The U.S. government on Thursday released a new crash test dummy design that advocates believe will help make cars safer for women.
The Department of Transportation will consider using the dummy in the government’s vehicle crash test five star-ratings once a final rule is adopted, the agency said in a news release.
Women are 73% more likely to be injured in a head-on crash, and they are 17% more likely to be killed in a car crash, than men.
The standard crash test dummy used in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration five-star vehicle testing was developed in 1978 and was modeled after a 5-foot-9 (175-centimeter), 171-pound (78-kilogram) man. The female dummy is smaller and has a rubber jacket to represent breasts. Its routinely tested in the passenger or back seat but seldom in the drivers seat, even though the majority of licensed drivers are women.
The new female dummy endorsed by the department more accurately reflects differences between men and women, including the shape of the neck, collarbone, pelvis, and legs. It’s outfitted with more than 150 sensors, the department said.
Some American automakers have been skeptical, arguing the new model may exaggerate injury risks and undercut the value of some safety features such as seat belts and airbags.
Lawmakers and transportation secretaries from the past two presidential administrations have expressed support for new crash test rules and safety requirements but developments have been slow.
U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, and Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, both released statements welcoming the female crash test dummy announcement.
Any progress here is good because theres simply no good reason why women are more likely to be injured or die in car crashes, Duckworth said.
Fischer introduced legislation, the She Drives Act, that would require the most advanced testing devices available, including a female crash test dummy. Duckworth is a co-sponsor.
Its far past time to make these testing standards permanent, which will help save thousands of lives and make Americas roads safer for all drivers, Fischer said.
The department said the new specifications will be available for manufacturers to build models and for the automotive industry to begin testing them in vehicles.
Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press
The following sentence might cause anxiety. As Thanksgiving looms near, its time to begin holiday shopping.
The current level of inflation makes that even more stressful. How can you show your love without breaking the bank?
It turns out, shoppers are turning to off-price retailers such as Ross, T.J. Maxx, and HomeGoods, according to recent earnings reports and data from location analytics company Placer.ai.
Lets break down the numbers.
Ross Stores posts rosy earnings
Its fair to say that Jim Conroy, CEO of Ross Stores, is very pleased with the third-quarter earnings report released on Thursday, November 20.
The company earned $1.58 per share, resulting in a $512 million profit. This is an increase from last years figures of $1.48 per share and $489 million in profit.
When you zoom out beyond Q3, the numbers are equally as impressive. Rosss year-to-date sales earnings are $16.1 billion, which is a 3% increase.
People are clearly bargain shopping to get through these hard economic times and it’s safe to predict this trend will only continue to grow in the holiday shopping season.
Foot traffic is reportedly up at off-price retailers
Do you ever feel like you are being watched? Well, your cellphone is collecting data on you, most likely with permission buried deep in the terms and conditions of some of the apps downloaded on your phone.
Placer.ai uses mobile-device data that is anonymized and aggregated to analyze customer behavior. It estimates how much foot traffic certain stores get and how long customers linger.
According to the analytics platform, things are good for off-price retailers.
TJX HomeGoods, which includes both HomeGoods and Homesense stores, saw a 9.6% increase in shopper volume in the third quarter, according to data shared with Fast Company.
Similarly, TJX Marmaxx, which includes TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Sierra stores, saw an 8.1% increase in store traffic.
And store visits at Ross rose 9.4%.
Target cannot say the same. The companys store visitors declined 2.7% year-over-year in Q3, according to Placer.ai. The big-box retailer’s struggles were apparent in its third-quarter earnings report, which saw $25.3 billion in sales, around 1.5% lower than the same quarter last year.
Ross has been opening new stores in 2025
Because of its overwhelming success, Ross is doubling down to keep this momentum going.
In October, the retailer announced that it had opened 36 Ross Dress for Less and four Dd’s Discounts stores in October and September. These store locations span 17 states.
In an economy where many brick-and-mortar retail chains are closing stores, this is no small accomplishment.
Shares of Ross Stores (NYSE: ROST) are up 6.64% this week. TJX Companies stock (NYSE: TJX) is up 3.67%.
President Donald Trump has called New York City’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani a “100% Communist Lunatic” and a total nut job. Mamdani has called Trumps administration authoritarian” and described himself as Donald Trumps worst nightmare.
