May 2025

Most entrepreneurs are still using AI like an assistant, stuck on surface-level tools that save a few minutes here and there. But what if AI could actually run your business for you, while you sleep?

This isn’t about chatbots or repurposing content. It’s about building a lean, one-person business powered by automation, speed and smart systems.

In this video, I’m revealing seven high-leverage AI tools curated for solo entrepreneurs ready to scale without a team and finally unlock true freedom.

What you’ll learn:

• Website conversion and sales amplifier: Discover a free Google AI tool that audits your site like a conversion expert, spotting costly mistakes and giving you data-backed recommendations to boost leads and sales (no coding required).
• Hidden market insights at your fingertips: Uncover the AI research engine that reveals untapped market gaps and competitor weaknesses in seconds, without spending $200/month on bloated SEO software.
• No-code agent creation made simple: Learn how to build your own AI agents to automate client onboarding, handle admin tasks, and even make smart decisions — freeing up your time for growth and strategy.
• Instant presentation builder: Turn any blog, transcript or outline into a polished, professional deck in minutes — perfect for selling ideas, landing clients or creating lead magnets on autopilot.
• Social media intelligence extractor: Access a pre-trained AI bot that scrapes platforms for viral trends, top-performing posts, and competitor engagement data, giving you a content edge without guesswork.
• Data reporting on autopilot: Use the same AI analysis tool trusted by universities to transform raw numbers into smart, visual insights — ideal for optimizing campaigns, funnels and offers.
• The ultimate solo founder AI toolkit: Explore the “app store of AI” where you can clone voices, analyze sentiment, and plug into hundreds of advanced tools that extend what one person can achieve.

I’ll walk you through each tool step-by-step, no tech background needed. If you’re ready to build a high-performance business that works while you sleep, this video is your blueprint.

Download the free “AI Success Kit” (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from my new book, “The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.”

Emma Grede, 42, is the co-founder and CEO of denim company Good American, which did $200 million in sales in 2022, and the chief product officer and founding partner of Skims, a $4 billion shapewear brand. The serial entrepreneur, worth a reported $390 million, is also a mother of four, with an 11-year-old, an 8-year-old, and 3-year-old twins.

In a new interview with Entrepreneur, Grede disclosed that she works five days a week, in person, at the office, but still prioritizes quality time with her husband, Skims CEO Jens Grede, and four children, by setting strict schedules for her household. For example, she asks that everyone be at the breakfast table by 7:40 a.m. for a half hour of family time before school and work. And evenings are dedicated to family.

Related: Khloé Kardashian and Emma Grede Drove $200 Million In Annual Sales With Size-Inclusive Fashion Brand Good American

“I run my house like a military operation,” Grede told Entrepreneur. “It’s important for me to bring my family together, even for 30 minutes. Touching base and looking at each other is important.”

^{Emma Grede. Photo Credit: Jamie Girdler}

She also says she has “a lot of help” running her household.

“I don’t have four kids that I get to school myself in the morning,” Grede said. “I have a lot of help around me, and I rely on all of that help to get through the day… I’m not superwoman.”

Grede says while her routine is detailed, it allows her to work, spend time with her family, and still be flexible when needed.

Related: Good American CEO Emma Grede Talks Management, Navigating Outside Noise, and Why You Should Always Stick to Your Mission

“As much as I like to have my routines, when things happen, they happen, and you can’t control it,” she said. “I have to have an element of flexibility to ensure that I can get things done.”

Here’s Grede’s weekday routine — in military style:

0500 hours (5 a.m.) – Wake Up

Grede sets an alarm for 5 a.m. and either works out or uses the morning time to figure out her schedule for the day.

“I have a little quiet moment before all my kids get up,” she said.

After her workout or day planning session, Grede makes a smoothie, then wakes her kids up.

0700 hours ( 7 a.m.) Getting Ready

By 7 a.m., everyone is up and getting ready for the day. It can get chaotic.

“At 7 a.m., my house is like LAX, JFK, Heathrow,” Grede said. “It’s nuts. Everyone does their get-ready bit.”

