The Profile: The founder who wants to automate restaurants & the coffee chain taking over America
This edition of The Profile features Marc Lore, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Chloe Kim, Jeremy Wacksman, and others.
Good morning, friends!
When I think about the greatest pieces of writing I’ve ever read, they’re the ones that move me emotionally. But there’s a secret behind them: the writer didn’t set out to make me, the reader, feel something. They wrote until they felt something.
Let me explain.
I just watched David Perel’s interview with Tom Junod, the writer best known for his ‘The Falling Man’ feature about an unidentified man falling from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. He is also behind the profile on Fred Rogers in a feature titled ‘Can You Say … Hero?’
Both articles have the power to make you cry. “When I started writing Falling Man, I sat down and wrote, ‘He departs this earth like an arrow,’ and the hair stood up on my arms,” he says. “That became my guiding principle: If you can keep on writing sentences to make the hair stand up on their arms, then you got this.”
You see the same principle at work in a very different genre. Colleen Hoover, the author of Verity, It Ends With Us, and Ugly Love, is known for her gut-punching plot twist. She expertly weaves in drama, mystery, and passion, and her books often read like fast-paced thrillers.
The magic of her writing is that it forces suppressed emotions to bubble up to the surface. You might find yourself crying on the subway or gasping in shock. Hoover’s hidden genius is that she can pierce through the monotony of our lives with vivid scenes that evoke emotion. “I write what I want to read,” she says simply.
Ironically, Hoover has also said she isn’t a particularly emotional person and that it takes a lot to make her feel anything at all. “I think the reason my books make a lot of people cry is because I’m kind of hard inside,” she explains. “So I write until I feel something sad inside of me, which takes a lot to get there.”
When I write profiles, I’m chasing the same thing. My job is to make the reader care about the person on the page, and that only happens if I care first. If I’m moved, unsettled, surprised, or shaken while writing, there’s a chance the reader will be too.
If I feel nothing, the reader won’t either. So I keep writing until the hair stands up on my arms.
— Polina
PROFILES.
— The billionaire founder who wants to automate restaurants [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The most talked-about woman in Greece
— The Olympic star focusing on personal fulfillment
— The coffee chain taking over America
— The real estate platform that redefined its market
PEOPLE TO KNOW.
The billionaire founder who wants to automate restaurants: Billionaire founder Marc Lore is betting $186 million that the future of takeout looks less like a restaurant and more like an Amazon fulfillment center. He wants Wonder’s “food halls” to offer extreme variety via centralized prep, software-driven cooking, and (eventually) automation so robust it could host hundreds — or even thousands — of menus in one location. His next leap, “Wonder Create,” would let influencers and entrepreneurs spin up virtual restaurants in minutes while Wonder’s machines do the actual cooking. The question is: Do people want their food made in a culinary fulfillment center? (Bloomberg; alternate link) [For more, check out the Profile Dossier on Marc Lore here.]
“’Amazon is: pick, pack, ship,’ Lore says. ‘We’re pick, cook, pack, ship.’”
The most talked-about woman in Greece: Kimberly Guilfoyle’s arrival in Athens as U.S. ambassador was pure spectacle — private jets, sheer dresses, nightclub appearances — and instantly made her the most talked-about foreign envoy in Greece. Skeptics saw a flashy Trump-era appointment, but behind the paparazzi she moved fast, muscling through major U.S. energy and port deals and leveraging her direct line to the Oval Office. Admirers call her relentless and effective, while critics say she blurs diplomacy with dominance and celebrity. Here’s how Guilfoyle has turned the ambassadorship into a high-voltage mix of power, politics, and provocation. (The New York Times; alternate link)
“In terms of public relations, she has done an excellent job.”
The Olympic star focusing on personal fulfillment: Fresh off her Beijing gold and a dominant run that includes back-to-back X Games titles and another world championship, Chloe Kim says she’s entering the Milano Cortina Olympics happier, calmer, and more grounded than ever. After spiraling emotionally post-Beijing, Kim took a deliberate mental-health break, went to therapy, and rebuilt her life around routine, boundaries, and joy. She’s no longer chasing validation or even obsessing over winning, but instead wants to walk away proud of how she rides, regardless of the podium. (TIME)
“We are so focused on this one thing for such an extended period of time. When it’s over, it’s very strange.”
COMPANIES TO WATCH.
The coffee chain taking over America: Dutch Bros has turned sugary, drive-thru indulgence into a fast-growing national brand, using TikTok-fueled merch drops, relentlessly cheerful “broistas,” and $7 candy-colored drinks to hook Gen Z and millennials. The Oregon-born chain now has more than 1,000 tiny, drive-thru-only locations and sees a path to 7,000 stores, positioning itself as a high-energy alternative to a conflicted, café-nostalgic Starbucks. In a market crowded with rivals chasing youth-oriented drinks, Dutch Bros Coffee is betting that fun, fandom, and unapologetic sugar will scale. (Bloomberg)
“Hundreds of people will line up here. It’s actually crazy to witness.”
The real estate platform that redefined its market: Jeremy Wacksman, now CEO of Zillow, helped turn casual house-scrolling into a national pastime — and a $16 billion business. He did this by giving ordinary buyers the kind of data agents once controlled. Zillow dominates online home search, but it actually makes most of its money from agents, even as it steadily pushes deeper into managing real estate transactions itself. That expansion has drawn lawsuits, regulators, and industry backlash, especially as U.S. home sales sink to a near 30-year low. (Bloomberg)
“As you succeed in a category, as you’re an innovator and changing, there’s naturally a sharper focus on you.”
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