Welcome to this week’s Browser History!

One of the things I’ve been forcing myself to do is pay attention to the ads I’m getting. With DTC brands, it’s going to be the biggest asset for inbound customers. However, as I’m clicking and paying attention to these ads, I’m also re-curating my Instagram algorithm.

With that, I’ve been seeing an interesting trend in an influx of new DTC business accounts. Everything from an AI health assistant to new social marketplaces to build community. Some are poorly done with good potential, and others on the surface have many followers (but VERY low engagement).

In this week’s newsletter, we’re going to sample some case studies and use ourselves as test subjects to learn a little more about what ACTUAL behavior drives following/liking/engaging with content.

Because high follower count ≠ conversion.

Also, some notes about DMT in our brains (:

From my browser to yours, Aria

⏰ TL;DR

TLDR

Upcoming Events I’m Hosting

• Health-Tech Funding Networking & Fireside Chat (finalizing venue, date coming soon): I’m bringing together 1 VC investor, 1 angel investor, and 1 founder who didn’t take either to scale their startup for an intimate fireside chat. The goal is to bring knowledge typically behind locked doors out into the open where attendees feel comfortable asking questions and have more guidance on where to go next in their journey. I’m finalizing the details now — stay tuned for the lu.ma invite soon!

• Founders & Explorers Masquerade Networking (finalizing venue, date incoming): I’m making networking not boring and bringing masquerading and gamification into the mix. The event will bring together people from all facets of the start-up ecosystem and meeting each other in… _n__al masks. We’re working backgrounds, exchanging knowledge and value first, not names and accolades. This will be end of July/early August.

🔖 Bookmarks From Mine to Yours

• The YouTube video that signed a high school student to be the youngest director in the US

• Boston-based VC Visible Hands Founder Fellowship is open for $5K+ in non-dilutive funding, founder support, and more

• Hilariously and well written review of Lovable from an AI engineer

• Another reason why you should be using Claude over ChatGPT

• Ever dreamed of having a 1-1 with Tim Cook? All you have to do is…

• It was heralded as THE new tool to “keep” women safe, then all their data got leaked

• Bolt hosted a $100K hackathon, here’s the AMA of the 1st place winner

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🚨 Snappy Case Study Alert

Let’s take a look at some of the ads my algorithm curated for me.

1) floco.ai

My first thoughts:

• How many of these companies are going to say “cut through the noise”

• $199 seems like a lot for just blood work?

• They’ve posted nothing and have 245 followers?

After some snooping:

• I’m not going to follow and IG with 3 posts that substantially tell me nothing

• Their website doesn’t even match the name of the company, and there’s just too much happening on the website

• I don’t want an AI assistant to be helping me with my health (& having my data)

Three things learned here:

• No consistent posting does not make me want to follow this IG > no trust = no engagement

• “Start reversing your age” for me at 22… is not a lot of incentive for me, maybe I’m not the target audience

• CTA has high friction, when I click to DM, am I supposed to ask how do I get on top of this? > no automation = leads fall through the cracks

2) myeverme

My first thoughts:

• I do know magnesium is important, tell me more

• Okay I’m here on the profile, I have to download something… and it’s AI x health related

• A lot of credibility with scientists

After some snooping:

• Post start from April 15th, so they have consistent posting and good educational content

• But the content has too many buzzwords “longevity,” “actionable intelligence,” “take a journey to get you to a place where you’re living well.” Maybe it’s just me, but a lot of the content, although rooted in good science, makes me confused on what they are actually providing for me.

• Nevermind, their reels just have 2 white men yapping about their journey building this product

Three things learned here:

• At face value, they seem to be posting some good content, but the reels that have the least views are more like ego inflation than actual content. An everyday consumer doesn’t give a shit what great idea you had while sitting on the toilet. Also, some of the tips are super basic (small steps to get big impact).

• No consistent brand identity across all the posts is just not aesthetically pleasing to look at. Doesn’t make me want to read/learn anymore. The TYPE of content is also inconsistent (ad-esque vs. podcast-y ego inflation trip). Not following.

• Small amount of likes, little to no comments, no shares = posts are not getting organically shared on the algorithm. With little engagement with 1.6K followers, these are not turned conversions.

3) oathnutrition

My first thoughts:

• Watching the ad had be interested, it started out with “If you’re a human living on earth, you’ve been lied to about supplements.”

• One liner bio. Straight. To the point. Confident in what they’re building.

• Bright colors with product photos. I know what I’m getting.

After some snooping:

• Funny as heck meme content, personalized “if you like this, then try this,” many different options that pique my interest. Content that makes me want to scroll through the carousel.

• Giveaways that have substantial comments (1K+) and reels that consistently get 1K views+

• Company is about 2 years old, with about 200 posts and 22.8K followers. Not bad… but my friend’s company is 4 months old and she has 32K followers.

Three things learned here:

• Colors and content make me interested in the product, but not following the account. So… metrics is definitely not the end all be all. What is important is having UTM links to track where your customers are coming from. They might not follow the IG but buy from the website. The UTM can track where that purchase originated.

• I’ve seen this ad about 6-9 times now, and I still have no interest in purchasing it. In the past 3 weeks, I’ve learned that paid content is incredibly difficult to get in front of people that already WANT your product. It is WAY more expensive to get it in front of people who DON’T need NOR want your product.

• Trendy content made me go “huh, cool” but wasn’t enough to turn me into a customer. Moreover, they didn’t have vegan options so their advertising dollars were completely wasted on me. Without consistent posting week to week and offerings that' don’t work for me, their efforts do not work. Paid ads is very much throwing spaghetti at the wall. Consistent educational posts will get your content in front of people already looking for it.

You have psychedelic properties in your brain

That headline got your attention right?

Last week, I mentioned how humans have endogenous DMT in their brains, and meditation can activate it.

DMT (Dimethyltryptamine), a psychedelic tryptamine, is in the same class as substances like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms). It’s known to be one of the most powerful mind-altering substances, and is very illegal (but can be found in the underground and actually in head shops in Washington DC)

If you’re a yogi, you’d likely have heard about the pineal gland, or the third-eye chakra – also referred to as the seat of the soul. This is where DMT is produced.

DMT helps us direct our waking consciousness through our observable world with the help of our imagination. It helps us to see a world beyond the world that is readily seen.

For example, look at your hand. Now imagine a spider crawling on your hand. This manipulation of your subjective world is your endogenous DMT working. We all use DMT in our day to help us navigate and engage with the world around us.

The same mechanism is occurring when we are sleeping. We naturally stimulate our pineal gland to develop greater amounts of DMT during meditation or sleep, ultimately allowing us to enter into an Altered State of Consciousness.

The best way to increase this production during meditation is intensive breath work and intentional thinking.

Through this, you may find intense fractal images behind your eyelids and in an altered state of consciousness.

I highly recommend this 1 hour YouTube documentary as a starting point if you’re interested in learning more.

/s now some vc nerd nerd will find a way to monetize this!

📰 Random Recommendations

• I’ve never been a Marvel fan. Or a Pascal fan. Now, I (reluctantly) enjoy both. Go see Fantastic Four in theatre if you get a chance!

• We recently read AI Superpowers by Kai-fu Lee in book club, and it revealed to me a deep disparity of culture in the AI race. Sounded like a little bit like propaganda, but had some very good points on why China will win this race.

• RÜFÜS DU SOL (DJ SET) from Burning Man 2024 for your next work session. You can thank me later.

Powering down, Aria ✌️