Whirlwind of a week – Prime Day and “MBA Disrupted”

Whirlwind of a week – Prime Day and “MBA Disrupted”

Hey everyone,

What a whirlwind of a week!

Prime Day has kept me incredibly busy, jumping from one case to another, putting out fires, and ensuring our Amazon clients are thriving during this chaotic time. Amidst the frenzy, Prime Day has seen an enormous surge in shopping activity, with Reuters predicting record sales hitting a staggering $14 billion.

On a personal note, I’m thrilled to announce that my book “MBA Disrupted” is available for free on Kindle today only, in celebration of Prime Day. Thanks to your support, it has gotten to #1 in Entrepreneurship Management and #2 in Startups and Starting a Business.

If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, don’t miss out—get it here ◀️while the offer lasts. Tell a friend or send your high school alumni group – helping more future entrepreneurs gain practical and tactical knowledge is what my book is all about.

Reflecting on this week, it’s clear that the landscape of online shopping is evolving at a breakneck pace. The sheer volume of sales and the logistical challenges faced by businesses have highlighted for us in DevriX the need for agility and preparedness. The Prime Day phenomenon showcases consumer behavior trends and also the importance of strategic planning and efficient execution. Something that we pride ourselves in.

With every passing Prime Day, I’m reminded of the importance of balance – something I’ve been passionate about since transitioning to the SaaS model over a decade ago. Drawing inspiration from leaders like Jason at Basecamp, who maintained a small, efficient team to ensure work-life balance, I’ve seen firsthand the value of a streamlined approach. Balancing remote and on-site work, especially in the context of increasing reliance on AI and technology, remains crucial for sustainable growth.

Stay tuned for more insights and updates. Your continued support and engagement mean the world to me, I’m excited to share more with you all things business.

Yours,

Mario


✍️ Return on Ad Spend – When PPC and BDR efforts are tanking this year, we scaled a high-ticket client to 300% ROAS in just a few weeks. Here’s a breakdown of the DevriX thought process.

✍️ Insights from MBA Disrupted – Join us in the Tech Talks Daily Podcast as we discuss the new age of Entrepreneurship, its challenges, and of course – MBA Disrupted.

✍️ The Future of Work: Hybrid Models, SaaS, and AI Integration – In this episode, I dive into a conversation about the evolution of project management and software as a service (SaaS) with insights from Jason Fried of Basecamp


📧 Moneywise – Receive a curated selection of their top stories twice a week. Moneywise is a highly trustworthy news media that I regularly visit before writing this one.

📧 Graham Stephan – I’ve been a huge fan of Graham Stephan for quite a while now. You may have heard me mention him in my videos, blog posts, and general social media posts that I do.


📄 Prime Day sales hit record $14 billion – Shoppers are likely to spend roughly $14 billion during Amazon’s Prime Day two-day shopping event this week, according to projections from Adobe Analytics, a firm that studies e-commerce transaction data. Spending at Amazon on Tuesday and Wednesday could rise 10.5% from Prime Day 2023, Adobe said.

📄 Verizon Hit With $2.6B Anti-Piracy Lawsuit – A collection of major record labels have sued Verizon for turning a blind eye to users who illegally download content, a significant effort to curb piracy against one of the leading gatekeepers of the internet.

In a lawsuit filed on Friday in New York district court, the three major music conglomerates — Universal, Sony and Warner — joined by a host of other publishers, say they’ve notified Verizon of hundreds of thousands of repeat infringers but that company refuses to expel them. They seek roughly $2.6 billion and a court order that the company willfully infringed upon their copyrights.

📄 OpenAI’s leaked project Strawberry – A leaked internal document and information from an insider has revealed that OpenAI is working on a new, secret project, codenamed Project Strawberry, which is expected to produce a model that’s capable of better reasoning, mimicking that of human intelligence.

📄 Pinterest’s new AI tool – Let’s talk about Pinterest’s development of a text-to-image model aimed at enhancing the platform’s visuals. The model undergoes two training stages: filling missing image areas and visualizing products. Future improvements include upgrading the model and incorporating user feedback for better quality and personalization. Additionally, the article explores evolving pricing models for service businesses and the shift from reliance on SaaS due to data security concerns.

📄 Fed won’t wait for 2% – Powell referenced the idea that central bank policy works with “long and variable lags” to explain why the Fed wouldn’t wait for its target to be hit. The central bank is looking for “greater confidence” that inflation will return to the 2% level, Powell said. The Fed’s next policy meeting is at the end of July.


📈  The contraction of the ‘quality spread’, showing that investors are relatively more sanguine about the health of small-caps, tends to see the small-cap stocks outperform their large-cap cousins. But this has not happened yet.

