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Together With:

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Hi there, 👋

RIP, Mr. Goxx.​
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Mr Goxx, the cryptocurrency trading hamster has died of unknown causes.
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During his brief, but successful, history, Mr. Goxx used an "intention wheel" and tunnels to make trading decisions.
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The hamster even outperformed Warren Buffet's portfolio in a single day.
Mr. Goxx's owner shared the sad news last week in a post on the animal's Twitter account.
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In brighter news for GIF users everywhere, the U.K's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked Facebook's attempt to acquire Giphy. The CMA stated that the acquisition would "increase [Facebook's] already significant market power."
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Acquisitions by Big Tech are likely to attract increased scrutiny. Still, we can't help thinking that this feels like a slap on the wrist with a wet piece of paper for Meta.
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​In this issue:

• Startup market risks
• 8 disappointing investors archetypes
• Companies that buy ideas
• Paradise Trippies (not what you're thinking)

We've packed the snippets section with reports and news on funding trends, the richest women in America, and profit margin formulas.
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As always, thanks for being here.
Juliet Lyall
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8 Disappointing Investors

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There's nothing like having a queue of investors at your startup's door.
But, it's not all about the money.
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Many potential investors make promises about the value they'll add to your business, but that value doesn't always materialize.
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​Lak Ananth delves into some common archetypes of investor relationships that founders experience post-investment. His article covers 8 disappointing investor archetypes in a humorous and insightful way.
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Among the archetypes is The Needy Ned (edited):
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"This investor will drive you nuts because they want to be involved in everything your company does, regardless of whether they’re adding value in the process. You’ll know you’re dealing with a Needy Ned when they’re surprised and outraged when you haven’t told them every operational detail of your business. "
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Ananth's post goes on to outline what to keep in mind as you consider your funding options.
He suggests that the person matters way more than the firm, and that both must really understand your business.
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If you take time to find a good fit with an investor, you will significantly maximize the chances of building something great.
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Avoid falling for these 8 disappointing investor archetypes.
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Together With MicroAcquire
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💵 Finance Your Next Great SaaS Venture

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Still thinking about whether a SaaS business is the right investment for you?
​The decision might have just gotten easier...
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​MicroAcquire and Pipe have teamed up to help buyers finance SaaS acquisitions through an alternative financing method called revenue-based financing.
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What this means is that Pipe can turn up to 12 months’ recurring revenues into upfront cash!​
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In as little as 24 hours, the startup you want to acquire could be pre-approved for a cash sum to aid in its acquisition.
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This game-changing financing could mean zero dollars out-of-pocket. Best of all, it’s non-dilutive, which leaves more in the hands of the buyer. You can even use it to fund growth.
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Revenue-based financing and SaaS go together like peanut butter and jelly. It’s why Pipe is a darling fintech company having raised $250 million at a $2 billion valuation.
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👉 Read more about this financing strategy and then use it to acquire your next SaaS business on MicroAcquire.​
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Get a Clew

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Are you searching for a Notion alternative?​
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There's no doubt that Notion is a well-designed product, but it takes most users hours to grasp the basics.
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That's why we were excited to discover Clew.ai.
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You can use Clew as a personal workspace or as a project management tool for your team.
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All content in Clew is represented by blocks.
​You can drag images, lists, chats, slides, PDF’s and a ton of other file types into a block.​
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Plus, you can choose whether to use a Canvas (blank space) or a Kanban-style board (like Trello).
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We were surprised to discover that it's possible to drop an entire conversation into Kanban!
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Of course, there are multiple integrations available to help you organize all your tools in one place.
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When you're trying to get things done, Clew acts as a central hub.
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​Free to start.
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Companies That Buy Ideas

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People who invent things often don't have the time or skill to develop their ideas into a business.
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Plus, the process of licenses, patents, trademarks, and prototypes is complex - and requires money.
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​There is an alternative: Sell your idea.
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Here's a list of 40 invention companies that buy or invest in ideas.
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Domain Snacks

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👉 Elliot Silver has been testing out the new Namecheap Market for buying and selling domain names. Silver outlines what he learned after winning his first auction.
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👉 An NFT project called Paradise Trippies was recently launched using the Paradise.com domain name. The team members behind this project include long time domain investors Andy Booth, Shane Cultra, and James Booth.
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The public minting phase began on Monday.
You'll want to check out the brilliant art they've revealed so far - drawn and illustrated by Rui Duarte and Joe Ruiz.
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👉 DAN announced that their Open Domain Distribution Network is live.
With this new network, they aim to create a pool of 30+ million secondary market domains, all listed in one (open-for-all) network, and distributed by all industry stakeholders.
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Startup Market Risks

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Risks from the startup market are slipping more frequently into the public markets.
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Alex Wilhelm from TechCrunch discusses what's going on by expanding on the following points - and more:

• Startup valuations are rising thanks to ample capital availability
• Startup valuations are rising thanks to more investors going earlier in the investing process
• The old venture expectations of startup failure rates are now incorrect

The startups that venture investors are backing this year haven’t really seen their macro fortunes improve since mid-2020, but they are busy raising lots more money, lots faster.
​That generates increased investment risk.
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​Read on.
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Start Building

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The vast number of landing page tools available online is a tad overwhelming.
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And some tools are more user-friendly than others, which is why we like Versoly.
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​Versoly lets you quickly create landing pages and websites using pre-built blocks and templates.​
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If you want to launch your MVP or set up a quick promotional campaign, you can create a landing page within 30 minutes.​
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Plus, when you build a site with Versoly it always loads fast. That's because it's built on top of tech like Amazon Web Services.
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Aside from landing pages, Versoly allows you to build a website and add a blog to it, thanks to their blogging CMS. You get loads of 3rd party tools too.
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​A free account gives you access to over 200 blocks and templates, three sites, and a Versoly subdomain.
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​Paid plans start at $16 per month (billed annually) and include a custom domain, removal of the Versoly branding, Stripe checkout, and more.
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See what's on offer at Versoly.
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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.
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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.​

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

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🔷 Fundraising, investment, and exits: Global Private Capital shared their mid-year 2021 data on fundraising, investment, and exit activity across Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE, and the Middle East. Get the key data takeaways.
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🔷 Profit margin formulas: Knowing how to calculate profit margin is an essential arrow in your quiver when it comes to managing your business. You’ll want to consistently track your KPIs like gross and net profit margins, operating cash flow, and year-to-date sales growth if your business is to survive.
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🔷 The richest women in America: Of the 724 American billionaires whose net worth is tracked by Forbes, only 86 are women. That’s just 12% of the country’s billionaires. The industries chosen by the top 20 self-made richest women might surprise you.
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🔷 Who knew?: Iterative Venture is an entrepreneurial community led by a group of former and current employees at Facebook. They run an angel syndicate, found startups, and host events. You might have noticed that another Facebook exec is taking off - crypto leader David Marcus. Maybe he'll join the Facebook Alumni?
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🔷 Startup funding trends: Across the board, 2021 has been a banner year for U.S. startup funding. But some industries are seeing much larger investment gains than others. Financial services and shopping/e-commerce saw the largest year-over-year spikes. See where the money is going.
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🎹 Don't lose your marbles:

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