Welcome to Tuesday Thursday Saturday! Three times a week, I share a snapshot of trending stories across business, tech, and culture. Subscribe and tell me what you want to hear about next! - KP

The Big Story: Why Young(ish) People Want to Build Empires Beyond the Internet

In some ways, the Internet doesn’t feel like the Wild West anymore – at least not in the capitalistic sense. Before algorithms completely ran the show, the World Wide Web™️ was a DIY economy where a little ingenuity could turn clicks into cash.

When I was 15, I joined a now-defunct site called Epinions.com where you could earn money for writing product reviews. I quickly learned that car reviews got the most views – and despite not having my license yet, and never owning a car – I was getting checks for $100, $200, $300 dollars a month to my parents’ house.

When I was 16, my friends and I bought the cusehoops.com domain and launched a Syracuse basketball fan website with nothing but a Yahoo! Geocities account and a dream. I ended up selling the domain for a few hundred bucks, which I “needed” the summer before college. It’s now worth 30X that, which I know only because I am actively trying to get it back before Carmelo Anthony’s son Kiyan joins the squad and brings the 3-1-5 back to national relevance. $GDDY ( ▲ 0.31% )  

At barely 18, in between philosophy and journalism classes at Notre Dame, I was designing flyers for some shady NYC nightclub promoter I found on Craigslist for $20/pop, via PayPal (obviously). $PYPL ( ▲ 0.94% ) The point is – for a while, if you dug deep enough into the chambers of the Internet, you could find ways to make money without giant tech platforms taking a cut. And it was RIDICULOUSLY FUN.

It’s hard to describe this world to the Gen Z generation. These days, it seems like the only way to make money online is to be an influencer, a crypto meme coin trader, or a contract worker plugged into a giant soulless network like Upwork or Fiverr. $UPWK ( ▲ 3.5% )  $FVRR ( ▲ 8.74% ) You don’t need much creativity to find these opportunities because the paths are so well-delineated. They are also more well-traveled, which makes it harder and harder to figure out how to play the game in a way that will pad your bank account. Start an Instagram account, open a trading app, buy a podcast mic. Good luck, babe!

Back when every tech company was beveling the F out of their logos, the Internet held opportunities that the real world did not. Lately, it’s starting to feel like the pendulum is swinging back. Is there more fun to be had “out there?”

Over the weekend, a friend of mine sent me a 10-page business plan for a franchise we aspire to (maybe?) open someday in LA. I get giddy at the idea of pricing out the cost of appliances and coming up with a hyperlocalized marketing plan. And that’s because I live most of my professional life within slides, spreadsheets, and the Google Ads UI. $GOOGL ( ▼ 7.26% )  

All businesses are tech-enabled these days (and soon all will be AI-enabled) but still, some lean more analog than others – and these are increasingly attractive to young people. A few months back I met a guy at a networking event who told me he was formerly a software engineer at a prominent fintech, and now he’s co-founder of a direct-to-consumer salmon company. Literal. Actual. Goals.

So it’s not just PE getting interested in plumbing all of a sudden – something bigger may be happening here:

• 50% of Gen Z workers are considering blue-collar professions like plumbing, electrical work, and welding, compared to 23% of Americans overall. (Harris Poll for Intuit Credit Karma)

• 77% of respondents in this same survey believe the idea that a college degree is necessary for career success is outdated. Only 50% think college is worth the investment.

• Millennials and Gen Z are increasingly buying (mostly analog) businesses from retiring Baby Boomers, recognizing the value of acquiring existing operations instead of starting from scratch.

• They’re also going old school with their investing styles. Millennials allocate approximately 45% of their investment portfolios to fixed-income assets, surpassing Baby Boomers at 31%.

• Millennials allocate an average of 17% of their portfolios to gold, whereas Boomers and Gen X allocate 10%, according to one study.

• On the multi-asset investing app Public, T-bills are among the most popular assets, alongside usual suspects like Tesla and Bitcoin.

At the same time that Millennials and Gen Z are embracing AI, crypto, and digital everything, many are also searching for ways to build wealth in ways more foreign to their generations—whether by acquiring small businesses, investing in tangible assets, or even picking up a trade.

For those of us raised online, the next frontier might just be offline.

