Thankfulness 

The startup journey is incredibly hard. That's why it's incredibly important to pause and be thankful for how far you've come. If you're behind where you would like to be, put it in perspective. You've come a long way.

Today, I'm feeling thankful for all of you. What started as an experiment giving shoutouts to founders on Twitter has blossomed into something really special. We can't wait to continue putting a spotlight on and supporting founders.

Welcome back to the Founder Roundup! We're gearing up for Thanksgiving here in the States and will only be featuring one founder this upcoming week. Last week, however, we featured our usual three founders. 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.

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Weekly Wisdom

Startup School

I had the opportunity to write a guest post for OpenVC on the topic of stock options. I'm a bit of zealot on this topic, as I think we need to move away from stock options as the primary form of startup equity. 

Give the article a read and let me know your thoughts!

Backseat Startup

In episode 9 of the Backseat Startup Podcast, we had Aaron Guyett, Co-Founder of Cloutchain, on the show. Cloutchain is a fan engagement suite that enables brands to deliver meaningful fan experiences through digital collectibles at scale.

A Reddit user cautioned readers against the mistakes to avoid as a first time founder. Aaron and I had a great time contributing our thoughts.

Give the recording a watch above or subscribe through the button below.

Founder Roundup

Cynthia Asije and Sarah Odiavbara, Co-Founders of Craftmerce

Bringing homemade African products to the masses. Cynthia Asije and Sarah Odiavbara, Co-Founders of Craftmerce, have made an online store front to help African wholesalers connect to international markets.

With a combined decade of unique experiences in building technology platforms, export sales, and marketing, Sarah and Cynthia were a perfect duo to found Craftmerce.

Craftmerce is an online B2B marketplace platform that holds no inventory, but provides African brands with access to sell their products to international retailers and wholesalers.

The team is looking for retailers and independent boutiques who are looking to purchase handmade African products for their stores.

They are also looking for investors who are interested in marketplace startups.

Head over to their website to learn more.

Mark Acor, Founder of Sneak-a-Squeak

A pill to make farts not stink. Yes, really. But this business is so much more than a gag gift.

We’ve all received or sent a gag gift in our lives. It’s funny in the moment, but then becomes worthless.

What about a gag gift that can actually make lives better?

Mark and his team at The Clean Air Act, Inc. have created Sneak a Squeak, the all-natural miracle pill that makes your farts not stink. In a marketing class for his MBA, Mark’s team had to come up with an idea for a new product for a project they were working on that semester.

As a joke, he suggested that they make a pill that makes your gas not stink. Everyone loved the idea, but the professor said they couldn’t use the idea unless they had a realistic idea of how the pill would work.

And so, Mark set off on a journey to make peoples’ (and dogs’) farts not stink. After a period of research and testing, they had created the perfect concoction to help you sneak a squeak without anyone finding out.

Sneak a Squeak has already seen much success among their human customers, so much so that the customers asked for a dog version! And thus, Paw-Pourri was born.

Head over to their website to learn more. Use the code FounderDaily15 for 15% off your order!

Yaovi Kpoga, Founder of Roadies Lab

Despite bearish market conditions in crypto, there are bright minds building behind the scenes. One of those bright minds is Yaovi, the founder of Roadies, a fractional art investing platform that leverages blockchain technology.

Yaovi started his career as a software engineer and has built multiple products from the ground up. The idea for Roadies came to Yaovi after he worked on a similar platform for musical artists.

Roadies is a Web3 fractional art investing platform that leverages blockchain technology to facilitate official governance, transparency, and liquidity via a peer-to-peer exchange. Artists are provided a new revenue stream and access to production capital by allowing their supporters to buy and trade shares in their favorite art.

The team recently become part of the Alpha Lab accelerator program, allowing them to complete their first two artist drops, each selling out of tokens within 24 hours. Roadies is growing fast, and is launching their beta version within the next month.

The team is looking for artists, investors, and customers who believe in Roadies vision.

Sign up for their waitlist here.

Community Corner

Who are we and what do we do? Read about our mission and check out our marketing portfolio here.

Calling all students: We have launched a campus ambassador program to connect the next generation of founders and investors. Members can take advantage of a community of entrepreneurial students across the globe, attend weekly meetings where we vet early stage companies, and a host of other programming. If you or someone you know would be interested in joining, apply here.

We're launching a job board: Are you hiring? Include your job in our job board for free! Respond to this email if you're interested.

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