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Ex-Meta Staff Says Software Engineers Make 3 Common Mistakes

Ex-Meta Staff Says Software Engineers Make 3 Common Mistakes


Software engineers are likely making a few common mistakes that prevent them from advancing in their careers, says a former Meta senior staff engineer — and these mistakes are general enough to apply to any job.

Michael Novati, an engineer who spent eight years at Meta and earned the nickname “Coding Machine” after being the top code committer company-wide for several years, told “The Peterman Pod” that there are three common mistakes engineers and other professionals make that prevent them from moving forward in their careers.

Novati, who now works at a remote software engineering fellowship program, Formation, as its chief technology officer, said one problem is “thinking too much” and “not doing enough.” Novati said that oftentimes developers come to him to ask for advice or questions without first “turning the gears” and writing code to address the problem.

“Step one is do something, just do anything,” Novati told “The Peterman Pod.”

Related: ‘It’s Laughable’: Okta’s CEO Says AI Won’t Replace Software Engineers Despite Other Tech Leaders’ Predictions

The second mistake Novati identified is not asking “the right people” for feedback, or not going to “respected people” or “people who have that experience and taste and judgement” for advice on how to improve. He gave the example of his days at Meta, when he was writing so much code that his manager spent all day reviewing it. His manager was the respected person Novati turned to for feedback, because his manager had the “judgement and taste” that Novati aspired to have.

The third mistake, which Novati admitted to making “a lot,” was not taking action on feedback and taking it more as a harsh judgment or a pat on the back of approval than a call to action.

“My advice to people who are ambitious and who want to get those perfect scores and check off all the boxes is to really reflect on feedback, on how you can improve and try to push your comfort zone there, instead of trying to look at it as a judgment or a grade,” Novati said.

The end goal is to “write a lot of code,” get feedback from experienced people, and “actually [take] action” on the feedback, Novati said.

Related: OpenAI Is Creating AI to Do ‘All the Things That Software Engineers Hate to Do’

As AI advances, software engineers might not have to write as much code as they used to, anyway. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in April that engineers at Microsoft are using AI to generate up to 30% of new code at the company. Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated in the same month that Google was generating “well over 30%” of new code with AI.

Meanwhile, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicted in March that AI would take over coding completely for all software engineers within a year.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

Software engineers are likely making a few common mistakes that prevent them from advancing in their careers, says a former Meta senior staff engineer — and these mistakes are general enough to apply to any job.

Michael Novati, an engineer who spent eight years at Meta and earned the nickname “Coding Machine” after being the top code committer company-wide for several years, told “The Peterman Pod” that there are three common mistakes engineers and other professionals make that prevent them from moving forward in their careers.

Novati, who now works at a remote software engineering fellowship program, Formation, as its chief technology officer, said one problem is “thinking too much” and “not doing enough.” Novati said that oftentimes developers come to him to ask for advice or questions without first “turning the gears” and writing code to address the problem.

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Chili’s Is Selling Boots, Belts Made From Its Red Booths

Chili’s Is Selling Boots, Belts Made From Its Red Booths


Chili’s Grill & Bar is partnering with Texas-footwear brand Tecovas to launch a limited-edition collection of “Booth Boots,” which is exactly what it sounds like — cowboy boots made with the same material as its classic red booths.

In a statement, Chili’s said that this “first-of-its-kind collaboration” turns its “iconic” red booths, which have been around for 50 years, into “handcrafted boots made with time-honored techniques and heritage craftsmanship.” The company is also selling a matching Booth Belt.

Related: ‘Gen Z Is Obsessed’: Chili’s Sales Are Skyrocketing Thanks to the Triple Dipper and Turbo Chefs

“We thought it would be fun to celebrate this familiar piece of the Chili’s experience by turning it into something truly unexpected for our fans,” said Jesse Johnson, Chili’s vice president of marketing, in the statement. “Our new friends at Tecovas have been the perfect partners in bringing this wild idea to life with their handcrafted boots now reimagined with our booth material.”

Still, it will cost you a lot more than the popular Triple Dipper. Booth Boots (both women’s and men’s styles) will retail for $345, and the Booth Belt, with its “brass buckle in a matte nickel finish,” will sell for $75.

The limited-edition collection of Booth Boots and a matching Booth Belt will be available on Tecovas.com on July 29 at 10 a.m. CT.

Chili’s has 1,600 restaurants in 29 countries, according to Nation Restaurant News.

