How to befriend AI so it promotes you, Overused templates, Reddit vs Anthropic and more

Cliche templates dull your UX.

Author

Charbel Zeaiter
June 06, 2025

TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS

Well hello (again),

The newsletter’s back; twice a week for now. So much is shifting across AI, product, tech, ventures and the future of work, and I figure the least I can do is try to make some sense of it and share it with you. Consider this my contribution to the signal amidst the noise; it’s not perfect, nor is it a comprehensive view, but I do hope that our semi-frequent digest offers you some value.

Thanks for reading, and I hope this newer format is less overwhelming. Let’s dive in.

With love,
Charbel
Velvet Onion & Friends

  • Product: Even the “flawless” product launches are messy behind the stage

  • Founding: How to befriend ChatGPT so it promotes you

  • Design: Overused templates hurt your UX. This is how you exit mediocrity.

  • Science & Tech: Biodegradable plastic that melts in seawater 

  • AI: Reddit drags Anthropic to court for feeding on its posts for free

  • For Young Founders: [Insert a hint to the cards]

  • Quote for the day: - Purpose and meaning

Even the “flawless” product launches are messy behind the stage

Even with checklists and post-mortems, things go sideways.

Key features vanish into a dev void, legal approvals land five minutes to midnight, and the only person who can fix a bug is off camping.

A bit of behind-the-scenes mess doesn’t mean failure.

It means you’re building in the real world.

So if launch day feels messy, chaotic, cluttered or any such adjective, you’re doing just fine.

MORE PRODUCT NEWS

How to befriend ChatGPT so it promotes you

Product discovery is shifting from friends and feeds to bots.

Nearly half of US consumers now ask AI for purchase advice. And the number is only climbing.

To stay visible, you must optimise your brand for AI: structured websites, citation-rich content, and strong digital footprints.

We have to optimise it for generative chatbots, just like we optimise for search. GEO is the new and fancy SEO.

Conversations are happening in chat windows and community threads. So create FAQ-style content, foster brand mentions, and track chatbot shoutouts.

Why is this a big deal?

Your next customer might ask ChatGPT, not Google.

High time we build brand signals that machines can understand. And trust ;)

MORE STARTUP & FOUNDING NEWS

Overused templates wound your UX. This is how you exit mediocrity …

Some UX designers (seasoned or otherwise) are leaning too heavily on “ultimate” templates and checklists, treating them as one-size-fits-all fixes instead of adaptable tools.

What’s Going Wrong

  • Social media fuels the spread of context-free frameworks.

  • New designers often apply templates blindly, skipping critical thinking.

  • This shortcut mindset erodes UX’s creative depth and rigour.

Relying on plug-and-play templates risks bland, cookie-cutter designs and a weakening of UX expertise.

What should you do?

Start with clear goals, choose tools that fit, and thoughtfully adapt templates to your unique challenges. Thinking with a raw mind and custom carved approaches give life to creativity and raise UX quality.

UX isn’t paint-by-numbers, it depends on nuance, iteration, questioning and increasingly, measuring value for both business and user.

MORE DESIGN NEWS

Yes! Biodegradable plastic that melts in seawater 

Researchers at Japan’s RIKEN Center and University of Tokyo have crafted a new plastic that dissolves completely in saltwater within hours.

No plasticky residue left behind.

Unlike slow-degrading biodegradable plastics, this material breaks down swiftly and safely, avoiding microplastics that harm marine life and enter the food chain. ‘

It’s as strong as regular plastic but vanishes after just about an hour stirred in seawater, and takes roughly 200 hours to degrade on land.

Though commercial rollout details are still under wraps, the packaging industry is already keen.

Why a big deal?

With ocean plastic pollution predicted to triple by 2040, this innovation could seriously cut the tide of waste choking our seas.

Hence, offering a clever fix to a colossal, growing environmental headache.

MORE SCIENCE & TECH NEWS

Reddit drags Anthropic to court for feeding on its posts for free

Reddit has launched legal action against AI startup Anthropic, accusing it of illegally scraping Reddit’s content to train its AI models without consent or payment.

Despite Anthropic claiming to have blocked access, Reddit alleges the bots pinged its servers over 100,000 times.

Efforts to strike a licensing deal, like those Reddit holds with OpenAI and Google, reportedly failed.

Reddit also points out Anthropic’s AI, Claude, frequently referencing subreddit content, implying prior use of their data.

The lawsuit demands damages and a court order to halt Anthropic’s use of Reddit content.

Why a big deal?

This marks a rare major platform standing up against AI data scraping, hinting at deeper battles between AI powerhouses, especially with Sam Altman’s Reddit stake and Anthropic’s recent tussles.

The tech world might be witnessing an AI proxy war brewing beneath the surface.

MORE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE NEWS

There’s a lot more in AI, too much to digest in this digest!

CARD #2: Understanding Who You’re Building For

What's this?

No business can serve everyone. The fastest way to fail is to build for “everyone” because different groups have different needs, frustrations, and expectations. To succeed, you need to focus on a specific audience and deeply understand:

  • Who they are (age, profession, habits, interests)

  • What they struggle with (pain points, daily frustrations)

  • What they’re willing to pay for (what is urgent and valuable to them?)

Instead of trying to appeal to millions of people, start by serving a small, well-defined audience really well. 

As the saying goes, “The Riches are in the Niches.”

Why do this?

  • If you try to build for everyone, you’ll serve no one. The more targeted your audience, the stronger your marketing, messaging, and product.

  • Clear audience = clear marketing. Knowing your customers means you’ll understand where to find them, what messaging works, and what features they actually need.

  • Understanding your customers early saves time and money. Instead of wasting months guessing, defining your audience early helps you reach product-market fit faster.

  • It’s easier to scale when you dominate a niche first. Most startups grow by winning a small market first, then expanding later.

Example: Facebook started just for Harvard students before expanding to other colleges, then the world.

Real-world examples:

✅ Superhuman – Instead of marketing to everyone, this $30/month premium email app focused on busy executives, investors, and startup founders who valued speed and were willing to pay for a faster email experience.

✅ Twitch (originally Justin.tv) – It started as a general live-streaming platform but realised that gamers were the most engaged users. By pivoting to focus exclusively on gaming, Twitch became a billion-dollar company.

✅ Nike – Initially targeted elite athletes before expanding to the mainstream. Even today, their marketing still speaks directly to high performers.

✅ Tesla – Instead of launching an affordable car for everyone, they started with luxury EVs for early adopters before scaling down to mass-market models.

✅ Lululemon – Built for a specific audience (yoga practitioners) before expanding into broader fitness wear.

Action: Write a one-sentence problem statement that describes:

  • Who has the problem? (Target audience)

  • What the problem is? (Pain point)

  • Why existing solutions don’t work? (Gap in the market)

Example:
"Freelancers struggle to manage their invoices and get paid on time, and existing accounting tools are too complex."

Bonus Step:

  • Find 5 people in your target audience and ask:

    • "What’s your biggest frustration with [your problem area]?"

    • "What tools or solutions have you tried? What’s missing?"

Document their responses - this is real-world insight you can use to refine your business.

FROM THE YOUNG FOUNDERS KIT (COMING SOON) →

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED TODAY’S NEWSLETTER

“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

Until next time,

With love,
Charbel

From Velvet Onion & Friends,
The House of Better