No. 343 | July 31, 2026
Welcome to Friday Five, a short collection of ideas to take into your weekend.
This week’s theme: living in the moment, what you want written on your tombstone, killing your own business, moving forward, and bringing new products to life.
If this resonates, forward it to a friend. Most readers discover Friday Five because someone they trust shared it with them.
Music of the Week
“Right now is the best moment you’ve ever known.” — Pretty Lights, “Around the Block”
Pretty Lights is the electronic music project of Derek Vincent Smith. His music blends sampling, hip-hop, funk, soul, and electronic production into something that feels familiar yet completely new.
That is part of the magic: taking pieces of things that already exist and rearranging them into something new.
Start with “Solamente,” “Double Love,” and “We Must Go On” to get a feel for his catalog:
Quotes of the Week
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” — Steve Jobs
“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” — Marcus Aurelius
“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do.” — Henry Ford
“The only way to have a friend is to be one.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Article of the Week
“We need to build the concept that will kill Dick’s Sporting Goods.” — Ed Stack
What if the best way to protect your business is to destroy it?
That was Ed Stack’s challenge to the team building House of Sport.
Don’t make the next version of Dick’s slightly better. Build the store that would put the old one out of business.
The idea worked because Stack wasn’t interested in protecting what Dick’s had already built. He was interested in building what came next.
The same mindset shows up in the company’s culture: teamwork over politics, discipline over excuses, and execution over talk.
But none of that matters if you aren’t building a good company.
For more on Dick’s, Ed Stack, and what it means to build a good company, read:
📝 Dick’s Sporting Goods on Building a Good Company
Podcast of the Week
“You don’t go, you don’t get.” — Ronnen Harary
Ronnen Harary co-founded Spin Master at 23 with Anton Rabie and Ben Varadi in 1994.
They started with $10,000 and a strange little product called Earth Buddy: a pantyhose-covered head filled with grass seeds that grew “hair” when watered.
Then came Air Hogs. Then Bakugan. Then PAW Patrol.
Harary put enormous weight on intuition and thinking like a kid when developing products. He looked for the moment when an idea felt right.
The lesson isn’t to ignore data.
It’s to remember that data can tell you what people have liked. It can’t always tell you what they will love next.
For more on Harary, his career, and why he relies on intuition, listen:
🎙️ Spin Master / PAW Patrol: Ronnen Harary
Book of the Week
“I’m a creator. I birth and bring things into the world that never existed before.” — Ronnen Harary
Harary co-founded the company that became Spin Master when he was 23.
He didn’t realize it at the time, but youth was his biggest asset.
Thirty years later, Spin Master has grown into a global children’s entertainment company, helping create massive brands including Bakugan and PAW Patrol.
No Experience Necessary is structured around eleven principles. Part memoir, part manifesto, it makes the case that the qualities people often tell young entrepreneurs to outgrow may actually be their greatest advantages.
A few ideas I can’t stop thinking about:
- Not knowing the “rules” lets you see fresh solutions instead of roadblocks.
- Loving what you do gives you enormous energy to learn fast.
- High risk tolerance and openness can give you an advantage early in life.
- Building from scratch beats waiting for the “perfect” plan.
For more on Spin Master, Harary, and what he built, read:
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