Community | University 

Sept 15, 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. Building an Application That Actually Delivers Value: Lessons from our GrowthOS
   (GrowthOS proves that retention isn’t about ‘more’ it’s about ‘must-have)

2. Rolling Stone owner Penske Media sues Google over AI summaries
   (Publishers vs. AI is heating up.)

3. AI Transforms SEO: Backlinks Essential for Authority
   (Authority isn’t a metric, it’s the multiplier)

The Growth joke of the day

Launched a campaign Friday at 5 PM…
Now I call it weekend remarketing. 😂

What's New in Growth Hacking/Growth Marketing?

Strategies

• AI Model Switching Becoming Common Among Startups

  Startups are increasingly treating foundation AI models as interchangeable commodities, refocusing efforts on product design and customer growth  a notable shift affecting digital growth strategies.

• Why Klarna’s Formerly Flashy Marketing Might Seem ‘More Boring’

  The Swedish payments provider Klarna once sought the likes of entrepreneur and heiress Paris Hilton and rapper A$AP Rocky for flashy campaigns to grab consumer attention. The newly public company these days makes a far more understated pitch, trying to position itself as a utility.

• Researchers warn VoidProxy phishing platform can bypass MFA

  A sophisticated phishing-as-a-service operation has been targeting Google and Microsoft accounts and can bypass traditional defense mechanisms, including multifactor authentication, researchers at Okta Threat Intelligence warned in a blog post on Thursday.

• OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor says we’re in an AI bubble (but that’s okay)

  Bret Taylor, board chair at OpenAI and CEO of AI agent startup Sierra, was asked in a recent interview with The Verge whether he agreed with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s declaration that “someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money in AI.”

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People

• Karen Hao on the Empire of AI, AGI evangelists, and the cost of belief

  At the center of every empire is an ideology, a belief system that propels the system forward and justifies expansion – even if the cost of that expansion directly defies the ideology’s stated mission.

Get Ready for our Upcoming Webinar!

This Isn’t Just a Webinar. It’s Your Viral Growth Blueprint

Join Theodore Moulos, CEO of GrowthRocks, for “The Art and Science of Viral Marketing”, where every tactic in your marketing stack gets rewritten with shareable growth in mind. No fluff just actionable frameworks, psychological triggers, and classic virality mechanics you can test today.

📅 SEPTEMBER 18, 2025

🕛 9AM PT - 12PM ET - 5PM GMT

📣 LIVE WEBINAR

Join us and walk away with the tools, tactics, and mindset to make your next campaign impossible to ignore.

What's New in Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

• xAI reportedly lays off 500 workers from data annotation team

  These emails reportedly announce an immediate “strategic pivot,” with the company deciding to  “accelerate the expansion and prioritization of our specialist AI tutors, while scaling back our focus on general AI tutor roles.”

• Mercor has its moment in the AI data race

  Leading AI labs like OpenAI and Google DeepMind cut ties with Scale AI after Meta invested $14 billion in the data vendor and hired its CEO.

You’re invited to the world's largest email marketing conference.

Become an email marketing guru at the GURU conference. It’s two days full of all things email marketing. Learn more about newsletters. deliverability, design trends, AI, and what NOT to do with email.

What you can expect:

• Keynote Speakers: Nicole Kidman, Amy Porterfield & more!

• The latest digital trends in email marketing & how to increase performance.

• Networking opportunities - each day!

• Dj’s, dance contests (judged by Lance Bass, yes for real), breaking world records & MORE!

Spots are limited. It’s VIRTUAL. It’s FREE. It’s time to become an email marketing GURU. Join 25,000+ marketers on November 6th & 7th. Don’t miss out!

YES! I want to register!