Good Morning!
Happy Valentine’s Day (respectfully).
What You Missed This Week:
1. 💗 Valentine’s Day is Getting More Expensive
Love? In this economy?? A new study from InvestorsObserver finds that the price of popular Valentine's Day gifts has skyrocketed in the past 10 years. Romantics trying to win over their soulmates will shell out $774.39 this year (on a card, box of chocolates, roses, dinner, and nice jewelry), about $262.36 more than they would have in 2016. Maybe 2026 is not the new 2016. (Quartz)
2. ⛓️💥 Why The B2B Agency Model Is Broken
Most B2B agencies overpromise and underdeliver. They charge a % of ad spend (so they’re incentivized to make you spend more, not make more), lock you into 6–12 month contracts, nickel-and-dime every new ad or campaign, and take a week to respond when you need something.
They also bet everything on one channel 👎 One ad platform. One cold email sequence. One play. In reality, B2B buyers don’t convert from a single touch, you have to stay top of mind across multiple channels to actually get booked and get paid.
That’s why we built Max’s Team. One flat monthly fee. Unlimited lead gen across Meta & Linkedin ads, Google search (+RB2B), newsletters, LinkedIn content, and DM outreach, and more… all working together. Month-to-month contracts. No “out of scope” excuses. Just execution focused on qualified leads, like 100+ MQls generated in the first 6 weeks at $66 CPL in a notoriously tough ICP for our recent client.
3. 📈 Blackstone is Boosting its Stake in Anthropic to $1Bn
Claude is getting a bump from the world’s largest alternative asset manager (imagine if it was because of the successful Super Bowl ad campaign). Blackstone is increasing its investment in the chatbot maker Anthropic with an additional $200 million as a part of Anthropic’s ongoing funding round, raising its stake to about $1 billion at a valuation of roughly $350 billion. (US News)
4. 🚀 SpaceX is Considering Dual-Class Shares in its IPO
This sounds familiar. SpaceX is considering a dual-class share structure in its planned IPO this year, mirroring a strategy its billionaire founder Elon Musk floated for Tesla Inc. A two-tier structure would give select shareholders stock with extra voting power that would allow them to dominate decision making, allowing insiders such as Musk to maintain control of the company even with a minority stake. (Bloomberg)
5. ♦️♣️ You Shouldn't Have To Gamble...
...when choosing a marketing agency! That's why this month, I’m making warm introductions to a few agencies that would be a perfect fit for your needs, that I personally trust.
No obligations. I'm just trying to help you make fewer bad marketing decisions! I know first-hand the difference between a good agency and a bad agency. So what are you waiting for?
6. 👀 ByteDance is Working With Samsung on its Own AI Chip
Well, that’s one way to get around tight U.S. export controls. ByteDance is reportedly developing its own artificial intelligence chip and has entered talks with Samsung Electronics for manufacturing support. The chip, designed for AI interference tasks, should be shipped ins amples by the end of March with plans to produce 100,000 units in 2026. (Yahoo Finance)
Bonus. 🤖 Level Up Your AI Game
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