🥡 Cereal Boxes to Billions

Plus: Get Closer to the Real You; Investing in Organic Farming Startup.

Author

Chai Sip
April 26, 2023

ISSUE #059

☕ Good Morning! Sippers,

When Airbnb first started in 2008, investors were skeptical about the idea of strangers staying in someone else’s home.

Co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky shared at a recent Stanford Graduate School of Business event that they were rejected by the VC world and turned to their own customers for fundraising dollars.

In today’s Issue 📬 :

  • Selling Cereal Boxes.

  • Get Closer to the Real You.

  • Investing in Organic Farming Startup.

SIP WORTHY

Cereal Entrepreneurs: How Airbnb’s $40 Breakfast Created a $75 Billion Company

To do so, they sold self-designed $40 boxes of cereal featuring then-presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain as breakfast options in Airbnbs. The cereal boxes sold more than 1,000 boxes and made $30,000 for the company.

Tech startup accelerator Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham took notice of their ingenuity and offered them an investment specifically because of the cereal.

Today, Airbnb has a market capitalization of $75.13 billion, and Y Combinator was responsible for one of its earliest investments, giving the then-startup $20,000 in exchange for 6% of the company.

💰Rejection isn’t always the end: Airbnb’s story serves as a reminder that rejection is not always the end of the road for startups. Bumble CEO and co-founder Whitney Wolfe Herd faced rejection several times while trying to launch her dating app.

Investors weren’t keen on the idea of women solely initiating conversations with matches, but Wolfe Herd used the no’s as motivation and evidence that her ideas were future-facing. “People generally don’t know how to see things that don’t exist yet, so you just have to believe in yourself,” she said.

🤔 Final Thoughts: Sometimes, the most unconventional fundraising strategies can be the most effective. Startups need to be creative and determined when facing rejection, and persistence is key to achieving success.

IMPROVEMENT SIP

Get Closer to the Real You with These 9 Practices

Discovering your true identity and getting closer to yourself is a journey that can seem daunting and never-ending. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be complicated.

There are simple practices that you can adopt to help you get started on the path to self-discovery. Here are nine practices that can help you get closer to “you.”

  1. Look back to your childhood: Think back to what you loved doing as a child before you knew to care what others thought. These activities may be clues to your true passions and interests.

  2. Recall the last time you felt most like yourself: Take a deep breath and let your mind wander. It could be as simple as hanging out with your pet or engaging in a favorite hobby.

  3. Take note of what you know for sure: Identify the aspects of your identity that you know for sure, such as your love for music or spicy food, or that you’re a vegetarian. These anchors of knowing can help you build a foundation for further self-discovery.

  4. Expand what you share with trusted others: Opening up to trusted friends and family members can expand your sense of self and help you feel seen and connected to others.

  5. Find communities where you feel embraced for who you actually are: Seek out communities where you feel accepted and celebrated for your true self.

  6. Identify your values: Identify your core values. What are the four or five values that feel most important to you? These values can be used as a guide for making decisions that align with your true self.

  7. Talk to yourself like a best friend: Notice when you are disappointing yourself in service of pleasing others, and practice self-compassion and positive self-talk.

  8. Look for moments of meaning: Take five minutes to jot down any moments in the last week, month, or even year that felt most meaningful to you. These moments can help you identify the things that matter most to you.

  9. Breathe: Mindfulness can help you let go of the self and embrace reality as it is. Letting go of the self can lead to a simpler, truer version of who you are at your core.

Getting closer to yourself is a lifelong journey, but these simple practices can help you get started. Remember, it’s not about perfection or finding a fixed identity, but rather about embracing the ever-evolving and authentic self that you are.

HOT SIP

Bollywood Actor and Former Cricketer Invest in Organic Farming Startup

What’s sipping? ☕ Two Brothers Organic Farms (TBOF), a natural and organic farming product producer founded by Satyajit Hange and Ajinkya Hange, recently received funding during the pre-series A funding round.

💰 The company raised Rs 14.5 crore during this round, with investments from Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, former cricketer Virender Sehwag, and other investors such as Tejesh Chitlangi, Durga Devi Wagh, Crest Ventures, Javed Tapia, and Raju Chekuri.

👨‍🌾 Both Kumar and Sehwag expressed their enthusiasm for TBOF’s commitment to empowering rural communities through organic farming and producing healthy organic food.

🏭 The funds raised will be used to expand the manufacturing capacity, construct farmer training centers, and expand domestic and international business, as well as create more employment opportunities for women in villages.

👨‍💼 Satyajit Hange, the co-founder of TBOF, expressed his gratitude for the support of their investors, saying that it will enable the company to continue revolutionizing the organic farming industry in India and positively impact rural communities.

🌍 This investment highlights the growing interest in organic farming and sustainable agriculture, and the potential for a positive impact on both the environment and society’s health.

QUICK SIPS

Adani’s Billionaire Brother Starts to Retreat as Scrutiny Builds.

Former New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern is now joining Harvard. Here’s why.

AI chatbots like ChatGPT will have human-like teaching capabilities in the future: Bill Gates.

4 ways to keep your teams happy and Productive in tough times.

TCS plans to double the salary.

Meta employees question CEO Mark Zuckerberg for paying bonuses up to Rs 7crs.

With CHAI ☕

🙃 Ceo: Can’t wait to return.

📺 How to: get Rich on Netflix.

👊🏻 Aww: I’m still mad at you.

💑 It’s Interesting: 2 strangers pose for photos in Qindao in 2001 only to meet each other 11 years later, get married, and realize they’d been meters apart when looking through old pictures together. Xue was photographed by her mother, YE was part of a tour.

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