Mark Fishman

One of the highest-valued private technology companies, grocery delivery service Instacart, announced last month that it has cut its valuation 40%, from $38 billion to $24 billion. To be more specific, the 409A share price (or value of a share of common stock) went down in its most recent third party analysis, such that the company is now valued at... See more

I’ve always thought that “rest” was a rather misleading shorthand for the purpose of the day because when people hear it, they think of “relaxing,” which isn’t exactly correct. ... Instead, I think of Shabbat as more like exercise: It can feel daunting to carve out time for it, you don’t always instantaneously achieve a meditative flow state, but... See more

People used to choose the destination first. But now, for many, the home is the destination. People seem a bit more agnostic about where and when they’re traveling as long as they can find a big place with space to stay with family and friends.

Tailoring language to avoid scrutiny predates the Internet. Many religions have avoided uttering the devil’s name lest they summon him, while people living in repressive regimes developed code words to discuss taboo topics.

This idea—that by committing to buy a product early, you can help bring it to market faster —was first pioneered in the field of medicine. In 2010, a set of donors committed $1.5 billion to buy doses of a vaccine for Streptococcus pneumoniae before it had been invented. That “advanced market commitment,” as it’s called, spurred the rapid invention... See more

As discussions of major events are filtered through algorithmic content delivery systems, more users are bending their language. Recently, in discussing the invasion of Ukraine, people on YouTube and TikTok have used the sunflower emoji to signify the country. When encouraging fans to follow them elsewhere, users will say “blink in lio” for “link... See more