Hey — It’s Nico.

Welcome to another Failory edition. This issue takes 5 minutes to read.

These are the 5 most important things:

• Eaze, a cannabis startup, has shut down — learn why below.

• Lemlist’s founder shares how he turned $1,000 into $28M ARR.

• OpenAI asks investors not to invest in AI rivals, including SSI and xAI.

• Fintech startup Zepz raises €243M to accelerate growth in African markets.

• Google’s new NotebookLM is an actually useful new AI tool — learn why below.

• PitchSavior sponsored this issue, bringing you the perfect pitch deck template for early-stage founders.

Let’s get into it.

Jumpstart your pitch deck with a template that doesn’t suck ^AD

Creating a pitch deck can feel overwhelming, especially if it’s your first time.

• It's hard to know what information to include.

• It’s hard to tell your story the way it deserves to be told.

• It’s hard to have to pay thousands to hire an expert.

I’m Felipe, a solopreneur, presentation designer, and Founder Institute graduate.

I’ve spent the last 7+ years crafting pitch decks for founders and templates for enterprises.

This year, I distilled all this expertise into PitchSavior, a template that:

1. is reliable

2. is affordable

3. helps with design, content, and story

You never thought a template could be this helpful.

This Week In Startups

🔗 Resources

How Lemlist turned $1,000 into $28M ARR.

Founder shares their journey from zero to $1M in founder-led sales.

Why regular investor updates are key.

Why most AI products fall short in design.

Packy McCormick shares why following “playbooks” kills creativity.

📰 News

OpenAI asks investors not to invest in AI rivals, including SSI and xAI.

CRV returns $275M to investors citing overpriced mature startups.

Nvidia's competitor Cerebras files for IPO but may delay due to CFIUS review.

General Catalyst is creating a 'continuation' fund of up to $1B.

💸 Fundraising

Fintech startup Zepz raises €243M to accelerate growth in key African markets.

AirOps secures $15.5M for its all-in-one AI marketing content platform.

Revyze raises €5.5M for its 'TikTok for education' platform.

Firebase alternative, Instant raises $3.4M to boost frontend productivity.

Fail(St)ory

Call me an Uber... of Weed

A few months ago, I covered the fall of MedMen, the so-called 'Apple Store of Weed.' Now, Eaze, better known as the 'Uber of Weed,' has announced it's rolling up its business.

It seems the cannabis industry has two problems: staying afloat and coming up with analogies that aren’t just 'big tech company + weed.'

What Was Eaze: Eaze started with a simple idea: bring cannabis to people's doorsteps through a mobile app. This convenience, coupled with the legalization wave in California, allowed Eaze to quickly establish itself as the go-to platform for cannabis delivery. 

The company expanded rapidly, raised $255 million in venture capital, and attracted big names like Snoop Dogg as investors. At one point, it was the world's largest cannabis delivery service, with its platform connecting users to licensed dispensaries for quick deliveries.

The company’s big promise was to transform the cannabis buying experience, making it as easy as ordering a ride. However, even with all the hype and significant backing, Eaze could not escape the challenges that have taken down many other high-profile cannabis startups in California.

The Numbers:

• 📅 Founded in 2014.

• 💰 Raised $255M in venture capital.

• 🧑‍💼 At its height, it employed about 500 people.

• 🔥 Valued at $700M at its peak.

Reasons For Failure:

• Legal and Regulatory Troubles: Eaze faced serious legal problems, including the 2021 bank fraud scandal, where a former CEO pleaded guilty to misleading banks about credit card transactions for cannabis purchases. This incident highlighted ongoing difficulties in navigating the complex legal landscape of cannabis, where banking restrictions make transactions more challenging than for traditional businesses.

• Harsh Market Conditions: California’s legal cannabis market has been struggling with high taxes, which drive up prices and make legal sales less competitive against the black market. Illegal sellers can offer products without the burden of taxes, making it hard for companies like Eaze to maintain profitability. Moreover, poor enforcement against illegal operations allowed the black market to flourish, eating away at Eaze’s potential customer base.

• Economic Pressures: The company’s closure comes amidst an economic downturn in California's cannabis industry, which has already claimed several big names, such as MedMen and Herbl. This downturn has affected even well-established companies, with factors like inflation, supply chain issues, and rising costs further pressuring already thin profit margins.

Why It Matters:

• Another Blow to California's Legal Market: Eaze's shutdown highlights ongoing issues in the state's cannabis industry, where even big players struggle to survive.

• High Cost of Regulation: The challenges faced by Eaze underline how heavy taxes and weak enforcement against illegal sellers are hurting legal businesses.

• Impact of Legal Issues: Eaze’s legal troubles show how regulatory risks can quickly derail even well-funded startups.

Trend

NotebookLM

Lately, I've noticed a lot of buzz around NotebookLM, Google’s personalized AI assistant powered by their latest Gemini 1.5 Pro model.

With a new 'revolutionary' AI tool appearing almost daily, it's easy to get skeptical. But NotebookLM feels like it’s offering something more. It could actually change how we approach projects and research by making it simpler to pull valuable insights from our own documents and data.

Why It Matters:

• Personalized research just got easier. NotebookLM turns your own documents into an AI-powered guide.

• A new way to consume content. With Notebook’s AI-generated podcasts, you can listen to quick summaries and discussions of your projects.

• Citations make AI responses more reliable. Knowing exactly where the information comes from adds a layer of trust.

What is NotebookLM: Think of NotebookLM as your own AI research buddy. You upload your documents—anything from research papers to audio transcripts—and suddenly, it’s like you’ve got a mini-expert who understands exactly what you’re working on. NotebookLM gives you responses grounded in your sources, complete with citations, so you can always track where the info is coming from.

It reminds me a bit of setting up a custom GPT, but it’s more specialized. If you've ever wished that ChatGPT could pull directly from your own materials, this might be what you’re looking for. 

Furthermore, I’ve heard a few people mention they actually prefer NotebookLM’s interface too—it’s more intuitive, especially when you’re juggling multiple media types.

AI-Generated Podcasts: Here's where NotebookLM gets a little different: it can turn all that content you uploaded into a 5 to 10-minute podcast featuring a back-and-forth discussion between two virtual voices.

The result is surprisingly good, with some of the most realistic AI voices I've come across.

It’s a fun way to digest a lot of info without getting bogged down in reading, and honestly, I could see this catching on as a trend. Imagine listening to your project notes while driving or having a complex topic explained during a quick coffee break.

Moving Forward: If NotebookLM keeps growing, it might change how we consume information. Right now, it’s a tool for research and projects, but who knows?

The AI-generated podcast format could become a new way of sharing content, with shorter, conversational snippets that people actually want to listen to.

For now, it’s just a cool tool I’ve seen a lot of people try out, but it feels like there’s something bigger here. It’s like watching the start of a shift towards more specialized AI, where tools don’t just summarize the web—they focus on what you actually care about. If this trend keeps up, we might start seeing content tailored not just for humans, but for AI assistants reading and presenting it back to us.

So, what do you think?

Help Me Improve Failory

That's all of this edition.

Cheers,

Nico