So their first-ever meeting, scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. EST at the White House, could be a curious and combustible affair.
Despite months of casting each other as prime adversaries, the Republican president and new Democratic star have also indicated an openness to finding areas of agreement that help the city theyve both called home.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist who takes office in January, said he sought the meeting with Trump to talk about ways to make New York City more affordable. Trump has said he may want to help him out although he has also falsely labeled Mamdani as a communist and threatened to yank federal funds from his hometown.
But for both men, the meeting offers opportunities beyond any areas of potential bipartisan agreement.
The two men are convenient political foils for each other, and taking the other one on can galvanize their supporters.
Trump loomed large over the mayoral race this year, and on the eve of the election, endorsed independent candidate and former Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, predicting the city has ZERO chance of success, or even survival if Mamdani won. He also questioned the citizenship of Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen after graduating from college, and said he’d have him arrested if he followed through on threats not to cooperate with immigration agents in the city.
Mamdani beat back a challenge from Cuomo, painting him as a puppet for the president, and said he would be a mayor who can stand up to Donald Trump and actually deliver. He declared during one primary debate, “I am Donald Trumps worst nightmare, as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in.
The president, who has long used political opponents to fire up his backers, predicted Mamdani will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party. As Mamdani upended the Democratic establishment by defeating Cuomo and his far-left progressive policies provoked infighting, Trump repeatedly has cast Mamdani as the face of Democratic Party.
For Mamdani, a sit-down with the president of the United States offers the state lawmaker who until recently was relatively unknown the chance to go head-to-head with the most powerful person in the world.
The meeting gives Trump a high-profile chance to talk about affordability at a time when hes under increasing political pressure to show hes addressing voter concerns about the cost of living.
But thats if the meeting doesnt turn rocky.
A chance for some Oval Office drama
It was not immediately clear whether cameras will be allowed into the meeting. Trump’s daily schedule said it will be private, but the president often invites in a small pool of reporters at the last minute.
The president has had some dramatic public Oval Office faceoffs this year, including an infamously heated exchange with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March. In May, Trump dimmed the lights while meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and played a four-minute video making widely rejected claims that South Africa is violently persecuting the countrys white Afrikaner minority farmers.
A senior Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions said Trump had not put a lot of thought into planning the meeting with the incoming mayor but said Trumps threats to block federal dollars from flowing to New York remained on the table.
Mamdani said Thursday that he was not concerned about the president potentially trying to use the meeting to publicly embarrass him and said he saw it as a chance to make his case, even while acknowledging many disagreements with the president.
If the president does use the meeting as a public confrontation, Mamdani may be uniquely ready for it.
He, like Trump, was a relative political outsider who rose to victory with a populist message that promised a break from the establishment, known for his savvy navigation of the spotlight and a distinctive use of social media.
Mamdani, who lives in Queens where Trump was raised also has shown a cutthroat streak. During his campaign, he appeared to borrow from Trump’s playbook when he noted during a televised debate with Cuomo that one of the women who had accused the former governor of sexual harassment was in the audience. Cuomo has denied wrongdoing.
The moment evoked Trump’s tactics before a debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, when he appeared with accusers of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who denied the accusations against him.
Michelle L. Price, Associated Press
Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report.
A creepy account thats almost certainly using AI to generate videos of imaginary New Yorkers criticizing mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani raises a frightening prospect: that deepfakes could be used not just to impersonate politicians, but also constituents.
Accounts on several social media platformswhich are using similar profile pictures and appear to be linkedare calling themselves the Citizens Against Mamdani. In recent days, these accounts have posted confessionals and rants from New Yorkers slamming Mamdani for hisallegedanti-Americanism, plans to hike taxes, and false promises on rent and transportation. They appear to be trying to imitate the diversity of New York, and many of the videos feature some of the citys classic accents.
While none of the videos have gone viral, they have shown up on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram, with some racking up tens of thousands of views. The TikTok account itself has about 30,000 likes. Fast Company reached out to the Instagram and TikTok pages but had not heard back at the time of publication.In the last election cycle, hiring human influencers to spread a particular message was all the rage. Now, teams don’t even need those personalities, explains Emmanuelle Saliba, the chief investigative officer at GetReal Security, a cybersecurity firm that analyzes deepfakes. GenAI has made such significant progress that campaigns and activists can use text-to-video to create hyperrealistic videos of supporters or detractors, and online consumers will be none the wiser, she adds.
