“STANK LOVE”

 One scientist’s Valentine’s Day AI experiment is the stuff of candy heart nightmares... [The Hustle]( Wed, Feb 14 Brought to you by [Blinkist]( activate brain boosters. Direct-to-consumer brands are changing the way we buy -- and the old dogs are nervous In the past few years, we’ve seen an explosion of digital marketing-heavy companies that sell and ship their products “directly to your door.” You know, the Warby Parker’s and Blue Aprons of the world. But, these newcomers aren’t just slick advertising and millennial-friendly branding, they’re a huge [shift in the way we buy products]( -- and big consumer packaged goods companies are sweating. “It’s the Warby Parker of...” First came SaaS (“the Salesforce of…”), then came the gig economy (“the Uber of…”), now it’s direct-to-consumer. If an industry exists, chances are there’s a D2C company “disrupting” it: Gillette’s share of the US men’s razor business fell from 70% in 2010 to just 54% in 2016, thanks to the rise of competitors like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s. Mattress companies like Leesa, Casper, and Purple have doubled their market share in the past year, and meal kits, according to Axios, are projected to grow 10x. Bye-bye “big box” In the old-school model, brands design, produce, and market their products, then rely on wholesalers and big box stores like Walmart, Best Buy, Target or -- more recently -- Amazon, to reach the end consumer. But these days, even fledgling brands can [oversee the entire sales cycle]( -- and, in turn, the customer experience from discovery to delivery. That means they not only own all the revenue from the products they sell, they [own the customer](. Why now? Mainly because of the rise in highly targeted advertising via Facebook and other social platforms, which make it easy for small companies to reach their perfect customer from anywhere. According to Salesforce's [latest digital advertising report]( 95% of advertisers use demographic data along with location information and interests to target prospects. And it’s only increasing: according to the report, next year 66% of digital ad spend will go to web platforms that allow custom targeting, like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Because who needs friends when you can have mattress discounts? All my friends are mattresses  Amazon makes rare layoffs, cuts several hundred corporate jobs On Monday, Amazon [announced]( they would be laying off hundreds of staff members at their corporate offices. The layoffs will take place mainly in their consumer retail businesses, as the tech giant looks to consolidate “redundant” leadership roles to make room for a heavier focus on new areas outside of books, clothes, and groceries. From bender to ender Over the past few years, Amazon’s Seattle offices have been on a hiring spree, booming from a lean [5k]( employees in 2010 to 40k in 2017. Their growth spurt reportedly left some units over budget, with a low work-to-staff ratio, which led to an abrupt hiring freeze back in December. The hold reduced the company’s job listings in Seattle to their lowest in years, creating an ominous air around the employees of Amazon as rumors of a “re-org” pedaled about their grassy campus. Though, amid cuts, they’ve started hiring again While hundreds of layoffs for a corporate giant seem relatively common, this move is in fact quite rare for Amazon -- a company who, according to the Seattle Times, prides themselves on “frugality, and efficient allocation of resources.” In fact, even in light of the cuts, they have actually upped their global workforce by [66%]( in the last year, with more than 4k job listings currently on their site as they look to “double down” on areas like AWS and Alexa software. [Deforesting the Amazon](  Dear boss: if you want to reward your employees, give them a raise — not a bonus In recent years, the economy has seen a steady rise in productivity gains, but wage growth has largely stagnated. One (albeit small) contributor to this: employers are increasingly giving their employees [bonuses instead of raises](. I raise you one bonus According a [report]( by the HR consulting firm Aon Hewitt, businesses have felt a pressure to stay nimble in the wake of the [Great Recession]( and they’ve dealt with it by avoiding fixed costs, like raises. Case in point: 25 years ago, only 3.1% of companies’ compensation budgets were devoted to bonuses; by 2017, that figure quadrupled to 12.7%. In the same time span, raises diminished