Shares in meme stock darling Opendoor Technologies (Nasdaq: OPEN) are surging once again after the real estate sales platform announced a new CEO: Kaz Nejatian, the chief operating officer of Shopify. Heres what you need to know about Nejatian and how investors are reacting to the news.
Whats happened?
Yesterday, Opendoor named the chief operating officer of Shopify, Kaz Nejatian, as its new CEO. The appointment was news to many, but the fact that Opendoor was looking for a new chief executive was not.
Thats because on August 15, Opendoor announced that its then-CEO, Carrie Wheeler, would be stepping down effective immediately. In her place, the companys chief technology and product officer, Shrisha Radhakrishna, stepped up as interim leader as the search for a new CEO commenced.
At the time, Opendoor said, Wheeler had made the decision to step down from her role as CEO. However, as The Wall Street Journal notes, there has been pressure from retail investors to replace Wheeler, especially after the companys disappointing Q2 2025 results, which saw it purchase 63% fewer homes during the quarter than a year earlier.
Opendoor makes the majority of its money by buying homes directly from homeowners, fixing them up, and then flipping them for a profit.
But during its Q2 results, Opendoor also offered guidance that spooked investors. It said that during its current Q3, it expects revenue of $800 million to $875 million. That represents a 36% decline from the revenue it generated in the same quarter a year earlier.
OPEN stock fell nearly 20% as a result of these announcementsseverely limiting the gains that it had made in July when it became a favorite among meme stock investors.
In a press release announcing the search for a new CEO, Wheeler said she believed now is the right moment for a leadership transition, and Im confident the company is on a strong path forward. The company, in turn, stated that its new CEO search is well underway.
As of yesterday, that search has ended.
Who is Kaz Nejatian?
Kaz Nejatian comes to Opendoor from Shopify, where he had held the role of the online shopping platforms chief operating officer since 2022, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Before becoming Shopifys COO in 2022, Nejatian was a VP of merchant services at the company and, prior to that, held the title of VP & GM of Shopify Money. Before Shopify, Nejatian worked at Facebook as a lead project manager for the companys payment platform and billing teams.
Before his positions at Big Tech companies, Nejatian was the cofounder and CEO of Kash, a mobile payments technology company that catered to small businesses.
Kash was founded in 2012 and acquired by one of the largest fintech companies in the U.S. in 2017, according to Opendoors press release. According to PitchBook, the acquiring firm was undisclosed.
Announcing the appointment of Nejatian as the companys new CEO, Opendoors cofounder and chairman, Keith Rabois, said Nejatian is a decisive leader who has driven product innovation at scale, ruthlessly reduced general and administrative (G&A) expenses to drive profitability and deeply understands the potential for AI to radically reshape a companys entire operations.
He is the right leader to unlock Opendoors unique data and assets as we build on Opendoors original mission, now enhanced as an AI-first company, he added.
As for Nejatian, the new CEO said his position at Opendoor was a privilege. Few life events are as important as buying or selling a home, he added. With AI, we have the tools to make that experience radically simpler, faster, and more certain. Thats the future were building.
How have Opendoor shares reacted?
Shares in Opendoor have reacted very well to the appointment of Nejatian as CEO.
As of the time of this writing, in premarket trading this morning, OPEN shares are currently trading up more than 35% to $7.92 per share. Yesterday, OPEN shares had closed down over 4% to $5.86 per share.
The companys shares are now at their highest level since 2022.
Year-to-date, OPEN shares have surged more than 266% as of yesterdays close. However, whether they can maintain their recent momentum in the long term will likely ultimately depend on the companys future fundamentals, rather than any transient meme stock hype.
Rocket Labs pivot from small launch darling to serious SpaceX competitor is about to be tested. The Long Beach, California-based company has already sent 12 of its light-lift Electron rockets into space in 2025, carrying payloads for commercial and government customers, with several more planned before the end of the year from its Virginia and New Zealand launch sites.
But the next several months are pivotal, as Rocket Lab races to bring its next-generation, medium-lift Neutron rocket to the launchpad before years end. Its an ambitious timeline, CEO Peter Beck acknowledges, and the company will need to hit all its marks in the coming weeks to meet it.
“When we put a vehicle on the pad, we do not expect it to fail,” Beck tells me in our wide-ranging conversation. “If you look at our launch vehicle, our spacecraft history, generally the stuff that we build works the first time.”
But with the success of Neutron, Rocket Lab will be able stake its claim as a major player in space-defense infrastructure. Neutron can carry nearly 28,000 pounds, perfect for launching larger satellite constellations and national security missions. Already, Rocket Lab is building satellites for missile defense systems, broadband, and more.
As he prepares for the first flight of Neutron, Beck talked with me about whats riding on this next-gen vehicle, how the companys long-term strategy hinges on making it work, and why launchpad explosions are not part of his development plan.
In this Premium piece, you will learn:
The massive cost savings Rocket Lab is achieving on Neutron compared with the competition
How Beck bested more than 100 small launch companies to dominate that market
What he’s doing to put Rocket Lab in position to be a “real provider” for the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defense project
Why the major space companies of the future will be “a little bit blurry” in terms of their mission
Weve seen mixed outcomes among your launch competitors this year, with some notable flameouts. How do you see the state of competition right now?
I think everybody can declare that the small-launch race has been won, right? Electron has really hit a high cadence this year, and weve had a lot of customers all turning up on time, which is fantastic.
