Hi Everyone. This is Take Off. We're like a hidden Easter egg in your favorite video game - surprising, delightful, and adding an extra layer of fun to your tech news consumption.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• Silicon Valley’s IPO Love ❤️

• Better -> Bad -> Very Bad 📉

• Asteroids ☄️

Silicon Valley’s IPO Love ❤️

Whether it’s the NFL, NBA, MLB, or any other league, getting drafted is one of the most important days in an athlete’s life.

In corporate America, that day is when the company rings the bell on Wall Street and IPOs.

And Silicon Valley is getting that special feeling again. It has that look of IPO love.

Softbank recently completed a full-takeover of Arm by cashing out the Saudis and is on its way to list the company on the NASDAQ exchange.

Arm’s IPO news is a huge deal for the private tech markets. Why?

Because the markets have been as dry as the Sahara this year and investors want to see some IPO dough.

Arm is expected to list at a valuation of $60 billion to $70 billion, which would make it the first major VC-backed tech IPO in a loooong time. And Silicon Valley just can’t look away.

The listing has set an example and paved the way for other tech startups to go public.

• Instacart filed its IPO papers hoping to list at a valuation of $12 billion.

• Marketing Automation startup Klaviyo has also joined the IPO club last valued at $9.5 billion.

• Databricks is flirting with the idea of an IPO as well.

Investor Watch

1/ Artificial Intelligence

Softbank has been pitching Arm as an AI company, even drawing parallels to NVIDIA.

The problem is “Arm is No NVIDIA”.

While NVIDIA powers the world of AI with their GPUs, Arm mostly operates in the smartphone market (which sadly has been on a decline).

2/ Valuation

The only parallel Arm can perhaps have to NVIDIA is their enormous valuation multiplier. Arm made $2.7B last year, so a valuation of $60-70 billion is a bit premium tbh.

What do you think about the upcoming IPOs? Which horse are you betting on?

Better -> Bad -> Very Bad 📉

There was a glimmer of hope in one company’s eyes when they rang the bell on Wall Street last week.

However, as soon as the company went public, there was just one direction they could see their stock going. DOWN!

Better Days

The company we’re talking about is Better.com. The company was once the darling of the online mortgage world having peaked during the pandemic.

Houses were selling like hotcakes, interest rates were super low and times couldn’t have been any better for Better.Com.

The company was valued at $7.7 billion during this time raking in $500 million in profits. 

Better -> Bad

However, as the pandemic slowed down, the interest rates didn’t. JPow and Co kept raising interest rates and Better’s business started to become Bad.

Their CEO, Vishal Garg then went on to give a masterclass on “How NOT To Fire People” by firing 900 of his employees via Zoom.

The company experienced such a dramatic turnaround in their business that they ultimately had to fire 91% of their staff and posted a loss of $89.8 million last year.

Bad -> Very Bad

Better.com was still insistent on their IPO dreams and last week, they finally decided to IPO in a SPAC Merger.

You already know something bad is about to happen when you hear the word SPAC.

Their stock opened at a price tag of $17.44 and within the day of opening, it had crashed more than 90% to $1.15.

It’s like showing up to prom in a limo and leaving on a scooter.

Better’s team is hoping that things will turn around in the long-term but with mortgage rates at their 22 year highest at 7.23%, their attempt to turn the business around seems much more challenging.

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

WhatsApp now supports HD video sharing up to 720p! No more 480p compression. Choose between Standard or HD Quality before sending, and recipients will spot an HD badge. Enjoy clearer memories! 📲📹

YouTube Shorts shared insights on its algorithm and creators' best practices. Not all swipes count as views, no need for custom thumbnails, and it's all about quality over quantity. 🎥💡

Judge dismisses Republican lawsuit against Google over Gmail’s spam filtering. Google defended its actions, and the judge found the claims unconvincing. Case closed! 📩🔒

⚒️ Trending Tools ⚒️

🤑 Forecastr - Great financial models custom-built for your startup

🍬 Jellybean - Run Reward Programs on Slack

🧩 Genesi AI - Build your ChatGPT plugin without code

👁️ IRIS - Turn compliance requests into sales wins

📰 Recommended Reading 📰

1/ Learn how to maximize your credit cards and travel in style. Click here to check it out.

2/ We recommend checking out AIModels.fyi. It's a free tool that lets you discover, select, and integrate the perfect AI model for your project. They also have a newsletter with a summary of the top new models and helpful how-to guides. Click here to check out.

3/ Checkout the latest marketing tools, techniques and news read by teams at Apple, Microsoft and more by clicking here.

That’s it from us today folks! If you liked what today’s edition, here’s a message from our loving and hard-working team below:

“ We all crave the essentials in life - food 🥑🍕, shelter 🏠, and clothing 👕🩳- and we're no exception! Our must-haves? An ever-growing squad of adoring subscribers like you and for more of those lovely subs, we're counting on you to spread the word! So, blast that newsletter across the universe! ”