Hi there,

Still wondering if we should trust AI? Hackers at Def Con have just shown how easy it is to trick AI into saying 9 + 10 = 21, give tips on how to spy on others and just generally tell a whole bunch of lies with a smile.

In this Open Letter:

• Money shot: Making TV-quality ads at lightning speed.

• Wine and planes, g’bye WeWork & Elon (apparently) chickens out.

• Best buds: 7 Steps for good founder relationships.

• Your ideal workspace: The poll results are in.

• Startup ideas: Refer friends, get juicy opportunities.

TRENDING NOW

The Rise of Agile Video Ads

Five years ago, making a TV ad required a bunch of agencies, professionals, kit and anywhere between 1 and 6 months to ship. And, apparently, production costs can range from just R20k to R2m, which seems a bit iffy – but it’s probably why you end up with such mixed results…

And then, you still had to pay for the TV spots…

Across SABC 1, 2 and 3, it’s just over R1m for 170 spots. Child’s play compared to the R97m for 30 seconds during the Superbowl and R22m at a FIFA World Cup (Rugby World Cup spots are R60m, if you’re keeping score), mainly because spots are limited. Putting TV-quality video ads out of most smaller businesses’ reach.

But, of course, ye olde internet is changing that fast…

Video ads right now

With SA spending about R3.3bn per year on video ads online (climbing by 6–10% annually, set to reach R4.1bn by 2027), digital is taking an ever-growing chunk out of our combined R7.9bn TV and online video spend.

And that’s stretching what production companies and agencies can do, because in the digital realm, space is a lot less limited and the competition is beyond fierce.

There’s simply no way you can take 6 months or even 3 – or even 1 month – to produce a video ad. We need it in 7 days, max.

And the traditional boys can’t keep up with that, which creates gaps for hustlers…

Local boys and girls doing it right

You might not know the team over at Freckle, but you’ve probably seen their work – King Price’s “Tractor” and “Lobola” spots, Tipo Tinto’s “Lick Her”, ads for the National Lottery and Vodacom, and even that LekkeSlaap (whom we spoke about recently)’s famous one with almost 10 million views.

Being very creative, focusing on hyperlocal and niche, and bringing the entire production process in-house seems to be paying off.

Now also imagine making good use of tech advances – iPhone camera quality’s through the roof these days, and mics are getting better and more accessible. There’s just so much you can do to create stuff that stocks faster, more effectively.

Another local startup is Vidr, which was years ahead of its time – crashing around with the concept of hyper-optimised and agile iPhone video ads long before 2019. Their time has probably come right now.

Taking it a step further

But recent advances in generative AI could take things to a whole new level. You might have seen how people are using Midjourney images animated via Runway Gen-2 to create cinematic trailers.

Well, the results can be quite spectacular…

Our question is, who’s looking into this same tech to create video ads? Because there could be huge opportunities:

1. With more creative collectives taking a similar approach to Freckle, creating video content becomes more accessible for more companies.

2. Smaller companies can play in this space, without the hurdle of massive production budgets.

3. Young, dynamic, funny solo creatives can flex their creative muscle by creating high-quality productions that can help build brands for years to come.

OVER TO YOU

IN SHORT

🍷 Sky Wine. Construction on the Cape Winelands Airport is pretty much done. Acquired in 2021 and rebranded from the Fisantekraal Airfield, this 150-ha site has been used for film productions and private aviation transport but the big vision is to transform it into a full-service hub capable of handling passenger flights as well as non-scheduled flights by private plane owners.

☀️ Sunny Money. Standard Bank is set to finance as much as R300 billion in sustainability and renewable projects by 2026 in South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, and Nigeria. The bank says they saw demand increase substantially in the wake of government lifting the cap on private electricity generation projects at the start of 2023.

💵 2 Billy. Founders Factory Africa just raised over R2 billion from Mastercard and Johnson & Johnson to invest in African startups.

🍩 No Longer Works. After being valued at $47 billion at one point, the office rental startup WeWork is now facing potential bankruptcy. With over 600 locations in 33 countries, a drop in memberships and an excess supply of commercial real estate has threatened its liquidity and profitability, the news of which hammered its share price by 27%.

🔻 LessGPT. Looks like ChatGPT’s usage has dropped nearly 10% from May to June. It’s also showing a drop in website traffic and app downloads. Users have been complaining that the chatbot's responses have gotten worse (“lazier” and “dumber”) – something we’ve also been noticing in recent weeks here at The Open Letter. Could it be that the novelty has started wearing off?

🐣 Chickened Out. In case you missed it on Threads (LOL), Zuck has said it’s “time to move on” from the cage match against Musk after Elon apparently failed to agree on a date. Surely we can find a car park somewhere in Silicon Valley and someone can livestream the thing on their iPhone?

­BUILDER’S CORNER

7 Steps for Good Founder Relationships

Navigating the startup world as co-founders is like a voyage of exploration. The initial excitement of your groundbreaking idea’s what sets you off. But the success of the journey – full of highs, lows, challenges, and rewards – depends heavily on your relationship and the ground rules.

When you pick a co-founder, chances are you gonna be stuck together for some time (unless it fails fast, of course).

But as you succeed, you need a solid working relationship. Here are some actionable steps to ensure your co-founder relationship is robust, resilient, and ready for whatever comes your way.

1. Align on Vision: Before diving deep, sit down and map out your joint vision for the company. That’s not the company vision, but your personal and joint visions, and how the company supports that. The trick? Find a company vision that allows each of you to achieve your personal mission.

2. Cultivate Trust Through Transparency: Trust doesn't appear overnight. It's built by consistently being transparent, honouring commitments, and always being reliable. Set aside time, especially in the early days, to discuss your fears, expectations, and hopes for the business and each other. And when you feel like trust is challenged, speak up!

3. Foster Openness to Feedback: Create a regular feedback loop. Maybe it's a weekly check-in where you candidly discuss what went well and what didn't. Ensure the conversation is framed in a constructive manner, focusing on the business's growth and mutual improvement. If this makes you or your co-founder feel uncomfortable, that’s ok. But when you start to avoid this, it’s probably a bad sign.

4. Plan Difficult Conversations Upfront: Address thorny topics like expected contributions, equity splits, and responsibilities head-on. Decide on the process if one of you wants to leave and set up a system for ongoing dialogue about your evolving roles and expectations.

5. Vesting and Equity Matters: Implement a vesting schedule that truly reflects each one's input. If someone contributes more in terms of funds, time, or expertise, the equity and vesting should reflect that. And whilst this is good for employees, it could be useful for founders as well. This covers the founder that stays behind should one decide to leave.

6. Clear Role Demarcation: Clearly define each co-founder's role to prevent overlap and conflicts. Break down responsibilities and give each founder a crucial domain to oversee. This is the co-founder's superpower. I.e. one owns the products/ops, one owns the sales and marketing.

7. What is the long-term plan: Are you building to sell? Building to get dividends or just paying bills while you having fun? What is the timeframe? Having alignment on these elements is useful to work towards common objectives and avoid surprises.

Got some pics of you and your co-founder when you just started? Hit reply so we can share it all cutesy on the socials…

THE RESULTS

Well, don’t we like our bread buttered at both ends? Speaking of better workspaces last week, 49% of us want to work both at home and in-office — we agree (although The Open Letter doesn’t have an office 👀).

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏭 Sleep at my desk, Elon Twitter-style (7%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🚉 9-to-5 with a decent commute, thank you very much (9%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💼 A few days in-office, the rest at home (49%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏡 My home office is the best in the world (30%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💻 Hotel rooms, trains and coffee shops for me, please (4.5%)

FOR THE MEMES

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