I remember when we started the Electron [program], there were more than 100 small launch companies and billions of dollars flowed into small-launch. Astra consumed $400 million or so in their program [before going private last year and refocusing on engine building]. Virgin Orbit spent $1.2 billion on their program [before filing for Chapter 11]. ABL spent $300 million or $400 million, and so it goes. Firefly is sending payloads into the ocean.
I think the medium-launch market is going to end up in a similar way. There are a few programs that are funded, and I think that will sort itself out and there will be a viable alternative to the [Space X] Falcon 9, which is much needed for some competition in that space.
Its going to be really interesting as the heavy vehicles shake out. You saw a really great flight from [United Launch Alliances] Vulcan. Youve got [Blue Origins] New Glenn coming on. So it’s getting exciting.
The next phase of Rocket Labs business depends on getting the medium-lift Neutron launched. Youre still holding out hope for a launch in 2025?
Things are happening in parallel and theyll all sort of crescendo at the end. It’s a green light schedulethat means everything has to go. But right now, we can see a path until there’s no path. Were not waving the white flag.
And at the end of the day, if it’s not at the end of the year, it won’t be that far away. A few months here or there in the grand context of a 20-year lifecycle of a product is just totally irrelevant.
One of the things that I don’t think we’ve done a good job of is putting into context that this will be a four-year-plus, $350 million rocket development program. If you look at the last two rocket development programs: The one that just launched [ULAs Vulcan launch], that was a decade and $7 billion. And another one that just launched [SpaceXs Starship] was, like, 20 years and nobody knows how many billions of dollars.
In space exploration, things go wrong all the time. If the first Neutron launch failsif it explodes as weve seen from competitor rocketsare you ready to try again quickly?
Let’s talk about philosophy to start with. So, we don’t put anything on the pad unless we think it’s going to work. The threshold for Electron was 92%: I said to everybody that unless you are 92% sure that your system is going to be perfectly functional, don’t put it on the pad.
Other companies have philosophies where theyll take big risks and are happy to fail and fail fast. I think you can do that if you have essentially infinite capital.
Our development approach is not like that. When we put a vehicle on the pad, we do not expect it to fail. If you look at our launch vehicle, our spacecraft history, generally the stuff that we build works the first time.
The expectation of Neutron is that we reach orbit on the first flight. I’m not setting an expectation that we clear the pad, or that we get a good stage burn or nominate so many seconds of flightthat’s all bullshit. The idea here is to get to orbit.
The one area I would appreciate people giving us some slack on is the reentry and landing, because thats new and it took a company a very long time to master.
But if the worst happens, we have enough capital reserves to fund the entire program three times over. So it would be disappointing. Someone would need to leave me alone for a couple of days. But it presents no existential threat to the company whatsoever.
How quickly can you establish the kind or regular launch cadence you now have with Electron?
At the moment, theres one Electron rolling off the line every 11 days. With the Neutron, we’ve been really consistent that our bill rate will be one, three, and five [for the first three years].
Although everybody wants it to be faster, that’s what it takes. You need that dwell time between those flights to make the upgrades and the learnings that you see and to build that into your manufacturing.
With Electron, we put a factory in that was capable of producing one Electron every week, and we are at one every 11 days now. We haven’t bought or added any capital equipment. We followed the exact same approach with Neutron.
At our Middle River, [Maryland] facility, we invested in a 90-ton, three-story building where we build all of the composite components for the vehicle. We have the Archimedes engine factory, in Virgin Orbit’s old factory building [in Long Beach, California]. So we’re able to really build that scale quickly.
The one wrinkle here with Neutron is that its a reusable first stage. So the highest production rate we will ever have of stage ones at least is at the beginning of the program. And then stage ones get replaced once every 10 or 20 flights.
Launch services are just one part of Rocket Labs business. Where do the others stand right now?
On the space-system [spacecraft components] side, we continue to build out scale there with pending acquisitions of companies like Mynaric [a German manufacturer of laser communication equipment], which are a really key elment.
And the third pillar is youve seen us for the first time move into payloads, which is squarely focused on national security. We think with the opportunities that are there right now, that is exactly the right place to be focused.
Can you explain what you mean by payloads?
The sensor. Basically, you only build a satellite to host the sensor. The sensor is doing the work, and you only launch a satellite because you need to put the sensor in orbit. So, everything revolves around the sensor, whether it’s an antenna for doing broadband or it’s a telescope for doing Earth observation, it is the reason that you build something and go to space.
And thats the reason for acquiring Geost, which makes electro-optical and infrared sensor systems?
The acquisition of Geost positions us to be a disruptive player in [defense] programs such as the Golden Dome. Its not quite the Manhattan Project, but not that far off, with massive spending. And the space domain piece of that is core.
Our aspirations are slightly larger than just to be a part of it. We want to be a real provider. And the payload, or sensor, acquisition of Geost is a key element for that missile defense infrastructure that we now have under our belt.
With the continuing uncertainty around the Ukraine conflict and U.S. involvement with NATO, have you had more demand from governments in Europe, too?
With the world today, unfortunately, everybody is looking at their defense strategy. I’d say we are just getting our feet in Europe. Obviously, we’ve won some launch contracts for the European Space Agency on Electron, and our components business has sold into Europe for a long time. But once we close the acquisition of Mynaric, well have a German base. If you look at how weve expanded globally, Europe is the next big opportunity for us outside America.
Have changes in government contracting under the Trump administration, and the DOGE cuts, impacted your business? Have you benefited from the Trump-Musk falling out?
