• Gen Z collage app Landing has rebranded to Zeen.
• Zeen is targeting fashion and lifestyle creators with tools for making shoppable content.
• Here's why the startup is pivoting from being a social media platform to being a creator tool.

Landing, a social collaging app that became a favorite among Gen Z users, is making a pivot.

The startup is rebranding to Zeen and targeting content creators as its core user base. Zeen is offering these creators the ability to make shoppable collages.

"We kept seeing this behavior of people wanting to shop from each other's collages, and fashion was always the biggest vertical on Landing," Zeen cofounder Miri Buckland told Business Insider.

Like any social media platform these days — just take a glance at any TikTok or Instagram post that includes an outfit — Buckland said the comment sections on Landing posts were flooded with questions like "Where did you get that dress?"

While some people (myself included) used Landing to create digital collages without clothing or products, Buckland said the overwhelming use case was outfit planning and fashion mood boarding.

Zeen, the startup's new product, is doubling down on this.

The web-only tool lets users design collages by dropping in online shopping links or uploading images. Creators can also include affiliate marketing links, like from ShopMy or LTK. Then, creators can save an image or a video of the collage to share on platforms like Substack, Instagram, and TikTok.

"What we're building with Zeen is very strictly a tool and a utility," Zeen cofounder Ellie Buckingham said. "We're not building a full social platform."

Pivoting is par for the course for startups — and it's not Zeen's first time doing so. The startup originally focused on interior design with Landing before expanding into broader categories like vision boards or fandom art. Zeen shut down Landing in September.

The startup has money in the bank to back its pivot, too.

Last year, Zeen secured another $2.3 million in funding led by venture capital firm Stellation Capital, bringing the startup's total funding to date to $9 million, Buckland told BI.

Building for the creator economy

Creators often have a robust stack of creative tools they use to make content. If they're video creators, maybe that's editing tools like CapCut. For others, it could be Canva, Adobe, or photo-editing tools like VSCO.

Zeen wants to be part of creators' tech stacks for making visual, shoppable content.

Several of Zeen's early users are Substack newsletter creators, particularly in the fashion and lifestyle category. For instance, Erika Veurink, who writes a fashion Substack called "Long Live" with 28,000 subscribers, has used Zeen for in-newsletter collages of furniture and clothing. Veurink is an advisor to Zeen.

Aditi Shah, a Peleton instructor and creator, has also been using Zeen on her Substack "Work in Progress" to showcase her favorite beauty products of the month.

With Zeen, newsletter creators can earn money if they use affiliate links. When uploading affiliate links into a Zeen collage, the platform will generate a list of the products and links for creators to copy and paste into their newsletters.

Zeen's premium tier ($6 per month) lets creators bulk-upload products from their ShopMy Collections, and unlocks unlimited use of tools like one that removes the background of product images and watermarks.

While many of Zeen's early adopters are Substackers, the startup is "platform agnostic" and aimed at creators using any newsletter tool (such as Beehiiv) or social platform (like Instagram and TikTok). Creators can export collages to fit Instagram stories and export video versions of the collage for vertical video feeds.

"The idea is, can we take what our creators are really good at, which is this curation and merchandising of products, and then automatically give them something that allows them to have a content type that competes on a video-first platform," Buckingham said.

• Alphabet's missed expectations in Q4 of 2024.
• Revenue rose 12% year-on-year and EPS increased to $2.15.
• The firm surprised investors with a larger-than-expected capex forecast.

Alphabet, Google's parent company, releases its earnings data every quarter.

Sundar Pichai, who is the CEO of Google and Alphabet, joins the earnings calls to deliver updates and answer questions.

Here's a breakdown of Alphabet's most recent earnings and financial history.

Alphabet Q4 earnings 2024

Alphabet's fourth-quarter earnings slightly missed expectations, dragging shares down.

The tech giant raked in $96.5 billion in revenue, amounting to a 12% gain from a year ago. Earnings-per-share came in at $2.15, above consensus.

While Pichai praised momentum in the firm's artificial intelligence initiatives, a slowing cloud business and a larger-than-expected 2025 capex forecast discouraged investors.

Alphabet plans to spend $75 billion in capital expenditures this year, well above the expected $57.9 billion figure.

Alphabet Q3 earnings 2024

Third-quarter earnings beat estimates, sending shares surging after the closing bell.

