In December, Y Combinators first-ever Fall batch got their own Demo Day. The Silicon Valley-based startup acceleratorwhich has produced big hits like Airbnb, Doordash, and Stripehad doubled the number of startup classes that could enter its program. The showing was mixed: 87% were AI companies, and few have yet to publicly disclose their seeds.
Undoubtedly the most prestigious hub of Silicon Valleys startup culture, YCs outside critics have grown in their ranks. They have many sore spots to point to: increased batches, diminished seed rounds, more duplicate companies, less specialized training, and the list goes on. But, from the inside, its rare to hear a YC founder complain about their experience. The deal ($125,000 for 7% of the company, plus a $375,000 SAFE note, extensive mentorship, and physical office space) remains highly sought after. YCs acceptance rate is still a mere 1%.
So, whats with the shift in energy? Its hard to tellbut the change has been immediate. From the entrepreneurs perspective, the core base of Y Combinator has diluted, says Arpita Agnihotri, an associate professor of management at the Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg. The excitement has definitely reduced.
Its just so many companies’
Like a university, YC has its own specialized application process, where it chooses which startups to accept into its class (or batch). These batches are remarkably successful; where the average startup failure rate is around 90%, YCs is an estimated 18%. 5.5% of YC startups become unicorns; the summed value of YCs graduates is over $600 billion.
In YCs early days, there were only two batches a year, and they remained small. In 2009, when Airbnb and Stripe went through, YCs two cohorts hosted a summed 42 companies. But then things got out of hand; the 2022 winter batch had 400 companies. New CEO Garry Tan took action to reduce batch sizes, though they remain relatively large. He also introduced two additional cohorts in the fall and spring, creating a more distributed schedule. But this reconfiguration comes with its own challenges: Two more classes of entrepreneurs for investors to consider, and two more Demo Days for them to attend.
Masha Bucher, CEO of Day One Ventures, has invested in 35 companies out of YC within the past six years. Eight of those companies have been acquired. She slowed her investments during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she saw the quality of YCs choice in firms go down. But shes been happy under Garry Taneven if she wishes hed cut down the number of participating firms.
I want batches to be smaller, because its a bit overwhelming, Bucher says. Its just so many companies and, as a result of it, you dedicate less time for every single opportunity.
At one recent Demo Day, Bucher noticed that many more founders were surrounded by angel investors than venture capitalists, a sign that valuations have gotten too high for VC firms and left founders reliant on smaller-dollar investors. To Bucher, greater exclusivity could be the solution. While smaller (or fewer) cohorts would saddle YC with more risk, it could also coax back these VCs, proving that the high valuations are worth it.
This change makes it easier for YC to support founders when theyre ready, instead of making them wait for the next application cycle, a YC spokesperson wrote in an email to Fast Company. The batch sizes are smaller nowabout half the size of the old cohorts. So even with more cohorts, the total number of startups we fund each year stays the same.
Not everybody is hopeful of being the star
AI startup Artisan sparked outrage in 2024 for its provocative San Francisco ads: Stop Hiring Humans. But, among the YC heads, Artisan is a golden child. Theyre one of the biggest raisers among the winter 2024 batch, having collected around $12 million in seed funding. The companys CEO, Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, was confident in his ability to court investors far before he joined YC, but credits the accelerator with bringing brand awareness.
Artisans $12 million seed ranks them among the declining number of YC firms who aim for bigger seeds. Among its cohort, AI-powered legal software Leya was the only other firm to publicly break $10 million. Some others made it around $5 million; more landed closer to $2 million or below. For many, it looks like the seed rounds of YC-stamped firms are in decline.
A lot of people end up raising $2-3 million and sometimes that’s enough, but sometimes it’s not, says Amy Cheetham, a partner at Costanoa Ventures who estimates that 1015% of the companies that come across her desk are from YC. What I always tell people is to make sure that they’re really thoughtful about not under capitalizing their business coming out of [YC].
For those rare big raisers, its common to bring big investors on board before even applying for YC. Artisan collected $2.3 million in pre-seed funding. Lumen Orbit, a space datacenter startup that now boasts a staggering $11 million seed, amassed $2.4 million beforehand. Its CEO Philip Johnston says he thinks of the seed as a small Series A, and claims that the big raise was necessary because of the companys hardware focus.
Taking on gobs of money out of YC may not be the best move for founders. At a minimum, it lessens the chances for future catastrophic down rounds. YC has also been a haven for little tech, the smaller, more technically oriented companies that are not looking to be the next Airbnb or Stripe. Saurabh Bhattacharya, a reader in digital marketing at Newcastle University Business School, notes the importance of these companies: Not everybody is hopeful of being the star startup.
YC encourages founders to raise only the capital they need, a YC spokesperson wrote. With advancements in AI, startups are increasingly able to achieve more significant milestones with less funding. This approach not only enables rapid progress but also minimizes founder dilution, allowing them to retain more control of their companies.
Multiple horses in the same race’
When Demo Day arrives, a founders success often hinges on their companys individuality. But as YC continues to accept similar startupssome of which directly overlapstanding out has become increasingly difficult.
Concerns about company duplication flared up in fall 2024 when an AI code-editing scandal shook the accelerator. New YC inductee Pear AI, which promised to create VSCode for The New Age of AI, came under fire for altering the open-source license of Continueanother YC-backed startup. Many saw it as a blatant case of copying. (Pear AI did not respond to an interview request.)
Even when direct imitation isnt an issue, many startups find themselves with ner-identical counterparts within the accelerator. Using the AlphaLens tool, Léopold Gasteen analyzed 4,938 YC startups and identified numerous look-alikes. [YC] conducts a whole bunch of concurrent experiments, Gasteen says. Whats clear to me is that they dont mind having multiple horses in the same race.
Are founders uncomfortable with having a duplicate within YC? Fast Company reached out to several of them; only two were willing to speak on the record. Cossi Achille Arouko, founder of Africa-based Bujeti, doesnt mind sharing space with Middle East-based Alaan, which also runs a corporate expense management platform. Hes spent so much time [with the Alaan team] that we are all friends, he says. Similarly, Flock Safety and Abel Police were flagged as look-alikes for their AI-driven crime footage uploads, but Abel CEO Daniel Francis dismisses concerns. Theyre not a competing product, he says; if anything, Flock Safety has only helped his business.
YC maintains that it prioritizes founders over ideas and sees competition as an unavoidable byproduct of innovation. But Artisan CEO Carmichael-Jack admits he only applied to YC because his company filled a niche within the accelerator.
If I was doing an HR platform, dealing with [YC companies] Gusto and Rippling, I probably wouldnt do YC, he says. Because, are you really going to become the category leader over them?
‘A whole bunch of B2B SaaS businesses’
YC only has one guiding principle for companies: Make something people want. But, on the inside, the types of companies that succeed within the accelerators walls may be more unified.
One of the criticisms of YC is that it’s turned into a whole bunch of B2B SaaS businesses sitting around selling their stuff to each other, says Ryan Wardell, the cofounder of StartupSauce, a digital community of SaaS entrepreneurs. How much help are you actually getting to move outside into the real world and sell to actual companies that are outside the YC ecosystem?
Fast Company asked every YC founder interviewed for this piece whether there was a certain type of company that succeeds within the accelerator. Most demurred, citing a low fail rate or positive personal experiences. Lumen Orbits Johnson acknowledged the stereotype that YC was built for young B2B SaaS founders, but insisted that YCs advantages move in waves and trends.
Artisans Carmichael-Jack, though, was unusually blunt. I wouldnt do Y Combinator if we were a consumer company, he says. The value that we got from YC was specifically from being a B2B company.
‘How much value does the actual accelerator program provide?
When YC was founded in 2005, Silicon Valley was a smaller, more insular community. For tech founders, the accelerators mentorship provided a crucial entry pointoffering access to the right investors and influential networks. Twenty years later, the landscape has changed. Capital is more accessible, and any startup generating revenue can find a seat at the table. This shift raises a pressing question: Is YCs training still worth it?
How much value does the actual accelerator program provide? Wardell asks. If Y Combinator just picked out the top 1.5% of startups and said, We think these ones are good, you should invest in them, and then they got out of the way, I think their success or failure rate would probably be identical to what it is now.
While YC continues to thrive, the accelerator space has encountered some turbulence. Newchip, once an Austin-based competitor to YC, filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Meanwhile, Techstars closed its Boulder, Seattle, and Austin operations. Those hiccups have led some to speculate that accelerators might eventually drop or reduce their mentorship programs. YCs value, they argue, might lie primarily in its stamp of approval; guidance would take a secondary role. Agnihotri, the Penn State professor, sees the diminished training as a trade-off with the high number of companies. What startups gain from a wider network, they lose in mentorship. When you have large batch sizes, then you cannot have customized solutions to the problems that startups are facing, she says.
Y Combinator, for its part, insists its 21 full-time and visiting partners can adequately mentor the founders they take on. Founders are getting just as much, if not more, support than ever, a YC representative wrote.
When youre booking travel, scoring a ticket to a sporting event, or securing yourself a spot at some other sort of show, youre frequently faced with the impossible-seeming task of committing to a specific seaton the spot.
It may seem simple. But, wellwhich is the best seat on the plane? Which areas of the arena will give you an unobscured view of the action? Is that concert seat going to be behind a speaker? And are the more expensive options really worth their cost?
Today, Im sharing some excellent tools I rely on to pick the best seat at any kind of event or activity. In addition to helping me feel confident about the quality of my selection, they often help me save some cashsince I can book some of the least expensive seats with the knowledge that they’ll offer a good view and/or experience.
Hang onto these now, and the next time youre faced with that daunting moment of needing to select a seat without first seeing it, youll have all the inside intel you need.
Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures!
Your new seat selecting superpowers
Ive got two especially useful tools for you in this areaboth designed to help you find the right seat for different types of occasions.
For selecting the best possible seat on an airplane, fire up SeatMaps. And, for choosing a seat at an event venuea sporting event, concert, or anything elsehead to A View From My Seat.
Both couldn’t be much easier to use.
First, on the air travel front, just open up the SeatMaps website in whatever browser you’re using on any device. Plug in the information about your flight and select your flight number.
SeatMaps will then show you a color-coded grid with all the seats on that specific type of plane, and you can dig in deeper to any given option for all sorts of helpful infofor instance:
What is the exact size and width of each seat?
Which seats have more legroom?
Which seats cant recline?
Which seats are missing a window view?
With that insight in hand, you can then figure out the right seat for you and decide if any extra fees are actually worthwhile.
You’ll see seats like never before with SeatsMaps’ crowdsourced insights.
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Next, when youre planning on attending an event, pull up the A View From My Seat websiteor, if you’d rather, grab the app for Android or iOS.
Then, just use the service’s search feature to look up any performer, venue name, sports team, or even city to find the place you need.
Select “Seating Chart” and click or tap any green area to see an actual photo taken from a nearby seat in that exact location. Average people going to shows submit these, complete with a short review of each option. Youll get an idea of the view and learn about any problems or obstructions you might encounter.
Once you get used to selecting seats this way, you’ll never go back.
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All that’s left is to make your choiceand now, you can do so with full confidence that you’re making a fully informed decision.
SeatMaps is available only on the web. A View From My Seat will work on the web as well as via its native apps for Android and iOS.
Both services are 100% free.
You dont need any accounts, and neither service asks for any manner of personal info.
Ready to unearth more off-the-beaten-path tech treasures? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an audio app thatll tune up your days in some delightful waysand another little-known tech gem in your inbox every Wednesday!
In sports, time-outs are a strategic weapon. Super Bowl teams dont just go full speed from kickoff until the clock runs out; they pause at the right moments to regroup, recalibrate, and regain momentum. In business, the same principle applies. High-performing teams know when to stop, reassess, and make adjustments before forging ahead.
Yet, in our relentless, always-on work culture, calling a time-out can feel counterintuitive. Speed is glorified. We celebrate hustle. For many, Mark Zuckerbergs motto, Move fast and break things, has been the dominant approach to innovating in the digital age. And now, with AI supercharging efficiency, the obsession with speed has only intensified.
But the most effective teams dont just move fast. They move with purpose. And that requires knowing when to slow down.
Slowing Down to Speed Up
I often tell my teams, We need to slow down to speed up. It sounds paradoxical, but strategic pauses prevent wasted effort, misalignment, and burnout.
A time-out recalibrates and ensures youre moving in the right direction. Velocity, after all, is not just speed; its speed with direction. Without thoughtful direction, we risk climbing the ladder of success only to realize its leaning against the wrong wall.
This is the difference between playing a finite gamefocused on short-term winsand an infinite game, where the goal is enduring growth, adaptability, and purpose. Many organizations default to the former, focusing on immediate metrics, quarterly targets, and rapid iterations. The best leaders, however, recognize that time-outs are an investment in lasting success.
When to Call a Time-Out
So how do you know when to pause? Here are a few critical moments:
Before a Major Launch or Initiative:When we launched Glean out of stealth, we took a 10-day time-out first. We had set an aggressive timelineless than 60 days to name and position the company, build a website, and create all external marketing materials. To ensure alignment, we held large team meetings, reinforcing our founders commitment to transparency and buy-in. This extra time, even though it pushed our launch back, allowed us to refine our narrative, resolve key debates, and iterate daily. It also gave us the runway to secure an exclusive interview, integrate customer quotes, and orchestrate a rolling thunder campaign to sustain postlaunch momentum. Far from slowing us down, this approach set the stage for Glean to become a $4.6B+ company.
When You Need to Regain Control of the Game:Great sports teams use time-outs to stop an opponents momentum and reset their game plan. In business, if execution starts feeling reactive instead of proactive, its time to pause. Often this means shipping another random feature, versus solving real problems. Look internally at your companys why and reset around your original motivation for solving a big problem, and how you uniquely solve it.
When Leaders Need to Update Their Assumptions:When major industry shifts happenlike disruptive technological advances or regulatory changesleaders need to take stock. A perfect example is the emergence of DeepSeek, an open-source large language model. The rapid advancement of highly capable, low-cost, and open-source AI models is forcing companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft to rethink their AI strategy. For their leaders, now is the time to call a strategic time-out to ask, are we still prioritizing the right AI strategies, or do we need to pivot to a more flexible, modular approach? Ignoring change and plowing ahead can be a recipe for disaster.
To Prevent Burnout and Sustain High Performance:Elite athletes dont train at full intensity 24/7. They build in recovery time. Yet, in business, we expect people to sprint indefinitely. I learned this lesson the hard way as Evernotes CEO. I didnt take a meaningful break for two years, and it led to burnout and costly hiring mistakes. A well-timed pause can prevent these long-term setbacks.
Making Strategic Pauses Part of Your Culture
Many teams resist time-outs because they confuse activity with progress. Leaders need to reframe pauses as a competitive advantage, not a loss of momentum. Heres how:
Embed retrospectives into your cadence:Great coaches make halftime adjustments; great businesses do the same. Frequently review whats working and whats not, and adjust accordingly. Regular offsites, strategy refreshes, and retrospectives ensure course corrections happen before the business veers off track. This avoids an emergency reset later.
Set three strategic priorities at a time:At GrowthLoop, rather than sweating over every KPI we can measure, we focus on a few vital things around our product, processes, and people that must be true for our customers and team to win. This ensures our team stays focused on what truly moves the needle.
Emphasize deep work:Elite athletes dont just train haphazardly; they work with intention. They break down their training into focused componentshoning agility, refining technique, and studying game film to anticipate their next move. The best business leaders do the same. Instead of glorifying constant busyness, they prioritize deep workuninterrupted, high-focus sessions where real breakthroughs happen. Its not about doing more; its about doing what matters most with absolute focus. This more productive work prevents wasted energy and allows time for proper recovery.
The Best Teams Know When to Stop
John Wooden, one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, once said: Be quick, but dont hurry. Its a lesson I remind myself of constantly. Speed alone wont win the gamevelocity will.
Making strategic pauses a part of your culture and recognizing when to stop and refocus will keep everyone moving in the right direction, together.
So, the next time your team is running hard but you sense a lack of alignment, dont be afraid to call a time-out. It might be the most important play you make.
When startups speak of going green, that might now be in reference to the colors association with the Army.
At least that appears to be the thinking of many in the cleantech and sustainability sector, since the early actions of the Trump administration has made many anxious about the loss of climate-related government funding and incentives. Especially when the administrations position against what the president calls the Green New Scam has led him to freeze congressionally allocated funding for green energy projects via the Inflation Reduction Act, its vital to find other means of support. Now the sector is finding more and more ways to tie itself to national security, not climate issues.
Clean energy is good for a lot of different reasons, said Daniel Bresette, president of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), a nonprofit education and policy organization. All of the stuff we might be saying about the national security benefits of clean energy today, they were absolutely also true yesterday. Even if the messaging shifts again, it will still absolutely be true.
