Totally nerfed? Peeps are generating so much deepfaked and copyright-infringing stuff (SpongeBob making drugs, full South Park episodes, Altman shoplifting) OpenAI’s had to nerf the Sora 2 app pretty hard. 🤷‍♀

In Today’s Open Letter

Many new businesses can’t afford full-time hires for lifeblood sales services – so this startup’s connecting them to local closers…

For many SA founders, sales feels at once like the Holy Grail and a constant headache: They know it’s essential for growth, but there’s always something seemingly more critical that pops up…

But hiring a sales rep is a big fixed cost, so founders delay it (hence the scattershot efforts of inconsistent pipelines, ad-hoc LinkedIn messages, spray-and-pray emails, and missed follow-ups). 

Talk about a catch-22.

But hold your horses, the timing may well be right

South Africa’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector is well on the rise, standing at $1.85 billion in 2023, and projected to grow at around 10% annually between now and 2030.

So this isn't theoretical, it's already happening.  

Around the world, fractional roles have risen nearly 60% since 2020, especially in marketing, design and strategy. Why not do the same for sales? 

By offering modular, founder-friendly sales capacity, you sidestep the all-or-nothing gamble of hiring full-time staff or outsourcing to impersonal lead mills.

The local startup connecting you to your sales soul mate

SaleMate is a local startup that embeds fractional sales expertise directly into small B2B firms (4–25 people, ~R6 m revenue and up), helping founders fall in love with sales again by revitalising their passion and reigniting their spark.

We caught up with SaleMate founder Rebecca Cameron, who says they’re no lead-gen mill; SaleMate is more like a fractional sales brain transplant. 

Since 2024, they’ve built a team of 12 “SaleMates” who are flexible, either dropping in part-time at a client’s office or running remote campaigns to unlock specific wins, like entering into a new market or reviving a dusty pipeline. 

The playbook blends a personalised approach that meets each business where it’s at with diagnostic scorecards, disciplined weekly metrics and warm founder-led outreach. Each SaleMate is dedicated to only 2/3 clients at a time, ensuring deep focus and meaningful results.

And if you think about it, tapping into an experienced sales machine, at a fraction of a full-time hire, you can unlock far greater returns.

We’re watching this space.

Who still drags bags across town before takeoff?

Bag Drop flipped that idea completely by adding WhatsApp to its Cape Town scheduled luggage collection, storage and delivery service — so you can book, manage pickups and get updates without opening a portal.

But here’s what’s really clever:

✅ Chat directly with a dispatcher on WhatsApp to arrange collections and deliveries
✅ Real-time notifications on booking status via WhatsApp (and email)
✅ Seamless transfers and multi-day storage between Airbnbs, hotels and the airport

Already have a web app? This is how you extend reach in SA: bring the country’s most-used channel into the flow and remove friction where travellers actually are.

What would you build WhatsApp today?

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.

🚀 African Funding Spring? PayPal is injecting $100 million into African and Middle Eastern startups, aiming to supercharge digital commerce and economic growth. This strategic move expands PayPal’s footprint while boosting entrepreneurs and bringing millions into the digital age. Very cool!

🎤 Taylor Goes AI? Taylor Swift’s latest album promo relied heavily on some physical and digital sleuthing, but it’s left fans wondering if the videos used were AI-generated. Hell hath no fury like a Swifty scorned…

🌍 Africa's AI Voices Amplified. UCT has launched an African Hub for AI Safety, ensuring Africa's voice is heard in the global tech debate. The ambitious plan aims to tackle AI's societal impact and strengthen policies for peace and prosperity. Nice one.

💼 Fancy a raise? The average salary in South Africa nudged up 3.4% this quarter to R29’290. But if you’re looking for more, you may need to check out these 43 job types that pay above that. Interesting.

✅ The Stack. Founders need reliable tools and suppliers. That’s why our Founder’s Stack gives you full-funnel tech content marketing by Stream, hardware, software, acceleration and funding for remarkable builds with Octoco and loads more vital startup tools & services.

Yesterday, we showed you how Unaffi’s working to make local sports clubs more discoverable, asking what you’re playing this weekend. Most players are in CT…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🎾 Tennis in Cape Town (50%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ♟️ Chess in Durban (6%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⛳ Golf in Joburg (16%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🥋 Jiu-Jitsu in Pretoria (22%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏊‍♂️ Open Water Swim in Port Elizabeth (6%)

Pre-MVP? ALX Founder Academy’s 4-week bootcamp (15–20 hrs/week) closes 8 Oct. Apply here.

Got a game-changing idea? KZN’s Digital Innovation Pitching Competition closes 12 Oct. Enter here.

Want US traction? Mana Tech’s Miami Immersion Programme (16 spots) runs Oct–Nov. Apply by 13 Oct.

Youth-led teams (18–35)? CAPSI Pan-African Youth Competition offers $32’000 prizes. Apply by 15 Oct. Info here.

Pitch your startup online. Startup360’s AI & Tech Startup Battle SA goes live 23 Oct. Register here.

Women-led startups: Naspers & Prosus FoundHER Africa Challenge offers $100k. Apply before 19 Nov.

Want to promote your event/programme here? Let us know.

🛠 Tool to Try: Puck is an open-source visual editor for React apps.

⚰️ That’s Interesting: The town of Colma in California was founded as a necropolis, with most of its land given to cemeteries. Currently, there are 1’000 dead people for every living resident.

🍣 Next Level: How to fillet fish for sushi like a legend.

💬 Hack: Not sure if an email is negative? Imagine the sender reading it out loud in their voice — it rewires your emotional response.

🌍 Wow Site: Asteroid Strike lets you hurl space rocks at Earth with extreme scientific accuracy.

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