thanksgiving | CNN Billionaire Warren Buffett has donated approximately $870 million in Berkshire Hathaway shares to four family-run foundations, continuing his annual philanthropic tradition. The donation, echoing last year's gesture, is part of his long-standing commitment against dynastic wealth and in support of societal benefits through capitalism. Despite being 93, Buffett remains at the helm of his company, which is thriving with robust earnings and a record cash reserve.     Who Are the New OpenAI Board Members and What's Changed? Tech.co OpenAI recently underwent significant changes in its board composition following a tumultuous period marked by the firing and subsequent rehiring of CEO Sam Altman. This upheaval led to the dismissal of three board members: Ilya Sutskever, Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner, with the latter two being the only women on the board. Their departure was a consequence of a failed board coup against Altman. In their place, Bret Taylor and Larry Summers have been appointed​​. This shift represents a notable change in the board's gender diversity and reflects the broader dynamics at play within the company and its controlling interests.     One Love Foundation: Major donor sues citing founder's opposition to minority, LGBTQ outreach The Baltimore Banner A major donor is suing the One Love Foundation, claiming that the Baltimore-based nonprofit, which has educated 2 million young people about relationship violence, has breached an agreement and is in “disarray” due to the actions of one of its founders. The lawsuit asserts that Sharon Love, who created One Love after her daughter, University of Virginia senior Yeardley Love, was killed by an ex-boyfriend in 2010, fought against One Love's “outreach to LGBTQ and minority communities” and threatened to fire board members who disagreed with her, prompting nearly all board members and the organization's CEO to resign earlier this year.      

Kaitlyn is the Founder & CEO of Theory Planning Partners, a boutique wealth creation firm for the top female entrepreneurs in the United States.Before launching Theory Planning Partners, Kaitlyn spent the majority of her career at UBS Financial Services, Inc., where she held roles in both the southern and northeastern regions of the U.S. There, she developed more than 300 financial plans for clients with assets ranging from $500,000 to $1 Billion. Subsequently, she became an advisor on a private wealth management team that managed over $600 million for a few dozen families. Her career began in asset management with Putnam Investments.Kaitlyn is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™️ (CFP®), Certified Exit Planning Advisor™️ (CEPA™️), and an Accredited Wealth Management Advisor (AWMA®). Outside of work, she is a spiritual seeker ravenous to understand why we are here and how to make a meaningful life.Kaitlyn lives in Marblehead, MA, with her husband, Jake, their sons, Russell and Luke, and their affectionate dog, Bacchus. In her free time, she enjoys exercising, reading, traveling, and trying new restaurants around Boston.

On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz and a host of Mayo Clinic officials unveiled a new, $5 billion campus in downtown Rochester, Minn.Mayo says the project will upend our current concept of what it means to go to the hospital and will lean into emerging technologies including artificial intelligence.MPR News reporter Catharine Richert joined Minnesota Now more about the massive proposal.

On this week's episode of The Business Lunch Podcast, Roland and Ryan dive into the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping stats. They analyze if record online sales and in-store spending were really a sign that consumers are confident - or if it was just pulling forward purchases. Roland shares how some of their portfolio companies performed over the holiday weekend. They also debate whether interest rates will need to be lowered to manage rising debt levels or if inflation needs to come down first. Tune in to hear their take on the state of the economy and what it could mean for businesses in 2023.Highlights:"It will be interesting to see if the logic of the more I spend, the more I save during this discount period, damages sales going forward if it's basically just borrowing from tomorrow, and compressing.""If consumers are confident and consumer spend, then the economy turns along because if consumers spend, then that means businesses can spend.""The more I spend, the more I save during this discount period, damages sales going forward if it's basically just borrowing from tomorrow, and compressing."Timestamps:00:00: Introduction01:40: Black Friday06:11: Economic Outlook12:14: Brand Loyalty 18:47: Pricing Strategies21:22: Personalized Texts & Guarantees27:27: Black Friday Sales Strategies 32:03: Acquisitions Mentioned in this episode:Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses!Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! EPIC Training

Sandy Hook families have offered to settle Alex Jones' $1.5 billion legal debt for a minimum of $85 million. AP's Lisa Dwyer reports.

Nobody is allowed to complain about inflation Americans spent close to $10 Billion dollars on Black Friday with millions more in spending expected today on Cyber Monday...Are Americans just getting caught up in the marketing? Dave and Debbie discuss with KSL Newsradio Producer Catlyn Johnston. 

