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: AltspaceVR

​AltspaceVR, a free VR platform where users can build virtual events, including conferences, live concerts, and more, announced they’re shutting down on March 10th.

AltspaceVR emerged in 2015 as one of the first social VR platforms alongside other companies like VRChat and Rec Room. However, the startup nearly shut down in 2017 due to financial issues, which is when Microsoft acquired it.

The company announced they're closing down through a blog post. This news came just days after Microsoft revealed they'd be cutting 10,000 jobs.

AltspaceVR's shutdown follows Microsoft's recent decision to scale back on its metaverse ambitions.

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What to check this week?

💰 5 interesting lessons from SentinelOne, a SaaS with $500M in ARR and growing 106%/year.

📲 Insights into how the next wave of social media companies (BeReal, Poparazzi, Mastodon, Gas, Post) are doing things differently and experimenting with different business models.

💵 Brett Adcock sold a software company for $100M. 3 years later, he took a company public for $2.7B. In this thread, he analyzes what he did better in his second business.

📈 Anne Lee Skates, Partner at a16z, shared how consumer companies should approach GTM in pre-PMF stages.

💧 Mike Cessario has turned canned water into a $700M media and health company called Liquid Death. In this podcast episode, he speaks about its origins, branding, marketing, and more.

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What happened this week?

💼 Spotify cuts 6% of its workforce. Here’s the memo CEO Daniel Ek sent to staff.

💵 ChatGPT users report $42 a month pricing for ‘Pro’ access, but there’s been no official announcement yet.

👋 Netflix founder Reed Hastings is giving up his CEO role. He will remain at the company as chairman.

💰 Microsoft has confirmed a further multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, setting the stage for more competition with rival Google.

💸 Cowboy Ventures, the Bay Area-based seed-stage focused fund founded by Aileen Lee, has closed on two new funds totaling $260 million in capital commitments.

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Hot startup of the week: Copilot

​Copilot, a platform that aims to assist businesses in running and growing their operations, has reported a successful Series A funding round, raising $10M.

The funding round was led by YC Continuity and private investor Lachy Groom at a $100M valuation.

As per the statement of Co-founder and CEO Marlon Misra, the funds raised will be invested in expanding the Copilot team, with a focus on engineering and product development. The funds will also go into building an app store similar to Shopify's but specifically tailored for service-based businesses.

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What do you think of today's newsletter?

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Cheers,

Nico