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A BITE OF HISTORY: APPLE LOGO EVOLUTION SINCE 1976

Throughout its history, Apple's logo has reflected its commitment to innovation and elegant, iconic design, from its quirky beginnings in 1976 to its clean, iconic design today.

THE AI WORKFORCE IS HERE: THE RISE OF A NEW LABOR MARKET

This article discusses the evolving landscape of B2B SaaS, where AI is increasingly capable of executing tasks without human intervention, merging the labor and software markets and creating opportunities for startups to offer "AI colleagues" that perform job functions and "AI vendors/services" that automate entire workflows. This shift is expected to expand markets, increase margins, and lead to the creation of new types of companies, while also necessitating rapid workforce re-skilling and potentially transforming large businesses to be run by minimal human staff.

THE TELEHEALTH TIPPING POINT

Telehealth startups, such as Honeydew for dermatology, are improving access to healthcare in the US by leveraging technology and changing consumer behaviors. Despite poor health outcomes and high healthcare costs in the US, these vertical telehealth companies are emerging across various specialties, providing more convenient and accessible care. They offer healthcare professionals opportunities to supplement their income or work full-time.

WIZ: SCALING FROM $1M ARR TO $100M ARR IN 18 MONTHS

Wiz, the fastest-growing software company ever, achieved explosive growth and a $10B valuation in just 3 years by offering a disruptive cloud-native security platform that provides enterprises with unified visibility and protection across multi-cloud environments. Investors were attracted to Wiz due to the founding team's strong track record and ability to execute, the product's technological innovations and intuitive UI, the acute market need driven by the complexity of securing cloud environments, and the company's rapid adoption by large enterprise customers.

HUMOR FOR GROWTH: THE STRATEGY YOU'RE MISSING

Startups can use humor in clever and appropriate ways as a growth strategy. This has the effect of humanizing their product and making it more memorable to buyers. However, it can't be slapstick - humor has to be deployed correctly in a way that shows your nuanced understanding of the market, delights with surprise, and connects your company to common experiences felt by those in the industry.

THE MONETIZATION PLAYBOOK WE USED AT EVENTBRITE

Eventbrite's journey to profitability involved a strategic shift in its monetization approach. By evaluating each feature based on its impact on key growth metrics like virality, activation, retention, and willingness to pay, the company developed a playbook that maximized both revenue and network effects. The team strategically bundled features into tiered packages, charging for differentiated, high-value offerings while giving away those that drove user adoption and engagement.

SAAS COGS VS. OPEX

Accurately categorizing costs as Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS) and Operational Expenses (OpEx) is key to calculating Gross Profit Margins (GPM), a crucial metric for SaaS scalability and profitability. This article provides a refresher on relevant P&L items, typical CoGS items in SaaS, and benchmarks for GPM. A GPM of 75-80%+ is considered good, with higher percentages potentially leading to better valuations at exit.

CAPTIONS

Make videos you actually want to share (with AI).

GENERATE (ACCELERATOR)

2-month program to help B2B software companies using AI grow faster.

FORBES 2024 AI 50

Recognition of the most promising AI companies by Forbes' AI 50 list.

THE MESSY REALITY BEHIND A SILICON VALLEY UNICORN

For 19 months, sociologist Benjamin Shestakofsky studied the inner workings of AllDone, a tech startup that became a Silicon Valley unicorn by creating a digital marketplace for local services. It heavily relied on Filipino contractors to manually perform tasks assumed to be automated, which allowed the company to rapidly scale despite its software engineers being frequently preoccupied with recruitment. This reliance on low-cost manual labor highlights the persistent role of human workers in the automation era and underscores the global inequalities that technological advancements continue to exploit.

AI WILL NOT REPLACE SEARCH AND SEO WILL NEVER DIE

Despite the rise of AI and language models like ChatGPT, search engines and SEO will remain relevant and important. While AI-powered tools can assist with various SEO tasks, they cannot fully replace the human expertise and decision-making required to develop and execute a successful SEO strategy. Businesses that recognize and adapt to this reality will be well-positioned to succeed in the future.

EIGHT KEY LESSONS FOR ROCKET-SHIPPING AI PRODUCTS

This article outlines eight key lessons for successfully launching AI products, emphasizing the importance of rapid execution, customer-driven development, and continuous innovation. It highlights strategies shared by leaders from companies like Adobe, Notion, and Perplexity, such as leveraging user feedback for product improvement, structuring teams for flexibility, managing costs, and internally testing features before release.

ISSUING REFRESH EQUITY TO YOUR STARTUP EMPLOYEE

Refresh equity grants are common among startups - nearly half of employees receive them by their second year and 70% receive them by the end of their initial four-year grant.

RAISING MONEY AFTER A ROUGH PATCH?

VCs need proof of at least three months of continuous strong growth before investing.