from 5% to 2.9% of total compensation budgets. Why does this suck? Employers have placed a premium on maximizing productivity while minimizing costs -- often at the expense of employee satisfaction. Instead of recognizing increased output with a permanent pay bump, they’ve turned to an [ephemeral]( rewards system: bonuses, gifts, one-time perks -- things that don’t have a lasting impact on revamping wage growth. [Raising the bar](  Ex Uber and Lyft exec raises $15m to start something even techier: a scooter share Electric scooter sharing [startup, Bird]( first launched in Santa Monica, CA, in September. Now, they’re [raising a $15m round]( to expand to the rest of the US. The company’s founder, Travis VanderZanden, has an all-star pedigree (formerly VP of growth at Uber, and COO at Lyft before that) -- and Bird already has 50k active users, and about 1k scooters roaming the streets. Everything seems to be cruising along… Only one problem: the fuzz Local police officers have already issued [97 scooter-related citations]( in the first 6 weeks of 2018. The city has also filed a criminal complaint over Bird’s failure to obtain the appropriate permits to leave their scooters on the sidewalks (employees collect them at 8pm every night and return them to specified stations by 6am). TVZ’s defense? “Every mode of transportation is dangerous…” [True... technically...](  For all you V-Day fans: a neural network with a sense of humor According to a 2015 [study]( people are 3,777% more likely to eat candy hearts on Valentine’s day, so, yeah, you could say candy hearts are a pretty big deal come February. And, phrases like “Be Mine” and “Crazy 4 You”  have become as synonymous with the love holiday as the chalky candy itself. But, a [new neural network]( has a few edgy additions to the usually earnest V-Day mainstay. Research scientist Janelle Shane [gathered]( every classic candy heart phrase and used them to teach a machine learning algorithm to create new phrases based on patterns it detected in the classic candy heart sentiments, and let’s just say, it got weird. Here are some of our faves: - “BONG LOV” - “DOOO ME” - “STANK LOVE” - “SWEET PISS” - And last, but certainly not least: “TIT KISS” Uhhh, happy tit-- er, uh… Valentine’s Day. [Tit Kiss...](  what the hell is… AD: This week, we've partnered with [Leesa]( (AKA manufacturer of fine sleeping tools) to shed some light on the ubiquitous, yet mysterious, phenomenon known as ‘sleep.’" What the hell is sleep? You’ll spend about 33% of your life sleeping. If you live to be 75, that’s 25 years (or 219k hours) of zzz’s. Despite this, we still know relatively little about what sleep is, and why we need it. But one thing is clear: it is a vital and necessary part of life -- and without it, we’re a slogging mess. See what all the snooze is about in this week’s GIF: -- [Zachary Crockett]( the GIF that keeps on giving  This edition of The Hustle was brought to you by Rich Dad, Poor Dad in 15 minutes flat Life is short, books are long, and the two may never see eye to eye. Face it, reading takes a lot of time, and your time is valuable. Trying to cram the latest in nonfiction after an exhausting day at the ol’ keyboard slammer takes commitment -- and we got way too much sh*t to do. [Blinkist]( helps you knock off that ever-expanding list of “books to read” in 15 minutes a day. Turn your commute into a daily lecture hall Like educational gold miners, Blinkist pans the most popular nonfiction books and distills them for you -- extracting the golden nuggets of insight in a shorter, friendlier way, dubbed “[blinks]( Read or listen to blinks of the most popular nonfiction titles, straight from your phone. Learn professional skills and gain new perspectives in the time it takes you to go from door to desk. With Blinkist, an [entire library of ready-to-digest knowledge]( is yours on-demand. It’s reading with Silicon Valley efficiency. Do your brain a favor. [Try Blinkist for free]( and learn something.  0 [SHARE THE HUSTLE]( REFERRALS Lindsey Quinn MANAGING EDITOR Zack Crockett WRITER Wes Schlagenhauf WRITER Sam “More like candy FARTS” Parr EDITORIAL EAVESDROPPER Iambda Luffducta RELATIONSHIP COUNSELOR [SUBSCRIBE]( [JOBS]( [ADVERTISE]( [EVENTS]( You opted in by signing up, attending an event, or through divine intervention. [771 CLEMENTINA STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103, UNITED STATES]( • [415.506.7210](tel:+1-415-506-7210) Never wanna hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](