Too much {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? If you ever wondered how many times you can clone your friends, scientists just found out: They cloned 1'200 mice from a single donor (58 generations) over 20 years before the DNA collapsed. So stick with 57 gens, m-kay? 🧬

In This Open Letter:

The average company runs 112 SaaS applications; more than half of those licences go unused in any given month (and 7 are likely straight-up duplicates) — this local venture wants to help you take back control…

Globally, that waste adds up to $45 billion a year (R772bn). And it's getting worse: AI tools are accelerating the sprawl as teams buy new subscriptions without IT even knowing.

The specific cluster nobody consolidates

For companies building software products, there's a particular stack of tools all doing roughly the same job: keeping customers informed about what you're building. One for documentation. Another for changelogs. A third for your roadmap. Maybe a fourth for feature requests. And a fifth for waiting lists.

Each one bills monthly. But none of them talk to each other. And most of them were built by developers, for developers, meaning the support team, the product assistant or the non-technical co-founder can't actually use them.

The local startup collapsing five tools into one

ReavPages is a single platform that consolidates documentation, changelogs, roadmaps, feedback boards and waiting lists into one space.

Founded by Shalom Taiwo, a technical support manager who spent years watching these tools break down from the inside (teams couldn't use them, customers couldn't find what they needed and nobody's feedback ever made it back to the roadmap), and decided to do something about it.

The technical layer is solid: Docs auto-generate from GitHub, changelogs pull from commits and categorise into features, fixes and enhancements, and feedback boards connect directly to roadmap items — closing the loop between what users ask for and what gets shipped.

But the real differentiator? Shalom tested it by handing access to a non-technical virtual assistant (someone outside the company, with absolutely no dev background) who logged in and wrote documentation without any help. We read that as your tech stack now being unlocked for the entire team – non-techs, welcome.

In a category where developer fluency is usually the entry ticket, that's a very meaningful gap closed.

Three years in development, mostly custom code, long before the current wave of vibe-coded MVPs. This isn't stitched together — it's shaped by how teams actually work.

We're watching this space…

Who still relies on email newsletters to keep up with academic research?

The EU’s Urology Network is pushing daily journal updates, first-access video content and editorial reviews straight to subscribers' WhatsApp to help medical professionals stay current.

But here's what's really clever:

✅ Daily quick updates across all EU family journals delivered to your pocket
✅ First access to video content and editorial reviews before email
✅ Free merch and engagement rewards are built into the channel

A masterclass in meeting your audience where they actually are.

What would you build on WhatsApp today?

🇿🇦 Potch Boytje Makes Good In Murca. Nathan “Natie” Kirsh, the 94-year-old SA-born billionaire from Potchefstroom, is selling his US wholesale empire Jetro Restaurant Depot to Sysco for R500 billion. The cash-and-carry chain runs 166 warehouse stores across 35 US states and pulled in $16 billion in revenue last year. Nice one.

📸 Insta-Paywall. Meta has started testing Instagram Plus, a premium subscription that lets you view Stories without the poster knowing, extend Story shelf life by 24 hours and create unlimited audience lists. Apparently, stalking in peace is worth a monthly fee.

⛽ A Panado For SA’s Petrol Pump Pain. SA’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has announced that SA will reduce the fuel levy by R3, at least for April. A further consideration will be made for May and June. Let’s see what it does for the incoming increase…

🚀 Mission: Possible. Google South Africa and the Department of Higher Education and Training have joined forces to upskill post-school students and staff with AI and digital skills. The two-year partnership will focus on skills training, curriculum support and AI policy. Very cool.

💸 Faster VC Deals. Why does preparing funding deals take so much longer in SA? Well, the US and UK are speeding it up with templated processes. So Dommisse Attorneys and SAVCA created SA's first open-source model investment documents – see more here.*

* From our partners. Find all the best service providers for your business in our Founder Stack.

Yesterday, we showed you Firefinch’s birding app, asking you to rate your bird-watching skills. Most here just know the basics…

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🦅 A total bird nerd that can ID a bird by a single flash of colour — 15%

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🐦 The main ones; Hadeda, a seagull and a little brown job — 62%

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💁 Bird watching is for the birds — 4% 

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🫣 Aren't all birds the same? — 4% 

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🗺️ Methinks I've just found my latest hobby — 15%

Your 2 cents…

He he, lekke, Seb: From casual spotter to full-blown bird nerd in one newsletter — Firefinch's marketing team should send us flowers. 🌸

3+ years revenue? Africa's Business Heroes Prize offers up to $300k from a $1.5m grant pool plus global exposure. Applications open.

Want to win $1m? The Pitch by Deel is a global startup competition with a $1 million investment prize — apply from SA now.

Early-stage SA tech founders? Get R40k+ in business-building tools, strategy sessions, cloud support, legal vetting and more when you join The Founder Collab.

African startup or MSME with an MVP? GEC+Africa 2026's Regional Pitch Competition selects 10 finalists to pitch live in Cape Town — could be your moment. Register now.

SA entrepreneur ready to pitch? Nedbank Pitch & Polish is back — 16 founders compete for a R1m prize package with mentorship, bootcamp training and national exposure. Apply by 10 Apr. Enter here.

TVET student with a business idea? The Inspire Inter-College Competition is open across all 50 SA public TVET colleges — win your share of R320'000 in prizes plus a year of mentorship. Entries close 17 Apr. Enter now.

🧩 Tool to Try: ScribbleScan turns your messy handwritten notes into searchable, shareable text on iOS or Android.

🤖 That's Interesting: Between 1992 and 2000, RL Stine released more than 150 Goosebumps books. That's roughly one every 19 days for eight straight years.

🏗️ Next Level: Watch workers build a suspension bridge in Nepal with zero safety equipment.

🤧 Wow Site: Sneeze Log lets you log sneezes worldwide: see who sneezed, when, where and how intense.

🧠 Work Smarter: Alex Hormozi coaches 6 service business owners live: chiropractor, marketing agency, roofer — the works — on exactly how to scale their business.