Alphabet outpaced expectations on nearly every front, with revenue rising 15% year-over-year to $88.3 billion. Earnings per share jumped to $2.12.

Google Cloud was a particular bright spot for the company, as "accelerated growth" in AI cloud products boosting revenue 35%.

"Today, more than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI then reviewed and accepted by engineers," Pichai added, speaking about AI initiatives in the firm.

Alphabet Q2 earnings 2024

While Alphabet surpassed earnings forecasts, the second-quarter report still disappointed in key areas.

Revenue rose 14% on an annual basis, reaching $84 billion for the quarter. Earnings-per-share came in at $1.89.

However, $8.66 billion in YouTube ad revenue underwhelmed Wall Street, which forecast $8.95 billion.

Quarterly capex, reaching $13.2 billion, was higher than expected.

Alphabet Q1 earnings 2024

Alphabet's earnings report in April of 2024 far outstripped analysts' projections, sending stocks skyrocketing.

The company reported a 15% revenue bump year over year, revenues of $80.5 billion, and also issued its first-ever $0.20 per share dividend.

On the earnings call, Pichai touted "strong" performances from Google Search, YouTube, and Google Cloud. He also spoke glowingly of the company's inroads in artificial intelligence, and declared Alphabet to be in its "Gemini era," a reference to Google's Gemini AI chatbot.

Google has been gradually incorporating AI into its core products, such as YouTube and Workspace, the suite of productivity programs like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Drive.

"Our leadership in AI research and infrastructure, and our global product footprint, position us well for the next wave of AI innovation," Pichai said.

Alphabet Q4 earnings 2023

Alphabet beat expectations in its fourth quarter of 2023, though Google's advertising sales fell slightly below analyst projections, causing shares to dip. 

Alphabet's revenue swelled to $86.3 billion, up 13%, and the company reported a net income of $20.28 billion with $1.64 per diluted share.

In the earnings call, Pichai noted that Google had just launched its new AI model Gemini, and remarked that "the best is yet to come."

Alphabet Q3 earnings 2023

Alphabet's third-quarter earnings surpassed analysts' estimates, beating revenue and profit projections. But Google's stock fell 10% after its Cloud business fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

Google Cloud's revenue was up 22% at $8.4 billion, but down from 28% growth in the previous quarter.

On the earnings call, Pichai noted that the company was expanding and deploying new AI services, and said the company was "excited and confident" for its future prospects.

Alphabet earnings history

Alphabet — made up of Google and a collection of other companies known as Other Bets — had a tumultuous 2023, unveiling its most ambitious artificial intelligence technology and boasting an annual revenue of $307.39 billion, but also axing approximately 6% of the company.

Like many tech companies in the post-pandemic era, Alphabet has sought to cut costs and implement layoffs. Alphabet laid off some 12,000 employees in 2023, and by the end of the fourth quarter, the company reported having about 182,500 employees in total. 

Executives have also warned that layoffs aren't over — Pichai has anticipated more job cuts throughout 2024. Pichai explained that Google's layoffs have been intentionally slow because the company is "taking the time to do it correctly and well."

Still, Alphabet's market cap hit $2 trillion in spring 2024, a new milestone that made Google the world's fourth-most valuable public company.

The majority of Alphabet's revenue has come from Google, ever since the parent company was first formed in 2015. Other Bets — which includes businesses like Waymo, Verily, equity investment fund Capital G, and research and development unit Google X — generates most of its revenue from healthcare-related services but also reports large operating losses. 

In Q1 of 2024, Other Bets posted revenues of $495 million but reported an operating loss of $1 billion.

• I wanted to live in my hometown Santa Barbara but didn't want to spend most of my income on rent.
• So, my parents offered to convert a shed on their 5-acre property into a 500-square-foot tiny home.
• I'm so grateful they let me and my boyfriend live there rent-free while we save for a house.

Last year, my boyfriend and I were trying to figure out our next move — and we found it in my parents' backyard.

Our apartment lease in Los Angeles was up in June, and after two years in the city, we missed our home in Santa Barbara.

We agreed to move back to our hometown but didn't know where we'd live. After all, housing can be even more expensive in the Central California city than in LA.

The average rent for an apartment in Santa Barbara is about $2,901 (and $2,733 in LA), according to rental-listing platform RentCafe. That number only climbs when you factor in details like ideal location and sought-after amenities.

Although we could technically afford to live in our hometown if we compromised on our desired neighborhood and perks, spending most of our income renting an apartment we didn't truly want didn't sound great.

