#'continuing to fund this won't be profitable enough'

[tastytofusoup]

I remember the plot of a novel, but that doesn't mean it's real

[stone-stars]

Full thread from Sam on the SAG strike and Dropout!

[ID: A thread from Sam on twitter, as follows: "A thread about the strike and Dropout production: 👇✊. I stand in complete and utter solidarity with our striking performers. I myself am SAG-AFTRA, as are others on our executive team, having come from the world of working actors. I am nothing but sympathetic to their cause and outraged by the mafia-like behavior of the major streamers and AMPTP. It is harder than ever to make a living in this industry, and that goes even for the lucky few of us who get to work on meaningful projects.

In the meanwhile… 🤑 Uber-rich CEOs and shareholders are cashing in like never before 💸 Major streamers are gambling millions on dubious projects and business models 🍾 Hollywood is hiding profits and playing the victim while drinking champagne aboard their superyachts

Dropout production is right now on hold. Because we aren't associated with the AMPTP, it's possible we may be able to reach an interim agreement with SAG that allows us to continue to produce content during the strike.

But we'll only do that, obviously, if we get the blessing of the union and the buy-in of our performers. If not, we have enough content in the can to last us a little past the end of the year.

I pride myself in that Dropout has always paid above SAG minimums. As the years go on and the company is healthier, we will strive to do even better, and then even better still. Without the talent of our performers, we are zilch. Zero. Nothing."

Attached is an instagram post from an actor reading: "The Netflix show in question is shorter than a traditional half hour. But @ collegehumor and @ dropouttv paid me MORE than that for one of their scripted series. Dropout was a brand new online platform at the time and they still managed to pay their actors more than NETFLIX for scripted short form content."

Thread continues: "Public companies don't do this for the very simple reason that they feel more indebted to their executives and shareholders than they do their workforce. It's why corporations are so often exploitative. Our industry, because our jobs are so desirable, is especially vulnerable to exploitation. Hollywood takes advantage of that by making us feel generally commoditized, cheap, and replaceable …which is ironic given just how personal our work so often is. That's why unions - and the power of collective bargaining - is so important: because public companies often won't pay their workforce any more than they're forced to.

As for me, I intend to honor my union's position that I not promote SAG productions as a performer -- even if they are produced by me. That means that I won't personally be promoting any of our shows for the time being.

Attached is a screenshot of Sam on Discord responding to the question "given the strike… what picket line chant will you be rockin'?" with "i'm a talent / CEO! me says me has got to go!"

Thread continues: "This year, instead of running a FYC campaign for Game Changer, we donated $10k to the Entertainment Community Fund in solidarity with the WGA. Today, in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA, I'm personally matching that donation with another $10,000. If you have any disposable income, I encourage you to donate as well: https://entertainmentcommunity.org. And as soon as I test negative for COVID, I'll see you on the picket line. ✊"]

[orteil42]

Between the recent custom buttons post with the pipe bomb and the gamification post with the post -deleting boss fight I'm starting to get absolutely feral over the idea of you making a social media platform.

The companies that run the current options are cowards.

i would honestly love to give it a crack and were i younger and sillier i think i probably would. unfortunately by now i've become a bit too aware that creating a social media website is one of those nightmare projects that is guaranteed to be 500 times more work and trouble than you initially expect, and if i get into that i'd never have time for anything else. i'd also have to deal with hiring an actual team and be an actual company instead of just some guy who codes in his bedroom. and then let's say maybe the website takes off and we get a few thousands of active users. after a while our uptime becomes terrible; people can't log in, posts won't load. tech sites are starting to make fun of us. we have to grow, get bigger servers, hire more people. eventually i'd have to confront the fact that despite my cute take on monetization our social media isn't recouping the growing server expenses and our seed money is drying up and people at the office are starting to bang at my door to get paid. do i pull the plug and throw away everything we've built so far? likely not, even my own ego aside there's too many people's livelihoods on the line. other folks on the team are motivated to make this work, and a feedback loop forms where we start to ever-so-slightly readjust our values if it means we get to survive another quarter. i get more cynical; our ad slots are more and more intrusive, our monetization strategy gets shiftier and more aggressive. we accept funding from less and less savory entities. we start collecting user data beyond simple telemetry. if we've gotten big enough by that point, we may choose to restructure and begin taking on shareholders. this is a deal with the devil, and we now have a fiduciary duty to play nasty and treat our userbase like livestock in order to secure short-term profit. we can't just stop accepting new users; continued growth demands that we throw away what's left of our ethics to accommodate the gargantuan swaths of money that hundreds of thousands of database calls per second require. those of us who disagree with the new direction are gradually nudged away from positions of power. me, i've either been kicked out of my own project a while back or i've adapted to become someone i would've despised a few years prior. this is all assuming the website didn't crash and burn a few months after launch from either my technical shortcomings or my inexperience with management, or maybe just because our site ended up being too niche to really snowball. it is fun to think about tho!

[the-marshals-wife]

Angel Shot (John Wick x Reader)

─ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─ 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 ─ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─

A/N: Just a little something because I missed writing for John and watching all the movies again on winter break has got me feeling inspired. ♥

Description: John Wick x Fem!Reader, protective John fluff | Warnings: mild language, alcohol, suggestive themes, Y/N is harassed/threatened and John intervenes | Setting: before Helen (or AU without her, you decide) | Word count: 1,474

Gif credit: user johnswick

Imagine John coming to your defense when a former associate won't leave you alone

It had been a long week. All you wanted was a moment of peace and a cold drink. Normally, you had no trouble finding that at the bar within the New York Continental. On this night, however, you found yourself wishing you had gone elsewhere. No sooner had you taken the first sip of your cocktail did Rico Augustine spot you from across the room.

You keep your eyes fixed forward and pretend not to notice his approach on your right.

"Look who it is," he announces, mockery in his voice, "The rooftop sniper."

"Rico," you acknowledge placidly. You could already sense this interaction would not remain civil. A quick glance his direction allowed you to take notice of his haggard, unshaven face and wrinkled suit. Even in the subdued glow of the mood lighting, you could see the wildness in his bloodshot eyes as he clutched the edge of the bartop.

"I'd offer to buy you a drink," he starts, leaning in closer, "but considering I'm a little light of funds right now, maybe you should be the one getting me something, huh?"

The alcohol on his breath was strong enough to burn your nose. Apparently, he'd managed to evade both sleep and sobriety since you last spoke.

"I already have one," you say, gesturing with your glass, "And I'm not sure you need another."

"It really is the least you can do, after what you stole from me," he provoked, his disgust poorly veiled.

