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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for July 23, 2021. It’s been an interesting week for the crypto faithful. One eye-catching piece of news came from Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who said that bitcoin will be a “big part” of the company’s future. In his view it’s the internet’s “native currency.” Kinda? I would have picked a more modern chain, but that’s just me. — Alex
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The TechCrunch Top 3
- Indian IPOs are a go: After much selling and waiting, the Zomato IPO took flight in India to great effect. Shares of the food delivery unicorn went up sharply, marking a successful flotation for the growth-oriented unicorn. For other richly valued Indian unicorns, it’s just about the best news that you could imagine. More, please.
- Snap is very much not dead: Lost amidst all the Facebook and TikTok brouhaha is the fact that Snap is still growing its user base (some) and revenue scale (more). The company still consumes cash and has huge share-based compensation costs, but it reported the sort of growth that delights investors. So, up went its shares.
- China cracks down on edtech: The changing climate for startups and tech giants in China took a new twist this week when news broke that the Chinese Communist Party may force tutoring companies in the country to go nonprofit. That hit a number of stocks, and, we presume, was a pretty bad day for the country’s larger edtech venture and startup ecosystem.
Startups/VC
- Paystand is building Venmo for businesses: Want to send a bloc of cash as a company? The process can suck. Happily Paystand just raised $50 million for its work on the matter. TechCrunch’s Christine Hall told Daily Crunch that she picked up the round because the company is “not only taking on the business-to-business payment space, but is also utilizing blockchain technology as its engine.”
- Former Minter wants to be king: That’s our first read of the startup Monarch, founded by Val Agostino, who was the first PM at Mint.com. What does Monarch do? Helps folks manage their financial futures. Sure, other companies do that, but most of them are garbage. Have you used the Fidelity website lately?
- Lucid Motors discovers the weaknesses of democracy: The EV company had to extend its voting deadline to approve its SPAC deal after not enough folks voted. Per TechCrunch, the “hiccup occurred on Thursday, when shareholders voted to approve all but one of the proposals as part of the merger.” That particular item required more votes. Regardless, it now has the votes and will go public.
- And if you wanted to know what’s up with the Duolingo IPO, the Equity team has you covered.
Susan Su on how to approach growth as your startup raises each round
If you are methodical in your approach to building a larger customer base, it is not difficult to foster steady growth.
Marketers who shift with whichever way the wind is blowing — or blindly follow someone else’s idea of best practices — are less likely to be successful.
“The not-so-secret secret here is that the key to great retention is really simple,” said growth expert Susan Su recently at TechCrunch Early Stage: Marketing and Fundraising.
“It is building a product that solves a real and especially persistent problem for people.”
In a conversation with Managing Editor Eric Eldon, Su delved into several issues, including tips for how founders should discuss growth with their investors and her methods for developing a sample qualitative growth model.
“I firmly believe that every founder should try their hand at growth,” said Su.
(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)
Big Tech Inc.
- GM recalls the Bolt. Again: If you own a 2017-to-2019-era Bolt, it may catch fire. So you’ll want to take part in the current recall. The first to happen since November of 2020 we hasten to add. Still the news underscores that EV tech is coming to maturity, even if some earlier attempts at such vehicles are riding the struggle bus.
- Taboola goes shopping: Fresh off its SPAC combination, Taboola announced that it is buying “Connexity, a marketing technology company that operates a retail- and e-commerce-focused advertising network” for $800 million. You can do this more easily if you are public. Buy things, that is. Shares in the online effluent provider were up sharply in today’s trading.
- Folks still using Tumblr not stoked that Tumblr wants a future: A few days back Daily Crunch was generally positive about Tumblr’s move to introduce paywalls for creators who wanted them. Why not position the venerable company toward the burgeoning creator economy and help folks make a few bucks? Well, users are pissed. It’s a somewhat standard internet mess, but that doesn’t make it any less befuddling.
TechCrunch Experts: Growth Marketing
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We’re reaching out to startup founders to tell us who they turn to when they want the most up-to-date growth marketing practices. Fill out the survey here.
Read one of the testimonials we’ve received below!
Marketer: Jonathan Metrick, Portage Ventures
Recommended by: Matt Byrd
Testimonial: “Jonathan was truly transformative at Policygenius. Prior to his arrival, we were running a smart but disjointed marketing effort. Our messaging was inconsistent, and our approach to understanding channel efficacy was weaker than it could have been. Jonathan brought a growth mindset to the team, and built a hypereffective org in a short amount of time.”