Welcome to 2026. **If you’re reading this, congrats: you survived 2025 and stuck around for the sequel. Thanks for following along last year. We covered a lot, questioned even more, and tried to make sense of a world that refused to cooperate. Before we move on, quick reminder: our ** 2025 Year in Review recap is live on YouTube, and it’s the fastest way to remember what just happened before the internet rewrites history.
Alright. Coffee topped off. Deep breath. Let’s get into the first edition of the new year.
Why
MCA DebtFeels Like You’re Always One Move From Game OverIf You Own a Business,
**You’re Already in the Market****Return to Office,**But Make It Passive-AggressiveAI Is Winning,
But Fewer Players Are LeftThe
Least Magical ThingHappening at DisneyMinnesotaJust Got a PPP Reality Check**And From Around the Web:**Crystal Balls, Climate Seals, and Cozy Capitalism
*by *
Running your business on stacked MCAs is a lot like playing Pac-Man **with a broken joystick. **You start confident. You grab one advance. Then another shows up. Then another. Suddenly your cash flow is sprinting, the exits are gone, and the ghosts are winning.
This piece breaks down why MCAs speed the game up on purpose, why banks refuse to jump in mid-level, and how slowing things down is the only way to get control back. Less panic. Fewer alarms. More actual planning.
👉 Click to read the full post and see how to stop replaying the same level with higher stakes.
Money managers are on a shopping spree. ** Smaller firms are getting snapped up by bigger players and private equity shops chasing one thing: predictable money.** Aging owners want exits. Buyers want recurring revenue. And the post-pandemic wealth boom has created a flood of people who suddenly need help not screwing it up.
Zoom out and there’s a quieter truth underneath it all. **For a lot of owners, their biggest asset isn’t a portfolio. It’s the business itself. **And right now, buyers are paying attention.
Why it matters:If most of your net worth is trapped inside your business, the market finally agrees it’s worth a serious look.
➡️ Curious what a buyer would actually pay for your business today? Click here to talk to the team before the window moves on to the next shiny object.
After loud return-to-office mandates fizzled, companies are trying a sneakier move: hybrid creep. No big announcements. No new rules. Just gentle pressure. Promotions quietly go to the people who show up more. Surveillance gets sharper. Expectations shift without ever being written down.
**Some firms are even tracking attendance through tech. **At JLL, mobile phone location data is used to measure who’s actually coming in. The message is subtle but clear: **face time still matters, even if nobody says it out loud. **On that note, it could be worth pulling on real pants and pulling into the office parking lot. Even if it’s Friday.
The bottom line?Work didn’t change as much as everyone pretended, and showing up still quietly counts.
➡️ Click through to see how hybrid work is being nudged back into full-time, one promotion at a time.
Just before the clock ran out on 2025, **Meta scooped up AI startup Manus for a reported $2B. **Not pocket change, but a bargain compared to Meta’s own $14B bet on half of Scale AI earlier this year.
Manus grabbed headlines in March after launching an AI agent so good it sparked fresh panic about China leapfrogging the U.S. in AI. Then reality set in. **Chip restrictions pushed Manus out of China and into Singapore. **Months later, it’s being absorbed by Meta at a discount. Score one for the U.S. in the AI arms race, though China’s still very much in the game thanks to massive energy and infrastructure advantages.
**The bigger shift here is strategic. **Meta usually builds AI to juice its own platforms. This deal hints at something more ambitious: business-facing AI agents that could put it in closer competition with OpenAI. That lines up neatly with what’s coming in 2026. Less hype. More companies actually trying to make money with AI.
Meanwhile, consolidation keeps rolling. Smaller players get swallowed. Risk piles up around a few giants. Deals like this and Nvidia’s $20B licensing agreement with Groq make the AI trade even more top-heavy. Great for momentum. Less great if you’re worried about bubbles.
The takeaway?AI isn’t slowing down in 2026, but it’s getting narrower, louder, and more concentrated at the top.
➡️ Read why this deal matters for AI, Big Tech, and anyone betting on where the market goes next.
What started as a niche Epcot rite of passage has gone fully mainstream. “Drinking Around the World” means ordering one drink in each of the 11 countries inside Epcot’s World Showcase. It’s been around forever. TikTok just found it.
The sudden attention has turned a slow, boozy stroll into something closer to a competitive sport. Lines are longer. Drinks are stronger. And the vibe can tip from whimsical to wobbly faster than you can say “one more in Germany.” The challenge didn’t change. The audience did.
Why it matters:Social media didn’t invent the problem; it just put stadium lighting on it.
➡️ Here’s the full story on how a harmless tradition turned into Disney’s least magical trend.
with Matthew R. Meehan
The SBA paused annual grant funding to Minnesota after flagging roughly $430 million in suspected PPP fraud, following new scrutiny of COVID-era relief programs. SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said the agency is freezing funds tied to programs like SBDCs while federal investigators dig into allegations of widespread abuse, including claims highlighted in a recent viral documentary focused on childcare and nonprofit operations.
**Even if you’re nowhere near Minnesota, this matters. **When fraud cases resurface at this scale, oversight tightens everywhere. More questions. More documentation. Slower timelines. Not because most business owners did anything wrong, but because cleanup always comes after the party. Worth reading the full piece to understand how old PPP decisions are still shaping today’s lending environment.
**Crystal Ball Beats Cable News:**A group of, drank ayahuasca, danced in circles, and predicted the fall of Nicolás Maduro, ongoing global conflicts, and future natural disasters. Their accuracy rate is… mixed, but theyPeruvian shamans gathered on a beachdidnail at least one major political death last year.Bookmark this and check back on December 31, 2026, to see if the incense beats the think tanks.Climate Research, Seal-Powered:Scientists areheading to Antarcticato study the “Doomsday Glacier,” a Florida-sized slab of ice that could raise sea levels worldwide if it melts. The mission includes backup plans A through F and, somehow,attaching sensors to seals. Because when the planet’s future is on the line, yougo with the mammals who know the neighborhood.Candles Are Not a Career:**Gen Z is embracing the “soft life,” a trend built around candles, cozy drinks, aesthetic breakfasts, and…loudly rejecting hustle culture**while still very much needing jobs.**It’s less a lifestyle revolution and more a coping mechanism they squeeze in between LinkedIn applications, rent reminders,**and the quiet realization thatvibesdo not, in fact, pay for groceries.
