Happy Thursday!

In 5 minutes, you'll be learning about the following:

1. ​OpenAI Just Launched Sora - a Social App Powered Entirely by AI
2. ​How Reese Witherspoon Built a $900M Media Company from a Book Club
3. Neat Build in Public Update: ​​The Kind of Product Validation You Can’t Buy​
4. ​The AI Browser That Thinks With You​
5. ​How Brian Sloan Built an 8-Figure Sex Toy Brand with 2 Employees and No Ads [PODCAST]

Jim Huffman, GrowthHit & Neat Apparel CEO
​(Want a friend? Let's connect on Twitter or LinkedIn)

​OpenAI Just Launched Sora - a Social App Powered Entirely by AI​

Sora lets you turn yourself into AI-generated videos and scroll a feed of lifelike, customizable clips - no filming required.

OpenAI just launched something that honestly feels like the start of a new chapter in how we make stuff.

It’s called Sora - an app where you can record a short clip of yourself, and then tell AI to drop you into any video you want.

You can be in a travel ad, a movie trailer, or a skateboarding video without leaving your couch. It builds the entire scene - the movement, the sound, even the dialogue - from a few words.

So yeah, you can literally star in your own AI video.

Right now, it’s invite-only, but people who’ve tested it say it feels like TikTok meets Pixar. You scroll a feed of AI-generated clips - some with your friends’ faces in them.

But here’s what caught my attention: this isn’t just a cool tech demo. It’s a massive shift in how we create and communicate.

Suddenly, you don’t need a studio, a team, or a camera to make high-quality video content.

You just need an idea. That’s wild.

For creators, it means you can test video ideas in minutes.

For brands, it means you can make UGC-style content without hiring a single creator.

And for regular people, it means storytelling just got a lot more personal and a lot more weird.

Sure, there are real questions around likeness, consent, and what’s real versus fake. But OpenAI’s at least trying to build this responsibly, with controls over how your image is used.

The bigger point is this: tools like Sora are turning the world into one big creative playground.

The best creators in this new era won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets - they’ll be the ones with the best ideas and the curiosity to experiment early.

​The AI Browser That Thinks With You​

Part Google, part ChatGPT, part command center - Comet makes research, writing, and workflow seamless (and ad-free).

The internet has turned into one giant sales funnel.

Every click wants your credit card, every search result is SEO soup, and somehow you’re still six tabs deep trying to find a straight answer.

That’s why Comet, the new AI browser from Perplexity, feels like a reset button for the web.

I’ve been testing it out this week, and it’s the first time in a while I’ve felt curious online again - not distracted or sold to, just exploring.

Here’s the gist:

Comet blends Google Search, ChatGPT, and your research workflow into one clean, fast browser. It’s built to think with you, not just serve ads to you.

When users first got access, their number of questions jumped up to 18x. Why? Because Comet makes curiosity frictionless again.

As a founder or marketer, here’s where it gets useful:

• Research faster. Get summarized, sourced answers on one page.
• Work with an AI assistant. Every tab can write, summarize, or execute tasks (emails, code, content).
• Stay in flow. One place to think → act → ship.
• Privacy built in. No tracking, no ads, no creepy retargeting.

It’s the kind of product that makes you say, “This is what AI should feel like.”

And the best part? It’s free.

👉 Try it at perplexity.ai/comet.

​The Kind of Product Validation You Can’t Buy​

When we acquired Neat™ at the end of 2023, we had no idea how much we’d learn. In just 12 months, we’ve grown it from $9K/month to $114K/month - all while building in public and sharing the highs, lows, and lessons with you in real time.

This week ....

Some messages hit harder than any sales report.
​
My friend Adam texted me from Phoenix:
​
​“Just ordered 8 more Neat shirts and donated all my Lululemon, BYLT, and Under Armour tees to Goodwill.”​
​
That’s the kind of product validation money can’t buy.
​
When we bought Neat, that was the stretch goal:
Not to make a shirt that competes with the big guys,
but to make the shirt that replaces them.
​
When someone who lives in 110° heat says yours wins?
You don’t need another focus group.

​How Reese Witherspoon Built a $900M Media Company from a Book Club​

By treating storytelling as strategy and audience data as R&D, Reese Witherspoon built one of Hollywood’s most successful media empires.

