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Pre-Success
The Founder Roundup Ep. 13
Pre-Success
Whether or not something is successful depends on when you evaluate it. If you evaluated Apple in 1995, you would deem it a failure. Today, it is one of the most iconic brands.
Same company. Different perspective.
If you aren't a success, that doesn't mean you have failed. Maybe you're just in the middle of succeeding.
Welcome back to the Founder Roundup! We're back after a short break. We had the pleasure of featuring two great founders last week. Check out their profiles below.
A big welcome to our new subscribers. If you haven't introduced yourself yet, respond to this email. I'd love to get to know you.
Weekly Wisdom
There are days, moments, and interactions that can make you feel that you’re reaching too large. That the problem you’re solving is too great for 1 or 2 people. Please remember that every great, notable solution/technology today only started with 1 or 2 minds. The biggest advantage these 1 or 2 minds had wasn’t insanely inflated self-confidence, it was their ability to never give up even when those days, moments, or interactions made them think about it.
Startup School
Have you checked out The Scientific Startup's blog yet? They have some fantastic resources for founders, including the article above. If you want to learn more about the mechanics of validating your product, this is the article for you.
Founder Roundup
YJ (YongJun) Heo and Jason Silberman of Publit
Why does creating a personal website have to be so complicated? Publit is here to change that.
Publit is a product of YJ’s personal frustrations with the general website building process. With Jason Silberman, he set about making personal website creation quick and easy.
YJ grew up in southern Indiana and went to Swarthmore College in Philadelphia. He met his Co-Founder, Jason, while flying over the Marin Headlands. They instantly connected, and have been working on projects together ever since.
One of those projects is Publit. They are building a better way for people to easily create a personal website in minutes. In just 3 steps you can launch your personal website. All you have to do is write your preferred addresses, select a plan, and pay.
Right now, at full price, Publit is about 50% of the cost of a Squarespace site.
Whether you are a college student, professional, academic, fellowship applicant, or a writer, Publit has a template for you.
Head over to their website to learn more.
Gaia Palliere and Nicole Summerfield of Breeze
Many businesses have failed to do away with single-use packaging and containers. The team at Breeze believe this is because they haven’t had appropriate systems and processes in place.
Breeze is a SaaS startup that looks to make reusable packaging and containers easy for enterprises.
With their scanning and tracking technology, they can help ensure businesses get back their packaging as well as incentivize consumers to return the packaging.
Gaia met Nicole in LA, where they would often play around with fun startup ideas. It wasn't until they created NICAIA (a volunteering program that helped during COVID) that they realized they wanted to pursue endeavors that had real meaning.
Driven by an impact-focused mindset and a passion for making the world a more sustainable and efficient place, they looked to technology as the solution.
That is when they brought in the help of Nicole's tech-savvy cousin, David, to become their Head of Technology. Breeze launched their platform in the summer of 2022 and recently signed their first annual customer.
In under 2 months with only 30 reusables, they’ve saved a small client over 300 containers and $115 from single-use waste.
They look forward to meeting their first “1 million container-saved” mark, which they forecast to take one year with 3 target-sized enterprises.
Breeze is currently raising their pre-seed round and are more than happy to chat with investors who are B2B, SaaS, or Impact Focused
Head over to their website to learn more!
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SFDeals
Have you checked out our community discounts yet? We have deals on 80+ tools startup founders use everyday. Our goal is to help our community save $1 million over the next year. Starting a business is tough enough. We're trying to make it cheaper.
If you have any trouble accessing the deals, PLEASE let me know. Happy to hop on a call and walk you through the process. We'd also love any feedback on the experience. We want the marketplace to be as frictionless as possible.
Community Corner
Calling all students: We are launching a Campus Ambassador Program to get the next generation of startup founders engaged. We have a ton of cool initiatives planned, including panels, AMAs, job fairs, and more! Students can also sit in on our meetings where we select founders, allowing them to practice vetting early stage companies. If you're a student (or know a student) who is interested in the program, fill out this application.
Who are we and what do we do? Read about our mission and check out our marketing portfolio here.
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