Matt Wurst

Illusion is cheap. Proof is hard. Both matter. Whether it's family, work, society, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘰, or even Advertising Week New York, the big question isn't what's real... It's "𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚?" 👉 Read all four before you start your week: thefourps.substack.com/p/pppproof-a...

Beyoncé’s trainer. Rihanna’s stylist. A NASA astronaut. No, this isn’t the setup for a bad joke. It’s how Eric Sheinkop built The Desire Company into a machine for real content, not influencer fluff, not rented audiences, but actual expert-led storytelling that converts. Anew Genuin Connection

We got into it on the latest Genuin 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 👉 Why retailers are down to their “last chance” to matter 👉 How personalization ≠ “Welcome back, Eric” pop-ups 👉 Why use cases crush hype every time 👉 And yes… why neuroscience belongs in your marketing plan

Protecting kids online isn’t optional anymore. 🚨 The FTC just told seven of the biggest AI players (Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, Snap, xAI, and more): show us how you’re keeping children safe. Not someday. Not in a press release. Right now. youtube.com/shorts/0Ri33...

I (finally?) got access to Perplexity’s new 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵 browser. I've used it non-stop for the past 24 hours. Because in theory, AI in a browser sounds awesome. In reality... more like beta vibes. Here are my first impressions:

❌ CPU usage balloons when the AI is running. My laptop fan sounds like it’s prepping for takeoff. I've even restarted my laptop when it froze 2-3x yesterday. So here’s my sticking point... For all the AI bells and whistles, nothing yet redefines how I browse.

I (finally?) got access to Perplexity’s new 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵 browser. I've used it non-stop for the past 24 hours. Because in theory, AI in a browser sounds awesome. In reality... more like beta vibes. Here are my first impressions:

𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀: ❌ Accuracy still feels… questionable. I find myself fact-checking every response with links. Years of conditioning make it hard to just “trust the AI.” I want better transparency on how answers are generated. Confidence without clarity isn’t trust.

I (finally?) got access to Perplexity’s new 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵 browser. I've used it non-stop for the past 24 hours. Because in theory, AI in a browser sounds awesome. In reality... more like beta vibes. Here are my first impressions:

Normally new tech follows a pattern: hype, crash, then slow adoption. But AI isn’t playing by those rules. The money is massive. The breakthroughs are daily. And yet most companies are still just tinkering. Lots of pilots, very little production.

Communities don’t die out from lack of interest. They die because they forget. Forget who showed up. Forget why they came. Forget what they built together. Physical, digital, religious, whatever… What is Community Memory? I just made it up. Maybe it’s nothing. But I think it’s… something.

Without memory, you’re not a community. You’re just a chat thread. A crowd resetting to zero. I believed we could do this with early internet connections. Then again with social media.

Communities don’t die out from lack of interest. They die because they forget. Forget who showed up. Forget why they came. Forget what they built together. Physical, digital, religious, whatever… What is Community Memory? I just made it up. Maybe it’s nothing. But I think it’s… something.

They remember who showed up first. Who stayed when it got hard. The inside jokes only they get. The nights we stayed up building. The failures that made us better. Community Memory is the emotional glue.

Communities don’t die out from lack of interest. They die because they forget. Forget who showed up. Forget why they came. Forget what they built together. Physical, digital, religious, whatever… What is Community Memory? I just made it up. Maybe it’s nothing. But I think it’s… something.

I'm willing to bet VERY few people in my network here have heard of Lenny Rachitsky. But if you’ve ever touched product, you know exactly who he is. Lenny went from leading product at Airbnb to running one of the most practical, data-rich newsletters in tech.

And in the process, he built something bigger than any feature launch: 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. Not just from what he shipped, but how he thinks. I met him briefly at the tail-end of his run at Neustar like 15 years ago, and have been following from afar ever since.

I feel split in two this week. The dichotomy of anger AND kindness. Wanting to retreat inward while needing to resist outward. One side wants to vent some targeted, productive rage. To call out the hypocrisy, to shine a mirror on misguided, misinformed misanthropy... youtube.com/shorts/Lbu9A...

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀: After much thought and reflection, the time has come. A chapter in my life is closing, and I’m ready to announce my 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Not from the industry. Not from marketing. But from something that’s been every bit as rewarding...

But the true joy was in teaching and coaching kids of all levels. Rehearsing schemes, designing drills, and most importantly, connecting with each and every player through the years. Nothing compares to watching a nervous kid gain the confidence to run, catch & score their first touchdown.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀: After much thought and reflection, the time has come. A chapter in my life is closing, and I’m ready to announce my 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Not from the industry. Not from marketing. But from something that’s been every bit as rewarding...

Want proof that I can write about more than just my kids & throwback nostalgia stories? Here's some good ol' fashioned industry authority: 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀. My latest in the Genuin Blog 👇👇 (𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 - 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥!) begenuin.medium.com/the-ai-traff...

“We were wrong. It’s not an evolution, but a revolution.” (This recruiter’s headline stopped me mid-scroll.) “After decades hiring marketing leads, the truth is undeniable: AI isn’t coming for our jobs. It already took them.” Dramatic? Sure. But not wrong. youtube.com/shorts/pjXaJ...

3 real requirements that didn’t exist two years ago: - 🧑‍💻 Prompt engineering, GenAI fluency - 📊 AI-powered decisioning - 🤖 Integrating agentic AI A marketer's job is being rewritten in real time. You can either own AI and lead the change... or let AI own you.

“We were wrong. It’s not an evolution, but a revolution.” (This recruiter’s headline stopped me mid-scroll.) “After decades hiring marketing leads, the truth is undeniable: AI isn’t coming for our jobs. It already took them.” Dramatic? Sure. But not wrong. youtube.com/shorts/pjXaJ...