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👋 Good morning. If you returned from your long weekend to a towering mountain of emails, we’re so sorry. The silver lining is at least that mountain has no ice at the top? Not the case for the 274 climbers who scaled Mount Everest last week, setting a new record for successful ascents in a single day. Be brave with all that circling back and following up — like Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first known explorers to scale Everest in 1953.

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NEWS FLASH

👃 Brand-new smells: Fragrance company Patina raised $2m to further its mission to create “never-before-smelled” scent molecules, per TechCrunch. Patina’s Sense1 is an AI model designed to mimic the human nose’s scent receptors to create what co-founder Sean Raspet hopes will ultimately result in a “Pantone for scent.” This would make it easier to add rare or increasingly sparse ingredients more sustainably.

🫘 We love bold flavors, but Bush’s Baked Beans is definitely getting weird with its limited-edition summer lineup, which includes dill pickle, apple pie, and Rocket Pop-flavored baked beans. The odd flavor pairings come at a time when people are eating more beans, which, per NPR, often happens during times of economic uncertainty. Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your Rocket Pop beans with hints of cherry, lime, and blue raspberry.

🌡️ It’s getting hot in here: Data centers are popping up across the country to power the AI boom, but the expansion is not without its impact. One of the latest concerns: heat. Neighborhoods downwind of data centers can be up to 4 degrees Fahrenheit hotter, according to new research published in the Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities. The study of facilities in Arizona found that cooling systems release plumes of hot air that can intensify urban heat and drive up energy costs for nearby residents.

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

Pump the brakes: Waymo paused service in four cities after its robotaxis failed to navigate heavy rain and flooded streets, saying it had not yet developed a “final remedy” for avoiding floods.
Single patty, I guess? Ground beef prices hit a record high of $6.90 per pound — a ~15% increase from a year ago — and Americans have spent $42.4B on beef in the last year.
Dinner for two in 2046? To celebrate its 20th birthday, real-estate company StreetEasy offered reservations at 12 NYC establishments — including restaurants, theater companies, a yoga studio, and a coffee shop — for the year 2046.
Put a ring on it: Oura Health Oy has filed for an IPO. The smart ring maker was valued at $11B last September, at which time it’d sold 5.5m rings.

DIY APP BUILDING

Launch your next app before dinner

If you’ve got $500 and three spare hours, then founder Greg Isenberg can help you channel an entire team of experts by building with AI.

This AI business quickstart guide solves the “Where do I even start?” paralysis around building with chatbots by giving you the prompts, tools, and workflows to kickstart a viable product — in hours. Not months.

Take the AI shortcut

THE BIG IDEA

A senior man in a suit, tie, and glasses gives a thumbs up while standing next to a trash bin containing a set of golf clubs.

What’s better than retirement? For some, it’s work

Most people (we, as “most people,” assume) dream of the day they’re able to retire from the rat race, sit back, and reap the rewards of decades of hard work.

But, like the daily grind, retirement, too, can apparently get old.

At least it did for a group of former British execs, who, with “nothing else to do,” came out of retirement last year to launch the Sapient Foundation — a nonprofit through which they offer their expertise to small businesses and startups, often free of charge, per The Times.

A word from the wise

Sapient charges only what they think the fledgling businesses can afford based on their finances. Other times, they’ll instead ask the business to make a donation to a charity after it starts generating revenue.

Sapient’s consultants, who work just a few hours a day with the motto of “no heavy lifting,” also only take on projects they’re interested in. For example:

Accepted: Oraczen, an early-stage agentic AI startup that it’s helped expand across Europe.
Rejected: VC firms, who founder Brendan Logan, a 72-year-old former telecoms exec, told The Times were just looking for “cheap consulting.”

So far, they’ve worked with 12+ companies worldwide (consulting them on funding, tech strategy, governance, etc.) and already raised thousands for an educational charity in South Sudan.

Unretiring is trending

A growing number of older adults are reentering the workforce or forgoing retirement…

Roughly one in five Americans ages 65+ are employed or looking for work, ~2x the share in 1988, according to data from Pew Research Center.

… but unlike the seniors behind Sapient, most aren’t doing it out of boredom, or for free: With people living longer and as the cost of living rises, AARP found the biggest reason for coming out of retirement is financial.

Plus: as the global average life expectancy increases — today it sits at 71, up from 32 in 1900 — some countries are even considering raising retirement ages. In Denmark, it’s set to hit 74 by 2060 (RIP).

Meanwhile…

… as gramps continues grinding away, some 20-somethings are already throwing in the towel. One Gen Z retirement home in Malaysia, which offers accommodations to burned-out young workers for ~$490/month, is reportedly fully booked.

But with many Zoomers expected to live to 100, unretirement is likely around the corner for them as well.

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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Niche down: Building for everyone can mean building for no one — here’s one founder’s playbook for building a niche app that makes $20k a month.

NEWSWORTHY NUMBER

Age of Tortie, a tortoise who has lived in the suburban garden of one northeastern UK home for decades and isn’t going anywhere. The resident reptile, who’s survived wars and outlasted multiple homeowners, was reportedly a “non-negotiable part of the package” when a new family moved in last year, per The Times.

Lucky for them, the slowpoke is apparently a polite and low-maintenance housemate, which is honestly the most you can hope for when signing up to live with a stranger.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 1962, clarinetist Acker Bilk kicked off the British Invasion with his instrumental song, “Stranger on the Shore."

📰 That’s interesting: An infographic detailing New York Times obituaries. Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, had the longest at 13,870 words.

🏓 Let’s play: Join us for pickleball and networking at the Founders Open. RSVP here.

🎮 That’s cool: A collection of unexpected works of play, many still playable online or elsewhere.

🐅 Aww: A tiger and his box.

SHOWER THOUGHT

If you put frosting on a muffin, does that make it a cupcake? SOURCE

Today's email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Singdhi Sokpo.

Editing by: Sara "Only 9,497 days left til retirement" Friedman.

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