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What’s Saba Says, again? A bulletin to get tips on building a startup, and my takes on tech and VC. Subscribe on sabakarim.com to read the full edition and get it delivered direct to your inbox on Sundays.

📅 || UPCOMING EVENTS

This week I will be interviewing an investor with 30-years of experience on my weekly Startup Chat (with Adam from Best of Live Audio). Set a reminder on Spaces here. 

Later in the week I will be doing Mock Investor Interviews to give founders a run-through of what its like getting on a VC call. Drop-in anytime, raise your hand get picked to get practice.


🎥 || STARTUP OF THE WEEK

Soona. This Denver-based startup is an incredible content creation platform. Funny thing is, I had the same idea in Australia when I was a photographer. But guess what - ideas don’t mean sh!#. Congrats to my friend Liz on all her success. So proud of her on the recent fundraise, for capturing former-CEO of Vimeo (pun intended), and all the knowledge and inspiration she shares with founders on Twitter (go follow her!)


🤑 || FEATURED INVESTOR

This weeks featured investor is Marell. I had the pleasure of meeting Marell when he was at Softbank and kindly offered to provide me advice and his network as I was raising my fund. Full circle, I am returning the favor to let you know he is now launching his own. Check him out here, here and here.  


🔢 || PITCH PRACTICE

It’s really important you mention numbers when speaking about traction. “Continuous growth”, “some solid new partners’, and “crushing it”, are not investable. But “70% MoM growth”, or “churn down to 34%” are. Be specific too, which makes it more believable. “1,276 signups” is MUCH better than “over 1000 signups” – which is unclear whether it’s 1001, 10K or really 600 rounded up to the closest thousand.


✨ || TALKING TECHSTARS

Right now, Techstars has 20 accelerator applications open. That means we’re looking for 240 startups to invest in. Nothing would make me happier than to see some of you apply and get backed by Techstars.


📕 || BOOK RECOMMENDATION

The 5AM Club. A joyful little read about waking up early, removing distractions and improving productivity. It shows how small, frequent advances can lead to unimaginable results over time.


💡 || TWEET OF THE WEEK

While your company may succeed or fail, you’re still winning by learning and leveling-up. Sure, Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls, but more than anything he was a five-time MVP. Steve Jobs founded Apple, but more than that he was one of the best innovators of our time.

You are not your business. Don’t let it alone define you, and on the contrary don’t let the startup only be defined by you as it’s put at risk if you ever leave.


🔗 || EXTERNAL LINKS

Here are others newsletters I actually read and recommend to you all: