Hey Reader,

Altitude Weekly Edition 007 is hot off the press from Cirrus Capital Partners 📰

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

• Successful Companies and Founding Teams
• VC, PE, M&A, and Credit Transactions
• Growth Metrics, Benchmarks, Charts & Data
• New and Emergent Technologies
• Productivity Hacks

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

Let’s get into it:

Actionable Tips for Founders

​The ultimate guide to PR​

Emilie Gerber, founder and CEO of Six Eastern, a PR agency that has worked with over 100 tech companies, shares some insights on the value of press coverage, common misconceptions about its impact, and strategies for effectively pitching to the media.

The brass tacks:

• Press coverage can build credibility and trust, offering significant long-term benefits for businesses, especially in B2B contexts.
• Pitches HAVE to be concise and tailored to the interests of each publication, with clear statements of the company’s purpose and the newsworthiness of the story.
• Different publications have specific areas of interest, such as TechCrunch for funding announcements and product news, Axios for fintech and healthcare, and Business Insider for entrepreneurial stories. Know what you're pitching for and why.
• Startups should highlight how their offerings improve upon existing solutions rather than claiming to create a new category.
• Expanding beyond mainstream media to newsletters, podcasts, and awards can reach engaged audiences and amplify messages.
• If you're a startup, choose smaller PR agencies. Costs vary depending on the type of coverage sought.

​2023 Global Annual Debt Report​

Private debt funds delivered strong performance with an estimated net return of 8.2%. They also became the second-largest fundraising strategy, (potentially) exceeding $200 billion in closed funds for the fourth consecutive year.

This is a massive signal to founders that investors see good returns in this asset class.

Private debt is a more attractive financing option than other forms of capital raising, such as equity financing, which might involve giving up a portion of ownership and control. I highly recommend Founders and startup owners download the report to compare their company's performance against the private debt market's returns and get informed about the risks and considerations when engaging with private debt--especially in scenarios where debt restructuring or distressed exchanges might become relevant.

​GTM strategies to reach $250M ARR at ActiveCampaign​

How tf did ActiveCampaign use GTM Strategies to reach $250M in ARR?

This is why I read the long stuff, so you don't have to. (Although I recommend that you do).

→ LinkedIn Ad Experimentation: ActiveCampaign tested promoted posts as thought leadership ads on LinkedIn, which garnered high click-through rates (CTRs) and a significant return on ad spend (ROAS). They encouraged internal team members and customers to post industry-oriented content, which was boosted. They use HockeyStack for marketing attribution, which helps them understand the impact of organic social media efforts on new ARR.

→ Voice of the Customer Campaign: By activating their large customer base to share stories on social media, ActiveCampaign managed to engage more customers in promoting the brand. The campaign's success improved with more specific asks and reciprocal engagement from ActiveCampaign’s internal team.

→ Industry-specific Content Hubs: To address the messaging challenge of being a horizontal product, ActiveCampaign created verticalized landing pages and content for industries like eCommerce, B2B SaaS, and content creators, resulting in a conversion lift of over 6%.

→ Study Halls: ActiveCampaign hosted in-person training workshops in cities with high customer concentrations, leading to a 20% Net Revenue Retention (NRR) bump for attendees. These sessions are cost-neutral or slightly cash-positive and are considered for expansion through partners and verticalized versions.

→ Affiliates / Influencers: While historically successful, expanding the affiliate program proved challenging due to a small addressable market of effective yet uncommitted affiliates. The team is exploring influencer relationships, focusing on long-term contracts and performance-oriented plans involving influencers who genuinely use the product.

In summation, you'll want to play around with...

→ Social Media Ads & Testing

→ Leveraging Customer Advocacy

→ Verticalizing Your Offerings

→ Hosting Educational Events

→ Creating Affiliate/Influencer strategies or reevaluating them

This is a big f***ing deal

​DOJ calls Apple’s privacy justifications an ‘elastic shield’ for financial gains​

The DOJ filed a lawsuit against Apple, and it ain't pretty. Here are the primary complaints levied:

→ Presenting privacy and security measures as flexible tools that serve its financial interests

→ Privacy and security practices as a means to maintain its monopoly

→ Spending billions on marketing to promote the idea that only Apple can protect consumer privacy and security

The lawsuit highlights several areas where the DOJ believes Apple manipulates privacy to its advantage, including:

• App Store and App Distribution: The DOJ points out Apple's restrictions on alternative app stores and sideloading apps, noting exceptions for government and enterprise customers and arguing that Apple could allow more flexibility, as it does on the Mac platform.
• Messaging: Apple is accused of limiting third-party apps' access to carrier-based messages (SMS) and not implementing encryption for messages sent between iPhone and Android users.
• Data Sharing Practices: The complaint alleges that Apple uses personal data for its App Store distribution and advertising and criticizes Apple's default search engine deal with Google despite more privacy-focused alternatives.

