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| |  Image Credits: Nigel Sussman | | Origin stories are satisfying because we already know the hero will overcome the odds — and in doing so, they’ll reveal their core strengths. Yesterday, we published a four-part series about how Klaviyo co-founders Andrew Bialecki and Ed Hallen bootstrapped their startup into an e-commerce marketing automation platform now valued at $4.15 billion. Neither founder was bitten by a radioactive spider or received a serum that enhanced their entrepreneurial skills: instead, they focused on outreach to prospective customers to find out what they were willing to pay for and largely ignored the competition. “Bootstrapping Klaviyo, it came out of this: ‘Hey, if we are super disciplined about finding a problem that someone will pay us to solve, we have a real company,'” said Hallen. Klaviyo still isn’t a well-known brand, even though millions respond every day to the personalized, automated emails sent through its platform. Our ongoing EC-1 series offers entrepreneurs real insight into growing and scaling successful companies, but they’re also useful for consumers who want to understand how the internet really works. Thanks very much for reading Extra Crunch. I hope you have a great week! Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
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| |  Image Credits: Nigel Sussman | | The investment landscape for insurtech startups is off to a hot start in Q2 2021. Since the end of the first quarter, we've seen several players in the broad startup category announce new capital. But, as anyone who's familiar with startups that offer insurance-related products and services knows, the sector is enough of a mixed bag that one needs to segment down to get clarity on how constituent companies are performing. This morning, let's discuss insurtech's 2020 as a whole, peek at some preliminary 2021 venture data and then dive deep into what we've collected regarding growth among insurtech marketplace players. Read More | | | |
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| |  Image Credits: MaboHH / Getty Images | | Dell last week agreed to spin out VMware in exchange for a huge one-time dividend, a five-year commercial partnership agreement, lots of stock for existing Dell shareholders and Michael Dell retaining his role as chairman of its board. So, where does the deal leave VMware in terms of independence, and in terms of Dell influence? Read More | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Zastrozhnov / Getty Images | | UiPath raised its last private round when the markets were most interested in public offerings and is now going public in a slightly altered climate. In numerical terms, UiPath raised its IPO range from $43 to $50 per share to $52 to $54 per share. That's a 21% jump in the value of the lower end of its range and an 8% gain to the value of the upper end of its per-share IPO price interval. UiPath is also selling more shares than before, which should make its total valuation slightly larger at the top end than a mere 8% gain. So let's go through the math one more time. Read More | | | |
| |  | | If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome, then one might say the cybersecurity industry is insane. Criminals continue to innovate with highly sophisticated attack methods, but many security organizations still use the same technological approaches they did 10 years ago. The world has changed, but cybersecurity hasn't kept pace. Read More | | | |
| |  Image Credits: ra2studio / Getty Images | | By 2025, 463 exabytes of data will be created each day, according to some estimates. It's now easier than ever to translate physical and digital actions into data, and businesses of all types have raced to amass as much data as possible in order to gain a competitive edge. However, in our collective infatuation with data (and obtaining more of it), what's often overlooked is the role that storytelling plays in extracting real value from data. The reality is that data by itself is insufficient to really influence human behavior. Whether the goal is to improve a business' bottom line or convince people to stay home amid a pandemic, it's the narrative that compels action, not the numbers alone. Read More | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Raquel Segato/EyeEm / Getty Images | | We all need to be taking precautionary measures, not just in light of COVID-19, but to ensure our firms can continue to thrive when faced with unexpected tragedy. So ask yourself this question: "What would happen if I or my partner(s) checked into the hospital tomorrow and had no phone and/or was too sick to call anyone, and that went on for two or three weeks (or longer)?" If the answer is "I'm really not sure," then you don't have a business continuity plan. Read More | | | |
| |  Image Credits: rubberball / Getty Images | | After years of sustained growth, the pandemic supercharged the outdoor recreation industry. Startups that provide services like camper vans, private campsites and trail-finding apps became relevant to millions of new users when COVID-19 shut down indoor recreation, building on an existing boom in outdoor recreation. Startups like Outdoorsy, AllTrails, Cabana, Hipcamp, Kibbo and Lowergear Outdoors have seen significant growth, but to keep it going, consumers who discovered a fondness for the great outdoors during the pandemic must turn it into a lifelong interest. Read More | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Westend61 / Getty Images | | Many emerging and mature organizations survive or die based on their ability to scale. Scale quicker. Scale cheaper. Scale right. Typically the IT team bears that burden — on top of countless other demands. IT teams move mountains for their organizations while scaling the tech platform as fast as possible, putting out the latest infrastructure fire and responding to countless day-to-day requests. The most helpful gift any chief information officer or chief technology officer can give their IT teams is more time. Many people think that means adding another team member. But it could be as simple as introducing a low-code integration platform. Read More | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Nigel Sussman | | A stunning first quarter in venture capital funding was not restricted to the United States; Europe also had one hell of a start to the year. The venture capital world kicked off its 2021 European investing cycle with enough activity to set the continent on the path that would crush yearly records. Inside the data, there's lots to unpack, including which sectors of European startups stood out in terms of capital raised, rising seed and late-stage deals, and dollar volume. We'll also need to discuss exits — the Deliveroo IPO and its various woes was not the only transaction from the period worth understanding. Read More | | | |
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