Job interviews are nerve-wracking at the best of times. But for those who see themselves as introverts, they can be extra intimidating.
Its not due to a lack of skill. The ability to think on your feet and sell yourselfno doubt important in the interview processtends to come more easily to those who go through life a little more extroverted.
And yet more Americans see themselves as introverted than extroverted. Contrary to conventional wisdom, thats not necessarily a bad trait in the workplace: Research has found that introverted leaders outperform extroverts by 28%, driving higher productivity from their teams.
Connar Walford, student success lead at the U.K. jobs and career advice website TargetJobs, offers five strategies that introverts can utilize to ace a job interview.
The Energy Anchor
The idea of being put on the spot in an interview is enough to make any introverts heart race and palms sweat. That’s why thorough preparation is essential for anyone, but for introverts in particular.
Walford suggests identifying up to five “energy anchors” before even setting foot in the interview room. These are previous work wins that you can recall with ease. These can be anything from receiving a compliment from a peer to working on a successful project, he says. These anchors help to regulate the nervous system and maintain your confidence throughout the interview.
The Power of Silence
While some extroverts might dominate conversations, introverts can be skilled listeners, giving them an edge over the competition. Those pauses to compose your thoughts before speaking? Theyre not awkward. In fact, they can be a superpower.
People often feel that they need to fill a silence. However, instead of rushing to speak, utilize it, Walford says. A calm pause can signal authority, thoughtfulness, and composureall great working traits.
Reframe the interview
Rather than regarding the interview as your one shot to impress the hiring manager, heightening an already intimidating situation, you could flip the script. Look at it as an opportunity to determine if the role is the correct fit on both sides of the coin.
This reframes the power dynamic from performing to connecting, eliminating the fear of being judged,” Walford says.
The interview doesnt end when the door closes
Many introverts might be tempted to run from the room as fast as possible and wipe it from memory before the overthinking kicks in. Remember, although the interview itself may have ended, the process hasnt.
Always send an email post-interview thanking those present, including any info that may have slipped your mind, and ask any additional questions, Walford says. This shows professionalism, gratitude, and a strong interest in the role.
Navigate Energy
The interview process can be draining for anyone, but particularly for introverts who typically lose energy during social interactions.
Remember to manage your energy pre-interview by fitting in quiet time, Walford says. This helps navigate potential overstimulation, buildup of nervous energy, and fatigue.
Afterward, schedule some well-deserved alone time, and reward yourself with whatever fills your cup back up. Perhaps that’s coffee and a sweet treat.
Or a glass of wine in the bath. Youve earned it.
One minute, you’re watching a hilarious or even completely bland YouTube short. The next? You realize you’ve just lost an hour of work time or managed to stay up way too lateagain. Losing track of time when watching shorts is not an uncommon experience.
But now, YouTube wants to help you set limits to stay on task, hit the hay, or just, ya’ know, not lose precious hours of your life to Shorts.
On Wednesday, the video streaming giant rolled out a new timer feature on its mobile app. When users log on, they can go into their settings and click on “shorts feed limit” to set a timer that will remind them to stop scrolling. Once users hit their time limit, the app will send them a notification letting them know they’ve reached their limit. Of course, it’s not hard to dismiss the timer and keep on watching Shorts. Still, the feature may help to nudge users to get back to work.
Shorts are a core part of the YouTube experience, YouTube said in its announcement. Setting a scrolling time limit on the Shorts feed allows for this exploration while helping users be more deliberate about their viewing habits and manage their time effectively.
When it comes to setting time limits for scrolling, this isn’t YouTube’s first effort. The company has already had both “Take a Break” and “Bedtime” features in its mobile app settings. And while other social media platforms, like Instagram and TikTok, have since added similar features, YouTube was one of the first streaming platforms to help users put their phones down.
Earlier this year, YouTube announced it was doubling down on its bedtime reminder feature for teens, which became automatic in 2023. At the time, Jon-Patrick Allen, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Rutgers School of Public Health, told Fast Company that users will still have to exercise some self-restraint. It will be effective for a small proportion of people, but the onus is still on the user to turn it off.”