Chili’s Grill & Bar is partnering with Texas-footwear brand Tecovas to launch a limited-edition collection of “Booth Boots,” which is exactly what it sounds like — cowboy boots made with the same material as its classic red booths.

In a statement, Chili’s said that this “first-of-its-kind collaboration” turns its “iconic” red booths, which have been around for 50 years, into “handcrafted boots made with time-honored techniques and heritage craftsmanship.” The company is also selling a matching Booth Belt.

Related: ‘Gen Z Is Obsessed’: Chili’s Sales Are Skyrocketing Thanks to the Triple Dipper and Turbo Chefs

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Is Terrified About AI Bank Fraud

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Is Terrified About AI Bank Fraud


Sam Altman, the CEO of $300 billion AI startup OpenAI, is asking finance industry leaders to stay ahead of AI trends — and to avoid voice authentication at all costs.

At the Federal Reserve’s Regulatory Capital Framework Conference on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Altman told a crowd of financial regulators and industry experts that “a thing that terrifies” him is banks that still accept voices to authenticate identity. AI voice cloning hoaxes can copy a person’s voice in three seconds and use the cloned voice to empty bank accounts.

“A thing that terrifies me is apparently there are still some financial institutions that will accept a voice print as authentication for you to move a lot of money or do something else,” Altman said at the event, per Business Insider.

Related: I Called Klarna’s New AI Hotline to Talk to the Company’s ‘CEO’ — Here’s What Happened

Altman said voice authentication was “a crazy thing to still be doing” and that AI has “fully defeated” many ways financial institutions currently confirm identity.

He also warned that AI has the potential to cause a “significant impending fraud crisis,” and predicted that institutions are going to have to transform the way they verify identity in response.

“People are going to have to change the way they interact,” Altman said. “They’re going to have to change the way they verify. This is a huge deal.”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks at the Federal Reserve’s Regulatory Capital Framework Conference on Tuesday. Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

During a Q&A session at the Federal Reserve event, Altman was also asked about what keeps him up at night. He said a widespread financial crisis where an adversary uses AI to launch an attack on the U.S. The bad actor could “break into financial systems and take everyone’s money,” and there would be little we could do about it, Altman said. It would be difficult to uphold protective measures against an adversary with smarter AI, Altman explained.

Related: Nearly Half of Americans Think They Could Be Duped By AI. Here’s What They’re Worried About.

Altman’s fears that AI could be misused in the wrong hands are echoed by financial leaders. According to a survey released in March by consulting firm Accenture, 80% of bank cybersecurity leaders state that AI allows bad actors to launch attacks faster than banks can respond. In other words, the leaders can’t keep up with the rapid pace of AI scams targeting personal bank accounts.

Consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to scams in 2024, a 25% increase from the previous year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. More people fell for scams and lost money to them last year, with $2.95 billion lost to imposter scams.

Still, some top executives at OpenAI are convinced it has the power to do a lot of good, from eradicating diseases to helping support equal pay initiatives.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

Sam Altman, the CEO of $300 billion AI startup OpenAI, is asking finance industry leaders to stay ahead of AI trends — and to avoid voice authentication at all costs.

At the Federal Reserve’s Regulatory Capital Framework Conference on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., Altman told a crowd of financial regulators and industry experts that “a thing that terrifies” him is banks that still accept voices to authenticate identity. AI voice cloning hoaxes can copy a person’s voice in three seconds and use the cloned voice to empty bank accounts.

“A thing that terrifies me is apparently there are still some financial institutions that will accept a voice print as authentication for you to move a lot of money or do something else,” Altman said at the event, per Business Insider.

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How to Live Your Mission — and Not Just Rewrite It

How to Live Your Mission — and Not Just Rewrite It


Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Every few years, organizations announce a grand unveiling: a refreshed strategy, a sharper mission statement, an evolved vision and updated values. Leadership beams with pride. Internal comms rolls out the new banners, posters and PowerPoint templates. Town halls are held to “rally the troops.”

And then, business as usual resumes.

No behavioral shift. No operational realignment. No decisions made differently. The strategy refresh becomes a branding exercise, not a transformation. It’s not that these companies lack ambition — it’s that they confuse articulation with execution.

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A colleague recently shared that their company had just spent six weeks in back-to-back leadership meetings to rewrite their mission, vision, values and overall strategy. The goal was clarity and reinvention. The result? A slightly tweaked version of what they already had — maybe one new buzzword, a reshuffled value and a refreshed deck.

