Hey Everyone,
Hope you're having a great week. Here are a few things I've been reading, writing and pondering lately. Enjoy!
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1. Why Venture-Backed Companies Struggle with Content Marketing
SaaS businesses that are venture-backed from the beginning typically struggle with content marketing. Content is a growth engine that takes years to mature. But venture-backed SaaS companies don’t have that kind of time—and this isn’t a problem that can be overcome by big budgets.
In this post, we explore an outlier (Slack) and offer suggestions for other well-funded startups looking to invest in content.
2. The untold story of Stripe, the secretive $20bn startup driving Apple, Amazon and Facebook
A long but great read.
In 2010, the brothers dropped out of college and launched Stripe in San Francisco with seed funding from accelerator Y Combinator. The company offered seven lines of code and a promise that no other changes were needed. Developers who integrated the Stripe API wouldn’t have to touch it for years. In the early days, the brothers cycled to the office to save money. In 2011, they approached Peter Thiel and Elon Musk.
“It’s a little impetuous to go to PayPal founders and say payments on the internet are totally broken,” says John with a wry smile.
3. Atomic Habits
James Clear sent me a copy of his new book and I'm loving it so far. James is a great writer and every page of this book is packed with useful advice.
4. Tweet of the Week
Whoa, this turned up a ton of great responses.
5. Random Links
- My friends at Indio are hiring a marketing operations manager. This is a great gig for someone interested in revolutionizing a smokestack industry with great technology.
- Here's the latest Animalz podcast—the topic is bottom of the funnel content.
- This is the best thing about fall: It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherf*ckers
- This looks useful: 50 Free Job Posting Sites
- This Twitter thread is so funny.
Have a great weekend!
Jimmy
PS - I’m looking to partner with a few great businesses to sponsor this newsletter. It reaches a bunch of smart folks from places like Google, Apple, Spotify, New York Times, Marriott and Harvard. Shoot me an email if you're interested in working together.