Benny Giang

Just Because They Have It Doesn’t Mean Your MVP Can. It is tempting to include all the features seen in successful marketplaces, but starting with a lean MVP is crucial. Focus on the essential features that solve your core problem and gather user feedback to iterate. Adding too many features too soon can lead to complexity and divert resources from crucial areas.

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New episode of IEP with Allan Leinwand from Webflow (previously Shopify, Slack, & Zynga), who's focused on bringing development superpowers to everyone ! GREAT takeaways from our conversation: 💡 An unexpected lesson Allan learned in his career: Hiring the right people makes you a better leader. 💡 The best CTOs do two things really well: drive the industry forward and engage in hands-on technical work. 💡 Engineering teams have to balance tech debt and innovation. Allan's approach is to address P0s and P1s immediately. Allocate resources to avoid recurring problems. And once the urgent issues are resolved, dedicate time to innovation. 💡 AI accelerates development, from writing code to running automation to conducting PR reviews. Allan is most excited about using AI to enhance workflow efficiency significantly. 💡 Allan predicts the future of web development will shift towards integrated platforms. Consolidation of products into cohesive platforms will streamline development and solve the “Franken platform” problem. Thanks Allan for joining the podcast and sharing your wisdom 🙏 #podcast #GenAI #webdevelopment

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Blink by FlareLabs Inc. just secured $1.1 million in pre-A funding! This is a huge win for any startup looking to scale. If you're navigating the CRM space, there's something you can learn here: 1. Prioritize product quality. FlareLane didn't rely on outbound sales—they focused on making a competitive product. 2. Keep it user-friendly. Unlike foreign alternatives, FlareLane | Backed by Primer Sazze Partners shines because it's intuitive and cost-effective. 3. Automate smartly. Their automated customer journeys mean even non-marketers can create impactful, personalized experiences. Simply simplify your product for users, and let quality drive growth. How are you simplifying your marketing strategies? https://lnkd.in/dxC8TbGX Alec Robins, Alec Ellin, Jason Boehle. Ketul Sheth, Manoj Palakkal, Gaurav Bhawnani. Josh Lyles, Uday Kotla, David Weinstein, Rick Hamilton. Mudit Agarwal, Shampa Bagchi, Mark Kofman, Howard Thai, Prashant Motewar, Geoffrey Chaney, Bill Hustad, Paul Whitley. Jon Ferrara, David Cahn, Oliver Dallas Wright. Yisu Jin, Dylan Conroy. Mark Hansen, Jeff Stibel, Bob McDonald #StartupSuccess #CRM #TechInnovation

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Sidewalk Labs (Part of Google), another showcase of Canadian politicians bending over for a big US corp, with ZERO tangible results 💩 Roxana and I attended a "private investor demo" session in 2019. A block of wood was passed among the audience, supposedly the NEXT BIG BREAKTHROUGH in urban development! Demo concluded, by observing a piece of wood! Building blocks of future skyscrapers! The promise? With this, Google will build a "Smart City" for us, the peasants of Toronto, in Queens Quay 🏖️🏢 Sidewalk Labs' website now points to a newer Google scam, it reads: "Build Sustainably with Google Earth"! Bait and switch, but let enough time pass so no one remembers 🤢 https://lnkd.in/gd3B-a6m Guess now the investors and Ontario Government | Gouvernement de l’Ontario have shit loads of these wooden blocks, ready to shove up somewhere, to find a use for! All because the name "Bloomberg" sounds authoritative enough to our ears? Surely that's capital well spent, instead of investing in local talent! 🤔 Will Canada's tech ecosystem ever crawl out of Silicon Valley's shadow, and stand on its own? ⌚👀⛔

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Here’s another fantastic project built with Smart Layer, Farcaster Flow https://lnkd.in/g59-ZFwe #Web3 #SmartLayer #Blockchain

