Jonathan Chen

💰 Most retail startups struggle to raise $10M. eyewa just closed $100M. Here's what caught my attention about this Series C round: eyewa isn't just another e-commerce play. They're building something bigger—a tech-enabled eyewear empire across the Middle East. The numbers tell the story: ✅ 150+ stores already operational ✅ Plans for 100+ new locations in 2025 alone ✅ Targeting 250 total stores ✅ Launching their own production facility in Saudi Arabia But here's the real insight: General Atlantic doesn't just write $100M checks for retail expansion. They're betting on eyewa's omnichannel approach and supply chain innovation. This isn't about opening more stores—it's about revolutionizing how an entire region buys eyewear. The Middle East retail market is exploding, and eyewa is positioning itself as the dominant player before the competition even realizes what's happening. Smart money follows smart strategy. And this move shows exactly why the GCC is becoming a hotbed for retail innovation. What's your take—is omnichannel retail the key to winning emerging markets?

3

Early investors in Brex just saw 700x+ returns. Capital One acquired the company yesterday for $5.15 billion. Headlines focused on the "haircut" from Brex's $12.3B peak valuation in 2022. But for pre-seed investors who backed two 22-year-old Stanford dropouts in 2017, this is a monster outcome. YC invested at the pre-seed. Ribbit led the Series A soon after. The company was worth basically nothing at that point - two Brazilian founders pivoting from a VR idea three weeks into the accelerator program. This is the power law in action. The catch is that you had to believe in two 22-year-olds with no US credit history pitching corporate cards for startups. Most people wouldn't have (and I'm sure most people that they pitched didn't). That's the trade-off with early-stage investing. The upside is astronomical. But you're betting on founders before the data makes it obvious. Just like my Uber v. Anthropic post earlier this week, by the time everyone agrees something is valuable, most of the returns have already been captured.

62

12 Comments

I asked our Head of Finance if I could spend $60,000 to take five enterprise CRO prospects to the Super Bowl. He did the ROI math and it's not looking good for me. Karan Parekh actually walked me through the numbers on camera - deal size requirements, probability lift benchmarks, estimated ROI, and why our bet at the US Open was 10x smarter. Some of what we get into: - How to calculate the real cost per ticket - Why a 15-20% increase in close probability on even $400k ACV deals doesn't justify the spend - My land-and-expand counterargument (which I thought would win him over) - Our portfolio approach to event marketing budgets and when we measure individual bets vs signal for scaling In the end, Karan gives a surprising reason why even if all five CROs convert, the Super Bowl isn't worth the $. This type of conversation happens every day at Clay. It's how we balance making aggressive creative bets with financial discipline. Whether we're debating a $5k executive dinner or 50-yard-line seats at the most expensive sporting event on earth, Karan's reasoning is keeping us honest. Yes, he just killed my Super Bowl dreams. But he is (probably) right! P.S. My schedule just freed up for February 8th, 2026. If anyone is looking for a +1 to the Super Bowl, DM me. P.P.S. Any other marketing questions you want us to debate? Drop them below👇

1,657

181 Comments

A fund told me something last week that stuck with me. They were looking at a perp DEX with all the right numbers. $200M+ daily volume. Open interest growing. Good team. Clean execution. They passed. When they dug into the trade data, 67% of volume came from 12 wallets. And 8 of those wallets had clear ties to the team's own incentive program. This isn't unusual. Most protocols I look at have some version of this. The volume looks real until you see where it's actually coming from. So I asked them : what do you actually look for? The first thing they mentioned was concentration. If your top 10 wallets make up more than 40% of volume, that's a problem. It means your liquidity could vanish overnight. Then retention, but not the way most teams measure it. Not "how many traders came back" but "how much money came back." A platform where $100K+ traders return every month looks very different from one where retail farms rewards and leaves. They also look at what happens when prices drop. Did volume and open interest hold during the last 15% drawdown? Or did capital run for the exits? And finally, depth. Can someone actually open a $500K position without moving the market? If not, you're not ready for that conversation yet. I've started telling teams: if you want institutional capital, stop optimising for metrics that impress retail. Start optimising for metrics that survive due diligence. The bar is going up. Teams that understand this now will be way ahead.

7

You'll never outspend big banks on ads. But you can out-tech them. 1 platform just leveled the playing field. Here's the exact playbook small brokers are using to win without the ad budget: Rocket Mortgage spent billions on advertising in recent years. LoanDepot sponsors Major League Baseball. Their visibility is everywhere. But something shifted in 2024 that changed the game entirely: 67% of homebuyers now say they'd switch lenders for a more transparent process. They want clarity over brand recognition. Speed over slogans. Large lenders face structural challenges: Call centers can’t personalize service. Legacy systems slow decisions. Small brokers can move faster in every way that matters. Product pricing engines like Optimal Blue changed everything. You can now generate side-by-side comparisons instantly - real rates, real fees, real options - tailored to each borrower’s exact scenario. Show borrowers what they've never seen before: Conventional vs FHA vs VA comparisons. Rate vs points trade-offs with exact numbers. Transparency builds trust faster than any ad campaign. AI tools now deliver pre-qualifications in under 10 minutes. Automated systems respond 24/7. 58% of borrowers say speed of response is their top factor in choosing a lender. And small brokers using targeted digital campaigns see up to 3x higher conversion rates. The key: hyper-local targeting and authentic content — not bigger budgets. 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Video testimonials and community involvement build credibility. Your authentic voice becomes your competitive edge. This is where platforms like Visbl change the equation. Complete transparency. Zero bias. No commissions. No preferred lenders. No kickbacks. Smart brokers are using technology to compete on what matters: transparency, speed, and trust. The future isn’t about who spends more, it’s about who delivers better experiences. See Visbl in person at the MBA Annual Convention & Expo, Oct 19–22 (Booth 1018). Learn how tech becomes your competitive edge → www.visbl.com

97

7 Comments