ENOUGH PROBLEMS TO GO AROUND

The worst kind of company is one where there are not enough real problems to solve, leading employees to invent fictitious and dreadful ones out of boredom and a lack of meaningful work.

from Chainguard

APPLE ALERTS USERS IN 92 NATIONS TO MERCENARY SPYWARE ATTACKS

Apple has sent threat notifications to iPhone users in 92 countries warning them about potential targeting by mercenary spyware attacks. The alerts state that Apple detected attempts to remotely compromise the users' iPhones, likely due to who they are or what they do. The warnings come amid rising concerns over state-sponsored efforts to influence elections, though Apple did not comment on the timing.

PERSONAL INFORMATION OF 287,000 TAXI PASSENGERS EXPOSED IN DATA BREACH

Irish taxi software firm iCabbi suffered a data breach that exposed nearly 300,000 customers' personal data, including names, emails, and phone numbers of senior officials and journalists. The breach was due to an unprotected database resulting from "human error" during a database migration. iCabbi acknowledged the breach, stating that it notified affected taxi companies, but did not disclose if any individuals suffered losses.

HOME DEPOT CONFIRMS THIRD-PARTY DATA BREACH EXPOSED EMPLOYEE INFO

Home Depot has confirmed that a third-party SaaS vendor that it uses was breached, leading to the exposure of 10k employee's data. The exposed information includes names, work email addresses, and user IDs. This information is not inherently sensitive but could be utilized in phishing attempts.

INSIDE AWS'S CRUSADE AGAINST IP SPOOFING AND DDOS ATTACKS

In an ongoing effort to combat DDoS attacks, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made significant progress in tackling the long-standing issue of IP spoofing, which allows attackers to hide the source of attacks. In this interview, AWS explains its new approach in disrupting a decades-old problem that has given attackers a major advantage.

CREATING THE PERFECT BUG BOUNTY AUTOMATION

Hakluke describes his bug bounty automation process and its evolution. Hakluke began with a bash script before moving to a framework that relied upon Django admin commands. To scale better, Hakluke moved to a distributed Golang environment and now plans to move over to a Cloud Native solution.

GOOGLE PUBLIC DNS'S APPROACH TO FIGHT AGAINST CACHE POISONING ATTACKS

Google Public DNS uses multiple strategies like case randomization and DNS-over-TLS to protect users from cache poisoning attacks. These measures make it harder for attackers to manipulate DNS responses and improve security for users worldwide. Google Public DNS aims to enhance DNS security by actively implementing countermeasures and collaborating with the DNS community.

KNOSTIC (PRODUCT LAUNCH)

Knostic prevents the chatbots used by enterprises from sharing sensitive information with employees who should not have access to it.

GOOGLE CLOUD'S AI-POWERED SECURITY TOOLS IMPROVE ENTERPRISE SECURITY

Google Cloud has integrated its flagship Gemini language model into new AI-powered security tools unveiled at its Next 2024 event. These include Gemini in Threat Intelligence for conversational threat research, Gemini in Security Operations to assist in investigations and draft detection rules, and Gemini in Security Command Center to generate summaries of security alerts.

JIGSAW

Jigsaw is a tool to obfuscate raw shell code by outputting randomized shell code, a lookup table, and a C/C++ stub to reassemble it at runtime.

96% OF US HOSPITAL WEBSITES SHARE VISITOR INFO WITH META, GOOGLE, DATA BROKERS

Research from the University of Pennsylvania reveals a concerning lack of privacy on hospital websites, with 96% transmitting user data to third parties like Google, Meta, and data brokers without explicit consent. Despite being places where privacy is expected, many hospitals employ tracking technologies and lack transparency, with only 56% of those with privacy policies disclosing the third parties receiving user information.

THOUSANDS OF LG TVS ARE VULNERABLE TO TAKEOVER — HERE'S HOW TO ENSURE YOURS ISN'T ONE

Researchers at Bitdefender have discovered multiple vulnerabilities affecting LG TVs running WebOS versions 4 through 7 that allow remote attackers to gain root access, execute arbitrary commands, and potentially drop malware or conduct lateral network attacks.

CHROME ENTERPRISE GETS PREMIUM SECURITY BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR IT

Google's Chrome Enterprise Premium promises to add security features at a cost of $6/user/month. Chrome Enterprise Premium supports enforcing policies, managing software updates and extensions, and some TCP protocols such as SSH and RDP. Early adopters have reportedly been getting value from it.

TWITTER'S CLUMSY PIVOT TO X.COM IS A GIFT TO PHISHERS

X briefly launched a change that automatically replaced any instance of x.com (even in cases like fedex.com) in its redirects with twitter.com. The feature has since been rolled back.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES ITS UPGRADED FIND MY DEVICE NETWORK

Google's Find My Device network has been updated to be able to locate offline Android devices and integrate some third-party trackers.