We also plan to buy a home one day, and saving money is our top priority.

So, when my parents offered to turn a shed on their 5-acre property in Santa Barbara into 500-square-foot tiny home for us to use, we were all in.

Turning the shed into a home wasn't as easy as I expected

Last April, my mom began meeting with contractors to plan out the shed-turned-home's layout.

It would be tough to fit everything we wanted in the small space, but we settled on a one-bedroom, one-bathroom design. The living room and kitchen would be one space divided by a couch, and the bathroom would contain a stacked washer/dryer.

I had foolishly thought designing a house would be as simple as paying Sims — pick your paint, choose your floor, and, boom, all done. As it turns out, it's a lot more complicated.

Throughout the process, we experienced numerous setbacks, like getting plumbers, electricians, and contractors to even show up.

Many of them had prior commitments and were working on our tiny home as a side project.

It took us about a month to find a plumber, then we ended up having to dig a tunnel below the shed to connect our lines directly to the plumbing in the main house.

We also struggled to connect an Ethernet to the tiny home. My dad had to run conduit from the main house underground and funnel Ethernet through it.

All in all, the project took about five months to complete.

We're grateful to live somewhere we can have our own space and also save money

In November, we finally moved into the converted storage shed on the northwestern corner of my parents' property.

I'm grateful my parents funded this project and don't charge us rent. We have regular monthly expenses, like groceries and gas, but we're able to save most of our income.

Plus, not having to pay rent has helped me sustain my career as a freelance writer.

I recognize how fortunate we are to be in this position. Still, my partner and I don't plan to live here forever. My parents built this space with the idea that when we move out, they can use it accommodate guests or other family members.

For now, it's our home, allowing us to live where we want without spending most of our income on rent.

We're incredibly lucky to get to spend our days surrounded by nature in the town where we grew up, cozily nestled between the mountains and the sea.

• Ned's Club is a private members-only space geared towards high-achieving professionals.
• The club's new location in Washington, DC, has three floors for socializing, dining, and events.
• Members' names are kept private, and it costs up to $125,000 to join at the highest membership tier.

Washington, DC's hottest club has everything.

A historic location steps from the White House. An elite, secret membership roster. Four fine-dining restaurants, each offering a different cuisine. A six-figure top-tier membership fee.

Welcome to Ned's Club, a private members-only space designed for high-achieving professionals across industries to lounge, dine, and mingle away from prying eyes.

A spinoff of Soho House members' clubs, Ned's Club began in London in 2017 and has since opened locations in New York, Doha, and now Washington, DC.

Managing director Gareth Banner estimates that about 90% of Ned's Club members are C-suite-level professionals, founders, and entrepreneurs. While the club doesn't disclose the names of its members, reported sightings have included Mark Cuban, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Clinton operative and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.

"If the truth be told, and we make no apology for it, we are focused on probably attracting the top 1%, 2% of people," Banner told Business Insider. "So it doesn't really matter what you do, but you should be at the absolute top of your game."

Admission to the nearly 60,000-square-foot club comes at a price. Regular membership costs $5,000 to join and $5,000 a year. The top-tier Founders' membership, which includes additional perks such as access to the Founders' Dining Room, costs $125,000 to join and $25,000 a year.

Ned's Club granted Business Insider rare access to the exclusive space. Take a look around Ned's Club in Washington, DC.

Ned's Club occupies the top three floors of the Milken Institute, a five-building complex in Washington, DC.

The Milken Institute, a think tank founded by former Wall Street financier and billionaire philanthropist Mike Milken, is located around the corner from the Treasury Department and a five-minute walk from the White House.

The Ned's Club brand is named for Sir Edwin "Ned" Landseer Lutyens, the architect who designed the former Midland Bank building that houses the original London location.

"We love working with an old building and repurposing it in a way that makes it relevant for a different intended purpose," Banner said. "A great old building gives you so much in terms of character."

Privacy is paramount at Ned's Club — no photography is permitted, and members aren't allowed to disclose the names of other members.

Members and visitors are required to cover their phone cameras with stickers provided by the club upon entry.

"We work very hard to make sure that everything that happens here is off the record," Joiwind Ronen, executive director of membership and programming at Ned's Club, told Business Insider.

While the club's membership remains private, Ronen could disclose that the membership committee includes Kellyanne Conway, Paramount executive DeDe Lea, MSNBC host Symone D. Sanders-Townsend, and Zach Leonsis, whose family owns the Washington Wizards and the Capitals.

