how to get ready for the upcoming content site rush, the #1 thing you should do when starting up, ask these 4 questions before buying a business, a cybersquatting lawsuit, and making your first million.

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Hi there, 👋
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While the EU continues to beef up its privacy laws and proposes restrictions on the development and use of AI tools (see the snippets), an Australian Court has decided that an artificial intelligence can be recognized as an inventor in a patent submission.
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​If that's not weird enough for you, then maybe you'd like Amazon to get hold of your palm prints?
​They'll even pay you $10 if you enroll your palm prints in their checkout-free stores and link them to your Amazon account.
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Speaking of Amazon; a coalition of 48 civil rights and advocacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban corporate facial surveillance technology, continuous corporate surveillance of public spaces, and protect the public from data abuse.
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Their open letter to the FTC uses Amazon as a case study (Ring, Alexa, Echo or Sidewalk, anyone?)
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Finally, the Hawaiian Police began using robotic police dogs.
You know, the ones that scan your eyes to make sure you don’t have a fever.
​What happens when the pandemic is over?
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​Now that we've covered all the odd news you weren't looking for, let's get on with today's investing and startup stories.​
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You'll see:

• The content site gold rush
• 4 important questions to ask before you buy a business
• The #1 thing you should do when starting up
• How Noah Kagan made his first million

Plus, the latest in domain news and a not-to-be-missed snippets section.
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As always, thanks for being here,
Juliet.
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​P.S. Who wants to see more of our newsletter archives? Monday's update was a winner.​
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​P.P.S. Do you have a great startup story? We'd love to feature you in our newsletter. Hit reply to connect with Juliet.
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Sell First

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There's a process involved when starting your business and founders often begin this process back to front.
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That's a recipe for failure.
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Avoiding failure is a combination of skill, calculated risk-taking, and a little luck for good measure.
​It's a bit like playing poker.
​You begin by knowing that the table you choose to play at is everything.
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​Dima Syrotkin is an entrepreneur who has crammed a ton of experience into a relatively short time frame.
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His article outlines the 10 entrepreneurship principles he has learned in the past 5 years.

Number one on his list aligns perfectly with our thoughts above.

Syrotkin says:
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​We got it backward. The number one thing you should do is sell. Why? Because your riskiest assumption is that people will buy your product. You likely will be able to build whatever app you want to build. It is relatively easy to hire people. It is possible to fool investors. You can’t fool the customers.
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See what else he recommends in this value-packed post.
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4 Important Questions To Ask

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​Buying a business?

Investors tend to fall into two camps; those who prefer to build a business and those who prefer to buy one.
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Even though the market looks vastly different than it did a year ago, the race to buy online businesses shows no sign of slowing down.
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​If you've never purchased a business before it's helpful to ask these 4 important questions before parting with your cash.
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This isn't about completing due diligence on a business (which is another crucial factor when purchasing).
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This is about figuring out whether you are ready to take the plunge into entrepreneurship.
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See the 4 important questions.
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Beautiful Background Animations

The small design team at pixeltrue has a passion for creating breath-taking designs.
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Many of their designs are free, although you can access all the packs for as little as $99.
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The site is full of high-quality illustrations, but it's their background animations that got our attention.
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​This collection of 60+ background scenes from around the globe gives you day, night and sunset scenes for each image.
All beautifully illustrated and animated!
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Since the Olympic Games are still going strong, we chose this 'day' image of the Itsukushima Shrine as an example.
​(Okay, you can't see the clouds moving; just use your imagination). ​
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​This background pack is free for commercial use and available in multiple formats.
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See all the packs here.
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Punking Out

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A week ago, we said this:
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​Cryptopunks may not be reaching the outrageous prices of March this year, but trading is active and ongoing.
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​Guess we spoke too soon.​
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Gary Vaynerchuk added to his collection of CryptoPunks last Friday.
In what was only the second largest sale of the week, he bought Ape punk #2140 for $3.76 million:
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The top sales price last week was $5,446,822.63 for CryptoPunk 5217.
It last sold for $1,884 on the 26th December, 2017.
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​We guess the gold chain made all the difference.
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AD

🦄 SEOs with Skin in the Game

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​Smash Digital - a growth agency, filled to the brim with unicorn images and SEO memes. A team of SEOs with actual skin in the game, ranking their own portfolio of profitable businesses, and offering the exact same services to clients.
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An agency with so much link juice you’ll need a mop and bucket to clean it all up.
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​Check. Them. Out.
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The Content Site Gold Rush