In this episode, we discuss four important tech news updates, including OpenAI's CEO drama and the importance of mission alignment. We also explore how the IT channel is adapting to new business dynamics and share findings from TechIsle's latest survey. Additionally, we cover Microsoft's Windows app preview, which brings Windows to Chromebooks and Macs, and Binance's $4.3 billion restitution payment following money laundering charges. Stay tuned for all the latest in the business of tech.Four things to know today00:00 OpenAI did stuff and returned to the same state.02:11 IT Channel Adapts to New Business Dynamics: Findings from Techaisle's Latest Survey05:19 Microsoft's Windows App Preview: Bringing Windows to Chromebooks and Macs06:56 Binance to Pay $4.3 Billion in Restitution Following Money Laundering Charges.Supported by: https://rfcode.com/mspradio/ CODE MSPRADIO for 30% off at checkoutWant to take my class? https://www.itspu.com/all-classes/classes/navigating-emerging-technologies-for-msps/Looking for a link from the stories? The entire script of the show, with links to articles, are posted in each story on https://www.businessof.tech/Do you want the show on your podcast app or the written versions of the stories? Subscribe to the Business of Tech: https://www.businessof.tech/subscribe/Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/mspradio/Want our stuff? Cool Merch? Wear “Why Do We Care?” - Visit https://mspradio.myspreadshop.comFollow us on:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/28908079/YouTube: https://youtube.com/mspradio/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mspradionews/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mspradio/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessoftech

Chuck Zodda and Marc Fandetti discuss black friday spending coming in strong. How people pay for gifts is upending retailers. American borrowers are getting closer to maxing out. The biggest delivery business in the US is no longer UPS or FedEx. White House touts new supply chain measures as inflation eases. Owners keep combie malls alive even when towns want to pull the plug.

Mike has BIG news about today's episode of Capability Amplifier.He sat down with two of the most fascinating and brilliant folks he has come across in a long time — Kurt and Kristen Luidhardt. They are THE masterminds behind getting presidents, governors, senators elected through clever marketing and messaging.We're talking half a BILLION dollars raised and dozens of high-profile politicians helped into office.But here's the crazy part — they took all their political marketing mojo and created a system to help NON-political businesses reinvent themselves faster and find "hidden money" just waiting to be snagged.We're talking about uncovering secret revenue streams, optimizing your messaging to create buzz and engagement, even spinning off new products and services from within your existing business.Their system is pure gold and they break it all down in this episode. The stories of sleeping in their car while selling fireworks, expanding to a massive tent operation in Philadelphia (nearly getting arrested!), and exploding onto the political scene are epic.You've got to hear Kurt's hilarious story of splitting his pants wide open right in front of President Bush! It's cringe-worthy and hilarious.And their passion for helping American small businesses reinvent themselves comes through loud and clear. Mike was pumped up and ready to take on the world by the end!So plug in your headphones, get comfy, and enjoy this brand new episode. And don't forget to visit www.ReinventFaster.com to get all their free tools, masterclasses, and special bonuses they put together exclusively for this community.Key Takeaways (03:23) Privileged visit to the Bush family in Maine. (08:50) Fireworks hookup helped fund Kurt + Kristen's wedding, $9,000 profit. (09:42) Parents helped sell fireworks, funded the wedding. (15:50) Successful client turned unexpected entrepreneurial venture (16:27) Fireworks, media, connections, politics, and quick wins. (20:46) Extraordinary 2016 fundraising led to unique innovation. (22:59) "News cycle demands fast thinking, responding, and marketing." (26:30) Unique challenge: Trump's reinvention boosts donations. (29:48) Politics and businesses must focus on what matters. (33:47) Ai tool analyzes business for strategic advantages. (37:07) Execution, innovation, and opportunities create business success. Additional Resources Get all of Kurt and Kristen's Tools and Resources at www.ReinventFaster.com Download Mike's free Ai Superpower Accelerator Toolkit to Multiply Your Productivity 10x or More! Ai Superpower Accelerator Directory by Mike Koenigs  

What is now a 60 billion dollar public traded enterprise, Nick Howley takes us back thirty years to the origin of his success. Check out this exclusive interview with Nick, Mark's eldest brother, who is the Founder of Transdigm plus multiple traded companies on the New York Stock Exchange. What he describes as "dumb luck" and determination, learn how Nick's company outgrew the private marke. Investment strategies, charity, public trading on NYSE,  niche markets are just a few of the topics covered in this conversation. The Howley brother banter is not one to miss.  Thank you for listening! To support us further please like, follow, subscribe or leave a review from wherever you are listening. We appreciate your viewership. 