WHY CISA IS WARNING CISOS ABOUT A BREACH AT SISENSE

CISA is investigating a breach at Sisense, and has advised Sisense customers to reset their credentials due to possible data exposure.

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AI WILL NOT REPLACE SEARCH AND SEO WILL NEVER DIE

‘MADE FOR ADVERTISING' WEBSITES ARE THE MARKETING INDUSTRY'S LATEST MESSY SITUATION

The marketing industry is grappling with the rise of "made for advertising" (MFA) websites, which lure visitors in with clickbait headlines and then inundate them with ads. Despite industry warnings and efforts to block MFA sites, they continue to prevail, underscoring the challenges of defining and mitigating such platforms' impact. Marketers must weigh the risks of poor user experience and inflated ad costs against the potential benefits of wide-reaching ad placements.

HUMOR FOR GROWTH: THE STRATEGY YOU'RE MISSING

This is a deep dive into how to use humor to grow your product. People tend to think more highly of brands that use humor because it creates a sense of mutual understanding, can be motivating, and helps them stand out. There are 4 places where brands can leverage humor in growth strategies: in marketing, within the product, during the sales process, and internally. The article covers 10 specific opportunities to inject humor, which include 404 pages and confirmation pages.

THE +20% CONTENT STRATEGY

The “Plus 20% Content Strategy” advises marketers to improve social media engagement by analyzing content performance and adjusting strategies incrementally. By focusing on content that exceeds the median by 20% and doubling down on its production while cutting underperforming content, marketers can enhance engagement gradually.

COMMERCIAL VS. TRANSACTIONAL EMAILS: 5 POWERFUL WAYS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR MESSAGE

Commercial emails promote commercial goods or services, while transactional emails facilitate already agreed-upon transactions or update customers about ongoing transactions. Optimizing transactional emails without violating CAN-SPAM involves keeping designs minimal, only including recommended products based on purchased items, and adding an opt-in message to make it easier for a user to hop on to your email list.

10 SURVEY EMAIL EXAMPLES TO INSPIRE YOUR CAMPAIGN

HOW WIX SOURCES INFLUENCERS

The Head of Influencer Marketing at Wix outlines 5 steps the brand uses to source influencers organically. First, search directly on social media platforms using niche keywords. Next, look for videos with a minimum of 10K views, look at the creator's bio for a match, and watch 2-3 most recent videos to ensure the quality of sound and visuals are decent. Lastly, check whether the creator's email address is shared or if DMs are open. This process can be time-consuming, but it helps the brand vet quality influencers that have long-term potential better than any other tool.

5 WAYS TO BE A BETTER MARKETING LEADER FOR YOUR SOCIAL TEAMS

This piece shares 5 ways for CMOs and marketing leaders to better support social teams. It highlights the importance of trusting the expertise of social teams, asking curiosity-driven questions, and defining social media's position in the marketing funnel. Every CMO should host a 30 minute meeting every month where the social lead provides a trend report on how content is performing overall and how the team plans to pivot in the upcoming months to address algorithm shifts. This creates a positive narrative that the CMO respects the social team's position and expertise.

THE 10 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GOOD AND BAD LANDING PAGES

The top 1% of landing pages have an outcome-based headline, only one offer, and multiple social proof layers.

HOW BILINGUAL ADS DRIVE RESULTS FOR BRANDS ON TIKTOK

New research shows the best way for brands to connect with the bilingual Hispanic audience on TikTok is through mixed-language ads that use both Spanish and English.

NBCU NETS $1.2 BILLION IN OLYMPICS AD SALES MORE THAN 100 DAYS OUT FROM PARIS 2024

NBCU's $1.2 billion in ad sales, driven by innovative formats and interest in advertising during women's sports events, signifies a potential record-breaking year.

THE ART OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT IN THE FOG OF AI

PMs charged with integrating AI into product development must adapt their traditional linear approach to design, embrace the unpredictable nature of AI, and implement strategies such as fast feedback loops, over-measurement of user experiences, and utilization of smaller models to control output. They should ultimately aim to create products that evolve alongside users.

HOW TO USE LLMS IN YOUR PRODUCTS

This post details considerations for incorporating LLMs into existing products, highlighting the need to adjust mental models, revamp workflows, and employ techniques like Retrieval Augmented Generation while navigating challenges such as human-in-the-loop validation.

GEMINI 1.5 AND GOOGLE'S NATURE

Sundar Pichai and Thomas Kurian covered Google's deep investments in AI and superior infrastructure at the Google Cloud Next keynote, showcasing Google Cloud as a leader in digital transformation and AI advancements. They highlighted the introduction of grounding with Google Search to reduce hallucinations in language models and announced Gemini 1.5 Pro, demonstrating its ability to handle extensive contexts and integrate with enterprise data services for more efficient operations.