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Been looking for a solution like this for ages! SeedHunter: An all-in-one platform connecting Web3 projects with influencers for marketing and the retail community for funding. Why SeedHunter is unique? Retail Investor Opportunities: ↳ Enables retail to invest early. ↳ Better funding distribution. ↳ Community building. Simplified KOL Connections: ↳ No more gated access or closed networks. ↳ Eliminates middlemen, reducing costs. Furthermore, there are 4 Key Benefits: 1. Easy Access: ↳ Start investing from $50, no need to hold or stake specific tokens. 2. Vetted Projects: ↳ Rigorous due diligence ensures higher success chances. 3. High Potential: ↳ Early access to discounted token prices. 4. User-Friendly Process: ↳ Seamless project browsing and participation. Project Vetting: SeedHunter’s thorough vetting process includes business plan review, white-paper analysis, token utility, marketing, team expertise, community, vision, and tokenomics. Followed by a video interview for deeper insights. Two Ways To Get Involved: 1) Join the first seed round for Space Mavericks, a Web3 gaming project, live until early August. Alpha launch early Sep, TGE later in Sep. 2) Or become an Affiliate and earn 1% lifetime commission for every KOL, Hunter, or Project you onboard. Excited to see SeedHunter tackle common issues like KOL process pain, lack of early retail investment opportunities, and finding the right investment community. PS: Check out our full Altcoin Altcoin Edge Youtube review video in the pinned comment below.

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🚀 Exciting news for entrepreneurs and investors! Check out our latest list of recently #fundedstartups. Get all the details you need: Startup Name, Website, Investors, Markets, HQ, Funding Amount, Round, Founded Year, and LinkedIn. Dive in now: https://lnkd.in/gYmXGnx8 #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #privateequity

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HeyGen Raises $60M in Series A Funding HeyGen, the innovative AI video generation platform, has just secured a whopping $60M in Series A funding, led by Benchmark. This landmark investment values the company at over $500M and brings their total funding to $74M. 📊 𝐇𝐞𝐲𝐆𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡: • Skyrocketed from $1M to $35M+ in Annual Recurring Revenue in just over a year • Achieved profitability since Q2 2023 • Amassed 40,000+ paying customers globally • Supports an impressive 175 languages and regional dialects 🔍 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐲𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥? In today's video-first world, where we collectively watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube daily, HeyGen is revolutionizing how businesses create content. Their AI-powered platform allows companies to produce, localize, and personalize studio-quality videos without the need for cameras, cast, or crew. 💡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐲𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞: • Create videos by simply typing a script • Localize content into 175 languages with AI voice and lip sync • Preserve speakers' natural voices in localized versions • Drastically reduce production time from weeks to minutes • Significantly cut costs (traditional methods average $1,000 per finished minute) 🌟 𝐒𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: HeyGen's diverse clientele includes Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and even world leaders. Some notable examples: • McDonald's sweet connections ad campaign • Salesforce's partner kickoff • Argentinian President Milei's address at the World Economic Forum 👥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐭: To fuel their next growth phase, HeyGen has added key executives: • Dave King (former Asana CMO) as Chief Business Officer • Rong Yan (ex-HubSpot VP of Engineering) as CTO • Lavanya Poreddy (formerly of Match Group and Meta) as Head of Trust and Safety 🔮 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭? This funding will accelerate HeyGen's product roadmap, with a focus on: • Enhanced Avatar Video capabilities • Improved Video Translation • Advanced Personalized Video features • New Streaming Avatar technology • Strengthened Enterprise Security and AI Ethics As we enter a golden age of visual storytelling, HeyGen is at the forefront, empowering businesses of all sizes to tell their stories compellingly and efficiently. 💬 What are your thoughts on AI-powered video generation? How might this technology transform your business communications? #Heygen #AIVideoGeneration #StartupFunding #FutureOfContent #Innovation

