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☆ A new crop of startups wants to help solve loneliness among millennials and Gen Z. Here's how they're connecting strangers and making money.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Lauren Johnson | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Plus, the pandemic and the shift to working from home have made millennials and Gen Z lonelier than ever, thanks in part to doomscrolling. "I believe the conventional 'make friends' apps too closely mimic the dating model, which can feel awkward and high-pressure for making friends," he said. The group hosts "reading parties" at bars and event spaces with the goal of helping people connect through reading. Dinner With Friends, a group that throws dinner parties, has worked on sponsored events with brands like Bumble and Geneva. Dinner With Friends founder Anita Michaud said brands typically either sponsor entire dinners or provide products — like canned cocktails — for the dinner parties.

Persons: —, they've, Danial Hashemi, Sydney, Z, millennials, Cliff Lerner, Lisa Oreshkina, Saneblidze, Tom Worchester, Andreessen Horowitz, Victor Pontis, Luma, Liz Chick, Gen, Mira Hobbs, ReCreate's Chick, Anita Michaud, Peter Boyce II, Boyce, Maitree Mervana Parekh, Marlon Nichols, they're, it's, Ben Bradbury Organizations: Service, Business, Sydney Bradley, Big Tech, Tech, Timeleft, Reading, Facebook, VC, Wine, Bumble, New, Acrew, MaC Venture, Reading Rhythms Locations: New York City, Los Angeles, New York, Brooklyn, Squarespace, Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Geneva

☆ Corporate America Is Going Un-Woke: Reversing DEI, Sustainability Plan
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Emily Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Plenty of companies are reining in their rhetoric and in some cases action on issues such as sustainability and diversity. Over the past decade, many corporations have at least professed to take a more active role in social issues, under pressure from their customers and, more importantly, employees. After last year's Bud Light debacle, which was a real blow to its business, executives fear they'll be the next target of some anti-woke outcry. For the fourth quarter of 2020, 131 companies mentioned ESG, and 34 mentioned DEI or diversity and inclusion. This may be a great un-wokening, but maybe corporate America was actually never that committed to the idea in the first place.

Persons: Paul Polman, It's, Naomi Wheeless, Eventbrite, Donald Trump, Larry Fink, George Floyd's, ESG, Andrew Jones, there's, Bud Light, influencer Dylan Mulvaney, haven't, Philip Mirvis, Bud, they'll, they'd, Jones, it's, Fink, FactSet, — we're, wasn't, Alison Taylor, University's, we've, Roe, Wade, Taylor, isn't, Dylan Mulvaney, Bud Light's, Kenneth Pucker, Emily Stewart Organizations: Unilever, Unilever wasn't, Unilever isn't, Companies, Business, Sporting Goods, Conference Board's ESG, Morningstar, Babson, AIG, Amazon, ExxonMobil, University's Stern School of Business, Anheuser, Busch, Fletcher School, Tufts University Locations: Plenty, America, ESG, New, Charlottesville

☆ Americans have racked up a trillion dollars in credit card debt. That’s actually okay
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Bryan Mena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Washington, DC CNN —Americans racked up a record amount of credit card debt in 2023, soaring past a trillion dollars. “Consumers still have a lot of money left over to be able to spend, so the credit card data is often misinterpreted,” Russell Price, chief economist at Ameriprise Financial, told CNN. According to a LendingTree analysis of more than 350,000 credit reports, the average unpaid credit card balance was $6,864 in the fourth quarter. Overall, US household debt (including credit card balances) rose to a new high of $17.5 trillion in the fourth quarter, up 1.2% from the prior three-month period. So, while there certainly isn’t a shortage of economic hurdles bedeviling people’s budget — and credit card debt has surged — the big picture indicates that, so far, Americans (and their economy) remain healthy.