Allen added, “These are all cosmetic things that may work for some people, but arent really going to shift user behavior.
Either way, the move feels like an invaluable one. According to YouTube internal data, per Sprout Social, last year, YouTube Shorts averaged 70 billion views a day. And it’s not just Gen Alpha and Gen Z who are endlessly watching YouTube hijinx: 25-to-34-year-oldsa combination of both Gen Z and millennialsare the platform’s most diligent viewers. No wonder workers are distracted and groggy.
Venture capital powers innovation, yet investment decisions still favor the familiar. From the original design of the industry to the women reshaping its future, the patterns that drive investment may be poised for change. Is venture capital ready for a new outfit?
On October 25, 1988, the Womens Business Ownership Act (H.R. 5050) was signed into law, granting women the right to own and operate businesses without a male cosigner. This landmark legislation was a breakthrough for womens economic independence. Yet by that time, generations of deal making had already embedded a pattern of men investing in men.
Pattern matching is woven into the fabric of venture capital itself, such that investment in women-led startups has been stagnant at only 2% for more than 15 years, dropping even below that percentage in 2025. Venture capital, founded by men, invests in the familiar. Whether you mark the birth of the industry in 1946 on the East Coast with the establishment of the American Research and Development Corporation, or in 1961 on the West Coast with Davis & Rock and the rise of Silicon Valley, there is one truth: Men invested capital in men for decades before women could even own a business.
PATTERN MATCHING AND THE SCIENCE OF RETURNS
Fast forward to 2013, and pattern matching had become part of the investors craft. In a New York Times profile, a partner at Y Combinator (YC) described reviewing video interviews with founders applying to the accelerator to identify predictors of failure: When you have to talk yourself into something, its a bad sign. Such rapid assessments may well have relied on pattern matching. With YC partners predominantly male, could this instinct have influenced cohort selection?
The stakes are high: In the Winter 2024 batch, YC admitted just 260 companies from more than 27,000 applicationsan acceptance rate under 1%. Based on self-reported data, only 21% of those companies had a woman founder, and just 11% of the founders were women.
If decision making in venture capital were driven by data rather than psychology, more women-led startups would be funded. Women-led startups generate more revenue per dollar raised than their male counterparts, and companies with a female founder have outperformed all-male founding teams by 63%. Morgan Stanley estimates that investors lose $4.4 trillion each year by underinvesting in women and people of color. Yet year after year, only about 2% of venture capital dollars flow to women-led startups.
DISRUPTING AND UNRAVELING THE PATTERN
To address the lack of access to capital, organizations are working on multiple fronts: expanding the pipeline of women entering venture capital, accelerating the career growth of emerging fund managers, and providing mentorship to empower female founders. A systemic issue requires multiple points of disruption to effect a systemic shift.
Sourcing is a pivotal leverage point, influencing which founders are included in the consideration set of strategically aligned, high-potential deals. Twenty-eight percent of venture capitalists are women, and many of themanalysts, associates, and principals in male-led firmsare responsible for sourcing startups as part of the deal flow process.
What if women sourcing deals were able to more efficiently identify women-led startups aligned with the investment thesis of the venture capital firm, expanding the consideration set and unraveling the threads of pattern matching?
Efficiency means moving beyond the familiar networksthe same elite schools, the same geographic hubs, the same social circlesthat reinforce pattern matching.
MOVE THE NEEDLE
Thank you to the women, and especially the National Association of Women Business Owners, who advocated and lobbied for this landmark legislation. And to the women entrepreneurs and the women invested in them who still persevere, knowing that progress may not be fully realized in their lifetimes.
Shannyn A. Smith is founder of The Capital Boutique.
Social media platform Reddit sued the artificial intelligence company Perplexity AI and three other entities on Wednesday, alleging their involvement in an industrial-scale, unlawful economy to scrape the comments of millions of Reddit users for commercial gain.
