Intro

Good morning! Happy Friday! 🎉🎉🎉

A great quote to reflect on over the weekend 🤓

“The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”

This quote is by Cal Newport, who advocates for a culture of ‘deep work’, without distractions like social media. He has written a great book about how to be focused in a world full of distractions.

Snippets

🍔 Free Food for the vaccinated: Earlier this week, Krispy Kreme made headlines when they announced that, until 2022, they would give away a donut a day (!) to any vaccinated person. Now, two other companies in Silicon Valley are jumping on the bandwagon, offering free fries and chips. Deep Dive here →

💬 Microsoft on the hunt: Microsoft is in talks over a $10B acquisition with gaming-chat startup ‘Discord’ (sort of Slack for gaming). But why? According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the answer is clear: “Creation, creation, creation.” He bets that while the last ten years were all about consuming (online shopping, browsing, watching), the next decade will be about creation. Deep Dive here →

🗽 New York Times testing headlines: A/B testing is a common practice in many online businesses. However, few people know that even established institutions like the New York Times regularly test headlines to understand which performs better. They do this to drive reader engagement and visit duration. Deep Dive here →

Startup of the Day

Launchtrip, Vancouver (Canada)

Source: PhocusWire

Traveling with friends just got easier!

What’s the deal: As much as traveling in a group is fun, managing the whole trip is a real pain. Finding the right hotel, making reservations in restaurants, handling the expenses for everyone – nothing less than an uphill struggle.

But not anymore: Launchtrip is the first travel site that allows you to search by city or event and make a group booking. It offers 750,000 hotels worldwide, restaurants for reservations, transportation bookings, famous spots to explore, and a cost-splitting feature – all within one app. Launched in 2018, Launchtrip has raised $4.7M and makes the entire process of group bookings smooth from end to end.

Why it matters: There’s nothing like exploring a new place with a group of friends, but splitting bills can be uncomfortable and awkward. Finances should be the least of your concerns when you’re supposed to be relaxing. Launchtrip’s group feature handles the payment processing and splits the bill accordingly – making it less awkward. Moreover, it offers group travel discounts, making it more tempting to bring friends along.

Our Take: It has been an undeniably rocky road, but the travel industry is gradually getting back on its feet. People have learned to travel smartly, and Launchtrip offers an opportunity to make it less stressful and more secure. Although the travel booking market is already saturated, Launchtrip stands out by focusing on group travel.

Launchtrip has taken the industry’s top experts in the travel and technology spaces on board as well, marking its territory into the industry.

What do you think about this Startup? Let us know!