anyone can buy and sell from $1, equity shares in domains, timing your startup, Big Tech update & a $530M bet.
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Hi there, 👋
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What's new with you?
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We'd like to hear about how you're building your business or any new investment ideas you've discovered.
Simply hit reply and tell us about it.
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We hope to feature some of you in our upcoming newsletters.
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If you're into investing in collectibles, tech news or the importance of timing for your startup's success, then there's something for you below.
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Plus, the snippets section has articles on why Michael Burry just shorted Tesla (a $530M bet) and the untold story of Sam Bankman-Fried - a 29-year old, vegan, crypto billionaire.
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​If that's not enough, we think you'll find a use for the brand asset search engine, and a remarkably simple tool that helps you solve your web accessibility issues.
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Read on and enjoy.
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As always, thanks for being here.
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​P.S. A big "welcome" to all our new readers. There's a feedback form for you at the bottom of this letter. Smash that button and tell us what you liked (or didn't like) about today's stories.
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​P.P.S. Did you know that our feedback links let you leave a voice message? Give it a try!
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Rally Speeds Into New Assets

​Rally is a platform for buying and selling equity shares in collectible assets.
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The company started out in 2017, offering collectible cars. They have since grown that base to include more than 300 assets across multiple categories.
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They may be best known for their sports collectible sales, including stakes in rare baseball and basketball cards, and game-worn memorabilia from athletes such as Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali.
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​Investing in these asset types was previously the sole domain of the wealthy and those with high incomes.
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​Not anymore.​
This app allows members of all income levels to buy and sell equity shares in collectible assets from as low as $1 per share.
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On Tuesday, Rally announced it raised $30 million in Series B funding. In addition, they received another $50 million debt facility from Upper90 Capital to rapidly offer one-of-a-kind assets across all categories.
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This new funding will let Rally expand into new categories, including cash-flow producing assets such as intellectual property, art, real estate and NFTs.
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Company CEO, George Leimer, told Crunchbase:
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The collectibles space, regardless of business model, is gigantic and has a lot of heat and light on it right now. As long as the asset is interesting and rare, people will have a passion for it.
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See the full story on TechStartups​
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Equity Shares in Domains

​Yahoo also reported on the Rally fundraise above.
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What's intriguing about their story is this excerpt:
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​Looking ahead to intangible assets, the founder said users have been very vocal about what they want to see on the platform — music rights and domain names being among their requests. Five to 10 new asset classes will be added over the coming months.
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Domain investors know that good domain names can become valuable assets.
The news from Rally means that domains could be sold to groups of investors who take equity shares.
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There are probably technical and legal issues to overcome, but we're sure that Rally is in a position to address those.
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Timing Is Everything

There's a new book out called “SUPER FOUNDERS: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups” by Ali Tamaseb.
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We are not promoting his book, but the author made one crucial observation that got us thinking.
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​Timing is essential to startup success.
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Tamaseb states:
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"If you’re a founder, it’s important that you foresee and understand the external factors that affect a company’s timing: inflection points, enabling technologies, changes in regulations, new market segments, and other fundamental behavior shifts. These are the things that have led to the success of many billion-dollar companies, rather than their being first or last to try an idea."​
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​Numerous companies have been built on recycled ideas.
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The electric car was first invented in the mid 19th century, but is now only becoming mainstream.
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Electric vehicles didn't wane in popularity due to a lack of demand, but rather due to an improved road infrastructure and travel times.
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This created a need for vehicles with a greater range than that offered by electric cars. Plus, discoveries of large petroleum reserves led to the wide availability of affordable gasoline, making gas-powered cars cheaper to operate over long distances.
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The timing was right for gas-powered cars due to a combination of external factors, namely, better roads and low cost fuel.
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That's our example, but Tamaseb covers more recent opportunities in the fintech, smartphone, and streaming spaces.
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​For founders, being ahead of time is essentially picking the wrong idea.​
In practice, however, it seems as though some ideas repeat every now and then, and they finally work when they align with the right market dynamics.
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See Tamaseb's views on why market timing is everything.
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Search Brand Assets

On Monday, we tried to find a suitable logo or image to use for one of our stories.
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It would have been useful if we'd remembered Brandfetch.
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​Brandfetch is the go-to-place to source digital assets.
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You will quickly find up-to-date logos, colors, fonts and images for just about any online brand.
All it takes is a click to download an image or logo for your needs.
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​It's probably a good idea to head over there and claim your brand.​
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You can do this by entering a company email to get your brand verified. It's also possible to suggest numerous edits using their online form.
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You can use Brandfetch inside every major design tool, such as Adobe, Canva, Figma and Miro.
This saves you time, by automating the search for colors and logos etc., and getting a brand's assets sent straight to your tool of choice.
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The best part?
It's 100% free to use.
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The Blockchain Domain Opportunity

Andrew Rosener is the Founder and CEO of MediaOptions.​
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MediaOptions state that they are "recognized as the #1 domain name brokerage firm in the world."
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Rosener was recently interviewed by Unstoppable Domains where he offered his opinions and insights “about the future of the decentralized web and the potential and utility of blockchain” domain names.
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​Watch the video.​
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Big Tech Update

