Parse notes
Last week we flagged that Santandar was committing £100m to Spanish startups, now HSBC is weighing in on climate. It's looking to support climate companies that are focusing on EV charging, battery storage, sustainable food and agriculture, and carbon removal technologies.
Sales of “dumb phones” are on the rise, the count of apps in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store are down 25%. As the appetite for tangible experiences grows, companies are popping up that help facilitate IRL interactions in order to get people away from their phones.
While a tad bit controversial, being a dual-threat CEO can be really handy. Understanding deals, talking with entrepreneurs, and seeing what is happening through deal flow is actually really beneficial for a CEO who is usually too in the mix of their own company.
“Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions”. We all know it, but rarely do you hear it being said in an organization. Effective communication with your leadership is about acknowledging they have limited cognitive bandwidth and acting accordingly. If you’re at the top, this is a nice reminder to have empathy over what’s happening below.
Time spent on UX tinkering should be proportional to the level of conviction you have on your hypothesis. Have a launch checklist and allocate an overall owner for each one. Be patient - launches often take longer than forecast.
If you test a hypothesis and it fails, good, you can now try something new. If it only kinda works, you’re in this limbo state of deciding whether to double down and re-test or pull the plug. This is where time and resources go to die. Defining success and failure specifically and leaving little room for the inbetween is vital.
Going through an exit, whether positive or negative, is an emotional experience. You’re selling something you’ve likely poured years into, and it’ll never be the same again. Deciding when, and for how much, often comes down to trusting your gut.
We’re witnessing the convergence of SaaS and embedded finance. SaaS platforms are introducing financial services into their existing offerings, increasing their user LTV through stickiness, and unlocking new revenue streams.
According to data compiled by KPMG, investment dropped to £4.6 billion in the first half of 2023 compared to the £10.8 billion witnessed in 2022.
Peter Thiel (billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir) describes his framework for evaluating markets. Start small and expand.
The dust is settling around the excitement around generative AI, which means people are settling in to figure out how it can be useful in enterprise. Short story: it’s hugely beneficial. Long story: it’s going to take time.