Happy Trends Tuesday!

Yesterday I went on The Hustle Daily Show and did a podcast thing.

It was a blast, but now I'm nervous about listening to myself... Feel free to take that challenge by checking it out in Open Tabs, as long as you don’t give me feedback like “what a croaky voice" — how a childhood crush described my singing. 😶

Speaking of feedback: We’re looking for Trendster testimonials, so if you feel the love, go ahead and fill out the form :) 

- Cyan

In today's email…

• Major opportunities in menopause, a late bloomer in femtech 
• Gen Z’s self love is growing stronger, and you can cash in on it
• What we’re surfin’, from a billionaire test to a warm and fuzzy LLM

Dive in!

😤 GET SHIT DONE

And do it with some structure. This handy project management template will help you target, tackle, and analyze every action item on your list. 

🚀 WHERE TO BUILD NEXT

Menoconomy: the billion-dollar opportunity to help women navigate menopause with grace

Source: Precedence Research

Previously taboo topics like menstruation, fertility, and female sexual wellness have hit the mainstream, and institutional money has followed. In 2023: 

• Women’s health companies raised $1.1B+ across 120 deals
• Their average deal size reached $10.4m, a historic record

Despite the boom, only 5% of femtech startups are building solutions for menopause, a stage of life that 1B+ women will be experiencing by 2025. 

That’s 12% of the world population – and $600B of spending power left on the table.  

One big area of opportunities is to make these women feel supported, and it's not that hard to get started. 

Menopause can be a socially isolating time for women – 33% of menopausal women feel less outgoing in social situations and 23% feel socially isolated. 

Online platforms supporting menopausal women with social bonds, content, and advice are gaining traction – Omena, a menopause support app, raised $858k this year. 

But there are plenty of space for others to enter, and tackle different aspects of the experience: 

👜 Career: Menopause costs American women ~$1.8B in lost working time every year. Develop a community for career-driven women who want solutions to reclaim productivity (while letting their body do its thing), or partner with employers to offer menopause benefits that can reduce out-of-pocket costs. 

💰 Finance: For women between 45-60 in the US, menopause contributes to ~$25B in medical costs. Build an app or offer consulting services to help them optimize menopause-related spending. 

🫂 Partnership: Who else feels lonely during menopause? Spouses and partners who want to help their significant others overcome this tough time. Create support content, or online courses, to help S.O.s co-navigate menopause with the women in their lives. Consider events and retreats that couples can do together as well. 

❤️ Love: Sex and relationships might look different for some women in the menopause stage, and they need a place to find dates with similar goals. For instance, you can refashion an existing asexual dating app to help those who feel like the screenshot below. 

Source: r/Menopause

Continue reading to see other data-backed opportunities you can build on to solve for menopausal women, from telehealth options, devices, to subscriptions. 

🔎 OUR LATEST OBSESSIONS

Gen Z is not afraid to put themselves first — for good reasons

In keeping a finger on Gen Z’s pulse, we’ve noticed two interesting mini trends lately. And, in typical Trends fashion, we’re connecting the dots.

The maths are mathing. Source: Tenor

First, the thesis: As Gen Z’s struggle with mental health gets worse, they’re finally putting in the work to “love thyself.”

According to a recent survey from Instagram – Gen Z’s second favorite social network – 2024 will be the group’s growth era, with priorities like self improvement, career development, and being unapologetically true to themselves. 

Here are those two trends to back that up:

1. Loud budgeting

Started from a TikTok video, the term has now taken over the world and became everyone’s favorite money trend of 2024. Content with the #loudbudgeting hashtag gets millions of views on the platform. 

Basically, it means setting financial boundaries unapologetically, and talking about your budget constraints openly when you feel pressure to spend — whether that's from peers or a case of FOMO.

Luka Battle, the TikToker who coined the term, is now officially a finfluencer. Source: Yahoo

Unbalanced spending power and habits tend to cause stress in social situations. If Gen Zers can prioritize their own money goals over feeling embarrassed about an honest talk with friends, it’s a sure-fire sign that self love is growing stronger (and louder). 

2. Job ghosting

Ghosting, or abruptly ending ongoing communication without explanation, is a toxic behavior shared by awful dates and potential employers. 

In 2023, 40% of US job seekers have been ghosted even after two or three rounds of interview (been there 🙃). 

Perhaps an inevitable turn of events, candidates are pulling a Uno Reverse and increasingly ghosting potential employers these days. Gen Zers are the most emboldened to do so, calling it “only fair” if the interviewing party does it so often. 

Now, I’m not promoting ghosting of any kind – this Millennial still believes that being flaky is the antithesis of professionalism. But the shift is yet another sign that Gen Zers don’t want to be taken for granted, and are ready to put themselves first in their careers. 

Opportunities abound...

Gen Z’s self love era means big business, given their $450B in spending power. And this mentality applies to a broad range of industries, not just finance and workplace, so there’s more than enough to go around. 

Consider dating, where 80% of 18-25 year olds see self care as the top priority. Or wellness and fitness, both of which Gen Z is obsessed with. 

And of course, mental health-related products or services – whether it’s traditional counseling, AI companions, social apps or IRL experiences – could see rapid growth as Gen Zers strive to take better care of themselves. 

🗂️ OPEN TABS

🎙 Pod noob: I talked about Gen Alpha on The Hustle Daily podcast!

🤨 From X: Peter Thiel’s 4-question test to sniff out future billionaires

🤖 Soul in the machine: Does Claude 3 feel warmer than other models?

💬 Weirdly awesome: How to get a book series out of your text messages