Reddit’s lawsuit in a New York federal court takes aim at San Francisco-based Perplexity, maker of an AI chatbot and answer engine that competes with Google, ChatGPT, and others in online search.
Also named in the lawsuit are Lithuanian data-scraping company Oxylabs UAB, a web domain called AWMProxy that Reddit describes as a former Russian botnet, and Texas-based startup SerpApi, which lists Perplexity as a customer on its website.
It’s the second such lawsuit from Reddit since it sued another major AI company, Anthropic, in June.
But the lawsuit filed Wednesday is different in the way that it confronts not just an AI company but the lesser-known services the AI industry relies on to acquire online writings needed to train AI chatbots.
Scrapers bypass technological protections to steal data, then sell it to clients hungry for training material. Reddit is a prime target because its one of the largest and most dynamic collections of human conversation ever created, said Ben Lee, Reddits chief legal officer, in a statement Wednesday.
Perplexity said it has not yet received the lawsuit but will always fight vigorously for users rights to freely and fairly access public knowledge. Our approach remains principled and responsible as we provide factual answers with accurate AI, and we will not tolerate threats against openness and the public interest.
SerpApi’s customer success director, Ryan Schafer, said in an email: We strongly disagree with Reddits allegations and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in court.
Oxylabs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. AWMProxy could not immediately be reached for comment.
Reddit compares the companies it is suing to would-be bank robbers who can’t get into the bank vault, so they break into the armored truck instead. The lawsuit alleges they are evading Reddits own anti-scraping measures while also circumventing Googles controls and scraping Reddit content directly from Googles search engine results.”
Lee said that because they’re unable to scrape Reddit directly, they mask their identities, hide their locations, and disguise their web scrapers to steal Reddit content from Google Search. Perplexity is a willing customer of at least one of these scrapers, choosing to buy stolen data rather than enter into a lawful agreement with Reddit itself.
Reddit made a similar argument in its lawsuit against Anthropic, alleging that the company ignored Reddit’s appeals to cease using its content. That case was initially filed in California Superior Court but was later moved to federal court and has a hearing scheduled for January.
Along with digitized books and news articles, websites such as Wikipedia and Reddit are deep troves of written materials that can help teach an AI assistant the patterns of human language.
Reddit has previously entered licensing agreements with Google, OpenAI, and other companies that are paying to be able to train their AI systems on the public commentary of Reddits more than 100 million daily users.
The licensing deals helped the 20-year-old online platform raise money ahead of its Wall Street debut as a publicly traded company last year.
Matt O’Brien, AP technology writer
In todays world, where success is often tied to financial accomplishments, status, and impressive job titles, Warren Buffett offers a refreshing perspective: True success is about the love we share.
Yes, love.
Buffett once said, Basically, when you get to my age, youll really measure your success in life by how many of the people you want to have love you actually do love you.
Buffetts wisdom gets to the core of what matters, reminding us that, ultimately, lifes real currency is the relationships we nurture that lead to two-way love.
Who do you want to have love you?
Are you a leader, manager, founder, or CEO with scores of people looking at you for guidance, support, motivation, and leadership? I have news for you: Love, in the right business context, does indeed matter for leadership. Thats the premise for my book, which will be released in March of 2025. The big idea behind the chapters I wrote may challenge your belief system.
Lets do a quick thought exercise. When we loosely throw the word “love” around in casual conversation, its perfectly natural to express it regarding certain people, places, and things. Think about it. Its acceptable to profess love for a favorite sports team. I have no problems sharing with others that I love my Los Angeles Dodgers and bleed Dodger blue.
Professing love for the college or university we attended is acceptable. Its even perfectly acceptable to proclaim our love for a special pair of jeans we might wear only a few times a year.
In the workplace, we may go home and proudly tell our loved ones, I love my job, or I love my coworkers. But leaders arent always comfortable expressing love for a team of people they oversee. They may spend nearly half their waking hours with their employees doing good work to the satisfaction of customers, yet they find it hard to infuse the word love into the business lexicon.