The online campaign shows how generative AI has, in essence, democratized astroturfing. Astroturfing has been automated, and it’s pretty much undetectable without technology, Saliba saysa notable evolution from the last election cycle, when it was more common for political operatives to hire influencers, she adds.
Using online tools to create a false impression of support or opposition to a movement or candidate isnt new. In 2017, for example, bots were deployed to submit comments to the Federal Communications Commission, which was, at the time, considering new rules on net neutrality. But those types of campaigns have typically required at least some significant human effort, like operating a network of social media accounts or hiring influencers.
The rise of generative AI makes it far easier to create the mirage of political popularity online: Now, with just a few prompts and access to the right platform, you can simply generate videos of a bevy of real-ish seeming people.
A mirage
Of course, one of the challenges of deepfake detection is that theres no absolutely surefire way to confirm that theyre generated by AI. With the anti-Mamdani videos, however, the evidence is overwhelming.
Beyond the visible Sora watermarka label created by OpenAI to denote content created with the companys technologyon some of the videos, the accounts have published numerous, similar videos at around the same time.
Another major hint is the objects in the background of the images, noted Siwei Lyu, a computer science professor who studies deepfakes at University of Buffalo.
Reality Defender, another firm that investigates AI-generated content, analyzed several of the videos using a platform it offers called RealScan and found that the odds they were manipulated were extremely high. The firm assessed that one video featuring a man in a blue hat, screaming You all got fooled by Mamdani had a 99 percent likelihood of being a deepfake. (It is impossible to score 100 percent: Theres no way to truly verify the ground truth of the contents creation).
While it’s unclear the extent to which people have been actually convinced by the videos, the comments on them suggest at least some online users seem to be taking them seriously. They show the illusion of broad support for or against an issue, and the people depicted in the videos are ordinary citizens. So its harder to verify their existence, says Lyu. This is yet another dangerous form of an AI-driven disinformation campaign.
Astroturfing at scale
The accounts are a reminder that the cost of producing disinformation is lower than ever. It used to be that social engineering support for a particular cause would require real effort for instance investing in creating believable and realistic content, explains Alex Lisle, the chief technology officer of Reality Defender.
Now I can define an LLM with a sentiment and a message I’m trying to give it, and then ask it to come up with what to say, Lisle says. And I can do that at a scale which before would require hours and hours of work,manufacturing hundreds of different quotes, thousands of different quotes, very, very quickly, he adds.
Combining deepfakes with large language models allows political operatives to not only generate myriad scripts for what a deepfake can say, but also videos of people with convincing voices to actually spread those narratives. You are now having a force multiplier, Lisle continued. In order to do this required multiple people and hours of effort. Now it just costs me computing.
The problem expands beyond politics, emphasized Saliba, from GetReal. While Mamdani might be one example of a target, the low cost of creating this kind of content means that a business or a loved one could be the future subject of these kinds of disinformation campaigns.
Yankee Candle is going luxury with a new line of candles that’s designed to be upsold.
The Massachusetts-based candle company launched the Yankee Candle YC Collection this week, a line of seven fragrances designed by Beardwood&Co., the New York City branding agency behind the July redesign of the company’s packaging.
[Photo: Yankee Candle]
With a curved glass jar, white wax, and metallic lids that show a new “YC” monogram adapted from the original Yankee Candle logo, the candles are minimally designed. Each box comes with watercolor artwork by illustrator Carly Martin that’s inspired by the look of an artist’s fragrance sketchbook, according to the company. The new premium line sells for $45 for a 12 oz. candle and $32 for a 7 oz. Compare that to $20.99 the brand charges now charges for candles between 20 oz. and 22 oz.
[Photo: Yankee Candle]
“Launching a new premium collection allows Yankee Candle to answer a desire for how a new generation of fragrance lovers combines scent and home decor to express themselves,” Beardwood&Co. co-CEO Sarah Williams tells Fast Company. “Ensuring this new line felt luxurious and display-worthy was the real benchmark for launch.”
