Why crowded markets can be good
Plus: Your phone is your second brain - protect it
· 785 words
Melanie Gabriel & Christian Woese
December 10, 2024 • Read time: 4 minutes
In partnership with
Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
Planning season is here: time to hit those targets, map big ideas, and lock in 2025 plans. For those of you thinking of a rebrand or website refresh, keep an eye on Pantone’s Color of the Year 2025: Mocha Mousse - yes, it’s as rich as it sounds. How many corporate decks and logos will rock this shade next year? Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.
PS: It is also the time of the year to take a step back and reflect. We’ll be dropping our own techniques for later this week.
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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
OpenAI opens an office in Zurich
OpenAI and competitor Anthropic announced to open offices in Zurich, cementing the city’s role as a global AI hub. With Google, Meta, and Microsoft already fishing in the Swiss talent pool, competition just got fiercer. As Zurich is Follow the Gradient’s home base, we’re all in for this one!
EU Inc petition goes Brussels
EU Inc is preparing to submit its implementation proposal to the European Commission. The community-driven effort to lobby lawmakers into creating a pan-European company structure and streamline incorporation and fundraising successfully captured the attention of policymakers earlier this year. It is now ramping up its petition. Click here to sign its petition and join its movement.
What do you meme?
B2B SaaS founders transitioning into hard tech
Food for thought
Tech in the EU - far behind…?
A lot has been said about Europe lagging behind the US in the world of Tech. Yet, this graphic illustrates it very starkly.
Equally, capital investments into US Tech returned insane multiples up until now.
…or rising up?
Sifted’s 250 List of Europe‘s fastest growing startups provides a glimpse into the continent‘s emerging stars, see here
Crowded markets - good or bad?
A crowded market can indicate too much competition and can be a deal breaker, especially when seeking VC funding. Tony Kula shared this interesting perspective that crowded markets also mean demand has been validated and customer problems are real - it is about you against the competition rather you against the market.
Are you transparent on problems in your company?
From our partner
This week's partner* is Deel, a software solution for international hiring that we've both successfully used** in our businesses.
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At Deel, we've simplified a world's worth of global hiring information. Our expert teams can help you navigate quick and compliant hiring in 150+ countries and so much more.
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** Verify with your lawyer if Deel aligns with your country's hiring laws
2025 event strategy
The event is season is officially over, and now’s the time to plan your 2025 event strategy. Maximize ROI by aligning tradeshows with key initiatives like product launches, leveraging speaking slots, and targeting VIPs. Take inspiration from Datadog’s event playbook: assign ownership, track booth performance, and turn conferences into growth engines. Plan smart, execute big and let us know: what events are you for sure attending in 2025?
Do you like what we do at Follow the Gradient? Help us grow this community and share a like and add a comment to our LinkedIn post that just went live:
Smart hack
When one of us narrowly avoided having their phone stolen, we knew we had to share this smart hack from founder Jack Gurney - let’s face it, your phone is a founder’s extended 🧠:
Turn on ‘Stolen Device Protection’: Settings > Face ID & Passcode > 'Stolen Device Protection' > set to ‘Always’.
Turn on ‘Find My’: Be ready to locate or erase it remotely.
Set Auto-Lock to 30 seconds: Less time for thieves to act.
Require Face ID for secure apps: Protect sensitive data.
Disable Control Centre on lock screen: Stop thieves from activating airplane mode (and disappearing on your ‘Find My’ map).
The full post is worth a read. And don’t forget to implement it right away, your future self in panic mode will thank you!
One good read
The Request for Startups (RFS) by Y Combinator is a tradition — you can find examples going back as far as 2009. It gives you a glimpse into the direction things are going in startup land: