Founder Weekly (Issue 423 - February 19 2020)

Founder Weekly - Issue 423

February 19, 2020

Founder Weekly

Welcome to issue 423 of Founder Weekly. Let's get straight to the links this week.

General

Over the last 5 years of bootstrapping, I’ve tried a lot of things, and discovered there are many ways to create hassle for yourself that wastes time and energy and distracts you from building value in your business. Avoiding hassle is especially important for a bootstrapped company. If you want to absolutely minimize hassle as you run your software business, you can stick to each one of these rules, which I present in no particular order:

A battle for video consumers in 2020.

Our ranking of the top consumer marketplace startups and private companies. Who's capturing the most dollars? Who's growing the fastest? What's trending?

What I learned from the first year of running my Explorers Club membership program.

The country has 33,000 businesses at least a century old. How have so many survived – and what does it mean for Japan’s future?

Marketing, Sales and PR

Sales velocity can tell you how much money your business makes in a day — if you aren't measuring it, you're missing out on some insightful data. Comparing your business' sales velocity over time can reveal the best ways to optimize your selling efforts. Learn how to track and boost your sales velocity to make the most of each and every day.

A fight is breaking out in SaaS between two rival camps: sales and self-service. Learn how to create a go-to-market strategy that starts with product and seamlessly hands off from product to people.

Money and Finance

Ten years from now, what seismic change will we reflect back on and think, “well that was pretty obvious, in retrospect”?  Debt is going to finally come to the tech industry. We can hate it, we can criticize it, we can raise the alarm about how dangerous debt is to the VC model we’ve honed to perfection over decades. Or we can see this moment for what it is: a turning point into a new deployment period for software and the internet. Debt is coming, whether we like it or not. And I’m actually pretty excited for it. 

In this post, Incredible Health' CEO & Co-Founder Iman Abuzeid breaks down the complicated (and often convoluted) process of fundraising and makes public her lessons for the Founder community on what it takes to raise venture capital from top-tier VCs.

During the course of a fundraise, founders are likely to encounter a few questions from VC’s that seem awkward or even a bit unfair. These are questions that usually don’t have anything to do with the business itself, but center around the dynamics of the round or maybe the motivations of the founders. Below are the most common flavors of these questions.  For each, I’ll share some commentary on what investors are trying to uncover and talk how to handle them.

Startups of the Week

CleanRobotics’ TrashBot™ sorts waste more accurately than people. Powered by AI and a cloud connected robotic system, we improve diversion with less waste and more recyclables. For many facilities, this means instant savings with a reduced landfill footprint.

Rise is the sleep app that actually helps you become a better sleeper.

Codelessly connect your site to your stack. Automate tedious work so engineering can focus on product. Freshpaint integrates your marketing and analytics tools with one click.

A smart bracelet that gives you an easy out from an iffy situation.

Tips, Tools and Services

Many people believe the more they work, the more productive they are. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. How much work is enough work? Is there an ideal number of hours you should work everyday? This is an interesting question at the intersection of productivity and time management. And the good news is: we may have an answer.

Learn how to stay focused at work with "deep work" methods proven to help your productivity and career trajectory.

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