Take the Solar Energy Industries Association, a renewables trade association. Just a few days ago on LinkedIn, the group posted the message The new era of U.S. energy dominance is being built on American soil, echoing, deliberately or not, President Trumps language around unleashing U.S. energy.
That change in messaging isnt necessarily just marketing. From job creation to reducing energy dependence to making the military more resilient, cleantech makes a credible case for being crucial to national defense.
I’d like to push back on the notion that this is about ‘rebranding,’ said Rushad Nanavatty, managing director of Third Derivative, the cleantech incubator for RMI, the clean energy think tank. The dual-use nature of climate technologies is substantive, and I’m certain many of these startups were eyeing defense well before the election. The military has extremely high-performance standardsits energy solutions need to be highly robust and resilient, have secure supply chains, minimize dependence on fuel, be less liable to blow up and catch on fire, deliver large amounts of energy very reliably.”
According to Nanavatty, a number of advanced technologiesmicrogrid controls, advanced batteries, and other forms of energy storageas well as a range of advanced materialsoften find their first applications in a military or aerospace context. That first investment then helps these applications become more advanced, cheaper, and then widely available.
As Edwin Oshiba, a top logistics and energy policy leader for the US Air Force, told GovCIO in 2023, its crucial the military understand how climate change alters the nations ability to project power overseas, how it impacts our ability to operate in a distributed environment. And the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) acknowledged last year that the climate crisis fundamentally alters the conditions that shape military operations at home and around the world, and requires adaptation strategies. The military is known for its logistics expertise, which values efficiency, whether thats measured in time to move goods or energy usage.
Several portfolio companies supported by Third Derivative already work with the Department of Defense, including Lex Products (energy storage systems), Sesame Solar (mobile nanogrids), Joule Case (mobile power solutions), and Electricfish (flexible EV charging). Swedish startup BLIXT, which develops solid state circuit breakers, was recently selected to participate in NATOs Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA).
In addition, bolstering renewable tech and the use of renewable and storage tech helps with community and grid resilience. Americas armed forces also have a substantial footprint, both internationally and abroad. There are nearly 500 military bases across the United States, which can become testing grounds for clear energy technology. Naval ports have explored resilience strategies in an era of rising sea levels and climate change-fueled weather patterns. In Texas, a handful of bases are piloting geothermal power systems, which would help make them more resilient.
When someone says clean energy investments promote national security, it helps that its true, said Bresette.
In 2017, the most consumed household food was coffee. In 2024, it was meat. That doesnt just mean many Americans are eating more animal protein than ever. It means there are downstream effects in other productsincluding how our dish soap is formulated.
Today, Dawn is introducing a new product called Dawn Powersuds. It has twice the suds of the old Dawn, with bubbles that promise to stay white longer and dishes that rinse more easily. The more interesting point is that the formulation is the direct response to cultural practices around diet that have become obsessed with protein. Back in 2017 when Dawn created most of its cleaning formulas used today, our top consumed foods were coffee, eggs, butter, oil, and milk, according to Procter & Gamble, which makes Dawn dish soap. Now, they are meat, coffee, eggs, oil, and cheese.
Neither meat nor cheese was on the list less than a decade ago, but the company says that thanks to diets like keto, consumers are cooking vastly differently at home. It drove P&G to spend the last two years creating Powersuds as a response to consumer needs.
Proteins and fats we see are really on the rise, says Angelica Matthews, P&Gs VP of North American Dish Car, whose company interviewed 10,000 people last year about their dishwashing habits. Things like a one-pan casserole dish like a chicken cheesy bake is something we see being really popular.
Dawn PowerSuds is P&Gs new detergent is more bubbly and grease-cutting than any of its products to date, as a way to mitigate the messes of a protein-rich, fat-laden diet. The biodegradable formulation advertises two times more suds than Dawn Platinum, and its grease-trapping formula is protected by five separate patents, promising that if you stick a pan of bacon drippings into a full stack of other dishes, the oil will be encapsulated instead of coating your plates. The formula also balances this task for those of us who don’t fill a whole sink of water, and avoids being so concentrated that you can’t simply squirt it onto a single dish as many people do.
[Photo: Dawn]
America’s shift toward meatier, more complex diets
The truth of contemporary diets is a bit more complicated than protein. According to P&G, were not just cooking more meat and cheese; were actually cooking more involved dishes across the board with more complex soils than just a few years ago. The company credits a shift in the food media as whetting our appetites and ambitiousness for actual cooking rather than food entertainment.
Think of being at home in the 2010s and watching Gordon Ramsay yell at people in a kitchen . . . you were maybe making a little less complex dishes yourself, says Morgan Eberhard, principal scientist at P&G. Now we’re seeing just more accessibility, more availability of different cooking recipes through social mediathrough Instagram, TikTok, and things like that.
Anyone who has cooked an ambitious meal with lots of ingredients and pans knows that its the dishes that can be the most daunting part of the project. Dawn calls this phenomenon the mental load, and points to dishwashing as the second most hated chore after cleaning the toilet. The company argues that dishes that clean more easily will reduce this mental load, thereby encouraging us to cook more at home.
If I can get a consumer with Dawn Powersuds to go from spending 30 minutes a day cleaning the dishes to 25 minutes a day cleaning the dishes, five minutes doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it really is, says Matthews.
Aside from dishes, P&G notes that Dawn is formulated to stretch outside the sink to serve as something of an all purpose cleaner. They see customers grab it for all sorts of other tasks, like wiping down cabinets, washing plastic lawn chairs, and degreasing tire rims. Cutting through soil and oil with a product always on your counter, and tested to not turn your hands into a mummys, has a most certain appeal.
The Powersuds experience
As I fill my sink with water and soap, I have to say, the new Powersuds are really something. Theyre so white they almost have an almost blue tint, like freshly bleached teeth. Thirty full minutes later, I return to the sink, and the bubbles are still sitting there, confidently smelling like apple Bath & Bodyworks (a bit too strong for my taste, tbh, but clean-feeling all the same).
Dawns obsession with the sud has driven much of the reformulation, even though its actual relationship to cleaning power is more demonstrative than functional.
The suds are more of a cue of what’s happening, says Eberhard. So you can think of the suds as the tip of the iceberg, and all of the the ingredients that are doing the cleaning that are breaking down the grease and tough food under the water.
As Eberhard explains, when suds dissipate on their own, you can actually agitate the water to bring them back. But when they dissipate while doing your dishes, its indicative that the surfactants (which break up oil) and other cleaning agents under the water are binding to food and losing cleaning power. In this sense, the longer lasting suds are an advertisement and cue of longer lasting cleaning power. Theyre a bubbly data visualization.
Overall, how much better the new Dawn cleans than older Dawn is hard for me to quantify. Egg stuck in a frying pan is still a pain in the butt to clean, no two ways about it. I saw a bigger jump from Dawn to Dawn Powerwash, the companys superb spray-on degreaser, than I did from Powerwash to Powersuds. But I rarely fill a whole sink to do dishesand my cheesy chicken casseroles are pretty rare.
P&G contends its beta testers are saying they can wash all their dishes in a single sink of water, without draining and restarting. I trust thats true. But there is a depressing twist to this innovation: meat now necessitates a frothy new solution to its own growing problem.
Peter Berg doesnt need to do Super Bowl commercials. Yet the award-winning director helmed two ads during this year’s big game. First, was a fun NFL spot advocating for varsity girls flag football. And second, was water bottle brand Cirkuls first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, starring Adam Devine.
The commercial diversion comes not long after the release of Bergs hit Netflix limited series American Primeval, which dropped on January 9, and quickly hit the top of the streamers ratings. In its first week, it had 1.25 billion viewing minutes.
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Berg has built an incredible Hollywood career, producing, writing, and directing hit films and TV series, from Friday Night Lights to Battleship, Lone Survivor, The Kingdom, Patriots Day, and more. Before he was a director, Berg was an actor, best known for his role on the drama Chicago Hope. Then in 1998, Berg directed his first feature, Very Bad Things. Over the years, in between projects Berg has also regularly directed high-profile spots for brands.
In 2011, it was an epic Call of Duty ad starring Jonah Hill called The Vet & The N00b. In 2019, both his Super Bowl efforts finished in the Top 5 of USA Todays Ad Meter: The NFLs 100-Year Game was the most popular spot of the night, and Verizons The Coach Who Wouldnt Be Here clocked in at No. 5. That same year, Berg launched Film 47, a companion commercial production company to his Film 44 production company, and his unscripted production company.
Glenn Cole, founder and chairman of ad agency 72andsunny, has worked with Berg on many of those commercials. Cole says Berg has a great sense of what broad audiences find most appealing, and focuses on the moments that will resonate the most.
One of the things I admire about him the most is how he maintains the respect of his peers across Hollywood, says Cole. He is seen as a rare authentic person in a business of bullshitters, and operates with an uncommon generosity of spirit. He is brutally honest about the work, but he is kind with the people around him which, in my experience, usually leads to creating the best work.
[Photo: Courtesy of 72andsunny]
In the wake of American Primevals success, and the buzz of two more Super Bowl ads under his belt, I jumped on a Zoom with Berg to chat about his creative process, why he still does advertising, and how his newest project embodies how these worlds can seamlessly collide.
Why Advertising
After you remove the paycheck from the equation, it can be hard to understand why big name film directors still do advertising. But talk to enough of them, and its clear they find something else interesting about the process. Some do it in order to get in quick reps to experiment with techniques, lenses, and other hardware, all under a tight production timeline. Ads can take days, while film and TV can drag on for months.
Cole says Berg works incredibly fast, translating his handheld filming style (which he dug into on his recent appearance on the SmartLess podcast) to commercial work. The style allows actors to focus on what they are doing, not where they are doing it. They don’t need to hit marks, they just need to perform.
For Flag 50, it allowed to us to do a three-day shoot in two days, says Cole. In a world where budgets are getting smaller and smaller, this is becoming more and more valuable. It’s like being in creative development while filming the shots. That can be scary, but I find it invigorating. The result is unexpected moments and performances that you can’t get from fastidious planning.”
NFL chief marketing officer Tim Ellis says that the key to the types of stories Berg tells is emotion. “Every choice he makes in the creative process is about heightening the emotional journey viewers are taken along,” says Ellis. “Elevated emotion is the thing that makes any piece of work, whether its a film or an ad, stick with a person, and its why we keep turning to him for some of our biggest projects of the year.”
Berg says that hes always loved doing commercials, and theyve helped build his problem-solving skills that translates to film and TV. But experience across different media doesnt always translate for all directors. Berg says that hes talked to a lot of top directors over the years, and one of the most common complaints about ads is the need for collaboration.
They’d say, When I’m doing a film, it’s just kind of me. I can pretty much do whatever I want. And occasionally, you know, the boss of the studio might call and say, what the hell are you doing? But generally, you’re free to do what you want, says Berg. What I say is that if you want to do commercials, you have to understand that it’s different. You have to collaborate; you have to listen to a bunch of creatives from the agency, you have to listen to even more people. If the client wants to come onto the set and have an idea, you have to accept that. If you resist that, you will lose. It’s not possible to win that fight. You will just end up very unhappy.
