Forever young {{ FIRSTNAME | there }}? Scientists have already treated the first subjects in the world's first trial of a method to make old cells young again. Imagine if that works. 👶

Send this to a friend who could use a few cells reversed.

In This Open Letter:

Of SA's 1.9 million informal businesses, a third run from the owner's own home, where they just don't have a formal front desk, so this local venture's giving them instant front-office support…

Informal businesses contribute 5-6% of GDP and employ up to 30% of the workforce, yet without a formal front desk, these types of businesses tend to miss out on a lot of leads.

Studies show they are typically only able to respond to 37% of new leads knocking on the door, presumably 'cos they're busy working and just can't get to it.

That's where this new startup comes in…

Turning the front door into the front desk

RingCode is a bookings-and-payments platform for small South African businesses.

It started as a QR code you stick on the door that a visitor can scan to leave their contact details and reason for visit, and then you get a live alert. No need to cough up for a camera, no intercom to hook up or anything to install.

That enables the business owner to quickly review the message and decide whether to wave the client in, or perhaps reschedule.

It's the brainchild of Daniel Kisukika, who runs DS Soft Technology from Potchefstroom. He wanted a code you could ring, so anyone at a door could reach the person inside without a smart camera costing thousands. Scan a code, it rings.

The next logical step

But once you had that, of course, you could build a lekker play to small home businesses.

RingCode can also provide tools a small business needs: scheduling, invoicing, receipt scanning, a marketplace listing, payroll, forms and even an income-splitter that directs payment into different buckets a user can set to have money allocated there. Think of money set aside for taxes, operating costs, etc.

While it's still early days, Daniel is targeting 5'000 users this year, believing that the same platform acting as the front desk for home businesses will also be the suite of tools that helps them take their operations to the next level.

We're watching this space…

Get noticed by prospects who'll never accept your request. Some peeps on LinkedIn can change the game for your company, but they’ll never connect with you. But this SA LinkedIn operator has a way in that doesn't need a connection at all. See how it’s done.

R18M ARR from a niche nobody saw. This founder built a hyper-specific B2B microSaaS and hit $1M ARR (R18M) in about a year, with a completely different approach to building. Get the full playbook.

R40k+ in tools to build faster. The Founder Collab gives you over R40k's worth of business tools and services designed to help you build a successful business, faster. See what you get.

Most marketers fixate on impressions, clicks, logo appearances… completely missing the thing that actually converts: Trust.

Cold email reply rates have dropped to 3.4% in 2026 (that's 19 out of 20 messages ignored), while warm opt-in emails get opened north of 40% of the time, with reply rates six times higher. The difference isn't copywriting. It's familiarity.

The companies closing deals faster aren't the ones with the best ads. They're the ones whose name the buyer already knows, whose thinking the buyer has already read, and whose value the buyer understands before the first call is even made.

That kind of trust doesn't come from a campaign burst. It comes from showing up consistently in someone's inbox, with something worth reading, week after week.

Very few B2B companies in South Africa are doing this.

The ones that are? They’re not competing on ad spend anymore.

🎉 Takealot Makes History. The local e-commerce giant has reported its first full-year profit, adjusted EBIT swinging from a R214m loss in 2025 to a R181m profit in 2026 as revenue hit R16.4 billion (up 18%), with TakealotMORE subscription service driving serious uptake. Amazon Prime, you're on notice.

🔒 GPT-5.6 Locked Down. Following Anthropic's withdrawal of Mythos, the US government has asked OpenAI to delay the full public launch of GPT-5.6, limiting access to vetted partners. We get Mythos (that thing looked dangerous), but ChatGPT?

🤖 Don't Touch That Drone. Drone chaos at the Comrades Marathon has sparked debate as people are using them to break the law. But you can’t legally take one down without facing R50'000 fines or 10 years in prison. Sounds like SA needs to seriously re-assess its policy on drones.

🚦 AARTO Under Fire. A group of SA municipalities is trying to block SA's new demerit traffic fine system, as it would move fine management to a national body (not munis) and out of the criminal legal system. Their argument: They’ve become reliant on your fine money. So, they’d rather criminalise their own constituents just to be able to keep using fines as some kind of piggy bank?

💼 Investor-Ready Finances. Founders raising or reporting to lenders need clean management accounts, not month-end panic. Xero gives you P&L, cash flow and analytics visibility your accountant can plug into. 90% off for 6 months for TOL readers.*

👁️ Invisible Authority. Kimlynn Temple was a startup founder with big ambitions and limited resources. FDC turned her LinkedIn into a credibility engine, 288 leads, a national Sasol partnership, and her company now operates in 100+ locations across SA. Invisible authority is wasted authority.*

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

Yesterday, we featured 4Will’s WhatsApp-based will builder, asking about the status of yours. Most here are already sorted…

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ✅ Sorted: signed, witnessed, the lot (70%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 😬 Been meaning to for years... (18%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤷 Never, didn't think I had enough to leave (3%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 📱 Wait, you can do it on WhatsApp? I'm in (7%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ⏳ Too young to worry about that (right?) (2%)

Your 2 cents…

A strong warning from someone who's clearly seen the fine print. Thanks, Chris. 📋

On 30 June 1948, Bell Labs demonstrated the first point-contact transistor at a press conference in New York, originally designed to improve telephone switching equipment.

It didn't look like much. But the transistor replaced the vacuum tube, enabled the integrated circuit and the microchip, and kick-started everything that followed: computers, communications, space travel, video games and the phone in your hand.

🧩 Tool to Try: Hubfluence helps brands find, manage and track influencers.

🌍 That's Interesting: A mechanical engineer who was convicted of killing four colleagues in 1992 kept on publishing scientific papers from prison. With no access to a lab, he started focusing on theoretical topics, like how cracks form in plaster, etc.

🎨 Next Level: Watch this astronaut pitch, hit and catch a baseball all by himself on the ISS.

🕹️ Wow Site: A super simple, free logo generator that actually works.