How to interpret Fed’s latest moves, stay on track with first-party data, and optimize processes
Q4 starts in just a few days – and the B2B realm is hectically pushing for the biggest shopping and buying season of the year.
And recessionary fears keep floating around for different reasons. Are we headed into one or soft landing is in order?
Quick read on the current market data
- Public inflation rate is 2.53% which is still higher than the 2% target rate, but definitely not collapsing. Moreover, we see that market prices are still going up – anything from supermarket goods to rents to drinks and food items in bars and restaurants.
- September is traditionally a negative month for S&P 500. After the first Fed cut of 50 basis points in 2 years, the market has been going up since Sep 8 (even before the decision was announced)
- Unemployment rates are in flux. Corporations will battle remote working due to low productivity and moonlighting and cut costs this way.
- AI will keep receiving hundreds of billions in investments to trim down the bottom of the market. Human capital is among the top 3 most expensive investments for companies – even if manufacturing, R&D, production cost a ton, humans take sick leaves, are unpredicted in productivity, carry trade secrets, require severances, impact culture, object decisions – and hundreds of other factors making it more complicated to balance out
So from an economic standpoint, businesses are likely to contract or grow dramatically slower next year, but most essential cuts have been made already.
That said, prices are still rising and unemployment rates are likely to go up because of a mismatch between payroll expectations and market returns. If a business grows 5% this year and needs to index for inflation with another 5% or so, they’re running in the red even without hiring. Food for thought.
I abandoned social for the most part in Q3 as I’m back into R&D, sales, events, the YouTube channel, and last but not least – this email list.
We’re slowly optimizing ads for growth and the team is busy packaging new lead magnets for B2B executives. if you want to chime in the production process and vote on ideas, reply and I’ll send a bucket list of topics.
Political ad campaigns are also adding up. Presidential candidates are launching thousands of ads this month and the PPC space is getting crowded for acquisition over the next 2 months. Additionally, with the shopping season after, Meta, Google and Amazon are bound to fill in the bank until the end of the year.
🥁🥁🥁
So the real winners here are newsletter operators who do not count on SEO fluctuations, social algorithm triggers, or expensive ads. Which is why I’m interviewing the sharp mastermind behind the Stacked Marketer, Tactics, and Psychology of Marketing on my podcast this week:
Manu is sharing some internal trade secrets of running a publication network with 100,000+ subscribers, their data stories, segmenting users, the Pro marketplace, and a ton more.
Case studies are one of the most valuable resources on the planet – especially with AI regurgitated content populated everywhere. Fresh insights, recent data, expert opinions are what works this year.
Watch the full episode and subscribe to the channel for more insights. We grew from 500 to 3,750 subscribers in ~10 weeks so that’s just starting out.
(Also available on Spotify for audiophiles.)
Speaking of AI…
I’ve been automating more and more of our internal processes across the portfolio companies using AI agents and prompts and building and acquiring solutions for that.
It is a crowded market, but AI is growing for a reason. I talk about diversification and dependencies in my LinkedIn post in the next section, but AI will supersede other trends significantly longer due to the cost-cutting opportunities for organizations replacing humans.
Automation, automobiles, computers are here to stay because they introduced significant cuts in time to delivery and human costs for all businesses. That unanimous vote of confidence based on profit opportunities is a no-brainer – and the corresponding companies developing LLMs will keep growing over the next couple of years at least.
There’s a lot going under the hood still, but one of my pet projects I picked up recently is Fasty AI and I’ll be building more components and simple agents trained on our data there (and expose to my advisory clients and DevriX customers). There’s another exciting one that we’ll be announcing in a month during the Webit event hosting thousands of industry professionals. And even a partner AI newsletter for B2Bs we’re working on now.
Busy times now made possible with automation and optimization.
That’s all for today – if you like the edition, forward this to a B2B peer who can make use of the latest trends. 👨🚀
Yours,
Mario
My Take
✍️ Growth Blueprint Podcast #5 Scaling Stacked Marketer’s 100K Audience – Meet Emanuel Cinca – Founder of Stacked Marketer, the leading newsletter network for marketing professionals and readers from companies like Meta, Google, Apple, Shopify, Salesforce, HubSpot, Semrush, TikTok (to name just a few!) Manu and I break down the math behind growing Stacked Marketer, building a loyal audience, their data insights, and the Pro marketing platform.