It was a massive investment of time and energy that left most of the team asking: What has changed? This isn’t an isolated case — it’s a common cycle. Organizations feel the pressure to evolve, but too often the work stops at wordsmithing instead of realigning how the business thinks, acts and executes.

Related: 10 Growth Strategies Every Business Owner Should Know

Why the refresh rarely moves the needle

Refreshing a mission or strategy feels productive. It gives leadership the impression of progress without demanding real disruption. After all, revising words is easier than confronting entrenched behaviors, broken incentives or outdated processes.

This isn’t about cynicism, it’s about comfort. Language is safe. Rewriting a purpose statement doesn’t require changing how performance is measured. Updating values doesn’t mean retraining managers to lead differently. It’s a symbolic action disguised as substantive change.

And most organizations don’t even realize they’re doing it. The new statements are unveiled with energy and sincerity. But when employees ask, “What does this mean for how we work?” the answer is vague at best. There’s no operational bridge between the words on the wall and the work on the ground.

Related: Today’s Top CEOs Share These 4 Traits

Misalignment is the real threat

Here’s where the real danger lies: the greater the gap between what a company says it stands for and what it actually does, the more credibility it loses, both internally and externally. Employees learn quickly that the mission is just PR. Customers sense the disconnect. And talent begins to disengage.

If a company updates its values to include “agility” but continues requiring 14 approvals for a basic decision, that’s not just a mismatch. It’s hypocrisy. The refresh signals change, but the experience reinforces stagnation.

This breeds cynicism. Employees roll their eyes at new rollouts. “Vision fatigue” sets in. Leaders struggle to gain traction for future initiatives because the organization has learned not to take declarations seriously.

A strategy isn’t alive until it shows up in daily choices. If a company says it values experimentation, it should reward smart risks and accept failure as part of the process. If it claims to be customer-first, then customer experience should have a seat at every major decision table. Otherwise, the message is just marketing.

To turn a refresh into a transformation, companies must focus less on the message and more on the mechanics. That starts with four key shifts:

1. Stop leading with the language

The mission and values aren’t a starting point — they’re an outcome. Start by identifying how the organization needs to change: What behaviors are missing? What decisions are misaligned? What blockers need to be removed? Once that’s clear, articulate the strategy based on how the organization is expected to act differently.

2. Involve people beyond the C-Suite

Strategies often get written in isolation by leadership teams that are removed from day-to-day realities. Include voices from across departments and levels, not for optics, but for insight. This ensures the strategy reflects how the business really operates and how it can evolve.

Related: 5 Habits of Leaders at the Top of the Ladder

3. Make the strategy usable

A good strategy isn’t poetic, it’s practical. Translate the abstract into the actionable. Create decision frameworks and redesign workflows. Give managers the tools to lead differently, not just new posters to hang.

4. Hold leaders accountable for modeling it

The fastest way to kill a refreshed strategy is for leadership to act like nothing’s changed. If the top team isn’t living the new direction and making hard calls, no one else will either. Accountability starts at the top, or it doesn’t start at all.

The real work is cultural, not cosmetic

Companies that mistake a strategy refresh for cultural change will find themselves stuck in an endless loop of rebranding without real results. The organizations that succeed treat strategy not as a speech, but as a shift. They recognize that words alone don’t drive growth — people do. And people follow what’s modeled, reinforced and rewarded.

So next time the urge to refresh your mission, vision, values and strategy strikes, ask a harder question: What will be different this time? If the answer is only the wording, don’t expect anything to change.

Every few years, organizations announce a grand unveiling: a refreshed strategy, a sharper mission statement, an evolved vision and updated values. Leadership beams with pride. Internal comms rolls out the new banners, posters and PowerPoint templates. Town halls are held to “rally the troops.”

And then, business as usual resumes.

No behavioral shift. No operational realignment. No decisions made differently. The strategy refresh becomes a branding exercise, not a transformation. It’s not that these companies lack ambition — it’s that they confuse articulation with execution.

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Astronomer CEO, Cofounder Issues Statement on Coldplay Video

Astronomer CEO, Cofounder Issues Statement on Coldplay Video


By now, if you’re even the slightest bit online, you’ve seen the mega-viral Coldplay concert kiss-cam fiasco that led to an endless supply of memes and the resignation of at least one top tech executive.

After former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company’s Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot, were publicly caught on camera in a compromising position together last week, the company’s new interim CEO is speaking out.

