- For Starters
- Posts
- Go slow and make things
For Starters is the essential weekly briefing for the next generation of small business owners. Inspiration and ideas, every Friday – for free. It’s written by Danny Giacopelli, formerly of Monocle and Courier magazines. Enjoy!
Hey starter! Read on for…
Inspiration ➠ Sourdough starter(s)
Advice ➠ It can be done
Ideas ➠ Good AI vs bad AI
Tools ➠ How to ride the waves 🏄♂️
Town Hall ➠ Subscriber shoutouts
➠ Get inspired
Renzo | Photo: William Lapierre
1. Future nostalgia. A new sandwich shop called Renzo popped up this summer in Montréal’s Mile End ‘hood. It was founded by 5 friends – including chef and country singer Jean-Michel Leblond (aka John Mike) – and the old-school diner aesthetic, chrome-rim booths, laminate tables and oak panelling are 🤌. Gimme this vibe over a sterile white shop with dangling Edison bulbs any day…
2. Chunky ambitions. Is new biz Chunk Provisions churning out the best ice cream in London? Co-owners Renee Coco and Sophie Beckett are regularly selling out of their gelato from a railway arch in Leyton and heads are turning, journos are writing, and taste buds are being delighted. → Also: ice cream parlors… there are lots of beautiful ones these days! 🍨
3. Sourdough starter(s). Speaking of, queues are also forming in Kamakura, Japan for the delicious sourdough and simit from new Turkish-Nordic bakery pide. Inspired to launch a biz, founder Burcu Alkurt quit her job as a visual merchandiser to intern at Ille Brød in Oslo, then moved with her husband and biz partner Aziz Firat to Japan where, after making connections in the local food scene, they transformed a tiny koban (police box) into a bakery. 🥐 🍞
→ “You don't need to work 10 years at a bakery (to open your own),” Burcu told The Japan Times. It’s true. While I wouldn’t advise a brain surgeon to ‘just start’, I’d advise that to pretty much everyone else…
4. Ultramarine dreams. Check out the deeeeep blue ceramics of Tamara “Solem” Al-Issa, a Toronto-based Syrian/Filipina sculptural artist and all-around excellent guide to her city’s small biz scene. Born in Saudi Arabia, Tamara started making ceramics as a way to dial down the stress while working as a human anatomy teaching assistant at the University of Toronto. The hobby soon became something more (this is the way) and rather than pursuing biomedical science, she opened up a pottery studio instead. 💙
More here:
5. Go slow and make things. And in upstate New York, designer Peter Buchanan-Smith, who started, grew, sold, then rebought his iconic (I don’t use that word lightly) company Best Made, is selling two enamel signs worthy for any starter’s workspace. (You can read alllll about his journey right here in my old substack Desire Paths.)
Peter: “Some notions deserve a spot on the wall: the wall of your kitchen, garage, workshop, cabin, or dorm room. These signs serve as daily affirmations — "small-big things" as I like to call them — for how we can live our best lives.”
Your mission | Best Made
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➠ Starter wisdom
“Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.”
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➠ Good ideas
1. AI: good for creativity? → Democratisation or bland homogenisation?
2. They’ve got receipts → Speaking of AI, people are using it to generate fake receipts for expensing to employers... thus precipitating the rise of new AI to combat the fraud-producing AI. And the vicious cycle continues.
3. Traveling third spaces → These are “new communities that are people-first, space-second. Traveling third spaces are not physically fixed; they move across cafes, malls, restaurants, and host various programming for a singular community in a particular city.”
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➠ Toolbox
🛠️ Resources
Ian Sanders – a storytelling coach, small biz fan, and friend of For Starters – has written a brilliant manifesto for thriving not only in tough times but in good ones too. It’s a poetic set of 10 practical ideas, tools and skills that any starter would do well by sharpening:
Thanks to Ian for permission to republish
📚️ Reads
Why small is my big ambition. Mildly Independent (featuring For Starters!)
Brands and artisans are left in a lurch after international carriers stop shipments to the US. Modern Retail
How Bamboo Bicycle Club is helping to break the prison cycle. FT
Poufs Made of Pizza Boxes Weren’t the Strangest Things We Saw at Collectible NYC. Dwell
Inside my study of the world’s oldest companies. Big Think
Sarah McNally’s Book Club. Vulture
The Mongolian startup defying Big Tech with its own LLM. RoW
Glassware Is Getting Weird and Wobbly. T Mag
Why Asian handbags are winning Gen Z’s heart. Jing Daily
🧠 Findings
500 → The # of lobster rolls McLoons Lobster Shack in South Thomaston, Maine, sells on a busy day
41% → The slice of global HR pros who are thinking of quitting HR altogether in the next 12 months. In the US? 48% 🫥
🙃 Fun
Sasquatch 617, a panoramic film camera, now on Kickstarter
A wooden chair with a stress-relieving embedded steel ball bearing in the armrest
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➠ Town Hall
For Starters subscribers Ashley Yun and DK Woon recently launched a new print magazine called Toothsome, focused on food and its place in culture. It’s very good. Below, they explain more…
Hey you two, tell us a bit more about who you are.
Ashley: “I’m the Head of Artist Strategy at record label Ninja Tune. I oversee campaign strategies and work with artists to realise their creative vision. I’m completely obsessed with everything related to food. I’m a Korean-American by way of Los Angeles and have been based in London for almost 5 years now.”
DK: “Born in the UK, but of Hakka Chinese origin, which has naturally informed my approach to eating. I’m a creative strategist working for a small studio. Coming from big brand world, Toothsome is my excuse to get into practical making and doing, which often gets held up in layers of approval in the day job.”
What was the most challenging part about starting a magazine?
DK: “I’ve come to believe that ideas are cheap. It’s the execution that’s tough but also the most fun. We came into this completely new to publishing, so making the first issue was probably a bit more chaotic than it needed to be. The real challenge has been balance: how can we build something that’s sustainable, where we can keep publishing without overstretching ourselves. We don’t want Toothsome to be a one-off passion project that fades away — we want it to grow with consistency and longevity.”
AY: “We’re also entirely self-funded so we’re working with extremely tight budgets. For this first issue the team consisted of us two which is challenging when we’re working 9-5s. I’m also very conscious of the fact that we need more voices and opinions to contribute to our editorial vision, and I’m looking forward to bringing on more talented people to work alongside and learn from.”
Who would you love to connect with?
DK: “For me, it’s about engaging with food systems as a whole, not just making another magazine about fancy restaurants, although I LOVE fancy restaurants. I’d like to connect with brands, thinkers, and experts who share progressive visions for marrying flavour with positive change at scale. We have so many thoughts on how our experience of food can be made better at both exceptional and everyday levels.”
AY: “We’d like to build Toothsome in a way where the magazine starts to funnel opportunities for us to work with interesting partners. The magazine will remain as our pure creative output whilst we offer white label creative and strategic services.
We also have a few events coming up this autumn and we’re always looking for partners. Think intimate meals, great chefs, interesting spaces. Because we’re self-funded, these partnerships go a long way. Our launch event was such a success because of the wonderful brands who contributed: Natoora sponsored the produce, Luxardo provided cocktails, and brands Diaspora Spice Co, Assembly Roast, Wild Rice, and Sea Sisters all donated product which we gave away at the event.”
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