One of the surprising benefits is you learn to listen to other people better because you have to. And I found that at once I learned how to kind of get over, you know, ‘Hey man, don’t tell me what to do!’ That sometimes they were suggesting actually good ideas. And it opened me up and I think made me a better collaborator in general.
[Photo: Courtesy of 72andsunny]
Berg’s Creative process
So, how does a guy like Berg jump from a violent, American frontier period drama, to an uplifting NFL Super Bowl ad, to now starting a film adaptation of Buzz Bissingers 2022 bestseller
At risk of stating the obvious, farming is physically challenging work that takes a toll on the human body. Over the years, we have turned to various forms of technology to amplify the efforts of a single person, starting with a single plow behind a mule or ox, progressing to a motorized tractor, 700+ horsepower combine harvesters, and now robotic weeders and autonomous flying drones that handle a range of tasks. But what about the human body? Is it destined simply to be replaced by machines?
The fact is that people remain a weak link in modern farming. According to some sources, agriculture is considered the most hazardous occupation globally. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) accounting for 93% of occupational injuries. And of these, lower-back pain is the most frequent, with shoulder injuries coming in second.
Exoskeletons for the Assist
Exoskeletons are devices that are worn on the body to augment the natural capabilities of a human worker. Once confined to the world of science fictionwho can forget Ripleys exoskeleton-enhanced final battle in the movie Aliensthese have now become practical for use in many industries. There are two major categories of exos (as they are known in the industry): powered and passive.
Powered exos use motors to provide additional force for certain actions, such as lifting objects or wielding heavy tools overhead. These tend to be complexand expensivebits of machinery that require recharging and regular maintenance. While these may be suited for specific manufacturing tasks, they are typically beyond what farmers typically need or can afford for the foreseeable future.
Passive exos are the other class of devices. These take the energy created from one motionsuch as bending overand then release that energy to the wearer for the opposite motion, such as lifting an item from the ground to waist level.
These passive devices do not require the expensive motors, wiring, batteries, and sensors found in powered exos. Instead, they use a variety of materials to store and release energy: springs, torsion bars, gas pistons, elastic bands, and flexible beams. Some designs rely on a rigid frame while others are made from fabric and other flexible materials. According to some sources, current passive exos can cost from $2,500 to more than $14,000, depending on design and which parts of the body are supported.
Designs vary based on the type of targeted task. For example, lifting boxes of produce could require one sort of assistance, while reaching overhead to harvest fruit could require something different. But can they actually help farmers and farmworkers?
The Benefits
Many studies have shown clear benefits from wearing exos in other industries such as warehouse work and manufacturing. According to Karl Zelik, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University, one longitudinal study of warehouse workers tracked more than 281,000 hours of work while wearing exos. Historical data would predict 10.5 back strain injuries over that period, but the study revealed that there were none.
Not as much research has been done in farm settings, but the existing studies point to clear benefits. For example, one test of an upper limb exo in orchard management tasks reduced muscle activity by up to 40%. Reduced muscle activity results in less fatigue and strain, which in turn lowers the risk of injury.
Another study gave a back support exo to farmers for their daily operations and several of the subjects cited increased productivity by reducing fatigue. Many of the subjects also reported feeling more protected when shoveling. In some cases, the exo helped them maintain proper posture when lifting, which can reduce the risk of lower back injuries.
Sarah Ballini-Ross is co-owner of Rossallini Farm in Oregon; she and her husband sometimes use exoskeletons in the work on their diversified operation. She is also an expert in exo technology and founder of Evolving Innovation, a consulting firm that provides safety technology and ergonomic solutions services. Ballini-Ross said that fatigue reduction is an important factor in their use of exos. A lot of the farmwork really involves that repetitive lifting from ground to waist level, so my exo is the first thing I grab when it comes to doing hay. Other tasks where she wears it is on inventory days when we unload a couple of tons of 50- to 70-pound boxes.
Not a Cure-All
In spite of the benefits, exos are not the solution for every case. Not all passive exos are the same, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Some exos can restrict movement to enforce proper lifting posture, which can reduce injury. However, other designs might not have this feature, which means that the worker could place themselves in an awkward or dangerous position that could lead to injury.
For example, the same feature that enforces proper posture when lifting might restrict movement that requires rotating the body, such as when shoveling. A warehouse worker is likely to do a similar task over and over all day, but a farmworker often has to rapidly switch from one task to another.
Even passive exos can be bulky and awkward to maneuver in during daily activities. Farmers in one study cited the fact that they can make it difficult to get in and out of the cab of tractors and other farm machinery. And having to take the exo on and off throughout the day can take up significant time.
Most passive exos have at least some fabric, but this fabric can get soiledespecially from sweat on hot days or during strenuous activitieswhich can make them unpleasant to wear. Most also include Velcro-style hook-and-loop fasteners. These fasteners make it easy to adjust the fit of the device for workers of different sizes, and to accommodate the presence of layers of clothing. But those hooks and loops can also grab foreign materials, impairing their functionality and appearance.
Ballini-Ross noted, I use my exo when trimming the hooves of our sheep, and hair and straw gets stuck in the fabric. So when I take my exo to a presentation or a conference, I have to think twice because maybe Im bringing a little too much of the farm with me.
Obstacles to Adoption
Education may be the biggest barrier to more widespread adoption of exos in agriculture; many farmers simply arent aware of the products and their potential benefits.
Close behind comes the question of expense. Even passive exos can be costly, and nlike heavy farm equipment, the manufacturers are not set up to provide payment plans or other terms to ease the financial strain.
But the problems go beyond those two obvious factors. For example, many farms rely on a transient workforce. A small farm does not have the resources to stock a full range of exos to meet the needs of different body sizes. Furthermore, different tasks could require different exo designs. Harvesting or weeding some low-growing crops require bending and stooping, which needs a different type of support than lifting boxes of produce or shoveling.
