🐶 Goop for woof

Plus: The power of used vapes, wonky Wikipedia, and more.

Share The Hustle: https://thehustle.co/join?ref=7598767985 Check your referral progress & prizes here 👋  Good morning. We hope someone recognizes you as the star that you are today. It certainly happened for Parmigiano Reggiano — yes, the cheese — which just signed with United Talent Agency to further its fame and land more film and TV product placements. A wheel of cheese getting its big break before you, right as you gear up to defend your acting career to the family at Thanksgiving? Now that's just unfair. STARTING UP Spring cleaning just got even more rewarding  ❌  The problem: Millions of metric tons of textile waste is generated globally every year, and many recycling programs won't accept textiles or small electronics — two common household items that need tossing.  💡  The pitch: Trashie (a clever startup name and not a dig at your outfit) sells "take-back bags" that let customers send in used clothing, bedsheets, and other textiles, as well as small electronics. Trashie sorts items, donates what's still usable, and processes the rest through certified recycling partners, per Wired. In exchange, customers earn TrashieCash that they can redeem for discounts at retail brands, so they can actually replace those old, ratty sheets. 🚀  The outlook: While this is great news for the iPod Shuffle burning a hole in your bedside table, it's also, hopefully, good news for the planet. And a sign of increased demand for personal recycling services: the waste recycling market was valued at $65B in 2024 and is projected to top $109B by 2033. What's that saying about one man's trash…? NEWS FLASH   Caffeine for ladies: Monster Beverage Corp. will launch Flrt, an energy drink line geared toward women, in early 2026. It'll come in flavors like "guava lava" and "strawberry fling" with ingredients that support skin and hair health, and perhaps it'll go better than the time Bic tried to launch pens for women. Litigation, schmitigation: AI music generator Suno announced a $250m Series C, bringing its valuation to $2.45B this week — a large sum for a company facing lawsuits from three major record labels that claim it trained its model on copyrighted materials. Ta-ta, mental load: Sherah, a platform that connects working moms with contractors who can tackle chores like scheduling appointments or placing orders, paused its capital raise to stay self-funded while launching its mobile app. The platform sees ~500 active monthly members and has contractors working in nine US markets. Food for thought: Max Tcheyan, co-founder of Puck, is co-founding a new media brand for all things food. It's raised ~$2.5m and will focus on personality-driven newsletters, podcasts, videos, and more in 2026.   PROMPT BETTER Shining examples of skillful commands  If you keep feeding AI questions and it keeps churning out crud, then you probably need to up the specificity.  See our AI Prompt Engineering QuickStart Guide with Tina Huang for concrete samples of bad, passable, and excellent directions, like:  Weak: "Help me learn Python." Mid: "Teach me Python data structures." Golden: "You're a senior Python instructor. Create a step-by-step learning plan for data structures, including…"  Get the guide on getting to the point. Perfect your prompts   THE BIG IDEA Beauty brands for dogs have arrived — Is anyone surprised?   Today, ~50% of American households own a dog, and according to actress/entrepreneur Cara Santana Leto, they all face one universal issue: ugly, "vibeless" pet care branding.   That's why she, along with influencer Stephanie Suganami, founded Lil Luv Dog — a luxury lifestyle brand for elevated pet grooming products, or, essentially, Goop for dogs, per The New York Times.    Launched in August, it combines "clean" beauty products for pups with upscale branding, and has already raised $1m in funding.    High-end treats and visual feasts   Unlike most pet care products currently on the market, Lil Luv Dog's branding is minimalistic, similar to those found in the beauty industry.      The company's first product is a human-grade dry shampoo that comes in two scents and is made with "clean" ingredients (there's no legal definition for what that means, but it is an effective marketing buzzword).    Priced at $26-$36, it's more expensive than standard dog shampoos (and many human shampoos). It comes in two sustainable packaging options — a compostable bamboo container and dissolvable wood-pulp packets — and is the first pet care product to receive the Environmental Working Group's stamp of approval.   Lil Luv Dog is also working on upcycled poop bags, compostable scented wipes, apple cider vinegar paw cleaner, and more.  The shampoo is available on the brand's website and at a handful of retailers, and will soon be sold at human hair salons to meet their target customers — little luxury-loving Gen Zers and millennials — where they're at.     Barking up the right tree   People spend big money on their precious little fur babies: US pet care spending is projected to hit a record $157B this year, and 54% of people think it's reasonable to buy luxury products and services for their pets.   And considering other high-end services like dog-specific airlines and hotels already exist, it only makes sense that doting pet parents have hopped on the beauty bandwagon.    Plus, Lil Luv Dog isn't the only player entering the space: Artemis, founded by former beauty editors, sells a $28 "powder-to-lather" dog wash. Biche, which makes perfume for pups, launches next year. Launched in October, Welltayl peddles a "skin barrier stick" that's safe for cats, too.    While the products might be pricier, perhaps there's an argument for cost savings — you can now share a shampoo with your dog.  🔗   HIGHLY RECOMMENDED   Finally, some career advice we want to take: Here's an argument as to why doing nothing for two weeks can actually make you better at everything.   NEWSWORTHY NUMBER How many wasted disposable vapes YouTuber Chris Doel used to build an off-grid power wall, per Futurism. In 2023, when about six vapes were being thrown out per second in the US alone, a study found that the lithium-ion batteries used in most could be recharged up to 700x. This inspired Doel to try harvesting that energy, sending him on a monthslong journey, during which he collected and tested hundreds of junked vapes he'd found on the street, in part to raise awareness of the environmental harms caused by e-waste. The result: a functional, albeit janky-looking, 50-volt battery pack with the capacity to fully power his home for eight hours, or three days when used conservatively.  If the DIY project has inspired you, just note that he tested the discarded devices using a CPAP machine, not his mouth, which would've made this a lot more gross than admirable. AROUND THE WEB 📅  On this day: In 1783, two men made the first untethered hot-air balloon flight above Paris. 🗞️  Newsletter: Join Opening Bell Daily for economic data and Wall Street analysis you won't find anywhere else. 🧠  Game: Find the missing link. 🤔  Huh: Wikipedia, but it's an alternative timeline. 🐀  Aww: That's dedication. SHOWER THOUGHT The first people to ever hook up who met online were most likely scientists. SOURCE   Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo. Editing by: Sara "Fur real?" Friedman.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Working on something big? 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