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There's a reason investors have their eyes on content sites.
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While e-commerce and affiliate marketing sites are worthy of consideration for website investors, quality content sites offer investors an edge.​
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When you concentrate on a particular niche, you have the chance to become an authority in your space and grow an audience of dedicated fans.
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​This gives you leverage.
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Once you've created quality content around a particular topic and developed trust with your readers, you have the ideal platform to monetize your traffic.
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Content business models are increasing in value, with the average value of content sites on Empire Flippers' marketplace up nearly 30% from last year.
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​Empire Flippers have dubbed this "The Upcoming Gold Rush."​
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Their latest blog post discusses:

• How investors are using the media company strategy to scale
• What brand aggregators look for in a content site, and
• What you can do to position yourself as a media company for a brand

The article also contains several creative tips to get ready for the upcoming content site goldrush.
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​Further reading:​
This post discusses everything you need to know about selling your Amazon FBA business for maximum profit. Follow these steps to maximize your payday.​
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Domain Snacks

👉 Cybersquatting Lawsuit Filed Over Empower .com
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Empower .com is being sued by Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Co. It appears this company has an “Empower Retirement” division which was formed in 2014.
(Empower .com was registered in July 1994).
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Apparently they don’t like the fact that the owner of Empower .com is looking for a multi-million dollar purchase price.
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Here are the court documents and here is Elliot Silver's take on the accusations.
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👉 New Domain Sales Data
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​Escrow .com released some sales data from the first half of 2021, and it confirmed what many people have been saying.
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​Domain name (and website) sales transacted via Escrow .com had a big first half of the year.​
​Escrow.com reported that sales growth for “online” sales, including domain names and websites, grew 77% compared to the first half of 2020.
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Raymond Hackney summarizes the highlights in this post.
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👉 July Keyword Domain Sales​
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In a regular monthly update, TLD Investors has released an overview of July keyword trends.
​Keywords that bucked the downward trend (from June) were Media, names starting with Cloud, and Homes.
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​See the keywords, sales and values.
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Forget Screen Sharing

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​Projector offers you a different way to present.​
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​In a live session on Projector, there’s no such thing as screen sharing.
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Everyone opens the session on their own device. As the host, you control moving through each scene with your audience, and they can't move ahead of you.
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They can click links, react with emojis, and go back to review earlier slides on their own.
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It's possible to use your presentation to accompany a Zoom meeting or even a phone call. Just share the link, and you'll all see the same, synchronized visuals.​
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Of course, before going live, you need to design your multimedia presentation.
​Projector offers a curated library of templates, covering everything from launch plans to product pitches.
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As a bonus, you can also use this tool for Instagram stories, email graphics, and social posts.
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Best of all? It's free.​
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​Live session details​
​Projector home page​
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The First Million

In this podcast episode, Noah Kagan (Chief Sumo at AppSumo) shares how he made his first million dollars by the age of 29.
(No bragging here. Noah still lives in an 800 square foot house).
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Contrary to popular belief, his success didn’t happen overnight.
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Noah talks about:

• How to get rich without being an entrepreneur
• Why it’s important to work on problems you actually care about
• Why you shouldn’t focus on the money

​Have a listen - it's only ~12 minutes long.
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✅ Snippets to Send You on Your Way

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🔷 SEC test for accredited investors: New legislation would allow anyone who demonstrates a high level of financial acumen to invest in private offerings. But some groups that sponsor investing credentials are concerned the measure’s mechanism for becoming a sophisticated investor is flawed.
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🔷 Get connected: London-based growth marketplace Connectd has raised $1 million in a seed funding round. The platform uses data-driven ‘smart matching technology’ to directly connect startups with investors and non-executive directors, board advisors, and mentors.
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🔷 The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act: If adopted, this will be the world’s most restrictive regulation of the development and use of AI tools, a report says. It will not only limit AI development and use in Europe but impose significant costs on EU businesses and consumers. The AIA will cost the European economy €31 billion over the next five years and reduce AI investments by almost 20 percent.
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🔷 Doing more with less: Entrepreneurs in emerging markets have a better survival rate than those in the United States. Surprised? Don’t be. Here’s why startups that want to become profitable and enduring, fast, should consider starting up in emerging markets.
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🔷 What's your big idea? A 24 year old entrepreneur shares his 5 unexpected startup lessons.​
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🔷 Investors pile into gold bullion: Investors in bars and coins made of solid gold bullion added 595 tons of the metal to their holdings this year through June. That’s up from 409 tons in the same period of 2020.
​Find out why.​
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🔷 BoxGroup's fifth round: BoxGroup announced that it has beefed up its war chest with the closure of two new funds totalling $255 million of capital. BoxGroup aims to be the “first yes” to companies. In 11 years, they have made more than 300 investments and seen a number of impressive exits.

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🕺 Strike a pose:

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