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Happy Friday!
Curse and Coffee friends,
Today, we explore Zuck’s new role delivering soup.
Hit reply and let us know what you think (we read all of your kind words).
Coffee at the ready…
The Big Sip
The take: The soup is an admission. When you have $10 billion for talent and still can't close, you've lost.
What happened: OpenAI's chief research officer, Mark Chen, revealed on the Core Memory podcast that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally hand-cooked and hand-delivered soup to researchers he was trying to poach.
Why it matters: The AI talent pool is microscopic—fewer than 1,000 people globally can build frontier models—and they're choosing mission over money. Meta's retention sits at 64%. Anthropic, which isn't making soup or headlines, leads at 80%.
What to watch: Meta's Superintelligence Lab ships its first model. That's when we learn if the hires were worth the broth.
OpenAI is planning an off-site cooking class to woo recruits. The talent war is now a potluck with equity.
Sponsor Break
Before we slurp into today’s brew…
Here are some wordies from today’s sponsor.
Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays
Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.
Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.