The CQ is Forerunner’s weekly newsletter rounding up the top consumer news, plus bonus musings from our investment team and portfolio highlights. Subscribe to get the latest each weekend.
Any perceived Summer slowdown in venture feels like a thing of the distant past. We have two new major series A investments to announce, along with several other seed and series A investments that we’ll be excited to share more about very soon.
Without further ado…
Meet Courtyard:
We led the $30M series for Courtyard, the first collectibles marketplace that’s actually designed to be liquid. That might sound like a small thing, but it’s a big unlock: it lowers the barrier to entry in a category that’s historically been tough to navigate — and it adds a level of stickiness that simply wasn’t possible before.
Courtyard’s differentiated approach speaks for itself when you consider the growth: the company went from $50,000 in monthly GMV to $50M in monthly GMV in one year. Also, the average card trades on Courtyard 8x/month, showing how the distinct approach creates a true flywheel of engagement.
As social media has become less about “social” and more “media”, people are looking for new places to play, express themselves, and engage. Courtyard is a reflection of a broader, durable shift: the blending of social, commerce, gaming, and entertainment into a new kind of interactive experience — especially for younger consumers.
Courtyard’s Co-Founders: Nicolas De Jeune and Paulin Andurand
Nicole Johnson’s investment post
Meet Slingshot:
Slingshot is a completely new modality for mental healthcare: AI-powered therapy that is highly personalized and clinically rigorous. Slingshot's debut product, Ash, is built on the first special-purpose foundation model for psychology, pre-trained to practice CBT, DBT, ACT, and psychodynamic therapy, and to use reinforcement learning to continually improve and adjust to each person.
So far, over 50,000 have used Ash in beta and reported transformative results.
Check out the stories and download Ash via Forerunner’s VIP link!
Founders: Neil Parikh and Dan Cahn
Nicole Johnson’s investment post
What We’re Talking About on Slack:
There's a growing sentiment gap between rich and poor Americans. Axios reports that consumer sentiment has reached its widest gap between high and low earners since Morning Consult began tracking the data in 2018: Those making over $100,000 scored 122 on the index—nearly 33 points higher than those earning under $50,000. This divide is driven by factors such as rising stock markets and home values, which benefit wealthier Americans, while lower earners face stagnant wages, job instability, and rising housing costs. The top 20% of earners now account for 60% of all U.S. consumer spending, yet even their spending has plateaued in 2025 despite improved confidence. “The sentiment split could widen even further, as higher tariffs could wallop lower earners, who spend a larger share of their income on goods.”
For the first time in 50 years, the U.S. will likely experience negative net migration, shrinking the U.S. workforce—and economic growth by extension. A new report by the American Enterprise Institute estimates that the immigration crackdown could lead to up to 525,000 people leaving the country in 2025, decreasing the U.S. labor force and reducing U.S. GDP growth between 0.3% to 0.4%, or a loss of between $70.5 billion to $94 billion annually. Foreign-born workers make up 19.2% of the U.S. labor force, but their numbers have fallen by 735,000 since January, straining industries like agriculture, nursing, and construction, and raising concerns about slowed economic and payroll growth in the second half of the year (predicted to drop from 147,000 new payrolls in June to as few as 30,000 per month). One economist warns that if deportations continue at 3,000 per day, the labor force could decrease by 1 million, which could trigger stagflation and strain Social Security, since immigrants paid $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes in 2022.
‘An uphill battle’: why are midlife men struggling to make—and keep—friends? According to the Survey Center on American Life, in 2021, 15% of American men said they do not have close friends—up from 3% in 1990—while the percentage of men with 10 or more close friends dropped from 33% to 13%. A 2025 Gallup poll found that 25% of U.S. men aged 15 to 35 reported feeling lonely “for a lot of the previous day,” ranking them among the loneliest of wealthy countries. Reliance on partners for socializing, work demands, moving, and a cultural stigma around male vulnerability have contributed to this “friendship recession.” One study suggests it can take about 200 hours to form a close friendship, yet many men struggle to make this a priority. Some have found success in forming friendships by organizing low-pressure weekly hangouts or hosting events aimed specifically at men, like boxing or pickleball. “Guys like to do stuff. Someone needs to curate, and then they do want to show up.”
