The Cheese #73 🧀 - A 20-Minute Sellout, a Whatnot Fog, and a Three-AI Bake-Off

A 20-Minute Sellout and a Whatnot Fog

Let's start with a win. Friday before last, Walter and Kent dropped a curated Father's Day Mystery Box. Only 300 boxes, $250 each, and we sold out in under 40 minutes. That kind of drop never gets old.

Now the part that's been keeping me thinking. Whatnot hit a bit of a fog the last week and a half. Hourly revenue is down, and we're trying to navigate the lull. The forecasted finish for June is now $333k, which would still make it our 3rd best month ever, just slightly behind March at $337k. A record is still technically possible, but we'd need some shots to go our way and a little bit of luck. Cameron's made some tweaks to try and get us back on track. Right now, trying to understand the reason for lull. Not that it's a good thing, but it appears to be platform wide (almost all other sellers I chat with are experiencing it as well).

I also spent some time this week on a retail box concept, and the mockups got me genuinely excited. The funny part is that it was a group effort from Grok, Gemini, and ChatGPT. I had all three open and fired the same prompt at each one. I assumed Gemini was going to run away with it, but the wins were spread pretty evenly across all three, and the other two really stepped up. The goal is to have a ready-to-go sample of one of our retail kits by BattlGames, since that's when everyone will be together in person.

Amazon is already over 6 figures for June, thanks in part to Prime Day (or is it Prime Week now?) getting moved up into June this year. Membership is the other one I've been watching closely, and it's finally moving in the right direction since the 16th. Hopeful we close out this current run exactly where we want to be.

On eBay Live, we're on hold until we get our call with their dev team to walk through the API documentation for the build. In the meantime, TikTok Live is getting more attention than it was. We'd deprioritized it for eBay, but with the eBay hurdles, we've got 2 more TikTok Live tests on the docket. They'll run the evenings of Thursday the 9th and Friday the 10th, right after our special Whatnot show on July 6th, to see if TikTok Live is actually viable for us.

BattlGames itself didn't have any major changes this week, but we did spend some time kicking around 2 possible locations for Season 4, and both have the potential to be awesome.

One more AI note. I had an Outlook issue this week that I could not figure out, so I let Claude take control of my computer and diagnose it. It found the problem. I don't think I would have cracked it on my own, which was pretty cool and a little humbling lol.

Ok, let’s talk about my back. It's improved overall, the pain and discomfort are better than they were, but there's lingering pain, and now it's running down my right leg. That likely means spinal, not muscular like the doctor said. I really wanted to be wrong on this one, but here we are. I spoke to his team yesterday, and we're getting the MRI scheduled. The one silver lining is it reminded me that when I'm in better shape, my back doesn't bother me. So Monday, I brought the no-carb diet back and started some light core work. This is day 5, and all I want in the world is bread, pasta, or a sweet treat lol.

Let's get into the rest!

How Zara Took Over the World

Lhea's latest. The story behind Zara's global fashion empire and the secret formula that built it, winning on speed and supply chain instead of splashy marketing while everyone else zigged. Good operator read.

Actually Useful AI Tips

I'm kicking off a new series on actually useful AI tips. To feed it, I built a recurring task in Claude Cowork that compiles a running list of everything I use Claude for and hands me the topics. First one's live, go check it out.

The Top 5 Sports Cards Heating Up

Lhea's weekly card recap, this one for the week of June 15th. The NBA Finals are doing exactly what you'd expect in the market. If you're in the card game at all, it's worth a scroll.

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The Cheese is Served, and It’s Time to Share the Fun! 🧀

If you enjoyed this week’s cheesy goodness, why not share the love? Forward this newsletter to someone who could use a little extra cheese in their day.

Stay cheesy, and we’ll catch you next week with more!

Queso-Love,
Team Online Queso