Christy Kinahan is the former Dublin taxi driver who heads the world's most wanted international gang. John Mooney, who has been pursuing Christy and his gang for a decade, considers if the net is finally closing in.This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. Read John's Sunday Times magazine piece on the Kinahans in full. Guest: John Mooney, Investigative Reporter, The Sunday Times.Host: Manveen Rana.Get in touch: storiesofourtimes@thetimes.co.ukClips: RTE, Virgin Media News. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trump sues the media for $1.5 billion dollars over their false allegations that Truth Social lost $73 million. Filed in Florida, Trump lawyers claim the false stories were defamatory and created to harm the organization that resulted in significant damages.Elon Musk's X sues Media Matters in Fort Worth, Texas over, their efforts to concoct a scheme to drive advertisers away from the platform. We review the lawsuit along with Ken Paxton's announcement of an inquiry from the Attorney General's office.Fani Willis throws a fit after she loses her request to revoke Harrison Floyd's bond in Georgia. Judge McAfee heard oral arguments from multiple witnesses before deciding that Harrison Floyd did not have proper notice of the limitations of his release conditions and denied Fani's request to imprison Harrison a second time.

(Airdate 10/20) “A More Perfect Union" Hour 1 with Nii-Quartelai Quartey | @drniiquartelai| Podcast Hosted by changemaker, journalist, educator, and KBLA Talk 1580 Chief National Political Analyst Dr. Nii-Quartelai Quartey, “A More Perfect Union” promises to deliver national news of consequence, informed opinion, and analysis beyond the headlines.We're going beyond today's headlines with CNN Political Commentator and Former Biden Harris 2020 Campaign National Coalition Director Ashley Allison. We'll get her to take on the President's rare Oval Office Address, his request for over $100 Billion in aid to protect America's national security interest, and how the marathon search forHouse Speaker may undermine what our friends and fellow American need the most.

On The Capitol Beach, Derek Brockbank hosts Camille Crain, the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) section chief within Hazard Mitigation Assistance Division at FEMA. Only authorized 5 years ago, BRIC has quickly become one of the (if not the singular) biggest federal funding programs for resilience to natural hazards, in large part due to its funding coming directly from post-disaster funding. Specifically, 6% of Stafford Act disaster funding is now set aside for BRIC to improve resilience in communities pre-disaster. Even though BRIC is too new to have a fully a constructed project to its credit, the program is evolving to better support underserved communities, implement nature-based solutions, and provide technical assistance to communities unable to fully develop their own resilience project applications.  BRIC currently has a funding opportunity of $1 Billion (together with a $800 million opportunity from its “sister program”, Flood Mitigation Assistance), with state applications due to FEMA on Feb. 29, 2024.  All community applicants need to be part of state submissions, so individual applications will be due to their states' hazard mitigation or emergency management office earlier. The next BRIC opportunity is anticipated for fall of 2024.

In the world of technology and innovation, the story of Alf Inge Wang stands out as a testament to the power of passion, perseverance, and thinking outside the box. From a small town in Norway to the global stage, Alf's journey is marked by a deep connection to gaming, a commitment to education, and the creation of groundbreaking projects that have left an indelible mark on the tech industry. His latest venture, BitPet®, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Startup Lab.

The stock market had a shortened holiday week, but no worries, OpenAI and Binance's soap operas anchor our podcast this week. We figured last week's episode would be out of date quickly, but maybe not as quickly as it was. Sam Altman is back at OpenAI, and CZ is out at Binance. We discuss both in detail. Also, from the early indication Black Friday seems to be retailer success in the U.S. with 9.8 Billion purchased. Most of these purchases came via phone shopping. Great for companies such as $AAPL, $AMZN, $SHOP, $MA, $V, and others, but maybe not so good for J. Powell and the Fed trying to cool down the economy.