Delta Airlines is just the beginning: How AI is going to put dynamic pricing into everything you buy. Delta plans to have AI set prices for one in five tickets by the end of 2025, up from just 3% today, but the company’s ultimate goal is full AI-driven pricing. Dynamic pricing, in which companies enlist AI to adjust costs based on real-time demand and consumer data to maximize profits, has already been popping up in European grocery stores, Disney’s Lightning Lane, and tickets for Premier League football matches. But a large, influential company like Delta could normalize AI pricing across airlines and other sectors, including hotels, leading to “‘a miserable existence’ for consumers.”
The Verge investigates how dupes turned online shopping upside down. After Taylor Swift was seen wearing Popflex’s Pirouette Skort, the brand sold over 50,000 units. Within weeks, 461 suspected copycat listings cropped up on Amazon, Temu, and Shein. The global dupe market now spans nearly every industry, from fashion to tech and cosmetics, and dupes often use copyrighted images while evading counterfeit laws. Online retailers and social media platforms are struggling to regulate this market, which keeps on growing, thanks to the speed of e-commerce and influencer culture. “For some consumers, dupes are proof that the original is overpriced and taking advantage of the consumer. If a company can make a dupe that’s $10 less, the originator must be ripping us off, the thinking goes; the creative work of making something new in the first place is worthless, reduced to a game of who can do it cheaper.” Although design patents offer some protection, their high cost and slow approval process make it nearly impossible for designers and retailers to keep up with ultrafast platforms that replicate viral products.
What is ‘vibe-based budgeting’? Over half of Gen Zers and millennials are doing it. A June 2025 survey from Intuit Credit Karma found that 44% of Americans are practicing “vibe-based budgeting,” that is, adjusting their spending based on how the economy feels rather than their actual financial situation—especially among Gen Z (56%) and millennials (57%). While 61% said they feel more anxious about the economy compared to last year, 51% reported having positive monthly cash flow, and 72% said their financial situation has either improved or remained steady over the past six months. Nearly half (48%) admitted that media coverage and changing economic conditions have made them doubt their financial stability, prompting 45% to cut back on nonessential purchases and 38% to avoid taking on new debt. Still, 38% of those who’ve revised their budgets said they expect their financial outlook to improve in the coming year.
What causes obesity? A major new study is upending common wisdom, says The Washington Post. Inactivity has long been thought to be a main cause of obesity, but a new study involving over 4,200 men and women across 34 countries found that total daily energy expenditure is remarkably similar across cultures—whether people are hunter-gatherers or office workers. The researchers explain the “constrained total energy expenditure model,” in which our bodies monitor our total calorie burn to keep it within a narrow range, even when we move more. “Our analyses suggest that increased energy intake has been roughly 10 times more important than declining total energy expenditure in driving the modern obesity crisis.” In other words, overeating—especially ultra-processed foods—is the primary driver of obesity vs. movement.
How displaying your DNA became a status symbol: Dazed looks at how showing off your biomarkers, hormone levels, and DNA test results are proving that health is the new wealth. The global genetic testing market is projected to reach $49.72 billion by 2033, up from $21.47 billion in 2024. “Where luxury once meant exclusive material goods, today it also includes access to high-tier wellness. Sharing pristine lab results, biological age assessments, or optimal gene variants acts as a subtle flex—it signals discipline and wealth to afford testing, coaching, and biohacking. Just as clean eating became aestheticised on platforms like Instagram, ‘clean data’ is now doing the same. It reflects a cultural shift where control over one’s biology is seen not just as health-conscious, but aspirational.” One trend analyst predicts that in the future, we’ll see gamified health metrics, live biomarker streaming, and hyper-personalised wellness dashboards shared like Spotify Wrapped.
AI is wrecking an already fragile job market for college graduates, reports WSJ. Employers are rapidly reducing demand for entry-level workers, particularly recent college grads, because AI can now do much of their work faster and more cheaply. The traditional post-college job pipeline - "you work cheap, we train you" - is breaking down. While most shifts of this nature usually come with upsides and downsides, where people adapt new skills and tools to become useful in the new domain, the answer here isn’t yet clear for young would-be employees. So far, the advantages purely lie with businesses gaining efficiencies.
The New York Times looks inside America’s growing homeschool movement. The pandemic supercharged interest. Now, a cultural and political emphasis on women staying at home is continuing to fuel growth.
Portfolio Highlights
Faire welcomes a new board member: Chris Payne, former COO of DoorDash and former SVP of eBay.
People, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Glossy announce that Serena Williams has joined Ritual as a Women's Health Advisor. And, ModernRetail reports that Ritual is expanding into 300 Ulta stores.
There are ~815 open jobs at Forerunner portfolio companies — check ‘em out.