Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans have become increasingly popular in recent years—originations grew tenfold between 2019 and 2021, for instance. Last year, roughly 20% of American consumers used one to make a purchase. Despite their increasing usage, BNPL loans are still not used to calculate credit scores—which may have effects for lenders, and could be costing some consumers with good credit habits some valuable points. FICO—the creator of the FICO Score which is used by 90% of U.S.-based lending institutions to make lending decisions—recently published an analysis in tandem with the BNPL company Affirm to get a sense of what the results would be if those loans were …

The gadgets produced by this year’s most innovative companies in consumer and household goods are, in their small way, revolutionizing every room in the house. From standout kitchen devices and boundary-pushing wellness products to a more humane mousetrap, this year’s list offers something for every moment of the day. Starting at the front door, there’s Level, the leader in smart locks, which finally upgraded its “invisible” system to sync with smart home hubs like Apple Home and Google Home via a low-tech radio connection. For the kitchen, there’s Walmart, which debuted Bettergoods, its first new private label in 20 years with a lineup of 300 quality products, not just c…

OpenAI is further proving that 2025 is the year of agentic AI. The artificial intelligence giant revealed another new feature from ChatGPT this week, called Deep Research, which it claims can gather research from across the web and summarize it in easy-to-read reports. “Deep research is OpenAI’s next agent that can do work for you independently—you give it a prompt, and ChatGPT will find, analyze, and synthesize hundreds of online sources to create a comprehensive report at the level of a research analyst,” the company wrote in a Sunday blog post. Every output shows clear citations and a summary of the agent’s thinking. The tool is powered by its upcoming Ope…

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch from Tuesday morning until Wednesday morning, as back-to-back winter storms are predicted to affect much of the nation this week. A total of three winter storms will bring snow, ice, and rain to more than 40 states, with 29 million Americans facing a winter alert in the Central Plains, the Midwest, the Ohio Valley, and the Mid-Atlantic regions. Winter Storm Harlow is expected to bring ice and snow Tuesday morning into Wednesday to the Ohio Valley, spreading east to the Mid-Atlantic, according to the Weather Channel. This first storm will start in the Central Plains and bring rain and ice to Oklahoma …

Since December, Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has become an internet phenomenon. Both scorned and idolized, his notoriety has given rise to a number of online communities. Some have begun embracing violent rhetoric. A moderator from the long-standing subreddit r/popculture, where discussions about Mangione had been ongoing, was recently suspended for approving a large number of comments (by Reddit standards, that means at least 20) that contained direct calls for violence. “This sub has been placed in restricted mode, and the main mod was suspended for approving comments that mentioned ‘Luigi,” a post on r/popculture c…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. National home prices are rising 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. While some markets in the Gulf and Mountain West regions are seeing mild home price declines, there’s another cohort concentrated in the Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast that are seeing gains well above the national aggregate. Among the 200 largest metro area housing markets, the chart below highlights the 30 markets with the largest home price increases between December 2023 and December 2024, according to ResiClub’s analysis of the latest Zillow Home Value Index data published in Jan…

In 2017, Nathan Cozzolino started Rose, a “farm to edibles” brand based in Los Angeles. Cozzolino and his team cultivated organic hemp and marijuana, produced its own low-dose gummies with natural organic ingredients, and sold the product to licensed dispensaries. This structure required overhead that cost upwards of $80,000 a month. Six years in, the brand wasn’t able to sell enough products to cover its expenses despite being sold in more than 100 retailers. That changed in July of 2023 when Rose switched the entirety of its production to hemp. “We did it because it was that or go out of business,” Cozzolino says. He let go of his cannabis licenses, downsized his f…

“We doubled our marketing team, and still fell behind.” That’s what one founder told me in January, frustrated after months of hiring, onboarding, and budgeting…only to lose ground anyway. In 2025, the old formula of “more people equals more results” just isn’t working. Let’s face it, traditional hiring is broken. It’s costly, time-intensive, and built for a world that no longer exists. Training takes months, and even the best employees can’t be experts in everything. And scaling up or down? That’s nearly impossible when your budget is tied to headcount. That said, full-time employees are still the heart of any great company. Their creativity, dedication, and dr…