The YC Collection include the peach-scented Nectar and Amber, which mixes tobacco leaf with honeyed cacao and amber woods. Online, each candle also names the perfumer who crafted the scent, giving the line some artisan attribution that helps elevate its perceived craftsmanship.
“We worked with expert perfumers trained in the tradition of fine fragrance to craft a collection that feels as intentional and curated as the poems it lives in,” Aaron Swart, the general manager of home fragrance for Yankee Candle’s parent company Newell Brands, said in a statement.
[Photo: Yankee Candle]
Together, that means Yankee Candle can charge more. The new line comes as Newell Brands, which also owns brands like Sharpie and Expo, looks to improve Yankee Candle sales as lower-income and younger consumers pull back and the company’s overall net sales fell 7.2% year over year. Already, it’s tweaked the look of its candles.
It’s new candle packaging rolled out this summer uses bigger images, plus the claim “room-filling fragrances” and “Est. 1969” above the logo. Beardwood&Co. says the new design has increased intent to purchase compared to the old design, and now the new candles were designed to reach new consumers. The luxury candle market is growing and the top 10% of earners make up a growing share of consumer spending, so they’re going after consumers willing to pay a bit more.
[Photo: Yankee Candle]
While this premium line is offered at a higher price point for Yankee Candle, it’s still more candle for your buck than Diptyque Paris, which sells 2.5 oz. candles for $48, and cheaper still than Le Labo candles, which can cost as much as $90.
That gives Yankee Candle a more moderately priced premium product at a time when inflation remains persistent, so higher-income consumers can trade down for a candle that still looks high-end while other consumers can splurge on a budget.
As Yankee Candle looks to grow its sales, the YC Collection could boost its higher-margin sales and help the brand endear itself to younger consumers and luxury candle fans.
A haunting 1940 self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo sold Thursday for $54.7 million and became the top-selling work by any female artist at an auction.
The painting of Kahlo asleep in a bed titled El sueo (La cama) or in English, The Dream (The Bed) surpassed the record held by Georgia OKeeffes Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1,” which sold for $44.4 million in 2014.
The sale at Sotheby’s in New York also topped Kahlo’s own auction record for a work by a Latin American artist. The 1949 painting Diego and I, depicting the artist and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, went for $34.9 million in 2021. Her paintings are reported to have sold privately for even more.
The self-portrait is among the few Kahlo pieces that have remained in private hands outside Mexico, where her body of work has been declared an artistic monument. Her works in both public and private collections within the country cannot be sold abroad or destroyed.
The painting comes from a private collection, whose owner has not been disclosed, and is legally eligible for international sale. Some art historians have scrutinized the sale for cultural reasons, while others have raised concern that the painting last exhibited publicly in the late 1990s could again disappear from public view after the auction. It has already been requested for upcoming exhibitions in cities including New York, London and Brussels.
The buyer’s identity was not disclosed.
The piece depicts Kahlo asleep in a wooden, colonial-style bed that floats in the clouds. She is draped in a golden blanket and entangled in crawling vines and leaves. Above the bed lies a skeleton figure wrapped in dynamite.
Kahlo vibrantly and unsparingly depicted herself and events from her life, which was upended by a bus accident at 18. She started to paint while bedridden, underwent a series of painful surgeries on her damaged spine and pelvis, then wore casts until her death in 1954 at age 47.
During the years Kahlo was confined to her bed, she came to view it as a bridge between worlds as she explored her mortality.
Before the auction, her great-niece, Mara Romeo Kahlo, celebrated the significance of the upcoming sale during a recent interview with The Associated Press in Mexico City.
I’m very proud that she’s one of the most valued women, because really, what woman doesn’t identify with Frida, or what person doesn’t?” she said. “I think everyone carries a little piece of my aunt in their heart.
The painting was the star of a sale of more than 100 surrealist works by artists including Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning.
Kahlo resisted being labeled a surrealist, a style of art that’s dreamlike and centers on a fascination with the unconscious mind.
I never painted dreams, she once said. I painted my own reality.
In its catalog note, Sothebys said the painting offers a spectral meditation on the porous boundary between sleep and death.
