The last 3 years have been nuts for @Usher

-Vegas residency: $115M sales
-Super Bowl performer
-New album: Coming Home
-New tour: Past Present Future

But it hasn't been an accident

It's been a strategic masterclass in beta testing, iterating & core product focus

Here's how⬇️ 1/Usher's a hit machine with nine #1 singles and eighteen in the top 10

But his last one was OMG in 2010

Despite making albums & staying relevant, he hasn't had the same commercial success since Confessions in 2004

This was pre Youtube, Spotify, Instagram, Soundcloud, TikTok

Like everyone else, I was moved by Tracy Chapman & Luke Combs at the Grammy's

Tracy's an anti-celebrity:
-uncomfortable in the public eye
-doesn't own a smart phone
-not on social

There isn't a lot of info on her

But here's what I found on her and the history of Fast Car 🧵 1/Tracy was born and raised in Cleveland, by a single mom who brought her up to be a free thinker

She loved reading, poetry & music

And she saw education as her "way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty"

At 16, she won a scholarship to a private boarding school in Connecticut

The biggest acquisition no one's talking about is Zillow buying @followupboss for $500M in all cash

And they've intentionally stayed under the radar despite being ahead of every trend

Bootstrapped
Profitable
Community
Vertical SaaS

Here's their 12 yr overnight success story ⬇️ 1/Meet @buzzdan, an Aussie

His founding story begins after a dull finance job & his brother having a near-death motorbike accident

He told himself, “Man, I don’t want to spend my whole life doing things I’m not really excited about”

So he starts a CRM for SMBs with a friend

I think the business of religion is going to explode, because of Gen Z and America's loneliness epidemic.

It already generates more revenue than APPL ($383B), GOOGL ($297B) and MSFT ($211B)…combined

So deep dived and came up w 18 business ideas to capitalize on the trend: 🧵 1/77% of Gen Z (Christians, other faith, no faith) is motivated to continue learning about Jesus.

Some reasons why:
- Gen Z struggling with more mental health and stress than any other generation.
- Gen Z growing up in less religious based households (more on this later).
- More pop culture and science/tech forward influencers being more open about their belief in God ie @justinbieber @StephenCurry30 @hubermanlab

While they are curious about Jesus, Gen Z has negative opinions about organized religion. Here's the percentage of Gen Z with a positive view of:
- Churches: 47%
- Christian pastors or priests: 44%
- Celebrity pastors: 17%
- Mega churches: 16%
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