Members enter Ned's Club through what was once the Walker Building and is now part of the Milken Institute.

Built in 1937, the former Walker Building's entrance has been restored with handpainted wallpaper featuring DC's iconic cherry blossoms.

In the lobby, Ronen pointed out a sign advertising upcoming members-only events including comedy and trivia nights, a supper club for expats, and an Earth Day gathering with the Nature Conservancy featuring Chesapeake oysters. The club's offerings also include occasional off-site events such as test-driving a new line of Ferraris in Bethesda or viewing Elizabeth Taylor's private jewel collection at Bulgari.

The elevators open into the ninth-floor hallway featuring pieces from a curated art collection called "The First 47."

"The First 47" highlights the work of 47 female artists, juxtaposing the all-male history of 47 US presidents.

All of the artwork in Ned's Club is curated by Soho House.

Ned's Club and Soho House remain separate entities with no crossover membership access, but they do overlap in other ways.

Ron Burkle, who owns Ned's Club's umbrella organization called The Ned, is the majority shareholder of Soho House & Co Inc. Soho House also collaborated with Stonehill Taylor to design the Ned's Club location in Washington, DC.

Banner described Ned's Club as an "offshoot" of Soho House geared toward a broader, more professional audience, not just creatives.

"We look for the high-performance people who are leading their sector — the movers and the shakers," he said.

The two-story Library is the only room at Ned's Club where members are allowed to use their laptops, but only until 5 p.m.

It's also the only room with a TV, which the club uses to host watch parties for events like the Oscars and the Super Bowl.

The striped blue wallpaper was modeled after the wallpaper in the Obama White House.

A tapestry by Malaika Temba hangs above the mantle depicting a woman reading a newspaper with the headline "War is not a shortcut to lasting change." The piece is part of "The First 47."

With its 1920s-inspired decor, I felt like I'd walked into a speakeasy.

Members can order cocktails and snacks at the Library Bar, which serves items including chicken Parmesan tenders, burgers and fries, and mini lobster rolls.

Since Ned's Club began as a British organization, there's also a tea service complete with individual teapots.

"I think in DC — and I've lived here for 30 years — we're known as a very type-A intense town," Ronen said. "To see people just relaxing, having tea, having an extended conversation for an extended period of time, feels so luxurious. There's something really beautiful about seeing people engage that way."

My tour continued in The Gallery, Ned's Club's Italian-American restaurant.

The restaurant, which serves dishes like Margherita pizza, branzino, and rigatoni bolognese, features plush velvet seating and a custom mural by Patricia Cronin.

The Gallery leads into the Conservatory, which was once an outdoor space.

The enclosed Conservatory still feels like an outdoor terrace with wicker furniture, numerous plants, and large windows that let the sun stream in.

The Drawing Room serves as a lounge where members can mingle.

The Drawing Room features an intricate wood ceiling and more plush seating.

The room also hosts live music performances every weeknight.

Ned's Club provides a piano and drum set for musicians.

The Founders' Dining Room is available to those who pay $25,000 a year on top of the $125,000 joining fee for the higher membership tier.

The decor, which includes wood accents, stained-glass windows, and other fine dining touches, was inspired by the Kennedy administration.

"It's meant to evoke that period of some of the Camelot days of DC," Ronen said, referring to the way Kennedy's presidency was romanticized after his assassination as akin to King Arthur's court.

The Founders' Dining Room is one of only two restaurants in North America that serves beef from the esteemed Four Sixes Ranch.

Four Sixes Ranch, one of the oldest cattle ranches in the US, became known for its role in the drama series "Yellowstone."

Prices at the Founders' Dining Room include a $70 filet mignon and a $195 bone-in ribeye.

Kaia, Ned's Club's Pan-Asian restaurant, is adjacent to the building's rooftop terrace.

Kaia serves sushi, sashimi, and assorted grilled meats.

The ceiling of the restaurant and lounge is painted with a mural by artist Rose Jaffe.

Kaia also features a custom mosaic floor.

The highlight of my tour was the wraparound rooftop terrace, where I sat to enjoy the sunshine and the view.

When I visited midday on a Friday, the balcony was mostly empty aside from a few members. Despite the small crowd, I watched as staff members straightened chairs and fluffed seat cushions with meticulous attention to detail.

