π What Happened on Tech Twitter Last Week - Jan 5th
Casper's S(-1)hit show, Nazis & MAGA in tech?, how to cold email anyone, wild but true stories, and more!
Yo! ItβsΒ BrettΒ again. Hereβs all the juicy goodness that happened on Tech Twitter the week of January 5th. If you have any feedback on the newsletter, Iβd love to hear it! Please reply or DM me on Twitter.
Want more Twitter TLDR? Subscribe to Crypto Twitter TLDR.
ππ₯ S-1 Twitter Evaluates Casper
Casperβs S-1 came out and a lot of people seem to agree that not only does Casper have an awful business, but that the entire DTC category as a whole is questionable. Returns and rising CACs are killers.
Casper
π€Maker of sleep products
πFounded in 2014
π΅2017 revenue $251M
π°2018 rev $358M, $92M net loss
πFirst 9 months 2019, $312M in rev
π»$710 e-commerce AOV
π$820 retail store AOV
π60 own stores, 18 retail partners
π¦Last valued at $1.09B
π£Just filed to go public
While I believe Casper has been smarter than many on perf mktg, blurb below is notable
Have seen the argument that scale -> efficiency (ie lower CAC) in mktg, but this is rarely the case
Yes, models & media rates (eg TV) can improve, but *marginal* CAC grows w aud penetration
More broadly, this exemplifies impact of Returns
10% of goods are returned to retailers every year (20% for e-commerce), costing over $600b in lost sales
While leaning into/removing friction around returns improves conversion (& CAC), there is clear tradeoff on bottom line https://t.co/9N67y3qPqL
Derek Thompson @DKThomp
Post-holiday returns season. Traffic to @Returnly or @happyreturnsco in December:
Untuckit: 28.37% (up 123.6%)
Verishop: 63.69%
Outdoor Voices: 17.96%
Fanatics: 11.86% (up 150.3%)
Huckberry: 25.66%
Greats Brand: 31.68%
Eloquii: 14.83%
American Giant: 15.09%
Draper James: 8.39%
πΊπΈπ‘MAGA in Tech?
San Francisco (and the tech industry at large) has increasingly become a place where people with different - particularly, conservative - ideas are shunned. Delian, an investor at Founders Fund pointed this out as he shared a photo of himself in a MAGA hat. While the people responding to the tweet made legitimate points, the homogeneity of responses validates Delian as well. Weβll call it a draw?
Welp here goes nothing
There are degrees to which certain symbols represent hate, i.e. I have no interest in wearing a swastika around town
Unfortunately in SF people think this symbol is closer to a swastika than what it represents, which is hope, for about half of America
@zebulgar You and I arenβt persecuted by MAGA today - like we would have been with the swatiska. But to deny that others rightly feel this way - and to acknowledge at the same time it is hope for others - that is wrong. How many people terrified for their lives is too many?
π¬βCold Emails
The value of and proper technique for writing cold emails pops up on tech twitter every few months. Here are some tweets from this time around:
When I was 22 I randomly emailed @mkapor for advice & he responded. When I was 22 I cold called Jamie Dimon & he invited me to dinner and seeded funded me. I emailed @mcuban in my 20βs & he responded. Their humility and generosity of time changed this immigrant war refugees life. https://t.co/1cSFxfgyDG
jason@calacanis.com @Jason
Cold emails are by far the most effective way to open doors and get what you want. 90% are terrible. Here are some tips:
1. Add value
2. Short enough to read on mobile
3. Be clear on your ask
4. Don't use words you wouldn't use normally
5. Be personable
6. Add value
A few things I've learned
- the most famous, interesting, powerful people all read their own email
- they're almost universally good at responding to it quickly
- they're always very, very curious.
- they have very little time. Anything with friction gets done "later"
An ideal cold mail from you is
1. Short and grabs attention.
2. is super clear on who you are.
3. Has some value prop for the receiver .
4. Has a specific ask.
Found this old (egregious) email I sent to Evan Spiegel a few years back π
Always shoot your shot!K
ππ€―Funny & Cool
Plant-based diet. No alcohol. Sleep metrics. Intermittent fasting. Meditation. Oat milk. Work on climate tech, crypto, no code, or productivity apps. Turmeric. Jam on a side hustle. Start a new fund. Broadcast virtues.
Welcome to San Francisco in 2020.
Came across this photo of Apple launching iPhone SDK in β08 (Jobs, Schiller, Forstall on stage - and a ton of empty seats). Seems key moments for the future seldom have an audience.
And if youβre fortunate enough to be there, donβt expect fanfare or validation...yet.
π€ Interesting
No social media platform has had a longer ascent than reddit. It was founded in 2005, and in 2019 interest still hasn't peaked. (Image via @PlanMaestro.)
The degree to which this is true is shocking:
Banking: Cash app
Productivity: Slack, Zoom, G Docs
Music: Spotify
Transportation: Uber (real world social)
Photography: Instagram
Video: YouTube
Recruiting: LinkedIn
Gaming: Fortnite
News: Twitter
Social β> lower CAC β> more scale
DβArcy Coolican @DCoolican
Increasingly seems like we are entering a new reality in Unicorn land. If you have raised more than $250mm & are NOT public, the presumption is you are losing WAY too much money, and you probably have shitty unit economics. And probably need to do a lay-off (like Oyo & others).
Well, this blew up.
You can see all the QTs using the link below. They're worth it.
Also, y'all are crazy. https://t.co/lpUAAkemm1
My lazy way of figuring out what was interesting at #CES2020 without having to get on a plane, find a hotel, and walk 100K steps is to skim through Stevenβs amazing report. Thanks @stevesi! ποΏ½RQ
Steven Sinofsky @stevesi
ClassPass
π§πΌββοΈFitness class aggregator platform
πLaunched in 2013
πΈRaised prices in 2016
πLost 10% of its users
πIntrod credit based pricing in 2018
ππ»ββοΈ100M hours of workouts booked
π₯30,000 studios & gyms
πAvailable in 28 countries
πJust raised $285M
π¦First unicorn of 2020
Zoho, which makes a suite of 40+ SaaS products:
$300M revenue/ $40M net income in 2016
Grew 39% in 2018
45M users
7,000 employees
$0 raised since founding
Absolutely impressive sustained and disciplined execution in a competitive market.
(Per filing with Indiaβs MCA)
Clearbit is one π
- Reached profitability on a $2M Seed
- <100 Employees rn
- Recently raised $6M at $250M Valuation from Bedrock [@justGLew]
- Founder was Early Employee @stripe
- Employee Happiness Score is 8.7/10
- 1500+ Customers {@segment, @asana, and several
others}
οΏ½qF
Alex MacCaw @maccaw
Want more Twitter TLDR? Subscribe to Crypto Twitter TLDR.