I have a policy not to comment on politics. Unlike my competitor, I’m just a humble rocket guy. But what I will say is that there is more desire than ever to have a really fulfilled competitive landscape within launch especially. And both commercial customers and government customers really, really want Neutron to come along and provide some competition in a market that has become a little bit less competitive over time.
Do you think the space industry will look very different five years from now?
If I have my way, it will. I think it’s going to become very clear, if its not already, that the really large space companies of the future are going to be a little bit blurry about how much of a space company they are and how much of something-else company they are.
I mean, if we look at our friends over at SpaceX, are they a telecommunications company, or are they a space company?
It has always been our ethos and our belief that if you have the ability to build the spacecraft and launch it and deploy it in orbit at a rate that’s faster than anybody else, then you have a distinct advantage.
That’s been proven out with Starlink. The only way to be competitive with Starlink is to have your own ability to launch at will, at mass, at cadence, your own satellites. I think that will become true in a lot of domains in space.
And so there’ll be a relatively small number of companies that have launch and manufacturing capabilities who will be the large players.
Does that mean that many of your current competitors will not be around in five years?
I dont know if they’re still around, or they morph, they adapt? Thats up to them. As the industry changes and adapts, you can have your Kodak moment or not, right?
Artificial intelligence may be booming, but there are some things people can still do better.
That’s according to a new study from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, which found that virtual salespeople in livestreams dont outperform humans in the same role. In fact, when interacting with consumers to promote products in real time, these AI-powered digital streamers barely do better than no streamers at all. (So much for AI coming for that job.)
People assume that if businesses are using digital streamers, they must be doing well,” said Yanwen Wang, coauthor of the study. “But they arent, at least not in their current incarnation.”
The study, published in Information Systems Research, looked at sales data from e-commerce site Tmall.com. It compared sales by humans and AI-powered digital streamers of 328 products (74 by humans, 72 by digital streamers, and 182 with no streamers).
While the results were clear that sales were much higher when actual people were involved, the question of why remained.
By testing AI streamers that looked and sounded different, study researchers found more realistic avatarswhich behaved more like humans, with more human-sounding voicesmade a real difference in what people bought.
In fact, one key factor made the most difference: The avatar’s ability to answer questions in real time increased sales by 25%, for an 86% rise in revenue. (That’s not all: Surprisingly, adding a lottery to the livestreamwhere viewers could win prizeshelped increase sales by another 17%, boosting revenue 70%.)
Only enhanced real-time Q&A interactions allowed the digital streamers to achieve sales performances on par with human streamers, Wang concluded, suggesting quicker, interactive engagement is a key driver of sales, and that the best approach to selling online may be a mix of human and AI elements.
Resilience is often misunderstood.
Were taught to think of it as some hardened mental posturethe ability to push through pain, to toughen up, to bend and not break. But real resilience doesnt come from brute strength. It comes from self-understanding. From owning your truth, finding meaning in your pain, and choosing who you want to become in the face of your worst fears.
I learned that the hard way. At 19 years old, I took another mans life and was sentenced to 17 to 40 years in prison. I would spend 19 years behind bars, seven of them in solitary confinement. I went into that system broken, angry, and afraid. And for a long time, I let that pain define me.
But at my lowest pointtrapped in a cell the size of a parking space, cut off from the worldI made a decision. I chose to change. I began to write. I read hundreds of books. I confronted the darkest parts of myself and committed to something radical: I was going to rebuild my identity from the inside out.
That process didnt happen overnight. It happened through small, daily choices. The same way we build muscle in the gym, I built resilience by showing up for myself when no one else could.
What I learned in that cell has guided me every day sincethrough my reentry into society, through building relationships, raising children, writing books, working with CEOs, and speaking on stages around the world.
Here are a few of the most powerful lessons I took from that experience:
1. You have to tell yourself the truth.
At the core of any transformation is brutal honesty. Most of us are in denialabout our pain, our patterns, our past. We bury the things we dont want to face. But until you confront your truth, youre a prisoner to it.
For me, the truth was that I had been deeply wounded long before I ever picked up a gun. I had unresolved trauma, I felt unworthy of love, and I didnt know how to ask for help. Prison forced me to stop running from that truth. It taught me that freedom begins where denial ends.
2. You are not your worst decision.
One of the most damaging myths we carry is that we are defined by the worst thing weve done. That belief keeps us locked in shameand it keeps others from seeing our humanity.
I will never forget what I did. I live with that every day. But I also know that Im more than my past. The man I am todayfather, author, mentor, friendis a result of years of conscious work, reflection, and growth. You dont have to stay stuck in the story someone else wrote about you.
3. Stillness is a superpower.
Solitary confinement is designed to break people. And for a long time, it nearly broke me. I was angry, bitter, and desperate for an outlet. But in that silence, I began to hear myself clearly. I began to feel emotions Id numbed for years. Stillness became my teacher.
In the outside world, were surrounded by noise. But resilience requires space. You cant rebuild yourself in chaos. Whether its five minutes of breathing or an hour of journaling, carve out silence. Your growth depends on it.
4. You can choose your thoughts.
This was the biggest revelation of all: I didnt have to believe everything I thought. I could challenge the stories in my head. I could reframe my pain. I could interrupt the loop of self-hate and replace it with something better.
In prison, that meant shifting from Ill never get out to What can I do with this time? Outside of prison, it means shifting from Im not good enough to Whats one small thing I can do today to move forward?
Your mindset is your operating system. Update it as often as necessary.
5. Growth is nonlinear.
Change is messy. Youll stumble. Youll relapse into old patterns. I certainly did. But I kept coming back to the vision I had for my life. I held onto the version of myself I hadnt yet become.