His proximity, paired with his odor and audacity, set a fire in your blood.

"Are we really going to go over this again?" you ask, turning toward him, "I didn't know you were there last night. I wouldn't have taken the shot if I had. I don't work like that."

"You know that's my territory. I followed that mark for two hours and you took him right out from underneath me. I needed that money," he seethes, drawing out his next words, "You owe me."

You pivot back to the bar, your temper flaring. "It was an open contract, Rico. Just because we worked together on the Morocco Exchange doesn't mean I owe you," you state, taking a swig before speaking once more, "I already gave you a 30% cut, from a profit you didn't earn in the first place. That means we're finished."

His hand flies up to grab your wrist, causing you to drop your drink. The glass rattles and liquid sloshes out as it hits the bartop, but it does not fall over. With the dull roar of music and conversation filling the room, the noise isn't enough to catch the distracted bartender's attention.

"What if I say we're not?" he asks, his voice growling in your ear, "What if we're only finished when I say we are?"

Before you can answer or go for the dagger concealed in your shirt sleeve, you feel the cold steel of a concealed blade begin to dig into your ribs.

"I tried being polite, but you just had to keep flapping those lips of yours."

"You don't want to do this," you warn through gritted teeth.

"Wrong again," he sneers, his gratified tone sending a shiver down your back, "Why don't we continue this conversation up in my room, hm?"

You try to make eye contact with the bartender, but his back is still turned toward you, occupied with a chatty patron. Only one option remained: be even less civil. You try to free your dagger slowly from its sheath on your forearm without Rico noticing. It starts to slide loose as he pulls you toward him with a sickening laugh. The hilt is almost in your palm when, in the mirror on the wall of liquor bottles, you catch a glimpse of someone approaching from behind. They come to stand at your left a few seconds before you hear a voice that brings immediate relief.

"Hey, Y/N."

"Hey, John," you say.

"Nice night," he remarks.

"Sure is," you reply, glancing to him from the corner of your eye.

"Evening, Rico. Can I buy you a drink?" John asks.

"Thanks John, but Y/N and I are about tapped out for the night. Ain't that right?"

You attempt to turn your head towards John, but Rico pushes the blade harder into your side in response.

"Yeah," you say unconvincingly, wincing from the sting, "Thought about ordering an Angel Shot though."

There's a brief silence before John speaks again. "That so?"

"This doesn't concern you, Wick," Rico snarls, his fake cordiality gone in an instant, "Mind your business."

"Actually, you made it my business when you pulled that knife," John responds calmy, "Now, how about that drink? Or shall I make a dinner reservation instead?"

You feel the grip on your arm loosen a bit. Your assailant knew as well as you did what that meant. One of two things awaited him: a whiskey, or a body bag.

Despite the warning, Rico scoffs, looking past you to glare at John.

"Come on, Wick. You and I both know you don't have the balls to break hotel rules," he retorts, his thin lips curling into smirk.

John doesn't blink. "You willing to bet on that?"

You suppress the urge to smile as you watch the reflection of your harasser's face lose its gusto, along with most of the color.

"Last chance, Rico," John says, "Take your hands off her, and walk away."

Your pulse pounds in your ears.

Rico narrows his gaze, but lets go of your arm. "Of course. Whatever you say, Baba Yaga," he jeers, rubbing his mouth with his sleeve.

You exhale, but the sweaty brute leans back in close to your face and hisses, "The Boogeyman won't always be there to save you. This isn't over."

Rico starts to walk past you, but John grabs his arm, and tilts his head ever so slightly. "I didn't catch that last part."

He clears his throat, avoiding John's piercing stare. "It was nothing."

"Uh-huh," he deadpans, "Didn't think so."

"What's the matter, Wick? We're all professionals here, aren't we?" he poses; more a begrudged plea for mercy than an inquiry.

"Some of us more than others, it would seem," John replies, proceeding to lower his voice, "If you threaten her again, you'll find out just how professional I can be."

Rico clenches his jaw, his eye twitching in rage. Even as he choked on his own venom, he knew he was beaten. He violently recoils as John releases his arm, straightening his jacket and running a trembling hand through his disheveled hair. You, John, and the rest of the room watch him retreat until he's completely out of sight.

Boogeyman or not, John had a way of drawing attention. The hush that had fallen over the room fades as customers return to their drinks and conversation, no doubt now discussing what sort of gruesome scene they were nearly witnesses to.

John finally turns to you. "Are you alright?"

You nod and smile a bit, "Thanks to you."

"I'm sure you had it handled."

"Yeah, but I wasn't looking forward to scrubbing his blood out of this fabric. You can never find this color, I'd hate to toss it," you chuckle, looking down at your shirt.

"We wouldn't want that," he says, amused.

You replace your tousled hair behind your ear and meet his softened gaze. "Thank you, John."

"You're welcome, Y/N," he says, reaching into his jacket pocket, "You look like you could use a refill."

He holds up an all-too-familiar gold coin, then places it on the bartop. "On me."

"That's two I owe you then," you counter, giving him a knowing look.

"No. You don't owe me anything," he states, kind but firm. The look he gives you in return makes you feel that you shouldn't argue.

"Fair enough," you say, watching the now attentive bartender top off your beverage, "But at least let me get you a bourbon."

John retrieves his phone from another pocket, reading the screen and stowing it back as fast as he'd produced it.

"Thank you, but I'll have to take a raincheck," John says, touching your shoulder before walking away. "Take care of yourself, Y/N."

"You have business elsewhere tonight?" you question, calling after him.

"Yeah," he answers, pausing a moment, "But I won't be checking out for another day or so."

You smirk. "Be seeing you, then?"

He nods, the smallest trace of a smile on his face.

"Be seeing you."

He turns to leave, and your eyes follow him until the last. Drink back in hand, your heart continues its excited drumming. You press the cold crystal to your lips and grin. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad night after all.

"Give 'em hell, John."

[clairedaring]

Hello Claire! It always takes me by surprise and leaves me with awe when I read your posts about thai production houses. And it's a topic that really interests me.

So, disclaimer before I mention my question - sorry if this is stupid or weird, but why did Nadao close its operation? I mean, given the fact that they had such powerhouses under them (not just actors but directors, producers, musicians, etc.) and if I remember correctly, it was right after IPYTM (or maybe after a year or so), so it felt like they were on the pathway of constant success.

~ @tipsyjaehyun

Hi Rain!

I always love talking about Nadao so thank YOU for allowing me the opportunity to talk about them. And please, there are never stupid or weird questions ever, especially when it comes to Nadao Bangkok (rip love).

