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Altitude Edition 011 is hot off the press from ​Cirrus Capital Partners​ 📰

Every couple of weeks, we give you a bird's eye 🦅 view of the most exciting news and insights around...

Created for founders, bootstrappers, VCs, angel investors, marketers, technologists, executives, and operators—everywhere.

Let’s get into it:

​Are we headed in the right direction? Scott Galloway isn't so sure. ​

This TED talk has made rounds on social media and has already hit 4 million views in less than two weeks. A few of us gave a standing ovation just at our desks. This is one of the most copacetic presentations about not setting up the following generations for a fair shot at success.

What's different about this TED Talk is that it's not just doom and gloom. It's the bad news, followed by thoughtful recommendations. He doesn't propose that any of his recommendations are a panacea but a restorative measure to bring back America when economic mobility was at its highest. What's more, his recommendations aren't a budget issue. It is entirely within our power as a country to mitigate these highly contested issues: low wages, poor education access, and the adverse effects of social media. It's just a matter of if we will.

​We need to limit access (or ban) to smartphones for children under 13​

Speaking of social media's adverse effects—check out this report commissioned by Emmanuel Macron. The French president asked social media experts, policy experts, and scientists to suggest parameters for smartphone and social media use for children. In a hard-hitting report based on a 3-month analysis, it was collectively agreed upon the profit-driven approach of of social media sites inherently treats children as "merchandise". Here are the recommendations:

→ No screens, including television, for children under 3.

→ Smartphones are hand-held only, with no internet access from 11 to 13

→ Internet access allowed by 13

→ Any social media access should only be to "ethical" social media (such as Mastodon) from 13-18.

→ Access to conventional, mass-market social media is allowed only for 18+

I'm curious to hear thoughts from folks in the younger millennial/older Gen Z age brackets, especially those with children 3+. Are these too stringent? Not stringent enough?

​ChatGPT wants to remember everything you told it​

The good news: a personalized, beneficial ChatGPT experience for GPT+ users! You'll get meaningful interactions; you don't have to repeat yourself because your chatbot can recall user-specific information such as hobbies and prompt history.

The bad news: It remembers...everything.

This raises some privacy concerns, especially regarding data ownership and the use of personal information. It is optional and can be managed and deleted by users. However, with Europe and Korea not allowing this feature, it questions what information you should and shouldn't feed into a GPT.

The CPI sits at 3.4%, lower than last month and in line with economist predictions, though price pressures remain for millions of consumers. While the inflation rate is higher than the Fed target of 2.0%, the core index hit its lowest levels since 2021. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that gasoline, shelter, and potentially medical and health insurance contributed to half this monthly uptick.

Allspring senior portfolio manager Bryant VanCronkhite ​told Yahoo! Finance news yesterday​ that, in general, "both the quality and the quantity of labor is not meeting the needs of the small businesses and large businesses and what they need to drive their businesses forward," so unless employment changes, inflation is anticipated to remain stubborn.

Employment: As of April 2024, the unemployment rate remained at 3.9% and has fluctuated between 3.7% and 3.9% since 2023, with the current rate being at its two-year high. The non-farm payroll increased by 175,000, and job gains are primarily in health care, social assistance, transportation, and warehousing. Overall, the labor market is tight, with a large candidate pool but fewer qualified candidates for jobs, particularly in the private sector.

​10 years after growth hacking...what's changed? And what's new? ​

"Growth hacking" emerged over a decade ago. And it's safe to say the impact is mixed.

This hot concept was initially anticipated to revolutionize marketing by prioritizing technical skills and integrating with APIs. While it enabled rapid growth for large, data-rich companies, it was less effective for startups needing significant product changes, not just iterative tests. Growth strategies today are adaptable and integrate more with social media and content creation because of a trend towards more personalized user engagement over broad campaigns. The story's moral is that there is no "hacking" your way to the top. In a battle between exploiting quick technical tactics vs. genuine engagement and adaptability? The latter will win most of the time in the long term.

​The market most entrepreneurs miss completely​

Occam's razor might not apply to everything, but it does apply to developing an excellent online course.

I love this newsletter by Justin Welsh because it's genuinely the concept missing in many online courses: Most online consumers are beginners.

Many entrepreneurs get caught up in developing an ethos by curating complicated content instead of catering to the vast online beginners market. Creating straightforward, actionable content fosters loyalty as beginners progress and become fans. So stop the jargon and overwhelming information lacking clear takeaways. Make content more accessible to beginners.

Creativity in the WildUntil our next flight,

Key takeaways for FinTech leaders from Warren Buffett’s favorite CEO letter​

Jamie Dimon's annual letter to JPMorgan shareholders, praised by Warren Buffett, emphasizes fundamental principles like stakeholder care for sustainable shareholder value. The letter advises FinTech leaders on the importance of AI and cloud computing, robust cybersecurity, and collaborative partnerships to stay competitive. Meanwhile, stablecoins are challenging traditional payment giants with significant transaction volumes, suggesting a shift towards blockchain efficiencies. Additionally, Elon Musk’s company, 𝕏, has secured money transmitter licenses in multiple states, aiming to transform it into a comprehensive digital finance platform.

Notable Equity Rounds from big to small

$150M was raised for Cruise, a company that sells robots to clean houses. Yes, we are slowly approaching that era that several movies predicted (warned) us about. Major investors include Spark Capital and GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. Co-founder of Cruise, Kyle Vogt, formerly resigned from a self-driving car company just six months prior. Major investors included Spark Capital and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman

$30M raised for Pepper, an e-commerce platform for food distributors that's giving smaller food distributors a leg-up and taking some stage time away from more prominent distributors like Sysco and US Foods. ICONIQ Growth primarily raised funding for this Series B round. With another new investor, Harmony Partners, and existing investors at Index Ventures, Greylock, and Imaginary, total funding is $60M.

$10M raised for Butter, an SF startup that uses machine learning to help subscription-based businesses recover money lost from failed online transactions. Major investors were Atomic and Norwest Venture Partners, who co-led the $10M deal. The company has a total valuation of $135 million.

Notable Credit Transactions from big to small

$275MM - KeyBank has amended Ramaco Resource's (industry, metals, and mining) revolving credit agreement to increase overall commitments to $200M. They also provide the company the ability to access an additional $75M.

$70MM - Comvest Credit Partners gives financing to Nationwide Energy Partners, which will be used to retire existing debt and support new strategic initiatives.

$10MM - Sallyport provides accounts receivable funding to Shield Therapeutics to help the pharmaceutical company bolster its operations across North America.

Ryan, Sutheshna & your friends at ​Cirrus

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