Daily Rip Live Recap: The Boss Joins the Show to Talk About the State of the Markets and Make Fun of His Own Kids

Every weekday, Shay Boloor and I run down the biggest market news and events LIVE on Stocktwits’ morning show, The Daily Rip Live. Here’s what we recently covered with special guest Howard Lindzon, CEO of Stocktwits.

• We kicked off the week in the green — but will it hold? Things seem ... calmer ... without any fresh tariff news. But, retail sales data came in and growth was lower than expected. Yet another sign that consumers are less willing to open their pocketbooks, especially for discretionary spending. We’ve already heard rumblings about this from some of the airlines, American Eagle, and Airbnb. $LUV ( ▲ 1.48% )  $DAL ( ▲ 1.09% )  $AEO ( ▲ 1.27% )  $ABNB ( ▲ 1.19% )  

• More bad news: The New York state manufacturing activity index also plunged in March. Analysts predicted this would come in at -1.9 and instead, it was -20.0! This is the lowest it has been in a year. Apparently, it’s not time to build.

• Robinhood finally launched prediction markets betting. They meant to do this back in February for the Super Bowl, but things didn’t go according to plan, much like the Chiefs offense. Looks like they are ready to rock now (in partnership with Kalshi), just in time for March Madness. The stock closed up 7% on the news. $HOOD ( ▲ 2.67% )  

• It’s going to be another eventful week on Wall Street. Today kicks off a two-day FOMC meeting where Chair Powell is expected to hold steady on interest rates. Later this week, we’ll get earnings updates from Fedex $FDX ( ▲ 1.01% ) , Micron $MU ( ▲ 2.62% ) , and then Nike $NKE ( ▲ 2.77% ) and new-ish CEO Elliott Hill will provide a business update.

Hear Shay and I yap about the markets every weekday at 9 a.m. ET on X (@stocktwits), YouTube, LinkedIn, or in your Stocktwits app. Follow me there — I’m @stocktwitsKP!

Now Here’s a Chart

Why would Robinhood be getting into the sports betting market? Lots of reasons, but check out this chart that Axios released a few months back. For younger investors, cash is cash — sometimes it goes into SPY, sometimes it apes into Melania coin, and well, sometimes it goes toward a 5-leg parlay that involves 12-seed McNeese State making it to the Sweet Sixteen. Robinhood wants its cut!

More on this in last week’s newsletter: 🎲 Maybe We’re All Degenerates

Reading List

• PepsiCo buys prebiotic soda brand Poppi to gain a foothold in functional drinks (AP News) $PEP ( ▲ 0.9% )  

• Nvidia stock slides ahead of GTC as investors look to new Blackwell Ultra (Yahoo! Finance) $NVDA ( ▲ 3.1% )  

• ‘Shakedown’: Controversial legislation changing Delaware corporate law passes state Senate with no debate (PBS-NPR)

• Gold Hovers Near Record as US Growth Concerns Fan Haven Demand (Bloomberg)

• Foreign tourism into the U.S. is suddenly reversing and is now expected to drop (Fortune)

• End of an Era: Forever 21 expected to close all U.S. stores, blames Shein and Temu for demise (CNBC)

• Yellow Tail changes its branding for the first time in 20 years, as Gen Z rejects cheap wine (Fast Company Design)

• Tilray Grows Its Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer Line, Runner's High Brewing, Across the East Coast and Mid-West Regions (Global Newswire) $TLRY ( ▲ 2.68% )  

🎧 Now playing: “The Whole World” - Outkast feat. Killer Mike ✨ glitter, glisten, gloss, floss ✨

Tuesday Thursday Saturday is written by Katie Perry, owner of Ursa Major Media, which provides fractional marketing services and strategy in software, tech, consumer products, professional services, and other industries. She is also the co-host of Stocktwits’ Daily Rip Live show.

✔ Need senior marketing support? Work with Katie.

✔ Looking to reach a large audience of retail investors and young professionals? Advertise with the Daily Rip Live.

Disclaimer: The contents here reflect recaps and summaries of pre-reported or published data, news, and trends. I have cited sources and context for the information provided to the best of my ability. The purpose of the newsletter is to inform and educate on larger trends shaping business and culture — this is NOT investment advice. As an investor, you should always do your own research before making any decisions about your money or your portfolio.