The suspended skeleton is often interpreted as a visualization of her anxiety about dying in her sleep, a fear all too plausible for an artist whose daily existence was shaped by chronic pain and past trauma, the catalog notes.
Earlier this week, a Gustav Klimt painting that helped save the life of its Jewish subject during the Holocaust sold at Sotheby’s for $236.4 million. Klimts Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer became one of the most expensive pieces of artwork ever sold at auction, second only to Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi at $450 million the record-holder over all and among male artists.
Hannah Schoenbaum, Associated Press
Associated Press video journalists Martín Silva Rey in Mexico City and Cassandra Allwood in London contributed to this report.
Google Maps is one of the most valuable digital marketing tools available to your business, particularly if you’re using the Google Local Pack.
The Google Local Pack displays top-ranked business listings in a users local area. So, when searching for hairstylists near me or Italian food in my area, a user sees their local best-ranked and reviewed listings for salons or Italian restaurants at the very top of the search results page, along with a map.
These listings occupy a valuable space on the search results page, as the first items many users see and appear higher than traditional results. In fact, many users will click on one of those listings without scrolling down to view other results.
Additionally, these listings provide a wealth of useful information, including contact details, business hours, address, website link, photos, and customer reviews. It even shows the business’s busiest time of day.
Appearing in the Google Local Pack for your area’s relevant keywords makes it easier for potential customers to find your website and physical location. Its an extremely effective way to get ahead of your local competition.
So, how do you rank high in the Google Local Pack?
Local SEO strategies influence rankings. Youre likely already doing some things right, but to boost your ranking, ensure youve checked every box and adjust your strategy as needed. Here are the four steps to improve your Google Local Pack ranking.
1. Optimize your Google Business Profile
Much of the data Google uses to populate your listing in the Local Pack comes from your Google Business Profile. If you havent already set one up, nows the time to do so as fully as possiblethen keep it up to date.
The information provided should match information you have elsewhere on the internet, especially on your website. Double-check to ensure accuracy and consistency of critical details, such as your business name, address, phone number, and website.
Think about your listing like a customers first impression. A good impression provides everything they might want to know, so your Google Local Pack listing will include all of the following:
Name
Website link
Phone number
Address
Photos
Hours and dates open/closed, along with popular times to visit
Description
Service options, such as a menu for restaurants
Pricing information
Tag, which indicates the type of business
Reviews from users, along with a star rating
The more information a listing has, the easier it is for a customer to get their questions answeredand you want to make things easy for your customers.
So, if you have this completed, youre already doing better than many businesses. However, you can take your Google Local Pack ranking further with a few additional steps.
2. Become a review master
Reviews significantly influence a potential customer’s initial impression of your business when they view your listing. Your star ratingbased on your reviewswill be one of the first things a customer sees. Your rating directly affects your SEO and search result ranking, and its what many users base their business decisions on.
Many businesses believe they cant control reviews. However, you can encourage people to give you reviews and respond to the reviews you receive, both positive and negative.
3. Create a strong local online association
To rank well in local search results, Google requires a strong association between your business and your local area.
Start by embedding your Google Maps location on your website. This simple step goes a long way. Local data for your social media accounts helps reinforce that association.
Next, optimize your web pages for local keywords. If you have multiple business locations, create individual pages for each location that are entirely unique and optimized for local keywords.
4. Reach out to your local community
After completing the first three steps, continue building your local SEO to improve your Google Local Pack ranking, by interacting with your local community:
Write for local publications or publish information about local topics and events.
Get involved in community events.
Engage in discussions on social media.
Attend or even host events.
Building relationships with other local businesses and individuals increases your chances of earning backlinks, which takes a significant amount of effort but can create great SEO results.
The big picture
Google Local Pack enables you to connect with your community and differentiate yourself in a crowded digital landscape. Take advantage of optimizing your Google Business Profile, master your client reviews, strengthen your local online presence, and engage authentically with your community.
These steps build trust and visibility that drive real results. Maximize the opportunity to make your business the first choice for local customers.
Jason Hennessey is the CEO and founder of Hennessey Digital.
Thursday, November 20, ended up being a bit of a whirlwind for tech investors.
The day started off on a positive note, with Nvidias shares (Nasdaq: NVDA) rising almost 5% thanks to a strong earnings report shared after the bell on Wednesday.
