Hi ,I hope you had a great weekend! Thank you so much to those who completed the online survey and provided feedback, it was great to get some information from you all to help me work through and improve the format of the newsletter! I'm late for this one, and some feedback suggested I send this a different day and/or time, I'm not sure, we'll see.I started this newsletter with long stories because it was different than collections of links that can be found in many different email newsletters, and more to the point so that I had a weekly commitment to write and deliver a piece via email, with the intention of regular practice to improve my writing. I replaced this with links nearly a year ago, and my blurbs alongside. I'm still working through formats but getting closer, consider this a draft for the new format. I might also add a written piece but not as long as I used to write.I'm trying this simple idea: two or three stories and why I think they're interesting separately, and possibly even more interesting considered together.I hope you enjoy! You can always share feedback or just say hi by hitting the reply button!CheersWillem

 Weekly Combo Two or three flavours, interesting separately, fascinating together 

How Glossier Hacked Social Media to Build a Cult-like Following (Entrepreneur)I didn't know anything about Glossier before reading this, a recent beauty products company growing like crazy and disrupting the $428 billion beauty industry with a rage of 24 products ranging from $12 to $35. The founder was a blogger in the beauty beforehand, her insights drove her to launch a business based on what women want and need for their beauty regimen, rather than the needs of an industry, and its success is hugely tied to social media.What it costs to run an independent video game store (Polygon)A lot of nostalgia and beautiful photography in this piece. Of course I love games so it's interesting to see how this all works, and many shops are being closed, squeezed by retail costs and more games being downloaded directly online. On the other hand, where they succeed is with used games and consoles, and older gaming consoles are becoming popular again. I wonder if this retro gaming trend will vastly increase when Ready Player One comes out in the cinema.I'm not sure whether opportunities for disruption here might be around making independent video game shops into more community spaces for gaming, or perhaps larger area ripe for change in the way the large gaming development shops operate Some of that is being changed with independent game developers, maybe there's an opportunity to somehow link independent game shops with independent game creators? In any case for both Glossier and indie game shops, social media seems to be the glue holding them together.Photographer Shoots Formula 1 with a 104 Year-Old Camera (Into Our World)A beautiful blend of classic and modern. Thinking of the previous piece and the number of older gaming platforms indie game shops are stocking, I wonder what can be done with them in a more artistic fashion than adding HDMI inputs? What classic something of the beauty industry might be used to inspire the next line of Glossier products, or the next disruptor in an entirely different industry? "Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?"Enjoy the eclipse tomorrow for those close by!!