The Profile: The billionaire selling ugly shoes & the TikTok misfits talent factory

This edition of The Profile features JJ Watt, Alessandro Rosano, Brooke Shields, and more.

Good morning, friends!

This week, I published an interview with NFL icon JJ Watt. Since he retired from the NFL at the end of 2022, he’s been dabbling in sports analysis, business, and entertainment.

I found our conversation fascinating mainly because Watt was very candid about how he’s at a crossroads in his life. He has the ultimate freedom to do anything, but that freedom can be a double-edged sword.

It reminded me that early success can be extraordinary and crippling. What do you do when you retire at age 33 from the very thing that gave you purpose and identity for three decades of your life?

Here’s what Watt said about entering this new phase of his life:

I think my wife and son really, really helped. If I was just retiring, and I didn't have my family, I would be in a really, really tough spot because I don't know what I would do. I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I would try and find ways to fill that void. But every single morning when I wake up, I see my son, I take him for a walk, and I don't care that I'm not playing football. I don't care about scoring a touchdown. I don't care about a sack. All I care about is him smiling.

His answer highlights the importance of finding meaning beyond your professional identity. Whether it’s family, a side project, or something small that brings you joy, it’s those things that can keep you from spiraling into darkness.

In our wide-ranging interview, we also discuss Watt’s next chapter — diving into the world of business, making startup investments, fighting complacency, and so much more. Check it out below:

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PROFILES.

— The billionaire selling ugly shoes [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The supermodel embracing aging
— The falsely accused man
— The obsessive stalker who targeted college professors
— The ‘TikTok misfits’ talent factory
— The microbiome startup selling a wellness fantasy

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The billionaire selling ugly shoes: Alessandro Rosano is an Italian entrepreneur living in Hong Kong who built HeyDude, a company that makes comfortable ‘ugly’ slip-on loafers. His contrarian playbook for the comfort-footwear company? No financing and minimal marketing. Revenue took off, reaching $581 million in 2021, with net profit of $175 million. Rosano agreed to sell the brand to Crocs for $2.5 billion in cash and stock. Here’s how he did it. (Forbes)

“If you were to lay out the playbook that they followed and present it to a series of business executives, they would say there’s no way that this would succeed.”

The supermodel embracing aging: Botox? She would rather get wrinkles. Dieting? Life's too short. Brooke Shields is done with chasing youth and doesn't care what you think. “I mean, look around this room,” she says. “There’s more and more plastic surgery than ever. Because they’re chasing youth. I don’t want to chase youth. I want to chase now.” (Glamour)

“I just don’t want to not look like myself.”

The falsely accused man: In 1999, then 17-year-old Farid El Haïry was charged with the sexual assault and rape of a 15-year-old girl from a neighboring high school, whom he knew only by sight and had never spoken to. The police had no witnesses, no corroborating evidence, just her word against his. He spent the next 11 months and 23 days in pretrial custody before being released with one painful condition — stay away from his home city of Hazebrouck, where his accuser, but also his friends and family, lived. He spent most of his adult life as a convicted rapist. Then his accuser changed her story. (The New York Times; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

“I did one year of imprisonment, but the 23 years of mental imprisonment are what’s hardest.”

The obsessive stalker who targeted college professors: Today’s academics have become public figures online and in the media in a climate of rising political polarization, racism, misogyny, and attacks on intellectualism. In the digital age, many threats to faculty and staff do not just come from those affiliated with campuses. They can come from individuals anywhere around the world, making harassers harder to track down or punish. This is the story of a student who targeted several Asian American professors and made their lives a living hell. (The Verge)

“When I didn’t respond to threats, they targeted my family.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The ‘TikTok misfits’ talent factory: The creator economy is projected to be worth $480 billion by 2027. In many ways, that figure represents an enormous redistribution of wealth: a tide of ad dollars and other revenue ebbing away from established studios and publishers, and flooding toward individual creators and the technology giants that host their work. If individual creators want to stay afloat for longer than a brief moment, they still need managers to help them navigate the algorithmic churn. The upstart 25/7 Media has fashioned a niche for itself prospecting for viral talent in areas that its larger rivals often ignore—the misfit subcultures of the young, which can often cross-pollinate with other online communities to yield colossal audiences. (WIRED)

“Influence the algorithm, not the audience.”

The microbiome startup selling a wellness fantasy: Viome Life Sciences sells a standard at-home stool-testing kit, which the company uses to analyze an individual’s gut microbiome and recommend a customized diet based on their unique biochemistry. The company’s AI technology analyzes the mailed-in samples; within a few weeks, customers receive a report and a detailed action plan for avoiding harmful foods and consuming “superfoods.” The company says its gut-health tests hold the secret to preventing chronic diseases. Scientists and former employees aren’t so sure. (Bloomberg; reply to this email if you can’t access the article)

“We can predict who is going to develop diabetes, who is going to develop irritable bowel syndrome, who is going to develop many diseases, even autism.”

The MRI scan company claiming to ease your anxiety: Prenuvo is a company that bills itself as “the most precise, comprehensive whole body MRI scan that exists today” and claims it can detect “up to 500 cancers and diseases.” It isn’t the only company of its kind, though it has raised the most money since its 2018 founding — more than $70 million from investors including Cindy Crawford and 23andMe billionaire Anne Wojcicki. The phrase “peace of mind is priceless” recurs so often it seems to be the company’s unofficial tagline. But some people, after being scanned by Prenuvo, are left with more anxiety than they had before. (New York Magazine)

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