🍀 All the Big Startup Changes in 2024

Plus: Inflatable Wi-Fi, star recruits & how to build your product around its marketing strategy.

January 05, 2024

Hi there,

Good year so far? Hundreds of partiers who booked a special time-travelling flight to celebrate the New Year twice (you know because the Earth is round like that) got a bit of a letdown when the flight was delayed just enough for them to miss 2nd New Year by a few minutes.

Heh heh.

And, with that, a happy New Year to you. We hope you had an awesome rest over the holidays and you’re ready for 2024. Because big things are happening this year.

Here’s how to be a part of them…

In this Open Letter:

How startups are going to change in 2024

In 1929, amidst the tumult of the US stock market crash, Walt Disney and Brother Roy founded the Walt Disney Studio. 

This bold move marked the beginning of what would become a legendary entertainment empire.

In case you missed the news over the holidays, Disney’s original Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse copyright expires this year.

Similarly, during the closure of a 16-month recession in the 1970s, a young Bill Gates and Paul Allen launched Microsoft, setting the stage for a technology revolution. 

Moving to more recent history, the aftermath of the 2008/2009 global financial crisis became a fertile ground for innovative startups like Airbnb (2008), Uber (2009), Slack (2009), WhatsApp (2009), and Instagram (2010).

So, does the birth of great companies require the backdrop of a recession? 

Not necessarily. However, the unique challenges posed by financial downturns often create conditions ripe for entrepreneurial innovation.

Loads of available experienced talent 

In 2023, the tech industry experienced a record number of layoffs. This surge of available talent, often at the lack of options is willing to work for less (or be compensated with equity) and is ideal for startups seeking talent. Some of these individuals might finally get the nudge to start that startup they have been wanting now that they have the time to do so. But that’s not all.

Creative funding models

Funding patterns also shifted. In 2023, venture capital investments in Africa fell from around $5 billion in 2022 to approximately $3.2 billion. While funding is often crucial for rapid growth, its scarcity can hone a founder's focus and drive more frugal, effective strategies – a key ingredient for long-term success.

The centuries-old skill of how NOT to build a startup.

The Resurgence of Lean

And let's not forget how the economic constraints back in 2008 paved the way for one of the most significant startup movements of the 21st century: The Lean Startup. 

Coined by Eric Ries and popularised in his 2011 bestseller, this approach shifted the startup mindset. Traditionally, companies would spend millions to fully develop their products before launching and then only seek customer feedback — often completely missing their market’s needs.

The Lean Startup methodology, advocates for building quickly, measuring user engagement, learning from it, and then iterating. Once a necessity, this cycle has now become a widely adopted practice.

GPT says this is the future of the Lean South African startup. Not so sure about those legs on the chair to the left 👀

A new kind of startup in 2024

As we navigate through this economic turmoil (maybe even recession?), we're potentially on the cusp of witnessing the birth of some of the most significant startups in recent years. And if you are building something, be sure to tap into the knowledge and learnings that founders will be sharing over the next 24 months.

Our big prediction for 2024? Startup founders will shift from trying to raise funds to building lean, call it Lean Startup 2.0. And as always, we are watching this space….

Refer one friend to sign up to The Open Letter and view our top opportunity pick for this trend (and all future trends we cover).

Get your sharing link here.

IN SHORT

⭐ Star Recruits. Of the 5% of the world’s population not yet covered by mobile internet, half live and work in sub-Saharan Africa and SpaceX is about to turn up the heat in this area. They are actively recruiting a global licensing and activation manager for Starlink, its satellite internet service.

🎈 Inflatable Wi-Fi. But they are not the only ones going after this market, The World Mobile Group, in partnership with Vodacom, is trialling tethered balloons that provide internet in rural Mozambique.

🤖 Pocket AI. Samsung is set to launch its latest phone – expected to be the Galaxy S24 with the Samsung Unpacked live stream event on 17 Jan. And it looks like Samsung will be going hard to bring AI into its smartphones if the teaser “Galaxy AI is Coming” is anything to go by.

🪖 Talent War. Local corporates are finding it increasingly harder to get talented, skilled workers as professionals are emigrating or generally dissatisfied with their jobs. The increasing shortage of skills doesn't only impact the relevant industries, but the broader economy as well.

🏖️ Holiday Planning. If the memories of your December holiday are already fading away, take comfort in the fact that South Africa will be getting 2 extra Public Holidays this year. First up will be the expected Public Holiday for Election Day (around May), followed by the observation of Youth Day which falls on a Sunday this year (16 June).

BUILDER’S CORNER

How to Build Your Product Around Your Marketing Strategy

A recurring theme among SA startups is that they tend to battle a bit with marketing.

And it rings true, a lot of founders we talk to build amazing products and then only at the tail end of production ask: “Well, how are we going to market this thing?”

New Year’s resolution: Memes that ooze positivity.

And, in some dealings with local ecosystem players, we started exploring the idea of actually building products around well-developed marketing strategies.

It makes sense because then you can build with your marketing plan already in mind.

In fact, that’s very much how we at The Open Letter build our products, so we thought we’d share some insights…

4 Steps for Building Around a Marketing Strat

1. Nail down your core customer before you start

Most founders do a quick validation, then jump straight into development and only look at user journeys once they get to UX/UI.

We’re saying reverse that and do way more in-depth market research beforehand. A more thorough validation, if you will. 

What’s more, see if you can’t get a lot more info on your various customers, segments, individual needs, preferences and – most importantly – where to reach and influence them (which channels).

2. Craft your value proposition first

Next, try to reach some of those customers and sell them on the idea.

Engaging with your actual audience helps you figure out what resonates with them, what language works and what doesn’t etc. Conversations, interviews and surveys are your friends here.

Take all of that and start building out your messaging, defining your brand and playing with ways to convert.

3. Optimise your product to integrate with marketing channels

Building your product, brand and technology to align with your chosen channel(s) lets you deliver your product or aspects thereof where your market is most active.

It actually helps to build product and marketing together, and then allow them to inform each other…

4. Test & build in feedback loops

As an example of how marketing and product can inform each other: Our first MVP version of The Open Letter was built on a platform with certain features.

But, as we rolled out our marketing, we learnt that we’ll need to double down on a specific conversion mechanic which our existing platform didn’t offer.

This allowed us to very quickly and early on switch to a different platform that’s been way more successful for us, helping drive down CAC and boost growth in one fell swoop.

If you want to chat about building better products, smarter, set up a strategy session with us.

Got a building or marketing hack to share? Hit reply and let us know…

THE RESULTS

We asked what you’re most looking forward to in 2024, and we can’t wait to see what innovations the new year will bring…

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ More AI stuff (22%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The 2024 SA national elections (12%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Launching/Scaling my Startup (31%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ The incoming post-recession bull market (27%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ More Open Letter memes (4%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ The Open Letter community launching 2024 👀 (4%)