Business Blog: 🫵 Hey, you

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👋 Good morning. While we hope that all your teeth are planted firmly in your head, we've got good news for those hiding a molar under their pillow tonight. The tooth fairy's national average gift value for a single lost tooth was $5.84 this year — a 17% increase from 2025, according to Delta Dental's annual survey. For those who held onto their childhood teeth, great (and creepy) investment: tooth fairy payouts have increased 349% since 1998.

STARTING UP

What color will your baby's eyes be?

❌ The problem: Traditional carrier screening looks for single rare mutations, but most health risks stem from many genes acting together, leaving future parents without valuable information.

💡 The pitch: Nucleus Genomics launched Preview, a test that predicts the risk of 2k rare inherited diseases and common conditions across 100 potential future children. With one cheek swab, families can get a genetic preview that includes everything from cancer and heart disease risk to eye color and IQ. (Unfortunately still no way to predict whether they'll inherit your partner's tendency to leave the cabinet doors open.)

🚀 The outlook: Nucleus, which has raised $32m+, is also expanding its IVF clinic network where it offers advanced embryo analysis and end-to-end fertility care.

NEWS FLASH

Vroom: Wayve, a UK self-driving software startup, is now worth $8.6B thanks to investments from Microsoft, Nvidia, Uber, and multiple automakers. Its software doesn't require high-def maps, just data, to train autonomous vehicles to drive, and is compatible with any sensor or chip.
A better way to dye: UK startup Sparxell, which makes dyes from wood pulp, raised a $5m Series A to scale its manufacturing capabilities, per Crunchbase. Synthetic textile dyeing accounts for 17%-20% of industrial water pollution, while Sparxell says its dyes are biodegradable and use 90% less water than traditional methods.
Not a bad idea: Scientists at the Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University are developing a more robust RSV vaccine using the blood of pediatricians, who are exposed to more respiratory viruses than most people. Testing revealed the doctors' antibodies were up to 25x better at blocking RSV than existing ones, and neutralized more strains.
A new way to be distracted: Jest, a marketplace for Rich Communication Services (RCS) games — games that run in messaging platforms — has emerged from stealth. It allows users to send games via chat, bypassing app stores. Per TechCrunch, game developers include the team behind something called "Puppy Mansion."

PM SMARTER

Stop loafing, start completing projects

"Let's get a rundown on this important project you've been working on."

Don't panic — that was practice.

But the next time we inquire, please don't be huffing and bluffing. Just pull up this project management doc, where we've already tidied up targets and tasks for everyone's convenience. Wow.

A simple, three-part PM template for:

Preplanning
Getting shit done
Analyzing afterward

Another freebie by us, for increased organization.

Project-pushing template

THE BIG IDEA

A white brunette man sits in front of a computer. There is a large red splat on the monitor and a white hand coming from the monitor making a stop signal.

Easily distracted? This AI focus tool will scold you into staying on task

If you've read this far, kudos to you — the digital world is full of distractions that constantly splinter and pull our attention away from whatever it is we should be doing.

For example, writing this took me way longer than it should have, courtesy of a Wikipedia rabbit hole I had no business going down in the middle of a workday.

What might've helped? One of the several focus and anti-distraction apps and tools that have launched in recent years with the aim of helping us reclaim our attention, an industry worth $7T+ in the US alone.

Paying (for) attention

Focus Friend, a gamified Pomodoro timer in which an animated bean motivates users to stay focused by knitting socks as they work, was named Google Play's best app of 2025. For $1.99/month, it also blocks distracting apps.
Internet-viral Brick, a $59 device and app, turns smartphones into dumbphones by restricting access to specific apps. To unblock apps, users need to tap their phone against the physical tile, which is meant to be left at home.
There's a plethora of other distraction blockers, including Freedom ($3.33+/month), Cold Turkey ($39), and Opal (~$20/month).

Despite the irony of trying to remedy a tech-born problem with more tech, many of these tools have become wildly popular and, based on user reviews, seemingly effective.

But they have their limitations, a big one being context.

That's what sets the newest entrant…

… Fomi, an $8/month, AI-powered macOS app, apart from the pack, per Wired.

Instead of outright blocking websites and apps, it asks what you're working on, then monitors and analyzes your screen to determine whether what you're doing is productive or distracting.
For example: Reddit can be distracting but Wired's Justin Pot sometimes needs it to research information. Whereas other focus apps would automatically block the site, Fomi is able to contextualize a specific thread's relevance to his work, eliminating the need to turn it off and on.
If it does catch you dillydallying, a red tomato splatters across your screen with a personalized message scolding you to stay on task — kinda like an AI helicopter parent for the attention-impaired.

There are privacy concerns, since it sends screenshots of your desktop to a cloud-based AI model — but if you need help focusing, and miss the tough love of someone keeping you in check, Fomi might be just the solution we both need.

🔗

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Is that big idea worth chasing? Before you go all in, check out these five philosophies for building successful businesses.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Share of US teens, ages 13-17, who use AI chatbots to do their schoolwork, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, including 10% who say they don't get through any or most assignments without the extra assistance.

That's up from 26% in 2024 and just 13% in 2023, signaling a growing reliance on bots that critics warn can hinder students' critical thinking skills, per The New York Times. What do teens think of that? Many will probably have to ask ChatGPT.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 1827, New Orleans held its first Mardi Gras.

🎸 That's cool: Preview tracks from artists playing soon near you.

🪨 That's interesting: The Scottish island of Easdale hosts the World Stone Skimming Championships where competitors attempt to skip a stone across water as far as they can. It's a more scientific endeavor than you might think.

🐷 Game: Build a tower.

🤿 Aww: A manta ray friend.

SHOWER THOUGHT

There's a specific point in a person's life where a beard goes from making you look older to making you look younger. SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.
Editing by: Sara "Pro procrastinator" Friedman.

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Business Blog

Friday, February 27, 2026

🫵 Hey, you — focus!