The CQ: The Metal-Tested Companies Prepping for IPOs, and OURA's Upped Longevity Play
Plus the Forerunner Team's Must-Reads of the Week
The CQ is Forerunner’s weekly newsletter rounding up the most pressing consumer news and analysis, plus some bonus musings from our investment team. Subscribe now to get the latest edition in your inbox every weekend.
This week, our Founder and Managing Partner Kirsten Green took the stage at the Bloomberg Tech Summit alongside the Co-founders of OpenAI and Anthropic, investors Vinod Khosla and Reid Hoffman, as well as Garry Tan, Whitney Wolfe-Herd, Evan Spiegel and more. The panel covered a range of startup and VC points-of-view, including:
The IPO market might be thawing: there’s a class of pre-IPO companies that have been metal tested after all they’ve been through the past few years and are poised to shine the in public markets over the next ~24 months.
There’s a lot of “window dressing” when it comes to startups pitching their AI prowess, and that’s OK and to be expected. As with any major technological shift, there’s a years-long period of trial and error before builders and investors uncover where the long-term durable opportunities lie.
And “why your fund strategy is your fund size.”
For more, you can watch the full panel here.
It’s also been an especially exciting week for our portfolio:
Chime CEO Chris Britt is on the cover of Forbes in a feature detailing his entrepreneurial journey and Chime’s ascent to the largest challenger bank that’s most aligned with consumer values. This team has built the company the right way to impact long, durable change on the financial system: meticulously, steadily and with tremendous grit and humility.
Meanwhile, Stan, a “Shopify for creators” startup that’s barely two years old, announced that they’ve generated $100M for creators on its platform, helping realize their mission of enabling anyone to make money working for themselves while pursuing their passion. True to his commitment to building in public, Stan CEO John Hu shared that the company is doing $25M ARR after Q1 2024. 🔥
OURA is rooted in the belief — and research — that sleep is one of the most essential functions of our health and overall longevity. Today, they’re taking their impact on this even further by announcing that the Oura Ring will soon be able to gauge how ‘old’ your heart is. If that sounds wildly important and scientifically advanced, that’s because it is. More here!
What We’re Talking About on Slack:
The Wall Street Journal illustrates how TikTok is wiring Gen Z’s money brain. A third of those 29 and under get their news from TikTok, with much of that focused on doomerism about high food prices and how their generation will never be able to buy a house. Couple that with all the extravagant shopping hauls and GRWM videos, and the result is a growing sense of ‘money dysmorphia’ among young people. “Under-30s are taking on debt as they embrace an old idea: If the outlook is bad, why not enjoy life now?”
Teens are making friends with AI chatbots. Many of the 3.5M daily users of Character.AI are teenagers who use it an average of two hours a day. Many teens report that chatbots—which can range from Harry Potter characters and sexbots to psychologists—are helpful and entertaining, particularly for those who turn to them for emotional support, but some say they can be addictive, too. The Verge tested some chatbots and found the mental health advice they offered to be precarious, even diagnosing depression or bipolar disorder from brief exchanges. There’s also the issue of how these chatbots will affect teens’ social development if they become reliant on them. According to one professor: “It can be very difficult to leave that [AI] relationship and then go in-person, face-to-face and try to interact with someone in the same exact way. If those IRL interactions go badly…it will discourage young users from pursuing relationships with their peers, creating an AI-based loop for social interactions.”
The New York Times asks, are we talking too much about mental health? New studies are offering new insights on mental health campaigns in schools: While they may have provided much-needed access for some, for others, there have been negative effects with young people over-interpreting symptoms and seeing themselves as more troubled than they might actually be. Students in the U.K. and Australia who undewent mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy training in schools weren’t any healthier than peers who didn’t participate—actually, those at risk of mental health issues did worse. In one U.S. study, students who self-labeled themselves as depressed felt that they had less control over depression and were more likely to catastrophize.
Because the internet makes most information instantly available, The Atlantic wonders if that’s why mass culture is so boring? Years ago, tastemakers in fashion, music, and art curated trends from different subcultures. “But the internet’s sprawling databases, real-time social-media networks, and globe-spanning e-commerce platforms have made almost everything immediately searchable, knowable, or purchasable—curbing the social value of sharing new things. Cultural arbitrage now happens so frequently and rapidly as to be nearly undetectable, usually with no extraordinary profits going to those responsible for relaying the information. Moreover, the sheer speed of modern communication reduces how long any one piece of knowledge is valuable. This, in turn, devalues the acquisition and hoarding of knowledge as a whole, and fewer individuals can easily construct entire identities built on doing so.”
Vox has a different take on the internet’s effect on culture: Everything’s a cult now. Today, the internet has brought about a highly fragmented society. “The way we consume content, the way fandom works, the ways we sort ourselves into tribes and camps online, even the way lots of industries work, including the news business—it all has shades of culthood.”
These burned-out workers don’t fear AI—they welcome it. Nearly 85% of teachers claim to experience burnout on some days and a new survey found that 68% are open to using AI to lighten their load. About 42% of K-12 teachers already have used AI in their classrooms, with 92% of them saying it made them more efficient and decreased burnout. Of teachers who said they were satisfied with their jobs, 46% used AI, compared to 26% of their unsatisfied counterparts.
Equinox launches $40,000 membership to help people live longer. Equinox is partnering with Function Health, a lab-test startup, to introduce a personalized health program that includes tests for 100 biomarkers as well as a range of fitness tests to create a customized plan. Each member gets a fitness trainer, a nutrition coach, a sleep coach, and a massage therapist to help guide their health journey (though the price of gym membership isn’t included.)
In part thanks to AI, we’re in the golden age of freelancing. A Fast Company survey discovered that AI was particularly beneficial for highly skilled freelancers with 92% who reported that it had increased their productivity. Meanwhile 80% said they believed that generative AI tools increase their earning potential and 16% said they had already raised their hourly rates. What’s more, 45% said gen AI tools saved them six or more hours a week, essentially a full work day.
Gen Z and millennial women are checking the price tag on major milestones. According to a Credit Karma survey, 34% of coupled women and 40% of single women don’t feel financially stable. Because of that, 40% of women and 49% of single women say they’re not following the traditional timeline of marriage, house, and kids. Single women in particular feel the pressure, with 22% saying that they think they will need to find a partner in order to reach a milestone like buying a home or saving for retirement.
Will shoppers ever care about the destruction of the planet? Much of the messaging about issues with fashion’s sustainability tend to be preachy or dense. Patagonia’s new documentary, called “The Shitthropocene,” aims to change that with a healthy dose of irreverent humor mixed with information about the climate crisis and human consumption habits. It remains to be seen how successful this marketing effort will be, but considering their past “Don’t Buy This Jacket” Black Friday advertising campaign, it’s promising.
Portfolio Highlights:
Forbes profiles Oura CFO Sean Brecker.
Curology CEO Heather Wallace visits the Kara Goldin Show podcast to discuss how customized skin care has changed the beauty industry.
Faire is ranked one of Y Combinator’s 2024 top companies.
WWD announces that Glossier is partnering with Space NK with the brand’s products on sale in Space NK stores across the U.K. and Ireland.
Curology’s Hair Formula RX, Nécessaire’s The Body Acne Solution and Nécessaire’s Body Bar Moss land a spot on Men’s Health 2024 Grooming Awards.
The Oura ring is mentioned in a Business of Fashion feature on the big business of sleep.
There are ~607 open jobs at Forerunner portfolio companies, check them out.
Mettle, or metal?
Mettle: ability and determination when competing or doing something difficult