Red Flags, Red Hats, and Red-Eye Flights: What Could Go Wrong?
The Weekly from The Liquid Lunch Project, Issue No 169 | June 20, 2025
June 20, 1975: The day we all collectively decided the ocean could wait.
When Jaws hit theaters, it didn’t just ruin summer vacations; it redefined what a blockbuster could be. A 27-year-old Spielberg, a malfunctioning mechanical shark, and a $12 million budget turned into one of the most iconic (and profitable) movies of all time. The lesson for business owners? You don’t need perfect conditions or flawless equipment to make something legendary. Sometimes, you just need a big idea, some duct tape, and the guts to swim anyway.
Now let’s dive in. Just... maybe not too deep.
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ON TAP THIS WEEK
💸 Unfundable AF? Here’s what you’re doing wrong.
😬 Jet Lag: Paris Air Show Grounds the Hype After Boeing Crash
🤖 From Musk to Money: Tesla bets the house on Robotaxis
📱 Move over, Mint Mobile - it’s time for MAGA Mobile
📺 Coming Soon: Ads that know you better than your therapist
🫸 Saying Yes to Everything? Congrats, You’re Everyone’s Doormat
💻 No More Guesswork: Reddit's AI reads the threads so you don’t have to
🌐 And from Around the Web: Haunted toys, unbanned apps, and Amazon stretched Prime Day like it owes child support.
THE CLASSROOM
Why Your Business Isn’t Fundable (And How to Fix It Fast)
by Luigi Rosabianca
Tired of getting ghosted by banks? It’s not personal. It’s paperwork. Your business might look successful, but on paper? It’s throwing red flags like it’s in a toxic relationship.
To help you out, I broke down the top reasons you’re not fundable, AND the fixes to clean things up fast. 👉 Click here to read the full post and start looking like a business lenders actually want to work with.
Need help making it happen? Book a quick call and let’s get your biz lender-ready without the guesswork.
HEARD ON THE STREET
✈️ Thirty Thousand Foot View is Bleak
The biennial Paris Air Show opened this week and runs through today with a very different feel than aviation aficionados and investors expected. Instead of announcing billion-dollar orders and spotlighting next-generation technologies, this year’s will be a more somber event after the deadly Boeing 787 Air India crash on June 12th. While Indian officials ordered extended surveillance of all Boeing 787 aircraft in their fleet, the investigation into U.K.-bound flight 171 is ongoing after it crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 241 of 242 on board. The 12-year-old Boeing plane had GE Aerospace engines.
Orders for new jets at this year’s air show are basically irrelevant, as order backlogs are so big. Boeing’s roughly 6.5K unfilled orders and Airbus’s nearly 8.7K are more than a decade of demand at current build rates. Boeing recently increased its 737 MAX production to 38 a month, the Federal Aviation Administration’s limit after the January ‘24 emergency-door-plug blowout of a 737 MAX 9 jet. The FAA has also approved Boeing’s increased 787 production rate to seven jets a month from five.
Boeing plans (in theory) to increase production, but Boeing’s free cash flow at higher levels of MAX production is iffy. In addition, the entire industry awaits supply-chain updates from aerospace suppliers, including Parker-Hannifin and Howmet Aerospace. Boeing is in Paris, but CEO Kelly Ortberg canceled his plans to attend to focus on the Air India investigation, which Indian officials are leading. GE Aerospace postponed its investor event until later this month. Updates about the Air India crash are expected in the coming days.
🚗 Musky Scent
Last week, the first public footage of a Tesla driverless Model Y testing in Austin surfaced online. Concurrently, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is tentatively targeting June 22 for the commercial launch of its robotaxi service. Its robotaxi platform will radically shift Tesla’s business model from one-time hardware sales to recurring revenue with software-like margins. This suggests that Tesla’s robotaxi platform could account for ~90% of its enterprise value in 2029.
Its vertically integrated manufacturing and vision-only approach to autonomy could result in a major cost advantage compared to competitors, allowing Tesla to scale more quickly and efficiently. At scale, without depending on other automakers, LiDAR, and other unnecessary hardware, Tesla’s cost per mile could be ~30–40% lower than Waymo’s.
That cost advantage is compelling, especially since the rideshare and taxi price comparison app Obi recently found that consumers in San Francisco are willing to pay more for Waymo than for Uber or Lyft. As Tesla launches in the coming weeks and Waymo continues to expand its reach, The Weekly Team will keep y’all posted on how quickly the autonomous ride-hailing market is scaling.
🤳 Bling Bling Ring Ring
Get ready for more gold smartphones. The Trump Organization, the family-run business of President Trump, has licensed its name for a new U.S. mobile communications operation and a $499 American-made smartphone, taking aim at Apple and Samsung. Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr., will oversee it.
