🍪 Temu’s out for Amazon’s lunch

Good morning, friends. I hope you’ve checked in on your friends in crypto this week. We’ll be taking next week off to give thanks for not being Sam Bankman-Fried.

Let's get to the good stuff.

In the oven this week:

• 😥 Temu rockets up the charts, just in time for Black Friday

• 📊 Poll of the week

• 🍪 Cookie crumbs: bite sized treats

• 🍫 Chocolate chips: 4 of our favorite finds this week

• 😂 Snickerdoodles: a big dollop of Thanksgiving memes

FRESHLY BAKED

TEMU'S ABOUT TO CRUSH BLACK FRIDAY

It feels like the dark days right now.

The economy's spiraling, eggs are now 39.8% more expensive than last year, and no one wants to buy our Bored Ape t-shirt... but you know who couldn't care less about any of that??

Temu!!

Oh Temu, our new friend in times of need.

Wtf is Temu, you ask?

Just the most downloaded shopping app in the US. But get this - they just launched in September, and now have thousands of products being added every day with mind-bending prices.

I mean… just look at this:

They’ve got Lenovo wireless earbuds for $3.70, an eyebrow pencil for 59 cents, two outdoor solar lamps for $6.39—all delivered for free AND with carbon emissions offset??? It’s unreal.

I know, your BS detector is going off, so let me explain.

Temu was launched by Pingduoduo, one of China’s biggest e-commerce players. Their idea is to allow US consumers to buy stuff directly from manufacturers in China and cut out the middleman.

So while they offer way cheaper pricing, the catch is that there ain’t no Amazon Prime 2-day shipping since the items are coming all the way from China (packages arrive between 7-15 days - not too bad!)

Chinese commerce apps haven’t historically taken off in the US, but Pingduoduo has been investing heavily in influencers and IG ads, with a strategy of brute forcing their way into the US market.

It’s too early to tell, but if Temu can crack customer service and counterfeit goods, Amazon might just need to sleep with one eye open…

POLL OF THE WEEK

SPOT THE FAKE STORY

So A LOT has gone down this week, and some of it is so bananas it’s hard to believe it’s true. Think you could spot the fake story?👇🏽

• Elon tells Twitter employees that those who don’t commit to being “extremely hardcore” by 5pm ET today must leave the company

• Sam Bankman-Fried admits that his ethical demeanor was pretty much just a front. Ironically, his parents are law professors.

• Elon fires Twitter engineers for criticizing him online.. *ahem* I mean, "violating company policy"

• While FTX goes up in flames, Sam Bankman-Fried is playing League of Legends

Go on.. we’ll give you a minute.

Confused?

Yeah, that's right - we played ya. They're all true.

We just can’t make this stuff up. 😂

CLAY

TODAY'S EDITION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY CLAY

Remember that time you ran into Carla and called her Clara?

Yeah, us too.

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It's so good, even leaders at Apple, Stripe, and Nike are using this thing.

The best part? It's free to get started. And you know how much we love free.

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COOKIE CRUMBS

BITE SIZED TREATS

CHOCOLATE CHIPS

OUR FAVORITE FINDS

• Naval on what retirement really is. Hits home.

• This nifty app lets you turn web articles into audio that you can listen to from your podcast app.

• A quick read of interesting stories: how bikinis were invented, a guy who taught Warren Buffet a lesson, how Martin Luther King Jr almost bombed that famous speech, and why everything good in life is just the gap between expectations and reality.

• Life-Changing Concepts newsletter makes you more successful in life with mental models and actionable ideas. Get a summary of 20 useful mental models when you join. It’s free.*

* This is sponsored advertising content

SNICKERDOODLES

THURSDAY MEMES

^ Us on Black Friday

What'd you think about this email?

• 🍪🍪🍪 Top notch!

• 🍪🍪 Meh... could use more milk

• 🍪 Undercooked, do better