The things that inspired me in 2025
A (belated) year-end gift guide for the mind.
Hello hello! It’s Dan Frommer, back with The New Consumer. Happy New Year! And, welcome new members! I’ve topped you up with a few extra weeks.
I’ll be back in New York next week, speaking at the big NRF retail show, along with Tecovas, the fast-growing cowboy boot/Western wear brand, and Consumer Edge. If you’re at the show, please join us! It’d be great to see you there — Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 11:30am.
And now, our year-end-ish tradition for the seventh time… “Instead of a holiday gift guide,” I wrote near the end of 2019, “here are some of the things that made me smarter this year.” After 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 editions, let’s keep that going.
The newsletters I read every time
I continue to spend an oversized portion of my attention budget on email newsletters. I’m talking my own book here, but that direct connection to (and investment in) writers still feels special, even as it has become very common.
In addition to my picks from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019, my open rate is around 100% for the following few that I found (or that launched) this year, in no particular order:
For Starters, the practical and inspirational weekly newsletter “for starting the small business of your dreams,” by former Courier and Monocle journalist Danny Giacopelli.
Food Time with Matt Rodbard, a new newsletter from the Taste editor and prolific host of the This Is Taste podcast (our latest episode here).
Elly Truesdell’s New Fare Partners newsletter, offering an early stage investor’s (and longtime former Whole Foods leader’s) take on the latest in food, restaurants, grocery, and cpg. (Our previous conversation here.)
The Stanza, on the business of boutique hotels and hospitality.
No Filter, on social media and brand marketing, by Kendall Dickieson.
Alex Greifeld’s No Best Practices, on e-commerce marketing.
From Billy Parks (Sorry), on investing in creator CEOs, from the longtime Chernin Group operating partner now working with the Slow Ventures Creator Fund.
99% Derisible, smart ideas around startups, tech, and society from Yoni Rechtman, also a partner at Slow.
The Eastside Rag, hyperlocal, hyperniche, and hyperfraiche from the Eastside of LA, by John Fulton. And: Bite Sized, where to eat in LA, by Kate Ludwig, aka kactus dot jpeg.
I’m also excited for The Angel’s relaunch: editor/writer Emily Wilson moved back to New York last fall and has taken her former LA-focused food newsletter bicoastal, starting with her New York in 25 Restaurants.
The best morning of the year
Perhaps my favorite thing about my job — now 20 years into writing about business and tech — is when an entrepreneur at the top of their craft shows me, in extreme detail, how they make the thing they make and what they do all day.
Whether it’s a startup founder, a chef, or a bag designer, seeing and learning about someone’s creative process is still among the most fun, interesting, and inspiring things I get to do.
So it was a special treat to spend some time in the spring at my favorite saké brewery, Terada Honke, in a small town a couple of hours by train outside of Tokyo.
I’d been following the company for a few years after discovering its Daigo No Shizuku, which, after one sip, completely changed my mind about saké. Unlike the sharp, dry stuff I was used to drinking at sushi bars, Daigo is round, complex, and feels alive.
On a rainy morning, I got to taste a few works in progress with 24th-generation owner Masaru Terada, and learn more about the process of brewing Daigo and its other sakés. Then, lunch next door with some of the team, at Café Ufufu, the company’s fermentation-forward canteen.
I’m ever grateful for your support as a member, which allows me to follow my curiosity and learn about craft and innovation around the world. More soon on Daigo No Shizuku and Terada Honke.
One actual gift idea
I’m hoping to squeeze in a couple of new projects and hobbies this year. So I’m trying a new system where I write a list of the week’s important projects and tasks on paper before adding them to any digital trackers or to-do apps. My hope is that the extra step will help me prioritize and allocate my time better. We’ll see!
Anyway, the tool I’m using is the very neat Snap Pad system by Postalco, one of my favorite design studios. It’s a rigid clothbound pad — I’m using the A5 size — that lets you snap in and out a variety of different paper types, including an extra-fine graph print, steno lined paper in a pleasing green, calendar pages, Moon Lists, and a manilla envelope for storing random stuff. (You can also get a standard two-hole punch and make anything Snap Pad-compatible.)
If you’re ordering direct from Postalco, you should also grab a copy of their new book, Viewpoint in the Fog. Founders Mike and Yuri Abelson are so great describing the how and why of their design process — we did an interview about it a few years ago — and this is a special view into some of their work and thinking. As a bonus, it’s a fun and interesting way to read a book: 15 fold-out sections with photos, sketches, and words in English and Japanese. I love it for the binding alone.
Thank you again for your time, attention, and support over the past year! I’m looking forward to spending 2026 with you. Want to work together? Email me about my Advisory, Consulting, Sponsorship, and Speaking availability: dan@newconsumer.com.
Or, if you had a great year, have some extra budget, received outsized value from my work over the past year, or are feeling generous, you’re always welcome to upgrade to a lifetime membership. I have ambitious plans for this year and beyond, and I’d be incredibly grateful for your upfront investment. Thanks for your support!