Hey Cowboys,
Happy Thursday! We’re bringing you a fresh round of DTC, retail, tech, and ecommerce news to unpack.
Today’s lineup 👇 and stories.
How Brands Turn Attention Into Repeat Customers
Two agency founders break down how brands capture attention, convert customers, and build a growth engine beyond paid acquisition.
Jimmy Kim - Co- Founder & CEO, eCom Email Marketer
Luke Thorburg - Co- Founder & CCO, StreetTalk
A clip of Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke explaining how he cured his terror of public speaking by writing "I love public speaking" for ten minutes a day for one week is going viral on X, with Lütke claiming that repeating a statement about yourself 100 times writes it into the brain so deeply that "your brain will start reconciling you to that."
The Rundown:
Lütke's exact framing: tell yourself or write down something about yourself 100 times and it embeds at a level where the brain starts reconciling your identity to it, adding "it just works" and "it's not like a placebo"
His personal proof point: terrified of public speaking, he spent ten minutes daily for a week writing that he liked it, and says the fear was gone a week later
Lütke, who describes himself as a toolmaker rather than an idealist, told Senra he noticed the same pattern reading biographies of history's most analytical engineers, many of whom independently landed on rituals and affirmations as identity-change tools
The viral post framed the hook as one of the most analytically rigorous founders alive endorsing affirmations, and the resurfaced clip drove a wave of commentary this week
Davie Fogarty amplified it with the inverse warning: telling yourself "sorry I suck at this" or "this probably will fail" works the same way in the wrong direction
Users are now applying the technique to trading discipline, confidence, and bedtime voice notes, with some linking it to the Bible's "prophetic perfect tense" where futures are spoken as already accomplished
Neuroscience broadly supports repetition forming new neural pathways and reducing stress, though there is no brain region called the "neurofrontal cortex" and results vary by person
Lütke also uses what he calls "messages in a bottle," writing notes to his future self as a related reinforcement habit
The founder of a $200 billion company crediting a one-week journaling exercise for rewiring his brain is exactly the kind of content the internet cannot resist, and the clip's second viral life eight months after the podcast shows the appetite for high-performer psychology hacks is bottomless. The science is looser than Lütke's confidence suggests, but the underlying mechanism, identity shaping behavior through repetition, is real enough that the dumbest trick in the book keeps working.
Top Stories: GLP-1s Boost Apparel, Nvidia Buys Hugging Face, Oasis Faces LMNT Suit
GLP-1s Boost Apparel - A new Tinuiti survey finds 40% of GLP-1 users plan to increase their clothing spending over the next year, compared with 25% of all apparel shoppers. These consumers are also more likely to resell, rent, and buy multiple sizes as their bodies change. U.S. apparel spending linked to GLP-1 users could increase by $3 billion to $13 billion annually, according to Bernstein.
Nvidia Acquired Hugging Face - Nvidia has reportedly agreed to acquire open-source AI platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, according to The Information. The deal would nearly triple Hugging Face’s 2023 valuation and give Nvidia control of a major hub for AI models, datasets, and development tools. The companies have not yet commented, and reports say the deal could still fall apart.
Oasis Faces LMNT Lawsuit - Oasis is publicly seeking legal counsel to fight a federal lawsuit filed by electrolyte brand LMNT. LMNT alleges Oasis overstated the lead content in its products and left the claims online for 15 months after agreeing to retract them. Oasis says the case is about defending its right to publish independent consumer health data.
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Ecomm Cowboy Team