Tuesday, 13th of December, 2022

Hi, 

Changing an existing company's strategic direction is difficult, and the vast majority of such attempts fail. 

Elon Musk's recent decision to embark on a mission to turn around Twitter is no different - it's an ambitious project that requires dedication and careful planning. 

However, there are signs of hope for Musk - after all, Steve Jobs had immense success transforming Apple in 1997. 

Several lessons can be learnt from how Jobs courageously steered Apple through the tricky period of misalignment between vision and execution during that time. 

He showed remarkable determination when making crucial decisions in the areas of product, organization, and stakeholder management, setting an example that others could follow during similar turbulent periods.

Today's turmoil in a company can indicate that changes for the better are on the horizon. 

But, the difficulty lies in whether it will result in ultimate success or disaster.

Many people would feel overwhelmed taking on such a monumental task, but Elon Musk has emerged repeatedly as someone who surpasses expectations to achieve remarkable tasks. 

Though succeeding at rocket launches is hallmarked with feats of extraordinary accomplishment, refocusing and reshaping an entire organization is a much more demanding challenge. 

The only question now remains: will he win this historic battle?

Cheers, 

Radek 

Finance & Tech

• The British Retail Consortium is calling for emergency intervention to prevent price gouging by the major card schemes after unveiling figures that showed a dramatic shift from cash to cards during the pandemic. The BRC report reveals that in 2021, as stores closed for lockdowns and the public was advised to use contactless payments, cash usage fell by half to just 15% of all transactions, while 82% were made on credit or debit cards. More than four-in-five card transactions were made using debit cards, with the rest made up of credit and charge cards. As a proportion of total money spent, cash accounted for just 8% of consumer spend (down from 15%), while credit cards rose slightly to 23%, and debit cards rose significantly to 67%. Read more. 
• London-listed money transfer giant Wise is doubling down on its North American expansion ambitions, setting out plans to add 250 new employees in the US next year. The company says it grew its US-based headcount by over 75% this year and will continue its hiring momentum into 2023 with plans to welcome over 250 new employees across its three offices in the country. In January, Wise opened a full-stack operational hub in Austin, Texas. Next year, it plans to double the site's headcount to over 200 employees, scaling teams across engineering, product development, operations and sales. Wise will also hire an additional 90 team members in Tampa, its current US operational hub. Read more. 
• Online payments firm Checkout.com has adjusted its internal valuation to $11 billion to "reflect current macroeconomic conditions". Checkout.com in January almost tripled its value to exteneral investors to $40 billion on the back of a whopping $1 billion Series D funding round. “The multiples last year are not the same multiples than this year,” he added. “We can look at the public markets, the valuations are mostly half what they were last year.” “But I would almost tell you that I don’t care at all because I care about where my revenue is going and that’s what matters,” he added. Read more. 
• The banking and financial services sector is the industry most keen to attract female coders into their workforce, data reveals today, as Starling Bank and Lloyds Banking Group become the latest major finance companies to actively search for female tech talent with Code First Girls - the largest provider of free coding courses for women in the UK. Teresa Ng , engineering lead at Starling Bank, says: “Technology is only ever as good as the people that build it, and if your engineers don’t have diverse backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities, you risk building a product with limitations and unconscious biases. Read more. 
• Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been arrested in the Bahamas. In a statement, the attorney general of the Bahamas, says: "SBF’s arrest followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition." He is scheduled to appear in a magistrates' court today in the Caribbean country's capital, Nassau. FTX filed for bankruptcy last month, leaving its fifty largest creditors $3.1 billion out of pocket. Read more. 
• Pathzero , an Australian firm specialising in the measurement and management of financed emissions, has raised AU$8.6 million in a Series A+ round. The round brings total funding to A$15.6 million, led by VC firm Carthona Capital, with participation from Clyde Bank Holdings, Antler and individuals. The company has developed Pathzero Navigator, a carbon reporting and analysis tool created specifically for financial institutions to measure, manage and disclose the financed emissions of their investment portfolio. Carl Prins , CEO, Pathzero, says: “Since the roll-out of Navigator we have seen immense interest from the market and have closed some cornerstone deals. This interest reflects the critical need for technology that enables collaboration between businesses to solve the Scope 3 challenge at scale. Read more. 
• Microsoft has struck a ten-year tranformational deal with the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) to deliver cloud, data analytics and workspace products across the exchange operator's entire technology architecture. Under the arrangements, LSEG’s data platform and other key technology infrastructure will migrate into Microsoft’s Azure cloud environment. David Schwimmer , CEO of London Stock Exchange Group, states: “We are delighted to welcome Microsoft as a shareholder. We believe our partnership with Microsoft will transform the way our customers discover, analyze and trade securities around the world, and create substantial value over time. We look forward to delivering on that potential." Read more. 
• Lloyds Banking Group 's private equity arm, LDC, has made a "significant" investment in capital markets technology outfit Etrading Software. London-based Etrading Software specialises in the provision of market and reference data used by international financial institutions. It is the primary service and technology provider to the Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB), the global numbering agency for OTC derivatives. Joseph Fison , investment director, LDC, says: "Etrading Software’s market leading proposition has made it an integral part of the capital markets ecosystem. Read more. 

Number to Remember

33%

• In Europe, there’s nothing investors love more than a bit of software-as-a-service (SaaS) — other than, perhaps, fintech.  A new report published today by GP Bullhound gives a snapshot of how the tech slowdown is hitting this VC favourite. The report shows that 33% of SaaS CEOs plan to head out fundraising in 2023 — despite the fact that fundraising is tough and looks to remain so. Read more.

Reader’s Corner 

• There aren’t many good things about 2022, but seeing ethical integrity high on the business agenda is a hopeful sign for the future. Russia’s war on Ukraine, which broke at the beginning of the year, brought to light the growing tension between free trade and freedom, and pushed companies to take a stance and act on their core values. We recently caught up with Karolina Długosz (she/her) to talk about her experience in confronting the challenges of this year as Sustainability Lead at Netguru, and to discuss her views on business commitments to ethics from a broader perspective. Read more.