When Nadao announced they were closing down, they posted this very long letter explaining why as well. Here's a summary of the contents:

In short: Nadao will terminate their roles as artist development, series & music producer. The reason is that their artists are now grownup enough to choose their own paths. Also the seniors have different goals. It is not sudden. They have been discussing it for a while. We have seen many Nadao artists moving out and continue with their own journey. This is the reason. Nadao will terminate their roles and want to give their artists more freedom to work in the industry. Ongoing series production will be passed to the director and they will make their own decision. Ongoing music production will be under the artists’ own names. Nadao will also introduce their artists to network in the path that their artists are interested in.

Nadao closing its business leaves a lot of regret in the hearts of fans who follow Nadao artists (me, i am the fan in question). Out of all the speculations, I think there's this one Reddit comment from u/Virtual_Tadpole9821 that aligns most with my speculation.

I wasn't originally going to comment because I was hoping to see some analysis emerge online, but since I'm not seeing any here's my two cents anyway. Knowing Nadao, the move is unlikely to be directly motivated by financial reasons. The company has consistently been profitable. Its financials for the 2021 fiscal year haven't been filed yet, but even in 2020, when the pandemic first hit, it still made a net profit of 29 million baht after taxes. Though this was down from 40 million in 2019, it's still more than 21 million in 2018. Things might have been worse in 2021, but it's unlikely to be too bad for them to weather. They don't appear to have that many fixed costs. As most of their income comes from artist management and the main costs are the artists' cuts, less work just means the pie is smaller, but the company still gets a piece and won't bleed to death. Not producing means not having to pay for crew and equipment, and their productions are usually externally funded anyway. If the company was facing financial difficulties, the first thing to do would be to scale back on non-performing operations, and the loss-making Nadao Music would be the first to go. But that's not what they're doing. Rather, they're shutting down all current operations at once. The move is probably more due to ideological re-questioning of the company's mission. As /u/dangrankeyi pointed out, Nadao tries to position itself as first and foremost a talent management agency. But it hasn't really been able to grow itself much in that regard. As their artists keep outgrowing their target group, they need to keep replacing them. But the scene is much more crowded now than in 2009 when the company was founded or in 2013 when it made Hormones. The company doesn't appear to have been successfully developing much new talent. Its latest pivoting attempt was when it launched Nadao Academy in early 2020, but that seems to have ceased with the pandemic. And even if the project was successful, what work would the company find for the trainees? It's not like it's doing that well with its current artists anyway. Nadao has some 30 actors under its umbrella, but apart from BKPP, things have been rather quiet for them. The problem I see is that there's a disjoint between what the company wants to do and what it actually does best. It wants to grow talent, but it's having problems finding work for that talent, and doesn't quite have the capacity to generate that work itself. On the other hand, Nadao has become best known for is productions, which for the most part have been passion projects driven more by their creator's visions than by business strategy. But such projects don't serve those original goals well enough. The only way they could have sustained this was probably to keep dishing out seasons of Hormones, but they didn't, because they knew they wouldn't be able to maintain quality, and even if they did, it would have lost steam by now anyway. The thing is, Nadao doesn't actually need to exist for its creators to do the production stuff they want, and are good at. That can be accommodated under parent company GDH and its other subsidiaries, which is where Nadao's production crews come from anyway. Looking at it this way, it isn't very difficult to see why they'd come to the decision not to continue doing the things they're doing as Nadao Bangkok.

And I would say that after two years since Nadao closes down, it's been pretty clear that the closing down of Nadao was more ideology-motivated than business. While Nadao officially shut down it's business, the actual company itself was renamed Tada Entertainment to accompany P'Yong Songyos Sugmakanan's pursuit of making the next perfect idol groups. Tada Entertainment now manages girl group MXFRUIT (under subsidiary label Ily Lab)...

And BUS (a Thai pop group formed through 789 Survival, under subsidiary Sonray Music). Khunpol (Bas from ITSAY) also competed in 789 Survival and debuted in BUS.

And DICE (consisting of the members who participated in 789 Survival but didn't make it into BUS, also managed by Sonray Music)

One must be quite confounded by P'Yong Soyos' new pursuits but watching the documentary of how 9x9 (Nine By Nine) was formed, I think it becomes very clear that P'Yong has always harboured an interest in making the next big Thai pop group, similar to Kpop idol group style. I highly recommend watching this if you have time, or at least the first two episodes of the documentary. It's honestly one of the realest documentaries I've ever watched of an idol group, the way they talk about each other here is basically how they talk about each other in real life, even now.

It was just unfortunate that 9x9 had to be a temporary thing 🥲 (understandable though, they had 4 full time lakorn actors Tor, James, Captain, Ryu, 2 singer/actor Ice and JJ and 3 music-focused artists Third, Jackie, Porsche). So their reunion on the last episode of 789 Survival was a hugeeeeeee thing.

So yeah.... before I ramble on and forget what your original question is, I would say P'Yong's general pursuit and ambitions in the music/Thai pop industry coupled with Nadao's roster of artists outgrowing its target group are the biggest reasons for Nadao closing in general.

I'm always grateful to Nadao for bringing us some of the best series in existence (crazy to think how In Family We Trust is conceived as a part of 9x9 project, with the main purpose to make a series to star all nine boys of 9x9) yet it swept the Nataraja awards (Thai Emmys) that year. This is yet another stellar example of how Nadao ended up excelling at what they don't plan to do (producing series) than what they do intend (managing artists/boy groups). 9x9 was a successful project though, don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to make the case that IFWT is more successful than P'Yong probably intended it to be (though P'Yong was pretty ambitious with this project himself, getting all the experienced older lakorn actors into this so perhaps he did plan for it to be that successful).

Even though, there were many Nadao artists that left before they closed down like James, Peach, Nonkul... I really like that most Nadao artists remained very close with their fellow Nadao peers, and often times ending up in same projects together once again. This year, a few notable reunions off the top of my head is Nonkul and Ud Awat in a horror zombie film Operation Undead (currently out in cinemas), Tor and JJ in thriller series Spare Me Your Mercy (currently filming), Nonkul and Captain in the Mouse TH remake (just wrapped filming).

I'm always sad about Nadao closing down but seeing how most former Nadao artists have no trouble finding works on their own after its closing, I'm very happy to see them flourishing and doing their own thing. I love that there's a huge family energy when it comes to Nadao because the senior artists always consider their junior like their little brothers and sisters (Ice Paris being the MC for both DICE and BUS showcases, Tor and Ice being the MCs for the 789 Survival). P'Yong has previously talked about how "Nadao isn't just a company, it's like a home. That's why when some of their artist left Nadao, P'Yong considered it more as them "graduating" so they can grow and build path on their own."