To me, that type of thinking is bizarre. For every leader ashamed of or fearful of mixing love with work, I point to 10 others whose leadership behaviors unabashedly demonstrate love for their team, company, customers, culture, and everything they contribute to the world.
While Im certainly an idealist, Im far from depicting the workplace in some Utopian, Norman Rockwell-portrait of the perfect corporate life. You must do your part by stretching your thinking to reimagine the possibilities for a more loving, human-centered, and humane workplace that results in profitable outcomes.
As a leader, you have the power to create a workplace where love and care are not just words but guiding principles. Let me ask you: What if you saw your colleague, coworker, or direct report as a real person with real hopes, dreams, and fears as crucial as your own? And what if, one day, you decided to connect to the heart of people at work as you would a good friend, as one human being caring for another? This is the power and responsibility of leadership in creating a loving workplace.
As you imagine being in this frame of mind, let me ask you another question: How would the dynamics change in the workplace as you encountered new challenges and solved complex business problems with the very folks you are kind to and care about? I believe the workplace and how we conduct business as usual would radically differ.
This is especially true if youre in a leadership role, whether youre the shift lead supervisor of five people on the manufacturing floor, the founder of a 50-person startup, or a Fortune 500 company CEO.
People also want to experience purpose, growth, and success in their jobs and feel their leaders are doing their best to care for them. Thats the bottom line: People want to feel cared for. But I call it for what it really is.
In this age of toxic polarization, finger-pointing, and looking after No. 1, that, right there, is the new measure for your success. As Buffett said, when its all said and done and you reflect on your achievements in life, it would be great if you could confidently say to yourself, Because of my willingness to care for and serve others, and because I put people first, I am loved.
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Marcel Schwantes
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
General Motors just offered a glimpse into an AI-powered future in which drivers read a book or answer texts while their cars whisk them to their destinations.
On Wednesday, the company announced its plans to introduce a suite of advanced software systems into its vehicles, bringing the traditional automaker up to speed on in-vehicle technology. At its GM Forward media event in New York, GM outlined its near-term plans for reimagining cars as intelligent assistants that drive their owners around.
The company announced a major update to its driving assistance system that would bring hands-free, eyes-off highway driving to vehicles, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. The technology will rely on integrated lidar, radar, and cameras, and a new internal and external turquoise lighting system to signal that the self-driving tech is active. The new eyes-off driving technology will push beyond the limits of GMs existing Super Cruise system, which offers hands-free highway driving but requires a drivers attention.
Next year, GM also plans to add Googles Gemini AI into its vehicles, making it possible to talk to your car as naturally as you would to a fellow passenger. Down the road, GM plans to introduce its own AI assistant tied into OnStar, its subscription service that offers safety, security, and navigation features. The company says its future custom AI could be useful for explaining one-pedal driving in your new vehicle, spotting a maintenance issue early, or finding the perfect place for dinner.
In a controversial move, GM apparently plans to abandon support for connecting Apple CarPlay and Android Auto through a smartphone in all of its vehicles, pushing an in-house custom infotainment system instead. For potential car buyers already accustomed to phone projection systems, the decision sounds like a nonstarter. On The Verges Decoder podcast, GM chief product officer Sterling Anderson likened the decision to Apple removing the disk drive from its laptopsa strange analogy and a risky bet, considering CarPlays popularity and ease of use.
GM also announced plans to debut its own centralized computing platform that will run under the hood in both its gas and electric vehicles. The platform will weave together disparate systems like propulsion, steering, safety, and infotainment, uniting them on a single, high-speed computing core that is set to debut in the 2028 Escalade IQ. In other high-tech investments, GM will expand its program for home energy capture and storage, and integrate more collaborative robots to supplement its human workforce.
GMs outlook brightens
Looking forward, we believe our investments in advanced technologies, manufacturing, and talent will build on our solid foundation and make GM even more innovative, resilient, and capable of leading through change, GM CEO Mary Barra said in the companys earnings call this week.