The goal isnt to be perfectits to keep growing. Thats what resilience really is: not avoiding failure, but learning how to recover with grace.
These lessons didnt just help me survive prisonthey helped me lead. Today, I speak to leaders around the world about trust, culture, and transformation. And I tell them what I know to be true: the same tools that saved my life can strengthen their teams, their families, and themselves.
Because in the end, were all doing time. Were all navigating systems, stories, and struggles that can box us in. The question is: will you let those constraints define youor will you choose to break free?Adapted from How to Be Free by Shaka Senghor. Copyright 2025. Reprinted by permission of Authors Equity.
The fastest way to destroy value in a high-potential company isnt a bad market, its scaling a business that isnt ready to grow. And this article highlights one of the few ways you can identify and take action before you find out the hard way.
Mid-market companies ($20M$200M in revenue) often attract private equity attention for their expansion potential. Yet many hit a ceiling post-close, not because of market miscalculations, but because internal maturityacross leadership, systems, and culturelags behind external ambitions. Scaling when this is present magnifies disorder, not value. This is what we call the growth trap: a condition where external growth initiatives overwhelm internal capacity, suppressing returns and elongating the value creation timeline, ultimately delaying or decreasing returns.
For private equity firms seeking faster time-to-scale and stronger exit readiness, avoiding this trap requires one critical shift: treat internal capability as the foundation for growthnot a post-acquisition fix.
I. The Anatomy of the Growth Trap
The growth trap isnt caused by ambitionits caused by misalignment. In dozens of post-acquisition performance reviews, we observed a consistent pattern of dysfunctions that emerge when growth outpaces infrastructure:
Premature Expansion: Companies rush into new markets or product lines without conducting thorough due diligence or assessing the organizational impact.
Operational Inefficiencies: Existing processes, often adequate for smaller operations, become bottlenecks as the company scales. Lack of standardized procedures, inadequate technology, and poor communication lead to operational chaos.
Talent Gaps: Rapid growth exposes weaknesses in the talent pool. Existing employees may lack the skills or experience required for larger-scale operations. Recruitment and training lag behind expansion, leaving critical roles unfilled or filled with underqualified individuals.
Culture Shock: Growth triggers significant cultural shifts that are often underestimated. Existing cultures can be disrupted, resulting in employee resistance, decreased morale, and a decline in productivity. Data consistently shows that organizational culture is not a soft factor but a core driver of business performance and growth. McKinseys Organizational Health Index further revealed that companies with healthy cultures deliver shareholder returns 60% higher than their peers and are more resilient during transformational change.
Leadership Deficiencies: Leadership is the top internal determinant of a firms performance. Leaders may struggle to adapt their management style to the demands of a larger, more complex organization. This can lead to a lack of strategic direction, poor decision-making, and an inability to drive change.
II. How Private Equity Can Learn to Architect Scalable Growth
The good news: private equity firms can insure the operating company is uniquely positioned to intervene early, structure operational discipline, and drive scalability as a value lever. Rather than seeing talent and systems as post-close cleanup, the most effective firms approach internal optimization as a precondition for external expansion.
Below is a four-part playbook to prevent or reverse the growth trapone that places people, process, and leadership at the center of value creation. We have implemented this strategy with business leaders that plan to scale to ensure the company is ready for growth.
1. Culture Change as a Strategic Imperative:
Recognize that scaling is a significant change management effort, not just a transaction.
Implement structured change management programs that address employee concerns and build buy-in.
Foster a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
2. Right People, Right Roles:
Conduct thorough organizational assessments to identify talent gaps and define clear roles and responsibilities.
Invest in talent acquisition and development programs to build a high-performing team.
Implement performance management systems that align individual goals with organizational objectives.
3. Operational Excellence:
Streamline and standardize processes to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
Invest in technology that supports scalability and automation.
Implement robust data analytics to monitor performance and identify areas for improvement.
4. Strategic Leadership:
Provide leadership coaching and development to equip executives with the skills needed to manage a larger organization.
Foster a culture of strategic thinking and data-driven decision-making.
Ensure clear communication and alignment across all levels of the organization.
III. Case studies in transformation
Here are a few examples of how our strategic partnerships can support growth.
Case Study 1: Operational Discipline Drives Margin Expansion in Residential
Construction
A $50M portfolio company in the housing sector had ambitions to double revenue within five years. Initial efforts to scale via geographic expansion quickly exposed deep inefficienciesmanual scheduling systems, undocumented workflows, and informal project tracking.
Operational leadership halted expansion efforts and implemented a scalable operations framework: documented and aligned operational processes and procedures, established a decision making framework on go/no go work, developed a KPI dashboard and standardized billable time and project tracking mechanisms.
A new organizational design was rolled out to expand in multi-region rollouts. Within 12 months, operational waste dropped, top-line revenue grew, and margins improved, setting the stage for accelerated yet sustainable growth.
Case Study 2: Culture Integration in a $1B Construction Firm
A construction portfolio company scaling from $200M to $1B through acquisition faced significant cultural turbulence. Top talent exited due to unclear roles and shifting norms. Productivity dipped despite rising demand.
Recognizing culture as a performance variable, the operators introduced a dedicated integration officer and initiated quarterly culture pulse surveys across acquired units. A “culture blueprint” was developed and shared through onboarding and leadership workshops. Within nine months, employee engagement scores rose and project delivery timelines improved, aligning performance with scale.
