The Best Product Launches, Amazing Customer Service, and the People Needed in Every Startup

A newsletter for founders & friends (22nd edition)

Hey 👋

Welcome to the 22nd edition of Re:VITALIZE, a newsletter with tactics, strategies, and stories on building companies plus cool things we’re seeing in the future of work.

Did you miss last week’s newsletter about customer acquisition flywheels, sales tactics, and funding resources? Subscribe below so you never miss another👇

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Top 3 Tweets

🥇 An Amazing Example of Customer Service

Very sorry to hear about your dog, Anna 💔 . Anna’s post, with 700,000+ likes and 40,000+ retweets, created because of Chewy going above and beyond, is amazing free marketing for them and a great example of what can happen when you treat your customers well.

Anna Brose, MSc @alcesanna

I contacted @Chewy last week to see if I could return an unopened bag of my dog’s food after he died. They 1) gave me a full refund, 2) told me to donate the food to the shelter, and 3) had flowers delivered today with the gift note signed by the person I talked to?? 😭🥹

🥈 What You Need in Every Startup

And it could be the same person…

Justin Kan ❄️ @justinkan

In every startup, you need: - Someone who always wants to get shit done - Someone who obsesses over numbers - Someone who is honest about shit that doesn't work - Someone who is eternally optimistic

🥉 The Best Product Launches

Some great launches in the replies - from the iPhone to Mailbox to electricity

Patrick OShaughnessy @patrick_oshag

What’s the best product launch of all time?

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Resources

• A platform for hiring unicorn devs

• A guide to finance for founders

• A next-generation influencer marketing platform

• Case studies of successful founders

• A thread on upgrading your self-limiting belief systems

• McKinsey’s 7-step problem-solving framework

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Future of Work Reads

• The Future of Work Is Hybrid (Built in Austin)

• Developing The Most In-Demand Skills For The Future Of Work (Forbes)

• The future of the office is an open question, but this company is testing 3 designs to figure it out (Fast Company)

• The Future Workplace Depends on Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Balance (MIT Sloan)

• Companies are hiring product managers for a new in-demand role: Head of remote work experience (Fortune)

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The World of VITALIZE

• VITALIZE portfolio company, Elevate K-12, raised a $40M Series C, led by General Catalyst

• This week on The VITALIZE Podcast we had on Gale Wilkinson, General Partner here at VITALIZE, to discuss The Work Revolution, our investment focus.

  • Watch on YouTube

  • Listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify

• Caroline published her latest founder spotlight, featuring Rachel Cossar of Virtual Sapiens

• Gale is hosting a couple of free “Angel Investing Playbook” webinars on June 23rd and June 28th

• Open jobs at Vitalize portfolio companies

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Future of Work Funding Rounds

• PayCargo raised a $130M Series C

  • PayCargo is a logistics finance startup helping shipping companies get paid faster for the freight they deliver.

  • Top Investors: Insight Partners, Blackstone Group

• Fountain raised a $100M Series C

  • Fountain is a talent platform that develops applicant tracking software for companies that use large numbers of hourly workers.

  • Top Investors: FundersClub, Y Combinator, B Capital Group, SoftBank Vision Fund, Flucas Ventures

• Invoca raised a $83M Series F

  • Invoca uses artificial intelligence-assisted technology to help train call center workers.

  • Top Investors: Accel, Bonfire Ventures, StepStone Group, Upfront Ventures, Industry Ventures

• Prenda raised a $20M Series B

  • Prenda sets up online microschools for young children.

  • Top Investors: Y Combinator, Album VC, Pioneer Fund, Bossanova Investimentos, Learn Capital

• Workstream raised a $7M Seed

  • Workstream unifies how teams manage complex, analytical projects.

  • Top Investors: Lerer Hippeau, Xfund

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Written by Justin Gordon, Director of Marketing at VITALIZE, a venture capital firm and 300+ member angel investing community for everyone investing in U.S.-based B2B software founders in the work revolution. Find us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.