Speaker 1: This is what the Flux I'm just it and I'm
Speaker 1: harsh sheep, and it's Monday, the seventeenth of June.
Speaker 2: A a new salary Guy's been released by Hayes Recruitment.
Speaker 2: And get this, seventy three percent of employees don't believe
Speaker 2: that their salary actually reflects their performance. And it seems
Speaker 2: like this mismatch between what employees want and what employers
Speaker 2: are willing to offer is getting even sucker by the year.
Speaker 1: Flux fan, we're coming up to the end of the
Speaker 1: financial year, and that means starting to think about all
Speaker 1: the last minute ways to reduce your tax Very true.
Speaker 1: In the Flux app, We've just released an article on
Speaker 1: how to reduce your taxable income via donations and what
Speaker 1: you need to look out for. So make sure to
Speaker 1: check it out if you want to do good and
Speaker 1: also reduce your tax.
Speaker 2: Three charitable stories today, let's get into it for our first.
Speaker 2: Ahl Energy has invested one hundred and fifty million bucks
Speaker 2: into a new energy tech platform to compete with their arrival,
Speaker 2: Origin Energy.
Speaker 1: Okay, this is sounding a you really similar to Origin's
Speaker 1: recent investment. Tell me more.
Speaker 2: Okay, So, Ahl Energy is one of the oldest and
Speaker 2: largest energy gas providers in Australia.
Speaker 1: Yep, it's nearly two hundred years old and has over
Speaker 1: four million customers.
Speaker 2: But itch, and that doesn't mean it doesn't feel the
Speaker 2: heat from its impeditors literally.
Speaker 1: So now AGL has announced one hundred and fifty million
Speaker 1: dollar investment into a tech platform called Closer in exchange
Speaker 1: for twenty percent of the company.
Speaker 2: And tell me what does this cluser actually do?
Speaker 1: But helps manage electricity supply as well as billing for
Speaker 1: its millions of customers. Very sexy, I know.
Speaker 2: And apparently AGL was actually key to license another energy
Speaker 2: software called crack it.
Speaker 1: But that's the software that Origin Energy has already invested
Speaker 1: into Rumma, which has given it an exclusive license in
Speaker 1: the Australian market.
Speaker 2: Drama. So ag Closer may play second fiddle to crack it,
Speaker 2: but it still helps AGL achieve their main goal, which
Speaker 2: is preparing for a major influx of solar energy and
Speaker 2: virtual power plants.
Speaker 1: So what's the key learning here?
Speaker 2: In traditional industries you either need to adapt to risk obsolescence.
Speaker 1: Does we know that new innovations are reshaping traditional industries
Speaker 1: at a crazy pace? And in the energy sector that
Speaker 1: next evolution is in the form of VPPs.
Speaker 2: So how do these virtual power plants actually work?
Speaker 1: Basically, a VPP pulls energy from thousands of households or
Speaker 1: businesses with rooftop solar and batteries.
Speaker 2: If a person is generating more solar energy then can
Speaker 2: fit in their own battery. That energy can often go.
Speaker 1: Away yep, But with virtual power plants, that excess energy
Speaker 1: can be discharged into the wholesale market when prices are.
Speaker 2: High, and the individual solo earner can actually make some
Speaker 2: more out of it and at she well. This is
Speaker 2: a great way to reduce reliance on coal power. It
Speaker 2: supposedly will also have a big impact on AGO's bottom
Speaker 2: line too.
Speaker 1: Agl reckons these VPPs will deliver it pre tax savings
Speaker 1: of between seventy million and ninety million dollars per year.
Speaker 2: That's pretty good to me.
Speaker 1: For our second story, be Real, the biggest social media
Speaker 1: app of twenty twenty two, has been sold for five
Speaker 1: hundred million euros after struggling to turn its initial hype
Speaker 1: to sustain growth.
Speaker 2: I'm sam too surprised, though, I don't think I've done
Speaker 2: my b Real for at least twenty four months. So
Speaker 2: what is the story here. Well.
Speaker 1: Just be Real is the French photo sharing app that
Speaker 1: launched in twenty twenty as a more authentic alternative to
Speaker 1: Instagram and Snapchat.
Speaker 2: Now. The idea is you get a daily notification at
Speaker 2: a random time and you need to take a photo
Speaker 2: of where you are and a selfie.
Speaker 1: That means you're forced to share your real life with
Speaker 1: your friends and not your curated life.
Speaker 2: And b real was huge during the pandemic years. Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: it was one of the most downloaded apps on the
Speaker 2: App Store in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: But now bee Real has been sold to French app
Speaker 1: developer Voodoo for five hundred million euros.
