“MBA Disrupted” 80 reviews in + Tech and business history repeating itself

“MBA Disrupted” 80 reviews in + Tech and business history repeating itself

For starters, I woke up to 80 5-star reviews for “MBA Disrupted” and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome so far. And it’s just the beginning.

Enterprise Podcast Network invited me to discuss the global economy in a 13-minute chat based on the book framework – link to the show in the section below (more coming soon).

Print is just around the corner, but polishing the print formatting for 3 weeks now. Stay tuned – in the meantime, the Kindle copy is just $2.99 – we’re at nearly 500 sales in the first month but I’m determined to push for 5,000+ book sales in 2024 combined.

What about the economy?

The macro is still in trouble thanks to a combination of spend withdrawal in mid-tier/large enterprises plus inflationary pressure for individuals.

Short recaps of conversations at events, meetups, entrepreneurial gatherings, DMs and closed Slack groups I’ve had in the past couple of weeks:

  • Open jobs in an IT job board are down 72% since the peak in late 2021 – early 2022
  • Several B2B SaaS/SMEs reduced a third of their BDR teams and marketing spend
  • Event sponsorships down 25% to 35% for several event organizers (both number of sponsors and higher plan fees)
  • Training course providers downsizing due to lower interest in IT-related jobs (juniors unable to find jobs in this market = lower prospects to start now)
  • 2X to 4X elevated job applications across 20+ different B2Bs and agencies (including applications in areas previously impossible to hire for)
  • Lower salary asks from applicants due to a steep market
  • Small business owners applying for jobs (moving away from business ownership in this market)
  • Procurement techniques – decreasing payment plans, more flexible SaaS plans discussed with AEs/BDRs today preventing higher churn

As traditional spending is going down, savings are everything. Warren Buffett is known to preach “buying the dip” – holding back when everyone invests/buys and doubling down when discounts are available (high supply, low demand).

This philosophy works right now with acquisitions, testing new vendors, and investments.

Guillaume shared an exit example from his portfolio of a business that sold for 20 cents on the dollar.

There are more acquisitions for undisclosed amounts that may be attributed to down valuations – even if it’s at 60 or 70 cents, it doesn’t look good on the outside and doesn’t help the market recover, either. But under the hood, this is happening.

On the other hand, some investments get oversubscribed. My tickets in Arrived and Beehiiv were both cut short as the rounds were packed. Still a shareholder here, but this tells you that investing (or acquisitions) aren’t dead; they just follow different principles today, and adapting is critical.

High-level, high-ticket is in trouble.

  1. Expensive SaaS are getting replaced with much cheaper ones even if they deliver 80% of the work
  2. FTE teams are replaced with agencies
  3. Expensive agencies get swapped for freelancers at times
  4. FTEs wear multiple hats (covering for several roles)
  5. One-off or ad-hoc niche services are on the rise. We hire for things like Twitter threads or lead gen freebies separately to experts in these
  6. Following Neil Patel’s playbook, I work with businesses acquiring tools/SaaS on Flippa for lead generation or as low-ticket entry options to keep nurture clients over time and upsell graduallly

This global paradigm shift brings new opportunities. And iterating on the right motions is what I cover in “MBA Disrupted” as well.

Are you prepared for what’s next?

Yours,
Mario


 ✍️ AI Will Never Replace – There are some things that AI will never replace. But you need to gain these insights first. Leverage AI to enhance, not replace, your B2B growth.

✍️ MBA Disrupted in Enterprise Podcast Network – Joined Eric Dye for a new episode of his podcast discussing changes and blockers for entrepreneurs and startup founders, the CEO mindset, and takeaways from MBA Disrupted.


📧 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.


📄 Boeing CEO goes to Congress – Boeing CEO David Calhoun faced tough questioning on Capitol Hill as lawmakers raised concerns about the company’s safety culture and quality control practices. He spoke to Congress for the first time since a door panel of a Boeing plane blew out mid-flight.

📄 Nvidia becomes the most valuable public company – Nvidia, which is up more than ninefold since the end of 2022, has surpassed Microsoft to become the most valuable public company in the world. The chipmaker passed the $3 trillion market cap mark in early June, joining Microsoft and Apple in that club.

 Amazon Labor Union affiliated with Teamsters – New York City warehouse workers who are part of the Amazon Labor Union overwhelmingly voted to align themselves with the Teamsters as they try to get a contract from the online retailer. The ALU members voted 98.3% in favor of the affiliation, which will give them access to additional resources in their effort to bring Amazon to the bargaining table, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Tuesday.

📄 Apple ends buy now pay later – Apple pulled the plug on its buy now, pay later service, Apple Pay Later, this week, saying installment loan options from other providers will be available on its Apple Pay platform in the near future.

📄 Reddit’s conversation ads – Reddit announced a major revision to its conversation page ads, including a new placement within discussion threads. Trying to position itself as a leader in contextual advertising, Reddit is emphasizing the power of authentic conversations in an AI-dominated digital landscape.


📈  Nvidia, on its own, is responsible for $4.20 of its $22.40 earnings per share growth it expects from the S&P 500 next year.

“Solid earnings visibility” in the intermediate term for the Magnificent Seven “implies that current index multiples can hold,” they say.

  • S&P 500: $5,387(+0.25%)

📈 Inflation has cooled somewhat, but homebuyers are still feeling the pinch of high prices and rates. At the close of the Fed meeting on June 12, policymakers again held off on changing interest rates. The next Fed meeting concludes July 31.

  • 30-year mortgage rate: 7.02%(-0.10)
  • 15-year mortgage rate: 6.43%(-0.19)

📈  Federal Reserve officials, heartened by recent data, are looking for further confirmation that inflation is cooling and for any warning signs from a still-strong labor market as they steer cautiously toward what most expect to be an interest rate cut or two by the end of this year.

Outlining a litany of reasons for optimism that inflation is back on track to the U.S. central bank’s 2% goal after stalling earlier this year, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said on Tuesday she believes monetary policy is “sufficiently restrictive” to ease price pressures without causing a significant deterioration in the job market.

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

  • The Supreme Court rules that a federal ban on “bump stocks,” gun accessories that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire more quickly, is unlawful in a loss for the Biden administration.
  • Apple announces its version of AI, which the company calls Apple Intelligence.
  • Boeing and Airbus may have used counterfeit titanium in their planes that was sold using fake documents, according to evidence from a supplier that triggered an FAA investigation.

  • Fleming – raising €700,000 to provide smart financial & banking solutions for healthcare professionals.
  • Hunch – raising €1,25M to increase sales through automated marketing & AI. Backed by Catalyst Romania, Euroventures. 
  • Mindgram – raising €1,75M to support mental health & well-being in the workplace. Backed by Credo, Portfolion & others.

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

Media Publishing Service – This service business provides media publishing through 15 international publishers.

  • Monthly profit: $89,692
  • Profit margin: 45%
  • Business age: 11 years

Restaurant & Hospitality CRM SaaS – This SaaS business offers CRM services for over 1500 active restaurant & hospitality clients. This business helps businesses implement oracle-based technologies.

  • Monthly revenue: $63,149
  • Domain authority score: 43
  • Business age: 9 years

B2B SaaS 4-App Portfolio – This app-based business consists of a portfolio of four apps in the printing and admin niche.

  • Monthly profit: $31,538
  • Monthly downloads: 41,250
  • Business age: 6 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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