Pete DeJoy, who is also a co-founder of the software company, wrote on LinkedIn on Monday that the last week has been “unusual and surreal” for the team at the private data infrastructure startup that reached “unicorn” status in 2022. He wrote that he’s “proudly poured my entire professional life into helping build” the company and stressed that despite the attention this past week, everything remains on track.

“The events of the past few days have received a level of media attention that few companies—let alone startups in our small corner of the data and AI world—ever encounter,” DeJoy wrote. “The spotlight has been unusual and surreal for our team and, while I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name.”

Related: The CEO of the World’s Most Valuable Company Says This Would Be His College Major in 2025

“From starting a software company in Cincinnati, Ohio, to keeping the lights on through the collapse of the bank that held all our cash, to scaling from 30 to 300 people during a global pandemic that demanded we do it all without ever being in the same room,” the post continues. “Our opportunity to build a DataOps platform for the age of AI remains massive. And our story is very much still being written.”

Coldplay, meanwhile, addressed the situation with a bit more comic relief. In the first concert following the scandal, lead singer Chris Martin made a point to warn the already laughing audience that they could be “put on camera, on the big screen.”

On Saturday, the company also addressed the scandal, posting on X that Byron had resigned.

“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” the company wrote. “While awareness of our company may have changed overnight, our product and our work for our customers have not.”

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

By now, if you’re even the slightest bit online, you’ve seen the mega-viral Coldplay concert kiss-cam fiasco that led to an endless supply of memes and the resignation of at least one top tech executive.

After former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company’s Chief People Officer, Kristin Cabot, were publicly caught on camera in a compromising position together last week, the company’s new interim CEO is speaking out.

Pete DeJoy, who is also a co-founder of the software company, wrote on LinkedIn on Monday that the last week has been “unusual and surreal” for the team at the private data infrastructure startup that reached “unicorn” status in 2022. He wrote that he’s “proudly poured my entire professional life into helping build” the company and stressed that despite the attention this past week, everything remains on track.

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Her High School Side Hustle Is On Track for 7-Figure Revenue

Her High School Side Hustle Is On Track for 7-Figure Revenue


This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Leila Quraishi, 27, of Los Angeles, California. Quraishi’s sock business Nudesox is targeting seven-figure revenue across all sales channels next year. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Image Credit: Dan Simantov. Leila Quraishi.

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What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
I was a senior in high school when I started Nudesox. Growing up, I was always entrepreneurial and loved creating and taking on leadership roles. In eighth grade, I became a licensed children’s yoga instructor and taught private lessons throughout high school, designing class flows and workout gear — now I make grip socks.

Related: I Took My Side Hustle Full-Time and Made $222,000 Last Year. Here’s How — and Why Sometimes I Work Just 10 Hours a Week.

When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
I came up with the concept for Nudesox in 2015. As soon as I turned 18, I bought the domain name for Nudesox and legally filed the business soon after. I’ve always loved putting outfits together and dressing up, but I also value my comfort. At the time, I couldn’t find the ideal no-show sock. They were uncomfortable, slipped off, weren’t cushioned and didn’t even cover my whole foot. I was never a fan of colorful, visible socks and thought there were probably so many people who felt the same way, but still want coverage and comfort. That was the moment I thought to myself, Why has no one ever created athleisure socks in skin tones?

Image Credit: Greyson Tarantino

What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground? How much money/investment did it take to launch?
I grew up studying successful entrepreneurs for fun and would spend hours dissecting how they got to where they were: I’d read articles and watch interviews and, of course, lots of Shark Tank. I was always fascinated by business and innovation. When I started Nudesox, it was a new category, so it was difficult to find a manufacturer that understood the concept. It took me two full years to nail down a manufacturer and get proper samples. I started the brand with $10,000, and to this day, Nudesox is fully bootstrapped with no outside funding. Every dollar I ever made went back into the business for it to grow.

I would DM or email influencers asking if they wanted to try the brand, and it was well-received; many posted themselves wearing the socks on their Instagram stories. Given it was a novel product, multiple publications wrote about the company, which helped spread the word. I studied entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California, where I learned how to create succinct pitch decks and presentations, as well as the importance of KPIs and proper business management. Combining my studies with Nudesox really helped progress the business and introduced me to a network of people who still support me and the brand today.

