🧸 Toys talk back

Plus: Green Wednesday sales, the century's most important recipes, and more.

Share The Hustle: https://thehustle.co/join?ref=7598767985 Check your referral progress & prizes here 👋  Good morning. As you start your travels to your childhood home this weekend, might we suggest setting aside some time to rifle through the closets? Three brothers cleaning out their mother's attic found a copy of "Superman No. 1" from 1939, which just sold at auction for a record-breaking $9m+. If all you dig up is moldy macaroni art and a tri-fold poster from the 5th grade science fair, better luck next time. P.S. We have pies to eat and turkey-induced naps to take — we're off the rest of the week and will see you back here Dec. 1. STARTING UP The software company racing to future-proof our crops   ❌  The problem: Breeding new crops takes five to 10 years, but climate change has made long-term weather patterns harder to predict. Farmers need a better way to know which plants will survive the heatwaves, floods, and droughts of the future.   💡  The pitch: Munich-based NoMaze developed SmartPlot, an AI tool that simulates how different crops will perform under climate conditions, per AgTechNavigator. The tool guides breeders in choosing which varieties to bet on years in advance — saving time and, hopefully, preventing a whole lot of mistakes. 🚀  The outlook: NoMaze plans to launch a seed round (heh) early next year and expand its client roster. While SmartPlot could help stabilize crops and make development more precise, it leaves eco-conscious breeders with a difficult decision: Environmental AI models use serious computing power, which can strain energy grids and add to carbon emissions. Either way, we'll surely reap what we sow. NEWS FLASH   Hold onto your Patagonia vest: Model ML just raised $75m to continue taking busy work off junior bankers' desks. The startup is developing tech to replace more tedious tasks, like due-diligence reports and — everyone's favorite — the pitch deck.  A sunny innovation: Janta Power is using its latest seed funding to develop its 3D solar towers. The company says its unique design — swiveling towers that follow the sun and capture more energy — takes up less space and generates 50% more energy than flat solar power setups. Finally, some news on the bright side. Anyone need a party barn? Miami startup soCommercial launched to help building operators make a little scratch. They can use the platform to list and rent anything from shelf space and storage to entire buildings they're not using, short- or long-term. Per Facilities Dive, that currently includes a barn that doubles as a party space. Yee-haw. And finally, something to remind you that everyone makes mistakes: The International Association of Cryptologic Research recently held a digital election for several roles, protected by three keys held by three trustees. One lost his, leaving the codebreakers unable to decode the results. Future elections will require just two out of three decryption keys. BE MORE PRODUCTIVE How to be more productive There are times for dillying and dallying, and other times for coming up clutch. When you need yet another game winner, lock-in on work with this free productivity kit by ClickUp and HubSpot. It's filled with frameworks, templates, and tips to make you way more efficient.  Amplify your output:  Respectably work from home Maintain flow-state efficiency Visualize goals and progress (two templates) Calculate labor hours for long projects Prioritize with a PIE scoring chart Stop slackin'. Get crackin'. Get stuff done   THE BIG IDEA Cuddly and kinda creepy — AI toys are here   For readers who opened this email immediately after waking up from a five-year coma, AI is in almost everything now, and toys are no exception.   For those ready to jump right in: The smart/AI toy market is expected to grow from $2.6B to $9.7B in the next 10 years, with "screen-free" smart toys being a significant driver.   Many parents are concerned about their children's screen time, so AI-backed gadgets that can keep kids' eyes off an iPad are in high demand: Stickerbox makes a generative AI-powered device that prints stickers based on verbal prompts. Educational robot manufacturer Anki makes Cozmo, a pint-sized, mechanical buddy that teaches kids how to code.  Plenty of these toys offer harmless fun or educational benefits while raising some eyebrows over privacy and data collection, but others are a bit more troubling.    Like what?   Curio makes a line of plush toy chatbots that can learn kids' personalities, crack jokes, and have private conversations… which are all recorded, transcribed, and sent to parents.   