✍️ Are You a LinkedIn Slave? – I’m in several private Slack and WhatsApp communities – and even get constant InMails and DMs for accounts that have been ruined on the platform. Of course, it’s not limited to LinkedIn – Facebook accounts get banned left and right, Instagram unrecoverable, and seeing friends lose access to contacts, messages, and image archives is so painful. What steps do I take to limit dependencies?
✍️Scaling Your Business Faster – Growing your business can feel like a balancing act. Between adding new partners, clients, and vendors, it’s crucial to scale efficiently while keeping your audience engaged. I’ll share how focusing on the right channels and targeting your ideal prospects can make all the difference.
Newsletter Recommendations
📧 Stacked Marketer – Starting with the talk of this week’s podcast and one of my personal favourites. Built to filter through the noise. You’ve no doubt found yourself browsing websites and social media over and over again to make sure you didn’t miss anything important. After all, in marketing, things move quickly! Sign up Here!
📧 Flippa – one of the largest marketplaces. Suitable for those who are looking for cheap deals, too. Sign up Here!
Business Strategy
📃OpenAI launches OpenAI Academy. which gives developers in middle to low-income countries access to training, technical guidance, and $1M of API credits to help them “solve hard problems and catalyze economic growth” in sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture.
📃Telegram Gives In. Messaging app Telegram will provide users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests, according to Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov. The platform changed its terms of service to deter criminals from abusing it.
📃 Jony Ive confirms he’s working on a new device with OpenAI. Jony Ive has confirmed that he’s working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on an AI hardware project. The confirmation came today as part of a profile of Ive in The New York Times, nearly a year after the possibility of a collaboration between Altman and the longtime Apple designer was first reported on.
📃The Spending of US Gen Z. About 43% of Gen Z shoppers plan to spend more for the holidays this year, compared to 37% of millennials, according to a report released by Fiverr. Per Fiverr, Gen Z continues to do much of its holiday gift searching on social platforms.
📃X could return to Brazil. In an abrupt reversal, the social network’s lawyers said it was complying with court orders that it had previously defied. Brazil’s Supreme Court could allow the site to return next week.
Global News
📈 The S&P 500 has jumped 5.4% over the last two weeks and sits just inches from a record closing high. Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week threaded the needle in delivering a half-point rate cut without triggering growth concerns, says Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley’s chief stock-market strategist.
- S&P 500: $5,732(+0.25%)
📈Average mortgage rates sunk across the board from a week ago, according to Bankrate data. Rates for 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed, 5/1 ARMs and jumbo loans all dropped.
- 30-year mortgage rate: 6.23%
- 15-year mortgage rate: 5.52%
📈Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said Tuesday she thought her colleagues should have taken a more measured approach to last week’s half-percentage point interest rate reduction.
📰 Here are some of the most prominent headlines this week:
- The Pentagon plans to send a few dozen U.S. troops to the Middle East in the coming days, three defence officials say. The troops will be on standby if the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah threatens Americans and evacuations from Lebanon are needed.
- Crime, including serious violent incidents like murder, dropped nationally from 2022 to 2023, according to new data released by the FBI.
- The FTC says it’s suing the “Big Three” drug middlemen, accusing them of inflating insulin prices.
Investment News
- Questo– the travel startup used by 500,000 people worldwide, is raising €630,000 in funding round to scale its gamified event solution.
- I Love Failure – raising €300,000 to expand its platform dedicated to personal and professional growth.
- Maskots – raising €200,000 to expand its pet care app, helping pet owners keep their animals happy and healthy.
Note: Got a round going that you want to feature – your own business or a portfolio company? Get in touch.
There’s an exciting Flippa update I want to share with you. They’ve now created a category for digital agencies.
The global market for them was estimated in 2021 at about $4.2B and is expected to double by 2027. As part of the digital agency community for about 15 years, exciting times are up ahead!
Marketing Agency for Dropshippers – This service business provides web development and marketing services for dropshipping and ecommerce store owners.
- Monthly profit: $13,508
- MRR: $998
- LTV: 1,967
Name Brand Electronics Ecommerce – This ecommerce store selling various electronics products from brands including Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung has driven a TTM revenue of $454K.
- Monthly profit: $14,830
- Profit margin: 39%
- Business age: 14 years
Magnetic Vent Covers FBA – This Amazon FBA business selling home vents covers highly rated products with collectively over 2K customer reviews.
- Monthly profit: $1,069
- Average order value: $19
- Business age: 7 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 interest. 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!