Are there any free or paid resources that have been especially helpful for you in starting and running this business?
When I started Nudesox, I relied heavily on connecting with role models in the fashion industry. I would LinkedIn message and email executives at top fashion and shoe brands to learn about their processes and trajectory. Networking is important, but there is an art to it. I always try to find synergies with people before I reach out to them to make sure the conversation makes sense. If you reach out to people aimlessly just to cast a wide net, you won’t necessarily get much value or substance. It’s important to be intentional with your outreach and show that you care and have done your research. I also listen to a lot of podcasts. I especially love NPR’s How I Built This with Guy Raz. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to start a business or just for some inspiration.

Related: This 29-Year-Old’s Side Hustle Brought People ‘to the Dark Green Side.’ It Made $10,000 Within 2 Days and Sees 6 Figures a Month.

If you could go back in your business journey and change one process or approach, what would it be, and how do you wish you’d done it differently?
Get your operations down and figure out which tools keep you most organized and offer the best flow. For example, I’ve used multiple types of software for creating invoices, and it gets messy when you have documents in different places. Having a centralized database is so important for record-keeping.

Image Credit: Dan Simantov

When it comes to this specific business, what is something you’ve found particularly challenging and/or surprising that people who get into this type of work should be prepared for, but likely aren’t?
When I started Nudesox, I was very young, and there was a lot that I didn’t know about running a business or even the way retailers operate. It’s tricky when you are learning, and when people know you’re in the learning phase, oftentimes you can get taken advantage of. It’s important to walk into every room with confidence and certainty — do your research ahead of time, but don’t necessarily share your doubts or questions with just anyone. Have a select few people that you really trust — this is why it’s important to have mentors.

Can you recall a specific instance when something went very wrong? How did you fix it?
I had to pull my very first purchase order of socks in 2018 because they would “slip off.” My mistake was that I didn’t test the product in every circumstance and with different shoes to make sure they held up. Biggest mistake! Ever since that moment, every new SKU is worn, washed and tested many, many times with various shoes. I took that first loss and learned my lesson.

Related: They Started a Side Hustle Producing an ‘Obvious’ Food Item. It Hit $300,000 Monthly Revenue Fast — On Track for Over $20 Million in 2025.

How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
Nudesox is a concept I never gave up on, and it just takes one big “yes” to propel you forward. That’s the power of one. We often hear about overnight successes or venture-backed brands making it big quickly. I’d argue it’s equally as impressive to pursue something for years before it hits — proof that the brand has a purpose and giving up is not in the equation. Persistence and resilience are two essential founder qualities. Throughout the journey of Nudesox, our retail pop-ups would see thousands of dollars in weeks, and now the brand sees thousands of dollars in minutes with more orders and customers. It’s all about timing and product-market fit.

What does growth and revenue look like now?
Nudesox is on track to sell over 30,000 pairs of socks this year across all sales channels. Having strong partnerships and distribution is important for scaling. We launched with QVC this year, and in our first show, we sold over 500 pairs of socks per minute — that’s about nine pairs per second! This was a partnership I had always dreamed of because it’s an opportunity to present the function of Nudesox visually and share how it makes getting dressed easier. Being on live TV and demonstrating Nudesox’s effectiveness increased sales and allowed me to connect with customers in real time. Creating a product that people wear every day and never knew they needed has boosted the brand, especially now that we have major distribution. Nudesox sees high returning customer rates and organic word of mouth, so we are excited about future growth.

Image Credit: Dan Simantov

How much time do you spend working on your business on a daily, weekly or monthly basis? How do you structure that time; what does a typical day or week of work look like for you?
I work about 75 hours a week, including my weekends, and I start every day with an iced matcha! In addition to Nudesox, I also work for Shopify, helping brands to migrate and grow on our platform. During the day, you’ll find me on the phone with merchants interested in growing with Shopify‘s platform. During the evening, you’ll find me on the phone with my manufacturer discussing margins and retail partnerships. I find it fulfilling to have multiple things going on at once, and the more on my plate, the more I get done. Right now, I’m working on scaling Nudesox with more distribution channels and designing new styles. It’s always been important for me to find synergies in my life. I chose to work for Shopify because Nudesox runs on Shopify, and I understand the platform and how it’s personally helped me run the business. I love connecting with other business owners and being in that world.

