To get a roundup of toptecheasy.com’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.
G’day, crunch bunch! We’re both starting to get a little excited about toptecheasy.com Disrupt in October. Would you believe that even though we’ve been working together for a long time, this will be the first time your loyal Daily Crunch co-writers will meet in person? There will be high fives, horrible puns and maybe a shared drink or two. Good times.
We’d love to see you there too. Did you know that as a volunteer at toptecheasy.com Disrupt you can attend for free? There are still a few opportunities, so apply quickly pronto. — Christine and hi
The toptecheasy.com Top 3
- Kimberly Bryant fired: Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant was fired by the organization’s board of directors eight months after Bryant was suspended. Natasha M and Dominic-Madori are teaming up to investigate Bryant’s lawsuit against BGC, alleging that the new organization caused CEO Heather Hiles to both wrongful suspension and conflict of interest.
- meow: Have you ever looked at a photo of a car and swore you could hear the engine spinning? Well, get ready to experience that with the new Dodge Charger EV concept. Kirsten tempts us with the car’s features and how it “rewrites the rules” of a traditional electric vehicle.
- Get out your pitchforks: HBO Max is clearing out its closets in preparation for its Discovery+ merger, meaning it had to say “goodbye” to 36 titles. As Ivan reports, some creators aren’t thrilled with what’s been chosen to go.
Startups and VC
New York-based Life Extension Ventures is a new $100 million fund that claims it will focus on “longevity for people and planet.” In practice, that means supporting founders who accelerate the science of longevity, Mike reports.
Every aspect of a startup revolves around storytelling. Hiring your first employees at a startup is storytelling: you tell a story that contrasts with their steady, reliable job at an established company, and throw it at the risk of taking your startup. Acquiring early customers falls into the same category. Marketing? The same. To advertise? The same. Increase investment? Oh boy: Same. hi examines why your startup needs a solid lead storyteller.
S’mores:
- Doctor Jim, WebMD: Paul reports that WebMD the French medical news and information platform Jim.fr . takes over
- Save it for a snowy day: Rocketplace raises $9 million to build the “fidelity for crypto” amid the crypto winter that continues, Mary Ann reports.
- Come Fly With Me. No not you. Frederick reports that Aero is finding a space between chartering flights and flying commercial flights, raising $65 million for its semi-private airline.
- When the sun cools your ice cream: Tage has a great story today about Paris-based company Koolboks making the switch from camping fridges to solar cooling for places without constant electricity. The company raised a cool $2.5 million.
- Well, it’s a growth industry: The shortage of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, unpredictable prices and the proliferation of substandard products in markets are some of the biggest challenges facing Kenya’s agricultural sector. Kenyan agtech iProcure raises $10 million to fix that, annie reports.
- Toast the toaster: hi asks if we really need a toaster with wifi at $340. You don’t even have to click the link – the answer is no. There you saved yourself from a 600-word diatribe. Don’t mention it.
Why do startup valuations fall when interest rates rise?
Image Credits: Andri Onufrijenko / Getty Images
The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to curb inflation. This is just one of the many factors driving down the valuation of startups today. But why?
Higher inflation directly affects access to capital, your customers’ ability to pay, and not coincidentally, the service you receive from providers (including your own employees).
“If your customers are taking advantage of inflation, chances are your company will too,” said Equidam founder Daniel Faloppa.
“However, in most cases, when your customers benefit, your service providers suffer.”
(toptecheasy.com+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams move forward. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
Yesterday was all about TikTok, and today it’s Google. Firstly, sole proprietors in Europe now have the option to subscribe to Google’s Workspace Individual plan, Paul writes. You know, the artist formerly known as G Suite. Next one, Taylor outlines a plan by some Google employees who are asking the company to expand employee health benefits, most notably by adding abortion and privacy protections after the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Then, Frederick sat down with James Ward, Google’s product manager for Kotlin, to discuss why the company is still making every effort to use Kotlin as the preferred language for writing Android apps. And finally, Google is rolling out its new search updates to help users find higher quality information, Aisha writes.
