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Together With:

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Hi there, 👋

A journalist reports that a dairy farmer in Turkey has begun putting virtual reality headsets on his cows to see if the animals produce more milk when they believe they are outside in a nice, sunny field.

As one user on Twitter put it "they did the Matrix on a cow".

Welcome to the metaverse.

In this issue:

• MS moves: Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard games
• Does not compute: What you can't measure
• Fractional ownership comes to domain names

From the snippets: The crypto report you need, a free startup course, Crypto .com expands their startup fund, and the next big thing is…

As always, thanks for being here.
Juliet Lyall
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Microsoft Moves

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Microsoft is buying one of the biggest names in games.

Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7B in an all-cash deal - if Washington lets it.

For the deal to go through, the two companies will have to leap, blast, hit, and multi-task their way past government regulators.
The deal is about gaming. It's also about the metaverse.

The agreement includes a $3 billion breakup fee. This means that Microsoft will have to pay Activision $3 billion if the merger gets stopped by regulators. (eek)
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Does Not Compute

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Copious amounts of research show that our purchasing decisions are driven by emotion.

Whether you're buying a car or a CryptoPunk, your choice is often rooted in a desire to improve your social status or belong to a select group.

We fool ourselves into thinking that data and logic will prevail in the markets, the economy, our investing strategy, and life in general.​
It's no wonder we're confused when we see markets moved by a bunch of Redditors, and the price of Bitcoin impacted by a tweet from Elon Musk.

What's going on?

Morgan Housel agrees that so much of what happens in the economy is rooted in emotions.

He says:

The most important variable was the stories people told and the emotions they suddenly stumbled upon. And that was the only thing you couldn’t measure and couldn’t predict with foresight.

Economist Per Bylund tweeted this recently:

The concept of economic value is easy: whatever someone wants has value, regardless of the reason (if any), and its value is higher the more it’s wanted and the less there is of it.

As investors, the danger is that we leave no room for things to be crazy, dumb or unexplainable.

You'll find Housel's thoughts on why a lot of things don't make sense - and the steps to accept that - at Collaborative Fund.
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No More Boring Forms

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This alternative to Typeform is a winner.

​Formaloo is both powerful and beautiful.

Their drag-and-drop builder lets you create a branded, customized form that looks great on any device. Plus, you can collect unlimited responses - even on a free plan.

A few use cases:

• Job Application Forms
• Newsletter Registration Forms
• Feedback Forms
• Online Booking Forms
• Event Booking Forms

​Use it for free. Paid plans start at $9/month per user.

N.B. Formaloo is not just a form builder. You can build quizzes, surveys, mobile apps and more. To see a full list or free ready-to-use templates, visit the apps & templates page.
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Together With MicroAcquire

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Ready to Pilot Your Next Rocket? 🚀

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You don’t have to go from zero to one to build a profitable business. Save years of grinding and MicroAcquire one instead.

You’ll find 1,000s of vetted startups on MicroAcquire across SaaS, ecommerce, content-based, and more.

Apply your skills and experience to a healthy, growing startup and earn profits from day one. You can even finance your acquisition with Pipe or Clearco.

💸 No debt. No dilution. No problem!

​Join over 100,000 entrepreneurs who love acquiring startups on MicroAcquire:

• $800 million in listing revenue
• 500+ successful acquisitions
• 40+ 5-star reviews on G2​

Browse the listings with a free MicroAcquire buyer account. Upgrade to a Premium subscription to engage sellers and get access to more business metrics.

Find a profitable startup, big or small, ready for you to take it to the next level.

👉 View Listings​
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Domain Snacks
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👉 In Monday's newsletter, we linked to the top 12 domain sales from the Thought convergence auction. One of those names was invest.net which sold for $35,250.

They have a live website so we checked it out.

Their about page states:

As private equity investors, we remain focused on the acquisition of quality businesses across the United States. We provide business owners with liquidity, coupled with a highly-professional management transitions.

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👉 Investing in a fraction of a domain name is now a reality.

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Last Friday, fractional ownership platform Rally began selling shares in the domain name Directions .com.

Andrew Rosener of Media Options played a pivotal role in getting domain names added to Rally. In a series of tweets, Rosener commented about why he became involved in the project and the value he expects it to bring to the domain name aftermarket.

DigiNames posted that the offer was fully funded within minutes. ($140,000 - in case you're interested).

Directions .com last sold for $75,000 at NamesCon in 2020.

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👉 Raymond Hackney has an opinion about the recent online chat calling for domaining’s demise.

"2021 domain sales numbers show domaining is doing fine, but I do think every year becomes harder for the new investor. Unless they have a decent budget, it’s hard to hand register your way to consistent success and it’s those that probably see crypto or NFTs as easier."
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Copy That

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Have you ever been on a desperate hunt for one of these?

🆏

How about this currency symbol?

€

Computer keyboards differ, and your country and language usually dictate the type of keyboard you can purchase.

​Copychar is a basic app that allows you to find and copy special characters.

If you regularly search for currency icons, accented letters, math symbols or even hieroglyphs, then check Copychar first.

(Yes, they have emojis)
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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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🔷 All you need to know: Ryan Selkis is the founder of Messari. Each of the past 4 years, he's spent ~250 hours putting together a report on everything that happened in crypto over the past year - plus the trends to note. Selkis covers investment themes, people to watch, market infrastructure and more. In 165 pages, he cuts to the chase on 121 topics and 22 NFTs. Massive value PDF.
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🔷 Growing the ecosystem: Crypto.com has extended its venture arm’s fund size to $500 million as it looks to more aggressively back early-stage startups to help the nascent ecosystem grow. This follows similar moves by rivals Binance, Coinbase and FTX.
​Related: Crypto.com Says Alleged $15 Million Hack Was Just an 'Incident'​
(When you've paid more than $700 million for the naming rights to a sports arena, we guess $15 million is pocket change)
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🔷 Don't ask: Getting other people’s opinions might seem like a good idea, but it’s probably not as helpful as you think. Stop Asking People What They Think About Your Startup Idea. (Opinions aren't facts)
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🔷 Free startup course: While many of Udacity's courses are paid, they also offer excellent free programs. If you're new to the startup world and looking to establish a suitable business model, Udacity's 'How to Build a Startup' is a great beginning. You'll learn the business skills it takes to bring your idea from conception to market.

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🔷 The next big thing is…: Nikhil Basu Trivedi asked fifty top thinkers in technology to weigh in on what's in store for 2022. You'll uncover a ton of fascinating and nuanced ideas from the likes of Packy McCormick, Amy Wu, Lenny Rachitsky, and others. (Forget the Metaverse. We're returning to the real world)
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🐐 Twitter explained in 15 seconds:

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Not financial, investing or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly for information, entertainment and education purposes. Nothing in here is investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your professional advisors. Do your own research.

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