Below is a clip of Tor talking about how grateful he is to P'Yong (if you watch 9x9 documentary and some other interviews Tor did, you'll see that P'Yong can be quite harsh to him and put much pressure on Tor (and other Nadao artists as well) but they all seem to look up to him like a parental figure)

Not to mention, if you are a fan of Hormones, the girls always have their annual reunions and it always warms my heart to see how close they still are with each other.

Sighs... I almost completely forgot the question again. But yea Nadao definitely could have stayed and given us more magnum opus because I personally haven't had enough at all but it's great to see P'Yong happy with his successful groups and the former Nadao artists going on their own individual paths while maintaining good relations with P'Yong and Nadao/GDH creative crew (directors, producers, writers...)

[qqueenofhades]

Two weird but semi-related questions: when did universal healthcare truly emerge as a political talking point (has it always been something politicians campaigned on?) and what country's healthcare system, in your opinion, would be the best for us to emulate? I've heard Japan, the Netherlands, and France all have wonderful heathcare systems

Bill Clinton campaigned heavily on universal healthcare in the 1992 election, which he of course won. The Clinton health care plan of 1993 was intended to start reforms in the direction of setting up single-payer/universal healthcare for everyone in America, and Hillary Clinton was put in charge of it. This immediately made her a lightning rod of criticism for being "too political" for a First Lady (actually trying to be involved in policy rather than baking cookies and giving White House tours? Zomgz!) and the plan, just as with Obamacare, met with ferocious backlash from Republicans and for-profit health insurance companies alike. This, by the way, is when all the Republican smear-machine attacks on HRC really got started, and the bill was dead by 1994. It took until 2010 to get Obama's heavily modified Affordable Care Act finally passed, and the Republicans weaponized the backlash to the point that it basically cost Obama full control of Congress for the rest of his presidency. Because you know, The Free Market/Universal Healthcare is Socialist/etc etc. People still don't realize how shocking it was that the ACA passed at all, even in modified form, which is why the Republicans have been hankering so hard to destroy it ever since.

As for your other question, I frankly do not know enough about the details of health care systems in other countries to give an informed answer, so I won't pretend to be an expert on this. I will note, however, that any system is only as good as its maintenance; it has to be regularly funded, invested in, revamped, have resources dedicated to training new professionals, etc. Look at the NHS in England, which despite being state-funded is on the brink of collapse due to twelve years of deliberate underfunding and Republican-style privatization by the Tories. So no matter what system America ended up with, it would need to be able to maintain that system at a continuous level, and as long as one major political party doesn't think that people deserve any rights at all, much less Free Healthcare from the Evil Government, that will continue to be very difficult.

[dextivefanart]

Where is This Week's Wonders of Earth?

In case you're here checking my profile for this week's Wonders of Earth: I am currently recovering from a minor surgery.

While I do have a buffer, and it is for this kind of situation, I didn't enjoy making it. So, I won't enjoy replenishing it. Drawing a bunch of comics at once is just not fun to me. (Note: I do enjoy creating comics. It's just the process of making a buffer specifically I don't like.)

The buffer is not something I would use unless I don't upload for more than two weeks for whatever reason. So even if I do end up still not having the energy to catch it up next week, the upload will still continue until it runs out, but I should be able to catch up by then, since I work five issues ahead of time.

I'm recovering well, and the surgery shouldn't keep me down and away from drawing for more than a week. I'm thinking of making a cute little image of my sona in bed having the classic cartoon visual cues of "sick" to indicate not keeping up with weekly social media duties due to not feeling well. Either it be a spell of depression, a cold, or even future medical procedures.

The last surgery I ever want to go through in my life is a breast removal surgery for more comfort in my skin. I'm a transmasc, and while my dysphoria isn't BAD, I'm still grossed out by my chest, and I wear binders and tight sports bras every time I go out - tight sports bras being for more physically intensive outings. I never stopped compressing my chest, which I think is a good indicator that breast removal would be a positive for me. Plus, my various mental health problems could be correlated with what dysphoria I do have with the connection having never been made. So if I ever get lucky and get that surgery, there will definitely be a pause in the "getting ready for the surgery" stage so that way the buffer is ready for uploading while I recover. Whether or not I'd be able to actually use my computer and upload from the buffer, especially early on in the recovery, is a different story.

I'll probably make top surgery a Ko-fi goal if my art career starts being profitable. Which profiting off my work is the dream. Definitely overdue for pushing commissions, ko-fi, and my shop again soon. It's just so hard finding the balance between actual content and pushing the self-promo parts, especially since algorithms hate the self-promos. I want to do it offline as well (going to vendor markets and such), but I need a part-time job to fund that. Which...the job market is a mess.

But yeah, no Wonders of Earth this week. There will be one next week one way or another. Feel free to message me if you want to know more about the ways to support me and pay for what I do.

I might be good enough for doing my Wednesday Minecraft stream, though. I'll see how I feel tomorrow. So, expect a profile post going over the streaming stuff soon.

Just know that if you ever get surgery, depression, or other things that could interrupt your life: PITCH will always be there to cheer you up and show you how great things are. Even if it's not in the form of a new wonder, older issues will always be available. I'll likely compile the series into a PDF once it's finished and sell digital copies for a small amount of money. So that way, there will always be easy access even if all the websites it's on is shut down.

But right now, the best way to access old issues is through Pixiv (save for the Music wonder due to it being a playlist - PITCH's playlist in universe. But I'll happy give the link to the playlist to anyone who asks for it.) Pixiv just has a good comic categorization system where you can click on someone's series, and it'll show you the releases without having to sort through other posts to dig the issue you want up.

This is the Wonders of Earth Pixiv page: "Wonders of Earth "/"Echo Dextive" Series [pixiv]

[literaticat]

Do you have any guesses as to how the writer—agent—editor pipeline will change in the coming years as we continue to recover from the pandemic?

What I mean is, I heard that there were a lot of books being queried after lockdown…and so a lot more new agents got into the business and also existing agents started subbing a lot more books ….and editors are inundated and burning out.

Do you think numbers will stabilize and if so, how? (are they ALREADY stabilizing?) (or is my understanding completely wrong and that isn’t what happened?)

That is all true, and no, I don't have any idea as to what will happen.

