Why America has so few carpenters
By Mark Dent
/ May 20, 2022
When Desmond Collins was in his 20s, he cycled between low-paying jobs at places like McDonald’s and Taco Bell, grasping...
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| The Big Idea | |||||
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Disney wants your life to be a fairy tale |
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Ever wish you lived in a Disney story? Well, now you might actually be able to. Per The Wall Street Journal, Disney is developing a master-planned residential community concept called Storyliving, designed by the company’s famous Imagineers. The 1st Storyliving community…… is called Cotino, and located in California’s Coachella Valley. Its 1.9k housing units include estates, single-family homes, and condos — plus a section for residents that are 55+. All residents get an exclusive membership that includes:
Though Cotino is the only Storyliving concept in the works, Disney says other locations are being scouted. This isn’t Disney’s 1st foray into residential real estateThe company’s previous efforts include:
What makes Storyliving different is that the company plans to incorporate storytelling into the resident experience. Does that mean Daisy Duck will be hosting community happy hours? Specifics remain vague. The announcement also coincides with turbulent times in the residential real estate market. The median home price reached record levels in 2021, and Zillow expects prices to jump another 20%+ this spring. So who’s moving to Cotino?If you’re skeptical of the market for Storyliving, you must not know any “Disney Adults” — AKA the 18+ crowd that maintains a lifelong obsession with all things Disney. While it’s easy to poke fun, the group’s buying power is no joke. The starter price for a home in Golden Oak was $1.7m. BTW: Are you a Disney super fan? We’d love to hear from you. Take our short survey to tell us more. |
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| SNIPPETS |
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Hat retailer Lids has a new ecommerce site where it will drop limited releases 2x a week, typically retailing for $45-$55. #ecommerce-retail Some central California canals will be covered in solar panels. The idea is that it’ll prevent water from evaporating while also creating energy. #clean-energy A tire without air is a flat tire. But now, Chevy and Michelin are working on a new airless tire for the forthcoming Chevy Bolt. #emerging-tech What’s a zero-click attack? It’s a hack where the victim doesn’t do anything, but the perpetrator can still gain access to their device. #privacy Never-ending story: Netflix announced the 4th season of its sci-fi hit Stranger Things. Except it’s so long, it’ll be released in 2 volumes. #big-tech Now on MFM: Is it worth spending your life trying to get an Olympic medal, the “Tinder Swindler,” and more. #mfm We want to know: What would a realistic 4-day workweek look like in the US? Chime in on Twitter. #hustle-picks |
| Map Tech | |||||
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How pandemic trick-or-treating inspired a map startup |
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Proxi, a platform for users to make and share custom maps, just raised $1.2m to build a mobile app and new features. But it all started with trick-or-treating. Co-founders Melinda Haughey and Chelsey Roney are 2 Seattle moms and self-described “business nerds” who met at Texas A&M a decade ago. Roney’s background is in marketing and startups, while Haughey is a former US intelligence analyst with a background in spatial mapping. During Halloween 2020…… Haughey saw families on social media building candy chutes and other covid-safe trick-or-treating solutions. “So, I cobbled together some tools and made a map where people would add their own homes,” she told The Hustle. The map grew to 2.3k Seattle-area homes and racked up 500k views. People started asking Haughey to build other maps, so she and Roney decided to build Proxi, officially launching in the fall of 2021. Proxi is built with simplicity in mind…… and has several customization options, like swapping logos or colors and adding map categories and icons. Some use cases include:
While Proxi is free to use, the company’s business model will eventually include partnering with creators and businesses on advertising and affiliate linking, as well as premium content. They’re also building an analytics dashboard so creators can gauge the popularity of their maps. The new mobile app will allow users to layer maps and create a specific itinerary. Fun fact: Years ago, Haughey and Roney started a QR-based payments company, but weren’t ready to work on it full time. Seeing the success of apps like Venmo, they vowed to go full steam ahead on their next good idea. |
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| Space Biz | |||||
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The business of space, explained |
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As you can imagine, The Hustle enjoys a good newsletter. And one newsletter to watch is Payload, which covers the space industry and raised a $650k seed round last September, per Axios. The Hustle recently spoke with Payload’s Ari Lewis to ask all things space: Why a space newsletter?(One of Payload’s co-founders Mo Islam) spent more than 9 years working in the investment world. In that role, he actively invested in the space industry. He noticed an accessible, pithy, and refreshing digital media product (a la The Hustle) was hard to come by. So we started one. What are the most interesting sub-industries in space?Launch captures most of the headlines, but the vertical is a small part of the overall space economy. From an investor or space agency official’s POV, sub-industries to watch are:
Will Jeff Bezos become CEO of Blue Origin?It’s only a matter of time, in our opinion, before (Bezos) decides to take the helm at Blue Origin, (which has continuously) suffered from product delays, cultural issues, and employee attrition. The efficiency present throughout Amazon is notably missing at Blue. (Read the full Q&A to find out the 5 hottest space startups) |
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| TRENDS |
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Unbundling the hefty handicraft industryLet’s talk arts and crafts. The people’s lockdown hobbies of choice include embroidery, pottery, woodworking, leather-crafting, and other downright delightful activities. The $674B tactile craft industry (2020) is projected to hit ~1.2T by 2026. Our Trends analysts unpacked 4 favorable niches.
Want the uncut data and details? Get access to hundreds of curated market signals and advice from 17k+ business builders. |
| Try Trends for a buck → |
| AROUND THE WEB |
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📄 On this day: In 2010, WikiLeaks published the 1st of almost 750k documents leaked by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. 🧑💼 How to: Finding a therapist can be surprisingly hard. Here are some tips to avoid huge waitlists and find a good fit. 😆 Haha: This website uses AI to generate fake Pokemon. 🛷 That’s interesting: How did the luge become an Olympic sport? Well, it all starts with some men on vacation in the Swiss Alps in the 1800s. 🐦 Aww: Have you ever seen a kagu? It’s a near-flightless bird endemic to New Caledonia, and we need everyone to look at it. |
| IN CASE YOU MISSED IT |
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(A roundup of our best reads from the last couple weeks…) |
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🏅 Is this the end of an Olympic ticket monopoly? LINK 🚜 Would you take free land in rural America? LINK 💬 The group chat that unlocked NYC’s hottest reservations. LINK 😴 The $12B+ sleep industry, explained. LINK 🛒 Amazon’s plan to dominate the grocery business. LINK |
| Shower Thoughts |
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| via Reddit |
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