Matt Wurst
Family guy 💙 Marketing & Community guy @ Genuin 🤝🧠 Newsletterer ✍️ Podcaster 🎙️ Occasional sleeper 👀 Creator ▶️ Mets fan ⚾️ NCAA Tourney Pool Manager 🏀. Not always in that order.
- We must protect "the spark." AI can write your emails, plan your week, even finish your... But it can’t feel a pause in someone’s voice or rebuild trust after a bad call. The future of work isn’t about replacing people, but knowing what only people can do. thefourps.substack.com/i/176327077/...
- Everyone wants to slap AI onto the Gartner Hype Cycle. 📉 But AI isn’t slowing down. It’s not in a “trough of disillusionment.” It broke the curve entirely. Some people call it hype because their experiments failed. But your learning curve ≠ the market’s growth curve. youtube.com/shorts/zAgK1...
- Illusion is cheap. Proof is hard. Both matter. Whether it's family, work, society, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘰, or even Advertising Week New York, the big question isn't what's real... It's "𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚?" 👉 Read all four before you start your week: thefourps.substack.com/p/pppproof-a...
- It always applies. And it's the theme of this week’s 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗣𝘀: ⚡ The “zero-click trap” draining publishers & brands. ⚡ The rise of AI-fueled workslop that looks like productivity but isn’t. ⚡ The indecisiveness of Gen Alpha. ⚡ The broken illusion of checks and balances.
- 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆: How I feel about generative AI content, in one post.
- Big Social had a good run. But when 3.3 million users engage across the Genuin network in 30 days… that’s a signal. Not “engagement.” Not “reach.” Real people. The center of gravity is shifting. It’s time to actually OWN your own community. 🤟
- Beyoncé’s trainer. Rihanna’s stylist. A NASA astronaut. No, this isn’t the setup for a bad joke. It’s how Eric Sheinkop built The Desire Company into a machine for real content, not influencer fluff, not rented audiences, but actual expert-led storytelling that converts. Anew Genuin Connection
- We got into it on the latest Genuin 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 👉 Why retailers are down to their “last chance” to matter 👉 How personalization ≠ “Welcome back, Eric” pop-ups 👉 Why use cases crush hype every time 👉 And yes… why neuroscience belongs in your marketing plan
- Smart. Spicy. A little scary. But damn, it’s the future. 🎧 Full episode here ⬇️ - iHeart: www.iheart.com/podcast/1323... - YouTube: youtu.be/JqvAaxDMlfc
- Protecting kids online isn’t optional anymore. 🚨 The FTC just told seven of the biggest AI players (Alphabet, Meta, OpenAI, Snap, xAI, and more): show us how you’re keeping children safe. Not someday. Not in a press release. Right now. youtube.com/shorts/0Ri33...
- The FTC wants want receipts: how these companies actually mitigate harms, track and monetize engagement, and monitor risks before and after deployment. At least one part of our government isn't totally broken. ICYMI, here’s the full FTC letter 👉 www.ftc.gov/system/files...
- I (finally?) got access to Perplexity’s new 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵 browser. I've used it non-stop for the past 24 hours. Because in theory, AI in a browser sounds awesome. In reality... more like beta vibes. Here are my first impressions:
- 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘀: ✅ Setup was frictionless. It integrated all of my Chrome settings instantly. ✅ Sidebar AI is handy: tab comparisons, quick summaries, even writing feedback. ✅ It looks cool in dark mode, and the widgets are fun.
- 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀: ❌ Accuracy still feels… questionable. I find myself fact-checking every response with links. Years of conditioning make it hard to just “trust the AI.” I want better transparency on how answers are generated. Confidence without clarity isn’t trust.
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View full threadMaybe it clicks for power users. (I haven't forked over the $200 yet). Maybe it matures fast. Maybe it is the "𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙚𝙤𝙧" we've been thinking it will be. Anyone else test-driving Comet? Whaddaya think? Is it the future… or just hype with nice fonts?
- Normally new tech follows a pattern: hype, crash, then slow adoption. But AI isn’t playing by those rules. The money is massive. The breakthroughs are daily. And yet most companies are still just tinkering. Lots of pilots, very little production.
- That gap between hype and reality is where the risk sits. Half-right AI means half-baked outcomes: • Automation without orchestration • Projects without ROI • Speed without safety This isn’t a hype cycle. It’s a collision between speed & maturity. The brands that win will be bold, but protected.
- When voices are silenced, when the media is forced to bend to government pressure, when people stop speaking out, freedom doesn’t disappear overnight. It erodes piece by piece. Freedom is fragile. It only survives if we protect it. Speak up. Silence is never neutral. youtube.com/shorts/dC9GP...
- Communities don’t die out from lack of interest. They die because they forget. Forget who showed up. Forget why they came. Forget what they built together. Physical, digital, religious, whatever… What is Community Memory? I just made it up. Maybe it’s nothing. But I think it’s… something.
- Far too many of us have forgotten what “community” really means. Why it matters. How it works. We turned it into a buzzword. Overused it. Drained it of meaning. Community is not a Slack channel. Not a Discord server. Not an audience you blast updates to. Because communities have memory.
- They remember who showed up first. Who stayed when it got hard. The inside jokes only they get. The nights we stayed up building. The failures that made us better. Community Memory is the emotional glue.
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View full threadNow with Genuin, we’re betting everything on preserving that memory. Building tools so it never fades. It’s the core of our contextual continuity. Because just like with our real communities in & across society, if you lose the memories, you lose the meaning. And without meaning, you have nothing.