Pablo investigates a story including, but not limited to, a Duke basketball champion, a World War II treasure hunt, an alleged con man, Bob Marley, Dan Snyder, and an attempt to make history by purchasing the Washington Commanders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The news of a private equity firm running away in Hangzhou has shocked the entire financial circle. Although the financial circle of all kinds of problems endless, but the fund-raising party directly run out of the road is very rare. And it ran away and rolled away as much as 3 billion RMB!Join other motivated learners on your Chinese learning journey with maayot. Receive a daily Chinese reading in Mandarin Chinese in your inbox. Full text in Chinese, daily quiz to test your understanding, one-click dictionary, new words, etc.Got a question or comment? Reach out to us at contact[at]maayot.com

In this episode of Bottom of the Barrel, Chris Ramsay and Wes Barker dive into a mixed bag of tricks, featuring magic, conspiracies, and of course, a shot of whiskey. The duo discusses everything from mysterious agendas to the elusive sightings of owls, a shoutout from a dedicated fan and a humorous script suggestion from a listener. Join us as we get to the bottom of it all, one episode at a time. Patreon (extra episodes!) https://www.patreon.com/Podcastinthebarrel Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4C0edXSTiojGpX7UVNbGIU Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bottom-of-the-barrel/id1517878439 1ST Merch https://www.1st.shop/ 2ND Merch https://wesbarker.shop/ Follow us here: BOB YouTube https://www.youtube.com/UCwsDltslJ7QJCBKCKcjooHw BOB Instagram https://www.instagram.com/podcastinthebarrel WES https://www.instagram.com/stuntmagician CHRIS https://www.instagram.com/chrisramsay52/

This past week, Parliament debated and ultimately passed a law that allows the President and Ministers to hold international roles in their private capacity. They even backdated the law to Tharman's inauguration date, prompting questions from Opposition MPs about the urgency of the constitutional change. Why the rush? Elsewhere, a private-hire driver clocked 22 hours of driving within a day to win a peer-organised competition. Can anyone be a safe driver after being on the road for 22 hours?Find us here! YLB Subreddit YLB TikTok YLB IG YLB YouTube FolkloryIf you're looking for a meaningful gift, we'd love to help you create a personal podcast for a loved one. Get started at Folklory.com Parliament Passes Law for President to Hold International Roles Constitution amended to let president take global roles in private capacity if in national interest WP, PSP vote against Bill on President holding global roles; DPM Wong urges against opposing 'for the sake of' Govt changing Constitution in order to be 'upfront, transparent' about president's international roles: DPM Wong MPs' Q&A on constitutional changes allowing S'pore presidents to hold international roles in private capacities Private-hire Driver Works 22 Hours to Win ChallengeBacklash after private-hire driver spends 22 hours on road to win Facebook contestOne Shiok CommentComment by fieryballssOne Shiok Thing Binance Fined $4.3 Billion, CEO Pleads GUILTY 54 dates in 8 months: How this 32-year-old single woman tackled her search for love and romance Mics and Headphones from @shureChairs from @ergotunechairDesk from @castlerysgEdited and mixed by Tristen Yeak

Welcome to Episode 173 of Dividend Talk, where Leo Nielssen join us who is a leading Author on Seeking Alpha (https://seekingalpha.com/author/leo-nelissen) We kick off with the latest financial news, consumer sentiment, and manufacturing PMIs. We also discuss Bayer and their recent order to pay $1,5 billion to 3 claimants. After some quick fire questions with Leo, we dive into Leos's story around dividend investing where we touched on topics such as macroeconomics and dividend investing, the basis of his strategy, ETFs and where are the opportunities at the moment. We finish with some listener questions along with Leos's stock pick of the week Companies mentioned, are Nvidia, Walgreens, Vici, Realty Income, Caterpillar, Apple, Public Storage You can follow Leo Nelissen on X: https://twitter.com/LeoNelissen

On Black Friday, the biggest Holiday shopping day of the year, Ed and I thought it would be fun to review the book, Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays, by Joel Waldfogel, published in 2009. Waldfogel estimates that giving gifts nobody wants is a deadweight loss to the economy to the tune of approximately $12 Billion, mostly on credit cards. Money we don't have to buy things people don't want. As he writes, when you say to your mother-in-law, “A cribbage board. You shouldn't have.” Indeed, she shouldn't have, according to the author. As you prepare to go out and contribute to the expected $77.5B in the Holiday shopping spree, have a listen to a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of giving gifts.