The companys third-quarter revenue reached $57.01 billion with an adjusted earnings per share of $1.30both exceeded Wall Streets estimates. Nvidia also shared that it expects $65 billion in quarter-four revenue, higher than the $62 billion analysts predicted.
The other Magnificent Seven tech stocksAlphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Teslarose in turn.
But Nvidias success wasnt enough to repel investors fears of an AI bubble or what had appeared to be an increasing unlikelihood of the Federal Reserve issuing a rate cut next month.
As the day went on, each of the seven companies, including Nvidia, saw their stocks whipsawas did the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite.
In yet another twist, hopes for that rate cut rose again on Friday, with CME Group now reporting a 70.9% likelihood of a cut.
The Nasdaq Composite had looked set to open at a 10-week low after closing at $22,078.05, though it appeared to be turning positive again as the opening bell approached on Friday.
Meanwhile, while each of the Magnificent Seven had lost any early-morning gains on Thursday, some appeared to be turning positive again on Friday morning. Here are the latest number as of the writing:
Alphabet (GOOG)
Thursday high: $306.89
Thursday low: $289.17
Premarket low as of publishing: $287.30
Early Friday trading: Up 3.36%
Amazon (AMZN)
Thursday high: $227.14
Thursday low: $216.74
Premarket low as of publishing: $216.01
Early Friday trading: Flat
Apple
Thursday high: $275.43
Thursday low: $265.92
Premarket low as of publishing: $264.26
Early Friday trading Up: 0.8%
Meta (META)
Thursday high: $606.72
Thursday low: $583.35
Premarket low: $580.33
Early Friday trading: Up 0.88%
Microsoft (MSFT)
Thursday high: $493.57
Thursday low: $475.50
Premarket low as of publishing: $474.32
Early Friday trading: Flat
Nvidia (NVDA)
Thursday high: $196
Thursday low: $179.85
Premarket low as of publishing: $174.42
Early Friday trading: Down 1.62%
Tesla (TSLA)
Thursday high: $428.94
Thursday low: $394.74
Premarket low as of publishing: $392.90
Early Friday trading: Up 1.79%
Tech stocks have suffered in recent weeks amidst growing concerns that AI companies have overinflated values. Then, yesterday also saw the release of the September jobs report, after the government shutdown delayed it.
There were 119,000 new positions added, a significant increase from the 50,000 jobs predicted, according to consensus estimates cited by The Wall Street Journal. Yet unemployment rose to 4.4% in an unpredicted shift.
This story is developing…
Now you can sing along with America’s Founding Fathers as you crush your opponents under oppressive rents and market domination.
The Op Games, a publisher of board games and puzzles, is releasing a new version of Monopoly based on the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, marking the latest iteration of the classic economics game that has been a staple of family game nights for many decades.
The Op Games plans to announce the new version today, a spokesperson told Fast Company.
The game commemorates the 10th anniversary of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s rap-infused retelling of America’s origin story, which made its Broadway debut in the summer of 2015 and went on to win 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
In Monopoly: Hamilton, hotels become Federalist Papers, houses become Letters, and the familiar Chance and Community Chest cards are named after the musical’s dueling protagonists: Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Instead of boot or thimble, players can choose between an assortment of Hamilton-themed pieces, including a microphone, crown, or tricornered hat.
[Photo: 1935, 2025 Hasbro. Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda.]
Can you say no to this?
California-based The Op Games has carved out quite a niche for itself with cobranded versions of popular board games, such as a Jaws-inspired riff on Operation or a Trivial Pursuit edition that lets you test your knowledge of HBO’s Game of Thrones franchise.
It licenses Monopoly from toy giant Hasbro, which has touted a “franchise-first approach” to IP as a cornerstone of its success. For instance, the Monopoly Go! mobile game, published by developer Scopely, has been an enormous success, contributing $126 million in revenue to Hasbro so far this year as of the third quarter.
You could argue that all these variations cheapen the Monpoly brand (we’ll leave it up to you to decide if the world needs a Guy Fieri edition), but a Hamilton version of the capitalist-forward game makes more sense than most.
[Photo: 1935, 2025 Hasbro. Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda.]