0740 hours (7:40 a.m.) Breakfast at the table

Grede asks everyone to be at the breakfast table at “exactly 7:40” because that gives the family a half hour to sit at the table together before everyone leaves for work and school.

“Now, what state of undress they might be in, I don’t know,” Grede said. “Is your hair done? Are you moisturized? Are you ready? You know, one shoe on, I don’t care. But everybody has to be at that breakfast table.”

Grede’s family usually chooses from a buffet of breakfast items, including eggs, cereal, and yogurt.

0810 (8:10 a.m.) – Commute to the office

After breakfast, everyone leaves the house. Grede works from the office 5 days a week, stating that the nature of her role at Skims as a “product person” requires her to work from the office.

“I make physical product that has to sit on people’s bodies, so I will always be a five-day-a-week in-person person,” Grede stated.

Related: A Billionaire Founder Admits He Had ‘Horrible Habits’ — Then He Started a Morning Routine That ‘Transformed’ His Life

0900 hours (9 a.m.) to 1700 hours (5 p.m.) – Meetings

Grede says her workday consists of back-to-back meetings all day, every day.

She oversees over 150 people at Good American and around 400 staff members at Skims, and says she spends “an enormous amount of time” hiring new employees.

“I hire the right people to compensate for where I might not be particularly strong,” Grede said.

Her philosophy is to hire well, then get out of the way.

She leaves the office without fail every day at 5 p.m.

1800 hours (6 p.m.) to 2200 hours (10 p.m.) – Dinner and time with family

Grede dedicates her evenings to family. She comes home and has dinner with her husband and kids.

“I do bath time, bedtime, and a little story with the kids before they go to bed,” she said.

2200 hours (10 p.m.) – More work and bedtime

Grede will answer work emails at 10 p.m., if she has to.

“I work all the time,” she disclosed. “If there are emails to be answered at 10 p.m., there are emails to be answered at 10 p.m. I’ll be on the phone. I do whatever I have to do to get through the day.”

When I launched my podcast last fall, I saw it as more than just another platform. It was a necessary piece of a larger puzzle — filling a critical gap in how I communicate my message around personal branding and authority-building with CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors and professionals.

Let’s face it: business leaders are busy. While they may enjoy reading books, articles and blogs to stay informed and inspired, carving out time to sit down and read can be difficult. But listening? That’s another story.

Whether traveling between meetings, commuting or simply taking a break from the screen, audio (and increasingly, video) content fits seamlessly into the rhythms of a busy life. That’s one reason podcasts have become such a valuable vehicle for thought leaders who want to meet their audience where they are — and make receiving their message as convenient as possible.

Related: Why Every Entrepreneur Should Consider Starting a Podcast

Why podcasts matter now more than ever

In today’s noisy content landscape, podcasts offer something rare: an intimate, distraction-free space to connect. They allow you to speak directly into someone’s ears — literally. That level of proximity and attention is hard to replicate elsewhere.

But the power of podcasts isn’t just about ease of access. It’s about depth. Podcasts allow you to tell stories, explore ideas and share insights in a format that feels personal, unscripted and real. You’re not just delivering information — you’re building a relationship.

That’s especially important for entrepreneurs, authors and executives who want to cultivate authority. Your audience is not just looking for credentials — they’re looking for a voice they can trust. Podcasts let your voice, your tone and your personality shine through in a way that text alone can’t.

Authenticity is your advantage

The unscripted nature of a podcast helps build a stronger connection between host and listener. Over time, your audience gets to know your cadence, your humor, your quirks — and that breeds familiarity, comfort and trust.

Think about some of history’s great communicators. People felt deeply connected to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his fireside chats — not because they met him in person, but because they heard him speak directly to them in a calm, intimate setting. Similarly, Ronald Reagan’s charisma was amplified through his voice and storytelling.

Podcasting can have the same effect. It allows people to feel like they know you — even if they’ve never met you.

Guests expand your reach — and your credibility

Although solo episodes can be powerful, one of the best ways to boost the value of your podcast is by including guests. When you bring on other experts, you’re not only making the conversation more dynamic — you’re also expanding your network and credibility.