I've said it once and I'll say it again…it's crazy how the number one brand in the entire convenient nutrition category (e.g. Premier Protein) can still have so much untapped organic growth opportunity! BellRing Brands (NYSE: BRBR) is a portfolio that owns a collection of convenient nutrition brands like Premier Protein, Dymatize Nutrition, Powerbar, and Joint Juice, which was previously wholly-owned by Post Holdings. A fast-paced and busy lifestyle is pushing consumers to switch to quick and healthy meal options. This has resulted in above average categorical growth rates and increased household penetration of RTD protein shakes that promote active lifestyles. Bellring Brands had a strong Q4 with net sales reaching $472.6 million, which was up 24.6% YoY. Premier Protein (~83% of BellRing Brands total revenue) grew 30.2% YoY, which came from mostly volume increases. Dymatize Nutrition was down just under 1% YoY stemming from a slight volume decrease. Moreover, I provide two deep dives into the functional CPG portfolio's "hero SKU families" of Premier Protein RTD protein shakes and Dymatize protein powders. In this quarter, BellRing Brands leadership decided to discontinue the operations of PowerBar in the North American market, but the company will continue offering the brand internationally. Finally, I explain several different growth opportunities that are untapped at Premier Protein. These include how operational improvements will create more revenue and my predictions that Premier Protein will start to diversify both its highly concentrated domestic sales channel mix (e.g. convenience stores) and geographical revenue mix. FOLLOW ME ON MY SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS LINKEDIN - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaschallmba⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ YOUTUBE - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/c/joshuaschall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TWITTER - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ INSTAGRAM - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/joshua_schall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FACEBOOK - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/jschallconsulting⁠ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua-schall/support

Today's podcast is an interview I recorded at the Las Vegas Grand with Jefferson Slack (Managing Director of the Aston Martin F1 Team) and Renato Bisignani (Global Head of Marketing and Communications at Aston Martin). We talk about the financial relationship between the Aston Martin F1 team and the car company, how Lawrence Stroll has changed the brand, the team's new $240 million F1 factory, how F1 helps them sell $2 billion in sports cars annually, the impact Liberty Media has had on the sport, and much more. Enjoy! Ps. I recently launched a sports business community on Microsoft Teams. Join here: https://teams.live.com/l/community/FAAIJe0ERyXmJDuOQw Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Week on True Crime Daily The Podcast: How one man stole art masterworks worth an estimated $2 billion. While a thief by trade, averaging a heist once every 12 days, the man's motive was not monetary but instead was an obsession with the unobtainable works that he kept for himself in his mother's attic. Michael Finkel joins host Ana Garcia. Check out Michael's book, “The Art Thief  A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession” https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611687/the-art-thief-by-michael-finkel/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#VegasReport: #PacificWatch: F1 racing weekend shows surprising generated revenue of $1.8 Billion and big tips for the dealers and croupiers. @JCBliss 1912 Dieppe French Grand Prix

Greg interviews Dylan Jardon and Henry Belcaster, founders of Clipt.co, an explainer video and animation studio.They talk about starting a "hot girl agency," the challenges of monetizing YouTube content, and wanting fame versus staying anonymous, and more.►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community, creators and commerce. You'll also find out when new and exclusive episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.https://latecheckoutstudio.ck.page/FIND GREG ON SOCIAL:Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenbergInstagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenbergaLINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:Production Team: https://PodFlow.comDylan's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dylanjardonDylan's X: https://twitter.com/DylanJardonHenry's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HenryBelcasterHenry's X: https://twitter.com/HenryBelcasterTheir newsletter: http://smartnonsense.comTimestamps:1:15 - Hot girl idea8:00 - Building audience12:00 - Fame vs anonymity16:45 - Getting recognized19:50 - Long-term vision24:00 - Greg's advice: focus28:15 - Juggling ideas31:00 - Clipt fees & costs35:00 - Timeless inspiration