I HOPE that people buy more books, and the publishers use those astonishing profits to hire more editors and work on retaining the ones they have with raises, benefits and a better support system. Then because of the demand for more books, the publishers will want to PUBLISH more books, and the editors won't burn out because there will be enough of them and they'll be cared for, and the agents can continue to sell them books, so the agents won't die of starvation or quit or go insane, and the authors will all be happy clams living their best lives.

If the economy completely tanks and people buy FEWER books -- uhhh. There will be layoffs, more people will leave, and we'll all be unhappy clams chewing on sand.

So, you know. Don't forget to support your favorite bookstores, and vote in your local elections including GIVING MORE FUNDING TO LIBRARIES!!! Because yes, libraries buying books does count, and if readers can't afford to BUY books, at least they can check them out from the library.

*god this was depressing*

*hides in clam shell*

[ilhoonftw]

the biggest misconception re that one idol dating scandal is 'they were kicked out bc of dating' one day after the company denied a dating rumour (a solution that benefited the company and ensured the stream profits will continue) they called journalists in secret without the company knowing and confirmed what was previously denied. and that's what caused the rift. 99% of entertainment management contracts have a clause that basically states party a can't make public statements without party b knowing and vice versa. stuff like that can result in a lawsuit and considering that thing caused investors to back off from putting money in that group's overseas tour ... yea. in a sense the fact it took the company months to come up with a decision was most likely due to them assesing the scale of financial damage but ulimately dropping the lawsuit and letting them go, without pulling sm aka blacklisting. dating was never forbidden, as it was openly stated in various press releases and interviews, various talents signed to that compant dated publicly. said company is controlled by its major shareholder, the ceo is just a tool. right from the start each major shareholder was always a company interested in making the most money while investing very little in the signed artists. inside the company there are at least 3 factions that constantly are in conflict with one another. faction a might favor certain group of signed talents, causing internal pressure that might result in cutting funds or even phasing out talents connected to faction b. whatever fans felt was always irrelevant and the company's largest shareholder ultimate decision was always based on 'what benefits US what will ensure a stable source of income?'. persuading investors to maybe consider investing in their newer act that was lucky enough to score a major hit right as they started, and promise nothing like that pr crisis with that other group won't happen to them

[wizard-spider-man]

The Worst of Days

The Wizard Spider-Man lands at the rooftop, awaiting the meeting of a mysterious messenger, a man who is up on the roof already. The letter said it "was from a friend to the city to a friend in need" but provided only a meeting place.

"You're late Spidey. Frost doesn't like it when people are late. I'm guessing you are here because you heard the boss man could get you that lease for WISH's new headquarters."

*He scratches his neck, nervously before responding.*

"Sorry I'm late. Old Lady needed directions, and there was a robbery on 3rd street..."

*There was a silence. Spidey didn't seem to crack any enthusiasm or sympathy from the Agent on the rooftop.*

"So...I appreciate the generosity, we need all the help we can get. I am definitely here to talk."

The WISH Shelter had recently announced a need for fundraising, and for additional building space. It was no secret; they were overwhelmed with the many crises hitting Undercity at once. There wasn't enough man power or space to help the public. They needed another building.

*The Wizard Spider-Man takes a more confident stance.*

"I would like to know more about this generous Boss of yours. Gotta be thorough with these things, I'm sure you get it."

*Never shake hands blind, or something...*

*The Agent seems to snicker.*

"Oh l'm not telling you anything about Frost."

"He's a mystery even to us. He's just a voice on the screen to us."

"All you need to know is he wants to help."

*Red flags.*

The Agent continues...

"Now tell me why should Frost give you the lease. Why not one of gang leaders or maybe the guards?

What's in it for Frost?"

What's in it for Frost? Was the satisfaction of funding a shelter for the needy not good enough?

*Spidey frowns under the mask.*

"I'll be straight with you, I prefer to meet people on common ground, so, we're already off on to an odd start. And the secrecy? Well, the lease is for a Shelter."

"Specifically a Headquarters for a network of shelters."

"All very up and up, public arrangements."

"I'm not sure what 'Frost' is looking for out of this. He should give the lease to W.I.S.H. out of the kindness of his heart. That would be the right thing to do."

Spidey expresses his stance, there was nothing to hide about WISH, or its goals.

"He wants to help, but if he's in it for anything, there's not much to be said there. We're not doing this for profits, or economic status. We're not doing this for clout or for brownies."

"We're trying to help people. Undercity needs to be supported by a community that cares for it. Unifying Aselfaeia under a common cause is the long term goal of this dream."

*Spidey shifts his weight.*

"That begs to question, what does Frost want from us?"

The Agent crosses his arms, leaning against the wall.

"Ah but that's just it? Frost doesn't care about money, no no, he cares about a much more valuable commodity...Frost deals in favors and knowledge."

Spidey's frown didn't cease. Favors were for friends. Knowledge... knowledge was power, and power was not to be given away lightly... not without fair exchange.

The Agent continues,

"For instance, the guards offered to turn a blind eye.

The gangs had some interesting deals as well. Some offered blades in the night, others offered goods, others offered knowledge and still others offered their lawyers that the gang leaders use...."

"So tell me...Spider-Man...what can you give?"

No, no. The Wizard Spider-Man doesn't sell secrets. Certainly won't give them away, either.

"I don't get your angle, friend. I don't really sense a lot of altruism coming from your boss. If you want to help us, help us, cause we need it."

He could read the writing on the wall. Whoever this Agent was working for, there was an air of disadvantage that Spidey couldn't shake.

He thought for a moment, making a decision.

"You know, here. Take this back. I didn't think these coins came with an asterisk."

It was a painful choice, but Spidey summoned the bag of platinum coins; at least a months downpayment on the office complex, and dropped it on the ground in front of the Agent.

"I don't feel right taking this money, and I don't feel right about your boss. Our goals are common, but I suspect our motives are entirely different."

He turns, firing a webline across the buildings.

"Tell your boss, generosity doesn't come with a price. You help people because it's the right thing to do, not because you want something in return."

"Nice to meet you Agent. See ya."

Favors and knowledge. He would ponder what that meant until...smoke towards....

*"Is that 7th?"*

He throws another line, yanking himself forward with an aggressive thrust. Using both arms, Spidey launches himself from rooftop to rooftop with increasing pace, and panic.

His heart sinks as he approaches the familiar landmark.

The Wizard Spider-Man's eyes widened at the sight that met him.

W.I.S.H. was in flames, towering pillars of fire consuming the once-thriving building.

Suddenly Spidey wished he kept the coins, maybe humored the Frost guys secret seeking some more. This was a real setback, probably the worst day he had faced in a while.