In addition, a farmworkers needs vary with the season. Providing exos for these workers for just a week or two may not be feasible.
Another part of the problem is that the exo industry has not yet focused on the needs of agricultural workers. The low-hanging fruit is in other industries, such as warehouse logistics, construction, and manufacturing. These applications have narrowly defined tasks with lots of repetition, and often involve large corporations with the capital to invest in new technology.
To really be embraced in agriculture, exo manufacturers would need to create exos that are modified for farm work. For example, one study found that a typical exo requires adjustable straps that go around the thighs. This design blocks access to pants pockets where farmworkers keep tools such as pruning clippers where they can reach them easily. But with little demand for agricultural exos, companies have little financial incentive to design around these problems.
While exoskeletons have proven their value in terms of reducing workloads and related injuries for some farming tasks, significant obstacles remain. But as farmers become more aware of the benefits, as the costs continue to come down, and as manufacturers respond more to the specific needs of agricultural tasks, we can likely expect to see more exos down on the farm.
Alfred Poor, Ambrook Research
This article was originally published by Ambrook Research, an editorially independent publication backed by Ambrook, a company making sustainability profitable in natural resource industries, starting by providing accounting and financial management software for farmers.
If it werent for the white lines on the grass, you would be forgiven to think this building is a perfectly quiet hotel surrounded by a field of grass in the middle of the Norwegian forest. After all, most soccer training grounds are ugly structures whose sole purpose is to provide infrastructure for people to kick a ball around. But this isn’t just a place to kick a ball. These facilities, designed by the internationally renowned architecture firm Snhetta, aim to redefine the very concept of a training ground, transforming it into a vibrant hub for the entire football community.
Our approach to sustainability is deeply rooted in a holistic perspective that considers environmental impact and fosters community and inclusion, says Frank Denis Foray, Snhetta senior architect and project leader, about the philosophy behind the proposal for the Norwegian National Football team’s (NFF) stunning new training grounds.
[Photo: Courtesy of Snhetta]
Snhetta, known for its ability to seamlessly blend architecture with nature, has conceived of two proposals for the NFF, located in the Norwegian cities of Asker and Ski, just outside of Oslo. Both designs pay homage to Norway’s rich Nordic heritage, drawing inspiration from traditional architectural forms like the Long House, a communal dwelling central to Old Norse villages.
Over a thousand years ago, the Long House was the heart of the communitya gathering place where people from all walks of life, from kings to farmers, young and old, came together to share stories, experiences, and traditions, Foray tells me over email. This enduring spirit of unity and togetherness is at the core of our design, ensuring that the new facility is not just a sports venue but a meeting place for the whole football community.
[Photo: Courtesy of Snhetta]
The Asker grounds renderings reveal three large terraced fields set over a gentle slope. At the top, a two-level glass and wooden structure appears to grow organically from the land. On the last levels grass roof, a large circular opening gives light to a giant tree that dominates a courtyard, allowing gentle sunlight and shade to get into the inner space of the building. The terraced fields are joined by large steps that serve as bleachers for spectators and allow people to move up and down with ease. The Ski grounds renders show the soccer fields on a level ground, flanked by a large long building that gently curves, made in renewable wood. Solar panels adorn the roofs, feeding the facility.
Snhetta says that beyond the pretty and soul-calming zen, the grounds have been designed to be functional, state-of-the-art spaces for athletes of all levels. Foray explains that the facility will be a public space catering to athletes of all levels and backgrounds, from juniors to the elite, creating a new home for NFF that encourages sharing, inclusivity, and connection. Beyond these training centers, the facilities also incorporate administrative offices, a sports high school, and external offices for the Norwegian Football Association, consolidating the NFF’s operations into a single, cohesive campus.
[Photo: Courtesy of Snhetta]
The collaboration between Snhetta and the NFF is not new. The firm previously worked with the federation on renovations to the interior of Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo, the national stadium. Completed in 2022, this project included upgrades to the player’s dressing rooms, tunnel, and other key areas. As Snhetta describes it, the stadiums revamped facilities were designed as a journey through the emotions of a football player, incorporating elements of Norwegian football history and fostering a sense of team unity.
This prior experience laid the groundwork for the current training ground project. Our collaboration with the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) stemmed from previous work we had done for them, Foray says. They approached us with three potential sites for a new facility. Our task was to analyze and refine the options to identify the most suitable location. Through a detailed evaluation process and creative workshops, Snhetta worked with the NFF to narrow the choices down to the two most promising locations: Asker and Ski.
[Photo: Courtesy of Snhetta]
While the Asker proposal remains in the conceptual stage, the Ski facility is moving forward. The Ski facility is progressing steadily, with the first phase of the new regulatory plan already in motion, Foray tells me. While some details are still being finalized, the NFF anticipates the project will be completed within the next five years. These training grounds promise to be more than just a place where athletes hone their skills. They are envisioned as a symbol of unity, a celebration of Norwegian heritage, and a testament to the power of thoughtful, sustainable design. It doesnt hurt that they may just be the most beautiful football training grounds you’ll ever see.
If youre having a farewell party for a beloved colleague, dont cry too hard into your cake. Theres a decent chance theyll be back. According to a Harvard Business Review study, 28% of new hires were boomerang hires, the term for someone whod resigned within the last three years only to return.
Mindi Cox, chief people officer for O.C. Tanner, provider of employee recognition and reward solutions, falls into the boomerang employee category herself. As a hiring manager, shes also done her fair share of hiring former employees, too.
People often leave a job because there’s an opportunity that’s too good to turn down, or they have a life season, like I had, and need to step away from work, she says. The same employees might become homesick for a culture that they’ve left and have discovered that maybe the grass wasn’t as green as they thought. Or that the priority of the pay, or the title, or the opportunity they were chasing didn’t outweigh their coworker relationships or the care that they felt in a previous workplace. There’s all kinds of reasons people move around and return, but I think [boomerang employees] are an overlooked workforce.
What boomerangs bring back
Having an employee boomerang is a good sign for the company, says Angela Jackson, author of The Win-Win Workplace: How Thriving Employees Drive Bottom-Line Success. Sometimes, the right people step off for a while to grow, gain new skills, and return even stronger, bringing fresh perspectives, external best practices, and a renewed commitment to the companys mission, she says. Their return signals to current employees that the company is a place worth coming back to, reinforcing a culture of mutual respect and growth.
Returning can bring benefits to the company, the first of which is much simpler onboarding, says Carolyn Walker, global HR director at Tenth Revolution Group, a tech talent provider.
Someone familiar with the business is far more likely to hit the ground running and know the nuances and quirks that can otherwise take time to get up to speed with, she says. Plus, in those vital first few months where a new recruit is forming an opinion, good or bad, about you, a boomerang employee is far less likely to form a negative impression.
Boomerang employees also return with fresh perspectives, says Nathaalie Carey, chief human resources officer at the logistics real estate company Prologis. Having gained new skills and experiences elsewhere can strengthen your teams, she says.
And boomerangs send an encouraging message to employees. We have a client that welcomes boomerangs back with a special pin that goes on their badge, says Cox. It can break the ice for someone who may not know their career story. They might say, I see that you left and came back. Tell me about that. Sometimes boomerangs are your best evangelists about all the reasons to stay.
Leaving and returning also means they solved the “what ifs about leaving, adds Cox. We never want to say, Don’t talk about your experience, she says. Theyre back, which means your company is the better spot for them.
Leaving the Door Open
Since boomerangs can bring value back to your organization, its important to stay in touch. Depending on how closely you may have worked with them, Carey recommends touchpoints by personal email or text or through professional networking, such as trade organizations or digital tools like LinkedIn.
Many times, employees who leave tend to stay in the same industry, meaning there are plenty of opportunities to stay connected and provide value to one another, whether its for knowledge sharing, forging partnerships, or working together, she says.
Companies can also maintain formal alumni networks, such as creating a LinkedIn group. Jackson says a great example is the consulting firm McKinsey, with thousands of members worldwide. They actively stay connected with former employees through the McKinsey Alumni Center, which offers networking events, job boards, thought leadership content, and even investment opportunities in alumni-led startups, she says.
Exit interviews are an important tool for nurturing a boomerang employee. Cox asks her recruiters to be mindful of people they were sad to see go. If there is an open position, they reach out, saying We have this position and immediately thought of you. It may be something you wish was in your growth path but just wasn’t open at the time. Before we hire for this, we want to put it on your radar.
Always be supportive of an employee who leaves to further their career, says Cox. Too often employees will say, I thought you’d be upset with me, she says. People want to know that they’re cheered on as people. […] We want them to know that we’re interested in them as individuals.
Beware of the Drawbacks
Rehiring isnt always a win-win, says Jackson. Just because someone was a great fit in the past doesnt mean theyre the right fit for the future, she says. Nostalgia can cloud judgment. Companies should focus on whether a returning employee adds new value, not just whether they were once successful in the role.
Theres also a risk of perceived unfairness. If a boomerang hire comes back at a higher salary or with special treatment, it can send the message that loyalty is undervalued, says Jackson.
The best boomerang employee hiring strategies focus on mutualistic relationships where the benefits for both sides are clear, says Jackson. Companies should be clear about how their culture, expectations, and priorities have changed. And returning employees should bring fresh insights, not just familiarity. A great rehire isnt just picking up where they left off; theyre leveling up.
The main thing for employers to do is to have a culture that people will get homesick for, says Cox. Invite them to decide,this is the best place for me, she says. If they don’t stay, at least be somewhere that they’ll miss that will bring them back.
Kai Cenat is launching a streaming university.
Cenat announced his plans during a February 13 stream, explaining how he wants to help streamers both big and small learn from his success. Im going to rent out a university over a course of a weekend. It will be streaming university. Okay? Im going to rent it out, Cenat said during his Twitch stream. Im going to put out enrolls and applications of people to enroll into the university, no matter if youre big, no matter if youre a small streamer, you can stream the entire weekend.
Cenat will install himself as school principal. Just like a real university, there will be dorms; unlike a real university, there are plans for major influencers to act as instructors. Cenat said during his February 13 stream that wants the likes of MrBeast and Mark Rober involved. In terms of the classes and sh*t, for example, I would love to do some sh*t where, science, Mark Rober is the professor for that day, and hes doing crazy experiments for everybodys stream, he said. Say there is a financial class, MrBeast in that motherf**ker.
While anyone is welcome to apply, that doesnt mean admission is guaranteed. But those denied the first time round are welcome to re-enroll for next semester, Cenat said.
While some online commenters were excited for the chance to learn from one of the most-followed Twitch streamers, others were dubious. Two-day crash course on how to break the internet and your sleep schedule.. . . . one person posted on X. So just a more expensive clown college? wrote another.
Over the last few years, Cenat has become renowned for his record-breaking streams on Twitch and YouTube that reach millions of viewers. Cenat The 23-year-old ranked No. 24 on Forbess list of the top-earning creators in 2024, with estimated earnings of $8.5 million.
The live-streaming space has been seeing significant growth in recent years, both in the format itself and the number of people tuning in. In the last quarter of 2024, live-streaming viewership reached 8.5 billion hours watched, a 12% year-over-year increase, as reported by marketing firm Stream Hatchet.
Who needs four years of college and tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt?
