Over the last dozen issues of The Growth Blueprint we’ve covered business shortcomings such as failed Q1 results, layoffs, insufficient algorithm changes, and broken social media reach. However, today I’m happy to report:
B2Bs will recover in Q2 – we see this across our portfolio and market data proves it.
Tracking down market data and trends in an uncertain market is integral to informing internal decisions and leadership actions. DevriX launches outbound campaigns, calibrates pricing, consolidates services, or suggests quarterly go-to-market plans based on them.
We plan strategic content, educational resources, courses, video campaigns around the quarterly market forecasts and advisory clients I work with in Growth Shuttle adjust their growth, recruitment, and operational efficiency strategy based on bull vs. bear markets.
If you’ve been following The Growth Blueprint for a while now, you’ve probably noticed the patterns as well:
S&P 500 is stronger than ever
Layoffs have finally normalized after January
The Fed is still targeting a 2% inflation to drop interest rates
CPI holding steady since Q1 2023
And last but not least, B2B market normalization steadies VC funding for R&D and innovation, moving away from maintenance-only mode.
One crucial thing that investors and agencies don’t take account of when diversifying their income is buying a pre-built project with an existing customer base.
That’s something me and Dominic, Flippa’s Senior M&A Advisor, talked about when he visited our office prior to Flippa’s Sofia Meetup last month.
While we focus on paying clients, leaving in-house builds secondary, it’s lead to wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Instead, our acquisitions on Flippa and through partner businesses selling assets (plugins, SaaS, digital tools, content publishers) keep making money. Payback time 14 to 18 months after acquiring.
What we see in market right now are thousands of funded businesses burning cash and failing to raise an extra round.
Acquisitions are neglected as agencies don’t understand the model or the process. Dominic and the Flippa team of M&A advisors do this for a living.
This is the best time to acquire companies whose valuations have dropped, with limited funding opportunities, or to enter markets in decline.
Keep diversifying!
Yours,
Mario
My Take
How to Protect Your Client’s Privacy – Check out Indystack’s newest Pit Stop Talk, where we discuss client data privacy, getting hacked, and dealing with situations of breach of privacy in project work.
How to Build a Successful Ecommerce Portfolio – While building something from scratch is a common wisdom, I do not see the “buy vs build” consideration to be uncommon.
Q2 B2B Global Forecast – B2Bs will recover in Q2 – we see this across our portfolio and market data proves it. I report and analyze weekly data in my Growth Blueprint newsletter (link in bio). Tracking down market data and trends in an uncertain market is integral to informing internal decisions and leadership actions.
Newsletter Recommendations
Stacked Marketer – One of my go-to newsletters and a business that we’ve worked with a while ago on the DevriX front. It is loved by marketers who get hands-on with campaigns, who need to stay up-to-date with frequently changing platforms., who need to get an edge, and who need to achieve outsized results with limited resources, aka performance-focused marketers.
Boldpush – А special newsletter for those interested in marketing intelligence and strategy to the most ambitious brands. Props to Julius Solaris for creating one of my top newsletter reads for GTM strategies and actionable content.
Business Strategy
Microsoft separates Teams and Office – Microsoft will sell its chat and video app Teams separately from its Office product globally, the U.S. tech giant said on Monday, six months after it unbundled the two products in Europe in a bid to avert a possible EU antitrust fine.
Truth Social Earnings – Former President Trump’s social media company lost over $58 million on just $4.1 million in revenue during 2023, according to new SEC filings. The company lost top-line momentum, generating only $751,000 in Q4. It had topped $1 million in Q3.
Preplexity to sell ads – Perplexity believes generative AI will eventually help it build even better targeting for advertisers to bid on high-value traffic. Related questions, which include links to sources, account for 40% of Perplexity’s queries. So Perplexity plans to add relevant, related brand-sponsored questions along with organic questions.
Preplexity to sell ads – Perplexity believes generative AI will eventually help it build even better targeting for advertisers to bid on high-value traffic. Related questions, which include links to sources, account for 40% of Perplexity’s queries. So Perplexity plans to add relevant, related brand-sponsored questions along with organic questions.
BYD Sales Jump – Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD’s sales jumped in March amid increasing competition from Chinese auto companies in the global EV market.
In the first quarter, BYD sold 626,263 new-energy vehicles, which includes EVs and plug-ins, up 13% from a year earlier. The company said Monday that March sales surged 46% after slipping in the first two months of the year.
Global News
A fresh call to buy China stocks comes from Macro Tourist blogger Kevin Muir, who flags hopes for reforms of China’s hukou system, which splits the population into rural and urban classes, which decides the extent of access to public services. Muir quotes Leonid Mironov, head of natural resources at asset manager PACAT Capital Management, who sees China as “a lot less screwed than people think” because he thinks the reforms really are going to be a thing.
- S&P 500: $5,220(+0.32%)
The next opportunity for a Fed cut comes in May, the height of the spring homebuying season.
Whether mortgage rates move up or down, though, it’s tough to time the market. Often, the decision to buy a home comes down to needs. Depending on your situation, it might make sense to take a higher rate now and hope to refinance later — buying a home at today’s prices rather than a higher price in the future, while building equity that much sooner.
- 30-year mortgage rate: 6.88%(-0.10)
- 15-year mortgage rate: 6.34%(-0.13)
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said Tuesday she still expects interest rate cuts this year but ruled out the next policy meeting in May. Mester also thinks the long-run federal funds rate will be higher than the long-standing expectation of 2.5%. Instead, she sees the so-called neutral or “r*” rate at 3%.
Here are some of the most prominent headlines this week:
- Florida Supreme Court upholds a 15-week abortion ban in the state, while also allowing a proposed amendment that would enshrine abortion protections in the state constitution to appear on the November ballot.
- Alex Murdaugh has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for stealing millions of dollars from his legal clients
- FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is sentenced to 25 years for defrauding customers of the collapsed, multibillion-dollar cryptocurrency exchange.
Investing Updates
- Corekees – raising €1M to facilitate profitable investment projects with a net positive impact.
- MindAhead – raising €1M to scale its digital therapy solutions that slow the progression of dementia.
- Oveit – raising €400,000 to scale its live events automation solution.
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
Marketing Service & Software for Ecom Owners – This service-based business helps ecommerce businesses increase their customer conversion and retention rates.
- Monthly profit: $15.6K
- CAC to LTV ratio: 1 to 16
- Client count: 300+
SaaS Writing Tool & Plagiarism Checker – This SaaS business contains several writing-based tools including a plagiarism checker, a grammar checker, and a paraphrasing tool.
- Monthly profit: $10.7K
- Monthly page views: 1.8M
- Domain authority score: 42
AI Room Decor SaaS – This SaaS tool allows you to redesign rooms for decor changes based on uploaded photos.
- Monthly profit: $4.1K
- Monthly page views: 296K
- Business age: 2 years
Need my Help?
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!