Gm. In April, Google searches for “burnout” hit an all time high according to Quartz.

Either everyone really loves doing donuts in their cars or we’re all working a little too hard.

Make sure you take some time to relax and decompress…maybe by doing donuts in your car.

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.

MERGER

Banking 🤝 Community

The digital banking startup Greenwood is buying The Gathering Spot, a nationwide membership club that acts as a networking hub and workspace for Black professionals. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Why it’s important: We’ll let Paul Judge, an entrepreneur and Greenwood board member, explain, “When you zoom out, this is an example of Black-on-Black M&A—two companies that are Black-owned, strengthening each other,” he told the WSJ.

Greenwood was started back in 2020 by media exec Ryan Glover, rapper Killer Mike, and former US ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. It currently has 30,000 account holders and more than $40 million in assets, though the founders also say they have over 800,000 customers on a wait list.

What does it want with The Gathering Spot?

Also known as TGS, The Gathering Spot says it has over 12,000 paying members from companies like Meta, Microsoft, and even the NBA. Those are valuable potential customers for Greenwood, but more than that, TGS gives Greenwood a shortcut to cultivating the ever elusive community that so many startups are after.

• Trend alert: Over the last few years, community management has evolved from a poorly understood, nice-to-have function into a key focus of many product-led companies. In other words, TGS has been able to build the community that many other companies crave, and Greenwood was the first to pounce.

Zoom out: Because media companies are often better marketing tools than they are stand-alone businesses, it’s common for SaaS companies to acquire one to bolster their top of funnel (HubSpot’s acquisition of The Hustle last year, for example). Perhaps Greenwood and The Gathering Spot are thinking along the same lines—TGS will be a differentiated marketing and customer acquisition channel for Greenwood.

TECH

The iPod is shuffling on out

The iPod has iPassed away. Yesterday, Apple announced that, after more than 20 years, it is officially discontinuing the once-revolutionary portable music player.

A quick trip down memory lane:

• 2001: Steve Jobs unveils the original iPod. It costs $399 and has 5GB of storage, enough space for 1,000 songs.

• 2005: The iPod becomes Apple’s top selling product. It would only be passed when the iPhone came out two years later in 2007.

• 2007: The iPod Touch rolls out alongside the original iPhone.

• 2019: The 7th generation iPod Touch is released. It would be the last iPod ever produced.

• 2022: Apple says it will sell the current Touch “while supplies last,” but won’t make any future models.

Bottom line: It hasn't made sense for awhile now to carry around a second device when a smartphone is more than capable of handling music duties (the point-and-shoot camera sends its regards). Thanks for the memories, iPod. You won't be missed, but you'll always be remembered.

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: Covid-19 testing has dropped by 70% to 90% worldwide from the first quarter of this year to the second quarter, according to Fortune. Experts say the rise of at-home tests (which aren’t tracked by health departments) as well as overall Covid fatigue as potential reasons for the steep drop off.

Story we’re watching: During a keynote session at an FT conference yesterday, Elon Musk said that Twitter banning Trump was “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.” He also confirmed that he would reverse Trump's Twitter ban if he completes the acquisition. Can of worms = officially opened.

Rabbit hole: A behind the scenes look into the process of creating the new Avatar font (Swell Type).

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Ryan Breslow wrote a Twitter thread reacting to a NY Times profile of Bolt that portrayed him and the company in a negative light.

• Electronic Arts is ditching the FIFA branding starting next year and calling its flagship soccer game EA Sports FC.

• Peloton stock tumbled more than 8% yesterday after it whiffed hard on Q2 earnings, bringing its 5 day losses to a whopping 30%.

• Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 million, setting a record for a modern painting.

THREE LIES AND A HEADLINE

1. “Shell announces plans to plant single tree for every irreversible planetary disaster it causes”

2. “Period tracking app adds ‘surrender to authorities’ feature”

3. “Graduation audience tears up after skeleton shows up to accept posthumous degree”

4. “‘Succession’ star glues hand to Starbucks counter in protest”

MEMERY

FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we came across that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

⭐ An essay explaining how to choose your north star metric

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 A guide to attending IRL conferences

💸 Young Money is a free newsletter about money, work, and life we’ve been enjoying recently

THREE HEADLINES ANSWER

D. Now that’s what you call…a sticky situation.

We’ll be here all week