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Together With:

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Hi there, 👋

What a crazy week it's been so far, with stock market highs, earnings announcements, IPOs, and SPAC deals.
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But, you've seen that news elsewhere:)
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A ton of stories ended up on the cutting room floor today, but we're sure you'll enjoy what we saved for you below.

In this issue:

• Why Founders Have No Clue How They Raised (Or Failed To)
• The Minimalist Entrepreneur
• The Reddit Radar
• A 'Fat Finger' NFT Trade
• Checking for Fakes

In the snippets: Regulating stablecoins, Andreessen Horowitz's race to crypto dominance, and startup funding options.
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As always, thanks for being here.
Juliet Lyall
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​P.S. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, you can subscribe here - no charge!
​P.P.S. Don't miss the free Acquisition Playbook from Andrew Gazdecki today.
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Why Founders Have No Clue How They Raised (Or Failed To)

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We haven't linked to any of Charlie O'Donnell's articles since we mistakenly identified him as a woman earlier this year.
​That was embarrassing.
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In a new story, O'Donnell cites a founder who successfully raised funding and went on to advise other founders about how to generate VC interest.
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The advice could have amounted to:
​“Be a warm body with a pulse in a sector that firm got shut out of a deal in.”
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The ecosystem is full of bad advice from founders that couldn’t raise.
O'Donnell believes that, in most cases, founders fail to raise either because their plan is bad or they're unconvincing.

This problem is deepened for two big reasons:

• VCs don’t like giving a flat out “no” and
• Founders get “happy ears”

O'Donnell's story goes on to discuss the factors comprising a raise that no one really talks about - or seems to notice.
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​Our favorites:

• The founder telling the biggest future version of a story wins, and
• You pitched a jerk

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​Read more.​
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Fake or Fact?

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Scams and rug pulls will persist in the NFT and crypto space.
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​The Squid Game cryptocurrency hoax is just the latest in a growing line of scams that use social media to hype their 'projects.'
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Social media is the primary method used by scammers to gain credibility for a launch. And surely thousands of Twitter followers can't be wrong about backing the newest NFT collection?
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Slow down for a minute, because there's a huge chance that these followers are fake, inactive or bots.

A tool like FollowerAudit is a useful way to check the authenticity of every follower on a Twitter account.

The free version fetches and analyzes all the follower data of a Twitter account and identifies the fake followers on the basis of credentials such as followers-following ratio, improper name and username, suspicious account activities, and more.
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FollowerAudit says that their "calculation is 99% accurate."
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If you're a frequent NFT buyer, or just curious about the Twitter accounts you follow, you can do a follower analysis here.
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​Related: 12 Common NFT Scams & How to Stay Safe​
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Together With MicroAcquire

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10 Alternative Ways To Boost Your Revenue

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Acquiring your first business is a thrill.

Your new business shows all the signs of potential growth, but what happens next?
How will you increase your return on investment without spending a stack of cash?
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​Your first thought might be to launch an extensive marketing campaign, but it’s also an easy way to burn money.
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For example, you’ll struggle to squeeze extra revenue from a business with high market penetration without dropping a small fortune on advertising and promotions.
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​The Acquisition Playbook by Andrew Gazdecki, gives you ten alternative means to boost revenue that require little to no investment.
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These methods may also help you to identify acquisition opportunities or improve the revenue of a business you've run for years!
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Whether you’re buying your first or fifth business, this free resource will help you find success post-acquisition.
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And, if you find yourself inspired after reading, head over to MicroAcquire where your next venture is waiting for you.

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🤘Free Download: The Acquisition Playbook​
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Noooooo!

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CryptoPunk 7557 was sold for just $19,400 in Ethereum in what looks to be a “fat finger” trade.
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This particular CryptoPunk was part of a collection of 55 Punks with the “Tiara” attribute.

To put things into perspective, the cheapest Tiara Punk is worth 325 ETH or $1.4 million.

It's likely that the listing price was a manual error by the seller, who presumably intended to offer the Punk for a price of 4444 ETH or $19.5 million.
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The highest price offered for this Punk previously was 8,888 ETH, or ~$31 million.
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Domain Snacks

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​👉 Speaking of Squid...

The buyer of Squid.xyz was revealed as SquidDAO. The company paid $34,888 for the domain.
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👉 October Belonged to Meta

Raymond Hackney has released his roundup of October keyword domain sales.
Meta, Online and Coin had five figure sales. You'll see all the October sales and trends at TLD Investors.
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The Minimalist Entrepreneur

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​Sahil Lavingia is the founder of Gumroad, employee #2 at Pinterest, an artist, and he writes really dope tweets.
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In this conversation with Noah Kagan, you’ll enjoy 3 big things:

• The value of observation and visualization
• Investing money versus spending money
• How to create the life you want to live and not the life you should live

​Listen here.​
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On the Radar

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Have you heard of the Reddit Radar?
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Reddit communities have the power to catalyze trends and drive real world action. (Remember GameStop?)
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The Reddit Radar report does the hard hard work of detecting the early signals indicative of larger shifts in culture and trends.

Here are the 4 biggest trends that will continue to influence how people think and behave:

1. Mental Management
2. The Romanticized Life
3. Revitalized Residences
4. Cognizant Consumption

If your brand aligns with any of these areas or you're researching a niche for a new startup, then the stats and information in the Reddit Radar (PDF) will give you numerous ideas to help you stand out.
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Brought to You by Smash Digital​
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🦄 SEOs with Skin in the Game

​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.

An agency with so much link juice you’ll need a mop and bucket to clean it all up.​

​Check. Them. Out.
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✅ Snippets to Send You on Your Way

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🔷 SEO jargon: If you don't understand the difference between a meta robots tag and pogo sticking, then check out this useful glossary from Ahrefs. They've curated and categorized all the important SEO terms and their definitions so you'll feel smarter the next time you're talking to your "SEO consultant."

🔷 A bold plan to dominate crypto: In the global race for cryptocurrency dominance, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) wants to own big chunks of the emerging world of digital currencies and have a hand in writing the rules for how it will operate. Their proposals seem to be far more about self-interest than societal or national benefits.
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🔷 Digital horse racing: After the success of Zed Run, it was only a matter of time before someone else got in on the action. Oly Sport, a Toronto-based blockchain startup, has secured $2 million in strategic funding to bring horse racing, NFTs, blockchain, and real estate together into a metaverse.
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🔷 Startup funding: Here's a rundown on how startup funding works and your options for potential investors and working capital. This article is a great primer for new founders who want to understand the costs and benefits associated with the most common types of startup funding.​
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🔷 City blockchain experiments: Does it make sense to have a city with a coin, an NFT, a DAO, some record-keeping on-chain for anti-corruption? There's a lot that can and should be improved with cities, and a lot of opportunities. Despite the challenges, crypto cities are an idea whose time has come. Check out the blockchain experiments in Reno; CityDAO, who are trying to create entirely new cities from scratch, and CityCoins.co who are creating an economic model that does not depend on government support.
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🔷 Regulating stablecoins: The US Treasury Department is urging Congress to pass legislation that would require stablecoins to be issued by banks. A report (PDF) recommends legislation that would guard against stablecoin runs, address concerns about payment system risk, and address additional concerns about systemic risk and economic concentration of power. Treasury Department statement.​
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🤩 Rarely seen things:

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