Establishing and growing a startup is a tricky business and can sometimes take “five to ten years to build a meaningful business,” according to the Entrepreneur. In many cases, the effort required during the initial years takes a toll on the founder's health. 63% of entrepreneurs surveyed by The Hustle earlier this year reported burnout, with 59% reporting anxiety symptoms. Background: - According to 81% of respondents, there is a stigma surrounding mental health among startup founders, making it more likely for them to hide their mental health condition.
- Founders should focus on other aspects of their personal lives, other than their businesses, to prevent burnout, according to an article in the Entrepreneur.
- The article further states that founders must revisit their “why” frequently, which could give founders the energy and purpose to keep pursuing their goals.
- Lastly, the report recommends that founders create a system to filter irrelevant feedback or opinions.
Share your thoughts: - As a startup founder, have you faced burnout?
- What did you learn from it?
- What steps do you now take proactively to ensure that you don’t reach burnout?
- How do you unwind at the end of every week?
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Startups are looking to hire recently laid-off workers from Twitter, Lyft, Stripe, and Meta. Startups claim a majority of job candidates are laid-off tech workers. More: - Lyft recently cut ~700 jobs, Stripe let go of 1,000 employees, Twitter announced layoffs on Friday, and Meta will begin cutting jobs this week.
- Startups are increasingly able to hire competitive candidates.
- As one Streamline AI associate explained, "A few years ago, there was no way we could’ve attracted candidates like this.”
- The labor market continues to be competitive. In October, employers posted 317,000 job openings, 10,000 more than the month before.
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Peloton co-founders John Foley, Hisao Kushi, Yony Feng, and several former-Peloton executives have begun a new startup called "Ernesta." The startup will sell customizable rugs at discount prices. More: - The former Peloton CEO, Foley, is not the CEO of Ernesta.
- The group raised $25M Series A in a round led by True Ventures.
- While the venture may prove risky as inflationary prices force people to cut back on luxury goods, Foley is confident that the startup will make high-end rugs "accessible for regular people."
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French startup PhotoRoom raised $19M at an undisclosed valuation. The round was led by British venture capital firm Balderton Capital and saw participation from Disney+. More: - PhotoRoom's photo editing app enables e-commerce merchants and SMBs to eliminate backgrounds from images of products they're promoting.
- Prior to this round, PhotoRoom had raised $125,000 in a seed round led by Y Combinator, according to Crunchbase.
- The company says it has seven million monthly active users, of which "hundreds of thousands" are paying members.
- PhotoRoom's subscription fee costs $9.99/month or $69.99 annually and has been downloaded 40 million times.
- The company says it's currently profitable but wouldn't disclose exact numbers related to its financial performance.
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Indian e-commerce firm Flipkart will slow down hiring but has no plans to make layoffs, according to CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy. Flipkart has spent $500M on M&A in recent years, but Krishnamurthy says the company has paused plans to make more acquisitions. More: - Walmart paid $16B for a 77% stake in Flipkart in May 2018.
- Flipkart was previously valued at $37.6B, following a $3.6B funding round in July 2021.
- Flipkart has raised $12.9B since its inception in 2007, according to Crunchbase.
- Last month, reports emerged Flipkart was looking to increase its valuation to over $40B and raise between $2B-$3B.
- Krishnamurthy told the Financial Times that Flipkart doesn't require additional funds.
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American basketball team, Brooklyn Nets’ co-founder, Clara Wu Tsai, announced a new accelerator for minority founders called BK-XL. The organization will back early-stage startups led by BIPOC founders. BK-XL aims to invest in 12 such startups in 2023, primarily within the New York City borough area. More: - The firm aims to invest $500,000 in each startup, with initial check sizes averaging $125,000 in return for 7% equity.
- Part of the funding will come from Visible Hands and Wu Tsai’s Social Justice Fund.
- Last year, the fund launched an "EXCELerate" initiative to provide interest-free loans to Black-owned small businesses in Brooklyn.
- Founders will undergo a 10-week immersion program and will be mentored by partners from Visible Hands and Blue Pool Capital.
Zoom out: - Crunchbase data shows that Black and Latinx founders received only 2.4% of venture funding between 2015 to 2020.
- In the first half of 2021, $1.8B was invested in Black-led startups.
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- Lerer Hippeau led a $5M seed funding round into Los Angeles-based genome testing startup Sequencing.
- Cooperative Ventures, an early-stage focused venture firm co-founded by CHS and Growmark last year, made its first investment into autonomous tractor maker Sabanto.
- Techstars selected 14 startups for the third cohort of its Workforce Development Accelerator program.
- Mastercard shortlisted seven startups to join its blockchain and crypto assets accelerator program, Mastercard Start Path. The new cohort includes Fasset, Digital Treasures Center, Stable, and others.
- Indian ed-tech startup Unacademy cut 350 roles, or about 10% of its workforce, across all verticals.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot.
Jigney Pathak is a Business Researcher at Inside who loves technology, finance & sports. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a finance specialization & has previously worked at Salesforce.
Courtney Rawlings is an Inside Research Analyst living in Los Angeles, California. She has returned to her hometown of LA after spending several years working at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is completing a Ph.D. in Art and Architectural History.
| | | | Editor | Vibha Chapparike is a Freelance Writer & Editor at Inside.com. With her post-graduation in Management and Finance completed, Vibha is expanding her knowledge in venture capital, business, startups, and technology. She has had a career in public relations and communications. An ardent reader and writer currently residing in Singapore, you can follow Vibha on Twitter @VChapparike. | |
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