Getir was valued at £9 billion in early 2022 – one of the many rapid delivery apps that thrived off pandemic restrictions. But two years later it exited the UK market, after the return to physical shopping meant it struggled to turn a profit (especially with competition from existing takeaway apps like Deliveroo).
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The celebrity dating app currently has a 2.5 million person waitlist, but a user base in the low six figures. Why doesn’t it let more people in? According to CEO Daniel Gendelman this exclusivity is the very key to its success: Raya is thriving because lots of people aren’t on it – but want to be.
A clever bit of editing can turn the trailer for Harry Potter 6 – arguably the darkest film in the franchise – into a classic teen comedy. It’s surprising how well it fits, and it’s worth checking out other re-cut trailers (e.g. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a horror).
Think again. Over 55s are leading the charge in alcohol and drugs usage, sexually transmitted diseases and arrests – a result of having more disposable income, looser social attitudes, and fewer childcare responsibilities.
A decade of innovation around special flavours has boosted Red Bull’s penetration and increased overall sales by 9%. They’ve also helped to position the brand differently: now, 1 in 4 Red Bull drinking occasions are because it is “fun to drink”.
When Dietrich Mateschitz visited Thailand in 1982, he discovered Krating Daeng: a locally sourced drink that helped to cure his jet lag. He was so impressed that he decided to adapt it for a western audience: Red Bull.
1% of Reddit communities start 74% of all conflicts. As Ethan Decker puts it, “most people, most of the time, are mostly good.” It’s also a reminder that opinions on social media don’t reflect the general population.
In 2022, Google adjusted its search algorithms to surface Reddit threads more often. The result? Reddit went from 57 million visits from Google US to 427 million in less than a year. Reddit’s own numbers told a similar story: its total traffic was growing by 50% with no signs of slowing down.
At Noma in Copenhagen, René Redzepi restricts himself to using ingredients that grow in Nordic countries even there vegetation barely grows due to the cold weather. The result is that Redzepi works with ingredients other chefs wouldn’t think of touching – rotten seaweed, red ants, and fried fish scales – to create a menu of unexpected flavours diners can’t find elsewhere. As Redzepi says, “the best discoveries are hidden somewhere in insanity.”
Jennifer Fleiss, co-founder of Rent the Runway, had no background in fashion. But she says that “being naive is one of the best secrets of first time entrepreneurship. So we were naive enough to reach out to Diane von Furstenberg and to ask her advice and her time.” The meeting gave Fleiss important pointers for shaping the business.
What causes riots? A study of unrest in 50 African and Asian cities found that “peak levels of unrest occur in the upper 20s [degrees centigrade]”. In short, heat makes it nicer to be outside at night. It’s not a coincidence that the 2011 London riots started in peak August.
During Covid-19, the public was inundated with dates for lifting specific restrictions. To make things easy to follow, a developer created a handy timeline based on beer consumption (the number one priority for most of the UK).
The tennis superstar won 80% of the singles matches he played, but only 54% of the individual points. Not all points are made equal.
Christmas might be the most magical time of year but it’s still motivated by profit: Rudolph the Reindeer was originally a promotional tool. Retailer Montgomery Ward had been buying and giving away booklets for Christmas every year and decided that creating their own book would save money. So in 1939 copywriter Robert L. May created Rudolph as part of the first published book, eventually selling 2 million copies.
Michael O’Leary removed the add-ons that make flying pleasurable. Ryanair routinely ranks bottom in airline surveys. Its social media is full of complaints about cancelled flights and extra baggage fees. But it’s a ruthless provider of low fares and high punctuality, and Europe’s most profitable airline.