Rebranding as "Growth Blueprint"

Rebranding as "Growth Blueprint"

June 21, 2023

Originally launching the newsletter as #AskPeshev nearly 4 years ago and going through several iterations, a unanimous Twitter poll sparked the new name of this series:

Growth Blueprint

. 📈

The markets have been fluctuating a lot over the past month. After close to a year of turmoil, combined with hyperinflation and mad interest rates, the stock market kept pacing upward for 3 weeks in a row up until Jun 15.

Inflation retracted to 4% in May, compared to 9.1% last June - and it's a start! But the Fed hasn't given up on future raises, albeit acknowledging the economic slowdown, the effect of three major banks shutting down, lower employment opportunities, and mixed signals in the commerce space.

Interestingly enough, December flagged a record of 31.9% of houses bought with all cash. The latest reports aren't too different - still a very strong market that dodges mortgages (due to high interest rates), yet signals enough capital out there to buy expensive properties with no debt.

Executives and business leaders keep scratching their heads at the outlook of a turbulent market faced with ongoing consumerism. US eCommerce in 2022 topped $1 trillion for the first time, and sales are mostly steady over the first months of this year too.

There's a shift in purchasing habits - different commerce categories - and ecosystems like dropshipping are having a harder time finding product market fit and launching successful stores. Shopify's price hikes in April went from $29 to $39 monthly for basic and $79 to $105/mo for the following tier. Former users were grandfathered for three months, and hitting the expiration date results in more stores closed after diminished sales and a slight uptick in recurring costs.

Bottom line:

companies should keep pivoting even with exhausted resources since the beginning of the pandemic

. 

Larger players went through layoffs and lower valuations to maintain velocity and improve efficiency. But what about us, founders of smaller and mid-sized businesses?

My network revolves around different strategies to persevere: 

  • Optimizing resources internally 

  • Pivoting lower cost plans and onboarding packages

  • Expanding to new industries that are still profitable

  • Employing more AI to automate and deliver better results, faster

  • Holding off on hiring frenzies 

And for all stages of business, we've been adapting and employing different frameworks to launch, fund, grow, and exit a business.

Several notable mentions this week:

  1. Michael Girdley: Building your first business. I featured Girdley in my content creators roundup and one of his latest email newsletters covered funding strategies for businesses - including SBA or bank loans, PE or VC capital, sweat equity. If you haven't subscribed yet, here's his form.

  2. Jay Vasantharajah: Deal structuring. Jay covered practical insights into deal structuring, managing risk, reducing upfront costs, and increasing valuation for sellers. He revises three common deal structuring forms - earnouts, seller notes, and seller equity rollover. Follow his nuggets here.

  3. Jason M. Lemkin: Marketing tactics for SaaS startups. I've been following Lemkin since his early Quora days, post-exits, and his SaaStr growth path. His LinkedIn content is excellent.

For a wrap up - the AI game is going out of control.

Mistral AI raised $113 million two months

. While I understand the rapidly pacing game of trained models and endless opportunities, in a market like this, money flows freely toward the ecosystems that look promising enough.

This may be the reason for three strong market weeks... But a possible collapse of AI may lead to a horrendous market stance for 12-18 months ahead. Be careful what you bet on.

If you like the newsletter, we're launching a SparkLoop promo with referrals for new subscribers. New readers are always welcome and I want to reward you for helping out.

Mario

 My Take 

✍️LinkedIn Deck:   The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 199,240 CEOs employed across small and large businesses. That's why it seems so attractive. Everyone wants to be the CEO of Apple, Tesla, Microsoft - you name it. But guess what -the CEO role mimics the principal role in your high school: politics, angry parents, student confrontations, and many others. Why might the founder of a company appoint someone else as a CEO?

 Business Strategy 📄 Oracle health unit layoffs - Amid rising inflation and interest rates, Oracle has downsized hundreds in its health unit, which includes the recently-acquired Cerner, due to difficulties in Cerner's work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, reports the Insider. Severance packages for affected employees will include several weeks' pay and vacation day payouts.📄 Beyonce concert brings Swedish inflation - According to Danske Bank's Chief Economist  Beyoncé's world tour kickoff in Sweden potentially contributed to May's inflation with the surge in hotel and restaurant prices due to tens of thousands of fans flooding Stockholm. However, Grahn expects a return to normalcy in June, although there are suggestions that a similar inflation bump might occur during Bruce Springsteen's three-night concert in Gothenburg.📄 Binance US layoffs  - Binance's U.S. affiliate has initiated layoffs following charges of securities law violations by regulators, which also sought to freeze its assets, according to anonymous sources and social media posts from employees. The dismissals reportedly affected around 50 individuals, including members of the legal, compliance, and risk departments, though Reuters was unable to independently confirm these details.📄 Amazon Acquisition of iRobot - Amazon's proposed acquisition of iRobot, worth $1.7 billion, has received approval from the UK's antitrust regulator, which determined it wouldn't pose competition concerns in the UK. While the European Commission is set to decide on the deal by July 6, the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. is still contemplating whether to initiate an official investigation into the acquisition.📄 Byju second wave of layoffs - Byju’s is set to cut between 500 to 1,000 jobs, inclusive of non-sales roles, as part of an effort to enhance its financial performance, according to an anonymous source. This follows a series of job reductions over the past year, totaling over 3,000, as the $22 billion-valued startup, the most valuable in India, strives for profitability.📄 Vodafone and Three to merge - Vodafone and Hutchison have announced a merger with "no cash consideration to be paid," integrating debt from both entities and targeting a completion date by the end of 2024, pending regulatory approvals. The merged entity, valued at around £15 billion, would boast approximately 28 million subscribers and an ownership split with Vodafone holding a 51% stake and Hutchison, 49%.

Global News😢 The layoff-verse is adding up, yet it's half the number compared to Q1 '23

  • 2023 Companies with layoffs: 789

  • Employees were laid off in 2023: 210,069

  • Q2 2023 Layoffs: 39,246

📈

The global economy waves red banners today.

  • DOW: 34,053 (-0.72%)

  • NASDAQ: 13,667 (-0.17%)

  • S&P: 4,388 (-0.48%)

 📉 The global economy waves red banners today.

    • Revenue: $160.3M (- 45% from Q1 2022)

    • Net loss: $81.1M (loss widened by 167%)

    • $2.95 loss per share

     📉 Vodaphone and Three stocks

    • Vodaphone: £72.3

    • Three: $5.80

    Investing Updates 

    • Talentfy - securing €400,000 for a digital recruitment platform that helps businesses hire IT talent in less than 10 days. It works as a network between employers and headhunters that get assigned to the position via AI technology

    With the announcement of Nimity as Seedblink's new product to help entrepreneurs ane private investors, let's look at the latest investment opportunities:

    • Weavy - Recently gaining the support of Atlassian Ventures, Weavy is a toolkit for developers to add collaboration and productivity to web and mobile apps, aiming to increase functionality, connect users together, and focus on their core products.

    • SoCyber - secured €1M in funding to enhance cybersecurity automation utilizing machine learning technology.

    • Planboo - securing €1M in funding to refine the biochar-based carbon sequestration process, along with its digital solution for measuring, reporting, and verifying carbon removal. Very excited about the secondary market (even though I couldn't purchase additional equity within SeedBlink itself at a lower multiplier).

    Note: Got a round going that you want to feature - your own business or a portfolio company? Get in touch

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