What do you enjoy most about running this business?
I love watching each stage of its growth and seeing new opportunities arise. Getting to see something you’ve built reach new heights over time is rewarding. Running a business is dynamic and constantly evolving; there is never a dull moment. High highs and low lows, but it makes me so happy seeing the community of people who love and wear Nudesox daily. When people purchase socks from our retail pop-ups, I often see them come back days or weeks later wearing the Nudesox they bought. It’s always such a good feeling to see people appreciating your product and knowing it’s adding value to their lives. It’s a personal reminder that what I’ve built matters.

Related: ‘Absolute Freedom’: Siblings Behind a Self-Funded 8-Figure Brand Reveal 3 Secrets Aspiring Entrepreneurs Should Know About Growth and Success

What is your best piece of specific, actionable business advice?
My best piece of business advice is also personal advice. We talk a lot about love languages and not enough about learning languages. It’s natural to think of how we like to “receive” from others, but it’s also important to know how to “give” to yourself from within. Spend quality time getting to know yourself and how you learn and absorb information. Think of how you best interact with people — is it a specific environment or state of mind? Where do you find inspiration, and how do you deal with tough situations? The common denominator of everything we do in life is ourselves, so having that self-awareness is what will make you successful. Once you’ve done the self-work, focus on solving real problems that people face. Is the market there? Have a clear vision on how you want to execute and show people you are willing to give your all before asking anything from them. Finally, make sure you have an X-factor. What makes your business stand out, and what makes you the right person for this? That’s how I started Nudesox.

This article is part of our ongoing Young Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of being a young business owner.

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Billionaire In-N-Out Burger Heiress Moves Out of California

Billionaire In-N-Out Burger Heiress Moves Out of California


In-N-Out Burger’s president and owner is moving her family out of the state where the burger chain began.

Lynsi Snyder, 43, who has been president of In-N-Out since 2010, sat down for an episode of the podcast “Relatable,” and said that she and her family are moving from her home state of California to Tennessee, where In-N-Out is opening a new office.

“We’re building an office, so I’m actually moving out there,” Snyder said on the podcast that aired on Friday. “There [are] a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business it’s not easy here now.”

Related: Forget the Six-Figure UPS Gig. You Can Make $180,000 at In-N-Out, Writes Burger Heiress Lynsi Snyder in Her New Book.

In January 2023, In-N-Out announced that it’s opening its first East Coast restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee, and building its first East Coast headquarters about 20 miles away in Franklin, which will cost $125 million to construct. The burger chain plans to spread across Tennessee, expanding to Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis, opening more than a dozen locations.

In-N-Out is also opening new locations in Arizona, California, and Colorado this year and debuting its first location in Washington.

Snyder, who grew up in Northern California, said on the podcast that “the bulk” of In-N-Out stores are still going to be in the state, but that she is looking forward to having more of a footprint in Tennessee.

“It will be wonderful having an office out there, growing out there, and being able to have the family and other people’s families out there,” Snyder said on the podcast.

In-N-Out will also be consolidating its two existing California corporate offices, moving its Irvine headquarters to Baldwin Park, where the first In-N-Out location opened in the 1940s. Snyder disclosed on the podcast that the Irvine office will close by 2030 to complete the consolidation.

According to the California Department of Justice, the violent crime rate in the state increased 15.1% from 2018 to 2023. According to Statista, around 3,640 violent crimes per 100,000 residents were reported in Oakland, California, in 2023, making Oakland the most dangerous city in the U.S. that year. Snyder said last year that rising crime and “absolutely dangerous” conditions caused In-N-Out to shut down a restaurant in Oakland in March 2024, marking the first time in the burger chain’s 77-year history that it had to shutter a restaurant.

Snyder said that the company closed the profitable Oakland location “for the safety of our associates,” adding that “gunshots went through the store, there was a stabbing, there was a lot.”

Related: In-N-Out Burger Is Opening New Locations Outside of California — Here’s Where It’s Going Next

Snyder’s grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, founded In-N-Out in 1948 as a single drive-thru hamburger restaurant in Baldwin Park, California. Today, the company has grown to more than 400 locations that bring in $2.1 billion a year, according to consulting firm Technomic.

Snyder took over In-N-Out in 2017 at age 35 when she received the final portion of her inheritance that gave her 97% ownership of the company. She became one of the world’s youngest billionaires in the process.

In-N-Out differentiates itself from competitors by vowing to never freeze ingredients and crafting fresh-to-order burgers. The company has also never franchised, remaining privately owned.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Snyder has a net worth of $7.32 billion, making her the 483rd richest person in the world.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

Related: In-N-Out Burger Is Moving East. Is It Coming to Your State?

