Hey — It's Nico.

This newsletter contains the following:

• 1 failed startup.
• 5 resources for founders.
• 5 startup news.
• 1 hot startup.

This issue is brought to you by On Deck Founders:

On Deck Founders (ODF) is an invite-only community for early-stage founders who want to find a co-founder, validate an idea, or build traction towards a fundraise.

Here's what Vance Roush, co-founder of Overflow had to say👇:

"On Deck was catalytic in the earliest introductions to angel investors, giving us the momentum needed for later rounds of fundraising. Being around world-class people that are the best in the industry, and to be able to share knowledge was huge."

Overflow raised a $10M Series A from R7 Partners.

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Failed startup of the week: Zenly

​Zenly, a Paris-based social mapping app startup, announced this week that they’re shutting down on February 3, 2023.

Zenly allowed you to keep up with your friends' locations. It opened a map where you could see your contacts and what they were up to. You could also share photos, videos, and text messages with them using Zenly's vibrant messaging experience. The app was acquired by Snapchat 5 years ago for $250M, which incorporated the technology into their Snapchat map.

An official statement on Zenly’s website highlights that “unfortunately, the current economic climate made it difficult for Zenly to sustain its operations.” According to TechCrunch, this was part of Snap’s efforts to reduce costs. 20% of Snap’s workforce was recently laid off, including the entire Zenly team.

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What to check this week?

💰 How Codie Sanchez built a $50M portfolio of boring businesses, and the #1 skill to learn in a recession.

🔗 Alex Lieberman, founder of Morning Brew, launched Sherpa, a directory of curated startup resources.

🤖 Wild examples of how to use ChatGPT to plan an SEO campaign and develop a Python application.

📈 8 sectors likely to thrive in the 2023 recession, including digital health, budget travel, and leisure and logistics.

💬 Actionable strategies to engineer word of mouth and stop hoping people will tell their friends about your product.

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What happened this week?

🤖 A new AI chatbot is getting buzz for being able to have intelligent-sounding conversations, write music, and even code.

🔥 Sam Bankman-Fried gets interviewed at the DealBook Summit. and talks about FTX, failure, regulation, and crypto.

🗄 Jack Dorsey, ex Twitter’s CEO, urges Elon Musk to drop all filters and release Twitter Files publicly.

💼 Amazon layoffs may reach 20,000, double the number initially reported.

💰 The European Union spent nearly $400,000 on its own Metaverse and no one came to its virtual party.

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Hot startup of the week: The Mirror

​The Mirror is a gaming and development platform based in Miami, Florida. This week they raised $2.3M in Pre Seed funding led by venture capital firm Founders Fund.

This platform allows game developers to build and distribute their games, even if they don't have coding experience. This makes it easier for independent and 3D creators to collaborate, share, and monetize their work.

In an interview with Biz Journals, the founders mentioned, “Most software has moved to real-time collaboration and cloud-based solutions, but game development has been left behind, and we’re excited to bring it to the next level with open-source software.”

The company plans to use the raised funds to expand its engineering team and grow its brand’s presence within the gaming industry.

What do you think of today's newsletter?

• ​🔥 F**king great​
• ​😒 Meh​
• ​👎 Not interesting​

Which section was the best?

• ​Failed startup of the week​
• ​What to check this week?​
• ​What happened this week?​
• ​Hot startup of the week​

Cheers,

Nico