Ghoul afternoon, Reader 👻

Altitude Edition #020 of is hot off the press from Cirrus Capital Partners! I’ve got a few tricks, a few treats, and a couple trends to share. 🎃

Here’s a bird's eye view of what I’m covering this week:

> Cirrus Updates

> What’s Happening in the World

> Recent Term Sheet and Transactions

> New Resources

> Fresh Fundings

> On My Mind

Our mission with this newsletter: Every other week, we 'gain Altitude' with the founders, operators, dealmakers, allocators, marketers, and technologists shaping tomorrow.

Cirrus Updates 🙋 Let's welcome a new member to the team... Let’s welcome JD Jernigan as our new VP of Partnerships at Cirrus! JD brings a wealth of experience, having founded and exited Propagate Brands, and now building ProperSKU, a white-label SaaS for logistics. With his background in partnerships and business development, JD is perfectly positioned to enhance the value we bring to our partners. ​ ☕ Where you can find us next: ​DealBook Summit | NYC | December 4, 2024 ​ Learn more » ​ 📌 Tip of the week: Founders, master the art of investor “information asymmetry.” Share just enough to keep your shareholders (or potential investors) intrigued but always leave a bit hidden - it builds urgency and positions you as the one controlling the narrative.

What's Happening in the World

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Starbucks Scraps '25 Goals Amid Slump, Plans Premium Pivot Starbucks just tossed out its 2025 goals like that half-drunk iced coffee. After three consecutive quarters of declining sales, the coffee giant realized its earnings weren’t quite the “venti” they’d hoped for. Rising operational costs and inflation are biting harder than a caramel macchiato addiction, forcing Starbucks to rethink its strategy. New CEO Brian Niccol hinted at a fundamental shift, steering the brand toward premium, high-margin offerings instead of the usual discounts. Read more »

SAP Becomes Europe’s Most Valuable Tech Company SAP is now sitting on Europe’s tech throne after overtaking its rivals with a cool €160 billion valuation. So if you're still confusing ERP with ERM (and who isn’t?), SAP’s stockholders might suggest you get on board before the next valuation boost leaves you behind. ​

Broadcom’s VMware Overhaul Sparks Customer Exodus Following Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, customers and partners have faced steep price hikes—some as high as 300%—as VMware moves to bundled offerings and subscription-only pricing. These changes have made the software unaffordable for smaller and mid-sized clients, pushing them to explore alternatives. Read More » ​

Google’s Chief Technologist Shuffle Google just did some serious spring cleaning, shuffling their chief tech honchos in a bid to stay competitive in AI. This move signals that even the tech giants are sweating a bit in the AI race—just like you might be after your daily doom scroll.

Morgan Stanley’s New AI-Powered Trading Floor Puts Wall Street on Notice Morgan Stanley has rolled out an AI-driven trading floor, leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning to give traders real-time insights that traditional methods might miss. By combining human expertise with AI’s ability to process massive data sets instantly, the firm is aiming to gain an edge. This hybrid approach could set a new standard for Wall Street, as Morgan Stanley bets that AI will amplify traders’ instincts and redefine decision-making on the trading floor. ​ More on AOL.com »

Recent Term Sheets and Transactions $7M in revolving credit for an engineering solutions and software provider in Houston, TX! 🎉

New Resources

I’m going to start including new content that may be worth checking out. This isn’t an endorsement, just a “hey, you might like this.”

Book: "Start Thinking Rich" by Dr. Brad Klontz and Adrian Brambila

​This book delivers 21 hard-hitting truths designed to shift your mindset and unlock financial freedom. It cuts through the noise and offers straight-to-the-point strategies for wealth-building—perfect for founders and entrepreneurs looking to level up their financial game and take control of their future.

Documentary: "MUSK vs BEZOS: The Duel of the Space Billionaires"​
This video dives deep into the fierce rivalry between Elon and Jeffy B., exploring how their respective companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin, are competing to dominate space exploration, colonization, and satellite communications. It’s a fascinating look at how these two visionaries are reshaping the future, one rocket launch at a time. Here's the link: MUSK vs BEZOS: The Duel of the Space Billionaires.

Fresh Fundings

Recent Equity Rounds (Big → Small):

• Race Communications secured $375 million to expand its fiber internet services, bridging the gap between rural and urban areas in the U.S., helping to provide affordable gigabit internet.
• ArsenalBio, a leader in programmable cell therapy, raised $325 million to further its next-generation T-cell therapies for cancer treatment​.
• Unlock Technologies raised $280 million to help homeowners unlock home equity without needing a loan, providing more financial flexibility for major life expenses like education or home improvements​.
• Glean, an AI-powered workplace efficiency platform, raised $260 million to continue improving how enterprises manage and utilize data​.

Recent M&A

• KKR & Telecom Italia - Investment firm KKR acquired Telecom Italia's fixed-line network for around $23.5 billion, including debt. This acquisition aims to help Telecom Italia streamline operations and reduce debt​. (Financial Times)
• Eni & KKR - Italian energy giant Eni sold a 25% stake in its biofuel unit to KKR to fund its renewable energy expansion, marking a shift toward sustainability amid global energy transitions​. (DealFlow Software)
• Addison Lee Acquisition - Singapore-based Goldbell Group acquired the UK’s private-hire taxi firm Addison Lee for £269 million, marking its third ownership shift in a decade and potentially expanding Addison Lee’s global reach. (DealFlow Software)
• PureGym - PureGym plans to acquire Blink Fitness, extending its reach into the U.S. fitness market as the chain continues its international expansion efforts​. (Financial Times)

New Businesses for Sale

• Pheromone Perfume Ecommerce Store - Subscription-based Shopify store in health & beauty with $1M in upcoming subscriptions. Generates $111.7k in monthly profit, minimal work required, asking $1.287M. (Flippa)
• AI Avatar Generation SaaS - Profitable, fast-growing AI SaaS for LinkedIn and email outreach. Over 1,100 active subscriptions with $273.8k in annual cash flow, asking $1.495M. (BizBuySell)
• Global Link-Building Platform - A link-building SaaS with 18,000 users, averaging $7.8k in client spend, and high growth potential. (Acquire.com)

On My Mind

Focus on building “exit friction,” making your product so embedded in your customer’s workflow or life that leaving becomes more painful than staying.

Forget “loyalty” and “delight" for a minute. Those are lagging indicators.

But what needs to come first? You need to become irreplaceable. How much inconvenience would it cost your customers to replace you?

Here’s what you do: map out every step of your user’s journey with your product and find one critical point where you can lock them in tighter.

Think in terms of dependencies - automations, integrations, data syncs that would be a massive headache to reconfigure elsewhere.

It could mean adding one custom reporting feature that feeds straight into executive dashboards or offering a simple, private API they can’t find in a competitor.

Make it inconvenient for people to leave. Build in value that disrupts the competitor’s path to wooing them.

You want people to stick with you not just because they love your product, but because letting go would slow them down to an unacceptable pace.

That’s how you go from nice-to-have to irreplaceable.

We’re working hard to make Altitude the #1 newsletter for founders, bootstrappers, capital allocators, marketers, technologists, and operators. We can only do that if we spread the word. My only ask if you found this valuable: ⏩ forward it to someone at your company who might also find it useful.

To your growth,

Ryan Ridgway, Founder & Managing Partner

​Cirrus Capital Partners​