Mark Cuban likes to read

Funding Corner

Startup AEM raises funding for fully recyclable EV motors

EVs are all the rage, and while Tesla continues to dominate the electric car market, hundreds of startups are emerging around the world to create the solutions that we often don’t think about. EV engines and batteries have been points of contention for some time due to the minerals which are needed to create them; while electric vehicles are, on paper, more ‘sustainable’ than gasoline cars, its possible that the mining of minerals used to create them and the way in which parts are disposed need to be rethought. AEM is doing just that.

Key Takeaways: 

• UK startup Advanced Electric Machines (AEM) raised £23 million ($29 million) in new funding.

• This involved a Series A round led by Barclays and Legal & General.

• The company makes electric vehicle motors that contain no rare earths or copper, making their motors entirely recyclable.

• The new funding will help AEM scale up production capacity for its motors.

• AEM's technology aims to support sustainability in the transition to electric vehicles.

Significance: Sustainability gets funding. Whether its because of government legislation, the potential returns, or a newfound desire by investors to make the world a better place (I’m guessing it’s the first two), startups with clear and tangible sustainability initiatives are all the rage.

Crazy, but Successful

Ship Snow, Yo

What is it? In 2015, Boston resident Kyle Waring started a peculiar business - selling and shipping snow. After he and his wife spent countless hours shoveling snow during Boston's record blizzards that winter, they jokingly wondered if people would pay for the mounds of snow in their driveway.

To their surprise, when they packaged and sold 24 bottles of authentic Boston snow online, they instantly sold out. This sparked the idea for a seasonal business shipping insulated crates full of snow nationwide so people could experience making snowmen or snowballs in places where snow is uncommon.

The company became a huge success, generating six-figure revenues each winter.

And he diversified. Waring has also expanded the concept to sell and ship autumn leaves from New England during the fall months. What else could he sell?

Check out their website, yo.

Founder Spotlight

Mark Cuban: “read the frickin’ manual”

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to interview this guy personally. Maybe if you get all your friends to subscribe to the newsletter he might notice me, but until then I just get to admire from a distance. Mark Cuban is known for his role on Shark Tank, owning the Dallas Mavericks, and being an all-around legend in the world of entrepreneurship. I decided to do a bit of homework into his background to understand why he became successful, and one of his lessons stands out to me: to read the f***ing manual. What does this mean?

Well, Mark started off poor. After years of bumming around he finally got a job selling IBM PCs for a software retail store— but had no idea how IBM PCs actually worked. So every night, he brought a different owner’s manual home to study, and he would read it front to back. In a short amount of time he became one of the best salespeople at the store. Why? Because he took the time to read the boring stuff. To understand how things work. To understand the intricacies that even software engineers glossed over. He took this same attitude to the top of everything he did, and his advice is this:

“Most people think it’s all about the idea. It’s not. Everyone has ideas. The hard part is doing the homework to know if the idea could work in the industry, then doing the preparation to be able to execute on the idea.”

Conclusion: Yeah— reading the manual is boring. It sucks. But if you want to start something, build something, or just do something different (as I’m sure you all do), then maybe it’s time to start learning just a bit more than everyone else. And that, unfortunately, comes from the boring tasks.

Key Dates

• (London)

  • Techstars Accelerator (applications close November 29th)

  • Founders Factory (rolling admissions)

  • Tech Scaler (applications open for January ‘24 cohort)

• (New York) 

  • Founder Institute (accelerator applications close December 11th)

• (San Francisco)

  • Y Combinator (late applications accepted until January)

What I’m Consuming

• Contrarian Thinking Newsletter (link)

• My First Million Podcast (available on all streaming services)

• The Pyramid Principle (link)