Persons: ” Russell Price, Price, haven’t, market’s, ” Gregory Daco, ” Lara Rhame, Laura, Jensen Huang, Christine Lagarde, Virgin, Michael Barr, Raphael Bostic, Susan Collins, John Williams, Papa, Austan Goolsbee, Loretta Mester, fuboTV, Christopher Waller, Mary Daly, Adriana Kugler Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, DC CNN, Workers, New York Fed, Consumers, Ameriprise, CNN, Federal Reserve Bank of New, . New York Fed, Employers, Soaring, FS Investments, Nvidia, Huawei, AMD, Microsoft, Broadcom, US Commerce Department, Central Bank, eBay, Smucker, Urban Outfitters, Global, Board, TJX, Monster Beverage, Baidu, HP, Paramount Global, Anheuser, Busch Inbev, Dell Technologies, Papa John’s, US Labor Department, National Association of Realtors, P, China’s National Bureau, Statistics, Pearson, P Global, Institute for Supply Management, University of Michigan Locations: Washington, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, ., EY, Santa Clara, Singapore, Shenzhen, China, Beijing, CAVA

☆ Gen Z and Millennials reinvent book clubs: Even Dua Lipa has one
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —From Dua Lipa to “silent” book clubs, Millennials and Gen Z are joining book clubs as a way to socialize. Many of these book clubs are not the stodgy ones of old, however, featuring wine and crackers in a host’s living room. Themed book club events, such as queer book clubs, saw an 82% increase in attendance in 2023, according to Eventbrite, while attendance at silent book clubs increased 23%. Phelan M. Ebenhack via APEventbrite is also seeing growth in romance book clubs, dating event book clubs and evening book club running groups, such as Read & Run Chicago. Gen Z favorite Dua Lipa has a book club.

Persons: BookTok, ”, Teri Coan, Phelan M, Ebenhack, “, Ashley Petty, “ It’s, Khaled Hosseini, Sarah J, Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Colleen Hoover, Noble, Samir Hussein, ” Coan, Gen, ” Barnes Organizations: New, New York CNN, Millennials, AP Eventbrite, Chicago, Afghan, Barnes, American Booksellers Association, Amazon Locations: New York, Dua Lipa, United States, Decatur , Illinois, Lipa, American

☆ Speed dating is making a comeback
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Speed dating, singles mixers and other group dating parties have made a comeback since the Covid-19 pandemic ended as singles look to get off their screens and meet potential partners in person. Game-based dating events grew 163% in 2023 and athletic dating events like pickleball and spin classes saw a 135% rise on the platform. And it’s never been replicated.”Mixed feelings about dating appsOnline dating was stigmatized for years, but it’s now a primary form of dating. Still, online dating users are divided over whether their experiences on dating apps have been positive. Fifty-three percent of people say their personal experiences have been very or somewhat positive on dating apps, according to Pew.

Persons: Mike Blake, ”, Maria Avgitidis, Z, ” Avgitidis, “, ” Linda de Lucca, ” de Lucca, “ We’ve, it’s, Bumble, Yu Chun Christopher Wong, Justin McLeod, Rachel DeAlto Organizations: New, New York CNN, Valentine’s, Reuters, Baby Boomers, Pew, Financial, Match Group Locations: New York, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, United States, California, Millennials

☆ IRS postpones rule change on digital payment reporting for small businesses and side hustles
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The change might have resulted in 44 million more 1099-K forms being sent in January to such filers, including small business owners, freelancers, those with side hustles and gig workers. Regardless of delay or rule change, your tax obligations remain the sameNeither the delay of the rule change nor the eventual implementation of it will change your tax burden in any way. That’s because you have always been obligated as a taxpayer to report the money you make from your business activities to the IRS. The difference once the rule change goes into effect is that the IRS will be learning about your business income from a third party payment platform. And the change will effectively pull back the curtain on just how much business income is being generated on third-party payment platforms.

Persons: “, ”, Danny Werfel, –, Sherrod Brown of, Bill Cassidy, Biden, Arshi Siddiqui, Akin Gump, they’re Organizations: New, New York CNN, IRS, American, The Coalition, Electronic Transactions, Airbnb, PayPal, Democratic, Ks Locations: New York, Poshmark, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Louisiana

☆ Millennials and Gen Z are driving demand for experiences. It could be a great industry to stake your career on.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Cooks at restaurants are expected to increase 20% between 2022 and 2032. Employment is expected to grow from 1.36 million in 2022 to 1.64 million in 2032, which represents an over 20% increase. As of May 2022, restaurant cooks make about $34,000 a year, or $16.40 an hour. Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Nevada have the largest concentration of restaurant cooks, while the Northeast and West Coast have the highest average salaries. However, the number of fast food cooks is projected to fall by over 101,000 by 2032 as fast food establishments continue to reduce staff or close locations.

