Half Make It to $1M. The Rest Vanish.

Who Actually Survives the Startup Game?

October 22, 2025

In partnership with

Hey — It’s Charlie.

Welcome to the latest edition of Great Startups! Here’s what’s in store:

  • The Startup Lottery: What Are Your Real Odds of Winning?

  • Thanks to AI: Billion dollar startup idea

  • Meet Claude Code: The Tool That’s Replacing Your AI Stack

  • No AI, No Job: The Future Is Already Here

  • Targeting Made Simple: A step-by-step guide to finding your perfect customer.

  • Hidden Startup Debt: The silent killer that’s slowing growth.

Get ready to dive into these power-packed insights for founders and growth enthusiasts!

Resources

  • Build a Billion-Dollar Startup with a minimal team thanks to AI. (LINK)

  • Everyone should be using Claude Code more. (LINK)

  • Six lessons after one year of Agentic AI. (LINK)

  • David Politis on doing whatever it takes to stay in the game (LINK)

  • Sam Blond on how to generate more demand. (LINK)

ICYMI

  • Atlassian acquires DX, a developer productivity platform, for $1B. (LINK)

  • Netflix is getting into short videos with a new vertical feed for mobile. (LINK)

  • Cloudflare launches a marketplace that lets websites charge AI bots for scraping. (LINK)

  • The WordPress vs. WP Engine drama, explained. (LINK)

  • 1X will test humanoid robots in ‘a few hundred’ homes in 2025. (LINK)

  • Ray Dalio built a $14B empire by following core success principles that took him from humble beginnings to founding the world’s largest hedge fund.

  • Iman Gadzhi and Pierre de Preux launched a SaaS and hit 7-figure ARR in 9 months by moving fast, using Iman’s audience, and solving a real problem.

  • Lenny Rachitsky and Jen Abel on how to approach founder-led sales.

  • Carta shares 50 slides packed with insights for founders from 45,000 startups.

  • How One AI App Founder Makes $20K+ Monthly—and How You Can Too!

Recently Funded / Raised

  • Moniepoint raised $323M to expand its business banking, credit, and payments platform for enterprises across Africa and beyond.

  • Knownwell raised $50.6M to enhance its AI-powered commercial intelligence platform that helps businesses identify risks and growth opportunities.

  • Alto Neuroscience raised $301M to develop AI-driven precision medicines targeting mental health conditions.

  • CoMind raised $87M to advance noninvasive neural interfaces that connect the human brain with artificial intelligence.

  • Anrok raised $109.3M to streamline sales tax compliance for SaaS businesses through automation.

  • Findem raised $88.3M to grow its AI-powered Talent Data Cloud that automates and unifies enterprise hiring workflows.

  • Finster AI raised $16.8M to build an AI-driven research platform for asset managers and investment banks.

  • Africa Finance Corporation secured $6.78B in debt financing to fund large-scale infrastructure and industrial investments across Africa.

  • Niron Magnetics received a $171.6M grant to develop high-performance, rare-earth-free permanent magnets using Iron Nitride technology.

  • Cala Health raised $248.3M to advance its wearable bioelectronic therapies for neurological and chronic diseases.

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How Long It Actually Takes to Hit Your First Million

Most startup stories we hear focus on the rare ones that skyrocket, but the reality is far tougher. ChartMogul analyzed data from over 6,500 SaaS startups and found that only about half ever make it to $1M ARR, one in ten reach $10M, and just one in fifty cross $25M within a decade. It usually takes two to five years to hit that first million, showing that finding product-market fit and building something sustainable takes time, not speed.

Startups born between 2016 and 2019 had the best odds thanks to the software boom, while those launched in 2021 faced tougher conditions with funding slowdowns. The 2023 batch, though, is seeing early traction, especially AI-driven companies that have managed to grow faster than any group before them. Turns out, patience and timing still matter more than hype. (LINK)

Ok that’s it for this week, We keep refining our newsletter content, just hit reply to let us know what you think about this issue.