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Thursday is here – how in the world did that happen? Those days just keep coming. If you’re still undecided about whether or not to join Disrupt, we’ve got you covered: there’s a Disrupt pass for every role and every budget.
It also looks like Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes isn’t going to jail today after all. She was going to start her 11-year sentence, but then something happened. Connie has the full story.
Contents
The businesskinda.com Top 3
- More layoffs: Dropbox CEO Drew Houston announced the news today that the company will be laying off 500 employees, or 16% of its workforce. Ingrid Houston reports that the cuts are due to slowing growth and “the age of AI”.
- Get the popcorn ready: Warner Bros. teams up with Viacom18 to bring “Succession” and other HBO content to India. Manic has more.
- Legacy learns to embrace AI: Jagmeet takes a deep dive into how legacy financial software giant Intuit decided to put out the artificial intelligence welcome mat rather than slam the door and pull the deadbolt.
Startups and VC
Posh is an event management and ticketing platform for all users to organize large or small events, no matter you are an event organizer, promoter or just want to charge your friends for drinking all the expensive alcohol at your birthday party. Lauren reports that Posh today announced its public launch after being in beta since October 2020. Alongside the launch, the company also announced its $5 million seed round.
The concept of SaaS as a business model changed the game in technology by getting users to move away from purchasing software outright and pay for the availability of services on time-based subscriptions, usually with pricing per month or year. Ingrid reports. Today, a London-based startup called M3ter, which is building tools to take the next step in that evolution – more granular, usage-based pricing – is announcing funding due to strong demand. The company raised $14 million.
More? Okay, fine, here’s another handful for you:
Capital efficiency is the new VC filter for startups
Image Credits: PM images (Opens in a new window) /Getty Images
For some B2B SaaS startups, focusing solely on the LTV:CAC ratio is a great way to cover up weak customer metrics. Dividing Customer Lifetime Value by Customer Acquisition Cost can yield useful insights, but only if you have accurate retention data – and lots of it.
“Today, investors are zooming in on other efficiency metrics that paint a more reliable and comprehensive picture of the startup’s capital efficiency, and you should too,” said Igor Shaverskyi, a partner at VC firm Waveup.
In this TC+ column, he offers a formula and benchmarks for calculating CAC payback, which shows founders (and potential investors) “how long it will take for your client’s acquisition costs to pay off.”
Three more from the TC+ team:
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Big Tech Inc.
Let’s talk about Meta today, shall we? Yesterday, the company reported that earnings beat revenue expectations, as stated in Amanda. But that’s not all: our colleagues grabbed a few tidbits, including that the company said 10% of its global ad revenue was at risk from data stream ordering in the European Union. Natasha L has more on that. Also, time spent on Instagram grew 24%, thanks to TikTok-like AI Reel recommendations, reports Darrell.
Meanwhile, Meta also won a court victory, with an appeals court ruling in favor of the tech giant regarding an antitrust suit brought by prosecutors. Sarah writes that “The United States alleged that Meta had illegally maintained a monopoly on the social networking market through its acquisition of the photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, and that it was further empowered by data policies that harmed app developers.”
Here are five more for you:
Janice has been with businesskinda for 5 years, writing copy for client websites, blog posts, EDMs and other mediums to engage readers and encourage action. By collaborating with clients, our SEO manager and the wider businesskinda team, Janice seeks to understand an audience before creating memorable, persuasive copy.