🌟 Headlines in Startupland 🌟 

Perplexity Debuts First Publishers’ Program Cohort, featuring Time, Fortune, Entrepreneur and More

On July 30, the generative AI startup announced the launch of its Publishers’ Program, an ad-revenue sharing partnership between Perplexity and several publishing partners. Here’s how it will work:

• Partners in the Publishers’ Program will get a slice of the ad revenue if a search query from Perplexity features their content.

• They will be paid “on a per-source basis, meaning publishers are compensated for each article used in responses,” a Perplexity spokesperson told The Verge.

• The exact terms of the deal are undisclosed. However, in a statement to The Verge, Perplexity’s CBO Dmitry Shevelenko shared that revenue percentage will be in the double digits.

Is Perplexity saving face?

This program seems to be a way for Perplexity to counter plagiarism and web-scraping accusations by Forbes and Wired in June. Shevelenko refutes this assumption since the startup had this program in the works in January. 

Planned or not, Perplexity’s announcement timing is a savvy business move. Generative AI is no stranger to criticism by creative fields like journalism and entertainment, and Perplexity seems eager to cement itself as a legitimate company by working with established publications.

It also wants to demonstrate that it is a worthy competitor to OpenAI, which collaborated with several news organizations on its prototype SearchGPT search engine, a product that rivals Perplexity’s.

⚡️ Community Poll ⚡️

Last week, 55% of the TechDay Express community voted for “IPO all the way” if a startup can choose between IPO-ing or being acquired.

Responses:

“Mature for worldwide investments and presence.”

“Great question! Always, this kind of question with [any] startup should be scrutinized by experts/consultants determining its needs and goals.”

Even More Headlines

🎶 AI music startup Suno blasts the RIAA’s lawsuit for attempting to stifle industry competition

📝 200+ VCs, including Mark Cuban and Reid Hoffman, signed a letter endorsing Kamala Harris

💼 It’s Nvidia’s turn now: the Big Tech chip manufacturer acquired the startup Run:ai and is being investigated by the DOJ

📚 Dive A Bit Deeper 📚

It’s a Climb, but There’s A Path to Vertical SaaS Success

For any founders starting out in the wonderful world of SaaS, vertical SaaS are often niche platforms that are so successful that they have become synonymous with their market. Think about the last time you went out to a restaurant, did the server take your order on a Toast handheld POS? That’s a vertical SaaS triumph.

Okay, but how do I become that?

SaaS founder or not, vertically dominating a niche market is not easy. While there isn’t one set path to follow, there are benchmarks startups can hit to become successful vertical SaaS companies.

One resource is growth equity firm Tidemark, which created the Vertical SaaS Knowledge Project (VSKP), a framework SaaS startups can use to construct a plan with measurable benchmarks to lead them to success.

The Tidemark VKSP Framework

• Step 1: Occupy the Control Point — Startups should aim to become the go-to service their market needs to function. 

• Step 2: Scale Locations —  Once a startup’s service has become the critical asset of their market, they can scale it to reach their customers.

• Step 3: Go Multi-Product — Startups with loyal customers can expand their product portfolio. By going multi-product, startups bolster their average revenue per user, net revenue retention rate, and customer lifetime value.

• Step 4: Extend Through the Value Chain — Startups who have cornered their niche markets can start selling their service to other consumers, suppliers, or even employees. This is a huge milestone. As Tidemark puts it, “Extension…allows a vertical SaaS vendor to become ingrained in the industry itself.”

This is only one example of a framework startups can use as a template to structure their business strategy. By staying on top of industry trends, researching their target niche, and establishing tangible goals, SaaS founders have the potential to make their startups industry names.

For more data and industry metrics about vertical SaaS, download Tidemark’s full Vertical & SMB SaaS Benchmark Report here

Engaging video content + a masterful marketing strategy = so, so many sales

Spacebar Visuals works with startups to get their video content off the ground and into the stratosphere.

Spacebar Visuals creates compelling explainer videos, product demos and customer testimonials that startups can place on their websites, send to investors, use as email collateral, or post on social media to spread the word about their products.

Spacebar Visuals know their stuff. The International Standards Organization (ISO), US Army, GPR, and ButterCMS are just some of the 50+ companies they’ve produced 225+ videos for, all while boosting these companies’ sales.

You can be among them. Spacebar Visuals is giving TechDay Express readers an exclusive $3,000 off their Starter Pack to those who book a call with them by August 30th.

Deep Dives Galore

👢 OL’ RELIABLE BOOTSTRAPPING — Bootstrapping has become a way startups have been trying to stay afloat in the VC funding desert today. It’s a slog to earn the big bucks, but bootstrapping has its pluses. Startups that bootstrap keep user acquisition costs down, are highly efficient, and more.

🪳 THE SWEATY STARTUPS OF THE WORLD — A pest control startup in the suburbs is a far cry from the glossy tech workspaces of Silicon Valley, but these “sweaty startups,” or blue-collar small businesses, are an overlooked part of the entrepreneurship in this country.

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