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, the gang breaks down the record $4.3 billion settlement between Binance and the U.S. government — whether it was fair, the chances CEO Changpeng Zhao will face any jail time, whether it was ultimately a good thing for Binance and for the U.S., and what this changes for the industry going forward. They also delve into the SEC's lawsuit against Kraken, and the drama around Sam Altman's firing from Open AI and what it says about corporate governance and crypto companies.  Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights:  the details of the settlement between Binance and the Department of Justice  how a core part of Binance's business model was to allow bad actors on its platform, according to Robert why Binance had to settle with the U.S. government even though it's not an American company why Tom believes that the settlement represents a "very bad lesson" whether U.S. market makers should be liable in cases like these how the crypto community has reacted to the settlement  what the settlement means for the future of the crypto industry  whether the new SEC lawsuit against Kraken is just a “copy-and-paste” of its suit against Coinbase The drama around Sam Altman's removal from his role as CEO of OpenAI Why Robert thinks that the OpenAI board was “silly and dumb” What the problems at OpenAI say about its innovative governance structure  Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Robert Leshner, founder of Compound Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Disclosures Links Binance Settlement Unchained:  Binance to Pay $4.3 Billion to Settle U.S. DOJ Criminal Probe; CEO Changpeng Zhao Pleads Guilty for Violating Bank Secrecy Act  Binance CEO CZ Released on $175 Million Bond SEC Charges Against Kraken Unchained: Crypto Exchange Kraken Accused by SEC of Violating Securities Law OpenAI The Verge: Sam Altman returns as CEO of OpenAI Unchained: Worldcoin Falls and Rises After Sam Altman-OpenAI Saga Haseeb's tweet on accelerationism Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jigar Shah is the director of the Loan Programs Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Last year, as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress allocated hundreds of billions of dollars for Jigar's office to lend out. The loans are supposed to go to companies that are helping the U.S. economy move away from fossil fuels. That can mean everything from building new nuclear plants to creating a giant hydrogen battery in an underground salt cavern. Jigar's problem is this: What's the best way to lend out all that money – and do it fast enough for the U.S. to meet its climate goals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Broadcom completes its $61 billion acquisition of VMware, Cruise plans to resume operations in one U.S. city, and OpenAI and Microsoft are being sued by non-fiction writers…Link to Show Notes Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/dtns. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Broadcom completes its $61 billion acquisition of VMware, Cruise plans to resume operations in one U.S. city, and OpenAI and Microsoft are being sued by non-fiction writers… MP3 Please SUBSCRIBE HERE. You can get an ad-free feed of Daily Tech Headlines for $3 a month here. A special thanks to all our supporters–without you, noneContinue reading "Broadcom Acquires VMware for $61 Billion – DTH"

Listen to this episode series with Grant Cardone because we're now on its last part! Today, we'll discuss how entrepreneurs can keep the fire burning in their career, Cardone Capital's next goal in real estate, and the power behind the 10X rule. Don't miss out and watch the part 1 and 2 of this amazing conversation!Key Points & Relevant TopicsHow to keep yourself grounded and motivated as an entrepreneurGrant and Cardone Capital's next goal to 10x existing real estate assetsSteps to accomplish your day-to-day plans and goalsWhy do you need to 10x your targets and goals?The great impact of real estate investingThings you need to know when investing in real estateResources & LinksApartment Syndication Due Diligence Checklist for Passive InvestorBook: The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant CardoneLinks for Part 1 of this episodehttps://bonavestcapital.com/podcast/sa830-part-1-the-10x-principles-with-grant-cardone/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoyBCUwzodk&t=319s https://www.buzzsprout.com/1368325/14010234-sa830-part-1-the-10x-principles-with-grant-cardone Links for Part 2 of this episodehttps://bonavestcapital.com/podcast/sa831-part-2-the-10x-principles-with-grant-cardone/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfM_iU6LQi0https://www.buzzsprout.com/1368325/14017268-sa831-part-2-the-10x-principles-with-grant-cardoneAbout Grant CardoneGrant Cardone owns and operates over seven privately held companies, and a private equity real estate firm, Cardone Capital, with a multifamily portfolio of assets worth over $4 Billion. He is one of the Top Crowdfunders in the world, raising over $1.1 Billion in equity via social media. He is featured on Season 2 of Discovery Channel's Undercover Billionaire, where he takes on the challenge of building a million-dollar business in 90 days. Grant is also a New York Times bestselling author of 11 business books, including The 10X Rule, which led to Cardone establishing the 10X Global Movement and the 10X Growth Conference, now the largest business and entrepreneur conference in the world. The online business and sales educational platforms he created serve over 450,000 individuals and Forbes 100 clients throughout the world. Voted the top Marketing Influencer to watch by Forbes, Cardone uses his massive 16 million plus following to give back via his Grant Cardone Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to mentoring underprivileged and troubled youth in financial literacy. Get in Touch with GrantWebsite: Cardone Capital To Connect With UsPlease visit our website www.bonavestcapital.com and click here to leave a rating and written review!

