Hey, Trevor here. I’m excited and proud to publish the 40th episode. Thanks to everyone reading this.

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Let’s jump in, here are two brilliant startups crushing it!

🇺🇸 CLLCTVE: Portfolio platform connecting creators to their next opportunity. (Founded 2018, Total Funding Amount: $120k pre-seed)

How it works

Brands are spending big bucks to target Gen-Z consumers, but are failing at authentically reaching those consumers with content that speaks directly to them.

The only people who understand Gen Z consumers, are Gen Z consumers. 

So, what’s the best way to reach them? Source user-generated content directly from your target audience.

See for the MVP demo to get a feel for the platform.

The Metrics

• MRR: $16k

• $100k+ in brand sales revenue 

• 2,300 creators on the waitlist 

• 200 portfolios created 

• Techstars, Google for Startups Founders Academy, Forbes 30U30

The Team

• Founder/CEO: Kelsey Davis, BS in Film, MS in Entrepreneurship, Forbes 30U30 

• Co-Founder/COO: Brendan O'Keeffe, BS in Information, Management, and Technology 

• Chief Growth Officer: Jenna Trabulus, Former Head of Biz Dev @ FabFitFun + Former Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships @ Conde Nast Entertainment 

• Lead Software Engineer: Yahkeef Davis, Data Scientist 

The backstory

P.S: CLLCTVE is currently raising a seed round. If this sounds interesting, reply to this email, and I’ll put you in touch with the right folks.

Sponsored By

This post was brought to you by Eyal Toledano. Eyal is a founder and angel investor.

He is the author of the “The framework I'm using to turn $500k in micro-acquisitions into $1.4m over the next 2 years” article.

You can find more about him on his Substack called Micro Angel, where he writes about his investments, acquisitions, and running a business.

I’m a reader of Eyal’s blog and he’s putting inspiring content out. Highly recommended read!

Interested in becoming a sponsor? Fill in this short form and pick a package, and I’ll get in touch with you.

🇦🇺🇺🇸 llama life: Productivity task manager that helps you work through to-do lists, not just make them. (Founded 2020, Total Funding Amount: $100k angel round)

How It Works

Llama wants you to say goodbye to never-ending lists, and say hello to daily bliss.

Add tasks to your list. For each task, add the duration in minutes. If no duration is added, it will default to 25 min.

When you're ready to begin the task, start the timer by clicking the ‘play button'.

Check out the product walk-through for an in-depth taste of it.

The task at the top of your list is automatically loaded into the timer. This task should be your current focus.

The Metrics

Marie Ng 🍄 @threehourcoffee

I DID IT! Just hit 500 PAID customers! 🎉 Thanks @dsabar for being Llama Life's 500th! 🙏 And thanks everyone for your ongoing support 🥰 Now I can crack open this bottle of wine I've been saving 🍷 (had been stored in a box to resist temptation 😂)

Marie Ng 🍄 @threehourcoffee

Not quite (currently 286 / 500) but saving this nice bottle of wine for when it does happen 👇. It’s on my dining table so I see it every day. https://t.co/4ak7C5m66J

June 6th 2021

5 Retweets168 Likes

The Team

My name is Marie, and I built Llama Life because my to-do list was getting out of control. I needed a tool to help me focus and provide just a little more structure to get things done.

I discovered that setting a fixed amount of time for each task, gave me a strange sense of calm. It also gave me the mental space to focus on ONE thing at a time.

I used to live in the US, New York for 9 years. Now I’m based in Melbourne, Australia.

Recently, I was accepted into the LAUNCH accelerator, which is backed by Jason Calacanis. It’s run in the US but remotely at the moment.

The backstory

Llama Life is inspired by a small village I visited outside Peru back in 2018. They had no electricity or running water but they had a lot of llamas.

It struck me how peaceful, calm, and content they all were. When it came to naming the app, I wanted to replicate that feeling.

My mission with Llama is to help people achieve calm, focused productivity. There's a lot of emphasis on hustle culture right now with people working insane hours.

I'm not against working hard, but I think we can work more smartly.

🏁 You’re all set!

Startups Crushing It! is a premium newsletter about early-stage (before series A) technology startups. I publish the insights each Tuesday or Friday.

You tell me which startups excite you. And if requested, I’ll introduce you to the founders.

I look for strong positive signals using the FPTM model: Founders — Product — Traction — Mission.

I interview the founder(s), toy around with products, crunch numbers, and based on that, I decide which startups to feature.

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