He scans the building and its surroundings. People were gathered around the perimeter, witnessinf the spectacle with mixed emotion.

Spider-Man leaps to the ground.

"Is anyone still inside the building?" he asked.

"No." replied one of the onlookers. "We're all safe, but what can we do now? Who would have done this?"

Spider-Man exhaled deeply. "I don't know," he confessed.

Angry determination pushed him forward toward the flame "But I won't stop until I figure it out. Right now, I'm going to put out this fire."

With a flowing, circular motion, he conjured runes through the air. The wizard lifted his hands, summoning a torrential cloud above the smoldering wreckage. The water cascaded down, extinguishing the remaining flames in a shower of smoke and steam.

All that remained was a blackened shell of the once-thriving W.I.S.H. shelter building.

He would spend the night with the cleanup crews, meeting with the WISH faculty, giving hugs and condolences.

It would be revealed later that one of the shelter dogs, Harpy, was lost in the fire. The only casualty, but the pain of her loss would hurt the children that met her at WISH.

When Spider-Man carefully returned to his home in secret, a chill ran down his spine upon closing the front door.

That bag of platinum sat neatly on his desk, with a new note.

"Rejected Gifts are not taken lightly. We know where you live."

Keeping his mask on, Spider-Man would pack up in a palantir, and move. Anywhere but here.

[nonfer]

"how would the President explain it?"

screenshots above taken circa 7-27-24

"- continues its strong showing at the box office."

"i don't think we need to see that."

[ tumblr's autofill meets all expectations today though. ]

"sounds like you enjoyed it, mr. President."

"i love this movie."

selfish bastard ||| 2:17.1 - 2:41.9

easily bet even this won't last:

audience hating cbs gets this from what used to be viacom? wouldn't give the video above long enough to promote the show anymore than they would quit taking down the following:

who are the role models for an unsuccessful practice of aggressively attacking fans of their content? maybe that's just dumb enough to be good enough for government work.

elected officials are a minority of all government personnel, appointed and elected, who really don't seem reliable either. we can't all work for the government. that doesn't make the majority of people within america's jurisdiction responsible for crimes committed by a failed and flailing government. think they'll ever try to change?

looking and seeing any of the complicit officials appear with no remorse visible, yet quite proud to talk... hey, is that a role model? seriously, how is anyone supposed to explain why a can of soda costs what it does without referencing how the white collar crime that our government persists in occupies so much of its time. it explains educationally bankrupt colleges and universities. why educate when it's just easier to pay the bills without doing so. meanwhile, why respect the rights of students to their intellectual property when that's easily violated without any real, legal concern. it explains uninformative, political groups allowed as non profits. it explains no legal recourse available to protect investors, private and public, from thousands of embezzling (upper management) 'executives'. not last, it explains fraud or worse by those government employed or just government funded groups with only pretentions to law enforcement.

bunch of nixon apologists, with no concern for consequences, won't think twice violating anyone's rights. what it looks like without a law abiding President for over fifty years. 'extra judicial' killings aren't anymore legal than either torturing the incarcerated or conspiring to obstruct accountability for crimes.

worst part? they are all embarrassingly bad at being criminal. somehow that feels more offensive than having a devalued currency as a persistent consequence. trying to "cover it up" is a twofer: one for confessing and two for further criminal liability.

[ 'they' told you it was okay? well, 'they' were wrong. you're guilty. you didn't have to tell everyone. shut. the. fuck. up. 'they' won't ever be as accountable as you've made yourself by accepting responsibilities you have never bothered to attempt to comprehend. i am not responsible for either 'their' words and actions or for yours. ]

nonfer

if you're in a slasher flick? lowest common denominator movie franchise the purge becomes a tv show. notice that hollywood thinking it might just sell doesn't get a puzzled look but gets a green light.

[ammyamarant]

It's so frustrating to see people comment on American politics because I know they either live out of America, live in a very liberal area and don't interact with people on the right often, or are Republican plants trying to split the Democrat votes.

We don't have a significant third party here. There are people on the ballot who aren't running as either big party, but they often do not make enough of a splash to create a significant presence.

I live in a very red state and have for over 30 years. I have heard Republicans absolutely trash their candidates, hate them immensely, and still vote for them despite there being another right wing candidate that matches what they want better.

It's not because they have a "vote red no matter what" state of mind.

It's because they are labeled as traitors if they break away from their party.

Republicans are actively punished by their own community for not being loyal to the party.

I get it. Biden's support and funding of the Palestinian genocide is repugnant and unforgivable. If we had a different voting system and a significant third party I would encourage people not to support him. There needs to be a ceasefire, and we need the government leaders to get behind stopping this genocide.

But has anyone urging people to vote third party actually seen what the 2020 election voting breakdown looks like? It's scarily close to 50-50. 47% Trump, 51% Biden. Biden only won by 4%.

If 4% of leftist voters decide to vote for a third party candidate that isn't going to fund a genocide, Republicans win. Because Republicans are built around party loyalty and vote for Republican candidates because voting for anyone else is betraying their party and they will be actively punished for not falling in line.

I live in a red state. This is everything I have personally witnessed.

We cannot have a meaningful third party vote here until we undo the cultish mentality of the Republicans.

And urging people to not vote or vote for a different left candidate will just let that mentality win.

And if you think Trump will put a stop to the genocide happening you better think again because he's in financial trouble after losing his court cases and supporting shit like this is profitable.

I'll take the guy who is trying to make his own country better and has started to be swayed by the outcry of his reprehensible support of Israel over someone who only thinks of himself and will gleefully continue the horrific genocide to line his own pockets.

If the Republicans weren't like this I'd urge third party as well. If we could split the Republican vote as well, I'd encourage voting for someone who actually will make a stand against Israel.

But we can't.

SO DON'T SPLIT THE DEMOCRAT VOTE.

BECAUSE THE REPUBLICANS WON'T.

[mrdanielwill0]

Daniel Will's Take on Charlie Munger's Strategies

As Warren Buffett's partner and a close friend known for his insightful remarks, Charlie Munger is an undisputed investment master. Buffett himself once praised Charlie Munger by saying, "Charlie pushed me in a different direction, the power of his thinking expanded my horizons. I evolved from an ape to a human at an extraordinary speed, or else I would be much poorer now." As an exceptional investment master, how does Charlie Munger navigate through market downturns?

How Investment Masters Deal with Market Crashes

"If you live long enough, sometimes you won't need to chase investment trends." This statement is attributed to Munger during the late 20th century when Wesco Financial stocks under Berkshire Hathaway experienced a significant decline.