In 2016, Reese started sharing her favorite reads online. It was casual, personal, and full of genuine curiosity. No big production, no brand team.

That book club became Hello Sunshine - a media company that was later acquired for $900 million.

How did she pull that off? By doing what most brands still forget to do: start with people, not promotion.

Reese noticed something simple but powerful.

Millions of women wanted stories that actually reflected their lives. Hollywood wasn’t delivering them.

So she didn’t wait for permission - she built her own ecosystem to tell those stories.

The playbook was simple: Content + Community = Brand.

The book club came first. People read together, debated together, and shared what they loved. That engagement wasn’t just community building - it was data.

Reese and her team used that data to spot which stories truly resonated - then bought the rights, adapted them, and launched with a built-in fanbase.

It was content creation backed by audience validation.

That’s how Hello Sunshine quietly became a data-driven storytelling machine - one that de-risked creative bets and built valuable IP with proven demand.

From there, the company expanded into podcasts, partnerships, live events, and brand collabs - all centered around the same mission: championing women’s voices and stories.

They didn’t just sell content. They built belonging. And the market noticed.

In 2021, Hello Sunshine was acquired by Candle Media for about $900 million - not because of one viral hit, but because it owned a community-tested pipeline of IP and the data to back it up.

The takeaway for anyone building something - whether it’s a brand, product, or audience - is simple:

• Start small, with something real and human.
• Build community before you build campaigns.
• Use engagement as insight, not just vanity metrics.
• Own your stories, your data, and your IP.

​The Difference Between a $1M and $10M Businesses : Live Event​

The playbook for breaking through the “valley of death” and scaling to $10M - join us to learn how.

Most founders hit the same wall around $1-4M.

They’ve hustled their way to product–market fit, but now growth feels like pushing a boulder uphill. Sales slow down, the team is maxed out, and every decision feels like a gamble.

Here’s the hard truth: what gets you to $1M is not what gets you to $10M.

At $1M, companies rely on founder hustle, quick wins, and duct-taped systems. At $10M, companies scale because they’ve built leverage - clear strategy, repeatable processes, and a team that executes without the founder doing it all.

In this session, we’ll unpack:

• The real differences between a $1M company and a $10M company (mindset, systems, execution).
• The traps that keep most founders stuck in the “valley of death.”
• The playbook we’ve used to help brands break through the plateau and scale with clarity and confidence.

If you’re tired of chasing tactics, burning out, and wondering why others leapfrog ahead - this is the roadmap you’ve been missing.

October 17, 10:00AM Pacific Time / 1:00PM Eastern Time

👉 Sign up for free here​

​How Brian Sloan Built an 8-Figure Sex Toy Brand with 2 Employees and No Ads​

What happens when you build an 8-figure business in one of the most taboo industries - without a team, funding, or traditional ad channels?

Brian Sloan did exactly that. And in this episode, he reveals the unfiltered story behind his wild entrepreneurial path.

Jim sits down with Brian Sloan, founder of AutoBlow, to unpack how he built a global DTC sex toy brand that now generates 8 figures annually - with a team of just two.

From eBay auctions to viral PR stunts, Brian shares how his unconventional path, deep product focus, and scrappy tactics helped him thrive in a space where Facebook ads and mainstream visibility were off-limits. This conversation pulls back the curtain on manufacturing, media manipulation, brand building, and what it really takes to scale when the rules don’t apply to your category.

Key Topics Covered:

• How Brian went from selling antiques to latex fetishwear to inventing AutoBlow
• The viral crowdfunding stunt that made him internet-famous overnight
• Why he ditched Amazon - even after major sales
• How to get on GQ, Playboy, Howard Stern, and more without a PR team
• The power of press-worthy product ideas
• Why focus (on just 2 SKUs) was his biggest growth unlock
• Building a lean team using a global network of niche freelancers

If you’re building in DTC and feel like you’re drowning in overhead or noise, this episode is a masterclass in focus, edge, and unconventional growth.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts

​

​Let’s Fix What’s Blocking Your Growth​

• My Agency - GrowthHit​
• AI Growth Strategies to Sell More On Shopify - GrowthSchool​
• The Sold-Out Shopify Playbook - Get the product​
• Podcast - The Shopify Growth Show​
• Proven AI Prompts for Your Shopify Success - Get the library​
• My Book: The Growth Marketer's Playbook​

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