Yeti’s stone-cold origin story

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Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. Business Insider’s Mia de Graaf recently got the chance to sit down with Sen. Bernie Sanders to discuss the incoming administration. He talked about the common ground he sees with Elon Musk regarding government spending, and why he’s in favor of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shaking up the nutrition system.  

VC’s rising stars

BI asked readers and top venture capitalists to name the promising young VCs in their networks. This year’s investors come from a wide array of backgrounds and a range of different roles.

The artificial-intelligence startup boom has created more opportunities than ever for early-career investors to shine. Many who made the list are making a name for themselves by betting on AI startups, but investors in healthcare, defense tech, and more, were also included.

Meet the 45 who made the list.

Yeti’s stone-cold origin story

Brothers Roy and Ryan Seiders launched the wildly successful drink cooler brand Yeti — a business now worth $3.5 billion — out of their father’s backyard. 

But years ago, the shocking murder of their business partner triggered a succession battle that nearly stopped the company in its tracks.

A tale with a deadly twist.

It’s a bad time to be a middle manager

Over the past two years, American businesses have been undergoing rapid corporate restructuring and waging war on middle managers. 

The displaced managers who lost their jobs in the Great Flattening are facing a new horror: There just aren’t enough supervisory jobs anymore. And for those who have swallowed their pride and applied to jobs lower on the corporate food chain, their overqualified experience has become a liability.

Why the Great Flattening is here to stay.

Baby boomers’ retirement housing woes

Over the past decade, baby-boomer homeowners were big winners in the US housing market as home prices skyrocketed amid a shortage. Now, as the generation approaches 80, they’re struggling to find homes to retire. 

It’s a problem they had a hand in making. Homeowners — disproportionately older homeowners — who oppose new and denser housing in their neighborhood are a major reason so many US communities are short on homes. 

Now, they’re stuck.

More of this week’s top reads:

• A health insurance CEO was murdered. The internet lashed out against insurers.
• Amazon plans to ramp up cloud work with consulting firms, according to an internal document. 
• Citi promoted its largest class of managing directors under Jane Fraser. Check out the 344 names here.
• KPMG's AI chief explains how to make AI work for your business.
• I worked with Jeff Bezos for 15 years, and my biggest Amazon failure taught me important lessons.
• Marketing experts say Jaguar’s rebrand is either ‘bonkers’ — or a genius disruption.
• Australia may hold the key to happier homebuying.
• Americans used to hate sharing their data. Then came Spotify Wrapped.

Curated by Dan DeFrancesco and edited by Lisa Ryan, Grace Lett, and Amanda Yen.

This is a shorter version of our flagship newsletter, which brings you in-depth analysis and summaries of the top stories from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.

Sign up here to get the full Insider Today in your inbox every day.