Persons: —, Disney, Bruce Grindy, Grindy, It's, there's Organizations: Service, Employment, Restaurant Industry, National Restaurant Association, Student, Entertainment, BLS Locations: Hawaii , Rhode Island, Nevada, Northeast, West Coast, United States

☆ Why 3 ex-Discord staffers are building a new app aimed at IRL experiences for couples and friends
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"During the pandemic, I realized how I was taking IRL experiences for granted and working remotely, spending less time with friends, I just felt extremely isolated," Loar said. "It was really centered around helping you and your friends make IRL plans to build stronger relationships." Now, Whatever's team is pivoting its focus to couples and how best to use technology to help couples plan dates and spend meaningful time together. "Couples will be able to bookmark plans from the discovery feed and turn them directly into date plans," Loar added. Whatever is focusing on helping couples plan dates.

Persons: Mallory, Loar, Vivek Murthy, Kevin Wilson, Zack Zapasnik, Stanislav Vishnevskiy, Matthew Prince, it's Organizations: Twitch, Facebook

☆ In a world of infinite AI, the new luxury item will be humans
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The same inevitable supply-and-demand dynamic is about to wash over us again with large language models and generative AI. AI models are trained on masses of data from the past. Humans are good at learning quickly from a small amount of data, while AI models need mountains of information to train on. Soon, human content creators will be vying for attention with content generated by AI models. 'Utility, value and signaling'Hartz, a venture capitalist who now chairs Eventbrite's board, says successful technologists will continue to spend heavily on human experiences.

Persons: —, Kevin Hartz, Eventbrite, Taylor Swift, Marc Andreessen, Hartz, John Barone, you'll, Sal Khan, That's, Gates, Michael Larson, Elon Musk's, Morgan Stanley, Jared Birchall, Noam Brown, He's, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg Organizations: Service, Khan Academy, Menlo School, Sigma, Bloomberg, Meta, OpenAI, Google, Amazon Locations: GPT, Fiji, Palo Alto, Silicon, Menlo

☆ Tech Industry Made Americans Lonelier, Now It Has to Help Connect Us
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-10 | by ( David Risher | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

A company that prioritizes product-market fit can build a great, customer-focused business. The venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has said that for startups, product-market fit is "the only thing that matters." I appreciate Marc's wisdom: Great product-market fit produces a sugar high. And that goal is well aligned with the broader social goal of making people less lonely. Over time, it became apparent that this was not a great social fit.

Persons: I'm, Vivek Murthy, Robert Putnam's, Jeff Bezos, I've, Marc Andreessen, It's, haven't, Apple, Eventbrite, David Risher Organizations: Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Lyft Locations: —

☆ ScorePlay, a sports media platform using AI, just raised $5 million in a round led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lisbon and New York-based ScorePlay has secured a $5 million seed round from Seven Seven Six. A startup that has built a media operating system for sports has just raised $5 million in seed funding from Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six. As a business-to-business software startup, ScorePlay makes its money by charging a monthly fee to organizations, depending on the range of services they use. The round was led by Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian's VC firm Seven Seven Six, which has previously backed climate tech Vaayu, and creator marketing platform PearPop. With the fresh funding, ScorePlay will grow its tech team so it can hone in on its enterprise offerings.

Persons: ScorePlay, Alexis Ohanian's Seven, Xavier Green, Lionel Messi, Declan Rice, Victorien Tixier, Alexis Ohanian's, Kevin Durant, Renaud Visage, Michael Philippe, Robin Sabban Organizations: Seven Seven, Premier League football, West Ham United, La Liga, Atlético de, Athletes, Seven, NBA, Tech Locations: Lisbon, New York, Atlético de Madrid, Manchester

The cost of certain goods is retreating in some places, but that doesn't include live music. Concert tickets have surged in price, to the point where economists are noticing. While ticket prices have increased, he said, mid-year figures haven't shown an appreciable rise since May 2022, when U.S. inflation was 8.6%. In India, fans are happy to pay a premium for quality entertainment, according to Owen Roncon, chief of business for Live Entertainment at BookMyShow. In Britain, about 150,000 music fans paid 340 pounds ($431)for a ticket to June's Glastonbury festival to see Elton John and hundreds of other acts.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, haven't, Mario Ihieme, Paul Donovan, Harry Styles, Joel Barrios, Carolina Candelas, Andy Gensler, Pollstar, TD Cowen, Stephen Glagola, Elton John, Jason Cairnduff, Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Fairuz Zahari, Ed Sheeran, Owen Roncon, Eventbrite, Michael Rapino, Beth Cook, Dawn Chmielewski, Danielle Broadway, Sachin Ravikumar, David Milliken, Sharon Kimathi, Rozanna, Radhika Anilkumar, David Gaffen, Catherine Evans Organizations: LOS ANGELES, National Statistics, UBS Global Wealth Management, Stubhub, Ticketmaster, REUTERS, U.S . Labor Department, Backstreet, Live Entertainment, Backstreet Boys, Entertainment, Thomson Locations: Asia, U.S, GLASTONBURY, England, London, Seattle, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Europe, Barcelona, Glastonbury, Somerset, Britain, Malaysia, Australia, India, Leeds, Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore

