April Newsletter, 2024

I hope this newsletter finds you well.

For a quick reminder, you subscribed to this newsletter via my personal site where I promised I’d send you business opportunities and life hacks, and that’s exactly what we are going to be covering today.

Business opportunity of the month:

Like tens of thousands of others, I use Gumroad to sell my digital courses. It’s a great product, but they recently increased their fees which currently stand at 10%, plus Stripe’s 2.9%.

A quick search on Twitter will show you there’s a lot of users disappointed and are very eager to find an alternative that basically does the same thing.

This is big business. Gumroad reported in a recent Q1 update they generated $1.8M monthly revenue, which has been consistent over the past 12 months.

Business opportunity: Create a much simpler version of Gumroad.

Here’s how I would approach it:

1. Focus on product delivery (hosted videos and other course material) and a much simpler design at the start in order to move fast

2. Allow users to connect their own Stripe accounts so they can handle their own customers, taxes, and refunds (Gumroad and others act as Merchants of record). This will save a lot of work and support down the road.

3. Charge 3-5% instead of 10%

4. Ask initial users what to work on next: subscriptions, promo codes, email etc.

Let me know if you build this. I’ll be your first customer :)

A new marketplace for buying startups

Today I’m launching a marketplace to buy and sell tech startups. We’ve already got some amazing deals listed and are working on adding new 3-6 deals every week going forward.

If you’ve ever considered adding digital assets to your portfolio, come and join us over at JoinStartups.co.

Andrew Wilkinson has a new podcast

My First Million has been my favourite podcast for a long time now, and one of the regular guests of the show, Andrew Wilkinson (he turned $5M into $500 buying web assets), just launched his own show. The first episode is with Sam from MFM.

Japanese natural wines

I was recently in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and was blown away by the local natural wines on offer there. If you like wine and get a chance to pick some up online, I’d really recommend checking a few out (they’d also make great unique gifts). My personal favorites from tasting around 15 or so bottles were the KWtN Pinot Noir (I had the 2019) and the Niagara Hasegawa (2023).

And while on the subject of wine, this is one of the best travel guides I’ve read covering the current food and wine scene in Paris.

CANTON

I recently launched a private community for ambitious founders/CEOs in Asia called CANTON. If you’re a business owner based in Asia who wants to connect with likeminded people, come and join us.

New Digital Nomad Visas

Italy, Japan, Turkey and South Korea have all launched new digital nomad visas recently. There’s literally never been a better time to travel and remote work.

Is Olive oil the key to a healthier life?

Bryan Johnson is a guy who sold his tech company for $800M and has spent the past 5 or so years pouring millions into learning how we can live longer. If you haven’t heard about Bryan before, I highly recommend checking out a few podcasts he has done recently (this one is good).

One of the interesting discoveries he’s made from the research and testing is how good quality olive oil plays a pivotal role in longevity. I personally love olive oil, so ever since discovering this I’ve been adding some to everything I eat!

Have fun and stay safe,

Chris

P.S - Hit reply and let me know what you think of this new newsletter format. I’ll be sending these out monthly going forward.

P.P.S - I have a new project covering SaaS affiliate programs that needs a partner/investor. Hit reply for more info.