Hello there, welcome to another edition of FS Weekly.
We have made several changes in this edition and plan to introduce more changes in the coming weeks.
One change is in the format. Instead of the segmented and elaborate formatting, we tried in the last couple of issues, we have decided to opt for a simpler format from now on — headlines and one/two bullet points with links.
The second change is more important, contents. We have been sending you all kinds of recommended readings in the past — from personal development essays to lengthy reflection pieces. We have decided to change that. From now on, FS Weekly will be solely about startup, business, and venture building. We’ll add additional links to readings related to startup, business, and venture building from across platforms.
We hope these changes will crystalize in the coming issues of FS Weekly.
This edition features:
01 Founding story
04 Essays and analysis
02 Book reviews
02 Recommended Readings
Before we get to the updates, FS Talk March 2023 will take place on the 25th of March. The event will feature a talk by the founder and CEO of DocTime Anowar Hossain will share his journey and lessons at the event. It is a free event, but you have to register to get an invitation. Details and registration are here. I look forward to seeing you on the 25th!
HypeScout started its journey by introducing the inaugural beta edition of its platform in September 2020. In those early days, the platform only had a few limited capabilities. But the ambition has always been there — to establish a data-oriented influencer marketing platform that could enable brands to discover and communicate with suitable social media influencers. Read.
Future Startup Marketing Services: Our brand partners for content and newsletter ads keep us going all year long. Click here for info.
Travel in Bangladesh has changed and is also changing Bangladesh in return. Travel has changed in volume, frequency, and as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Today, more Bangladeshis travel locally and abroad or at least see travel as an aspirational goal. The taste of and approach to travel has changed. People now explore many shades of travel, from solo to staycations to backpacking. More importantly, travel today is an established cultural phenomenon in Bangladesh. And with the rise of online travel services, how people purchase or access travel services has changed too. Read.
Iterative, the Singapore-based accelerator program, has picked two Bangladeshi startups for its latest cohort Winter 2023. The selected companies are full-stack supply chain automation startup Nuport and B2B marketplace for neighborhood merchants PriyoShop. Read.
Startup Bangladesh Limited, the flagship venture capital company of the ICT Division, announced today that it has invested BDT 1 crore in OpenRefactory, an Application Security company, in the Pre-Series A round, per a press release.
Bangladeshi ed-tech startup Interactive Cares has been selected for the latest cohort of SuperCharger Ventures, a London-based ed-tech-focused virtual accelerator program run by cross-border venture capital firm SuperCharger Ventures. Interactive Cares is the first Bangladeshi startup to get into the SCV accelerator program. SCV announced the selected startups for its 6th cohort today. Read.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is a thought-provoking novel that explores the power of choices and the importance of living a fulfilling life. The story follows the journey of the protagonist named Nora, a young woman struggling to find her place in the world and grappling with regrets about the choices she has made. Read.
“Life is not a portfolio: not for a startup founder, and not for any individual. An entrepreneur cannot “diversify” herself: you cannot run dozens of companies at the same time and then hope that one of them works out well. Less obvious but just as important, an individual cannot diversify his own life by keeping dozens of equally possible careers in ready reserve.” Read.
PhonePe has raised another $200 million as part of an ongoing round, a move that has now helped it pull $650 million in recent weeks despite the market slump. Read
We use the 10,000 year time frame to orient our efforts at Long Now because global civilization arose when the last Interglacial period ended 10,000 years ago. It was only then, around 8,000 BC, that we had the emergence of agriculture and the first cities. If we can look back that far, we should be able to look forward that far. Thinking about ourselves as in the middle of a 20,000 year story is very different than thinking about ourselves as at the end of a 10,000 year story.
Most of the oldest companies in the world are in Japan. In a survey of 5,500 companies over 200 years old, 3,100 are based in Japan. The rest are in some of the older countries in Europe. Read
Mohammad Ruhul Kader is a Dhaka-based entrepreneur and writer. He founded Future Startup, a digital publication covering the startup and technology scene in Dhaka with an ambition to transform Bangladesh through entrepreneurship and innovation. He writes about internet business, strategy, technology, and society. He is the author of Rethinking Failure. His writings have been published in almost all major national dailies in Bangladesh including DT, FE, etc. Prior to FS, he worked for a local conglomerate where he helped start a social enterprise. Ruhul is a 2022 winner of Emergent Ventures, a fellowship and grant program from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He can be reached at ruhul@futurestartup.com
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Future Startup publishes original and deeply-reported insight, analysis, and inspiration about the business, technology, and entrepreneurship in Bangladesh that you won’t find elsewhere.
