P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #363

The future comes closer every day

my story 🚀

A quick playground pit stop.

i’ve been thinking 💭

🩸 The first non-prescription glucose monitor is now approved for sale in the US. The FDA’s press release went out this week. Given my work with Nutrisense, some of you have asked for my take on the news. Here it is: it’s been a long time coming! It signals the acceptance by the regulator that real-time glucose data has value for non-diabetics. Somehow, this has been in dispute by some vocal social media influencers and very traditional healthcare practitioners. For the past 5 years, several startup companies have been using this technology to serve this market, and this development will certainly make waves for all of them (crisis + opportunity). My own experience with glucose data leads me to believe that consumers aren’t likely to find success with DIY interpretation. Rather, they will benefit most when it’s paired with an engaged and knowledgeable professional (naturally, Nutrisense does exactly that). There remains yet another milestone (and market inflection point) on the horizon, which is the non-invasive glucose monitor. Maybe we can hope for that sometime this decade!

fun facts 🙌

Universe size comparison. Watch this video. It’ll be 3 minutes you won’t regret. Write back to me and let me know how long it took before the feeling of awe set in. ~ see video

Arctic ice cools drinks in Dubai bars. This is pretty opulent. “The company’s website hammers home the point that the ice destined to chill drinks in glitzy watering holes halfway around the world is taken from icebergs already naturally detached from the glacier and floating in Greenland’s Nuuk fjord.” ~ learn more

oh, chicago 🏆

An ode to Techstars Chicago. “The story of Techstars Chicago starts with an organization called Excelerate Labs. Created in 2009, the program was led by a group of local founders and investors, and was designed to connect existing successful founders and operators with new companies to provide capital, mentorship, and support.” ~ learn more

tech, startups, internet ⚡

12 AI entrepreneurs in a room demoing live products to one another. Nothing particularly jaw-dropping in this set of demo videos, and lots of “just give it a moment” during the live demos. However, taken as a whole, very promising! ~ learn more

You’re going to need a sales team for your SaaS business. An interview with Jason Lemkin on building a world-class sales org. “Hire your first salesperson when you have closed the first 10 customers and are spending more than 20% of your time on sales. Don’t be swayed solely by impressive resumes or acronyms; instead, seek out those individuals who you would personally buy your product from. (side note: the term ‘world-class’ makes me cringe a bit. you?) ~ learn more

24 Chicago startups to watch in 2024. “Included this year are life-sciences startups, companies spun out from Chicago stalwarts and businesses using artificial intelligence to disrupt their industries.” Shout out to BiomeSense and Quicklly! ~ learn more

better doing 🎯

Why do you like what you like? “Basically, your brain does game theory: Do the cool people around you like potatoes? Would you benefit from liking potatoes? Do you understand potato consumption rituals well-enough to blend in at the hot potato salons? Then: Start liking potatoes.” ~ learn more

Entropy: the hidden force that complicates life. I’m a sucker for discussions of entropy, which is the tendency (sometimes law) for all systems to trend toward disorder. ~ learn more

to your health ⚕

The synergy of health and wealth. It’s my pleasure to promote this interview between two people who I really like: Ilya Zlotnik, wealth advisor and partner at Vivaldi Capital Management, and Daniel Chille, founder and owner of TBD Fitness. ~ learn more

retail therapy 💸

Ads don’t work that way. There’s a common view that ads work by associating positive memories and feelings with products. This author disagrees and makes a compelling case for an alternate theory. “…[R]ather than trying to change our minds individually, [an ad] instead changes the landscape of cultural meanings — which in turn changes how we are perceived by others when we use a product.” ~ learn more

under the microscope 🔬

Peter Attia doesn’t like the vegan twin study. The study, which is also available as a Netflix docuseries, compares results of identical twins assigned either vegan or omnivore diets at random. Attia writes: “While the attempt at controlling for genetics may be admirable, it is at odds with the rest of the study design, which fails utterly to isolate and test a specific independent variable. Indeed, if we can derive any knowledge at all from this research, it is that calorie restriction and healthy diet composition – regardless of whether foods come from plants or animals – can improve metabolic health. Surprise, surprise.” ~ learn more

NIH nutrition for precision health study. “The NIH study will involve 10,000 participants in total, some of whom are signing up for intense measures, like monitors that follow them and make sure they don’t eat smuggled food, or special eyeglass attachments to record what they eat.” ~ learn more

Epigenetic editing. So much potential! “An alternative to genome editing can reduce the activity of a gene that affects cholesterol levels without changing the DNA sequence — and does so for an extended period, according to a study in mice.” ~ learn more

thoughts of food 🍔

Inflammation nation. Another stellar report from Bluestein Ventures, this time about the innovation in the food industry aimed at reducing inflammatory ingredients. It’s not just starry-eyed optimism: “reductions in sugar, salt, and fat have proven difficult, as current alternatives struggle to match the taste, functionality, and price of their inflammation-inducing counterparts.” ~ learn more

teaching the kids 👩‍🏫

Why adults’ fear puts children at risk. “Adults in many Western nations, particularly those born before the 1990s, recall playing with friends in their neighborhoods, local parks, and abandoned places, making up the rules as they went along, without adult supervision. … They felt independent, taking risks and figuring things out for themselves. And this is the kind of childhood that has been common for nearly all of human history. … Today, this kind of childhood is rare. Every successive generation of children since the 1970s has seen their outdoor play and freedom shrink.” ~ learn more

profiles of people 🚶

Vaclav Smil and the value of doubt. “A ruthless dissector of unwarranted assumptions takes on environmental catastrophists and techno-optimists.” ~ learn more

thanks for reading!