Case Study 3: Scalable Leadership in a Bank Growing to $5B in Assets
A regional bank executing a roll-up strategy grew from 800 to 3,000+ employees and from under $500M to $5B in assets in five years. Despite strong top-line growth, internal systems and leadership infrastructure struggled to keep pace. Operations implemented a focus on people, process, and technology integration. A shared operating model, “Shared Success, Shared Failure,” was adopted for each acquisition.The result: unified reporting lines, reduced duplication, and a shared cultural identity that anchored the business through hyper-growth.
Case Study 4: Strategic Joint Ventures in Electrical Fabrication
An electrical fabrication firm in the industrial services sector aimed to expand via joint ventures but lacked process rigor and alignment. Integration efforts stalled as internal teams were unclear on ownership, accountability, and delivery standards.
Through a post-investment diagnostic, the operator firm uncovered structural issues in project ownership and communication. A centralized Project Management Office was created, roles were clarified, and joint venture integration playbooks were deployed. The company improved 25% in on-time project delivery within three quarters, unlocking the next wave of JV opportunities.
IV. The takeaways
For Private Equity Investors:
Diligence Beyond the Deck: Evaluate internal readinessnot just market potentialduring diligence. Ask: Can the current systems, people, and leadership model handle 2x scale?
Value Creation = Infrastructure + Strategy: True value creation doesnt begin at revenue accelerationit begins with operational predictability.
People as Assets: View top talent not just as cost centers but as scale enablers. Investing in leadership often yields higher ROI than bolt-ons.
For Portfolio Company Leaders:
Build Before You Scale: Rushing growth without aligning structure will burn resources and reputation. Dedicate time and budget to organizational development as a proactive strategy.
Make Culture Explicit: Dont let culture drift during scale. Define, document, and live the behaviors that will carry the organization forward.
Train Leaders for Tomorrow: Your leadership team must evolve alongside the company. Equip them now to manage complexity later.
Prioritize Culture: For all involved, prioritizing culture leads to better financial performance and outcomes. Studies show that when PE-backed firms prioritize culture, they see up to 2.3 times better financial performance and 25% higher first-year post-acquisition results when using experienced integration specialists to bridge cultural gaps.
V. A Real and Present Danger
The growth trap is a real and present danger for midsize companies. By understanding the underlying causes of this phenomenon and implementing an integrated strategy that prioritizes people, processes, and leadership, private equity firms can unlock significant value and drive sustainable growth. The key is to recognize that scaling is not just about increasing revenue; it’s about building a strong, resilient organization that can thrive in a dynamic market. By focusing on internal optimization, PE firms can insure their portfolio companies have a dedicated partner to avoid the growth trap and realize their full potential.
To understand how artificial intelligence is starting to shape the built environment, look at the ceiling inside Mt. Hope Elementary School in Lansing, Michigan. There, running across the tops of classrooms and hallways are thousands of feet of exposed metal electrical conduitthe tubing that holds the electrical guts of the building.
This tubing runs through the entire school, bringing power exactly where it’s needed. And for the first time in the U.S., this electrical system was designed completely by AI.
The AI company Augmenta created the tool that designed the electrical system. It uses a combination of machine learning and a deep background in electrical engineering to streamline the process of wiring up buildings.
Augmenta cofounder and CEO Francesco Iorio says that in the growing sea of AI design tools being applied to architecture and construction, few are focusing so specifically on the complex inner workings of buildings. “It is not new that people use generative and artificial intelligence technologies for simple things like floor planning, making sure that the facade looks good, or for shape exploration, massing, and that sort of stuff,” he says. “This is the very first time artificial intelligence designed a piece of critical infrastructure.”
While AI has made most of its splash in the digital realm through uses like chatbots and virtual assistants, the technology is also increasingly seen as a new paradigm for the design and construction of buildings. Architects were quick to glom on to AI’s image-creation and design-iteration abilities, and some have even turned AI into the basis for their entire architectural practice. But AI-designed buildings are still off on the horizon. For now, AI tools are bringing automation into more mundane, yet critical, parts of building design.
[Photo: courtesy Augmenta]
Why AI-designed electrical systems make sense
Iorio says AI is an ideal tool to address the haphazard nature of designing electrical systems for buildings. Despite their essential role in making buildings work, electrical systems are often among the last parts of a building to get a detailed design.
“Mechanical systems and plumbing systems generally take priority in terms of the space inside buildings,” Iorio says. “Electricians are actually left to last, and essentially have to just figure it out and fit everything they need to fit inside the building.”
[Photo: courtesy Augmenta]
Augmenta’s generative design tool analyzes the design of the entire building, from its architecture to its mechanical and plumbing systems, and uses those parameters to formulate a more detailed design for the electrical system that complies with building codes. Instead of electricians coming to a building site after the plumbing and mechanical systems have been installed, Augmenta allows the electrical system to be formulated alongside those parts of the building that usually get constructed first.
[Photo: courtesy Augmenta]
More speed, less waste
The tool adds a level of precision to the material side of this work that speeds up construction. With highly detailed measurements of conduit lines, bends in those tubes, and connection points to outlets and breaker boxes throughout the building, Augmenta’s electrical system design can plug directly into automated tools that cut and bend conduit to exact specifications.
Iorio says the design of the Mt. Hope Elementary electrical system took only about two-thirds of the time it would have taken to design manually, and also reduced material waste by 15%. “There are really multifaceted advantages that this technology brings to the industry overall. This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he says.