Pablo investigates a story including, but not limited to, a Duke basketball champion, a World War II treasure hunt, an alleged con man, Bob Marley, Dan Snyder, and an attempt to make history by purchasing the Washington Commanders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"I just always a high level individual contributor, but I had so much drive that I was like, I won't be the reason that this company fails.” Today, join Leila (@LeilaHormozi) as she guests on The Life School Podcast with Brooke Castillo to discuss strategies for achieving financial wealth, building businesses, and managing leadership responsibilities. They share valuable insights on personal growth, scaling businesses, and maintaining a balance of values in the business world, providing practical advice for listeners seeking success in their entrepreneurial endeavors.Welcome to Build where we talk about the lessons I have learned in scaling big businesses, gaining millions in sales, and helping our portfolio companies do the same. Buckle up, because we're creating an unshakeable business.Follow Brooke Castillo on:➤ Instagram | Spotify | Apple | LinkedIn | Twitter / X➤ Check out full episode on YouTube!Timestamps:(1:24) - Leila's journey to wealth(4:16) - Leila's approach to business management(8:29) - Optimization's role in business growth(11:32) - Audience question on earning a lot of money(14:21) - Struggling with authenticity and wealth(18:35) - Freedom of earning your own wealth(21:29) - Leading a team responsibly(24:23) - Challenges of growing a business(26:49) - Adapting to change in a growing businessFollow Leila Hormozi's Socials:LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Twitter | Acquisition

YouTube’s most famous filmmaker Casey Neistat joins the boys to discuss why Logan Paul is better than MrBeast, severed friendship with David Dobrik, why he “f**king hates LA,” nearly falling into the center of the Earth, #1 advice for aspiring YouTubers, selling his company for $36M, beating Jeff Wittek & Cody Ko in NYC Marathon, parenting tips for Logan & more…   SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ► https://www.youtube.com/impaulsive   Use code LOGAN for $20 off your first SeatGeek order. https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/LOGAN   Thank you Ryan Serhant for hosting us! Apartment 48GH is for sale! Contact Marion Miner for more information: https://641fifthave48gh.com/   Watch Previous (Logan Paul Saves Rey Mysterio’s Life, MrBeast Makes Huge Mistake, PRIME Sells $1.2 Billion) ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xcpDIzYtkA   ADD US ON: INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/impaulsiveshow/ Timestamps: 0:00 Welcome Casey Neistat!

In part 2 of this episode featuring Grant Cardone, he delves into the principles of the “10X Rule”, critical business and career pitfalls,  continuously accumulating wealth during an economic crisis, and what people should know about building networks. Keep tuning in for the last part of this episode, and don't forget to listen and watch the first part!Key Points & Relevant TopicsThe reason behind Grant's “10X Rule”Secrets to succeeding in your goals and targetsBiggest mistakes to avoid in your business careerCreating wealth in the current status of the real estate market and the economyBuilding networks and connectionsResources & LinksApartment Syndication Due Diligence Checklist for Passive InvestorBook: The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant CardoneUndercover BillionaireLinks for Part 1 of this episodehttps://bonavestcapital.com/podcast/sa830-part-1-the-10x-principles-with-grant-cardone/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoyBCUwzodk&t=319s https://www.buzzsprout.com/1368325/14010234-sa830-part-1-the-10x-principles-with-grant-cardone About Grant CardoneGrant Cardone owns and operates over seven privately held companies, and a private equity real estate firm, Cardone Capital, with a multifamily portfolio of assets worth over $4 Billion. He is one of the Top Crowdfunders in the world, raising over $1.1 Billion in equity via social media. He is featured on Season 2 of Discovery Channel's Undercover Billionaire, where he takes on the challenge of building a million-dollar business in 90 days. Grant is also a New York Times bestselling author of 11 business books, including The 10X Rule, which led to Cardone establishing the 10X Global Movement and the 10X Growth Conference, now the largest business and entrepreneur conference in the world. The online business and sales educational platforms he created serve over 450,000 individuals and Forbes 100 clients throughout the world. Voted the top Marketing Influencer to watch by Forbes, Cardone uses his massive 16 million plus following to give back via his Grant Cardone Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to mentoring underprivileged and troubled youth in financial literacy. Get in Touch with GrantWebsite: Cardone Capital To Connect With UsPlease visit our website www.bonavestcapital.com and click here to leave a rating and written review!