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If you're a Canadian entrepreneur, investor, or founder then this past week has made it painfully clear that when it comes to innovation and economic recovery the calvary won't be coming and is in fact running in the opposite direction. The federal government and associated regional innovation support agencies (ie Invest Ottawa) are failing to look at solutions aimed at effectively addressing an overall decrease in entrepreneurship and economic activity across the nation and it is now on us, as resilient Canadian entrepreneurs, to empower those who can bring the most value to the table if we are to strive for the quickest path forward towards economic recovery and helping the average Canadian family better their quality of life. I am proud to announce that RHA Ventures Inc. has answered that call 👏 In the face of rising costs for domestic businesses in Canada and competition from abroad, RHA Ventures, an Ontario-based venture capital firm specializing in cutting-edge technologies, announced today its investment in Real Life Robotics, a Waterloo-based company designing real robots for real businesses. This investment marks a significant milestone in the development of Real Life Robotics and underscores RHA Ventures' commitment to supporting true, tried, and tested founders and Ontario’s growing startup ecosystem despite an overall decrease in entrepreneurship across the rest of Canada. “Real robots, real people, and real-world challenges are what differentiate RLR as a technology company. We could not be more thrilled to have RHA Ventures, a group of experienced founders and problem solvers, on board as strategic advisors and investors as we help elevate Ontario globally as a home for first-in-class robotics and automation technology - empowering businesses with transformative robotics solutions that unlock new levels of efficiency, reliability, and scalability,” - Cameron Waite, CEO of Real Life Robotics. The numbers clearly show that the cost of getting involved in a business or launching a new product is too high for the average inexperienced Canadian and our economy has slowed in growth accordingly. On a macro level, we are placing too high an importance on new founders in a down market when we should be rewarding and doubling down on our true, tried and tested investors, founders and legacy businesses who have shown they are willing to take the risk. Thank you, Brian Foster and the rest of the team at RHA Ventures Inc. for taking this first step of the journey with us 🙏 https://lnkd.in/gSr5TP48

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🎥 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐲 Unwiring Studios: Substack – 𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 ✍️✨ Welcome to the 𝟕𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 of our 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 series by Unwiring Studios powered by Unwiring Tech®, where we celebrate startups transforming industries and solving real-world problems! 🚀 This week, we’re proud to shine the spotlight on Substack —a platform that’s revolutionizing how creators connect with their audience and own their voice.   🌟 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤? In a world dominated by algorithms and middlemen, creators often struggle to reach their audience and monetize their work. Substack flips the script by giving writers full control over their content, audience, and revenue. With Substack, creators can:- ✅ Build direct relationships with their audience. ✅ Monetize their newsletters and creative content. ✅ Create independent, thriving communities. 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦—𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.   ✨ 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐞 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 At Unwiring Studios we wanted to bring Substack’s story to life in a unique way. So, we crafted a rap-based storytelling video that blends music, motion graphics, and impactful visuals to showcase their mission. 🎶 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨: A creative mix of rhythm and storytelling that highlights the struggles creators face today and how Substack empowers them to break free. It’s not just a video; it’s a celebration of creative freedom!   🎬 𝐀 𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐭! A big thank you to Chris Best, Hamish McKenzie and Jairaj Sethi for building a platform that champions creators worldwide. Your mission inspires us, and we’re thrilled to feature Substack in our Spotlight series.   💡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭? This video belongs to Substack—100% free, with no watermarks or restrictions. It’s our way of giving back to the startups who inspire us every day. Just dm us and we will share high quality video file for FREE.   💬 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐩 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬? Substack is the 7th chapter in our journey, and we’re just getting started. Do you know a startup solving real-world problems? Tag them below or share their story—we’d love to amplify their vision! 𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙘𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚. 🚀✨ #StartupSpotlight #Substack #UnwiringStudios #CreatorsRevolution #RapStorytelling #EmpoweringCreators

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I’ve launched a private TG community of Web3 founders. Why? Myself being a member of 1000+ Telegram groups and channels, I mostly see noise, spam, and unsolicited shilling. Chats are filled with agency reps hungry for clients and devs looking for jobs. I felt like there is a missing spot specifically for founders, where they could have a special space for each other without being commercially focused. So I created this group. NO VCs, EXECS, OR BDs are allowed there. New members are subject to approval. The goal for the community is to have founder-level conversations, give each other feedback, share alpha, help fellow founders, and have a good time. For now, I've been only adding friends and people I know personally so the chat is highly vetted. ** 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝟯 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿? ** 👇 Leave a comment to this post and send me a DM with a brief summary of what you do to get an invite link.