GMs stock popped on Tuesday, jumping the largest amount in almost six years after the company adjusted its expected annual profits upward. The automaker attributed the positive outlook to new policies meant to lighten the impact of tariffs on U.S. car makers and its own plan to reduce its losses on electric vehicles, which have taken a hit under Trump.
With the evolving regulatory framework and the end of federal consumer incentives, it is now clear that near-term EV adoption will be lower than planned, Barra said. That is why we are reassessing our EV capacity and manufacturing footprint. . . . By acting swiftly and decisively to address overcapacity, we expect to reduce EV losses in 2026 and beyond.”
In spite of lapsing EV tax credits and an administration steering in the opposite direction, GM still calls electric vehicles its North Star.
This year has not been a great one for grocery stores, with chains like Kroger and Safeway closing locations in recent months.
Now, the Southeastern grocery chain Winn-Dixie appears to be following in their footsteps, with its parent company planning to sell or possibly shutter 32 Winn-Dixie stores by the end of 2025 as its focus shifts to its home state of Florida.
It will also transition or close eight Harveys Supermarket locations. The 40 stores impacted span Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Southeastern Grocers (SEG), the Jacksonville, Florida-based company that owns both chains, posted a list of stores that it will transition, with some identifying new operators such as Piggly Wiggly and Super 1 Foods, and others marked “pending.”
It’s unclear which of the pending stores will close and which will transition to new ownership. Reached for comment by Fast Company, SEG reiterated that it has “reached agreements or is advancing plans with multiple grocers.” It said store closures are expected by the end of the year, but did not elaborate.
SEG further noted that southern Georgia will maintain stores in Brunswick, Folkston, Lake Park, St. Simons Island, and Valdosta. The company expects the transitions will be completed by early 2026.
A new name for a new era
SEG announced the transitions and closures alongside news that it will rebrand as the Winn-Dixie Company. The new name will roll out by early 2026.
The change honors Winn-Dixies century-long legacy while positioning the grocer for growth through investments designed to modernize stores, enrich the customer experience, and reimagine the neighborhood grocer for the next 100 years, the soon-to-be Winn-Dixie Company stated in a press release.
The company is also expanding, despite the divestitures. Its acquiring Hitchcocks Markets in three Florida cities: Alachua, Keystone Heights, and Williston. Each will become a Winn-Dixie, with the Williston location expected to open by the end of the year and the other two locations slated for summer 2026.
These new stores and transitions will leave the company with about 130 grocery stores and 140 freestanding liquor stores.
SEG is also moving forward with dozens of remodels while growing its liquor store portfolio and its own product offerings. Plus, it will be piloting tools such as third-party delivery and return kiosks.
Breakfast has started to get a little riskier. More than six million eggs have been recalled since Sept. 29 over salmonella concerns. This week those concerns grew when the FDA expanded its earlier recall from Arkansas-based Black Sheep Egg Company and elevated the recall to Class I, which describes the highest possible risk to public health.
The move follows a string of other recent egg recalls. In August, the FDA announced the recall of large brown cage-free Sunshine Yolks produced by Country Eggs, LLC of Lucerne Valley, California, and sold under the Nagatoshi Produce, Mizuho, and Nijiya Markets brands. Those products reportedly sickened at least 95 people across 14 states. Other recent recalls have also affected Costcos Kirkland brand eggs.
Why the uptick in food recalls?
If it seems like there has been an uptick in recalls recently, that’s not entirely unfounded. Food recalls have increased by around 20% from 2020 to 2023, according to a Trace One report. However, experts say that much of the reason for a greater number of recalls is because tests are more sensitive to picking up contamination. This heightened sensitivity leads to more recalls, as contamination is identified earlier and more accurately, says Darin Detwiler, LP. D., author of Food Safety: Past, Present, and Predictions and a professor at Northeastern University.