Augmenta’s tools are being used to design electrical systems for other large-scale and commercial projects, from hospitals to data centers to manufacturing facilities, but Mt. Hope Elementary is the first project to actually come to completion. “For us, it’s very heartwarming that the first project is a school,” Iorio says.
The school has used the electrical system to do more than just keep the lights on. The design called for parts of the electrical conduit and other building systems to remain uncovered by drywall and visible within classrooms. “They are using the systems as a teaching tool,” Iorio says. “It’s showing the kids that this is how a building works.”
Artek and Marimekko just came together for a new collection thats the epitome of Finnish design excellence.
Artek, a furniture company founded in 1935, partnered with the design house and printmaker Marimekko to ring in Artek’s 90th anniversary. The collaboration takes three of Arteks most iconic designsthe Stool 60, Bench 153B, and Table 90Dand pairs them with equally iconic Marimekko prints, transforming Arteks minimal birchwood surfaces into a kind of art canvas. The stool, bench, and table retail for $550, $1,240, and $1,255, respectively, and are available for a limited time on both retailers websites and through select dealers.
The collection brings together the two legacy Finnish brands decades of expertise in their fields, serving as an example of how both are leveraging collaborations to reach new audiences.
[Photo: Elizabeth Helttoft/Artek]
Leveraging brand collaborations
For both Artek and Marimekko, brand collaborations have served as a lever for tapping new customers both outside of Finland and among a younger generation of design enthusiasts.
In recent years, Marimekko has expanded its reach through partnerships with brands ranging from Crocs and Target to Uniqlo and the Finnish jeweler Kalevala. Artek, meanwhile, has worked with the English fashion designer Paul Smith and, as another branch of its 90-year celebration, is teaming up with the beloved childrens brand Moomin.
[Photo: Elizabeth Helttoft/Artek]
In a press release, Marianna Goebl, Arteks managing director, shared that Marimekko and Artek are an obvious matchbut that the collaborations outcome is anything but.
We have woven together our respective identities, creative visions, and core expertise to create something truly unexpected, Goebl said. The collection is one of bold yet subtle beauty.
[Photo: Elizabeth Helttoft/Artek]
A truly unexpected collection
Artek and Marimekko have existed within each others creative orbits since the mid-20th century. In fact, the companies founders knew each other personally: In 1975, Marimekko founder Armi Ratia wrote to Artek founder Alvar Aalto to share, I will always be proud of you here in Finland and also in the outside world. Despite a long relationship, this is the first time the brands have come together on a line of co-created products.
We are both brands with bold and distinct identities that have been shaped by architecture, nature, and human-centric pragmatism, said Rebekka Bay, Marimekkos creative director. To me, this collaboration really highlights our shared values and celebrates the most distilled parts of our respective crafts while also bringing something surprising and unexpected to our customers.
For the furniture launch, Artek used three prints from Marimekkos Arkkitehti series, a collection of bold patterns that Ratia commissioned from designer Maija Isola between 1959 and 1964. The prints (called Lokki, Kivet, and Seireeni) feature curving, organic patterns that Isola sourced from nature.
Where Marimekkos work typically uses high-octane color to bring patterns to life, Artek has employed a marquetry technique to emboss them onto its most recognizable bentwood furniture piecesallowing the Finnish birch itself to illuminate the shapes.
For Marimekko, the dress acts as the canvas for our art of printmaking, and in our collaboration with Artek, the birchwood furniture became the canvas for our prints, Bay said.
The product is a series of furniture that manages to strike a balance between Arteks sleek minimalism and Marimekkos loud, joyful aesthetic.
Alo Yoga is getting into luxury bags, but it doesn’t appear it’s looking to sell many of them.
The brand’s first bag collection, unveiled September 9, features responsibly sourced leather and suede designs priced from $2,000 to $3,600. The limited collection features the Voyage Duffel, which Katie Holmes was spotted toting without a pair of Alo leggings or branded hoodie in sight. Other styles include the bowler-shaped Odyssey; the Balance Bucket, which can be worn as a cross-body bag; and the Tranquility Tote. Each comes with an “intention crystal,” a one-of-a-kind crystal that Alo says “carries the resonance of your intentions throughout your day.”
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Priced like a Prada, this isn’t exactly the type of bag made for holding your sweaty gym clothes and throwing in a locker. It’s meant to push Alo beyond athleisure and into luxury. The collection marks an effort by the brand to level up through a premium offering with limited availability. Throw in a complementary crystal, and you manage to drawn in affluent woo woo Erewhon influencers and MAHA moms.
“When it comes to bags, people want to carry something that reflects who they are,” Summer Nacewicz, Alo Yoga’s EVP of marketing and creative, tells Fast Company. “Our customer is incredibly loyal and looks to Alo for products that fit seamlessly into her lifestyle. These bags are built with the same craftsmanship and attention to detail you would expect from heritage houses, but designed with versatility and wellness in mind. At first, some might be surprised to see Alo in this spacebut once they touch and feel the product and experience the quality of the bags, theyll see why it makes sense. This is the future of luxury wellness.”
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Aside from press images, the bags are, in actuality, both hard to get and hard to see. The collection is on display at just two Alo locations: its SoHo flagship store in New York City, and Beverly Hills flagship store in California. The brand will also display the bags in a showroom during New York Fashion Week. The collection can’t b purchased with a click online, either. Should you be interested, there’s an extra hoop to jump through: To view the collection in person or receive more information through “private client specialists,” the apparel brand requires an email address.
This strategy does give Alo some benefit, if not mass sales. It allows the premium athleisure brand to build a mailing list of customers who have money to burn on a pricy luxury bag, while also providing face time with customers and turning the purchase process into an experience.