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Consumers will spend a whopping $27.5 billion on Valentine’s Day this year, up from $25.8 billion last year, according to the National Retail Federation. For 1-800-Flowers.com, the purveyor of candy, cards, and—yes—flowers, February 14 is a bit like its Super Bowl, with year-long…

Decades of research show the benefits of women in leadership are invaluable. Females embody a more transformational leadership style fostering mission-driven cultures. Female presence also improves team dynamics, with better collaboration and collective intelligence; the greater the ratio of women, the greater equality is seen in conversations, thus capitalizing on the team’s full knowledge and skillsets. All this translates into measurable results: meta-analyses link female leadership with improved sales, and their representation on the board of directors is also directly associated with financial performance. The largest study of women in corporate America marked i…

Loneliness is no longer just an emotion—it’s a growing public health crisis in the U.S. A 2024 Harvard study found that 21% of U.S. adults regularly experience loneliness, while the American Psychological Association reports that nearly half of young workers feel isolated at work. Capitalizing on the recent tech boom, AI-powered digital companions and digital twin avatars are rapidly emerging as alternatives to human relationships. These AI bots offer a constant sense of connection without judgment and can be hyper-personalized to match user preferences. Platforms including Oh, Replika (whose tagline is “the AI companion who cares”), and Eden AI chat by EVA AI lea…

Dutch Bros Inc. shares surged more than 27% in premarket trading Thursday after the coffee chain posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and announced plans to expand mobile ordering and food offerings. Revenue rose 34.9% to $342.8 million, surpassing Wall Street estimates. Same-store sales grew 6.9%, and adjusted earnings per share reached 7 cents, both exceeding expectations. The company forecasts 2024 sales between $1.555 billion and $1.575 billion, exceeding analyst projections. “Our efforts to develop our foundational transaction drivers—innovation, paid media, and our Dutch Rewards loyalty program—are working,” CEO Christine Barone said in a …

Parents across the U.S. should soon be able to determine how much lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury are in the food they feed their babies, thanks to a California law, the first of its kind, that took effect this year. As of January 1, 2025, every company that sells baby food products in California is required to test for these four heavy metals every month. That comes five years after a congressional report warned about the presence of dangerously high levels of lead and other heavy metals in baby food. Every baby food product packaged in jars, pouches, tubs, and boxes sold in California must carry a QR code on its label that consumers can scan to check the mos…

The top is a fine suede. The bottom is a stack of foam so tall you’ll instinctively pop an energy ball. You can wear it barefoot. You could run a marathon in it. I just . . . wish . . . it didn’t look like an orthopedic pair of Vans. This is the Ahnu Sequence 1.1. Suede, launching today for $240. While you may not have heard of Ahnu yet (the boutique brand launched quietly in 2024), you do know the company behind it. Deckers owns brands including Teva, Ugg, and Hoka, which has celebrated healthy growth across its acquired brand portfolio over the past few years—sales across Deckers were up 17% over the past year. [Photo: Ahnu] Unlike its sister brands…

Hawaii’s Supreme Court ruled Monday that insurance companies can’t bring their own legal actions against those blamed for Maui’s catastrophic 2023 wildfire, allowing a $4 billion settlement that was on the verge of collapse to proceed. Other steps remain in finalizing the deal between thousands of people who lodged lawsuits and various defendants, including Hawaiian Electric Company. The massive inferno that was the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century decimated the historic town of Lahaina, killing more than 100 people, destroying thousands of properties and causing an estimated $5.5 billion in damage. Soon afterward, attorneys began lodging hundreds of l…

Student loan debt has an influence over borrowers’ career choices long after graduation, affecting their job satisfaction, career advancement, and investment strategies. According to a recent study conducted by MissionSquare Research Institute, the debt that’s carried by one in four Americans under 40 affects job-acceptance decisions for 56% of public-sector employees and 62% of those working in the private sector. “When they choose to accept . . . jobs, [the] majority of them have considered how that position or that job can help them with their student loan debt,” says the report’s author and MissionSquare’s head of research, Zhikun Liu. “It not only impacts pe…

The New York Stock Exchange announced on Wednesday it will launch an exchange in Texas, increasing competition among listing venues in the state. Several high-profile firms, including Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, have relocated their headquarters to Texas, attracted by the state’s perceived favorable legal and regulatory environment. The Texas Stock Exchange, a new venture backed by financial giants including BlackRock, Citadel Securities and Charles Schwab, is targeting a 2026 launch after submitting paperwork late last month to operate as a national securities exchange. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq have dominated the lucrative U.S. listings market…

