The HOBT: 💴Price sensitive People | Act broke - Stay rich | AI Taxi

👋🏼 Hey! Price tags in China are shrinking fast, but not without a catch. In China, deep discounts from EV makers like XPeng and delivery giants like Alibaba and Meituan are winning over deal-hungry buyers, but at a cost. Behind the rush for bubble tea under a dollar and subsidized hybrids with mini fridges, there’s a growing fear: quality is slipping, companies are bleeding profits, and long-term trust may be harder to win back. People are becoming more price-sensitive, and Beijing is stepping in, pushing to shift the race from cheap to smart. Meanwhile, the ripple effect is shaking global auto markets, with Europe weighing job losses against lower prices. Read More

WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING?

How did Lucy Guo dethrone Taylor Swift as the youngest self-made female billionaire? ‘Act broke, stay rich’

🚀🎧 Lucy Guo just unseated Taylor Swift as the youngest self-made female billionaire, but you won’t find her celebrating with champagne. The 30-year-old Scale AI cofounder and Passes CEO swears by 90-hour weeks, Pokémon plushies, Barry’s Bootcamp, and a no-frills motto: Act broke, stay rich. Her latest venture, Passes, is already powering full-time incomes for creators by letting them keep 90% of their earnings, and she’s building it from a 25,000-square-foot LA hub with music studios and podcast gear. Read More

🧠🔥 Want to make AI faster and cheaper without losing the smarts? That’s where distillation comes in. The technique lets a giant “teacher” model pass on its knowledge to a smaller “student” model, retaining most of the brains but cutting size, cost, and energy use. First proposed by AI legend Geoffrey Hinton, distillation has become essential in the race to scale AI, powering models like DistilBERT and even Berkeley’s $450 Sky-T1. It’s not new, but as competition heats up, this lean-learning method is quietly shaping the future of efficient, powerful AI. Read More

💼📉 Private equity’s decade-long boom may be hitting a turning point. As institutional capital shows signs of fatigue, fund managers are eyeing retail investors to keep growth alive, but the real test will be aligning illiquid assets with investor expectations. Brian Selmo explains how liquidity profiles shape fund strategy, from daily-dealing public funds like Crescent to locked-up vehicles like Source. Meanwhile, froth in AI venture deals contrasts with cooling interest in traditional buyouts. If private equity can’t unlock retail capital at scale, the industry could see a slower climb ahead. Read More

MORE NEWS

🚗🤖 Uber is gearing up to roll out over 20,000 Lucid electric SUVs equipped with Nuro’s Level 4 self-driving tech, powered by Nvidia’s AI, across global cities starting next year. This partnership means big investments for Lucid and Nuro and positions Nvidia at the heart of the driverless revolution since every vehicle will house Nvidia’s powerful DRIVE Thor supercomputer. While Tesla runs its own AI chips, Uber’s move could shake up the robotaxi market, competing directly with Tesla and Waymo. The success of this premium robotaxi service might not just boost ride-hailing but also Nvidia’s bottom line in a huge way. Read More

🤖🚚 Cartken started out delivering food on campuses and busy city streets, but recently found a bigger opportunity in industrial robotics. CEO Christian Bersch shares how a key early client, German manufacturer ZF Lifetec, repurposed Cartken’s delivery robots to move production samples, revealing a strong demand for automation in factories and labs. Thanks to their robots’ advanced AI and terrain skills honed in real-world food delivery, Cartken swiftly adapted for industrial needs, launching heavier-duty models like the Cartken Hauler. With new deals, including a big order from Mitsubishi’s Melco Mobility for Japanese facilities, the startup is focusing on optimizing material flows across industries while maintaining but not expanding its original food delivery routes. Read More

RECOMMENDED READS

The biggest red flag in a job interview, according to a founder, and what impresses her most - Read

Astronomer CEO resigns following Coldplay concert scandal - Read

The Economic Success of Singapore and Hong Kong - Read

MARKETING IN ACTION

Marketing should feel like a natural extension of your brand's voice and value. Instead of pushing products, focus on storytelling, education, and experiences that resonate emotionally. People engage more with content that informs or entertains than with obvious sales pitches.

LET’S TALK MONEY

Track key financial metrics like gross margin, net profit, accounts receivable turnover, and customer acquisition cost. Regularly reviewing these numbers allows you to identify inefficiencies and make faster, smarter business decisions.

INSIDE THE CONVERSATION

Avoid jargon. Speak in a way that resonates with your audience’s level of understanding. Simplicity and relatability increase trust, engagement, and action across all levels of communication.

THE WISDOM LINE

"Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going." – Sam Levenson

Hope you like today’s issue. Have a good day! Bye 👋