The title character, after all, played a key role in creating America’s financial system, and at least four of the musical’s characters are still pictured on our money today.
While the cultural legacy of Hamilton has been rigorously debated and reassessed over the yearscritics have accused it of perpetuating a “founders chic” view of American history, or of being an overly earnest relic of the Obama erathe show remains a money-making juggernaut.
Ten years on, it’s still playing at full capacity at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where just last week it earned $3.9 million at the box office, more than any other show on Broadway.
Monopoly: Hamilton will be available for purchase at the theater, on the Hamilton website, and at Barnes & Noble bookstores, retailing for $45.
Just remember to collect 20 Hamiltons every time you pass Go.
The X of Y frameworkWere the Uber of healthcare or the Airbnb of financehas become a kind of startup reflex. Its useful, even comforting, to anchor a new idea to something people already understand. But what feels like clarity can become constraint.
When you define your business through another companys success, you risk adopting their playbook instead of rewriting the rules. The best disruptors learn to move past comparison. They articulate what makes their idea not just different, but inevitable. Thats how you build conviction from your team, your investors, and your customers.
Why comparison shrinks your story
From a branding perspective, letting investors, consumers, or even your own team see your business through the lens of another company is risky. It narrows imagination and compresses potential before the company ever takes off.
In Teddy Roosevelts words, comparison is the thief of joy. In the entrepreneurial world, comparison is the thief of innovation. The moment you define yourself through someone elses success, youre not building a new world; youre borrowing a corner of an old one.
True disruptors dont emulate, they innovate. And not just in the product, but in how they communicate that product to the world. The biggest tech companies by market capFacebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google, Nvidiaarent the X of Y. They just are. They didnt build by reference; they built by invention.
Yesterdays playbook wont win tomorrows game
From a business model standpoint, the X of Y approach doesnt simplify, it hamstrings. What worked in one context often fails in another because conditions change faster than most disruptors realize.
YouTubes monetization strategy, for example, only succeeded after the platform reached massive scale. Trying to apply that same model to a niche content business at launch would likely fail. OpenAI trained on freely available web data thats now largely cut off. Imitators entering the space today cant replicate those conditions, nor their success.
Timing and first-mover advantage matter. Once a model exists, the data access, regulation, even consumer behavior conditions that allowed it to thrive are already evolving. The world moves on. What worked before doesnt necessarily work now.
For disruptors, the takeaway is simple: Learn from others, but dont lean on them. The best leaders translate insight into original structure, a model built for todays conditions, not yesterdays advantages.
Create a category: Lessons from Figures IPO
I saw this dynamic play out firsthand during Figures IPO. With no natural comparison, we didnt fit into a familiar box. Yet, investors tried; they labeled us a blockchain company, a fintech lender, a financial marketplace. And each comparison carried its own limitations: valuation ceilings, volatility, market constraints.
Bringing something truly new to market requires more than a great product. It demands changing perception. You have to teach the market how to think differently and convince them theyre ready for it.
At Figure, we had to educate investors that what we were buildingblockchain-based capital marketswasnt a futuristic concept; it was a present-tense opportunity. We emphasized not just what we built, but why it mattered: faster, more transparent capital flows that could unlock a massive market. Once that clicked, investors stopped searching for a comparison and started seeing the scale of the opportunity. That shift made all the difference in a successful offering.
Comparisons fall flat faster in todays world
Were in an evolutionary moment. Like mobile did before, AI and blockchain are changing the rules of the game. Business models built around past infrastructure will quickly feel dated.
Anchoring yourself to yesterdays success stories is like hitching your wagon to Craiglists star in 2008. It looked brilliant, until mobile changed everything.
The X of Y mindset is its own kind of entrepreneurial Waiting for Godot. Leaders get stuck in a comparison loop, waiting for validation, for precedent, for permission to move. But the future never arrives for those who wait on it.
Pioneering beyond precedent, especially when precedent itself is shifting, is hard. But thats where the opportunity lies. Leaders who thrive in this environment wont ask, Who are we like? Theyll ask, What are we building that no one else has imagined yet?
Because real disruptors dont wait for Godot. They build the world everyone else is still waiting for.
Michael Tannenbaum is the CEO of Figure.
