I shared something in this week's newsletter that's been sitting with me for a while...
Google's AI Overviews are now sometimes contradicting the paid ad sitting right above them on the same search results page.
So you pay to put your message in front of someone and Google's own AI turns around and tells that same person your claim is exaggerated or flat out wrong.
That's not a ranking problem or a bidding problem, that's a business built entirely on top of someone else's platform finding out the platform can undercut you for free, instantly, with no warning.
This is exactly why I've never wanted to build something that lives or dies by one channel's algorithm.
Newsletter, email list, ad revenue split across platforms, direct client relationships.
None of what I'm doing across my business portfolio is sexy or venture-scale; I'll never get written up as the next unicorn.
But nobody can flip a switch on Google's side and quietly erase 40% of my business overnight.
Owning the relationship beats renting the algorithm every single time.
Build your list people!
Fun fact: @joelnolancaro is flying out to LA from Miami so we can see the 25th anniversary of The Fast and Furious tomorrow night.
That’s what family does.
Clock app content can be so depressing. Please a top allowing un-credentialed weirdos to ‘diagnose’ the viewer in short form content . No, this isn’t a cry for long video omg
Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today.
Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out.
We too are still trying to figure out exactly what happened. Here is what we know:
- Last night, Sam got a text from Ilya asking to talk at noon Friday. Sam joined a Google Meet and the whole board, except Greg, was there. Ilya told Sam he was being fired and that the news was going out very soon.
- At 12:19pm, Greg got a text from Ilya asking for a quick call. At 12:23pm, Ilya sent a Google Meet link. Greg was told that he was being removed from the board (but was vital to the company and would retain his role) and that Sam had been fired. Around the same time, OpenAI published a blog post.
- As far as we know, the management team was made aware of this shortly after, other than Mira who found out the night prior.
The outpouring of support has been really nice; thank you, but please don’t spend any time being concerned. We will be fine. Greater things coming soon.