📝 Editor’s Note
Thank you for the continued support of Rambull. Selfishly, I’ve appreciated all the recommendations I’ve picked up and the people I’ve gotten to either reconnect or connect with through the process.
A big thank you to the 82 people that have let me profile you and for sharing your favorite recommendations. An additional highlight this year was connecting a founder with a funder as well as one friend getting asked on a date after they were profiled.
I hope you enjoy the brief recap below of some of the highest engaged posts and and recommendations from 2023. Thank you again for the support and we’ve got some great profiles already in the pipeline for 2024.
Without further ado….
Highest Open Rates
John Gerhart: Shreveport, Louisiana | CTO at PatientIQ
Beth Nash: Raleigh, NC | Digital Strategist at Red Hat & Owner, Canary
Connor Youngblood: Nashville, TN | Musician
Note that for brevity I took brief descriptions used by the recommended product’s website.
Products & Brands
Remarkable: Level up your note-taking. Transform your handwritten notes with powerful tools like undo, erase, resize, and move. Paper feel, digital flow. (h/t Will B and Matis)
Feiyue Shoes: Streetwear style with comfort and function. (h/t MacGreagor)
Holzweiler: Based in Norway, ready-to-wear, accessories and scarves for women and men. (h/t Conner)
Moccamaster: The best café quality coffee you can make at home. (h/t Murphy)
Pico™ Portable Car Seat: Foldable | Just 8 lbs | Car and Plane Approved. Forward-facing car seat fits kids 22-50 lbs and 30-45 inches. (h/t Lindsey)
Carter Kustera: Fun, colorful and cheeky hand painted silhouette and text portraits. (h/t Beth)
My wife got a Carter Kustera portrait for Christmas and it did not disappoint. I highly recommend this as a gift idea.
Digital
Sunsama: Eliminate Distractions — Don't let work bleed into your personal time. Get work done faster. Create space for you. (h/t John G, Isaac)
Monarch: Easily allocate your savings to different goals & track your progress all on one platform. (h/t Emory)
Hey: A complete rethinking of email, full of bold, brilliant ideas (h/t Will N)
MrandMrsSmith: The travel club for hotel lovers. Find and book the world's best boutique stays. (h/t Mignonne )
Content
Smarterinasec: “that friend” | delivering smart content to level up your life & career article, book, TV, & podcast recs on instagram stories. (h/t Megan)
My Boy One Line a Day: Allows you to write down all the happy, precious and funny memories about your child. As the years pass by, you will have a snapshot of your thoughts and memories, giving you new perspectives and insights. (h/t Sam)
Tangle: Unbiased political news from start to finish. We summarize the best arguments from the left, right and center on one big debate every day — then our take. (h/t Cole)
Empire of Pain: Grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. (h/t Will B, Matias) I’m reading this right now and highly recommend it as well
Travel Recommendations I Bookmarked
Ett Hem: tempted to plan a trip to Sweden just to visit this hotel (h/t Matt H)
Miguel’s Pizza: Anything with 5K+ reviews and a 4.6 rating on Google Maps immediately gets my attention. Now I just have to get into rock climbing. (h/t Will H)
Teddy Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota: Conner recommends the petrified forest loop hike. (h/t Conner)
Blackbird: Pizza and wine bar in Bozeman Montana (h/t Liddy)
Hotel Mezzatorre: On a small island in Italy called Ischia, known for its thermal spa and burrata the size of your head (h/t Hannah)
P.S. my wife splurged and got us an 8 Sleep mattress pad for Christmas. Be on the lookout for a review in the next few weeks.