In-N-Out Burger’s president and owner is moving her family out of the state where the burger chain began.

Lynsi Snyder, 43, who has been president of In-N-Out since 2010, sat down for an episode of the podcast “Relatable,” and said that she and her family are moving from her home state of California to Tennessee, where In-N-Out is opening a new office.

“We’re building an office, so I’m actually moving out there,” Snyder said on the podcast that aired on Friday. “There [are] a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business it’s not easy here now.”

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Apple Reportedly Releasing Foldable iPhones Next Year

Apple Reportedly Releasing Foldable iPhones Next Year


Apple is reportedly working on its first foldable iPhone, putting the company head-to-head with Samsung, a rival that has pioneered foldable phones since 2019, and Google, which unveiled the Pixel Fold in 2023.

Bloomberg managing editor Mark Gurman, who has an 86.5% accuracy rate when it comes to Apple rumors, reported on Sunday that Apple will enter the foldable phone market in the latter half of 2026.

With products like the iPhone and Apple Watch, Apple entered each market early and helped shape what the mainstream version of the product would look like.

With the foldable iPhone, Apple will take a different approach, using what works for Samsung instead of creating a dramatically new interface or developing innovative hardware. Gurman reported that Apple’s device will look similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold line and incorporate many of the same parts, including foldable OLED screens.

Related: ‘Powerful, More Affordable Option’: Apple Reveals Its New Budget iPhone 16e, the iPhone SE’s Successor

Apple will still aim to improve parts of Samsung’s design, tackling the weaknesses of foldable devices like the visible inner display crease and the inner hinge mechanism. The iPhone maker will also introduce new software features next year, specifically designed for foldable phones.

The price point of an Apple foldable phone will be at least $2,000, Gurman reports, which is similar to offerings from Samsung and Google. Samsung’s latest Z Fold 7 is priced at $1,999, while the Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold is $1,799.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 smartphone. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sales of the Samsung Z Fold 7 are higher than the previous generation, per Bloomberg, and it’s received positive reviews from tech sites. Windows Central called it “a winner,” while Mashable praised the phone’s “almost unbelievably sleek form factor.” Samsung announced the phone earlier this month, and it will be available for purchase starting this Friday.

Though Apple’s foldable iPhone may look similar to Samsung’s, it could still benefit from Apple’s reach. Apple holds 57% of the U.S. smartphone market as of the first quarter of the year, compared to Samsung’s 25%, per Counterpoint Research.

However, Samsung has historically dominated the global foldable smartphone market, selling over 66% of the 15.9 million foldable phones sold in 2023, per TrendForce.

Related: Apple Is Reportedly Creating New Foldable iPads and iPhones. Here Are the Details.

Foldable phones are a niche category, having never accounted for more than 2% of the smartphone market as a whole, per Counterpoint Research. Gurman suggests that Apple could make it mainstream when it enters the category next year.

Apple is the third most valuable company in the world, at the time of writing, with a market capitalization of $3.2 trillion.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

Apple is reportedly working on its first foldable iPhone, putting the company head-to-head with Samsung, a rival that has pioneered foldable phones since 2019, and Google, which unveiled the Pixel Fold in 2023.

Bloomberg managing editor Mark Gurman, who has an 86.5% accuracy rate when it comes to Apple rumors, reported on Sunday that Apple will enter the foldable phone market in the latter half of 2026.

With products like the iPhone and Apple Watch, Apple entered each market early and helped shape what the mainstream version of the product would look like.

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Amazon Ring Founder: Use AI If You Want a Promotion

Amazon Ring Founder: Use AI If You Want a Promotion


Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is back at Amazon after a two-year break, now leading the tech giant’s home security camera division as a VP. The division is called RBKS for its entities: Ring, Blink, Key (in-home delivery service), and Sidewalk (wireless network).

And according to an email viewed by Business Insider, if employees at RBKS want a promotion, their applications will now have to describe how they use AI at work. This is meant to reward “innovative thinking” and promote speed and efficiency, Siminoff wrote.

Related: ‘No Longer Optional’: Microsoft Staff Mandated to Use AI at Work

“When we combine innovative technology with our missions, we create something truly special,” Siminoff wrote in the email viewed by Business Insider.