The argument is that Apple's privacy and security practices are pretextual and that the company chooses to protect its monopoly rather than genuinely safeguard user privacy and security. It's like the person who claims to be a good friend but won't tell you there's spinach in your teeth around people you're trying to impress.

Of course, Apple's rebuttal was a defense of its practices. It stated that the lawsuit threatened its core principles and could hinder its ability to innovate. Apple emphasizes that its integrated approach to hardware, software, and services is essential for ensuring user privacy and security. It argues that creating an iMessage version for other operating systems would compromise security.

​Elon Musk claims Neuralink is already allowing blind monkeys to see again.

Neuralink's "Blindsight" product is already curing blindness in monkeys—and humans are next.

Elon Musk claims that the product could eventually exceed normal human vision, starting with low resolution similar to early Nintendo graphics. This announcement follows a demonstration where a quadriplegic man played chess and video games via a Neuralink implant. However, the novelty and effectiveness of Neuralink's technology compared to existing brain-computer interfaces, which have been in development for years, remain unclear. Questions about the specifics of the technology, its resolution, and the conditions of the test subjects persist. Musk's history of grandiose promises invites skepticism, emphasizing the need for scientific evidence and expert scrutiny to validate Neuralink's progress.

Musk also claimed that no monkeys have been harmed by Neuralink devices, which is in contrast to previous reports.
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​Anthropic is lining up a new slate of investors, but the AI startup has ruled out Saudi Arabia​

Anthropic is an AI startup directly competing with OpenAI, and it attracts foreign money. The caveat: It has decided not to accept funding from Saudi Arabia due to national security concerns.

The available stake in Anthropic, worth over $1 billion, originates from FTX's bankruptcy proceedings, with proceeds intended to repay FTX customers. Despite interest from various investors, Anthropic, valued at $18.4 billion, has raised around $7 billion from major tech companies like Amazon, Alphabet, and Salesforce. The company's founders, Dario and Daniela Amodei, have the right to vet potential investors but are not directly involved in the current sale process. While rejecting Saudi money, they are still open to investments from other sovereign wealth funds, including the UAE's Mubadala. The sale of FTX's stake in Anthropic is managed by investment bank Perella Weinberg, with a syndicate of new investors potentially forming to purchase the shares.

​OpenAI Heading To Hollywood To Pitch Revolutionary “Sora”​

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I can't say I didn't expect this...

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OpenAI is set to conduct some pretty big meetings in Hollywood to introduce its text-to-video generator software, "Sora," to studios, talent agencies, and media executives. This technology, which could revolutionize movie production, has already impressed producer Tyler Perry, leading him to pause a substantial studio expansion project. Perry highlighted the technology's impressive capabilities but also expressed concerns about the need for regulations to protect industry workers.

That is why he paused operations...makes sense...

Sora is expected to be publicly released later this year. OpenAI's ongoing discussions aim to collaborate with the industry for safe AI deployment, acknowledging the technology's potential to disrupt traditional filmmaking processes, as seen in last year's Hollywood writer's strike.

It's important to note that groundbreaking technology has consistently done this. It has created almost a mass "hysteria" about net impact, but in the end, things have generally sorted themselves out. As frustrating as humans are, we are remarkably resilient.

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Eye On AI: Startups Should Heed ‘AI-Washing’ Warnings​

Remember how, one fine day, every skin-related product was "cruelty-free" and "organic"?

The technology world is seeing its share of exaggerated claims, now coined as "AI-washing," inspired by the term "green-washing" in the health and beauty world. There is growing scrutiny of companies making exaggerated or false claims about their artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently settled charges against two investment advisers, Delphia and Global Predictions, for making false AI-related statements, resulting in $400 million in civil penalties. This action follows SEC Chair Gary Gensler's warning against AI washing, emphasizing the need to represent AI integration in products and services accurately. Furthermore, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, Ismail Ramsey, announced plans to target tech startups that mislead investors about using AI to attract investment. This shift in regulatory focus is a response to the increasing number of investors and capital in the private market and high-profile cases of fraud and valuation implosions in the tech industry.

Startups: Stop relying on AI as a buzzword. These zingers, like Proprietary technology, Machine Learning, and AI, need to mean something. Otherwise, they're just platitudes to the average consumer. Instead, focus on genuinely telling your story rather than relying on AI as a buzzword to attract attention and investment.

Until our next flight,

Ryan Ridgway & your friends at Cirrus

​cirruscap.com

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