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  • NFR #24 - Immigrants, Patreon, Influencers & Lab Grown Meat

NFR #24 - Immigrants, Patreon, Influencers & Lab Grown Meat

Immigrants, Patreon, Influencers & Lab Grown Meat

Immigrants, Patreon, Influencers & Lab Grown Meat

☕️ Morning Inspiration:

“You’re not here to live a conventional life. Stop following conventional rules, entertaining conventional thinking, and listening to conventional people.”

Steven Bartlett

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Each week I will continue to update with the latest content.

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🤖 eCommerce News:

“Patreon isn’t a new company, but Gutman thinks that since its mission from the get-go has been to help creative people make money, it’s better prepared to lead in this supposed “second generation” than social media platforms like his former employer Instagram. Regardless, social platforms are investing heavily in direct-to-creator payments. But Patreon’s model enables sustainable, monthly creator payouts, as opposed to one-time surprise bonuses.”

“The deal would see the Paris-based commerce media platform leverage Iponweb's media-trading marketplace, demand-side platform (DSP) and supply-side platform (SSP) to help scale its first-party capabilities as marketers contend with cookie deprecation and other changes to third-party identifiers.

The acquisition positions Criteo as a more significant contender in the race to find solutions that can provide an effective alternative to cookies.”

Ampla Technologies, a startup that provides financing to small-to-medium sized consumer-facing businesses, announced today it has raised $40 million in a Series A round of funding co-led by VMG Partners and Forerunner Ventures.”

Veho, a startup applying technology to next-day package delivery, aims to solve the last mile of delivery — how packages get from fulfillment centers to the customer’s door. It also wants to do it with a unique flair: providing transparency into deliveries that starts with the option of when, where and how customers want their packages delivered and then real-time communication throughout the whole process.”

“Forever 21, the fast fashion retailer owned by Authentic Brands Group, is hopping on the Roblox bandwagon with an exclusive partnership with the gaming platform, per a press release. It entails the Forever 21 Shop City, wherein users and fashion influencers own and manage stores as they try to become the "top shop."“

Mavrck, which has built a platform for brands and media companies to source and engage with influencers for marketing campaigns, has raised $120 million in growth equity from a single backer, Summit Partners. Mavrck will use the capital to continue investing in its platform, and for business development. It is not disclosing valuation.”

“Israeli lab-grown meat developer Future Meat Technologies has raised $347 million in a Series B funding round to build a US production facility for its cell-grown meat products, the company announced on Sunday, according to Bloomberg.”

“Zepto, a Mumbai-based startup that operates a 10-minute instant grocery delivery service, has more than doubled its valuation to $570 million from $225 million less than two months ago as it expands into newer cities.”

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📈 Trends Of The Week:

Neurodiversity: A New Form of Inclusivity

“Companies are increasingly focused on how to be more inclusive. Beyond the obvious moral reasons, inclusivity can have significant financial implications.

An Adobe survey found that 34%-58% of consumers will stop using a brand that doesn’t represent their identity in its advertising.”

Source: Google Trends

“Entrepreneurs can leverage the neurodiversity trend through:

  • Inclusive advertising, like this Gucci campaign featuring a model with Down syndrome (including the brand’s most-liked Instagram post ever at the time)

  • Children’s books, apps, and other learning programs that incorporate neurodiversity

  • Products tailored to certain variations, such as productivity apps to best harness the creativity of those with ADHD

  • Positive psychology merchandise that celebrates differences (this T-shirt for introverts brings in $17k+/mo. on Amazon)

  • Educational short-form video content, already trending on TikTok: #ADHD -- 8B+ views, #Downsyndrome -- 5B+, #Autism -- 19m+

  • Guides for companies to create a conducive environment for those with neurodivergent features, because they can spend more time adjusting to their work environment, or may need help to manage social impressions and block out distractions”

Rare Collectible Investments as a Service

“There are numerous other collectibles niches that would benefit from investment as a service:

  • Comic books (~60% ROI 2021)

  • Cultural assets (~60% ROI 2021)

  • Rare whisky (up 586% over the last 10 years)

  • Retro video games (~130% ROI 2021; a sealed copy of "Super Mario 64" just fetched $1.5m)

  • Virtual skin collectibles (demand for gaming skins is soaring, along with platforms that facilitate trades and sales -- more about capitalizing on digital status symbols here)”

Source: Trends.co

The Chart

“A major benefit of immigration? Entrepreneurship.

  • Immigrants have been pursuing new ventures at exceptionally high rates for decades

  • This trend started to ramp up in the mid 2000s. In 2020, 6 out of every 1,000 immigrants started a new business. 

  • That’s almost double the rate of people born in the U.S.”

“The number of people on High Streets fell by 5.9% on Sunday but rose 4.8% at retail parks week-on-week, retail analysis firm Springboard said.

Springboard's Diane Wehrle, said consumers were "clearly cautious" about venturing out to the shops.

The Springboard figures also showed that 25.2% fewer people visited UK retail destinations on Sunday, compared to 22 December 2019, the Sunday just before Christmas that year.”

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🛍 My marketing highlight

The Journey - Boot Barn Commercial

‘Everything out there is waiting for everything in you. Someday, you’ll learn there’s no such thing as someday. That someday, is now…and every second counts. Hold on.’

Credit to Wij Travers Founder of Hot Icarus agency for writing a post about this on Linkedin:

“Anyone who says 60s of brand advertising can’t be a film in its own right…please watch this and think again. Truly beautiful work by Boot Barn and Director, Jacob Hilbert, that I have been watching on repeat. A piece that stirs me - that makes me dare to dream. And nearly made me buy some cowboy boots for the streets of London…🤠”

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❓Quotes that make you think

  • “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” C.S. Lewis

  • “One cannot learn what they think they already know” Epictetus

  • “If people knew how hard I worked to achieve my mastery it wouldn’t seem to wonderful after all.” Michelangelo

  • “There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” Buckminster Fuller

  • “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire” Ferdinand Fauche

  • “Find a place inside where there’s joy and the joy will burn out the pain.” Joseph Campbell

  • “First comes thought. The beginning as you observe, is in the imagination.” Napoleon Hill

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⛓ Mental Model Of The Week:

Confirmation Bias

Humans tend to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in support of existing beliefs.”

“Long(er) Description:

“It is an important type of cognitive bias that has a significant effect on the proper functioning of society by distorting evidence-based decision-making. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way… The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. People also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position.” (Wikipedia)”

  • “The number one thing that clouds us from being able to see reality is that we have preconceived notions of the way it should be.”  Naval Ravikant

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📚 Book I'm Still Reading:

“In a powerful new vision Dr Brené Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability, and dispels the widely accepted myth that it's a weakness. She argues that, in truth, vulnerability is strength and when we shut ourselves off from vulnerability - from revealing our true selves - we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”

→ Brené Brown

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Happy existing 👋