Siminoff famously pitched his video doorbell company, then called “Doormat,” on “Shark Tank” in 2013 and left without a deal. Then, after the company was acquired in 2018 for a reported $1 billion by Amazon, he went back on the show, this time as a Shark investor, sitting alongside Kevin O’Leary and Mark Cuban, the same people who rejected him years prior.

Amazon isn’t the only tech giant that’s requiring the use of AI for promotions and performance reviews.

In June, Microsoft also began considering formal metrics for evaluating how much employees use AI during the workday.

Julia Liuson, president of the developer division at Microsoft, reportedly sent an email to managers that said “using AI is no longer optional,” and the time spent using internal AI tools, both in-house and from the competition, should be measured in employee performance reviews.

Related: Duolingo’s CEO Clarifies AI Stance After Backlash — Read the Memo

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Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is back at Amazon after a two-year break, now leading the tech giant’s home security camera division as a VP. The division is called RBKS for its entities: Ring, Blink, Key (in-home delivery service), and Sidewalk (wireless network).

And according to an email viewed by Business Insider, if employees at RBKS want a promotion, their applications will now have to describe how they use AI at work. This is meant to reward “innovative thinking” and promote speed and efficiency, Siminoff wrote.

Related: ‘No Longer Optional’: Microsoft Staff Mandated to Use AI at Work

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Nvidia CEO Says He Would Major in the Physical Sciences

Nvidia CEO Says He Would Major in the Physical Sciences


What would Jensen Huang study if he were 20 years old again?

Nvidia’s 61-year-old CEO answered this question during a trip to Beijing on Wednesday, as reported by CNBC. Huang, who graduated from college two years early at the age of 20 and is now the CEO of the most valuable company in the world, said that the “20-year-old Jensen” would have “probably chosen more of the physical sciences” over “the software sciences.”

The physical sciences include disciplines that study non-living systems, such as physics, earth science, and chemistry. Software sciences, on the other hand, include fields like computer science and AI engineering.

Huang didn’t major in either of those areas. His LinkedIn profile shows that he graduated from Oregon State University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He received a Master’s in the same field from Stanford University in 1992. Electrical engineers make the physical computer hardware used by software engineers and developers.

Related: Nvidia CEO Says ‘100% of Everybody’s Jobs Will Be Changed’ Due to AI

Huang did not elaborate on why he would have picked the physical sciences over software engineering, but he has stated in the past that AI equalizes software development, allowing even non-programmers to generate code. At London Tech Week last month, Huang said that everyone can write code simply by prompting AI using natural language.

“There’s a new programming language,” Huang said at the event. “This programming language is called ‘human.'”

Huang has repeated the same message before. Last year, he said that AI would take over coding, making learning programming languages optional.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang arrives for a press conference in Beijing earlier this week. Photo by ADEK BERRY/AFP via Getty Images

Huang previously said that if he were in school today, the first thing he would do is “learn AI.” In a January interview on the podcast “Huge Conversations,” Huang said that students should be asking the question, “How can I use AI to do my job better?”

“Learning how to interact with AI is not unlike being someone who is really good at asking questions,” Huang said on the podcast.

He also said in the interview that he uses AI as a personal tutor to learn new things, program, write, and analyze concepts. Huang uses the $20 a month version of ChatGPT as a tutor and Perplexity’s AI search engine to learn more about subjects like biology.

Related: Nvidia’s CEO Says It No Longer Matters If You Never Learned to Code: ‘There’s a New Programming Language’

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was also asked what students should study. In an interview last year with Bloomberg, Zuckerberg said that the most important skill young people should embrace is thinking “critically” and “learning values.”

Zuckerberg said in the interview that he hires new people based on their demonstrated ability to dive deep into a field and master it. Zuckerberg has been on a hiring spree lately, poaching AI experts from companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic to build a new AI team.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has served as its CEO ever since. Nvidia is the biggest company in the world, with a market capitalization of $4.21 trillion at the time of writing.

Join top CEOs, founders and operators at the Level Up conference to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue and building sustainable success.

What would Jensen Huang study if he were 20 years old again?

Nvidia’s 61-year-old CEO answered this question during a trip to Beijing on Wednesday, as reported by CNBC. Huang, who graduated from college two years early at the age of 20 and is now the CEO of the most valuable company in the world, said that the “20-year-old Jensen” would have “probably chosen more of the physical sciences” over “the software sciences.”

The physical sciences include disciplines that study non-living systems, such as physics, earth science, and chemistry. Software sciences, on the other hand, include fields like computer science and AI engineering.

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