Your guest’s expertise adds weight to your show. And when they share the episode with their own audience, you get exposed to new listeners who may have never discovered you otherwise. In this way, podcasting becomes a two-way street — each person helps elevate the other.

The added bonus? A guest can help carry the conversation, making the episode more engaging and relieving some of the pressure of having to talk solo for an extended period.

Make it a conversation, not an interview

While we often use the word “interview,” the goal should be a conversation. You want the dialogue to flow naturally — not feel like a scripted Q&A. Yes, you should prepare. Yes, you should know where you want the discussion to go. But leave room for curiosity, spontaneity and surprise.

This is where the magic happens — where real insights and unexpected moments emerge. And if that means someone stumbles over their words or goes slightly off track? That’s okay. It’s real. And real is what builds connection.

An easy launch for a big impact

One of the reasons I often recommend podcasting to clients and colleagues is because it’s relatively simple to start. You don’t need a massive studio or a huge budget. In fact, many people already have the basic tools: a laptop, internet connection, a decent microphone and a quiet, well-lit space.

Video podcasts are growing in popularity, too — and if you’re already on Zoom or Teams regularly, you likely have most of the setup required. The bar to entry is low. The opportunity for growth is high.

Related: The Basics of Podcasting and How It Can Grow Your Business

Amplify your thought leadership

For authors in particular, podcasts are a perfect companion to a book. Your podcast allows you to explore topics from the book in greater detail, engage with new perspectives and keep the momentum going long after publication.

More broadly, your podcast can serve as a hub for your intellectual property — a space where you test ideas, refine your message and engage directly with your audience.

A few key questions to guide your show

As you shape your podcast, ask yourself:

• Is this insightful and fun?
• Does it reflect my personality and values?
• Will it move my audience to take meaningful action?
• Am I consistently providing unique value?

If you can answer “yes,” you’re on the right path. You’re not just creating content — you’re creating connection. You’re building a platform that supports your authority and invites others into your world.

In a world where attention is scarce, podcasts offer something different: time, trust and depth. Use it wisely — and your message will go farther than you think.

Was that Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on the screen or an AI clone?

When “buy now, pay later” fintech company Klarna reported its first-quarter financial results this week via video, it placed a realistic AI clone of Siemiatkowski, 43, front and center. The clone started the one-minute, 23-second presentation by admitting it was an “AI avatar, here to share Klarna’s Q1 2025 highlights.”

Related: ‘Not Necessarily Super Excited About This’: Klarna’s CEO Says AI Can Take Over All Jobs, Including His Own

According to Klarna’s first quarter 2025 results, the company hit 100 million active consumers in the first quarter of 2025, a new record and the fastest growth in two years. Klarna also delivered its fourth profitable quarter in a row, achieving an adjusted operating profit of $3 million. Revenue rose 15% year-over-year to $701 million for Q1, with the U.S. driving 33% of that growth.

On the call, Siemiatkowski’s likeness voiced that AI was the reason behind the company’s growth. Klarna said that 96% of its roughly 3,000 employees use AI daily, resulting in a 152% increase in revenue per employee since the first quarter of 2023. The company is aiming to eventually reach $1 million in revenue per employee with the help of AI, up from $575,000 per worker last year.

“AI is helping us work smarter, scale faster, and deliver more value,” the AI clone stated.

Despite being upfront with the admission that it was an AI clone giving the results, Entrepreneur had a hard time telling the AI apart from Siemiatkowski.

Related: Duolingo Put Its Sarcastic Teen Chatbot to Work on Its Earnings Call

TechCrunch noted that the clone didn’t blink as much as a human would, and its voice didn’t sync up perfectly with its lip movements.

Siemiatkowski’s AI avatar said in the presentation that Klarna is using AI for marketing, product development, customer support, and insights.

“100 million consumers, profit, growth, and AI is the engine driving it all,” the avatar stated.

Klarna leads the U.S. market as the biggest “Pay in 4” loan company and was named Walmart’s exclusive installment loan provider in the U.S. in March. However, its net loss for the first three months of 2025 was $99 million, more than double the $47 million it reported at the same time last year.