Through resale deals, Trump Mobile will offer 5G service over the three big U.S. cellular carriers. (Verizon Communications, AT&T, and T-Mobile U.S.) Known as mobile virtual network operator agreements, the deals let carriers sell excess network capacity. Plans are priced at $47.45/month, a nod, perhaps, to Trump’s tenure as the 45th and 47th president. The Trump Organization has not provided details on the name of the smartphone maker or who makes the devices' components. This is all occurring while Trump has threatened to slap 25% tariffs on Apple iPhones and other smartphones sold in the U.S. that weren’t made domestically. Apple and other smartphones are currently built in China, India, and Vietnam, using displays, processors, and cameras sourced from Asia.
It’s part of a trend of celebrity-branded mobile platforms. The actor and producer Ryan Reynolds sold his Mint Mobile stake to T-Mobile in 2023 for $1.3B and stars in its ads. And the stars of the SmartLess podcast are forming their own low-cost mobile provider. Trump has said he isn’t involved in his family’s day-to-day business operations. Trump’s total investment holdings, including his stake in the Trump Organization, are valued at roughly $1.7B. This could be huge!
👀I Always Feel Like…
…someone is watching me. In a milestone agreement, Amazon and Roku are teaming up to get ads in front of more eyeballs. The initiative that will give media buyers access to more than 80% of U.S.-connected TV households.
Launching in Q4 2025, the digital ad sales partnership will allow them to reach all connected TV viewers of Amazon Prime, the Roku Channel, and others. They say it’s a good deal for advertisers because, in early trials, ads placed this way reached 40% more unique viewers while decreasing the frequency with which ads were shown to the same viewer by 30%, tripling the value advertisers get for their cash. The integration uses what the companies described as “a custom identity resolution service,” which allows the Amazon DSP to recognize logged-in viewers across the Roku operating system and devices in the U.S. That capability is aimed at increasing targeting.
That creepy feeling when you see ads about recently discussed topics is not going away anytime soon.
⛔ Know How to Say No
Most workers are conditioned to say yes to bosses and colleagues, but it’s important to be able to turn things down. Many of us feel compelled to say yes to things that make us miserable. As human beings, we’re hardwired to help and conditioned to be cooperative. Refusing seems like it isn’t an option. Agreeing with things we don’t want to do also has terrible consequences - it can make us unhappy and resentful.
We can learn to say no. To do it, we need to know how to evaluate what people are asking and the most effective ways to respond. Most of all, we need to set up principles for ourselves that clearly define what we will accept and what we won’t and stick to them. Use those principles to guide your choices, eliminating the need for case-by-case deliberation. These rules strengthen your resolve and make refusal feel natural. Instead of just saying no, you clarify that the answer reflects your core principles rather than mere convenience. People perceive you as more decisive and purpose-driven when you say no correctly. And people would much rather have you say no upfront than say yes and then drop the ball later. If you do a shoddy job or don’t deliver on time because you are overwhelmed or overcommitted, you damage relationships and your reputation much more than if you had said no in the first place.
When you do refuse, frame your response with empowered language. For instance, use ‘I don’t,’ not ‘I can’t,’ which signals that your ‘no’ stems from who you are and the rules you have set for yourself. Communicate that the refusal stems from our core principles rather than mere convenience. Like anything worth doing, learning to say no effectively requires patience, practice, and persistence. Say yes to that challenge. Or is that no?
THE MONEY MINUTE WITH MRM
Reddit’s AI Ads Could Save You Money and Make You More
with Matthew R. Meehan
Reddit just rolled out AI-powered ad tools that automatically build and optimize campaigns based on what real users are talking about. That means less time spent tweaking settings and more time making sales.
Why it matters:
These new tools let small business owners target niche audiences without the high costs of Facebook or Google ads.
You don’t need a dedicated marketing team to run ads that convert. Reddit’s AI handles the targeting, bidding, and creative suggestions.
And because Reddit’s users are already mid-convo about their interests, you’re reaching them when they’re most likely to buy.
Bottom line: If your marketing budget is tight, this is a smart way to spend less and sell more. Try a small campaign, track ROI, and see if Reddit’s AI can outperform your current ad spend. Cheaper reach + smarter targeting = a potential win for your bottom line. Read about it here.
AROUND THE WEB
Blind Boxes, Blinding Profits: Labubu is proof that if you slap a haunted Build-A-Bear face on a keychain, hype it on TikTok, and limit the supply, BOOM! You’ve got a six-figure resale economy. These creepy little bunny-mutant things are now clout tokens for grown adults with disposable income and zero impulse control. If you run retail and aren’t paying attention to the blind-box resale market… you’re the real dummy in this horror show.
Third Time’s a Charm? Trump just gave TikTok ANOTHER 90-day reprieve, because apparently banning the app is like trying to ghost an ex: messy, drawn out, and never actually final. For now, creators can keep lip-syncing while Washington keeps punting.
Four Days To Justify That iPad: Prime Day 2025 is now four days long, because apparently Jeff Bezos wants your entire Q3 budget. It’s equal parts real savings, fake list prices, and panic-clicking while your coffee brews. Whether you're buying office gear, flipping AirPods, or just pretending this counts as “team morale,” one thing’s clear: July 8–11 is business-owner Black Friday, with better Wi-Fi and worse self-control.