The cost of certain goods is retreating in some places, but that doesn't include live music. Concert tickets have surged in price, to the point where economists are noticing. Event prices in UK inflation data are based on when shows take place, not when tickets are bought. While ticket prices have increased, he said, mid-year figures haven't shown an appreciable rise since May 2022, when U.S. inflation was 8.6%. The U.S. Labor Department does not specifically measure inflation for concert prices, but the inflation rate for live performing admission events is currently 2.6 percentage points more than U.S. headline inflation.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, haven't, Mario Ihieme, Paul Donovan, Harry Styles, Joel Barrios, Carolina Candelas, Andy Gensler, Pollstar, TD Cowen, Stephen Glagola, Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Fairuz Zahari, Ed Sheeran, Owen Roncon, Eventbrite, Michael Rapino, Elton John, Beth Cook, Dawn Chmielewski, Danielle Broadway, Sachin Ravikumar, David Milliken, Sharon Kimathi, Rozanna, Radhika Anilkumar, David Gaffen, Catherine Evans Organizations: LOS ANGELES, National Statistics, UBS Global Wealth Management, Stubhub, Ticketmaster, U.S . Labor Department, Backstreet, Live Entertainment, Backstreet Boys, Entertainment, Thomson Locations: Asia, U.S, GLASTONBURY, England, London, Seattle, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Europe, Barcelona, Malaysia, Australia, India, Britain, Leeds, Glastonbury, Kuala Lumpur, Bangalore

☆ The experience economy is still robust and booming, says Eventbrite CEO Julia Hartz
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe experience economy is still robust and booming, says Eventbrite CEO Julia HartzJulia Hartz, Eventbrite co-founder and CEO, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' to discuss why consumers are willing to spend on events and experiences despite inflation.

Persons: Julia Hartz Julia Hartz, Eventbrite

☆ The first video uploaded to YouTube, 18 years ago, featured cofounder Jawed Karim at the zoo. Watch it here.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jawed Karim posted the first-ever YouTube video called "Me at the zoo" 18 years ago. Since leaving the company in 2005, Karim has become a vocal critic of new changes to the platform. The 18-second video, entitled "Me at the zoo," features Karim, a YouTube cofounder, at the San Diego Zoo standing in front of a bunch of elephants. "The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks, and that's, that's cool. Watch the first video ever posted to YouTube, an 18-second-long, grainy home video:Since leaving YouTube, Karim has become a vocal critic of Youtube's proposed changes.

☆ Despite mass layoffs led by Meta, it's still hard to hire the right tech talent
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Kevin Travers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Even so, it's harder to find and retain tech talent, according to a survey of 1,000 human resources professionals by General Assembly, a professional placement and talent recruitment firm. "I think it's better for tech talent because they are not confined to looking for a job at a 'tech company,'" she said. Create a vision, not just a jobParticularly when it comes to specialized talent, companies have to be intentional. It's about listeningColangelo said success in hiring tech talent comes down to listening well. As for the overall tech talent market, Colangelo said the supply and demand equation may be coming back into better balance.

☆ Red Lobster is hosting a free 'Endless Lobster' event in Times Square—here's how to sign up
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Red Lobster will be offering select customers an all-you-can-eat lobster experience at its flagship New York City location on Tuesday, March 28. The first ever "Endless Lobster" event will treat 150 customers to as many 1¼-pound lobsters as they can handle, as well as broccoli and one side of their choice. Instead, Red Lobster will open reservations a week in advance at 10 a.m. EST on March 21. By signing up for the event, guests will also "grant Red Lobster the right and license to use their names, images, and/or statements for advertising and publicity purposes," according to fine print of the event. If you land a reservation but can't make your seating window, you'll lose your spot.