The company first showcased an AI avatar of Siemiatkowski in December to talk about earnings for the third quarter of 2024. The voice of the AI avatar had a different accent, was more robotic, and the voice sync lagged more than the more recent version, but it was able to deliver the results in one minute and 22 seconds.

Klarna has worked for years to position itself as an AI-first company, cutting its workforce by 40% since 2022, and asking employees to use AI to fill in the gaps. In February 2024, the company announced a customer service AI that it claimed could do the work of 700 human customer service agents and handle questions in more than 35 languages.

Related: There Are New Rules for ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Programs — Here’s What to Know

According to Klarna’s first-quarter results, AI has had the most profound impact on Klarna’s customer service department. AI slashed costs by 40% while maintaining customer satisfaction rates, the company said.

However, AI alone is not enough to handle customer requests. Earlier this month, Siemiatkowski reversed an AI-induced hiring freeze to hire human workers again for customer service. He told Bloomberg that it was “so critical” to provide human support for customers if they needed it.

Klarna filed for a U.S. initial public offering in March but paused its plans a month later due to market volatility. The company is now planning to go public later this year.

The U.S. Treasury Department will stop making new pennies, according to a statement on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the U.S. government ordered its last penny blanks in May, and the United States Mint will stop manufacturing the one-cent coins when the final inventory of penny blanks is used. (Penny blanks are flat, metal discs that are turned into coins.)

Related: Bitcoin Just Hit an Eye-Popping Record. Here’s How High Experts Think It Could Go: ‘Get Ready for a Wild Ride’

President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Mint in February to stop making pennies, noting its high production cost. According to the U.S. Mint, it costs up to 4 cents to make just one penny.

The penny has been used as a currency in the U.S for about 233 years and was first introduced in 1792.

The last pennies to enter circulation will happen in early 2026.

What Does Ending Penny Production Mean for Small Businesses?

Consumers will continue to be able to use pennies to pay for purchases, the Treasury Department said. That is, until the copper-plated coins run out. There are still about 114 billion pennies in circulation, per the New York Times.

In the statement, the department said that after the last batch, making exact change might be a thing of the past. That’s because eventually, there won’t be enough pennies for daily cash transactions.

The U.S. Treasury said businesses will be instructed to start “rounding up or down to the nearest 5 cents,” when that happens, the statement says.

Related: Rare Penny Sells at Auction for $1.1 Million. Here’s How to See If You Have One in Your Swear Jar.

On Wednesday, May 28th at 2 PM ET, the Found of Ollyball, Joe Burke, joins us in our next Entrepreneur+ Subscriber-Only Event!

In this exclusive event, Joe will reveal how he built his brand without big investors or expensive ads — and walk away with actionable strategies to start your own.

From saying no to Shark Tank (twice) to selling over 3 million units of a product developed at the kitchen table, Joe Burke’s journey with Ollyball is packed with lessons for entrepreneurs at every stage.

Key Takeaways:

• How to generate massive publicity without spending on ads

• The storytelling patterns that make your brand unforgettable

• Why saying “no” can be your greatest strategic move

• The mindset that helped Joe push through doubt and unfair setbacks

This event is only for Entrepreneur+ subscribers, but you can become a member for just $5! Sign up and unlock all access to Entrepreneur.com, including our premium content and the ability to participate in our Subscribers-Only Event.

What is a Subscriber-Only Event?

Subscriber-Only Events are exclusive interviews in which we feature a special guest to help create actionable content for Entrepreneur+ subscribers. We set up events with today’s most prevalent CEOs, entrepreneurs and celebrities — so that we can provide a productive, exclusive experience for our most dedicated readers and entrepreneurs worldwide.

How to access as a subscriber:

There are two ways to make sure you don’t miss out on this event. Follow this link for easy setup on your Entrepreneur+ homepage. Or, check your inbox for an email that contains the private link to the event. We will also notify your email as the event goes live to make sure you don’t miss out.

Having issues signing up for the call? Email us at subscribe@entrepreneur.com.