Munger has encountered four major bear markets throughout his investment career, with the most severe occurring in 1973-1974. During the "Nifty Fifty" market, where the market granted a high valuation premium to a group of leading companies with moderate growth but strong profit stability, Munger had 61% of his funds invested in blue-chip, stamp-worthy companies. Following the collapse of the "Nifty Fifty," which led to a maximum 48% decline in the S&P 500 index, Munger incurred losses of 31.9% and 31.5% in the respective two years. In that worst bear market since the Great Depression, this portfolio inflicted serious damage on his investment portfolio.

The second occurrence was during the third oil crisis in 1990. With the Middle East region in continued turmoil, the U.S. stock market experienced a significant downturn. Berkshire Hathaway's stock price dropped from $8,625 per share at the beginning of the year to $5,600 in October, marking a 35% decline. Despite this, Berkshire Hathaway displayed optimism, as articulated in that year's shareholder letter: "The primary reason for the depressed stock prices is pessimism, sometimes widespread and at other times limited to specific industries or companies. We look forward to doing business in such an environment, not because we are naturally pessimistic, but because it allows us to acquire more good companies at favorable prices."

Another factor that sets Munger apart from most of us ordinary individuals is that he is never enticed by investments outside his circle of competence. He once stated, "We have three baskets: in, out, and too tough. We have to have a special insight, that we think is not generally true or obtainable by the average investor, into a business where we think we have a competitive advantage." Investors should heed his advice: "If an investment is too difficult to understand, we pass on it and go on to the next. After all, there are a lot of things that are easier." This mindset enabled him to steer clear of the bursting of the dot-com bubble from 2000 to 2002. During that period, the S&P 500 plummeted by 40%, with a maximum decline of 49%. Munger and Buffett, facing the irrational exuberance of the internet bubble in 1999, refrained from investing in internet stocks. They referred to it as an "irrational boom." Following the burst of the internet bubble, Munger and Buffett avoided substantial losses by adhering to their investment principles focused on the intrinsic value of companies rather than market prices.

In the pessimistic market of 2008 during the subprime mortgage crisis, Buffett published "Buy American. I Am." Five months later, the U.S. stock market began to rebound, marking the start of a decade-long bull market. Buffett and Munger emphasized the importance of emotional stability at the subsequent year's shareholder meeting, highlighting that investors should use the market rather than be used by it.

Based on historical experience, my approach to downturns primarily relies on:

1. Avoiding speculative sectors; staying away from crowded places.

2. Emphasizing solid fundamental companies; focusing on the value of the company.

3. Maintaining a positive mindset when facing the future; selling high and buying low.

One of the best lessons investors can learn from past history is that there is no good time without bad times. In a prolonged investment journey, there often exists significant short-term losses during certain phases. If you cannot accept short-term losses, it becomes challenging to reap long-term market returns.

"If you cannot calmly navigate through two or three market declines of over 50% within a century, you are not suited for investing. In comparison to investors who can rationally handle market fluctuations, your investment returns are likely to be relatively mediocre."

"Maintain a positive mindset and use leverage cautiously. In my view, the greatest risk in investing in the stock market is not the fluctuation of prices but whether there will be permanent losses in the future. In fact, those prepared to buy stocks should anticipate price declines because as market volatility increases, there is a greater chance of encountering exceptionally low prices in some good companies."

Regarding leverage, Munger advises that most people should avoid using it:

While leverage can magnify gains during market upswings, it can also amplify losses during market downturns, potentially leading to the complete depletion of capital. Financial leverage increases the risk and uncertainty of investments, and prudent investing should be based on rational analysis and risk control. He suggests that investors should focus on growing intrinsic value rather than relying on external borrowing to ensure long-term wealth accumulation and capital safety.

After all, "No one wants to get rich twice."

Investing is a matter of choices, and, of course, it is also about how to face changes with what kind of attitude after making those choices. Munger believes that, "Many people with high IQs are terrible investors because of their character flaws. I think excellent character is more important than the brain; you must strictly control those irrational emotions. You need calmness, discipline, be indifferent to losses and misfortunes, and, likewise, not be intoxicated by excessive joy."

Therefore, restricting investments to alternative projects that are simple and easily understandable for oneself, while continuing to pursue wisdom and patience in the unpredictable market, becomes particularly crucial. During market downturns, focusing on assets with sufficiently high safety margins, using leverage cautiously, closely tracking fundamentals, and persisting through bull and bear markets will eventually lead to success.

[pattywagon2go]

Transit Talk Thursday

Transit Talk Thursday: If you’ve been around the transit space as much as I have, one common “criticism” that is lobbed at transit (especially trains) is “But the train doesn’t make a profit!” with the response from transit advocates being “It doesn’t have to make a profit”. But for someone not within the transit space, that sounds a little counterintuitive. "Why shouldn't transit make money?", you may ask. And that's a good question. I mean, why shouldn't it make money? Who doesn't like making some extra money, especially if the profit helps with a public service?

Before I explain why transit doesn't always make a net profit, I want to attempt to understand the argument of "Transit has to make a profit" so many people keep yakking about. As far as I can tell, the argument stems from how transit is almost always going to be a government owned and operated type of deal. There are exceptions, but that's out of the scope of this post. Anyway, in any place where capitalism is the main economic policy, there tends to be a desire to run the government as a private business, where it turns a net profit. And to turn a net profit, you have to, well, turn a profit through something you're providing, i.e. transit. Now, I won't get into the minefield of how government spending works, since I am not an economics guy, evident through how I have a life, but so far, this sounds simple enough. Just make the trains make money! How hard can it be?

Well if it were easy, this post wouldn't exist then, lol.

Note that this next section will be focusing on trains, but transit buses largely work the same way.

As many of you will be aware, trains cost money to ride. And on the surface, it may seem like it would be easy to just use the money you get from fares to fund the trains. And whatever leftover you have, you keep as profit. And in some instances, yes, you can indeed turn a profit from just fares. But that's not always going to be the case.

Obvious statement ahead, but everything in this world will have a cost. And with trains, that's no exception. Running a train from one destination to another will cost a certain amount of money to do so, such as the crew paid on the train, to maybe the fuel required to run said train. So if you want to turn a profit from fares alone, you're going to need riders for your train. But what if you don't have enough riders for a train to make running it profitable? You could just not run the train, but that leaves a lot of people without a connection from A to B, some of which won't have another option beyond the train. Okay, so if we can't cancel the train, how can we turn a profit? You only really have one option for that, and it will be to raise the fare price. If you raise the price of the fare, then hey, problem solved, right?

