August Ideas

Author

Joel Hansen
August 07, 2025

Hey Friends,

Happy August 7th. Welcome back to Stay Curious — a newsletter I write once(ish) per month to riff on a few things keeping me curious. I talk about startups, tech and other random things catching my eye in day-to-day life.

Some other May updates/ideas/questions I’m thinking through.

In no particular order, here’s some things keeping me curious this month:

  • “Plant a tree today, so you can enjoy the shade 10 years from now.” - one of my favourite lines I’ve been thinking on lately

  • Life hack: cohosting events when you visit cities. Did one in Calgary with House 831 and it was a blast. LA and Montreal may be next. Drop me a note if you’re over there.

  • F1 movie was 11/10: go see the movie if you haven’t already (and yes, order the popcorn with it)

  • Founder Cohort Invite: The accelerator I work at is recruiting founders for our next cohort. If you know anyone under 30 who wants to join a free, no equity, virtual accelerator with 100 other cool founders for 12 weeks, send them this form

  • Been playing with the Meta Ray Bans and I’ve got a hunch in 5 years everyone will be using them over airpods. WDYT?

  • Hosting events is 10x more fun than attending them: hosted a half-marathon race (called the bucket-lister) with a few friends last month, and it was a blast. Drop me an email if you wanna join our next one

  • Speaking at this Brainstation event Aug 12th if you wanna come by.

  • Know a Canadian founder who deserves more spotlight? Send them this link 

  • Passed 60 5 stars for our airbnb (woo-hoo!): drop me a line if you’re visiting Bowen Island in the future.

  • Our team’s been testing this AI pitch tool called Zen and loving how much time it saves. If you wanna pitch our VC firm for a $100K check, test it and let me know what you think.

  • “To win your 9-5, own your 5-9” a reminder that if you win the morning, you have a 99% chance of winning the day

  • Things I’ve been nerding out on lately: ChatGPT Model 5, bone broth, Instagram remix feature, founder clubhouses, the rise of butchers, and coconut water.

What about you? What’s been catching your attention lately?

Those are my hot takes of the month.

Which one did you like?

Hit reply and let me know what one of your big projects/bucket list items is this year.

Liked today’s deep dive? Forward it to a friend.

Joel

You can hit me up on Twitter or LinkedIn. But the true besties hit me up on Strava and IG.

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