Likewise, food safety regulations have gotten more stringent since the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011, which means recalls are triggered more easily. Since the passing of the act, “theres been a huge improvement in food supply regulation,” Toby Amidor, MS, RD, CDN and author of Health Shots said last year. “Regulations such as all facilities are required to have a preventative control plan, enhanced produce safety rules, and more frequent FDA facility inspections have helped with improvement.”
Amidor added, “In addition, facilities must give the FDA access to food safety records, greater authority over imported food, and comply with the agency to issue mandatory recalls.”
The growing list of recalled eggs
Per the Oct. 20 recall notice, the recall now includes Black Sheep Egg Company brand 12- and 18-count cartons of Free Range Large Grade A Brown Eggs with Best By dates of 8/22/2025 through 10/31/2025. Likewise, Kenz Henz of Santa Fe, Texas recalled its 12-count containers of “Grade AA Large Pasture Raised eggs”, which came from Black Sheep Egg Company over possible contamination. The affected cartons are marked with UPC code 86949400030, Julian dates 241244 and 246247, with best-by dates of October 11th through the 14th and October 16th and 17th.
The FDA also said that the eggs have been distributed to other companies in Arkansas and Missouri from July 9 through Sept. 17, and said some of the products may have been repackaged. The notice explained that the list will be updated as the FDA receives new information with the potential for more products to be added to the recall list.
The updated recall comes after salmonella was found at the company’s processing facility in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas in late September. During the inspection, 40 environmental samples tested positive for salmonella, including seven different strains of the bacteria. Per the announcement, the “FDA does not have information available at this time to suggest that this firm is the source of an ongoing outbreak. “
Black Sheep Egg Company said in a Facebook post that while the FDAs tested non-food contact surfaces which found salmonella, however, the eggs “tested negative for salmonella and showed no signs of contamination. The post continued, Out of an abundance of caution and with the safety of our consumers in mind, we made the proactive decision to initiate a voluntary recall on certain lots of eggs.”
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that Salmonella causes “about 1.35 million illnesses, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths” per year in the U.S.
It doesn’t look like a Rivian truck, but a new electric bike took shape at the EV company.
A startup called Also, which spun out from the EV maker earlier this year and raised $105 million, launched the $4,500 e-bike today, along with a delivery quad for logistics companies and another four-wheeler that consumers could use instead of a typical cargo bike.
[Photo: Also]
The idea sparked three years ago, after Rivian founder RJ Scaringe met with Chris Yu, head of product and innovation at the bike brand Specialized. We connected over a really basic question, which is: why doesn’t that magical experience that you get out of a Rivian exist in anything smaller than a car? says Yu.
Scaringe had long believed that the EV companys approachdesigning its own software and hardware and building a vehicle from scratchwould also make sense for e-bikes and other forms of micromobility.
[Photo: Also]
We saw this huge transformation that had happened in the electric car space, Yu says. Early electric cars were mostly conversions that replaced a gas motor with an electric motor and batteries, so the driving experience didnt change much. Then came companies like Tesla and Rivian.
These pure play, vertically integrated, ground-up EV companies took the approach of, well, if we have the ability to craft the software, the electronics, the hardware from a clean slate, you can design an ownership and user experience that is just fundamentally different in almost every way, he says.
In 2022, Yu helped start a skunkworks inside Rivian to explore how smaller EVs could follow the same clean-slate approachan idea that would eventually lead to a new kind of e-bike.
[Photo: Adam Wells/Also]
An interchangeable design
The first difference with the new bike, called the TM-B (or “transcendent mobility” bike), is that it can convert to different forms. At the push of a button, the top frame can be unlocked and swapped with a cargo bike seat with a sturdy rack for carrying groceries or children. It can also be swapped for a different size, so more than one rider can easily share the same bike. Another attachment makes the bike more like a scooter, with a low bench seat.
[Photo: Also]
The designers wanted to tackle a common pain point for anyone considering an electric bike: there are so many different options on the market that it can be difficult to choose. “I was just talking to my neighbor about thisthey were thinking about buying a utility bike for carrying their kid to school, but they looked at all these utility bikes and thought they don’t look that fun to ride,” Yu says.
