Be the first to spot any emerging trends or market shifts, with our weekly curated research on the top hidden crypto assets.
Welcome to another edition of Workshift! The exclusive newsletter for Leaders, Founders and Managers.
If you missed last week's issue, catch up here.
In Today's Email:
- Did VCs Ignore the Red Flags?
- In a surprising interview, billionaire and Bitcoin supporter Peter Thiel questioned Bitcoin's value
- AI Tool Of The Week 🤖: Crowdstrike uses threat intelligence to prevent and mitigate security risks
- Opportunity Of The Week 💡: Industry Ventures has secured a $900 million fund aimed at investing in small, early-stage venture capital firms
❓🔍 Mystery Link
A New York-based startup has raised $50 million, bringing its valuation to $900 million. Their mobile app lets users chat with doctors, seek medical advice, and access prescriptions online.
THE BIG IDEA
Did VCs Ignore the Red Flags?
Image credit: Techcabal
This week, the internet was shocked after reading the news about a crypto startup, Mara.
It's quite a story. Mara was a pan-African crypto exchange founded in 2021 by a team including Chinyere ‘Chi’ Nnadi. They aimed to build Africa's crypto economy and garnered attention. Mara secured $23 million in funding from notable companies.
However, things took a turn for the worse. Mara burned through its cash rapidly. In 2022 alone, it lost nearly $16 million.
They had around 130 employees and were offering high salaries, yet they hadn't launched any product by that time, so there was no revenue coming in to offset these costs.
By 2023, Mara couldn't raise more money, so the company began downsizing. Eventually, Mara ran out of cash and faced huge debts.
In early 2024, Nnadi rebranded Mara as Jara, claiming it was to move past the old issues and start fresh. However, some of the former co-founders believe this was just a way to dodge Mara's liabilities. There were also claims that many of their reported users were fake.
Now, here's where it gets interesting.
Many in the industry believe that the venture capitalists were somewhat reckless for investing in Mara without a viable product in place.
Typically, VCs look for a working prototype or some form of market validation before committing large sums.
But in this instance, the allure of getting in early on what could be the ‘next big thing’ in crypto appeared to cloud their usual judgment.
Given this context, how do you think VCs can better assess the viability of startups in emerging and highly speculative markets like crypto?
Challenge Of The Week 🎯
How about starting a 30-day workout streak? It could even be a short walk, a yoga session, whatever suits you. The consistency will help you build endurance and resilience in your fitness routine.
Hire Vetted Talent Faster 🚀
Are you currently hiring? Click here to receive quality talent profiles under 48hrs, for FREE.
Learn From The Best ✍️
Getting fired, not once, not twice…Colonel Sanders’ story is interesting. He was born in 1890 in Indiana and dropped out of school when he was just 13.
Instead of giving up, he started franchising KFC. He sold it for $2 million, which would be about $20 million today.
Don’t forget to save the image so you can always glance through it!
Credit: Ambition Chronicles
In Partnership With
Token metrics give the you confidence and clarity you need to make smarter investment decisions. This means you get to seize opportunities that others might overlook…
“Token Metrics has been a game-changer for me. The AI insights are incredibly accurate and have significantly boosted my investment returns." - Dakatoh Smith, Growth Lead of Timeless
Create your free account – No credit card is required.
Meme Of The Week 😂
Credit: Mycodeless
Where You Should Be 🌍
Tech Safari Nairobi Mixer
Hosted by Tech Safari, along with AWS Startups, CloudPlexo and Infobip for founders, investors, ecosystem players and tech-curious.
What to expect:
- Light snacks and drinks
- Guest Speakers (To Be Announced)
- Name tags, ice-breakers, and connections made
- A room of tech founders, investors, and operators
Your Target Audience Are Our Friends 🎯
You can advertise with us, details here.
Recommended Read 📚
The Beginning of Infinity explores and establishes deep connections between the laws of nature, the human condition, knowledge, and the possibility of progress.
Roundtable 🔄
Economic Trends For You 📈
- Global economic data in June: Eurozone growth slowed, Japan's inflation peaked, UK retail sales rebounded, and US private sector growth accelerated
- Bank of England holds interest rate at 5.25%, amid inflation target reaching 2%
- A map of where the 500 highest revenue SE Asian Companies are based
Workplace Culture 👥
Investing News & Opportunities 💰
- Goldman Sachs added these global stocks to its ‘conviction’ lists
- Regxta, a Nigerian fintech startup, won the Pitch2Win competition, securing $10,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to IVS2024 Kyoto
- The founder of Dell is selling $1.3 billion worth of shares. Should investors be getting out, too?
- In a surprising interview, billionaire and Bitcoin supporter Peter Thiel questioned Bitcoin's value. He warns of a "volatile, bumpy ride" with no dramatic price increases expected
There’s More To Being A Leader🎖️
- Tech leaders are learning from female founders who are disrupting the $750 billion industry
- How embedded recruiting is transforming hiring practices
- An interview with the founder of Starbucks on how he scaled to nearly 40,000 locations worldwide
- AI Tool Of The Week 🤖: Crowdstrike uses threat intelligence to prevent and mitigate security risks
- Opportunity Of The Week 💡: Industry Ventures has secured a $900 million fund aimed at investing in small, early-stage venture capital firms
- AWIEF has launched nominations for its annual Awards celebrating women founders and entrepreneurs in Africa. Nominations open until August 5th
Pro Tip To Take You Through The Week🌟
What’s Happening? 🤷♂️
While you were away at work, these 5 things happened:
- Safaricom under pressure for conflicting explanations over two-hour internet outage in Kenya
- Is Joe Biden considering stepping back from his re-election bid after last week's rough debate?
- After a fourteen-year legal battle, Julian Assange is a free man
- MYAirline co-founder is being sued again, by over 200 investors this time
- Wise announced Friday that some customer data may have been stolen in the Evolve Bank and Trust breach
Share With Your Friend 📣
If you know this newsletter can help someone in your network, why don't you go ahead and share?🚀
ABOUT CAREERBUDDY
Hire Smarter, Not Harder
At CareerBuddy, we make hiring seamless for fast-growing companies, we pride ourselves on knowing the best people that will excel in a Startup. With a candidate retention rate of 90.3%, it is safe to say “We are the best in the game for Startup hiring in Africa”.
We have worked with our partners to hire both for Technical and Non-Technical roles, we have also helped them with expansion in Africa. Some of our clients include Bamboo Invest, Helium Health, Cassbana, Cadana, Fincra, CrowdForce, Casava, TeamApt (now Moniepoint), Sabi, etc.
Are you hiring at the moment? Contact us
Written by Onekpe Regina
Edited by Oluwaseye Adesina
Connect with us
Thanks for reading WorkShift by CareerBuddy! Subscribe for free to receive new posts.