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Startups & Side Hustles
Hey there,

It's been a busy week for me at my job at The Graide Network. There's been an unusual number of requests for my time, but I had a few minutes to bang out a new blog post on saying no.

You can't do everything. Learning to say no is one of the best ways to stay focused on what matters and prevent your own burnout. If you're constantly being pulled in new directions or being asked to do more than you can deliver on, read this.

Read More: "Say No"
Recommended Reading*
Frank Gruber has had the chance to be close to and learn from hundreds of startups over the course of his time building Tech Cocktail, so his advice from both personal business-building experience and osmosis is not to be ignored. It's a quick, entertaining overview of what to expect when starting a startup, and well worth a read.

Around the Web
The 8 innovation channels (and funding sources) for innovation in the modern world.

"A big mistake new companies do is trying to offer everything their competitors have, believing this way they will attract more interest and gain customers."

"In the vast majority of cases, a product released in an emerging market lands with a dull thud, and it’s up to the company to figure out how to sell it."

Education tops this list, and personally, I hope it's right. There are some other interesting points here, so check it out if you're planning a new venture.

"There are two interesting ways to solve a problem: you can lump two previously disparate categories into one, or you can split a previously coherent category into two or more pieces."

"Your audience is at Point A and wants to get to Point B, but doesn’t know how to do so. Your content is the bridge. It’s the path that enables them to get what they want."

Sponsor*
Whether you're running a content site, online store, or SaaS product, engaging customers and leads through email is one of the best ways to get people coming back to your site. I've been using Mailchimp exclusively for years to send emails to thousands of subscribers, and while it's not the cheapest service out there, nothing beats it for reliability, time-saving tools, and ease of use.

Tools
"Investor Hunt saves you hundreds of hours by aggregating data on over 40,000+ angels and venture capitalists in one place, complete with their investment interests and contact info"

Another interesting organization tool like Trello or Notion.

They aggregate classes from colleges, Coursera, and more so you can quickly find the best free online learning experiences.

"With Dohnny you can create amazing and maintainable web apps in an agile environment based on components and the best technology. Atomic control over your project."

Coda combines the flexibility of a doc with the structure and depth of a spreadsheet. So ideas can flow freely and evolve into tools as deep and powerful as any app.

HEML gives you the native power of HTML without having to deal with all of the email quirks. HEML makes building emails as easy as building websites.

Totally just for fun, but having made a lot of paper airplanes as a kid, I found this fascinating.

Thanks for reading,

Karl Hughes, Portable CTO