FYI: We’ve added a $267,600 per annum subscription tier in 2018 for organizations that want in-person exec briefings and that want to outsource competitive and industry updates for their executives to us.
And yup, today is the last day to get 2017 pricing.
Now, we get meta.
In today’s newsletter, we’re talking about newsletters.
We also have the best letter to Santa ever at the end.
Today, we’re going to share the top 10 newsletters of 2017, based on open rate.
The winners are… (10 to 6)
10. I’m rich therefore I harass
On the topic of harassment in tech, we asked you all whether you thought things were really going to change this time. We also released our construction tech market map, analyzed IPO and M&A history in the pharma sector, and rounded up early-stage ed tech startups to watch.
In this newsletter, we highlighted our extensive beauty & grooming tech market map, identified the most well-funded blockchain companies, mapped out 60+ private synthetic biology startups, and announced the winner of our bracket, which asked: what is the most innovative consumer product since the iPhone?
In the final round, Elon Musk met his match, with the Tesla Model S coming in as a close second to the Raspberry Pi, a small single-board computer.
8. Ugh: learn from Theranos’ founder
A cautionary newsletter reminding you not to take advice like “set yourself on fire” from founders who are high on talk and low on walk. We also mapped out the Industrial IoT startup landscape, visualized top pharmacy retailers, and highlighted the unicorns of the Middle East and North Africa.
7. Dumb person says Google is a failure
In this newsletter, we examined the valuation history of 9 notable startups in the on-demand category (i.e. Uber, Lyft, Ola, etc.), shared our very popular essay on the History of Corporate Venture Capital, and mapped out top VCs’ beauty & grooming bets. We also shared some email thoughts from our subscribers, like “Google is an example of the failure of being engineer-led” and “Can you folks have professional subject lines?”
6. Uber – we can’t quit you
We shared bad consultant frameworks, our ed tech market map, and (on the heels of Brexit) financing trends to VC-backed companies across the pond. We also helped out VC thought leaders everywhere by sharing our top headlines for think pieces and LinkedIn posts about Uber.
A break before we get to #1.
Up and to the right
Currently, this newsletter goes out to nearly 370,000 people 6 times per week. That’s over 6X growth since 2014.
And in January, we’re throwing a CPG newsletter into the mix (you can sign up now to get our first issue).
That’s a lot of quantitative intel straight to your inbox.
The winners are… (5 to 1)
5. Uber scandal
In addition to discussing the latest Uber scandal, we shared the stories behind 100+ of the most well-funded startup failures of all time, analyzed funding trends to synthetic biology companies, and took a look at where major financial services firms from American Express to Goldman Sachs have placed their bets on bitcoin and blockchain startups.
4. sad: how we lost $1M
In this newsletter, we released our 64-page Global Fintech Report, covering global financial technology investment trends, top deals, active investors, and corporate activity. We also shared our Most Innovative Consumer Product bracket, our Amazon strategy teardown, and our mobile health market map.
3. wtf Peter Thiel?
This newsletter highlighted the ten most active sovereign wealth funds (government-owned investment vehicles), looked at deal flow to cannabis startups, and unveiled our 2017 AI 100. We also brought you a list of standout tech films to watch (from Age of Ultron to WALL-E) and shared some weird thoughts from Peter Thiel.
2. surprise: Google is losing to Amazon
This edition included our mortgage tech market map, the 2017 Game Changers report, and our analysis of global deals to robotics startups. We also threw in some thoughts on the disruption of consulting and financing trends to marijuana startups.
1. Sad: i gave up my $300k/year job
2017’s hottest newsletter featured items like an infographic of Google’s space tech bets, our analysis of Walmart’s patents, a look at smart money investor activity, and alternative lending financing trends. There’s even a nugget of wisdom from Nassim Taleb, and a gif of Tina Fey.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
And for telling so many of your friends and colleagues about the newsletter in 2017. Send them this newsletter too just to show you are thinking about them.
P.S. On January 4th, we’re diving into the consumerization of healthcare, looking at the future of urgent care, retail care, telemedicine, and more. Join us for the briefing.