In an interview with Joe Rogan last month, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg made a plea for companies to embrace more “masculine energy.” Zuckerberg went on to say, “A culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits.” Never mind that Meta (then Facebook) became one of the world’s more profitable companies when COO Sheryl Sandberg ran its day-to-day operations. Or that Sandberg urged women to “lean in” by actively pursuing leadership roles and embracing opportunities in the workplace, sparking a global community dedicated to helping foster leadership, advancement and inclusion for women in the workplace. “When a very powerful CEO who has platforms …

In an unpredictable labor market, where job gains in January fell below expectations and the future remains uncertain, one thing is clear: Employers can’t afford to rest on their laurels. While the economy has remained relatively strong, shifts in the job market have been historically inevitable, and companies must constantly evaluate their operations to ensure they’re attracting and retaining the best talent. One area that employers should pay close attention to: employee benefits. Surprisingly, small businesses—often perceived as lacking the resources to offer substantial perks—are quietly leading the charge in providing the kinds of benefits that employees value mo…

Apple is launching its first major holistic health study in five years to determine how Apple products, including iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods, can “play a role in advancing and improving physical health, mental health, and overall well-being.” It may be Apple’s most ambitious study yet. Starting Tuesday, Apple customers in the United States can opt in to participate in the Apple Health Study by downloading Apple’s Research app, version 6.0 (more on that below). The sweeping study, a collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital—a preeminent research hospital in Boston, affiliated with Harvard Medical School—takes a complete approach to understanding how…

California-based seafood manufacturer Tri-Union Seafoods has issued a voluntary recall of select canned tuna products due to a potential contamination risk from Clostridium botulinum, a bacteria that can cause serious and potentially fatal food poisoning. The recall follows a supplier notification that a manufacturing defect in the “easy open” pull-tab lids may compromise the product’s seal, leading to leaks or contamination over time. While no illnesses have been reported, Tri-Union say it’s taking precautionary measures to ensure consumer safety. Which products were impacted? The recalled tuna products were distributed across multiple retailers nation…

An overwhelming number of Americans are in the market for a new job. According to a recent Monster poll, 93% of workers think 2025 might be the time to change employers. With an increased number of applications, you could see tougher competition for roles, which makes the interview process even more critical. The way you approach the job hunt is similar to how a professional gambler approaches the poker table, says Jamie Wall, casino analyst and body language expert at Gamblizard, a website that evaluates online casinos and their offers. “Both are high-stakes situations, considering you really want to land the job or win the game,” he says. “Both follow formal r…

Get ready for an onslaught of ads full of celebrities, cute animals and snack brands during breaks in the action at Super Bowl 59 on Feb. 9, when the Philadelphia Eagles face the Kansas City Chiefs at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. Anheuser-Busch, Meta, PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Taco Bell, Uber Eats and others will vie to win over the more than 120 million viewers expected to tune in for the broadcast on Fox and via the free livestream on Tubi. Demand for ad space was robust this year, said Mark Evans, executive vice president of ad sales for Fox Sports, with ad space selling out in November and a waitlist for marketers ready to take the space of anyone who pulle…

The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. For the last decade, chief marketing officers (CMOs) haven’t felt as appreciated and necessary as they once were. But that may be changing—I should stress “may.” I’m thinking of the 2024 CMO Tenure Study by marketing consultancy Spencer Stuart. They’ve been issuing this study for two decades. Four years ago, the length of CMO tenure tightened to its smallest interval in more…

My mother was always the last parent to pick me up from gymnastics practice. While other moms arrived in jeans, she’d sweep in wearing a power suit, fresh from her role as a senior marketing executive at a major software company. At the time, it was a bit embarrassing. Looking back, I realize I was witnessing someone who refused to accept artificial limitations on what she could achieve. Years later, as a CMO, I’ve come to appreciate how those early lessons shaped my understanding of professional possibilities. As a CMO in the ‘80s, my mother was a trailblazer—it was not typical for a woman to have a seat at the board table. But I’ve also learned that even with strong…