Ryan Cohen wants to buy eBay with half cash, half stock. Parker Card raised $200M and vanished overnight. OpenAI shipped a full ads manager. Shopify, Meta, Mercury, and Spotify all launched AI connectors in the same week. Stripe Atlas data shows new AI-era companies are 2x the size of last year's cohort. Plus: why Unilever is betting on 300K creators, and the one skill creative strategists are missing.

This is ADSN — the ad tech and media show for operators who want signal, not noise.

Sponsors: AdQuick, Thrad, Beehiiv, The Farm LLP

Private equity firms are spending weekends rebuilding acquisition targets in Claude Code. If the clone works, the deal dies. It's the cheapest moat test in human history.This week James and Daniel dig into:• Why token pricing today looks exactly like mobile data pricing 15 years ago• Sam Altman rethinking OS design and the OpenAI phone rumors• GPT Image generating LEGO sets with real BrickLink part IDs• SpaceX acquiring Cursor for up to $60 billion• China blocking Meta's Manus acquisition. Is this the balkanization of AI talent?• Anthropic paying $400K/year for an events role• Chinese micro-dramas: this year's ad platform growth driverPlus: Evan Spiegel called software dead 15 years ago, Sean Frank asks why you still aren't building, and AI agents negotiating your BNPL rates in real time.Thank you to our sponsors:

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Sequoia just dropped a thesis that's shaking up the industry: the next trillion-dollar company won't sell software — it'll sell work. Meanwhile, founders are cutting SaaS tools to pay for AI tokens, Block built a "Claude for money" inside Cash App, and OpenAI can't figure out how to spend advertisers' money.This week James and Daniel dig into:• Sequoia's bold thesis: sell work, not software — and what it means for the SaaS era• Why founders are cutting SaaS tools to pay for more AI tokens• Block's Moneybot and what a "Claude for money" looks like• The clipping economy explosion — MTS, the 24/7 show trying to replace TBPN• OpenAI's ad inventory problem: $200K committed, barely $2K spent• Notion's 2026 "no roadmap" strategy• Breaking: Tim Cook steps down as Apple CEO — hardware leaders are the futurePlus: Why AI without a clear plan is actually dangerous for your productivity, Olympic fencing now looks like a lightsaber fight, and Larry Ellison's legendary defense of Elon Musk.Sponsors:• AdQuick — Making OOH advertising as easy to plan, buy, and measure as digital. adquick.com• Thrad.ai — Building the advertising infrastructure for AI. thrad.aiSTAY CONNECTEDJames on Twitter & LinkedIn – /jamesborowDaniel on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok – /danieldrugerSubscribe & leave a 5-star review on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. It takes 10 seconds and helps others discover ADSN.