Four For Friday | June 27, 2025
LF179 | How to build a wait list, trustonomics, a caring social fabric, sea cucumbers fight cancer + clickable AI videos
Welcome to this week’s Four For Friday sent to you from Shiodome Italia-gai, a cute pocket of little Italy in Tokyo’s Minato ward. Anyway, here’s four things that have piqued my interest this week, together with a bonus: AI Tip of The Week.
1. How to get 150k people on a waitlist
Hot longevity startup Superpower founder Max Marchione outlines the tactics they used to build an incredible head of steam for the launch of their product. In a lightweight version of the Mullet Capitalism concept we saw in last week’s LF, this started with the marketing and building a community of people gravitating to the product and the idea, well before there was even a product.
Brand foundations: Strategic (mission orientation), visual (awesome design) and verbal (an impressive URL, superpower.com)
Viral mechanics: Allowing people who got referrals to bypass the waiting list.
User generated content: making heroes of early users
Strategic acquisitions: buying two small companies came generated a ton of buzz
Use ‘drops’ of rare branded products (e.g. limited edition sweatshirts)
Engage creators early - have influencers build your reach
Build in public - expect the whole team to be marketing
The So What? Some of these are a bit chicken and egg - if you’re a hot property, you’ll find others willing to help boost you. But “success to the successful” is one of the key dynamics in complex systems, so see how to harness it.
2. The four pillars of Trustnomics
With so much scepticism, decline in trust in institutions and rise of social media, brand power is going to those who can build trust and trusted ecosystems. This shift is driven by increasing demands for transparency, authenticity, and a hunger of ethical practices. Here’s the suggested four pillars to build trust:
Identify your “key product moment” - what’s the one thing others don’t do?
Treat product as content - let the high quality product tell the story
Build a repeatable system - it’s not about expensive one-off campaigns
Kick the flywheel of trust into motion - great product > more customers > strengthens brand > builds company > great product etc…
The So What? A slightly different take on marketing than the first story - there, the product comes later, here, it’s the driver. But trust is the key to both.
3. Social fabric
Some beautifully designed concepts by IDEO to improve the experience of being in care. They combine user-centric design with AI to provide comfort and connection. One is a wrist-worn, tactile ‘trust band’ that allows you to share physical connection and real time insights with a trusted care group:
The So What? This is where IMO AI shines - delivering subtle, personalized experiences that support people on their journey (rather than just buying more stuff)
4. Sea cucumbers fight cancer
Certain sea cucumbers seem to have cancer-fighting properties. These unusual ‘bottom feeders’ have developed a unique sugar that can block Sulf-2, an enzyme that cancer cells use to spread. Their version doesn’t cause blood clots - a typical side effect of current drugs.
The So What? A reminder of the value we lose when we (literally) boil the oceans and lose diversity
Bonus AI Tip of the Week:
What do you get when you combine a clickable survey with an AI avatar - a personalized assistant guiding you through a website. Enter Synthesia’s latest interactive tool that allows you to make clickable, interactive videos. Still some work to do on the visuals, but the voices are getting indistinguishable from reality.
That’s all for now; happy weekend everyone.
- Stephen