The “Real Company” Trap

Why Your Competitor With 3 Employees Is Winning and You’re Not

November 19, 2025

In partnership with

Hey — It’s Charlie.

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

  • The Spend-Smarter Playbook: How Top Founders Stretch Runway Like Magic

  • Guide: What’s working in GTM right now

  • Solution: Do you have a demand problem?

  • Question: Why pitches fail (and a template that will fix yours).

  • 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!

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Resources

  • What’s working in GTM right now. (LINK)

  • Non-obvious pricing advice for startups. (LINK)

  • Do you have a demand problem? (LINK)

  • Why pitches fail (and a template that will fix yours). (LINK)

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

ICYMI

  • SoftBank just sold its entire stake in Nvidia. (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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The Startup Diet: Cut the Fat, Keep the Revenue

Most early-stage startups don’t die because they lack money — they die because they spend it on the wrong things. Founders get caught up trying to “look like a real company,” blowing cash on fancy tools, extra hires, and shiny distractions. But survival comes from focusing on just two buckets: building something people actually want and getting it in front of customers. Everything else is basically a luxury you earn later, not something you buy your way into.

The founders who win stretch every dollar by avoiding premature hires, unnecessary infrastructure, and anything that doesn’t move revenue. It’s the classic “first survive, then optimize” rule — cut the noise and double down on product + GTM until those two things can stand on their own. A simple Two-Bucket audit can save months of runway and redirect money toward growth instead of busywork. At the end of the day, you don’t need to look like a company—you just need to stay alive long enough to become one. (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.