About the Speaker:

Joe Burke invented and holds two Utility Patents for Ollyball®, Winner of a Toy of the Year and seven national and international awards. Burke founded the company for his family in 2019 and Ollyball has grown to the #1 Indoor Play Ball in America. Ollyball has been featured on the National CBS Morning Show, is available at major retail stores across 12 countries, and has made eight live appearances on QVC.

Burke is the former Brand Director of Disney Stores and VP at Goodwill Industries, but started his first company at the age of 21 on a borrowed card table and metal chair. Hylan Scholarship recipient at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York, and NCAA athlete. Husband to Ellen Burke, an Autism and Behavioral Specialist, and father of their three children.

Extra Credit: Coached his kids in five sports, wrote a book in 46 hours on a train, and appeared in 25 films and TV shows in a former life

The digital world is saturated with social algorithms, pay-to-play platforms and constantly changing SEO strategies. However, one channel remains consistently consequential, direct and owned: email.

Building an email list early on in your business development isn’t just a marketing move for startup founders and business leaders; it’s a smart growth strategy. Yet many wait until too late, focusing instead on social media followers or one-off ad campaigns. Email is where genuine relationships are nurtured, conversions happen and loyal communities are built.

The magic number? Your first 1,000 subscribers. This isn’t a vanity milestone or one I simply pulled out of nowhere — it’s the start of a high-value, compounding asset. Here’s a framework to get you there faster and smarter.

Related: Don’t Sleep on Email Marketing — Here’s Why It’s Still Your Business’s Most Powerful Tool

1. Define who you’re talking to (and why it matters)

Before writing a single email or designing a signup form, answer this: Who are your ideal subscribers, and what do they want from you?

You’re not collecting email addresses to simply just collect them. You’re doing so to start a conversation. Getting hyper-specific with your audience will be the best thing you can do to ensure those conversations are valuable. For example:

Once you’re clear on your ideal audience, define your unique value proposition. It should answer the following questions: Why should someone join your list? What will they get in return?

2. Create an irresistible lead magnet

In 2025, people won’t give away their email for just a “newsletter.” They want value, and they want it now.

A lead magnet is a free, high-value offer that your target subscriber can receive instantly in exchange for their email. Effective lead magnets typically include:

• Checklists or cheat sheets

• Industry trend reports or whitepapers

• Templates or toolkits

• Short video tutorials or mini-courses

• Quizzes with personalized results

• Discount codes or early access (for product-led businesses)

Your lead magnet should be hyper-relevant to your offer and audience. Make it:

3. Optimize your signup experience

You’ve got attention. Now, remove friction.

Place your opt-in form or landing page where it matters most:

• Website homepage

• Blog posts with relevant content

• Top bar or exit-intent popups

• Product pages

• Social bios and link trees

• Partner content (guest blogs, webinars, etc.)

Make the form frictionless:

• Ask only for what’s essential (usually just name + email)

• Use persuasive microcopy (“Get the free guide” instead of “Submit”)

• Add social proof if possible (“Join 850+ founders getting weekly growth tips”)

And make sure the design is clean, mobile-friendly and aligned with your brand voice.

Related: These 3 Strategies Will Grow Your Email List for Free

4. Launch a welcome series that converts

Your first few emails set the tone. A welcome series isn’t just polite — it’s strategic.

Here’s a simple three-email sequence to start:

• Email 1: Deliver the lead magnet and set expectations
  Introduce yourself. Explain what they’ll get from your emails and how often.

• Email 2: Your origin story and value add
  Share why you started this business and how it helps them. Include a helpful tip or insight.

• Email 3: Social proof and soft CTA
  Highlight a testimonial, case study or popular product. Include a light-touch call to action (visit your website, book a call, check out your offer).

This sequence helps build trust before selling — the key to sustainable growth.

5. Drive targeted traffic to fuel growth

Now that your system is ready, it’s time to get eyes on it. Don’t wait for organic search to work; get proactive.

Here are five scalable traffic sources:

• Organic social: Share lead magnet snippets on LinkedIn, Instagram and X. Use storytelling and pain-point content.