Not exactly.

This is going to be another obvious statement, but people don't like paying a lot for something. They would ideally want to pay as little as possible. So if we were to raise the price of our fares to cover for the trains we want to run, then this can easily turn some people away. Some may not want to pay over a certain amount for the train, no matter whether they need it or not. And then suddenly, we can't make a profit anymore! So what do we do now? We could raise the fare price again, but then more people won't be willing to pay. This continues until the fare is so expensive that no one wants to pay. Now we'll never make a profit at this point.

So raising prices to cover for the train isn't going to work, now what? Surely there's going to be another way, right?

Well, there might.

Let's say that the train already has enough people to be profitable on any journey it takes. Hooray! We don't have to raise the fare price now! This must truly be the best of times!

And indeed they are, but nothing in this world is perfect. What happens when ridership slouches? Then you're stuck in the death spiral I just described before. And you can never predict when ridership can slouch. It can either come from something like a network shutdown, to even something that just forces people away, like what happened with Covid.

Now, I'm not going to be stupid and say that transit flat-out can't make a profit, because it sure as hell can. Brightline is a big example of this, where its a private company that runs trains. Yet, how isn't it bankrupt? The answer is simple: Real estate.

Brightline's main revenue stream isn't from train fares. Rather, it's from real estate investments around their stations, as Brightline is owned by a real estate company. So in theory, this is the way to go, right?

Unfortunately, people who say "the train must make a profit!!!!!!!" will unanimously freak out if a government run service tried this business model, so good luck trying to appease them. And even so, this strategy really only works regarding land around a station, which is something a government owned service can do anyway. So what Brightline offers is something that can already be provided by a traditional public service.

And I might as well say it now, but there's a big layer of hypocrisy to this whole transit profitability argument when the same people who say that use these gigantic toll free highways which very damn well are NOT making a profit, let alone any money to begin with. But, y'know, let's not talk about that and instead just throw flack at transit for not making any money.

In conclusion, I just don't understand this argument about transit needing to make a profit. At it's core, it's going to be god near impossible to have them make some kind of extra dough, and even so, why should we be trying to extract money from a public service to begin with? It's a public service people, not some product you buy at the store! Oh and also, if you're gonna say transit should make a profit, also say the same thing for the goddamn highways! Those aren't nearly close enough to making a profit, yet you don't seem to give a shit about that! What gives?!

Sigh.

At the end of the day, transit is meant to help people get around, not hurt them by bleeding their wallets dry. Leave that for cars instead, please. Thank you.

[screampotato]

I feel we are now backed into a corner with respect to funding the internet. It's clear that now that investment bros are no longer willing to pour money into random tech companies as if they were buying beanie babies, we are going to eventually have to pay subscriptions or something.

However, in the attempt to stave this off, companies have increasingly been finding more ways to squeeze money out of us via egregious advertising, Orwellian tracking and flogging our personal data to the highest bidder, and now all sorts of weird unethical AI shenanigans.

So the problem I, as a web punter, have, is that I know I'm going to have to pay for what I use sooner or later, but all the companies I might pay have long since proven themselves about as trustworthy as Sweeney Todd. I see no reason at all to believe that if I pay them money for their service, that they won't happily take that, and then continue making pies out of me as well. After all, the pies are very profitable, why would they give them up?

This is why I have never signed up for YouTube Premium, despite being driven nuts by their advertising. Because I don't trust them for a moment not to keep misusing my data, and to wait until enough people are subscribing, and then bring the ads back, or dream up something worse.

People in charge of big companies tend to value trust at nought, but it matters. And for the most part, it's gone. And we don't give our money to people we don't trust.

[colleendsxmbryn]

4th and FINAL BLOG

After our lecture series, we dived into preparing for our demo day and pitching! It is an event wherein each section under GEE 16 are going to present their best team to compete for a pitching. The chosen teams are different business proposal that were merged together and their business proposal aims to provide a safe space for people to concentrate, hold a private meeting, and especially to study. There is also a mini cafe, so that the costumers could also have a drink or snacks while staying in Casa Quillo. In terms of studying, Casa Quillo also provides tutor services to the students who are having a hard time studying. So, in short Casa Quillo is like a haven for studying. In order to prepare for the demo day, the whole section worked hand in hand so that Casa Quillo will be a success. Other groups prepared for the promotional video, while the other groups prepared for the pitch deck and other more important things. It was a challenging one, as we we're kinda pressured cause we will be competing with higher years too, and also with other colleges that are focused on business. Still, we did our very best to show good results at the demo day. It was an amazing day, cause we we're given an opportunity to listen to many interesting startups. We were able to valuable experience as we dived into their ideas and ways of presenting their startups. After the pitch, one of the judges gave a comment that needs to be remembered.  He said that as a startup, we should start small, we shouldn't dive into a business that is too demanding. Casa Quillo was a lot, it had a lot of elements like the cafe, study services and also a study area. It was an eyeopener, as a week before our pitch, I learned about MVP, the term "minimum viable product," or "MVP," refers to a product with just enough features to draw early adopters and verify a product concept. Though our startup could draw customers, we confirmed it by validating, it was not an MVP, it was like the final phase of a business. I realized that we could have started small, like we could only focus on the tutoring services first, and if it succeeded, then we could slowly upgrade into a study area, in the end, we didn't make it to top 10. Well, it's fine since it was still a blast. I've learned a few other thing as well. For example, I now know that when creating a pitch deck, we should concentrate more on the main features of the product and save the specifics for later because it is very limited and if you include the specifics, you won't be able to finish your pitching. Additionally, you should make sure that your revenue exceeds both your fixed and variable costssince if you can't turn a profit, your business isn't actually a business.

It’ been a journey and I couldn’t trade my experiences and learnings in GEE 16 all thanks to our instructor, Ms. Shigella Hebra. Starting from the day we were tasked to think of a business proposal that could be the solutions to a problem and that could help secure funding, partnerships, and new clients up until to the final pitching is a very great experience. Throughout the time, where me and my groupmates share unique ideas, skills and talents, validations, having a little problem making our business proposal, and all necessary things we have to do to makes us do well and improve. Also, I’ve learned that business is not easy, there are so many things to consider, and it won’t be that simple and the flow won’t be so smooth. There are no easy success, trials and failures will come but with good planning, and being tenacious, you will be achieving the result even better than what you are expecting. Moreover, in business, we should learn from our failures and mistakes. "Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field." — Denis Waitley

This won’t be the end, but it’s an another start for a new beginning! Until next time!