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WHAT IT'S LIKE TO START A JOB AS CEO

Joining as the CEO of a company you didn’t start can present many challenges, from avoiding organizational rejection to making big decisions right away. Here’s a breakdown of some recent observations.

HOW SALES PEOPLE WIN

Have a product that solves a genuine user problem and simply articulate that to the customer.

RETURN TO OFFICE IS BULLSHIT AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT

Companies forcing ultimatums on employees will lose talent and struggle to hire as employees start countering companies' ultimatums with their own.

HOW COMPANIES SPY ON THEIR EMPLOYEES

Monitoring employees' activity goes beyond just checking who swiped their badge to get into the office. Tools are propping up that enable employers to monitor employee internet usage and even take screen recordings.

FINTECH LOSES UK FUNDING CROWN

The UK’s energy startup sector has raised the most VC cash in 2023, knocking fintech off the top spot it has held for a decade. It has raised $3bn so far this year versus fintech’s $2.1bn, down from a high of $13.5bn in 2021.

AI AND JOBS

AI is great at doing tasks, but not so much doing full jobs. Sam Altman argues that AI will enable humans to focus on different work that AI can’t do.

LIFE VISIONS AND WHY YOU PROBABLY NEED ONE

You likely have OKRs for your business, but do you have them for yourself? We often just wake up each day and try our best. Having an idea of what you’re working towards specifically can help make it feel less like Groundhog Day.

WHAT WE LEARNED ABOUT PAID ADS FOR A DEV TOOL

A deep dive into how to make your paid ads more effective, especially if your target customers are developers.

THE BUSINESS OF ANNUAL LETTERS

A big part of a CEO's job is to communicate with their investors. Good writing often reflects good thinking. Some of the most successful companies and investors out there are also great writers that publish a yearly letter to their investors.

COMPANY CULTURE IS A CRUCIAL FACTOR FOR JOB SEEKERS

Written for operators, but useful for founders if you flip it. Your culture should be identifiable throughout your hiring process. Give time for potential hires to interview you and learn about your company culture.

THE PROBLEM WITH SHORT TERM THINKING

Being short-termist is like playing Jenga. Each time you cut a corner, you remove a block, and your tower gets a little bit more fragile.

CONFUSION AND CERTAINTY

As a founder, we don’t want to admit that we don’t get something. If we pretend we’re not confused, the confusion compounds. Feel comfortable admitting you don’t understand something, and often people will help you out.

TIPS ON LEADERSHIP FROM STARBUCKS CEO

Stay close to your product and customers. Execs at Starbucks should be able to make a latte.

WHAT TO WATCH IN INDIA

India has a population of 1.4 billion. By 2041, 59% of the population will be of working age. That’s a huge workforce. The government has been investing in tech, and large VCs are propping up in the region. This deep-dive on eight startups showcases the innovation coming from the Indian ecosystem.

AI, HARDWARE, AND VIRTUAL REALITY

AI, combined with hardware, is going to enable groundbreaking forms of virtual and augmented reality. Here’s a breakdown of the latest news in each of those domains.

IS DATA STILL A MOAT?

Generative AI is reshaping the traditional value placed on vast data collections. The uniqueness and importance of proprietary data may be waning as large language models can be fine-tuned with minimal data and even generate synthetic datasets.

IS YOUR INTERNATIONAL GROWTH STRATEGY A HOT MESS?

The prospects of internationalization at your startup are exciting. Bigger TAM, new revenue, risk diversification - but often there’s a misalignment between internal buzz and external traction that’s explained by a lack of preparation. International expansion is a strategy, not a quick tactic.

HOW FOUNDERS CAN ENGAGE WITH A CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER

Regardless of the seniority of the Chief People Officer, have them report to you. This signals that the founder/CEO cares intimately about the needs of employees and keeps you connected to the culture and general vibe.

8 WAYS SAAS COMPANIES CAN USE AI TO GET AHEAD

This blog post features several AI SaaS use cases for various departments, highlighting ways the technology can be used to gain a competitive edge.

WORKING AT A STARTUP VS IN BIG TECH

Startups are an excellent environment to learn and build generalist skill sets, but they’re financially risky and stressful. Big Tech enables you to build a specialism and a financial buffer, but you’ll have to deal with bureaucracy and a lack of purpose. Written from an engineer's perspective.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS YOU FACE AS A STARTUP FOUNDER?

Your biggest challenge evolves as the company grows, from finding a co-founder to simply sticking to it and launching new products in order to expand your TAM.

ARTISANAL EMAIL

AI is making it easier to craft emails. Sales teams are using tools to find leads and outbound them more easily than ever. The signal-to-noise ratio is going to grow. This automated future raises all kinds of questions for businesses and the role crafted emails will play in it.

TRUST YOUR CUSTOMERS

Default to trusting your customers. The goodwill it brings is worth the loss from bad actors.

A SIMPLE NOTE TAKING SYSTEM

There are many methods for note-taking, from transcribing every call to archiving everything in Notion. Often, the simplest solution scales. Have a doc for daily notes and one for each individual you interact with regularly.

INVESTMENT IN BATTERY STARTUPS ON THE RISE

SERIES, WHICH AIMS TO REPLACE ERP SYSTEMS, LANDS $25M

Series is a platform designed to centralize and automate business finance and operations. Backed by $25M in funding, it offers modular ERP-like features, enabling companies to choose functionalities best suited for them. By streamlining operations, it aims to reduce the complexity and cost businesses face when managing multiple vendors and systems.

WITH A16Z GP KRISTINA SHEN

HOW MIRO GROWS: TACTICAL LESSONS FROM THE $17.5B WHITEBOARD

EXPERIENCE DOESN’T MATTER

THE GENERALIST DISEASE

THOUGHTS ON EARLY-STAGE PARTNERSHIPS

HOW TO USE AI TO BRAINSTORM A BILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS IDEA

TOWARDS STICKINESS

MERCEDES-BENZ PARTNERS WITH MASTERCARD

THE CASE FOR NOT DEFERRING HAPPINESS

HSBC MAKES $1BN AVAILABLE FOR CLIMATE TECH COMPANIES

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.

THE RISE OF OFFLINE APPS

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.

DUAL THREAT CEOS THAT BUILD AND INVEST

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.

COMMUNICATING UPWARDS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION

“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.

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN PREPARING A PRODUCT LAUNCH

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.

THE WORST OUTCOME IS A MEDIOCRE SUCCESS

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.

WHEN IT’S OVER: THOUGHTS ON SELLING YOUR COMPANY

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.

VERTICAL OPERATING SYSTEMS AND EMBEDDED FINTECH

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.

FINTECH FUNDING IN LONDON DOWN

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.

IS IT BETTER TO TARGET A SMALL MARKET OR A LARGE ONE?

Peter Thiel (billionaire venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir) describes his framework for evaluating markets. Start small and expand.

IS GENERATIVE AI AN ENTERPRISE THING?

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.

MUSK, GATES, AND ZUCKERBERG WALK INTO AN AI MEETING

Sounds like the start of a bad joke. Tech titans Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg met in Washington on Wednesday to talk about AI regulation. They were joined by founders from leading AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. Hopefully, we hear some insight from the meeting soon!

SOFTWARE TRANSCENDS BORDERS—WHY NOT MONEY?

Global money movement is a really complex topic. It’s really a lot like language. Each country grew up with its own system and way of communicating with money, and we’re still in the phase of translating that into a global language.