Hi Reader

As the year gets underway, the gap between intention and execution starts to show. Tools are in place, plans are written and the pressure shifts from deciding what to do to making things work in practice. I hope that you're all busy, thriving and ready to turn ideas into reality in 2026. The insights below reflect how that shift plays out across work, technology and decision-making.

Enjoy!

The pressure points founders will hit next

A16Z’s Big Ideas 2026 series is useful because it focuses on what happens after AI is deployed across organisations. A recurring issue is coordination. Systems start to misfire when agents act at machine speed inside environments built for slower, human decision-making. Information changes underneath live workflows, automated actions collide with incomplete context, and teams end up adding manual checks just to keep processes stable. The same tension appears in payments and identity, where software is expected to transact autonomously but the surrounding infrastructure still assumes a person is responsible. Taken together, the series reads as a guide to the constraints founders will meet next. You can find all the Andreessen Horowitz predictions here: Big Ideas 2026: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Why clarity beats polish in building influence

Simon Squibb is a British entrepreneur who built and sold multiple businesses, retired at 40, then re-emerged with a different ambition: helping others start companies by giving practical advice away for free. His rise to more than 18 million followers offers a useful lesson in how influence is built now. Squibb opens each interaction by challenging a belief his audience already holds, then reframes it in a way that points to a specific next step. That approach explains why his content converts attention into action, rather than passive agreement. For founders and leaders trying to be heard, the takeaway is simple: his videos work because they reduce the distance between an idea and a first step. Read the full piece here.

The hidden cost of optimising everything

Advertising guru Rory Sutherland’s essay ‘Are we too impatient to be intelligent?’ is a timely check on the way optimisation has come to dominate decision-making. Drawing on behavioural science, transport design and everyday examples, he shows how speed and efficiency are often treated as proxies for value, even when they undermine outcomes. The argument is pertinent for anyone navigating AI adoption, where the temptation is to compress everything – decisions, workflows, responses – simply because it’s possible. Sutherland’s take is that some forms of progress depend on friction, reflection and time spent, not time saved. In other words, not everything worth doing benefits from acceleration. Get the story here.

Trend alert: Gen Z have discovered the power of boredom

A New York Times piece explores a curious countertrend among younger audiences: deliberately doing nothing – and filming it. What looks like a social media stunt is framed as a response to eroded attention spans and constant digital interruption. Sitting with boredom, advocates argue, creates the mental conditions for reflection, creativity and recovery that perpetual stimulation crowds out. The article is careful not to romanticise boredom as a cure-all, but it captures a wider unease with always-on productivity and the sense that attention itself has become overworked. For anyone thinking about focus, work and technology, it’s a revealing read. The New York Times piece is here (paywalled but access it with Archive.)

The halo effect and why business books lie

I’m reading The Halo Effect by Philip M. Rosenzweig and it turns a lot of founder storytelling on its head. The argument is that we look at a company that’s winning and assume everything about it must be good – the strategy, the culture, the CEO, the people. When results turn, we revisit the same decisions and reinterpret them as errors. In other words, performance colours the story, and the story gets mistaken for the cause. It’s a useful warning if you’re building, investing, hiring or reading yet another “secrets of success” book and nodding along. We tend to extract lessons from winners after the fact, then treat those stories as if they explain why things worked.

M&A in 2026: a market that recovered faster than expected

After two muted years, it’s tempting to read every wobble in dealmaking as a sign the window has closed again. A new article from Norton Rose Fulbright shows how quickly activity returned in 2025 once uncertainty eased and why strategic buyers and private equity remain active going into 2026. Financing conditions have improved, capital is available, and boardroom pressure around AI and portfolio structure is translating into transactions. The picture that emerges is a market that paused, adjusted and then resumed. Find out more here.

Search, trust and the rise of Reddit

Reddit overtaking TikTok by reach and visits in the UK isn’t really a social media story. It’s a signal about how people now look for answers. Younger users are increasingly bypassing polished content and AI summaries in favour of forums where real experiences, disagreement and context are visible. Changes to Google’s search rankings have accelerated the shift, pushing discussion threads to the top when people are trying to make decisions about money, health, work or life admin. For anyone thinking about influence, brand trust or distribution, this shows that credibility is drifting towards places that feel human, messy and hard to optimise. The Guardian has the story.

January as a decision window

Andrew Tindall, a senior strategist at System1 Group, draws on aviation safety to make a point about decision-making under pressure. The ‘sterile cockpit’ rule strips away non-essential noise during critical moments of flight. Tindall argues that January creates a similar window for organisations: planning cycles have reset, fewer decisions are required and there is a short period when long-term choices can be made without the noise of BAU. Set aside the marketing context in the piece and the idea holds for any business. It’s about recognising when conditions briefly favour thinking over doing. Find out more here.

AI prompt of the week: buy, don't build

Thinking about buying an existing business instead of starting from scratch? Smart move – you skip the startup grind and buy proven revenue. But finding the right opportunity means asking the right questions. This prompt helps you evaluate what's out there and what to watch for.

I'm interested in buying a small business in [industry/sector] in [city/region] with revenue under [amount]. Help me with:

1. What are the most common types of businesses for sale in this category and location right now and what's the typical asking price range?

2. What are the top 5 red flags I should look for when evaluating a business like this that’s for sale (financial, operational and market-related)?

3. What key questions should I ask the seller during due diligence? Give me a checklist organised by category: financials, operations, customers, and legal/compliance.

4. Search for recent articles or case studies about people who successfully bought businesses in this space – what lessons did they learn?

Where deals are now won or lost

AI is being used across more of the deal process, not just at the start or during diligence. Information that would previously be reviewed once can now quickly be checked again as circumstances change, making it harder for outdated assumptions to carry through to pricing or integration.

Drop me a line

Writing this newsletter is my way of thinking in public. Your replies often help improve that thinking, so if there’s something fascinating you’ve come across then please do send it my way. Have a great week and see you next Sunday.

Cheers!
Adam

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