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The Big Tech news this week is all about Google and its I/O event. If you want updates on all their announcements, then TechCrunch has you covered.
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If you're short on time and just want the highlights, here they are:
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​AI: Google has new AI chips that it is raving about. They also announced Vertex AI, a “new managed machine learning platform that is meant to make it easier for developers to deploy and maintain their AI models.”
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​Android: Did you know that the Android operating system is now running on 3,000,000,000 devices. That’s nearly one device for every two humans and Google is keeping the ball rolling by teasing Android’s 12 iteration at I/O.
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​Smart Canvas: Google’s various productivity apps have a set of new collaborative workspace tools, called “Smart Canvas." It's good to know that Google is not giving up on sheets, slides and docs, with the addition of around a dozen new features including smart chips, emoji reactions and even live captions in Google Meet.
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The de-Google Movement

Meanwhile, Google is facing a multitude of challenges including talent attrition, resistance from an increasingly influential union, and increased public scrutiny.
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​A small number of users have joined the “de-Google” movement and are actively weaning themselves off their Big Tech addiction by switching to more ethical and privacy-centric alternatives.​
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They are laying the pathway to a world outside the pernicious control of Google, which may signal a tipping point for a gradual decline in the tech giant’s market share.
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Imagining a world without Google is getting easier with each passing year.
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Thanks to Josh Moore - who goes by the name of tycrek on Github - cutting Google out of your life is now a little simpler.
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He's put together a resource of 291 projects in different categories to help you completely opt out of Google apps, services and operating systems.
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Find everything you need to know on degoogle or go straight to the Github resources.
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Why Web Accessibility Matters

We discussed the issue of web accessibility in an earlier newsletter.
You may be tempted to stop reading now.
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​Please don't, because we're going to show you an easy website evaluation tool in a minute.
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It is essential that your website is accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities.
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​Why is accessibility important?​
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If your website isn't accessible, then you're missing out on a huge portion of the market for your products and services.
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Not only that, you're opening yourself up to a lawsuit (in the US) if you don't comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
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Staggeringly, 98% of U.S.-based webpages are not accessible to the disability community from a legal perspective, according to the 2020 Web Accessibility Annual Report.​
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The report showed the following non-compliance issues...
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Get the full story, plus the easy evaluation tool that helps you improve your website.
​Click to see it.​
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Partner To Increase Profits

Starting a marketplace appears daunting.
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Your first thought might be the massive investment required to develop or expand into an online marketplace.
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But, a Forbes contributor suggests otherwise.
Trevor Clawson says that starting and running a marketplace doesn’t necessarily require multi-million dollar funding rounds or even much of an investment in new software.
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His idea is that small companies can create their own profitable ecosystems by partnering with other complementary businesses.
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If you already have a product, look for the gaps in your offer.
Are there additional products that align with your existing range?
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This short article looks at how one small business gave its customers more choice, and grew their average order value by creating mutually beneficial partnerships.
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Given that investors love marketplaces, and that the space continues to grow, it could be an option for expanding your existing business.
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✅ Snippets to Send You on Your Way

🔷 For Musk fans: Tesla and SpaceX are only two of the many companies Elon Musk has been involved with. This article briefly covers how Musk started out, as well as his impact on business. It also rounds up a list of all the companies he has owned or founded. [Startup Mindset]​
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🔷 An untold story: Sam Bankman-Fried is a 29-year old, vegan, crypto billionaire who capitalized on the arbitrage on South Korean cryptocurrency pricing. This Forbes interview explains Bankman-Fried's operating philosophy and why he’s out to have the largest possible positive impact on the world. [Forbes]​
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🔷 Startup money: Money is important to startups, but in the early startup stages, more money rarely solves your problems. Entrepreneurs need to be conscious of the stage of their venture and understand how much money they need throughout the discovery, validation and building phases. Find out how to avoid spending money prematurely in this overview of startup stages. [Forbes]​
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🔷 Betting against Tesla: Michael Burry is an investor who made billions shorting the US subprime mortgages (as popularized in the film The Big Short). Now, he has a new target: Tesla. On Monday, Burry revealed that he has taken a short position against Tesla worth $530 million. [CNBC]​
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🔷 Energy saver: After Ethereum transitions to proof-of-stake, the blockchain's power consumption is expected to drop by more than 99%, making it about 7,000 times more energy efficient than Bitcoin. Crypto Briefing reports: This means that Ethereum will no longer use the energy equivalent of a country or even a city. Instead, its total consumption will be comparable to a small town that contains around 2100 homes.
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🔷 A weird cyber-defense trick: If you're concerned about Russian ransomware, consider this: Virtually all ransomware strains have a built-in failsafe designed to cover the backsides of the malware purveyors. They simply will not install on a Microsoft Windows computer that already has one of many types of virtual keyboards installed -- such as Russian or Ukrainian. Check out the details at Krebs on Security.
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