A quick ask 🙏 

A happy New Year to each of you, fam!

Funny story: Oren and I had the chance to (finally) link up in person over the holidays in Barcelona — no, we’d never met IRL until then!

But it felt like we were old pals. We spent 24 hours kicking it in Spain, logging untold kilometers as we talked about Hyper in 2025 and how we want to grow the business for you all.

We’ve got some big plans this year involving:

• Increased content velocity on newsletter / social

• In-person events and communal gatherings

• Video collabs + workshops

• much more

We’re trying to better tailor our content to stuff that you find interesting. With that in mind, we feel it would make a huge difference if you all complete a 2-minute survey where we try to understand more about why you like our content and how we can get better at it!

NOTE: this survey is 100% anonymous—we collect no names, numbers, or emails.

Please, do us a solid and we’ll be forever grateful!

Take the survey here

Why you still stressing over sales tax?!

If you’re a brand, sales tax is one of those things we all hate but can’t avoid.

The paperwork, the deadlines, the constant risk of missing something—it’s a nightmare.

Until Zamp enters the chat.

They’re a fully managed sales tax solution built for eComm brands like Cult Gaia, Glamnetic, and MUD\WTR, handling everything from registrations to filings so you don’t have to.

Zamp supports all your favorite platforms, whether you’re on Shopify, Amazon, BigCommerce, QuickBooks, and more—all so you can leave sales tax headaches in the dust.

400+ brands trust Zamp to stay compliant while focusing on growing their businesses, and you’re next!

HYPER readers get 3 months of free sales tax service.

Editor’s note

The paradox of building

On one hand, it’s never been easier to create anything.

The toolkit for building—whether it’s products, content, or an entire ecosystem—is infinite. Factories are a click away. You make a video, it goes viral, and that unlocks untold opportunities.

But on the other hand, cutting through the noise is nearly impossible.

“Make more content.”

“Stay niche, but think big.”

“Find a trend, but don’t lean on it too hard.”

And all the while, that relentless question persists: “How big does it have to be?”

That question has shaped a generation of creators and founders, warping the instinct to build something simply because it feels worthwhile. Instead, we’re haunted by the ghosts of hockey-stick growth charts and the false idol of scale at all costs.

But in this fractured landscape, there’s opportunity.

2025 is the year of precision

If 2024 was the year of “just survive,” then 2025 is the year of precise ambition.

You don’t need to be everything to everyone. In fact, the opposite is true: the smaller and sharper your vision, the clearer your audience becomes.

This is the moment to build with intention:

• Start with a clear POV. What do you stand for? If you don’t know, neither will your customers.

• Have a story, not just a product. Products solve problems. Stories connect people.

• Make noise, then show up consistently. Content isn’t optional anymore—it’s the air you breathe. Make content that invites people into your world, regardless of what you’re creating.

Consumer behavior has never been more fragmented—or more promising.

It’s strange, chaotic, and wide open.

If you’ve got something unique to say and the patience to cultivate trust, this is your time.

Order the sample. Build the website. Make your first sale. Build the micro brand.

This is still the time to build.

A database of video ideas for you

Every brand asks, “How can I make more content?” and “How can I make better content?”. We’re constantly tracking links for Cut30 to provide examples for students, and for our own projects and consults, we’re kicking off the year with 50 ideas in a database.

These range from reusing old photo shoots to TikTok and IG-specific formats. All are designed to be straightforward videos you can knock out with some intention, not crazy productions, that are useful for any brand.

Most importantly, we have a video walkthrough of all the ideas and how to use them, in particular, how to think about them across niches:

Access the database here