Buyers can get stuck trying to decide between a utility bike and a fun weekend bike and not end up getting anything. “Or end up like me, with 10 bikes in their garage,” he says. Instead of buying multiple bikes, Also’s system allows them to get less-expensive attachments. If a couple wants to have an e-bike as an extra vehicle for running errands, they can get two sizes to fit each person.
Like a car, you can use your phone to unlock the bike as you approach it. If the bike has multiple riders, it automatically recognizes who you are and your preferences, from whether you want to manually shift to your destinations in the navigation system.
[Photo: Adam Wells/Also]
Pedal by wire
Like electric cars and trucks, which use a “drive by wire” designmeaning that the accelerator pedal isn’t mechanically connected to the wheels, but s just a sensorthe bike uses a “pedal by wire” approach. “It’s fully software defined,” says Yu. “What that means is there is zero mechanical connection between you pedaling the cranks and what the motor is telling the wheel to do.”
When you pedal, the pedals feel like an ordinary bike, but the ride is much smoother, he says. The default mode is automatic, so a rider doesn’t have to figure out how to shift and adjust the amount of pedal assist that they’re getting, though that option exists. (When you shift, the bike gives haptic feedback so it feels like a gear is shifting.) The bike has roughly twice as much torque as most other e-bikes, so it’s easier to quickly accelerate to join traffic or change lanes.
[Photo: Bryson Malone/Also]
On a hill, the bike offers “hill flattening,” meaning that it automatically feels like riding on a road that’s less steep, or even completely flat. Going downhill, the bike can also automatically flatten the ride so you can keep pedaling and regenerate the battery. Unlike most e-bikes, 90% of the time that you’re braking, that happens through regenerative braking.
“It’s much more akin to a modern electric car experience, where the braking experience is much more consistent, much more reliable, and importantly, the brake pad service life is dramatically longer than otherwise would be,” Yu says.
[Photo: Also]
An approachable design
The bike doesn’t look like a Rivian truck, apart from a similarly shaped light. But “the underlying principles are very shared,” says Yu. “We’re sibling brands that have a common fabric.” The design team tried to balance performance and approachability, he says. “We wanted something that was very welcoming, very simple, geometrically . . . As capable and high-performance as it is, we don’t want it to be precious, either. We want it to be easy and part of your family’s life.”
The team carefully considered each detail of the bike, from integrated turn signals in the frame to a security system that locks everything, including the wheels, when you walk away. (If the bike is stolen, you can track it on an app and remotely disable the whole thing until you get it back.) A custom navigation system, shown in a small touchscreen on the handlebars, shows bike-specific directions and how much range you have left on the battery.
The bike has two options for power banksone that can give you up to 100 miles of range, depending on how much you’re using pedal assist, and a smaller option with up to 60 miles of range. The power bank can also be pulled out of the bike and used to quickly charge a laptop or anything else that plugs into USB-C.
[Photo: Also]
The startup also designed a few accessories, including a helmet that has noise-cancelling microphones so you can take a phone call as you ride. “We tuned the audio experience such that you can be riding at 25 miles an hour, take a phone call, and the other person will not know, will not have any idea that you’re riding on a bike with wind noise,” says Yu. A custom pannier is precisely sized to fit a grocery bag from Trader Joe’s.
All of this comes at a price. The TM-B Performance, the premium version of the bike, will be $4,500 when it launches next spring. The company hasn’t yet announced the price of the basic version of the bike, but says that it will be less than $4,000. Accessories and additional top frames add to the cost. By contrast, a budget e-bike might cost less than $1,000. But Also’s models are well within the range of other high-end bikes, some of which can cost more than $10,000.
[Photo: Adam Wells/Also]
Beyond the bike
Like Rivian EVs, which have a “skateboard” under the vehicle with the battery and other tech that can be used across multiple trucks or cars, the bike’s basic technology can be used in other vehicles. The startup also designed a four-wheeled cargo bike, or quad, that can be used for deliveries in dense cities.
