Hey — It's Nico.

This newsletter contains:

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

This issue is brought to you by Bill:

It’s essential for small businesses to take practical steps to reduce the effects of inflation, short staffing, and other hurdles.

In BILL’s guide, Solving Business Challenges of 2023 with Automation, you’ll learn how automation can help your business minimize the impact of recent challenges.

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What to read this week?

🤖 Elon Musk and other leaders say to pause AI development research for 6 months.

🇮🇹 ChatGPT banned in Italy over privacy concerns.

💰 Kaszek raises nearly $1B in new funds for Latin American startups.

🆕 Techstars announces applications for economic mobility accelerator.

🚀 Post, a creator-focused Twitter alternative, launches to the public.

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What happened this week?

💵 Shaan Puri shares the pitch deck formula that has helped founders raise $100M+.

📈 Justin Gordon provides insights into how Stripe became a multi-billion dollar payments company.

🤖 Here’s everything you need to know about Goldman Sachs AI report on economic growth.

💳 Alexis Grant shares a strategy to better sell your startup.

📊 Marketing Against the Grain goes over 3 startup growth hacks.

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Failed startup story: Haven

Amazon, JPMorgan, and Berkshire Hathaway launched a healthcare enterprise that ceased operations after a three-year run.

Haven had the ambitious goal of lowering healthcare costs and improving healthcare outcomes for their employees in the United States. It was focused on making primary care more accessible, insurance benefits easier to understand, and prescription drugs more affordable.

Lessons Learned:

The story of Haven offers valuable lessons for startups, particularly those involved in partnerships or joint ventures.

In Haven's case, each partner appreciated the concept and integrated it into their respective companies without communicating with one another about the progress, resulting in Haven being left behind.

In a joint venture, maintaining open lines of communication and strong coordination among partner organizations is crucial. By establishing a structure that promotes information sharing and collaboration, partners can work together more efficiently and effectively.

Moreover, when forming a joint venture, it is essential to identify and leverage the unique strengths of each partner organization. This allows each partner to contribute effectively and create synergies that enhance the overall value of the company.

If the founding companies had capitalized on their strengths and collaborated more effectively, they could have achieved a significant outcome.

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Hot startup of the week: Plutus

​Plutus, a student-run social media startup, recently raised $280K in pre-seed funding.

Founded in June 2021, Plutus is a creator-focused platform focused on deepening interactions between creators and their fans through live community games.

In Between the Lines:

Plutus is addressing the growing creator economy by offering innovative solutions to help content creators monetize their work more effectively.

The company's pay-as-you-go structure allows creators to earn more than they would through traditional subscriptions, workshops, or advertiser promotions.

This unique approach has increased repurchase rates, fan retention, and creator earnings. Plutus plans to expand its presence across India and Southeast Asia and launch a new set of hyper-casual games and features, further enhancing its platform.

Lessons Learned:

Plutus' team discovered a significant issue with social media platforms: the inability of creators to easily monetize their content despite receiving substantial views and likes. Current social media platforms lack a convenient system for creators to capitalize on their audience.

Plutus offers ticketing events and shows, live commerce, and many other ways for creators to monetize their content. Their versatile and innovative approach aims to attract more users and better serve the demands of their target audience, ultimately leading to increased success and growth.

The startup has also done a great job identifying an issue in a growing market segment. They have strategically targeted the rapidly expanding creator economy. By focusing on an emerging and high-growth industry, Plutus has increased its chances of success.

Here’s a tip: Whether using apps or simply moving around your living space, think of ways to enhance your experience - this is an excellent approach for generating business ideas.

We've also compiled ten other frameworks for brainstorming business ideas. Take a look at them here.

What do you think of today's newsletter?

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Cheers,

Nico