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Social Capital > Venture Capital
Happy Cinco de Mayo, we're officially back!
Gustavo Casas
May 05, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes
After a long hiatus, back to posting a weekly curated round up of events going in Chicago & now NYC.
Follow along & see what’s top of mind for me every week.
🔮Consumer Tech: D.A.U (Daily Active User)= Addiction
Convenience Economy: Apps like DoorDash, GoPuff, and Instacart have rewired our brains to avoid effort, making even the smallest friction feel unbearable. Eroding patience, resilience, and our ability to delay gratification.
Insight to watch: Growing counter-consumerism movement.
Vice Economy: Vapes, gambling apps & TikTok sells short-term dopamine hits while slowly numbing our baseline for joy. It exploits our biology for profit, leaving us overstimulated and underfulfilled.
Insight to watch: Smart Vapes offer products with games on them.
Synthesis: “We’re in a dopamine bubble”
🤳🏼Creator Economy: Distribution First
Social Capital: You may have a great idea, product or company! But until 100-500k+ eyeballs see it you won’t know for sure if it’s worth building. Never in history has virality been this accessible. The right niche content creator can turn your idea on, unless you build a personal brand. Which compounds.
Insight to watch: Distribution first companies, see Slow Ventures.
Venture Capital: There is a VC out there whose mandate it is to invest in a company just like yours. So why won’t they even take a meeting with you? Many investors have deployed and are unable to raise a next fund, leaving them taking meetings with founders who are unaware of their true position.
Insight to watch: VC’s leaving traditional model for PE or for good.
Synthesis: “Social Capital > Venture Capital”
🗓️ Community: IRL [5.5-5.11]
Insight to watch: Lululemon launches Tennis Club. Big brands are betting on IRL.. and this is just the latest move to turn community into a core part of the product.
Chicago
| New York
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🖼️Art Piece of the Week:
 | Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair (1940)The Lore: A painter from Coyoacán, Mexico, after an accident left her bed ridden. This is where she learned to paint, her parents place a mirror above her bed for her to make self portraits. This Piece: After a painful breakup with Diego Rivera, Frida painted herself in a man's suit with chopped hair to reclaim power and reject traditional femininity. Where to see it: On display at the Art Institute of Chicago til July 13, 2025. |
"I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best. The subject I want to better."
Let’s meet IRL?
Gratefully,
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