Hi there, 👋
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Calling all Trekkies.
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In what must be one of the smartest marketing ploys this year, Blue Origin is sending Captain Kirk to space (for real this time).
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We can't wait to see what he wears!
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​Today - and back on earth - you'll see:

• Life after exit: Why are startups increasingly opting for M&A?
• 5 ways to derail your startup
• A $3 million domain sale
• Collectibles are serious assets - WSJ speaks with successful traders

If you're a crypto or NFT fan, you'll enjoy today's line up in the snippets section. Take a look at how robot crypto traders are front running people's orders and how NFT scams cost collectors a stack of cash.
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As always, thanks for being here,
Juliet Lyall.
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​P.S. Don't miss our sponsors' offers today. If making money from online businesses is your raison d'etre then you'll want to know what they've got for you.
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​P.P.S. Need to hear this again? We are not financial advisors. We're just curious people with access to the internet. This newsletter is for information purposes only. Most suitcases look alike.
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5 Ways To Derail Your Startup

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Enthusiastic startup founders are often blind to the need for a realistic and strategic plan to move forward.

It's important to know what steps along the way are absolutely necessary and which ones are nice to have.

The co-founder of Wildebeest takes a look at the top 5 mistakes founders make - right before burning their startup to the ground.
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• Waiting too long to launch: Deconstruct your thinking about MVPs.
• Waiting on the perfect cofounder: Options for moving fast when your ideal mate is nowhere in sight.
• Hiring consultants in the wrong places: What you should hire out and what you should hire in.
• Spending too much on lawyers: It’s probably too early to hire a law firm with an ampersand in the name.
• Competitive analysis paralysis: When you have a good idea of what your competitors are doing, don't overthink it.
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Take a dive into this article to learn how to avoid these mistakes, and pick up a dozen useful tips to keep you on track.
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Find the Flow

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​Upflowy is a drag and drop tool to build and optimize web experiences for your users.

Anyone in your business can use this product to design and integrate a customized flow to engage visitors and improve conversion rates on your site.

Signup flows are a crucial component of your sales lead funnels, customer on-boarding, contact forms, after sales support, and more.
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Upflowy lets you analyse a user's behavior during the signup process so you can unearth the friction points.
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They offer a free plan with the basic features and a business plan for $49 per month.
We also spotted a special link from their recent Product Hunt launch.
It's a $149 lifetime deal which was still available at the time of writing.
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Sponsored by Empire Flippers Capital​
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Turn Active Businesses Into Passive Income

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Have you ever wanted to own an online business, but lack the time or skills to run it?

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EFC matches accredited investors with established online business operators, turning actively managed assets into completely passive investments.

With a minimum investment of $20K per deal, it's possible to easily build a diversified portfolio.
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After raising $7M in Round 1, Round 2 of the EFC fund is now open.
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Seven experienced operators in the Amazon FBA, KDP, Content and eCommerce spaces are ready to manage and grow a business portfolio for you.
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​If you’re an accredited investor and want to learn more, book a call with the team.
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Don't wait too long.
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Domain Snacks
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👉 BrandForce sold the Floor.com domain name for $3,144,000.

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This sale will rank as the third largest publicly reported domain name sale of the year behind the $3.3 million sale of Hippo. com and the $3.15 million sale of Christmas. com. The latter was also a BrandForce domain name.
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👉 It's James Booth - again.

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James Booth announced on Twitter that he sold BetU.com for $180,000.
The domain name was sold via Squadhelp, a domain name sales platform that helps businesses select a brand name.

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👉 Back in 2008 DVDS. com sold for $300,000.

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On Friday it sold for $10,000 at Sedo. That’s quite a haircut. But you have to take what the market gives you when old tech formats fade away.
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Is There Life After Exit?

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Intuit's purchase of Mailchimp for $12 billion was a standout in the acquisition stakes this month.
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What we miss is the myriad smaller mergers and acquisitions that regularly take place in the market.
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Among the notable acquisitions of the past week were those made by Parisian digital marketing platform, Sendinblue.
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They announced the purchase of chatbot tool Chatra, analytics offer Metrilo, and Shopify’s top notification pusher PushOwl, for a grand total of $47 million.

Selling a business is always a difficult decision, but at some point it's usually the smartest solution.

In their article, How to get the most out of a sale for startups and investors, TechEU addresses the following questions:

• Why are startups increasingly opting for M&A?
• How do you get the most out of an M&A deal?

You'll get useful advice on:

1. Timeframes and transaction amounts
2. Evaluating buyers, and
3. Terms of sale

​Full story.​
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Transforming a Market

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A new crop of entrepreneurs is betting big that trading cards are no longer just hobbyists’ collectibles, they're serious investment assets.
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In this episode of Niche Markets, WSJ speaks with entrepreneurs who have found success in the booming trading market.
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Sponsored by Convertica​
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🤑 Increase your conversion rates

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Sounds good, right?
At Convertica, we find the flaws that limit your conversions - and fix them.
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Brave Talk

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Brave, the startup behind the eponymous non-tracking browser, has launched a video conferencing add-on out of beta.
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The tool, called Brave Talk, lets all users make and receive video calls straight from their browser.

Brave is pitching internet users who want “privacy-focused” video conferencing.

In a blog post announcing the wider launch, they write:
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​Many other video conferencing providers, including Zoom, monitor calls, metadata, and images, and the records of that data can be sold or shared without user consent.
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Brave adds:
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​Brave Talk users can enable multiple layers of encryption on calls, so an eavesdropper cannot listen in on users’ calls, and our servers don’t save metadata, so calls, images, and activities are never recorded or shared without user consent.​
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The video calling software is a subscription costing $7 per month for premium features (like group calls and call recording).
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Basic one-to-one calls are free and unlimited.
​Note: You need to download the Brave browser to start using Brave Talk.
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✅ Snippets to Send You on Your Way

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🔷 Top Shot Creator Raises: Dapper Labs, the company behind popular fantasy basketball NFT game NBA Top Shot, has raised another $250 million in funding. The company just signed a partnership with LaLiga, the Spanish football association. Dapper Labs is also betting heavily on its infrastructure play with its new blockchain Flow. It could power other experiences beyond fantasy sports.
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🔷 Robot Crypto Traders: Fast-moving token traders are cutting in line to front-run other people’s orders. Are computerized traders just taking money out of other people’s pockets?
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🔷 The Wild West Crypto Casino: SEC Chairman Gary Gensler doubled down on his position that his agency has “robust” authority to regulate the cryptocurrency industry, stating in a conversation with the Washington Post on Tuesday that “most” cryptocurrencies have attributes of securities. “We’ve got a lot of casinos here in the Wild West,” Gensler said. “And the poker chip is these stablecoins.”
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🔷 NFT scammers: Collectors have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of NFTs in numerous scams. Fake Discord channels and fake names allow teams to rake in millions off false promises to buyers, also known as a “rug pull.” Also common are fake Twitter giveaways of NFTs that farm retweets and followers to give the illusion of clout, and malicious links that result in the user unknowingly giving up their private key.
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🔷 The internet money game: What’s happening in money culture right now looks something like this: The masses, frustrated by rigid societal inequality and a lack of economic opportunity, are playing whatever new lottery comes along. They invest their social media selves in lottery communities, and they put their savings in scratch tickets. The price to play is expensive, the rules are designed for them to lose—and they do.
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🌽 The Natural Effect:

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