• Partnerships: Do email swaps or joint webinars with complementary businesses.

• Paid ads: Run low-budget tests on Meta or Google Ads with lead magnet landing pages.

• Communities: Engage in relevant Slack groups, subreddits and forums — share value and link to your opt-in.

• Content marketing: Blog posts optimized for long-tail keywords that tie into your lead magnet.

Pro tip: Use UTM parameters to track which channels bring the highest-quality subscribers.

6. Segment and engage (even with a small list)

You don’t need 10,000 subscribers to start segmenting — you just need an intelligent system.

Tag or segment based on:

• Source: where they signed up

• Behavior: what they clicked or downloaded

• Interest: what content they engage with

Then, personalize future content, send relevant offers and nurture based on behavior. The more relevant your emails, the faster your list will grow because people will start sharing them.

Related: How to Write Emails That Stick and Get Action

7. Don’t just build — engage

Your email list is not a vault; it’s a living asset. Keep it warm.

• Show up consistently — whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly or monthly

• Deliver value more often than you pitch

• Encourage replies (and read them)

• Test different types of content: behind-the-scenes stories, how-tos, Q&As, curated lists

When people feel heard and helped, they stay. And they share.

Reaching 1,000 subscribers isn’t about overnight success. It’s about setting up a repeatable, value-driven system that compounds. Once you have it, every new partnership, blog post or campaign fuels a growing engine.

Email marketing isn’t just a channel — it’s your direct line to the people most likely to become loyal customers, fans and ambassadors. Start building that line early, and your future self (and business) will thank you.

If you shop on Amazon frequently, it can be tough to keep up with your orders. So if you made a return in the last decade or so and aren’t sure if you ever got your money back, you’d hardly be alone. And it turns out, you actually may be owed some money.

Bloomberg reports that Amazon is issuing refunds to customers who were never reimbursed, and some orders go back to 2018. “Following a recent internal review, we identified a very small subset of returns that were unresolved because we could not verify that the correct item had been sent back to us,” an email sent to customers reads, seen by the outlet.

Related: Amazon Announces $4 Billion Plan to Reach Small Town Americans Faster

LinkedIn user Steven Pope posted on Tuesday that he was refunded for a return — from seven years ago.

“$1,798.81 is being credited to me today in 2025 after 7 years,” Pope wrote. “I’m probably not the only customer who has experienced this, but isn’t that crazy!? 7 years to payout a return?”

Pope then pasted the email he says he received from Amazon, which said that following a recent internal review, the company “could have notified these customers more clearly (and earlier) to better understand the status and help us resolve the return.”

“Given the time elapsed, we’ve decided to err on the side of customers and just complete refunds for these returns,” the email continued.

Related: Jeff Bezos Is Selling Billions Worth of Amazon Stock, According to a New Filing

The Verge received a statement from Amazon that says that no action is required from customers, and refunds will be issued automatically.

“There is no action required from customers to receive the refunds, and we have fixed the payment issue and made process changes to more promptly contact customers about unresolved returns going forward,” spokesperson Maxine Tagay told The Verge.

It is not clear how many refunds are being issued and what the total amounts to, but Bloomberg notes that executives had previously suggested it could be “hundreds of millions of dollars.”

CEOs of Big Tech, they’re just like us.

The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, 42, says he was very close to being a victim of a well-played phishing scheme that involved some very real-looking “secure Google domains.”

Mosseri wrote on Threads, which, like Instagram, is owned by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, said on Tuesday that he “experienced a sophisticated phishing attack yesterday.”

Related: Mark Cuban’s Google Account Was Hacked By ‘Sophisticated’ Bad Actors

Mosseri said he got a call from an 818 number (and he answered). The caller said that his “Google account was compromised, and they sent an email to confirm identity.”

“On the phone, they asked me to change my password using my Gmail app and to *not* say my new password out loud. What was impressive was their email came from forms-receipts-noreply@google.com and linked to sites.google.com/view…, which of course asked me to sign in…,” he continued.

