Hey — It's Nico.

This newsletter contains:

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

🔥 Btw, I've partnered up with a few other newsletters to give away $1,000. You can sign in here.

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Failed startup story: Friday

​Friday, a Portland-based startup that used software to improve communication among remote teams, ceased operations in June 2022. The company had raised $2M from various venture funds.

The software provided time tracking, goal-setting, and team communication tools to improve project management and efficiency among employees.

In between the lines:

The pandemic gave the company a unique opportunity as its software helped remote teams work more efficiently. Because of this, the company was able to attract the attention of several venture capital firms and got +100k users in just 12 months.

In a postmortem blog post, the founder, Luke Thomas, blamed the company’s demise on his lack of clarity and not being able to effectively market to a particular industry. These factors, combined with increased competition in the space, made securing additional investment and continuing to grow the business difficult.

Lessons learned:

Friday's go-to-market strategy was too broad and lacked focus on a specific niche. It’s ideal for startups to identify a particular demographic first and build a solution tailored to them before expanding to capture a larger market.

Friday also struggled to answer key questions such as "Who is the buyer?" and "What is their willingness to pay?". Having a clear understanding of your customer and validating their willingness to pay is essential when searching for PMF.

The blog post also mentions increased competition, which is a natural progression in any industry. However, this can be challenging if a company is unable to adapt to market changes. The rise of remote work provided an opportunity for Friday, but without the ability to innovate, they struggled to succeed.

By the way, we conducted an interview with Luke some time ago where he shared how he initially built and grew Friday. You can read it here.​

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What to read this week?

✍️ Insights from Justine Moore on the opportunities and predictions ahead in consumer AI.

📖 A practical guide to understanding your customers and how they interact with your brand.

🕵️‍♂️ A deep dive into 5 key pivots to help accelerate your growth.

🔍 What makes an entrepreneur? Insights from 7 researches.

👂 Tom Loverro from Institutional Venture Partners talks about his startup survival guide for 2023.

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What happened this week?

🤝 Co-CEO of Salesforce and Google veteran are joining forces to launch a new AI startup.

📉 Twilio lays off 17% of its employees, just months after previous layoffs.

💵 5 European countries and the EIB launch a $4 billion fund to enhance EU's startup sector.

🚀 Microsoft's AI-powered search engine sees over 1M signups in 48 hours.

📈 Via secures $110M in funding at a $3.5 billion valuation.

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Hot startup of the week: BuuPass

​BuuPass, a Kenyan-based startup, has secured $1.3M in pre-seed funding to expand its operations.

With a mission to modernize the traditional public transport sector in Kenya, BuuPass helps bus companies manage their operations, inventory, and sales using a Bus Management System (BMS). It also connects these businesses to a marketplace where passengers can book their tickets through various channels like websites, apps, and USSD codes.

In between the lines:

BuuPass has helped build digital infrastructure for long-distance transportation and processes around 12,000 transactions daily, recording over 9 million ticket sales so far.

Co-CEO Sonia Kabra mentioned, "The funding will enable us to invest in growth activities, increasing our market share in East Africa, with a focus on Kenya and Uganda.”

BuuPass has also secured partnerships with well-known transport operators, including Safaricom and Kenya Railways. These partnerships have helped validate the company's solutions and ability to handle high transaction volumes.

Lessons learned:

The company saw an opportunity to bring a much-needed digital solution to the traditional transportation sector in Kenya. In doing so, they developed a bus management system that provided operators with a way to make their life easier and increase their sales.

Another key lesson from BuuPass is the power of partnerships. Collaborating with established companies can validate your solution, earn market trust, and create opportunities for growth and expansion.

Lastly, the company emphasized a great user experience despite some of the limitations of the digital infrastructure in Kenya. By doing so, they provided a seamless experience for the end user.

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What do you think of today's newsletter?

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Cheers,

Nico