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New Shopify eCommerce site -> https://lnkd.in/gyv2MMrB Peter and the team at Sigma Integrale craft cutting-edge motion systems for SIM racing and flight, blending brilliant engineering with a passion for precision and realism. Proudly made in the USA, their products are a testament to what can still be made in America. Their previous website, while informative, was overwhelming—packed with technical details but lacking a clear structure or direction. That’s where we came in. We worked closely with them to reimagine their online presence, shifting the focus from an engineer’s perspective to that of their core audience: SIM racing enthusiasts who value performance but may not have a technical background. Our collaboration helped simplify and refine their messaging, making it easy for users to understand the unique benefits of their systems and the differences between models. The result? A streamlined website that guides customers effortlessly to the right product and inspires confidence in their investment. Coulee Creative

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Hot takes from a Web3 marketing panel hosted by MarketAcross with Polygon Labs , Exponential Science and Addressable.io 1️⃣ The hottest narrative is AI, but real growth comes from sticking to your original vision rather than chasing trends. Authenticity always wins 2️⃣ As AI bots flood social platforms, organic reach isn’t just hard—it’s nearly impossible. Marketers will need to think outside the algorithm with strategies like events, PR, and paid campaigns to truly stand out 3️⃣ Not enough companies leverage data to drive growth, but the ones that do—like Polygon—are absolutely crushing it. Data-driven marketing isn’t just smart; it’s essential

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Weekly Founders' Island Community Update 001: Each week, I do an update on our Founders Island community. We aim to have a community of founders working together to hit 8 figures each. We have some new developments coming in the next two weeks to keep each other accountable for that goal. For an ambitious founder who wants to grow, this is the place. —--------------------------------------------------------- Good morning, Founders. Welcome to another week on Founders Island A quick weekly update from me: Firstly, welcome to the crew: Katie, Mike, Dan, John, Mike again, and Peter. If you haven’t already, drop an introduction and let us know who you are and what you’re building. Next, we’ve been working on a bit in the background in the last two weeks to streamline the group channels, make learning easier to access, and make it more interactive. - We have some experiments you can run to stay accountable and level up your business. - We’ll be running more Ask Me Anything times with Tom Moore 🏴‍☠️ and others in the group. - Some more build-in-public series so you can see inside how others are building their businesses. We’ll walk through these changes in the next parlay which will be booked in for Thursday next week (11/07). As always, have a great week, pirates. Thank you for making this a great group 🏴‍☠️ P.S. If you’re looking to join our Founders' Island community, comment or send me a DM saying “Pirate”

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🌟 Exciting News for Founders! 🌟 The response to my talk at AWE was incredible, and I’ve been inspired to act fast. To showcase how the Actorpreneur for Founders method can elevate your approach to customer discovery and investor pitching, I’m hosting a free demo session next week! Webinar Details: 📅 Date: November 14, 2024 🕘 Time: 9:00 AM PST 🔗 Register here, places are limited: https://lu.ma/2vvr5l22 For those already convinced and needing actionable, hands-on assistance with fundraising, I’m offering an exclusive workshop at a special introductory price. This 2-hour session provides a deeper dive with tailored exercises. Note: I personally select founders to ensure a quality experience—apply early to secure your spot! Workshop Details: 📅 Date: Thursday 21 November, 9:00 AM PST 💰 Special Introductory Price 🔗 Apply here: https://lu.ma/c4tkcaej Don’t miss these opportunities to learn and grow your startup's strategy and investor readiness! #Entrepreneurship #Actorpreneur #Fundraising #Innovation #PlayEconomy #founder

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🚀 'Accel-KKR is on the hunt for GP-led secondaries for software companies' 🌟 Your next game-changer is here! 🌱 Calling all investors and founders: Dive into actionable insights, groundbreaking ideas, and strategies to take your journey to the next level. 👉 Read it now: https://lnkd.in/efHxqaQC ✨ Accel-KKR has solidified its entrance to the secondaries buyside by raising its first dedicated fund to back GP-led secondaries deals. The software specialist headquartered in Menlo Park, California, has raised over $2.2 billion for AKKR Strategic Capital, according to a statement. LPs who committed to the fund include some of the secondaries market’s biggest buyers, […] Don’t miss out on this must-read for leveling up in the world of startups and investment. Let’s innovate, grow, and succeed together! #Leadership #Innovation #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Founders #Investors #Growth #Strategy #Success

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