Hey — It's Nico.

This newsletter contains:

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

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Failed startup of the week: Sqoop

​Sqoop, a news discovery service for reporters to access and set alerts for public data sources such as the SEC, Patent Office, and others, announced they’re shutting down this week.

Despite its goal to provide a comprehensive and user-friendly platform for journalists, the company, founded by Bill Hankes, was unable to establish a sustainable business model.

According to a statement from Hankes, the company has faced a series of outages and technical setbacks over the past six months. It was determined that the necessary solutions were out of reach, and Hankes could no longer afford to solely fund the company's operations.

Hankes expresses the decision was devastating for him and the journalism community, as Sqoop was a service that has meant a lot to many journalists.

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What to check this week?

🔥 The AI, big tech, VC, and crypto trends to keep an eye on in 2023.

🎙 Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis, David Sacks & David Friedberg cover their 2023 predictions.

⚙️ 5 steps to building product-led growth for your B2B SaaS product.

💰 A thread on how to sell your company, from a16z’s Alex Rampell.

💡 Evan Armstrong on why it's always a good time to build, no matter the cost of capital.

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What happened this week?

🤖 ChatGPT creator is talking to investors about selling shares at a $29 billion valuation that would make it the 6th most valuable unicorn in the US.

💵 Khosla Ventures is raising about $3 billion across three new funds.

💼 Coinbase to cut 20% jobs and abandon ‘several’ projects to weather downturns in the crypto market.

👀 Microsoft is looking at OpenAI’s GPT for Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

⚔️ Amazon is challenging Shopify, and Shopify’s stock is losing so far.

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Hot startup of the week: The Ryl Company

​The Ryl Company aims to become a major player in the functional beverage industry.

The company produces ready-to-drink tea and has raised $6.7M in funding for its launch into major retailers such as Wegmans, Whole Foods, and Wakefern stores.

The company's founder, Blodin Ukrella, was a data scientist at Bai before starting The Ryl Company in a nine-month development process. The company's unique formula includes 200 milligrams of tea polyphenols per can, sweetened with monk fruit and stevia leaf extract.

The functional beverage market is predicted to reach $173 billion by 2025, so it will be interesting to see how The Ryl Company and other newcomers are able to disrupt this industry.

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What do you think of today's newsletter?

• ​🔥 Great​
• ​😒 Meh​
• ​👎 Not interesting​

Cheers,

Nico