This week's additions focus on finance, founder stories, and marketing, with new digests from Y Combinator, Ahrefs, and Acquired. Highlights include Tokens solve trustlessness, not fundraising — most startups shouldn't ICO Search operators turn noisy alerts into targeted, actionable opportunities

Fundraising & VC

YouTube

Crypto tokens, ICOs, and what founders need to know

Y Combinator September 14, 2018

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Fundraising & VC 8

Business models 7

Post-mortems 5

• Tokens solve trustlessness, not fundraising — most startups shouldn't ICO
• CoinList accepted 5 of 2,500+ inbound token sale requests
• Token investors have no formal tie to the company — misaligned incentives by design

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SEO

YouTube

How to use Google Alerts for passive SEO and marketing tasks

Ahrefs September 12, 2018

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SEO 9

Content marketing 5

• Search operators turn noisy alerts into targeted, actionable opportunities
• One query pattern uncovers unlimited passive guest posting leads
• Alerts can monitor competitors, piracy, press mentions, and citations simultaneously

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Founder interviews

Podcast

How Kara Swisher built Recode and why she sold it to Vox Media

Acquired September 11, 2018

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Founder interviews 10

Bootstrapping 6

• Swisher sold Recode within months of launch to escape the VC new-media bubble.
• Podcasts beat web content because the revenue stays with the creator, not the platform.
• Controlling your own revenue is the only way to protect editorial independence.

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SEO

YouTube

How to use the Ahrefs SEO toolbar for research and prospecting

Ahrefs September 11, 2018

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SEO 9

Tech stack & software 5

• SERP metrics reveal a keyword's true traffic potential beyond search volume
• Spot low-competition pages while passively browsing any website
• Standby mode keeps domain rating visible without spending API credits

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