That would be insane, right?

On invisible labor and make-believe businesses.

Someday we’ll search for one shining moment when the myth of capitalism as a dignified and logical financial system fell apart, and please put this headline near the top of the list (see also: bitcoin, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, slavery, et al.). To recap: Insurance startup Kin — which offers home coverage to people in “catastrophe-prone” areas vulnerable to climate change-induced natural disasters — is considering going public via the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, of Shark Tank judge Matt Higgins. 

SPACs let startups go public without public scrutiny via a loophole: The SPAC is listed on a stock exchange with little more than a pile of cash, then goes out and buys a company, taking it public. If the deal goes through, Kin will be listed at a valuation above $1 billion. 

Can we retire? 

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Oh, no? We have to keep talking about Chicago unicorn companies? Cool cool. Amount, a spinoff of Avant — which may well be our least favorite company in Chicago — just got close to $100 million in equity financing and a shiny new billion-dollar valuation. The company continues Avant’s tradition of high-risk, payday-style loans, giving other banks the technology to make online loans and giving shoppers the option of paying for online purchases in installments (for a fee, naturally). The company is, according to a spokesperson, hiring tons of people to work on the product but, uh, don’t. 

Some good news from finance: Bank of America is raising its minimum wage to $25 an hour as it looks to hire. It’s almost like there’s a solution to this “talent shortage” after all.

If all the talk of digital non-assets and non-companies is wearing on you, here’s a good little flashback for you. Barnes & Noble is buying Paper Source — or at least the investment firm that now owns Barnes & Noble is buying Paper Source. BRB, G2G to Blockbuster, page you l8r. 

Other physical goods aren’t faring so well — like the Jeep factory in Belvidere, Ill., which is laying off 1,600 employees as it struggles to get the parts it needs to make cars. 

There’s still room for growth in the wide, wide world of technology though — like Abt, which is planning to double the size of its suburban warehouse to keep everyone stocked with shiny new appliances. And the more organic side of tech is expanding too, with a proposed 500,000-square-foot life sciences building in the West Loop to go with the rush of new lab spaces for startups. 

And one last bit of breaking news that has left us a bit raw: Tribune Publishing is officially selling to private equity firm Alden Capital, known for gutting newsrooms. Considering this newsletter depends on the scant business reporters left at the Trib, this is not good news. Maybe take this afternoon to fund your local independent journalists. 

Jobs, Glorious Jobs
Staff Program Manager, Community Experience and Jobs at Mozilla
Work with the one tech company that actually believes in tech’s utopian promise. The nonprofit Mozilla Foundation is all about an open and accessible internet, and you’d be working on building the marketing partnerships to spread the good word. 

Director of Marketing at The Art Institute of Chicago
Look there’s a reason this job comes up every year or so. But for someone, the low pay and other difficulties will be balanced out by the perks, like being able to touch the art (perk unconfirmed). 

Inspiration of the week

“Think back to the office you used to work from. Who unloaded the dishwasher, stocked the snacks, circulated the get-well cards, made the coffee, bought the birthday cakes?

Did she get paid for it? And did the man who never did any of those things get paid 20% less than she did? No, because that would be insane, right? Because a mother works for free, right?”

—written by Laura Hazard Owen and forever tattooed on our foreheads. This incredible point comes in response to a deeply myopic letter from a CEO to her staff, which warns that employees who don’t do the unrecognized labor of in-person office culture may as well not be employees at all. Why pay benefits to people who won’t sing a half-hearted happy birthday every couple of weeks?

As many companies start to call workers back into offices, it’s important to remember that you do get a say in what that looks like. The people on the other end of this letter, for example, organized a day-long strike to show exactly what happens when you don’t have employees — you don’t have a business. Let’s keep up that energy and make any “return to work” talk a negotiation, not a mandate.

Forward this email to anyone who deserves to eat cake. They can sign up here for a twice-monthly reminder that a job is just a place where they earn the money to buy their own cake. 

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