The FTX founder was a "martian" to the sports world. Why did he spend so much on arena naming rights and superstar endorsements? And how the hell did SBF become friends with TB12? Authors Michael Lewis (Going Infinite) and Zeke Faux (Number Go Up) witnessed the rise and fall of a crypto king. Now we can do the postmortem: “Moneyball, on steroids, gone wrong.”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When the markets take a nosedive (or seem to be headed there), I reach out to one person… Adam Gower. With over 30 years of experience, Adam has transacted over $1.5 Billion in assets, raised over half a Billion dollars of equity, and always has the pulse of the market. That's why, today, I discuss with Adam what's shifting in the economy that is affecting us as sponsors and investors to rethink how we are raising capital. The multifamily real estate sector is in distress as we approach the next year… And educating investors is no longer just about raising capital—it's about survival.  Interest rates and insurance rates are rising while rent growth slows down—a perfect storm for financial distress.  Unfortunately, sponsors who are unprepared for the downturn enter panic mode… And as competition battles for the highest IRR, there's a lot of overpromising and under delivering. Match this with the fact that investors probably don't know the technical jargon of an economic downturn and you're left with a recipe for disaster (and downsloping funds). The key to making it through tough financial times is communication. Long before a downturn hits (or as soon as you're aware of it), talk to your investors and keep them in the loop.  Don't stay quiet when a deal isn't panning out and only contact investors for a capital call. Focus on transparent communication and protecting your investors' capital… That's what secures your clients for future deals and keeps your credibility intact.  So, tune in today to learn how to navigate an economic downturn and make your capital calls count! Take control,  Hunter Thompson Resources mentioned in the episode: Adam Gower Website Interested in investing with Asym Capital? Check out our webinar.   Please note that investing in private placement securities entails a high degree of risk, including illiquidity of the investment and loss of principal. Please refer to the subscription agreement for a discussion of risk factors. Tired of scrambling for capital?  Check out our new FREE webinar -  How to Ensure You Never Scramble for Capital Again (The 3 Capital-Raising Secrets). Click Here to register.   CFC Podcast Facebook Group

Jeff Seibert is the Founder & CEO @ Digits, building the future of AI-powered accounting. Digits have raised funding from the likes of Peter Fenton @ Benchmark and 20VC. Jeff previously served as Twitter's Head of Consumer Product, a position he came to following the acquisition of his prior company, Crashlytics. Today, Crashlytics is the de-facto mobile crash reporting solution for iOS and Android and runs on over 6 Billion monthly active smartphones worldwide. In Today's Episode with Jeff Seibert We Discuss: 1. The Art of the Pivot: What are Jeff's biggest pieces of advice to founders pivoting? How do you know when you have enough data to make the decision to pivot? What are the single biggest mistakes founders make when pivoting? 2. AI: Who Wins and Who Loses: Why does Jeff believe that OpenAI will transition into an infrastructure play? What are the most significant challenges OpenAI will face moving forward? Why does Jeff believe that Apple are best positioned to win in an AI world? Why does Jeff believe that Google are the most vulnerable incumbent? What would Jeff do if he was CEO of Google? 3. LLMs: What Happens Now: Will we see the commoditization of LLMs? What are the biggest misconceptions people have on training and fine-tuning LLMs? Will we see LLMs increasingly specialise to vertical-specific models or will they remain horizontal? What is the difference between a thick and a thin wrapper when building on top of LLMs? 4. Angel Portfolio in Review: How many angel checks has Jeff written? How many failed? How many home runs? Does Jeff believe that company valuations are being kept artificially high? How did Jeff make 200x selling through the secondary market for a now failing company? What are Jeff's three biggest pieces of advice for angels today?

Louise Phillips Forbes describes her transition from dancer in Broadway to an industry leader in real estate. Louise talks about what is she and her team doing now at a down market. Louise also discusses the importance of building relationships with other realtors. Louise also talks about how her very authentic style/look impacted her business. […]