No Text Book Can Prepare You for This

A wild 2025 put tremendous pressure on Karla Trotman to lay off employees at her manufacturing business.

Good morning!

Here are today’s highlights:

• Shawn Busse says the demise of SEO puts a premium on a certain type of content marketing.

• Users of Claude Code have found a simple way to create bug-free coding. It’s known as the Ralph Wiggum technique.

• For restaurants large and small, grocery-store products are an increasingly important part of the business model.

• The Supreme Court is expected to rule on President Trump’s tariffs as early as today.

THE 21 HATS PODCAST: DASHBOARD

Karla Trotman, owner of Electro Soft, a contract manufacturing business outside of Philadelphia, talks about the series of contradictions and tough calls she confronted in 2025. It started with the chaos of the tariffs, which you might think would have helped a domestic manufacturer but which led to suppliers charging more and to customers pulling back and to Karla feeling beaten up by her advisory board, which wanted her to reduce expenses and headcount. But Karla chose a different path. “It’s not a fiduciary board,” says Karla. “So I don’t have to listen to them.”

• You can subscribe to the 21 Hats Podcast wherever you get podcasts.