A private company based in Los Angeles, Alo Yoga was valued at $10 billion as part of talks for a deal for development capital in 2023 that was ultimately canceled, according to PitchBook. Founders Danny Harris and Marco DeGeorge started the brand in 2007 and named it for the words air, land, and ocean. Though Alo launched with a focus on yoga apparel, the company was perfectly positioned for the pandemic boom in athleisure that helped other activewear and yoga brands grow their customer base. Alo aims to differentiate itself from sportswear competitors like On and Nike by leaning into the luxury market.
By building a client base of top spenders for exclusive products and experiences, Alo is also hoping the love of luxe rubs off on the rest of the brand. A couple grand on a bag might be out of reach for most of Alo’s customers, but suddenly $128 leggings don’t seem so expensive.
This is an excerpt from Consumed: How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic.
An odd symbol, made up of three arrows arranged in a triangle, began showing up on plastic containers across America in the fall of 1988. Inside it was a number.
The idea to put codes on plastic containers came from the Society of the Plastics Industry. By 1987, Lewis Freeman, the trade bodys head of government affairs, had begun hearing that the fledgling plastics recycling industry was struggling to make sense of the dozens of different types of plastics they were receiving. The plastics had different melting points and other properties, which meant they couldnt just be mixed together for recycling.
“Plastics is not really one material; its umpteen materials,” explains Freeman. “While plastics share a similar molecular structure and most are made from oil or natural gas, theyre otherwise quite different from one another.”
Before he joined SPI in 1979, Freeman worked as a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, fighting Senator Ted Kennedys push to break up big oil companies. At SPI, where he stayed for more than 20 years, Freeman dealt with anything that could pose a reputational risk to the plastics industry. He spent much of his time convincing companies to make changes that would forestall the risk of regulation.
When it emerged that dozens of babies each year were dying by drowning in large plastic bucketsat five gallons, the buckets were so heavy that if an infant fell into them, they didnt tip overFreeman was the man who rallied the industry to hand out warning stickers to parents buying the buckets. The companies, he remembers, didnt want to add permanent labels, which made the buckets a few cents more expensive. Eventually, they capitulated when it became apparent their legal liability was enormous.
“Companies are essentially all the same regardless of industry,” says Freeman. “They dont like to be told by someone else that they need to do something, period.”
A symbol to aid recyclersnot consumers
Back in 1987, Freeman took the complaints he was hearing about recycling to SPIs public affairs committee. Since the industry saw recycling as a tool to mitigate reputational damage, the public affairs group, consisting of men from big packaging makers like Owens-Illinois and the American Can Company, was the natural place to discuss it.
The dizzying array of plastics on the market was hardly the only issue plaguing recycling. Plastics popularity came down to it being light, cheap, versatile, and robust. But being light and cheap hurt on the other end. Haulers, who were paid by the ton to collect recycling, made far more money filling their trucks with heavier aluminum or cardboard than with lightweight plastic.
Things were worse for some plastics than others. Polystyrene foam was economically unviable because it was mostly air. Plastic bags, wraps, and films also had to be collected separately, or they gummed up sorting machinery. Packaging makers preferred virgin over recycled plastic since it was better quality and usually cheaper. If there were no buyers, it didnt matter how technically recyclable something wasit wasnt going to be recycled. Back in the late 1980s, only containers made from PETthe plastic used in single-use drink bottlesand HDPEcommonly used to make milk jugs and detergent containerswere being recycled in any significant volume. (The situation remains the same today.)
These plastics werent turned into new soda bottles or milk jugs, but instead downcycled into lower-grade construction material that was just one step removed from the landfill. All the other kinds of plastics went straight to landfills or incinerators, if they werent littered.
Slapping a code on the bottom of plastic containers wouldnt fix most of these problems. But at least it would help recyclers know what they were dealing with, Freeman told SPIs public affairs committee.
Many plastic resin producers in the room were against the idea. They feared that including a code would encourage consumer goods makers to spurn plastics that werent being recycled.
Even the makers of recyclable PET and HDPE containers didnt embrace Freemans proposal. Freeman compares them to the bucket makers who preferred to sit on their hands until they had a legislative gun pointing at their heads. “The bottle manufacturers opposed it because it required them to do something,” he says.
Freeman eventually prevailed. He insisted the code was a way to forestall mandatory regulation that could be far more expensive and onerous. For plastics that werent currently being recycled, the code was the first step towards enabling this, he added, since it meant they could be more easily sorted.
And so the “resin identification code,” as the industry called it, was created in 1988. While there were dozens of different types and subtypes of plastics, SPIlooking to keep costs and complexity lowgrouped them into seven broad categories, which still stand today.
They are:
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), used for soda and water bottles
High-density polyethylene (HDPE), used for milk jugs, detergent containers, and shopping bags
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), used for credit cards and pill packs
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE), used for disposable gloves, trash bags, and dry-cleaning bags
Polypropylene (PP), used for yogurt tubs, takeaway boxes, and butter containers
Polystyrene (PS): the solid kind is used to make disposable cutlery and cups, while the expanded kind (EPS) is used for foam egg cartons, meat trays, and fast-food containers
Other plastics: a catch-all for remaining plastics including multilayer packages like pet food pouches and ketchup sachets that incorporate different types of plastic, as well as bioplastics
“It was a marketing tool”
To separate the number from other descriptors used on containers, SPI enclosed it in the chasing arrows symbol.
It was a strange choice, one that would cast doubts over the plastics industrys motives for decades to come.
