Are you high signal?
Tech execs' new predictor of success, what a $2B R&D budget gets you.
Good evening, everyone.
Like residents of most major cities, Torontonians have their fair share of complaints: about housing affordability, public transit and traffic, cleanliness and safety. These issues are real, and I complain about them too. So when criticism around our role in co-hosting the World Cup started to ramp up, amplifying some of these concerns, I was eager to participate. Who did city officials think they were, dedicating a billion dollars to host 13 games in Toronto and Vancouver? Could our police force handle the crowds? And what about the traffic?
Then June 12 rolled around. I caught glimpses of Canada’s first game against Bosnia and Herzegovina across a handful of sports bars while walking to my hotel in Rome that night, then flew home the next day to find my neighbourhood had been transformed into one big World Cup viewing party. When matches are live, it’s standing room only at Sonder Café, Danny’s Pizza, and Café Diplomatico. We’ve all seen the footage of fans marching through the streets to BMO Field. The city is buzzing, alive like I’d never seen it before.
But what’s been most striking is watching the reviews pour in. Every visitor I’ve spoken to, or seen on social media, has spoken about how beautiful, peaceful, and—for the most part—functional Toronto is. At the match on Saturday with Visa, I saw firsthand how well the city has delivered against its co-hosting obligations. It was an extremely well-run event: people could easily get in and out of the stadium and make their way downtown without long waits, despite huge crowds. Everyone was extraordinarily polite. It made me very proud to live here.
Of course cities have spent a lot. Too much, even. And there are legitimate concerns around the unreasonable (even illegal) demands made by FIFA on host cities. But to me, the stream of negative headlines from multiple publications that I won’t name are starting to feel opportunistic, like people are just trying to drive engagement by hanging onto every bit of negativity during what is not only supposed to be a unifying event for the world, but one that has reminded the world that Canada is just as wonderful as they believe it to be.
Milk Bag covers the business stories you won’t find on Apple News. If you have a story tip or want to work together, email me.
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Google is investing $75 million into A24, the independent movie studio behind “Backrooms” and “Marty Supreme,” as part of a new AI research partnership. Google owns YouTube, but this is its first stake in a studio.
Melanie Joly met with executives from major Chinese car companies this week to persuade them to manufacture cars in Canada. Earlier this year, Canada agreed to allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs under a reduced tariff.
Larry Tanenbaum‘s Kilmer Sports has reportedly invested $100 million into the PWHL alongside Detroit-based Ilitch Companies. The company also owns the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo and is a minority owner of MLSE.
Unfortunately making the Forbes 30 Under 30 list or putting an ‘open to work badge’ on LinkedIn “radiates cringey energy.” If you’ve communicated with, or listened to, a tech executive on a podcast in recent years, chances are you’ve come across the terms high-signal, or anti-signal. A piece in The New York Times this week unpacks these “intangible” predictors of success, which are cues that communicate loser or winner energy. Yoni Rechtman, a partner at Slow Ventures, told Lora Kelley there was once a belief in Silicon Valley that reality drove perception, but now the reverse is increasingly true.
RBC’s head of AI made about $14 million from stock sales the other week.
Desperately need to try the sticky bun at Pearl Morisette’s RPM Bakehouse following Karon Lui’s review in the Toronto Star. I have struck out once again for reservations at the restaurant for August, so the cafe will have to do.
Hiram Walker & Sons has released a new PhD-backed whiskey blend. Dr. Don Livermore is the master blender (an actual title) behind a new premium label under the same name, based on his research into the impact of wood on whisky. A previous release was recognized at the World Whiskies Awards in 2017, and this one applies similar components of the barrels used back then.
Multi-million-dollar units in Forest Hill continue to defy the condo crash.
The Tide tile is the result of Procter & Gamble’s $2 billion annual R&D budget. The cloth-like, waterless detergent tiles—which cost almost twice as much as a tub of Tide pods—have been on the market since early this year, but this story in The Wall Street Journal is well timed because I’m just starting to see it all over social media. What’s fascinating is that the company has been working at this for more than a decade, since the release of Tide pods.