AI lawyers? There are so many horror stories, except this woman who totally won a court case with ChatGPT and Perplexity. 💬
In This Open Letter
Real Vision: Giving SA businesses a mompower boost.
Local: Crypto surge, going nuclear & how much to charge.
Global: How to buy dormant usernames on X Marketplace.
Founder’s Corner: Instant Notion capture & funding growth.
Today in history: The day most every laptop was born.
The real magic of our events? The people in the room
Startups meet investors. Founders meet future co-founders. Ideas meet opportunity.
In a vibrant and fun setting that greases the networking wheels…
And for our Cape Town guests — we’ve got a little surprise waiting. A game designed to get you really networking (and maybe even winning a prize or two).
Limited tickets left for 30 Oct.
TRENDING NOW
When Your Mom’s The CEO
SA’s ignoring a major employment gap – and this startup’s unlocking the mompower for it…
Nearly half of SA children live with their mothers (female-headed households account for 42%). And since women typically carry the brunt of family care, it impacts what jobs they can take.
The gender employment gap is still skewed: 65.6% of working-age men are employed, compared to 54.9% of women. That 10% deficit represents millions of capable women sitting outside (or stepping in and out of) the workforce because roles are still designed around rigid time and place.
WFH and hybrid seem to be a declining trend (mirroring global return to work policies), with most jobs asking for five days a week, 8 AM to 5 PM. Not ideal for moms and single mothers.
What SA women need is more flexible, outcome-based work.
The local startup putting moms in the workplace
RecruitMyMom is a tech-enabled recruitment agency matching employers with vetted talent and a human recruiter in the loop. Meaning they use technology behind the scenes to facilitate faster matching, but still offer a personalised service (nothing beats a face-to-face convo between a candidate or a client).
What they do differently is help companies widen the talent pool by looking beyond the traditional Mon-Fri, 8-5 in-office structure, by offering jobs with degrees of location or time flexibility.
We recently chatted to RecruitMyMom founder Phillipa Geard about what they’re building, and apart from permanent SA talent, two distinct pillars stand out…
Fractional Leadership. That’s right. Companies can bolster C-suite capacity with an experienced CMO, CHRO, COO, etc., with built-in flexibility for the candidate and without the full-time headcount for the company.
Independent contractors & virtual assistants. Phillipa tells us that AI-driven search is increasingly surfacing South African talent to overseas employers, which is a no-brainer when you consider SA’s location in terms of time zones and favourable exchange rates for companies paying in other currencies.
What’s next
So far, they’ve built a 250k-strong community of mostly moms who stick around, even when they’re not actively looking for a new role – a testament to the personalised touch and the mom-to-mom relatability.
If they can keep showing that flexible work is not really a perk, but more of a business imperative to solve talent shortages and deliver key skills to companies that need them, this could work at even greater scale.
We’re watching this space.
FOUNDER’S CORNER
3 Things for SA Business Builders
Buying stock as you grow. In this evergreen video, Lula breaks down how to finance stock purchases, manage cash flow and scale sustainably. Watch here.
Name your business fast. Govchain’s AI name generator suggests options tailored to your brand and checks availability in SA. Try it here.
Save ideas instantly. Lazy.so lets you capture articles, tweets and notes directly into Notion with one shortcut — without leaving your app. See more.
Lula proudly sponsors Founder’s Corner.
Lula is South Africa’s first business-only banking suite, offering fast, flexible funding and frictionless banking built exclusively for SMEs. Experience business-class banking and funding now.
FROM OUR FRIENDS AT LULA
Hit pause on payments and play with growth
Lula brings your business a perfectly timed payment holiday…
The year is drawing to a close, and while everyone else is dreaming of beach holidays, your business is gearing up for its biggest moment. 🔆
Forget slowing down – the peak season is about to hit, and it’s packed with growth opportunities. 📈
👀 Keep your eyes peeled and ears tuned…
This Black November, Lula is handing you the keys to success with funding that lets you grow now and only pay later. 🔑
It’s the ultimate gift: Access to the cash flow you need at the busiest time of year, with the space you need to breathe.
Get ready to take up the deal of the year.*
*T&Cs apply. Offer applies to new funding applications only.
IN SHORT
Well, well, lookie here…
🪙 SA’s Crypto Surge. South Africans are diving into crypto with over 530k new signups on Luno, now boasting a local user base of 6.3 million, while Luno Pay processed over R30 million transactions, all in the last year. Nice.
🔋 Going Nuclear. SA is planning to add 5’200 MW of nuclear energy generation by 2039, together with a mix of renewables and steady power sources, to dodge future load-shedding. So options are loadshedding or nuclear wasteland…
🤑 Cough it Up. X is rolling out its X Marketplace, where Premium Plus and Premium Business subscribers can buy dormant usernames. Cool, if you’ve got a cool R45k to burn…
😎 Freelancers Flock Together! The Southern African Freelancers' Association (Safrea) has launched this year’s Freelance Rates Survey to help understand what media, comms, and related freelancers in SA are earning. Complete the survey here.
✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you cloud services and solutions by Cloud on Demand, Africa-ready payroll & HR via Deel Local Payroll powered by PaySpace, plus loads more vital startup tools & services.
LOVE IT?
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WHAT YOU SAID
Fast forward…
Yesterday, we showed you Vas MedTech’s new portable hysteroscope, asking what procedures you want tech to speed up. Most say the wait…
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🦷 Dentist speedrun mode (6%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🩺 Waiting rooms that respect my calendar (40%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🧪 Blood tests with less stabbing, more scanning (37%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💊 Pharmacies that deliver before you get sick (11%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📸 Scans that load faster than Netflix (6%)
Your 2 cents…
“I have a severe fear of needles.”
Shame, Karen, we feel you. The fear’s called trypanophobia and about 10% of us have it pretty bad. 😫💉
“Considering that most medical aids are only hospital plans nowadays and xrays and blood test represent the biggest cash outlay, scanning has to reduce the cost.”
Definitely, Jo. Better scanners that nurses can operate should bring those costs down. 🤑
TODAY IN TECH HISTORY
The day your laptop was born
On 21 October 1991, Apple launched the PowerBook 100. Although it wasn’t Apple’s first portable computer (the Macintosh Portable was first but very unpopular), it was the one with staying power, setting the tone for all laptops to follow.
Bring back any memories?
AROUND THE WEB
Just keeps getting better…
🧠 Tool to Try: ImagineX turns your images into short video clips.
🥤 That’s Interesting: Sprite was created in West Germany in 1959, originally called Fanta Clear Lemon.
🚜 Next Level: 300 Amish peeps moving a barn by hand.
💨 Hack: This is how to keep a data centre cool.
🪶 Wow Site: ABC’s Deep Time walks you through 65'000 years of Stone Age Australian history.
THE FOUNDER COLLAB
You need luck, but how do you get it?
Most successful founders will agree, to make it big, you need some luck.
But how does one increase one's chances of success when luck plays such a big role? Increase your surface area of luck!
✅ Meet more people
✅ Get faster feedback on your product builds
✅ Make faster progress when you are stuck with expert help.
That’s what The Founder Collab, SA’s premium community for startup founders, does. Weekly opportunities to meet other founders, get feedback, get unstuck and a network unlike any in SA.
It’s a surefire way to increase your surface area of luck.
THANKS FOR READING
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