Why companies will acquire your Startup and Harvard is stupid

1/ If you are an Entrepreneur, you should NEVER be impressed by companies that raise funds 💰 or hit the news 📰. Why?

Let me introduce you to Fast, a media darling.

Imagine raising $100M, laying off 50% of the company, trying to sell whatever remained, and shutting down all IN SIX DAYS.

Yes. This is the story of the "Fast" company - no pun intended.

And don't get me wrong. Startups are high-risk/high-return investments, but being in the same category as PayPal, Stripe (which was an investor) and having similar valuation while making only $600k per year is stupid.

Why do I believe this burned to the ground? Let's see:

1. Fast was building a fast-one-click checkout. Seriously. HOW MUCH FASTER CAN A CHECKOUT BE? Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay are one click.
2. 500 employees for this product
3. $10M per month operating expenses. $10M per month
4. $600k revenue PER YEAR - I sold NFTs that made more money

Funding doesn't mean a thing. It usually means that you have predatory VCs screwing up your vision.

2/ Do you know why companies will never be innovative?

📎 Read below the HILARIOUS and out-of-touch interview of Jerry Seinfeld in the latest Harvard Business Magazine.

The whole conversation goes like this:

• Harvard - Hey Jerry, you got tired and stuck writing jokes all these years. Have you thought of bringing McKinsey to help out? (I am not making this up)
• Jerry - Who is McKinsey?
• Harvard - A consulting company
• Jerry - Are they funny?
• Harvard - No
• Jerry - Then I don't need them

WHO on this planet thought that McKinsey would be beneficial to a show like Seinfeld?

Companies hire consultants that have no idea what's really going on. Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are in the trenches.

Be an Entrepreneur, and I guarantee you that bigger companies will have to buy you out. Or face extinction.

Read the whole interview here -> Jerry Seinfeld: Comedian, Innovator, Micromanager.

3/ Last week, I had a YouTube live 📺 where I built LIVE a smart contract for a Decentralized Exchange 🤖. The live went for almost an hour and a half, and I answered questions like:

1. How I create project - my methodology
2. Which blockchain is the best to deploy a smart contract?
3. How can I build my own cryptocurrency?
4. How to deploy my smart contract?
5. Which libraries should I be using so I don't lose all my money?

Next week, I'll release the second part of the video about the UI.

Don't forget to subscribe to the channel.

4/ This Monday was my birthday 🎂. And what a better way to celebrate with some cool giveaways!

1. Here are 499 $Victory coins ✌️ to the first 100 people that will claim them
2. I have opened up my advisory slots for this week with an 80% discount. You can check them out here and use HAPPYBIRTHDAY as a coupon 🎫 to get the discount.

These are paid advisory slots (from $499 down to ~$99 for a week) that I usually offer to people that want more structured feedback. I will always have my advisory slots that you can get with $Victory coins ✌️ (the UI is almost ready!), and of course, you can always send your pitch deck to Startup Office Hours.

Having said that, if you want any feedback about your company, Entrepreneurial journey, or NFT/Crypto project, now is the time to buy as many hours as you like.

📥 Send me an email if you have any questions!

5/ Do you want to control your mind with your body? Here is my Wim Hoff journey.

I've been practicing Wim Hoff for some time now, and I fell in love with the breathing exercises and the cold showers. And if you know me, I hate cold 🥶. It is one of the many reasons why I love Los Angeles 🌞.

I transitioned to ice-cold baths (yes, that's me, in my backyard, inside a container full of ice), and I found the following:

💡We are trying to control our bodies with our minds. Meditation. Inspiring music. Self-talk. We know that if we tame our minds, the body will follow. Cold showers are the only thing that makes my body control my mind. And it is epic.

Racing thoughts? Stress? Under the weather? Indecisive?

Take a cold shower.

It is like a shortcut to tame the monkey in your head. Fast, always there, and unable to doge.

I could talk about cold showers and their benefits for hours, but my good friend Andrew did a scientific 2-hour podcast about this - on my birthday.

📥 I'd love to hear your experience or why you haven't done this yet. I can give you some tips on starting and "embracing the cold".

If you like to read more about epic stories and edgy attitudes, 📩 join my newsletter, and you'll also get some ✌️ $Victory coins (https://victory.jon.io/) if you are a new subscriber.

See you next week. 🚀

-- Jon V (as in Victory)

- Thu 07 April 2022