☆ Ticketing service provider Eventbrite to lay off 8% workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Eventbrite Inc (EB.N)said on Tuesday it will eliminate about 8% of the company's workforce, as the ticketing service provider looks to cut costs amid worries of an economic downturn. The company expects the entire process to be completed by the end of the year. The ticketing service provider expects to incur total costs associated with the restructuring plan of about $12 million to $20 million, pre-tax. Separately, Eventbrite reported a 20% rise in fourth-quarter revenue on Tuesday, benefiting from improvement in paid ticket volumes. The company expects full-year 2023 revenue to be between $312 million and $330 million, compared with $260.9 million in 2022.

☆ I visited KFC's pop-up London pub, where guests can get fried chicken delivered to their table and everything is chicken-themed. Take a look inside.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

To get a ticket, you have to sign up on Eventbrite. All the slots were booked up well in advance of the pub opening. There are still some slots available for walk-ins, though. Grace Dean/InsiderSource: Eventbrite

☆ An ex-Facebook manager says she got Meta's layoff email at 5.35 a.m. while on maternity leave
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Marielle Descalsota | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Facebook manager of over two years said she was laid off while on maternity leave. Meta laid off 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce. Patel said she received Meta's layoff email at 5.35 a.m. after several of her coworkers sent her text messages saying they were laid off. Patel, former director of communications at Eventbrite, said she was scheduled to be on maternity leave until February next year. Other Meta employees wrote "badge posts" — departure messages with a photo of their ID cards — upon receiving the dreaded layoff email from the company, according to a recent Insider report.

☆ Scoop: Andreessen Horowitz beats out Benchmark and NEA to lead Series A funding round for Partiful, the 'Eventbrite for Gen Z'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Ben Bergman | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Andreessen Horowitz beat out other firms to lead Partiful's series A round, according to sources. Neither the cofounders of Partiful nor Andreessen Horowitz responded to a request for comment. After an intense bidding war, Andreessen Horowitz beat out rival VC firms, including Benchmark and New Enterprise Associates, to lead Partiful's series A funding round, according to three people with knowledge of the financing who were not authorized to speak publicly. Andreessen Horowitz also did not respond to a request for comment. Venture investors, eager to find the next buzzy consumer app, have marveled at Partiful's growth.

☆ A real estate investor has brought in $1 million on 5 wholesale deals in 2022. He explains what wholesaling is and how to make money doing it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

At 28, he became a multi-millionaire and felt comfortable leaving his 9-to-5 to double down on real estate. Today, the 30-year-old investor makes the majority of his money from real estate wholesaling. How to start real estate wholesaling in 4 stepsIf you want to give wholesaling a shot, it's possible to do so on a smaller scale. His favorite wholesaling books include: "The Real Estate Wholesaling Bible," "If You Can't Wholesale After This: I've Got Nothing For You," and "The Best Wholesaling Book Ever." Do a Google search to find a community in your zip code and start attending local real estate meet-ups.

☆ I'm a software engineer who ditched the Bay Area for an up-and-coming tech hub. I pay more in rent, but I still don't regret breaking up with Silicon Valley.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Charlotte Lytton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

She moved away from Silicon Valley for Santa Cruz and then Sacramento. But during Covid, students leaving Santa Cruz meant we could afford to rent there again with our combined salaries, so we moved back. I once saw graffiti on a trash can down in WestCliff that said 'Silicon Valley ppl go home'. I do wonder if that's the reason it's been hard to make firm friends in Sacramento's tech community. I'm hopeful this will improve, and ultimately, the splitting up of Silicon Valley is an amazing thing.

☆ Lady Gaga's Haus Labs, Goop, Spotify, and Eventbrite join push of nearly 200 businesses lobbying for a national paid leave policy in Biden's next economic recovery package
▼ + stars: | 2021-03-23 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Nearly 200 businesses are lobbying Congress to pass a paid permanent national leave policy. The group that includes Pinterest, Spotify, and businesses tied to Lady Gaga and Gwyneth Paltrow wants Congress to pass a permanent national paid leave policy as part of Biden's next big stimulus proposal. Biden is expected to include paid leave in a new set of proposals aimed at strengthening the economy. Bringing back women workersBusinesses say the lack of a national paid leave policy makes them more vulnerable during health emergencies and threatens their financial stability. US Chamber reservationsNot everyone in the business community is as eager to embrace a big policy change on paid leave.

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