Back in 1970, Gary Anderson, a 23-year-old architecture student at the University of Southern California, had seen an enormous wall-sized poster advertising a design competition. Sponsored by Container Corp., a paper packaging maker that was also the largest paper recycler in the U.S., the competition required participants to design a symbol “for the love of earth” to “symbolize the recycling process.”
Andersons designfeaturing three arrows twisting and returning into themselveswon. He got a $2,500 tuition grant and a trip to Chicago in September 1970 to attend a press conference at Container Corp.s headquarters.
“I was kind of an arrogant little punk student, and I thought the whole thing was kind of silly, actually,” recalls Anderson, who back then sported a goatee and wore his red hairbleached blond by the California sunin curtains parted slightly to the side.
Through the 1960s, the paper industrymuch like plastics would laterhad faced mounting criticism about how its disposable products were flowing to landfills. Container Corp. made the new chasing arrows symbol available to the entire paper industry for use on shipping containers and folding cartons, saying it hoped the symbol would spread awareness about the importance of pape recycling.
“It was a marketing tool,” explains Anderson.
Despite this, in 1988, when the Society of the Plastics Industry decided to use the chasing arrows on plastic containers, its executives insisted the resin identification code was not meant to indicate recyclability. It also said the code was not aimed at consumers.
Freeman says SPI chose the chasing arrows to distinguish the numbers from any others that might be found on containers, and that it was only meant to help recyclers sort plastic resins from one another. “It was not an attempt to deceive people that because an item had the code on it, it was recyclable,” he says.
But, looking back, Freeman acknowledges that recyclability is exactly what people took the code to mean. “That ended up being the presumption people drewand still draw until this day.”
What does “please recycle” really mean?
Within a few months of its inception in 1988, the SPI code began catching on across the US. Colgate put it on its bottles for Palmolive and Ajax dishwashing liquids. P&G slapped it on Jif peanut butter jars, bottles of Crisco oil, Tide and Cheer laundry detergent bottles and tubs, and even on its plastic detergent measuring cups.
Including the chasing arrows symbol together with the resin identification code on products that couldnt be recycled gave consumers the impression that they could. “They are made from polystyrene,” a P&G executive told reporters about the plastic detergent measuring cups, which he claimed were recyclable. “Thats number 6 on the plastic recycling code.” But local facilities didnt accept the cups, and they were not recycled.
By the early 1990s, at the urging of SPI, 39 states had enshrined the code as law on rigid plastic containers. Companies eagerly embraced the law, but also started putting the code on flexible plastic wrappers for everything from pantyhose to Subway sandwiches.
Some brands had begun to use the exhortation “Please Recycle” alongside the chasing arrows symbol on plastic products and packaging that couldnt be recycled, claiming this was an educational effort. Surveys showed that the majority of consumers thought that “Please Recycle” meant consumers could recycle those products in all or most communities in the U.S..
“Over time, even companies who initially opposed developing the code grabbed on to it and started putting it on everything,” says Freeman. “Companies decided it was in their interest to look green, and they ran with it. They ran with it until the cows came home.”
Excerpted with permission from Consumed: How Big Brands Got Us Hooked on Plastic by Saabira Chaudhuri. Published by arrangement with Blink Publishing, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK. Copyright 2025 Saabira Chaudhuri.
Forget the ping-pong tables and kombucha on tap. The real workplace perks, if you are a working parent, arent glitzy. They are functional. And, in an era of record burnout and extreme scarcity of childcare, knowing how to identify a genuinely parent-friendly workplace could make or break your careerand your sanity.
Green flags
Whether you are in job-hunting mode, negotiating a new role, or taking stock of your current company, heres what to look for and what might be pure performance.
1. True Flexibility (Not Just ‘Work from Anywhere’)
Try to find a position with a predictable level of flexibility. That means clear expectations about hours and deliverables that allow you to manage your day, not just your location.
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2. People in Power Who Actually Take Parental Benefits
A major green flag is a leader who makes use of parental leave and talks about it publicly. It creates an environment where everyone can do the same without fear of being judged or sidelined in their career.
3. Meeting Culture That Respects Quitting Time
Are meetings packed at the end of the day? Are you expected to be there at 6 p.m.? If the work calendar is chaos, chances are your home life will be too.
4. Paid Leave That Doesnt Come with a Guilt Trip
Ask if expecting parents typically use parental leave, not just whats in the employee handbook. Culture matters more than policy.
5. Support Beyond the Baby Stage
Good companies dont end support as soon as your baby hits 1-year-old. Look for long-term flexibility, back-to-school understanding, summer childcare solutions, or even parenting employee resource groups (ERGs).
6. Caregiving Is Part of the Conversation, Not a Burden
Do people feel safe talking about sick kids, school closings, or mental health struggles without worrying they will be perceived as less committed? Thats the culture you want.
7. Promotion Paths That Dont Punish Caregivers
Look at whos getting promoted. Are parents climbing up or are their careers stalling? A truly parent-friendly company allows for upward mobility and family values.
Red flags
What about signs to watch out for? Here are four:
Promises of some vague work-life balance with no specific details
Unlimited PTO policies that people dont feel comfortable using
Celebrating employees that exceed expectations. Make sure that isnt code for overworking to the point of burnout
Not a single reference to caregiving or diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Bonus advice
While you’re being interviewed, interview the company too. Ask about their approach to flexibility, caregiving, and how theyve supported employees during school closures or emergencies (like COVID-19). The response will tell you everything you need to know.
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