Speaker 2: And that's not the best result because b reels struggled
Speaker 2: to maintain its growth and started running out of cash.
Speaker 1: Bur Reel's growth had really started to plateau in the
Speaker 1: last year.
Speaker 2: And it was on the hunt for a buyer to
Speaker 2: save it from collapse. So HG, what is the key
Speaker 2: learning here?
Speaker 1: In the social media industry? It takes more than building
Speaker 1: hype to compete against the titans.
Speaker 2: You see, when b reel launched, it built huge traction
Speaker 2: in just two years.
Speaker 1: By October twenty two, twenty two, the app had fifteen
Speaker 1: million monthly.
Speaker 2: Active users, but just six months later that number had
Speaker 2: dropped to just six million monthly active users because the
Speaker 2: excitement of this concept just fizzled out.
Speaker 1: Be Real's focus on authenticity was unique, so it brought
Speaker 1: a massive crowd in the beginning.
Speaker 2: But the app didn't stand much of a chance against
Speaker 2: the addictive, the infinite content feed of giants like Instagram
Speaker 2: and TikTok.
Speaker 1: And in the past, we've also seen other social media
Speaker 1: apps built initial high but not a sustainable business off
Speaker 1: the back of that hype.
Speaker 2: Big Clubhouse that was the Audio social media app, which
Speaker 2: had almost ten million installs by feb twenty twenty one,
Speaker 2: but took a sixty six percent nose dive by the
Speaker 2: end of April.
Speaker 1: Or Vine, which was the og short form video platform
Speaker 1: that was acquired by Twitter in twenty twelve.
Speaker 2: But shutdown five years later because they couldn't monetize it.
Speaker 2: For our third and final story, Jake Paul, the YouTube
Speaker 2: influencer and part time boxer, is launching a new personal
Speaker 2: skincare line for young men.
Speaker 1: This guy has his hands in way too many pis.
Speaker 1: Tell me more.
Speaker 2: Jake Paul is a bit of everything. He's an actor
Speaker 2: and a professional boxer.
Speaker 1: He has over seventy million followers across the social channels
Speaker 1: and he's even booked in a fight against Mike Tyson.
Speaker 2: Yes, the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson.
Speaker 1: So it's not surprising that Jake Paul is trying to
Speaker 1: leverage his huge audience to sell a new product. And
Speaker 1: now Jake Paul is launching a personal skincare brand called.
Speaker 2: W of course, that's W as in winning Zz.
Speaker 1: He's going to start with a body wash, body spray,
Speaker 1: and antiperspriint deodorant. And there seems to be a big
Speaker 1: open market for creator led products focused on younger men.
Speaker 2: Now seeing so tell me what is the key learning here?
Speaker 1: While most creator led products have been focused on young women,
Speaker 1: there's an untyped opportunity to sell to young.
Speaker 2: Men, and particularly in industries that have predominantly catered to
Speaker 2: just women, like skincare and other beauty products as well.
Speaker 1: Get this. From twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three, men's
Speaker 1: grooming was a twenty eight billion dollar business globally, and it.
Speaker 2: Had an annual compound growth rate of more than five percent, according.
Speaker 1: To Euromonitor and it's expected to keep going.
Speaker 2: Yeah, men's personal care is expected to grow to more
Speaker 2: than one hundred billion US dollars over the next four years.
Speaker 1: And just Jake Paul is in the prime position to
Speaker 1: leverage this shift in trend.
Speaker 2: Because young men are increasingly turning to influencers for their
Speaker 2: sources of information.
Speaker 1: Now, fifty percent of gen Z mails found information about
Speaker 1: a brand, company, or product through TikTok in twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: So it's no surprise that Jake Paul has used the
Speaker 1: gen Z lingo of w to build his winning formula
Speaker 1: Flux Sam.
Speaker 2: We're coming up to the end of the financial year.
Speaker 2: You now have thirteen days to sort out how to
Speaker 2: reduce your taxes. We've released a whole range of articles,
Speaker 2: including how to reduce your tax will income by donations,
Speaker 2: so make sure to check it out. Enough plucks out
Speaker 2: and on Wednesday, Brett will be coming back to the pod.
Speaker 2: It's been a long time and a she To be honest,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if I want him back. You've done
Speaker 2: an awesome job over the last five weeks. Thanks so
Speaker 2: much for being on the pod.
Speaker 1: It's been great to be back, and until next time, Fluxpan.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Wednesday.