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Startups & Side Hustles
Hey there,

Over the past month I've been revamping the tools and guides available on PortableCTO.com. One of them that I'm really proud of is a massive Guide to Building APIs.

While directed at non-technical founders, anyone who isn't taking full advantage of data and functionality in third party APIs needs to read this guide. At the end, there are 5 tools for building APIs without code that you should check out if you want to save a ton of time on your next project.

Seriously, this guide is massive and designed to be readable by anyone - even if you currently have no idea what an API is, so check it out, and please give me your feedback!
Recommended Reading*
Guy Kawasaki's "Art of the Start" was one of the very first startup books I read. It's especially prescient if you are going to pitch your company, raise money from investors, or create a business plan. Kawasaki is a fantastic and inspiring teacher.

Around the Web
Ramon Suarez - one of my regular readers - sent me this project, and I love it! I've thought about doing this a few times, so I'm excited to hear how it goes for Ramon.

"Once you have taken into consideration basic salary, taxes and benefits, the real costs of your employees are typically 1.25 to 1.4 times base salary."

96 24 hour startups were launched on November 17, 2018. See them all here.

If you're lost when it comes to marketing, finding the right tools can definitely help. This list is a bit overwhelming, but worth looking over to help you know what's available.

Sometimes it's hard to tell when you work for a startup and things change quickly.

While personally I like Medium, Nikitonsky brings up some solid points. Maybe it's time for a new public blogging platform?

In this post, the author breaks down what makes these landing pages great at conversions.

"Facebook is pivoting to Stories. But when your platform is the size of Facebook’s, no change is ever simple."

"Sooner or later, you’re going to run out of the early adopters. Probably sooner. Suddenly, your cost per customer goes way up. Suddenly, you’ve shifted from keeping up with demand to running on fumes."

Remind me again why more Nicholas Cage movies means more drownings?

Sponsor*
You probably gathered that I read a lot, but Audible is my little secret. Whether I'm biking to work, walking the dog, or waiting on a train, I love getting a daily dose of reading in on Audible. Use the link here to get your first 2 books free.

Tools
If you need a part time, flexible job or you're looking for inspiration for your own gig marketplace, check this out. it's an awesome resource for temp work.

Whether it's a question and answer community, forum, or upvote-style Reddit site, Threadbase helps you build them without code.

The easiest cloud bookkeeping solution with predictable pricing for brilliant self employed

Download the free iPhone app and start answering survey questions. With each response, you earn real dollars for your favorite non‑profit.

Instantly turn your screenshot into a beautiful design mockup without using Sketch or Photoshop templates

I'm a huge fan of smart networking, especially if you're running a startup.

What's your email sign off look like? Is it time for a refresh?

Thanks for reading,

Karl Hughes, Portable CTO