🏫  Airbnb for schools

👋  Good morning. And long live Jonathan the tortoise. Reports that the 193-year-old Seychelles giant tortoise — believed to be the world’s oldest land animal — had died began after a scam artist posted to X claiming to be the tortoise's vet and asking for donations in the form of crypto. Thankfully, Jonathan is still kickin’ and enjoying his leafy snacks in his home on Saint Helena. Once in a while, we're happy for fake news.

NEWS FLASH 

☕  Putting the advertising in false advertising: A coffee shop called Corgi Cafe opened in San Francisco with nary a corgi inside, much to the dismay of dog-loving customers. The coffee shop, open 24 hours a day and seven days a week, is actually a marketing play by AI insurance company Corgi, meant to boost brand recognition in an oversaturated market. While the always-open model is a good fit for founders and coders who want a $14 smoothie while grinding at 1am, Corgi’s CEO and co-founder says the company is “losing some money on it.”

😱  Some might say we’re already living in “Black Mirror,” but if you need more, Banijay Live Studio, part of the production company that owns the TV series, and VR firm Univrse are launching a 60-minute VR experience in Montreal next month. Guests will visit a fictional tech giant to preview a new AI companion that can figure out exactly how to help its owner… whether they want it to or not. Classic. Don’t fret, dystopia fans outside of Montreal, as additional locations are planned for the future. 

🤖  Now that’s a friend: AI models will connive to avoid not just their own end, but other models’, too. Researchers presented several models with scenarios in which another was to be shut down. The bots often attempted to save it through tactics like lying about underperforming models, tampering with or transferring files, or persuasion. Why? Researchers aren’t sure, but it’s important to know as some companies have begun using AI agents to manage other models.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

• Sometimes complaining works: Hershey will restore its “classic” Reese’s recipe in 2027 following criticism from Brad Reese, grandson of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inventor H.B. Reese. Hershey will also up its R&D budget by 25%.
  

• Speaking of candy: Nestlé launched Stolen KitKat Tracker, a website where you can see if the one you’re eating was one of 413k+ stolen off a truck in Europe. Per Fast Company, it helps the company track the thefts, while also garnering attention.
  

• A new gap emerges: Women are slightly less likely than men to use AI at work (73% vs. 78%) but among those who use it, men are 27% more likely to be praised for it. Sigh.
  

• And from another survey… 14% of college students say they’ve thought “a great deal” and 33% “a fair amount” about changing their major due to AI, according to Lumina Foundation and Gallup. 
  

THINK RICH

Tips for investing like the rich

The bulk of your lifetime returns will stem from a handful of decisions. Perhaps five to 10. 

But we’re not here to tell you what to buy — this playbook covers thinking like the rich. See 35+ investment lessons spliced from every time Sam and Shaan picked the brains of giants on the hit show My First Million. 

• Howard Marks: Know where you are in the cycle
  
• Mohnish Pabrai: If you need Excel… skip the investment 
  
• Morgan Housel: The biggest risks aren’t in forecasts
  
• Cathie Wood: Your fund is probably just an expensive index
  
• Sam and Shaan: News won’t help you beat the market

Enjoy 20+ hours of masterclass content stuffed into one fun page. 

THE BIG IDEA

Turning empty classrooms into extra cash 

From around 8am-3pm on weekdays, schools are jam-packed with students, teachers, lunch ladies, and other staff. But during the summer, on weekends, and after the school day ends, they're mostly empty.

That’s changing, thanks to businesses like School Space, which helps schools collect checks instead of dust by renting out unused gyms, auditoriums, and classrooms to local groups. 

Founded 15 years ago by Jemma Phibbs and James Lloyd, then student body leaders at their high school in Oxfordshire, England, the so-called “Airbnb for schools” now has 300 employees and has helped add $26m+ to educational budgets, per The Times. 

How it works

• School Space works with 70 schools in the UK, helping them rent out their facilities to non-student groups (e.g., religious orgs, language schools, sports clubs) who are required to have insurance or a safeguarding policy.
  
• It hires local “community connectors” to handle building access and customer service, while sales reps reach out to local orgs to bring in more business. 
  
• The company takes a cut of the booking fee, based on the school’s size.

On average, schools net close to $150k in additional funding each year through the service, which can pay for renovations, new amenities, and more. For example, one London-based school used the extra cash to provide its students with free breakfast and financial aid. 

Is this necessary? 

Yes, according to Phibbs, who told The Times additional income “is no longer a ‘nice to have’” but necessary for underfunded educational institutions. 

A 2020 study found that K-12 public schools in the US are underfunded by $150B annually. In the UK, 74% of schools have faced budget cuts since 2010 in a situation politicians, parents, and unions have described as “desperate.” 

Making an ‘Airbnb’ out of everything 

School Space isn’t the only company turning underused public assets into revenue streams, a growing niche within the $400B+ sharing economy.

• In the US, Facilitron helps its roster of 10k+ schools and colleges generate money from otherwise wasted space. In February, it released a first-of-its-kind national governance framework for community use of K-12 public schools.
  
• CivicRec works with parks and rec departments nationwide to make reserving public activity spaces easier. 
  
• ChurchSpace, dubbed the “Airbnb of churches,” helps churches fill up their pews even on non-holy days. It raised $1.2m last year to expand its operations.

The list goes on — and with it, so do the profits. 

🔗

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

What can investing teach you about life? A lot, apparently. Here’s how to usher in more luck, friends, and opportunity.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

How much consumers are expected to spend this Easter, per The National Retail Federation, up $900m from 2023’s record. Roughly $3.5B of that will go toward candy, prices for which have jumped a whole 67% since 2020, thanks to a global cocoa shortage and tariffs that have driven up the cost of chocolate. 

An Easter without chocolate eggs is one thing, but one without actual eggs? Just plain wrong. Fortunately, we won’t have to scrounge together sad substitutes like last year, when people were dyeing potatoes and marshmallows amid bird flu-induced price hikes — egg prices are down 58% compared to last spring. 

AROUND THE WEB

📅  On this day: In 1860, the Pony Express debuted, delivering mail by horse. 

📰  Newsletter: Drowning in AI headlines? Mindstream makes sense of the noise.

📼  That’s cool: Make a VHS slipcover for any movie or show.

🏆  Don’t forget: There’s still time to enter The Hustle’s referral contest to win a $100 Amazon gift card. 

🐈  Aww: He has the high ground.

SHOWER THOUGHT

Chicken might be the only animal where Googling it often shows pictures of it cooked instead of alive. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.

 Editing by: Sara "Different school of thought" Friedman.

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