From the roof, I could see the Washington Monument, the White House, the Tidal Basin, and other DC landmarks.

The club brings in a DJ to play music on the roof on Sundays.

In addition to the members-only club, Ned's Club offers five private event spaces that anyone can book.

The rooms range from a boardroom for 60 people to the Riggs Room with a capacity of 150.

With 1,300 members and counting, Ned's Club already has a long waitlist of people eager to enjoy the lush space and rub shoulders with some of DC's most influential figures.

To Banner, the most luxurious aspect of Ned's Club isn't the fine dining or the furnishings — it's the sense of community often sought through "third places" that aren't home or work.

"I think there is a certain experience you get in a club — the stuff that you can't get in, say, a restaurant or a hotel," he said. "I think people want to belong to something."

• Patrick Collison said Stripe invites a customer to leadership meetings every two weeks.
• The fintech CEO says it sparks new ideas — even with other feedback systems in place.
• Elon Musk gave the move his seal of approval on X, calling it a "good idea."

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison has a direct way to get customer feedback: invite them to management meetings.

Collison shared a post on X this week that Stripe invites one customer to join the first 30 minutes of its leadership meetings every other week, which are attended by around 40 of the company's top managers.

The guest then shares "candid" feedback about their experience with the payments platform.

The move may be unusual, but it received some support, including from Elon Musk, who replied on X the next day, "Good idea."

Collison said the practice consistently generates "new thoughts and investigations" despite Stripe already having plenty of other feedback channels.

Stripe, founded in 2010 by brothers Patrick and John Collison, provides software tools for online and in-person payment processing to millions of businesses globally.

Originally built as a payments platform for startups, it's now used by half of the Fortune 100 and processed $1.4 trillion in payments in 2024, a 38% increase from the previous year, the company said in its most recent annual letter.

Following a secondary share sale in early 2025, the company was valued at $91.5 billion, making it one of the world's most valuable private fintech companies.

However, as Stripe has scaled, it has faced criticism from some users who think the company's focus has shifted toward large enterprise clients.

"Hi Patrick — you know I admire Stripe — but you should pay attention to the extent things have degraded for the indie community using Stripe," Pascal Levy-Garboua, an investor and cofounder, commented on the post. "I messaged support a week ago - no reply, things are super complicated. There's more stuff, but it's a mess."

Others praised the customer-in-the-room tactic as a way to maintain customer empathy. "Love this," one user replied. "Keeps the culture focused on what matters."

When Cloudflare's chief technology officer, Dane Knecht, asked when they'd get an invite, Collison replied, "Would love to have you guys… will reach out." Shopify's head of engineering, Farhan Thawar, also weighed in, calling it a "great idea" and adding, "Lmk when you'd like @Shopify to attend."

Stripe laid off 300 employees in January — about 3.5% of its workforce — Business Insider previously reported.

Despite the cuts, the company's chief people officer, Rob McIntosh said it still planned to grow headcount to around 10,000 by the end of the year.

• JPMorgan posted first-quarter earnings on Friday.
• The banking giant posted strong growth in revenue and profits but also grew its reserves.
• CEO Jamie Dimon said the US economy faces "considerable turbulence" from tariffs and other factors.

Jamie Dimon reiterated his warning about a turbulent US economy in JPMorgan's first-quarter earnings report on Friday, as the banking giant reported earnings that beat Wall Street's expectations.

JPMorgan's net revenue rose 8% year-on-year to $45.3 billion, driving net income up 9% to $14.6 billion.

The bank bolstered its provision for credit losses — money set aside in anticipation of bad debts — by $973 million to $3.3 billion in the first three months of this year, citing a worse macroeconomic outlook.

JPMorgan reported earnings per share of $5.07, trouncing AlphaSense's consensus forecast of $4.65.

Shares rose 2.6% in premarket trading. The stock has fallen 5.4% this year.

"The economy is facing considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), with the potential positives of tax reform and deregulation and the potential negatives of tariffs and "trade wars," ongoing sticky inflation, high fiscal deficits and still rather high asset prices and volatility," Dimon commented in the earnings report, pulling from his letter to JPMorgan shareholders on Monday.

In his letter, Dimon cautioned the Trump administration's latest tariffs were likely to accelerate inflation and slow the US economy's growth. He also said he supported the US demanding that "unfair" trade and tax policies be rectified.

The billionaire banker later told Fox Business that a recession had become a "likely outcome."