Founder Diaries Newsletter - Issue 16
Welcome to our weekly digest of the latest news — from industry trends, AI, and founder stories to best practices.
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This Week in Tech: SaaS Headlines, Growth Highlights & Startup Spotlights ⚡
📰 The Biggest Headlines in SaaS
Stay updated with the most significant developments in the SaaS industry, from groundbreaking product launches to major market shifts.
💰Hacks, Deals & Growth Highlights
Stay in the loop with the latest security alerts, major partnerships, and exciting growth milestones shaping the future of tech and business.
🚀Top startup product launches
Get insights into emerging startups poised to disrupt industries and lead innovation in the coming months.
Your curated roundup to stay sharp, informed, and ahead of the curve.
📰 The Biggest Headlines in SaaS
📰Mollie Connect, the integrated payments solution for platforms, announced its strong financial results for 2024, and aims to conquer all of Europe within two years!
“Our 250,000 customers – from well-known brands like Otrium, Crisp and Cameranu, to local bakeries and market stalls – are at the heart of everything we do. That’s why we focus solely on initiatives that deliver direct value to them.” - Koen Köppen, CEO of Mollie
“We’ve invested more than ever in developing both new and existing products that reduce financial hassle. Think Mollie Capital, additional payment methods, Mollie Connect, and our omnichannel solutions. Alongside product development, our international expansion will continue in 2025. I’m confident about what lies ahead for the rest of the year.” - Koen Köppen, CEO of Mollie
📰Tinder is running the OOH campaign with their ‘Ex-press Disposal Truck.’
“Tinder’s new campaign lets heartbroken Mumbaikars toss their emotional baggage into an ‘ex-press disposal truck,’ offering a quirky way to move on from the past.”
“Why does it work? Because it's not just marketing. It's a reflection of how young people are embracing mental health, self-care, and emotional independence in relationships.” - Phil Blondé
“This OOH campaign is a dumpster fire of creative genius.” - Sarah Cooksey
📰Apple is facing a lawsuit alleging false advertising and unfair competition due to delays in launching its 'Apple Intelligence' features, which were heavily marketed but not available upon the iPhone's release.
“The plaintiffs argue that Apple’s aggressive advertising campaigns created a reasonable expectation among consumers that these features would be available upon the iPhone 16’s release in September 2024.”
“According to the complaint, “Contrary to the defendant's claims of advanced AI capabilities, the products offered a significantly limited or absent version of Apple Intelligence, misleading consumers about its actual utility and performance.”
📰IBM announced the layoff of 8,000 HR employees worldwide.
“IBM has joined the wave of mass layoffs in Big Tech, cutting around 8,000 jobs in 2025, with its Human Resources department bearing the brunt. The century-old company, now led by CEO Arvind Krishna, attributes the move to its growing use of artificial intelligence to automate tasks once handled by HR professionals.”
📰xAI will pay Telegram Messenger $300 million to integrate its Grok chatbot into the messaging app.
“Grok will be available to all Telegram users, offering features like writing suggestions and chat summarization.”
💰Hacks, Deals & Growth Highlights
💰Andrew Gazdecki, Founder and CEO of Acquire.com has just shared that last month they generated $330,000 in profit.
“Just a small scrappy crew serving founders. And building like the founders we serve. That's our playbook for 2025 and $2M+ in net profit is the goal.”
“We're just getting started.”
💰Neil Tewari, Co-Founder @ Conversion is separating fact from fiction on what actually works on Linkedin as they just had their third 1,000,000+ impression week.
“You get tons of inbound leads when posts go viral. (Unfortunately) FICTION. We maybe get 1-2 more inbound leads on days where content goes super viral but it's not noticeable. What is noticeable is the uptick in brand recognition when we meet new folks and the number of applications we get to job openings. We consider both huge wins.”
💰Raymond Siems, Founder and CPTO at Ravio is excited to share that Ravio has acquired their competitor Compete’s benchmarking business.
“This accelerates our growth globally, strengthens our leading position in many countries, and makes Ravio the # 1 provider of real-time data in new countries including Israel and Australia.”
💰SmartyAds is teaming up with LiveRamp, the leader in data collaboration platforms, to revolutionize the way advertisers connect with their audiences.
“This partnership unlocks new possibilities for personalized, impactful campaigns by combining the precision of SmartyAds DSP with LiveRamp's cutting-edge data solutions. Now, advertisers can tap into high-value audience segments and improve campaign addressability.”
💰Alex Lieberman, Cofounder @ Morning Brew & storyarb has officially become a co-founder of GrowthPair, the #1 place to hire offshore marketers.
“Anytime I think about cofounding a new business, I always ground myself in two questions:
- Who is my market of 1? The one person my content aims to serve.
- What are the most common, painful problems my market of 1 faces?”
💰Yasser Elsaid, CEO at Chatbase just crossed 10,000 paying customers!
“We’ve grown to 10,000 customers without a traditional sales team."
"Our entire GTM strategy was built around product led growth and building in public. Now we’re moving up market and looking for our first sales hires and start a strong outbound motion.”
🚀Top startup product launches
🚀Alyona Mysko, CEO & Founder at Fuelfinance just launched AI financial summaries.
“We didn’t train this AI on random internet data. We trained it on real-world patterns from 300+ businesses and insights from over 100 CFOs."
“And no — we’re not replacing CFOs. Our team still double-checks every insight. But now we can spot problems earlier and help you fix them before they hit your runway.”
🚀Clinikally (YC S22) is launching Clara — an AI-powered skin coach that delivers clinical-grade skin analysis from just a selfie.
“We're proud that clinic-level skin analysis now costs the price of a selfie—and we're eager to hear how you'd push it further.”
“More exciting features are coming—scalp scanning and cross-platform mobile apps for our full-stack e-pharmacy and dermatologist consult platform launching later this year. Stay tuned!” — Arjun & the Clinikally Team
🚀Amanda Zhu, Co-founder at Recall.ai just opened up her product to everyone. And 100 new companies signed up in the first week.
“Until now, our “Get Started” button led to a form → a calendar → a sales call.”
“I added this friction on purpose — we were still learning who our buyers were and how to speak their language. But last week, I flipped the switch.”
🚀Andy Cloyd, Co-founder & CEO at Superfiliate is announcing their biggest product evolution to date that will unlock the next phase of growth for advertisers and creators.
“INTRODUCING: Superfiliate's Meta Ads Suite, a platform to help influencer marketers and paid media teams collaborate to find, test, and scale creator content inside their growth engines.”
“Our thesis behind the Meta Ads Suite is simple: Get more creator content into paid channels, with zero friction between teams.”
Thank you for taking the time to read our weekly roundup! We appreciate your support and enthusiasm for staying informed. 🚀
Stay tuned for more industry insights, trending news, and exclusive updates coming your way next week! 💡📢
Let us know your thoughts in the comments—what caught your attention this week? 👇
Partner Marketing Manager | Scaling B2B SaaS with Strategic Partnerships & Creator-Led Growth
5moThat AI skin coach sounds fascinating...makes me wonder how many industries are ready for an AI assist. Anyone tried it yet?
The ‘Ex-press Disposal Truck.’ This is GOLD! Tinder 😄 👏