- I'm willing to bet VERY few people in my network here have heard of Lenny Rachitsky. But if you’ve ever touched product, you know exactly who he is. Lenny went from leading product at Airbnb to running one of the most practical, data-rich newsletters in tech.
- And in the process, he built something bigger than any feature launch: 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆. Not just from what he shipped, but how he thinks. I met him briefly at the tail-end of his run at Neustar like 15 years ago, and have been following from afar ever since.
- For marketers living in a product-centric world, his perspective is gold… grounded advice on scaling, experimenting, and actually building things people want. It’s a reminder: the best brand you build might not be your company’s. It might be your own. www.lennyrachitsky.com/newsletter
- I feel split in two this week. The dichotomy of anger AND kindness. Wanting to retreat inward while needing to resist outward. One side wants to vent some targeted, productive rage. To call out the hypocrisy, to shine a mirror on misguided, misinformed misanthropy... youtube.com/shorts/Lbu9A...
- The other side knows we can’t abandon kindness. Because if rage fuels change, kindness keeps us anchored to a moral compass. Far too few people seem to understand or even care about moral values anymore. Anger is justified. But decency is non-negotiable.
- 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀: After much thought and reflection, the time has come. A chapter in my life is closing, and I’m ready to announce my 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩. Not from the industry. Not from marketing. But from something that’s been every bit as rewarding...
- After many successful seasons, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘮𝘺 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩. 🏈 The weekly preparation, the competition, the championships... all unforgettable. Each game had it's own playbook... The winning was fun, again, too.
- But the true joy was in teaching and coaching kids of all levels. Rehearsing schemes, designing drills, and most importantly, connecting with each and every player through the years. Nothing compares to watching a nervous kid gain the confidence to run, catch & score their first touchdown.
- That feeling can’t be replicated in any professional setting I’ve ever experienced. 🎉 So here’s to the teammates, the touchdowns & the memories and the other dad/coaches I beat along the way. 👉 If anyone needs plays for their season, I'm happy to share about 300 or so...
- As speakers flood stages at conferences this fall, sharing stories of creativity, innovation & bold new ideas, nobody's bragging about gross margin or units sold. Products are the 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵. Marketing is the 𝙬𝙝𝙮. Stop chasing transactions. Start building value.
- Want proof that I can write about more than just my kids & throwback nostalgia stories? Here's some good ol' fashioned industry authority: 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀. My latest in the Genuin Blog 👇👇 (𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦 - 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥!) begenuin.medium.com/the-ai-traff...
- So when the IAB laid down a framework for how brands can protect content and capture value in the age of AI earlier this summer, I was excited to see standards catching up with what we already knew: Brands that prepare now will not just 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 AI discovery. They'll 𝗼𝘄𝗻 it.
- “We were wrong. It’s not an evolution, but a revolution.” (This recruiter’s headline stopped me mid-scroll.) “After decades hiring marketing leads, the truth is undeniable: AI isn’t coming for our jobs. It already took them.” Dramatic? Sure. But not wrong. youtube.com/shorts/pjXaJ...
- From that email newsletter, I audited the 35 or so senior marketing job postings last week (good news, so many!) And the biggest wildcard wasn’t creativity, leadership, or strategy. It was AI. I also talk with CMOs every week. And here’s what I saw in those JDs and hear everywhere:
- 3 real requirements that didn’t exist two years ago: - 🧑💻 Prompt engineering, GenAI fluency - 📊 AI-powered decisioning - 🤖 Integrating agentic AI A marketer's job is being rewritten in real time. You can either own AI and lead the change... or let AI own you.
- It's not about pilots or about experimentation. It's about partnering with the right experts and builders. Evolution isn't fast enough when the revolution is already in the job description.
- Tiny favor 👋 We’re kicking off a new @genuinapp thought leadership project; Looking for a few product leaders (B2B or B2C) who’d be up for a short, informal chat (recorded video) with us. If this sounds fun, DM me or fill out this form and we’ll set it up. Thanks! (📝 forms.gle/gHzjKouS8pFF...)
- Reposted by Matt Wurst🔦 Product Spotlight: Sponsored Communities: Video-powered experiences embedded directly into your website and app. For retailers & publishers, it’s not just another tool... it’s a revenue unlock. For advertisers, it’s media that actually hits different.
- My son starts high school today. 😳 I gave him the “dad pep talk” about how these 4 years are the most important of his life, where you figure out who you are, what you love, what you stand for. My advice: lean into the uncomfortable. That’s where the growth happens. www.tiktok.com/@matthewwurs...
- Ben Franklin's kite & key sparked electricity. This week’s sparks? Data, content & truth: → Stop training others' AI. → Visibility doesn’t happen by accident. → After 4 years of posting daily, a streak ends. → The assault on public health is sabotage. 👉 thefourps.substack.com/p/ppppennies...
- Reposted by Matt Wurst🚀 1,000,000 strong… and just getting started. In just a few short months, the Genuin network has grown to over one million users. A milestone worth celebrating, made possible by our brilliant team, visionary partners & bold brands who believe in building the future of community. Thank you. 🙏
- Nobody likes to hear “I told you so.” It stings. It shuts people down. But sometimes being right isn’t enough. Influence isn’t about proving a point, but what happens next time. Reframe “I told you so” from gloating into a reminder: my perspective is important. youtube.com/shorts/tpnON...