From the outside, it looks similar to the pedal-assist EVs that UPS, Amazon, DHL, and other companies are already using in some areas. But Yu says that Also’s vertical integration makes it easier to connect with the software that logistics companies use for features like route optimization. The vehicle is also designed from the groud up for durability, so it can last far longer than typical delivery quads.
The design will launch later in 2026, along with a simplified consumer version of the same vehicle. The company also announced today that it’s partnering with Amazon on a custom version of the delivery vehicle that the retail giant could use in its dozens of micromobility hubs across Europe and the U.S.
The same basic technology that went into the bike and quads could also be used in other vehicles. It could eventually help electrify other small vehicles, like mopeds or motorcycles, that are more common than cars in countries outside the U.S. The transition to electric “can really be accelerated if we can deliver experiences that aren’t just electric, but they’re just fundamentally better product experiences that happen to be electric,” Yu says.
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Zillow economists just published their updated 12-month forecast, projecting that U.S. home pricesas measured by the Zillow Home Value Indexwill rise +1.2% between August 2025 and August 2026.
Heading into 2025, Zillows 12-month forecast for U.S. home prices was +2.6%. However, many housing markets across the country softened faster than expected, prompting Zillow to issue several downward revisions. By April 2025, Zillow had cut its 12-month national home price outlook to -1.7%.
However, in recent months, Zillow has stopped issuing downward revisions. In August, it revised its 12-month outlook to +0.4%. In September, the forecast increased to +1.2%, and now Zillow has upgraded its 12-month national home price forecast to +1.9%.
While Zillows national home price forecast is no longer negativeit isnt exactly bullish either.
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Among the 300 largest U.S. metro area housing markets, Zillow expects the biggest home price increase between September 2025 and September 2026 to occur in these 15 metros:
Atlantic City, NJ +5.4%
Rockford, IL +5.1%
Concord, NH %5.1%
Knoxville, TN +5.0%
Saginaw, MI +4.9%
Fayetteville, AR +4.8%
Hilton Head Island, SC +4.8%
Torrington, CT +4.8%
Kingston, NY +4.8%
Hartford, CT +4.5%
New Haven, CT +4.5%
Vineland, NJ +4.5%
Jacksonville, NC +4.4%
Morristown, TN +4.4%
Manchester, NH +4.3%
Among the 300 largest U.S. metro area housing markets, Zillow expects the biggest home price decline between September 2025 and September 2026 to occur in these 15 metros:
Houma, LA -7.4%
Lake Charles, LA -6.9%
Lafayette, LA -4.3%
New Orleans, LA -4.0%
Shreveport, LA -3.8%
Beaumont, TX -3.7%
Alexandria, LA -3.4%
Odessa, TX -3.3%
Corpus Christi, TX -2.4%
Monroe, LA -2.1%
San Francisco, CA -2.0%
Chico, CA -2.0%
Punta Gorda, FL -1.9%
Austin, TX -1.8%
Santa Rosa, CA -1.8%
U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, are currently up +0.01% year over year. If Zillows latest 12-month outlook (+1.9%) comes to fruition, it would represent a small acceleration nationally.
Below is what the current year-over-year rate of home price growth looks like for single-family and condo home prices. The Sun Belt, in particular Southwest Florida, is currently the epicenter of housing market weakness right now.
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A year ago, 6 of the nations 50 largest metros were buyers markets; this September, buyers have the edge in 15 metros. Zillows market heat index shows the strongest buyers markets are Miami, New Orleans, Austin, Jacksonville and Indianapolis. Thats due, in large part, to a surge of new construction in many of those areas in recent years. The hottest markets for sellers are in the Northeast and Bay Area: Buffalo, Hartford, San Jose, San Francisco and New Yorkplaces where builders face some of the most stringent land use restrictions, wrote Kara Ng, a senior economist at Zillow, in a report published on Monday.