“The email and the form both coming from secure Google domains (via Google products) might have got me if I hadn’t heard from a friend who experienced a similar attack a year ago,” he added. “Anybody know someone at Google that might want this context?”

Related: If Your Bank Is Calling, Don’t Answer. It’s Probably a Scam.

Threads users, of course, had a day in the comments. To start, many wondered how the top boss at Instagram doesn’t know someone at Google. There were also a lot of jokes.

“>sophisticated attack, >Google called me,” one user replied.

“Adam, I can help you out here. Just need your mom’s maiden name and the street you grew up on,” another responded.

“Not the Head of Instagram believing Google calls you on the phone about resetting your password?” the comments continued.

Google Workspace’s official Threads account thanked Mosseri for “flagging” and reminded him that the company will “never” call you.

Related: Andy Cohen Lost ‘A Lot of Money’ to a Highly Sophisticated Scam

“We suspended that form and site yesterday, and we constantly roll out defenses against these types of attacks. As a reminder: Google will never call you about your account,” they wrote, adding a link to their “how to spot scams” blog.

Other users said it reminded them of a similar Google phishing scheme from 2022.

Still, with all the competition in Silicon Valley, we couldn’t help but wonder: Do all executives at Meta use Gmail and Google’s suite of products?

TikTok’s e-commerce unit, TikTok Shop, is facing layoffs in the U.S.

TikTok Shop head Mu Qing circulated an internal email to U.S. staff late Tuesday, telling them to work from home on Wednesday because some would receive emails indicating their roles had been cut. In the memo, which was viewed by Bloomberg, Mu advised staff to expect “operational and personnel changes” to TikTok’s U.S. operations and global key accounts divisions “beginning early on Wednesday.”

Related: Microsoft’s Mass Layoffs Affected at Least 800 in Software Engineering, According to New Documents

The global key accounts team works closely with large brands, while operations supports merchants, partners, and creators on TikTok.

Mu wrote that TikTok was laying off workers to “create more efficient operating models for the team’s long-term growth,” and framed the job cuts as “difficult discussions,” per the memo.

According to Business Insider, employees started receiving emails informing them that they were impacted by layoffs beginning Wednesday morning.

It is unclear how many employees were affected by the layoffs. Mu stated in the memo that TikTok’s goal was to quickly tell impacted employees they were let go.

Related: Google Layoffs Affect Hundreds in Division Working on Chrome Browser, Pixel Phones

Last month, TikTok Shop let go of some U.S. employees as it restructured its governance and experience team.

TikTok officially introduced Shop to the U.S. in September 2023. The shopping marketplace is a tab on the TikTok video app and features items for sale from third-party sellers. It keeps shoppers within TikTok to complete purchases and uses its engaging algorithm to suggest products customers might be interested in.

In 2024, TikTok Shop attracted over 47 million U.S. shoppers, with Americans spending $32 million per day shopping on the social media app, according to Capital One research.

This year, TikTok Shop sales have fallen due to tariffs, four TikTok Shop staffers told Business Insider. Tariffs rose as high as 145% on Chinese goods in mid-April. Earlier this month, the U.S. temporarily lowered tariffs on Chinese goods to 30% while China reduced its levies on U.S. imports from 125% to 10%. BI‘s sources disclosed that in early May, TikTok Shop’s daily U.S. sales from foreign sellers were down by close to 25% month-over-month due to tariffs.

Related: ‘More Than Marketing Tools’: Some Business Owners Are Worried About the Possible TikTok Ban

TikTok has 7,000 U.S. employees, with over 1,000 employees located near Seattle. The company has other offices in New York, California, and Texas, per Bloomberg.

TikTok has until June 19 to find a new owner in the U.S. and separate from its parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban. The deadline is in response to a law passed by Congress in April 2024 and has been extended twice by President Donald Trump as TikTok attempts to find a buyer. Trump, who has previously stated that he has “a little warm spot” for TikTok, said earlier this month that he may extend the deadline further if no deal is reached by June 19.

So far, TikTok has received bids from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, AI startup Perplexity, AppLovin, Amazon, and former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt Jr., who teamed up with Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on The People’s Bid for TikTok, among others.