🎲 Startup Monopoly Gone Wrong
Happy Friday Friends,
Welcome back to the Kernal newsletter: the BFF that's here for a hug if you've been scammed by SBF 😬
Latest news: Elon threw a curve ball to Twitter staff, Trump's back in the ring, SBF and the FTX crew are in deep. Taylor Swift's mad at Ticketmaster, Metaverse's pumping over $1T/year to Asia, and TikTok's hiring. On the bright side: World Cup kicks off Monday, Notion is testing a new AI software, Warren Buffet is watching Yellowstone this weekend and plenty of you are putting up your Christmas tree. Let's jump to it.
Today's Menu:
- 🏴☠️ Content Creators Be Warned
- 👏 Kernal Groups that are here to help
- 👀 How to find the hottest ideas from the community
🚨 Content Creators Be Warned
As we watch Twitter's structure crumble and SBF's net worth tumble, our team's been reminded how fragile every platform is.
Take Twitter for example. There's plentyyy of incredible content that's living there. From cat memes to business threads and everything in between, it's a gold mine.
And although Elon hasn't signed up for Kernal yet, we're optimistic he's using his time of torment transition to reinvent the Twitter experience for a better future. I mean, he's done pretty okay with SpaceX, Tesla and the Boring Company...
But regardless of his turnaround track record, you need to remember your content is in the hands of an institution that's changing every week. Content Creators should be warned. Now is the time to back up your tweets and save those precious threads.
At Kernal, we discourage you to build on *rented land 🏡
*rented land: meaning a platform you don't own: Facebook, Snapchat, Youtube etc as they're owned by bigger institutions that can kick you off if, for some reason, they don't like you.
There's no doubt, Kernal is a powerful tool to connect with users, get feedback, and track progress. But you can bet your bottom bitcoin it's not an all-or-none platform. 💻
Why? B/C the real work happens off Kernal, where you're building:
- your landing page,
- waitlist,
- marketing assets,
- and so on.
We want you to come to Kernal to get help making important decisions and pivotal connections. But we encourage you to build on owned land: your own website, app or product for you to monetize the way you want without Kernalites getting in the way.
Some recco's to start building on owned land:
📝 Collect email addresses - Emails not going anywhere. Be sure to have this on file so you can always contact your customers. If you're fancy, look into collecting phone numbers for SMS communication - 90% open rates compared to email's 20%.
💻 Update Your Domain - Don't let your domain name expire - do I need to tell the horror stories? There's more to this than a few sentences, but if you're building a presence online, make sure you have a solid foundation.
🖖 Diversify your content - Once you find the channels where your audience can hear you, try branching out to a new channel to speak to a different audience. If one goes south, you can still market effectively.
No Code Weekend - Stay tuned this weekend as they run their hackathon from this page. Reach out to Vensy if you want to register for the next one.
Paralect - Offering Kernal members in HealthTech, FinTech, MarTech domains free idea validation. Join and submit your idea to be their next unicorn (yes, they developed a $1.2B company).
Zero to (Point) One - Based on a podcast that interviews early-stage founders who just crossed the $500 MRR threshold. Join the page to follow along. We're looking forward to seeing you and your startup as a future guest.
Startup Founder Daily - Need some help marketing your early-stage startup? Join the page and submit an idea for free PR. Who doesn't like a free shoutout?
We chatted with Luke from the Startup Founder Daily for the Early Days, read what inspired him to get this idea off the ground here.
Kernal does not support self-promoting spam on the platform. However, just because you see a publically launched idea on the platform, does not mean they do not belong. This stage is not the finish line. These founders still need your help and feedback as they make important decisions to find Product Market Fit. Pivoting is common in the startup world, and we're here to help. Like Mihai who launched but is still in need of a mentor. Sound like someone you know? shoot them an invite.
🌱 Startup Ideas of the Week:
Want your idea to be featured here *cough Nipun cough*? Be sure to add a cover photo (we make it easy with an Unsplash integration).
✨ Latest in the Kernal World
Sonia wants to play elf and wants to know what's on your wishlist! Respond to her tweet with your favourite gift ideas!
curating a gift guide for startup founders + side hustlers. what's on your wishlist? 👀
— Sonia (@sonia) November 14, 2022
Give the gift of education from Entry Level; Venture Capital, Product Management, and Growth Marketing - learn and set your startup up for success. We secured a coupon code for you.
Members to Keep Up With
👋 Welcome Aecio - founder of Upwell.
📈 Follow Michael Sieminski as he posts updates for Awaitlist.
🤩 Jessica has investor interest. Join the page to see what they're up to.
Track the Latest Ideas on Telegram
We like to have fun at Kernal, but we take startup ideas seriously. We want you to be able to laugh because we've made the experience enjoyable. Have some thoughts on how we can do that?
Now go enjoy your Friday!
P.S. Slide into our Instagram DMs if you haven't already.
💚 Kernal
How did you like today's newsletter?
🔥 11/10 · 😕 Meh · 😴 Boring Sauce