  • S&P 500: $5,667(+0.63%)

📈 “With [the June 12] announcement, the Fed confirms its higher-for-longer position on interest rates,” says Dr. Selma Hepp, chief economist at CoreLogic. “But the stance is looking more untenable as more American households continue to pull back on spending. As more economic indicators begin to confirm this and unemployment begins to rise, the Fed will then look to cut rates. What’s not clear yet is when exactly the disinflation signs will be consistent enough for the first rate cut — we hope it’s still this year.”

  • 30-year mortgage rate: 6.92%(-0.15)
  • 15-year mortgage rate: 6.45%(-0.11)

📈 Fed News

  • Powell referenced the idea that central bank policy works with “long and variable lags” to explain why the Fed wouldn’t wait for its target to be hit.
  • The central bank is looking for “greater confidence” that inflation will return to the 2% level, Powell said.
  • The Fed’s next policy meeting is at the end of July.

📰 Here are some of the most prominent headlines this week:

  • The White House has released a letter by President Biden’s personal physician, Kevin O’Connor, explaining multiple visits to the White House by a Parkinson’s expert.
  • France’s left-wing parties are projected to finish first in the parliamentary elections, keeping the far right at bay.
  • The U.S. economy added 206,000 jobs last month and unemployment inched above 4% for the first time in over two years, new government data shows.

  • Maskots – All-in-one app designed to simplify and enhance pet care by offering personalized services. Successfully tested with 150 users, received positive feedback from qualitative interviews.  Public beta launch on July 3rd, 2024; commercial launch planned for October 2024. 
  • Brainactive – AI-driven self-service platform where companies interview their current and potential customers, improving decision-making. Launched on Product Hunt and AppSumo.  Acces to a pool of 300+ million consumers from Cint marketplace (one of the largest consumer networks for digital survey-based research). 
  • Klarsicht – raising €590,000 to scale its digital marketplace connecting opticians, manufacturers, and customers. Backed by ProSieben/Sat1 Group and GMPVC, offering €20.8M in marketing volume for equity after the round.

Note: Got a round going that you want to feature – your own business or a portfolio company? Get in touch.

Now let’s have a look at the latest top Flippa offers

Business Building Education Platform – This ecommerce business sells 300+ digital products related to business-building education.

  • Monthly profit: $15,829
  • Monthly page views: 464,660
  • Business age: 6 years

90-Book KDP Portfolio – This Amazon KDP store features a 90-book portfolio of books including romance novels.

  • Monthly profit: $3,573
  • Profit margin: 55%
  • Business age: 3 years

Battle Strategy Game Mobile App – This mobile app is a combat-based strategy game and features a worldwide user base.

  • Monthly profit: $12,896
  • App downloads: 1M+
  • Business age: 8 years

I’m involved with a number of initiatives – here’s what I can do to help you:

🌐 Scalable and secure WordPress? DevriX provides WordPress retainers to SMEs, publishers, eCommerce, SaaS, and more. Our plans start from $1,200/mo to $40K/mo for anything from support through engineering, CRO, performance, security, to fractional CXO services and managing the data stacks of large corps.

🚀 Want to scale and optimize your business? Growth Shuttle offers personalized advisory plans starting at $600/hr. Tap into my personal pool of business know-how and my data warehouse of industry data.

👥 Want access to my blueprints/books and a weekly Slack planning session? Join my Community and grab my Entrepreneurship book

📈 Looking to start a US company? Check out doola and their “Business in a Box” model. Suitable for both foreigners and US citizens and both for residents and non-residents.

📊 Have you tried buying and selling digital property? Have a look at Flippa’s marketplace. They offer a vast variety of online businesses for any buyer’s interests. Or if you’re ready for an exit, Flippa provides you with the necessary tools to list your business and close the deal.

💼 Looking for investment opportunities? Check out SeedBlink and use Nimity to manage it.

💡 Eager to incorporate my recommended solutions? Track my angel investments. Sharing, applying for open roles, or writing reviews helps a ton.  And anything else I try to publish on my blog and my courses here! 


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My name is Mario Peshev, a global SME Business Advisor running digital businesses for 20 the past years.

Born in Bulgaria, Europe, I gained diverse management experience through my training work across Europe, North America, and the Arab world. With 10,000+ hours in consulting and training for organizations like SAP, VMware, CERN, I’ve dedicated a huge amount of my time to helping hundreds of SMEs growing in different stages of the business lifecycle.

My martech agency DevriX grew past 50 people and ranks as a top 10 WordPress global agency and Growth Blueprint, my advisory firm, has served 400+ SME founders and executives with monthly ongoing strategy sessions.


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