Community | University 

Aug 22, 2025

Hello, GrowthHackers! 

Welcome to your daily unfair advantage.

Every morning, we cut through the noise to bring you sharp insights, fast news, and fresh sparks to light up your brain and fuel your hustle. From scrappy hacks to big tech moves, AI shifts to culture flips—this is your intel to stay ahead, move fast, and break boring.

Think of it as your growth-fueled espresso shot.
Short. Smart. Addictive.

Let’s dive in.👇

Quick Hits

1. Common Hosting Defenses Ineffective Against WordPress Threats
   (If your security plan is ‘hope for the best,’ you’re already hacked.)

2. YouTube Music celebrates 10 years with new features that help it compete with Spotify
   (Competition note: when platforms fight, users win.)

3. Google’s AI Mode expands globally, adds new agentic features
   (Search is no longer static. AI Mode = your new growth playground)

The Growth joke of the day

“When the budget is $100 and they want results like Apple.”

Growth hacking: turning lemonade stands into Starbucks.

What's New in Growth Hacking/Growth Marketing?

Strategies

• Google: Why Lazy Loading Can Delay Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)

  Google's Martin Splitt warns against lazy-loading hero images, which negatively impacts LCP scores—a Core Web Vital metric. He explains how that slows performance and user perception—key considerations in growth-focused technical SEO.

• Traffic is just a vanity metric until you give it a conversion strategy.

  Peter Richman outlines a conversion rate optimization (CRO) framework to help marketers turn organic traffic into revenue. He emphasizes improving UX, benchmarking, user journey mapping, code efficiency, and site speed.

• Google Quietly Announces Search Partner Network Placement Visibility

  Google enables site-level reporting for its Search Partner Network, allowing marketers to audit ad placements. This transparency improves decision-making and budget allocation in Google Ads campaigns. A long-awaited growth tool for digital marketers.

• Is petcare the next luxury opportunity?

  Founders of Lil Luv Dog use influencer-style branding and digital storytelling—borrowed from DTC beauty—for petcare. A social-first marketing approach drives brand growth through emotional resonance and aesthetics.

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  People

• Microsoft AI chief says it’s ‘dangerous’ to study AI consciousness

  AI models can respond to text, audio, and video in ways that sometimes fool people into thinking a human is behind the keyboard, but that doesn’t exactly make them conscious. It’s not like ChatGPT experiences sadness doing my tax return … right?

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What's New in Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• OpenAI announces New Delhi office as it expands footprint in India

  OpenAI has announced plans to open its first office in India, just days after launching a ChatGPT plan tailored for Indian users, as it looks to tap into the country’s rapidly growing AI market.

• Harvard dropouts to launch ‘always on’ AI smart glasses that listen and record every conversation

  Two former Harvard students are launching a pair of “always-on” AI-powered smart glasses that listen to, record, and transcribe every conversation and then display relevant information to the wearer in real time. 

Former Zillow exec targets $1.3T market

The wealthiest companies tend to target the biggest markets. For example, NVIDIA skyrocketed nearly 200% higher in the last year with the $214B AI market’s tailwind.

That’s why investors are so excited about Pacaso.

Created by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso brings co-ownership to a $1.3 trillion real estate market. And by handing keys to 2,000+ happy homeowners, they’ve made $110M+ in gross profit to date. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

No wonder the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay also invested in Pacaso. And for just $2.90/share, you can join them as an early-stage Pacaso investor today.

Invest for $2.90/Share

_{Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.}