The Elevator August – Arc & SolReader, Airbnb Empire Insights, The holy grail E-bike
The Elevator August – Arc & SolReader, Airbnb Empire Insights, The holy grail E-bike
Thanks for stepping onto The Elevator. I’m David Sherry, former founder of Death to Stock. Now I work with ~14+ business owners via a strategy and growth coaching practice. The Elevator shares new tools to help you grow personally and professionally. You can also view my recs daily on Tiktok.
The Lobby:
3 Weeks ago I had COVID. It suckkkkkked.
I had a fever for 2 days, and it took me about 2-weeks to get back to full energy. In the process, I went down the rabbit hole of supplements and ways of getting my energy back.
One such experiment was this:
I’m happy to report I’m feeling great now.
And while I’m not sure what, if anything truly made any difference, I’d be happy to chat with anyone looking to improve energy and or recovery.
Remember: All of us are smarter than any of us. Are you stuck putting in massive effort, trying to grow alone?
I.
Better Browser: Arc is now out of beta
Okay, it's 2023, you don't need to have 1,000 tabs open anymore.
Through the merging of tabs and bookmarks and creating a handy command bar into a unified app…Arc is a new browser I’ve been using this year. It’s made by former Google employees looking to innovate how we surf the web.
I particularly like their “Boosts” feature which let you customize your web experience.
II.
Deep Reading: The Kindle of VR?
When that algorithm is constantly battling for your attention, is it time reading got an upgrade?
The SolReader is a new product currently in beta, and it's basically like the Kindle of VR.
You pop on these goggles and it gives you an immersive reading experience so that it tunes everything out except for the book that you're reading.
Personally, I'm curious to try this out as an immersive reading experience when I really just want to tune out and deeply read.
At $350 would you order this and try it out?
III.
New Course: The Hospitality Masterclass
I’m a sucker for a beautiful boutique Hotel or Airbnb. I love the little details and try to make it a point to find a unique stay wherever I’m traveling.
Live Oak Lake is a series of Airbnb properties in Texas that do over $1m a year in revenue.
Isaac French, the creator put together a masterclass on how to build your own Airbnb empire.
The course is currently waitlisted until the next cohort. Definitely eyeing it for the next one…
IV.
Eco-Luxury: Ride Cake
VanMoof is officially bankrupt, so it's time for a new e-bike challenger to take over the market. My vote for the best e-bike brand you haven't heard of is called Cake.
Cake is a Swedish tech company making totally silent commuter and off-road e-bikes.
Their commuter e-bikes come with interesting accessories like a surf rack or a top box or a side seat, or you can make an upgrade to the high torque off-road and city version pictured above.
Of course, like all e-bike companies, this one comes tech-enabled with a mobile app for different driving conditions or just safety.
V.
Concierge: Lifecycle & Retention Marketing for E-Commerce & subscription startups
A friend from Jacuzzi Club Katherine Heathe just launched her new boutique agency, Wildside, so I asked her a few questions about what she does in case it’s something your brand is looking for.
1. What is the #1 struggle you see brands you work with face?
Achieving profitable growth! Brands get stuck trying lots of acquisition tactics and end up running on a revenue treadmill — spending to acquire customers just to top up those they’ve lost. That means cash flow never strengthens, growth stagnates and profitability moves further away.
2. What is your unique view on how/why that happens and what can be done about it?
Typically, it’s a result of heavily relying on paid social to bring in customers without any attention being given to increasing the lifetime value of a customer.
This leads to wasting money and eventually having to pull back on acquisition. Traffic and revenue decrease, and it's a downward spiral from there.
We identify a brand’s key metrics, understand the business and its customers as a whole, and then craft exceptional experiences that make people feel they’re being well cared for — as they would be at a 5-star hotel.
3. Keep the recommendation-chain going... who is THE person you'd recommend founders/entrepreneurs work with?
We’d recommend Relo, an app for sending AI-driven triggers into Klaviyo to help drive repeat purchase. It’s owned by Harvey Hodd who also built Blueprint.
VI.
Rooftop:
Anyways, I hope you’re enjoying your Summer! Trying to make the most of Santa Monica while I can. I’m off to Denver this week, and Sun Valley in a month, which I’ve never been to but hear it’s incredible. If you have any recs or people there to meet let me know!
As always, lmk how I can help and feel free to reply/DM/reach out.
<3<3 David
Strategic Growth Partner to founders & entrepreneurs |
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