This is Nick. This is Jack. And this is the…worst one yet. All good, because it’s the National Day of Failure (an actual holiday in Finland). We can’t make progress without some setbacks, so today we're celebrating the failures. If you accidentally called your boss “Mom” or you debited when you should have credited…remember: Mistakes are a key ingredient to success.

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1) What Made LinkedIn Cool Again? Golden Guts

20 years into business, LinkedIn is having a moment. How does it keep us coming back for more than just “some personal news”? By hiring editors with a “golden gut,” according to its editor-in-chief.

What makes LinkedIn’s résumé stand out: While X (formerly Twitter) isn’t moderating news and Meta is quitting the news, LinkedIn is the only platform leaning into it. It’s added breaking news coverage to go along with the humble brags and the light stalking of that exec you meet at SXSW.

And business is good: Users have posted 41% more this year than last. The reason? People are posting, reacting, and commenting about the news. And 1 key detail helps keep trolls off LinkedIn: “reputational risk.”

• 🧑‍💼 Unlike most social media, your real name is your LinkedIn username.

• 🧑‍💼 So every comment could be seen by your future boss (spoiler: it is).

The Takeaway →

“Hire editors for their golden gut,” LinkedIn’s former CEO Jeff Weiner said. That’s why LinkedIn has 250 editors and writers on the payroll—that’s ½ as many newsies as behemoth The Washington Post. LinkedIn editors’ “golden guts” decide what gets prioritized on the platform, not algorithms. While algos are cheaper and more scalable, they can inadvertently scale misinfo—humans cost more, but they can make gutsy decisions.

2) California Is Going Fee-Free 

California just outlawed hidden fees (yay) effective July of next year (boo). The law distinguishes between 2 kinds of fees:

• ✅ Optional fees: for the add-ons (like to expedite your passport). These are ok.

• ❌ Mandatory fees: like fulfillment fees, service fees, convenience fees—any fee that’s mandatory to use the product. If there’s a mandatory fee, it has to be shown upfront, not snuck in at the end.

Because in certain sneaky industries (looking at you, Ticketmaster) the price we see after braving the queue doesn’t tell the whole story. You only peep the real price after picking your seats and clicking continue 6 times for those Drake tickets, and then it’s too late (or too frustrating) to back out.

The Takeaway →

Time is money. This California ban saves consumers both. On Wednesday, the FTC proposed the same rule nationwide—which would require the final price to be shown on page 1. With no more excessive clicking, the FTC estimates we’ll…

• ⏰ Save 50M hours/year of time just for booking hotels and buying tickets.

• 💰 With real prices shown upfront, we’ll save $10 billion over the next decade with easier comparison shopping.

On the pod today:

👟👟 2 legendary basketball players are taking over Reebok—now Shaq isn’t sponsored by Reebok, he’s running the earnings call, along with Allen Iverson.

🌱 We just got the most comprehensive report on teen spending in America: Android is out, Goldfish are in, but don’t you dare Venmo your 12-year-old cousin.

🙏 The United Nations has issued an official warning of a humanitarian “disaster” in Gaza as Israeli forces retaliate against Hamas’ terrorist attack. More than 300K people have been forced from their homes. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged steadfast support for Israel, saying “it’s important to take every possible precaution to prevent harming civilians.”

😲 The United Auto Workers expanded its strike to Ford's biggest and most profitable plant in Kentucky (which employs 8,700 people).

💇 The SBF trial just got spicy: Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex, Caroline Ellison, continued her “explosive testimony.” She claimed SBF was the decision-maker, committed fraud, and thought his famously wild hair was “very valuable” (and led to higher bonuses).

🤳 A billionaire in India is backing a company making $12 mobile phones in the hopes it’ll get more of India’s 1.4B strong population—half of which is disconnected from the internet—online.

✈️ Delta Airlines’ profit jumped 59% in Q3. Premium ticket sales are outperforming main cabin tickets. Still no update on the lounge situation.

🏰 Disney raised prices at some of its parks, effective immediately. Again.

🎃 The heaviest pumpkin ever just weighed in at 2,749 pounds (or 5,288 pumpkin spice lattes) in Minnesota.

And one more thing. Do you have a failure you want to share? We want to hear it—here are ours. 👇👇

🤦🏻‍♂️ Nick’s: I got into zero business schools the first time I applied—had to wait a whole year and apply again.

🤷 Jack’s: Despite celebrating Ceviche Wednesday, I confused "ceviche" with "sashimi" for the past 6 months.

—Nick & Jack