Hi everyone. Taro here.

Not everyone wins all the time, and this means sometimes you might have to deal with a negative situation that requires managing feedback from the public. It’s easy enough to be prepared in these situations, and from a media perspective, these are some of the best ways to weather the storm:

  • Have a Crisis Communication Plan: Before a crisis hits, it’s important to have a plan in place. This should outline who will speak on behalf of the company, what channels will be used to communicate, and how the company will respond to different types of crises. Having a plan in place can help ensure that your response is timely, consistent, and effective.
  • Respond Quickly and Honestly: When negative publicity arises, remember to respond quickly to show that you’re taking the issue seriously. However, it’s equally important to ensure that your response is honest and transparent. Trying to cover up the issue or deflect blame can often make the situation worse.
  • Listen and Apologize: If your company has made a mistake, listen to the concerns of your customers and apologize sincerely. This can help to rebuild trust and show that your company is committed to learning from its mistakes.
  • Take Action: In addition to apologizing, it’s important to take action to resolve the issue. This could involve making changes to your product or service, providing compensation to affected customers, or taking steps to ensure that the issue doesn’t happen again in the future.
  • Communicate Your Actions: Once you’ve taken action to resolve the issue, communicate this to your customers and the public. This can help to rebuild trust and show that your company is committed to making things right. This communication should be clear, concise, and highlight the steps you’ve taken to address the issue.

Open Run

This week, we take a look at five interesting startups from the latest batch recently announced by Iterative for their accelerator program.

Goro: This Indonesian fractional property investment platform is democratizing real estate investing, offering access to high-yielding properties to the masses.

Homefectionery: Bangladesh’s largest home-cooked food subscription network, providing a diverse range of food delivered to office workers daily. 

Needle: An AI co-pilot that helps e-commerce businesses grow by integrating with various platforms, analyzing data, and making concrete recommendations to business owners.

Setoko: A platform that allows users to create a free online shop in just 12 seconds, providing integrated logistics, multi-payment methods, user management, sales channel management, and inventory and order management.

WavTool: An AI-accelerated music production tool that modernizes digital audio workstations, allowing users to generate sounds directly into their tracks through simple commands. 

Nothing But Net

Recent Startup Wins

  • Blocto and Polygon Labs announce a $1M grant program to enhance Web3 onboarding on Polygon protocols, following the launch of Blocto’s ERC-4337 compatible wallet and a talk by Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin at EthCC.
  • Zuno Carbon, a climate tech startup based in Singapore, which specializes in carbon management solutions, has successfully secured USD 2.5 million in a seed funding round. The round was spearheaded by Wavemaker Partners.
  • Bunker, a financial analytics platform, has secured USD 5 million from investors such as Alpha JWC Ventures and Global Founders Capital, among others, to bolster its expansion in the Asia Pacific and empower startups and SMEs to convert financial data into actionable insights.

Pick & Roll

Interesting Drops From the Week

  • The Mills Fabrica, a Hong Kong-based incubator, uses its retail store, Fabrica X, and a dynamic ecosystem to support clean tech startups, with plans to expand its unique model beyond Hong Kong.
  • The glorification and misrepresentation of Sparta in popular culture is influencing the US military’s understanding of history and warfare, potentially leading to a skewed perception of military ethics and strategies. [via Foreign Policy]
  • An in-depth analysis of the Threads app reveals deceptive dark design patterns. These manipulative user interfaces can lead to a misleading user experience and potentially unethical outcomes. [via Yanko Design]
  • Eco-tourism taxes, while promoting sustainable tourism, could potentially deter tourists. The complexities of implementing such a tax are highlighted through examples from Bali and Bhutan. [via Eco-Business]
  • In yet another garbage decision, Twitter is on the brink of a significant rebranding to ‘X’, as announced by owner Elon Musk. This shift is expected to bring about changes to its logo, user interface, and overall user experience. [via The Verge]

If you are a startup that is raising funds, or have an interesting story or lead for us to feature in this newsletter, please fill out this form.