Parents can then shape future toy-child communication, potentially turning their kid's favorite stuffed animal into a cuddly mind-control device.    That's a bridge too far for some, including a New York Times reporter who ultimately removed her Curio toy's voicebox.   Other AI-supported toys have even more outrageous problems.  FoloToy, a Chinese company, recently had to recall a teddy bear chatbot after researchers successfully prompted it to explain some not-so-G-rated topics. Ultimately, these gadgets offer a convenient solution to excessive screen time, but beg the question, "Are these toys actually better for kids?"   For now, the answer seems to be, "Who knows? We're going to see more of them, no matter what." 🔗 HIGHLY RECOMMENDED   You might be the "Excel guy" on your team, but you've likely never had hundreds of fans cheering you on while you build a spreadsheet (though you deserve to). Enter: The world of competitive Excel. NEWSWORTHY NUMBER Average jump in cannabis sales on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving — AKA "Green Wednesday" (AKA today) — compared to a typical Wednesday, based on data from Dutchie via NJBiz, making it the $30B US cannabis industry's second-biggest sales day after 4/20.    Getting stoned before dinner has become a modern Thanksgiving tradition, ignited by the widespread legalization and destigmatization of cannabis, and epitomized by a trend known as the "cousin walk" — when some family members sneakily disappear for a pre-feast smoke, or "go on a walk," only to return with ravenous appetites.  The occasion is on its way to becoming a "full-blown commercial holiday," per The Wall Street Journal, with snack companies like Jif and Taco Bell marketing to consumers with timely, munchie-inducing ads. How festive. HOW YOU HUSTLE We don't need to tell you — our readers are amazing. We wanted to dedicate some real estate to a Hustler building something big.   Who: Candace Jania What: The Formula For The elevator pitch: "I'm an herbal medicine expert who formulates topicals that work. Each Formula blend combines clinically effective natural actives with traditional Chinese herbs known to reduce pain, tension, and inflammation." The problem they're solving: "Making herbal medicine accessible to a larger audience, supporting people with natural relief, and decreasing reliance on oral medications that may not be healthy with long-term use." Origin story: "I have been practicing acupuncture and Chinese medicine for 20 years. I could not find a good topical pain reliever for my patients, so I would often recommend two to three different ones to layer. My a-ha moment was during COVID when I had a bit more time between patients. I decided to create my own pain cream that was naturally-derived, clean, and, most importantly, effective and easy to use." One truly innovative thing they're doing: "We have a proprietary way of turning an alcohol-based liniment into a light cream formula that delivers the medicinal properties of the ingredients through the skin and into the body. Advice to a fellow entrepreneur: "You will fail again and again. Get used to it. Problems always arise and perfectionism is dead. Don't give up. Become an expert on the pivot and continue forward." What are you working on? Tell us here. AROUND THE WEB 📅  On this day: In 1864, mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson sent his handwritten manuscript of Alice's Adventures Under Ground to 12-year-old Alice Liddell, the daughter of a colleague. 🧑‍🍳  That's interesting: Last year, Slate chose the 25 most important recipes of the past century. Then, Dan Kois spent a month cooking each one. 🗞️  Newsletter:  Stacked Marketer delivers carefully curated digital marketing news, tactics, and actionable advice every weekday. 🐏  Game: Herd some sheep. 😍  Aww: The Smithsonian National Zoo has a cheetah cub cam. SHOWER THOUGHT If there were high quality games made based on some of the world's most hard to solve issues, gamers would solve them or provide other solutions in less than a year. SOURCE Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Singdhi Sokpo, and Jay Fuchs. Editing by: Sara "Just toying around" Friedman.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. Working on something big? We've got a whole library of business-building resources for you. Subscribe to our other newsletters Stay up-to-date on AI: Mindstream  |  Expert insights: Masters in Marketing  |  Sell better: The Science of Scaling Follow The Hustle on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram. 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