OP #281: Three Tech Trends That Keep Me Up at Night 2025 Edition

Author

Darren Herman
January 07, 2025

Happy 2025, OP Community,

It feels great to be back in 2025 and writing the Operating Partner letter again. I took some time to recharge over the holidays, and it was exactly what I needed.

My family traveled down to New York to spend time with my brother’s family and my folks. Sherri and I managed to sneak away to Manhattan for a couple of nights, squeezing in some holiday shopping and catching up with a few close friends. Afterward, we headed up to Lake George and stayed at the Sagamore Resort, which exceeded my expectations. I even tried curling for the first time and loved it. My sister-in-law introduced us to a card game called Rack-O, and it’s now a family favorite.

Around this time last year, I wrote about how Quince stole the holiday season in our household. One of you connected me with the Quince CEO through this newsletter, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Their sweaters are fantastic—I even stocked up again a few months ago when the weather turned. In fact, I’m wearing one right now.

This holiday season, the brand that swept the Herman household was alo yoga. First, it was my teenage daughter, then my wife Sherri, and now me—we’re all big fans. Alo gear was definitely a family favorite gift this year.

Of course, I couldn’t resist treating myself to a few things, too. It’s my way of celebrating the past year and gearing up for the next. Here are my top three picks:

  • Logitech MX Keys S Combo: A new keyboard and mouse may not sound exciting, but when was the last time you upgraded yours? For the amount of time I spend typing, this was overdue. I specifically chose this set for its quiet keys—no more getting called out on Zoom for loud typing.

  • Rogue FML-6 Functional Trainer: My big splurge. I added this to my home gym to replace and upgrade some older equipment. It’s ridiculously overbuilt but incredibly versatile, with Rogue’s signature fit and finish. I now have everything from a squat rack and bench to a cable system, Concept2 rower, and SkiErg. For those curious, my son and daughter made me vastly different Spotify playlists for the gym that I’m happy to share (note: explicit lyrics): hip hop mix and upbeat/pop/dance. Guess who did each? What I love about these playlists is that they are curated by my kids, so they are special to me.

  • Louis Vuitton Fleur du Désert Fragrance: This one was a happy accident. While Sherri shopped in NYC, I entertained myself by sampling LV fragrances. I ended up loving this one and couldn’t resist. Pro tip: don’t try nine at once—it’s a recipe for sensory overload.

I hope you and your loved ones had a wonderful holiday season and a great start to the New Year. Let’s make 2025 a year to remember and to do that, here’s a song to start the year off (Spotify).

Cheers,
Darren

P.S. If this note found its way to you through a friend and you’re not yet a subscriber to the Operating Partner letter, you can sign up for free here.

P.P.S Make sure to read both Fred Wilson and Chris Cunningham’s 2025 predictions to which I linked below.

A Question For the OP Community: Product Photography

Hey OP! I'm working through an interesting challenge with one of my portfolio companies and would love your insights. Here's the situation:

We've got this unique setup where each product is essentially a 1:1 creation - think similar base products but with totally different color combinations based on available materials. Pretty cool, right? Currently, they're handling all product photography in-house at HQ before uploading to their DTC site.

I'm exploring two potential directions here:

1️⃣ Volume-friendly photo studios: Looking for recommendations on outsourced photography partners who can handle unique, one-off products at scale without breaking the bank. Anyone working with someone amazing in this space? A company in the Bain Capital Ventures portfolio is soona, but looking for others who can also handle 1:1 at scale.

2️⃣ Virtual imagery solutions: This feels like where everything is heading (and I'm personally excited about it!), but we'd need some serious hand-holding to make this transition. Would love to hear about any virtual product visualization experts you've worked with.

Real talk: While option #2 is definitely the future, our portfolio company isn't quite ready to make that leap solo. We're looking for partners who understand this transition phase.

Would absolutely love to hear your thoughts on either approach! Feel free to reach out directly - I'm committed to responding to everyone individually. Thanks in advance for sharing your wisdom! 🙏

A couple years back, I shared some thoughts on crypto, cybersecurity, and filter bubbles. While these might seem a bit outside my usual "growth guy" lane, I can't stop thinking about how they're reshaping everything we do. Let me break down why these are still living rent-free in my head as we kick off 2025...

💰 Crypto's Wild Ride in Trump's America Real talk: The crypto landscape feels different with Trump back in the White House. The vibe is definitely more crypto-friendly than before, but I'm still waiting for that "aha" moment in everyday commerce. Like, when can I actually use crypto to buy my morning coffee without jumping through hoops? Curious if y’all think 2025 is finally the year this goes mainstream?

🛡️ AI vs. Cybersecurity: Full disclosure: I'm no cybersecurity expert. But you don't need to be one to see we're in uncharted territory here. Every time I read about AI advancements (just saw a fascinating piece in the FT about this), I wonder how our defense systems can possibly keep up. It's like we're playing chess against an opponent who's learning new moves mid-game. Anyone else losing sleep over this?

🎯 Breaking Out of the Filter Bubble Here's a spicy take: What if we forced media platforms to reset their algorithms every 30-45 days? I know, I know - sounds radical. But hear me out. These echo chambers we're all stuck in? They're getting stronger and honestly, scarier. My thought is: give platforms a grace period to recalibrate, but make that reset mandatory. Not perfect, but might help shake up our digital diet a bit.

None of these are exactly in my wheelhouse of growth strategies and scaling businesses. But as I navigate 2025, these issues keep popping up in unexpected ways. They're reshaping how we do business, how we connect, and honestly, how we think.

Would love to hear your thoughts on any of this. Just reply to this email.

Here are some solid reads to start out 2025…

🎙️ First up, Chris Cunningham's C2V Ventures 2025 Predictions. Time for a confession: I've been totally wrong about podcasts. Like, embarrassingly wrong. Been a skeptic since day one, fighting the data at every turn. Even resisted listening to them until the last year or so. But Chris's take on "influence media" really hits home and, honestly, mirrors my own journey to finally becoming a podcast convert this past year. (Better late than never, right?)

🔮 Speaking of predictions, Fred Wilson just dropped his 2025 forecast. Buckle up - USV's perspective on what's coming is wild in the best possible way. Some of these predictions had me doing a double-take, and I mean that as a compliment. I really like their take on medical/doctors.

✨ For a great retrospective, check out my pal Dan Frommer's piece on what inspired him in 2024. Dan's always got such a fresh take on consumer trends through The New Consumer lens, and this piece doesn't disappoint.

💼 Career folks, this one's for you: David Berkowitz put together an incredible database of marketing job resources. It's super comprehensive and very impressive.

🎨 My friend Hugh @gapingvoid released his 12 Insights from 2024. I love these; you will too.

🔍 OP subscriber and friend, Waseem, forwarded me a note after an in-person coffee we had earlier in December. He sent me a link to a post (and video) by Rand Fishkin which re-emphasized what I’ve been saying: a rise of a whole new “search” engine - now, an “answer engine.”

📧 Last but definitely not least - shoutout to my friend Angela and her newsletter Bits of Signum. If you are into the modern and evolving web and the future of how things will be built, check it out.

Here’s an additional collection of good reads. Note, I was away from the computer for most of the holiday so the collection of links is shorter in this OP.

Four Futures (Union Square Ventures)

Thank you for subscribing to The Operating Partner. For those going to CES, have a terrific time. I will not see you there. I may however head to Shoptalk in Las Vegas in a couple of months.

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