Founder Weekly (Issue 682 April 23 2025)

Welcome to issue 682 of Founder Weekly. Let's get straight to the links this week.

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General

Bootstrapped to $12B: Mailchimp’s Ben Chestnut on Life After the Exit

Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut reflects on the 20-year journey of building and eventually selling Mailchimp for $12 billion, emphasizing the grit, slow growth, and deep personal satisfaction of the process. He shares insights on entrepreneurship’s challenges, the importance of timing, and finding peace after stepping away from the CEO role.

601 real-world gen AI use cases from the world's leading organizations

AI is here, AI is everywhere: Top companies, governments, researchers, and startups are already enhancing their work with Google's AI solutions.

The Healthcare AI Adoption Index

Insights from 400+ healthcare buyers on what’s driving AI experimentation and how this will impact startups and innovation partners.

Models Aren't Moats

Three Signals Amongst the AI Noise.

Marketing, Sales and PR

SSEBITDA – A steady-state profit metric for SaaS companies

How can a business that is “spending to grow” determine whether it’s truly profitable underneath all that “revenue acceleration?” Here’s a way.

Steal these brilliant growth tactics (part 2)

Breaking down my new favorite examples from Lovable, Clay, Typeform, Decagon and more.

Marketing’s New Middleman: AI Agents

From discovery to decision, large language models are starting to gatekeep the marketing funnel, so brand stewards must learn to speak their language.

When Churn Is the Model

Designed to be deleted.

Money and Finance

It feels like Groundhog Day': Tech investors fear yet another funding chill is coming

Tech investors warn of a potential funding freeze due to market volatility and Trump-era tariffs, urging startups to secure capital quickly. The uncertainty has delayed IPOs, tightened VC fundraising, and revived fears of a prolonged downturn reminiscent of post-pandemic challenges.