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Our ultra-fast Daily: Three takes on new products. Yesterday’s top ten launches. That’s it.
$60M for your new CFO
Today’s Daily Digest was crafted by us and sponsored by our friends at Pilot.
Founders and makers wear so many hats—sometimes all of them. Back-office work like bookkeeping can be the most dreaded one.
The founders of Pilot felt it when they started their first two startups, too. So they dreamt up the tech-enabled, back-office solution they would have wanted to use themselves. Fast-forward four years, Pilot has 1,000+ clients, manages over $3B in transactions a year, and recently raised a $60M Series C from Sequoia.
If you’re a pre-revenue startup, a high growth company, or anywhere in between, Pilot can step in to manage your bookkeeping, taxes, budgets, R&D tax credits, and more—leaving you time for those other hats. 🧢
And they’ll use both human expertise and intelligent software to do it.
🤵♀️ On the human side, Pilot pairs you with a dedicated finance expert (a full-time, US-based Pilot employee). Their sole mission is to take care of your books and taxes, and give you advice and best practices for growth.
🤖 On the software side, Pilot’s powerful tech helps check the work so you know it’s error-free, giving crucial financial insights to help you run your business effectively.
These combined turn Pilot into an important partner for all things finance as you grow, whether you’re a founder in a garage or the CEO of a Series C company. Airtable, Scale.ai, CodePen, Bolt.io, and OpenAI have all taken advantage of Pilot.
“It’s been incredible working with Pilot to uplevel our financial models and analysis. I have been waiting years for a service like this!” - Dave, CFO, Bolt.io
With tax day 📅 around the corner, maybe the green visor is one of the hats you should give up. Pilot is offering the Product Hunt community 20% off your first six months.
Founders and makers wear so many hats—sometimes all of them. Back-office work like bookkeeping can be the most dreaded one.
The founders of Pilot felt it when they started their first two startups, too. So they dreamt up the tech-enabled, back-office solution they would have wanted to use themselves. Fast-forward four years, Pilot has 1,000+ clients, manages over $3B in transactions a year, and recently raised a $60M Series C from Sequoia.
If you’re a pre-revenue startup, a high growth company, or anywhere in between, Pilot can step in to manage your bookkeeping, taxes, budgets, R&D tax credits, and more—leaving you time for those other hats. 🧢
And they’ll use both human expertise and intelligent software to do it.
🤵♀️ On the human side, Pilot pairs you with a dedicated finance expert (a full-time, US-based Pilot employee). Their sole mission is to take care of your books and taxes, and give you advice and best practices for growth.
🤖 On the software side, Pilot’s powerful tech helps check the work so you know it’s error-free, giving crucial financial insights to help you run your business effectively.
These combined turn Pilot into an important partner for all things finance as you grow, whether you’re a founder in a garage or the CEO of a Series C company. Airtable, Scale.ai, CodePen, Bolt.io, and OpenAI have all taken advantage of Pilot.
“It’s been incredible working with Pilot to uplevel our financial models and analysis. I have been waiting years for a service like this!” - Dave, CFO, Bolt.io
With tax day 📅 around the corner, maybe the green visor is one of the hats you should give up. Pilot is offering the Product Hunt community 20% off your first six months.
Upwork meets LinkedIn
Freelancers have the opportunity to put their fingerprint on many great projects. But finding rewarding work and clients that click can feel like dating, with constant profile adjustments in the hopes of finding a match.
Looks like Contra gets the dance and is harnessing the power of the freelancer community. This professional network feels kind of like a cross between LinkedIn and Upwork, with a layer of Adobe Portfolio. In other words, Contra lets freelancers pull together a collaborative, aesthetically pleasing portfolio, support fellow freelancers with referrals, offer services, and get paid.
On the other hand, matchmaking works too, and that’s where Huddle comes in. On Huddle, the hirer defines what they need and Huddle matches the project with a pop-up team, which means less sweat from freelancers trying to perfect their image because Huddle knows the value they bring to the team.
For makers, they have a Founder Community in beta. Since many founders aren’t ready to hire a team, each month they accept a few ambitious founders into their community to get support from their builders-in-residence for a small membership fee.
Other tools for freelancers and hiring managers:
Storetasker 2.0 matches you to a trusted Shopify Expert within a few hours for projects big and small.
Side Hustle Stack is a database of platform-based work opportunities — helpful for developers looking to add to their income.
Notion Pack gives freelancers out-of-the-box templates for working with clients.
FloTask and Borawork are project management platforms specifically designed for freelancers.
The Self-Employment Tax Hub provides free resources that help freelancers sort through the confusion around financials like taxes.
LaborX Gigs lets you create fixed-price gigs and get paid in cryptocurrency (NFT shopping, anyone?)
Zaprite is an invoicing platform enabling you to be paid in bitcoin.
May the stars align between more founders and freelancers.
Looks like Contra gets the dance and is harnessing the power of the freelancer community. This professional network feels kind of like a cross between LinkedIn and Upwork, with a layer of Adobe Portfolio. In other words, Contra lets freelancers pull together a collaborative, aesthetically pleasing portfolio, support fellow freelancers with referrals, offer services, and get paid.
On the other hand, matchmaking works too, and that’s where Huddle comes in. On Huddle, the hirer defines what they need and Huddle matches the project with a pop-up team, which means less sweat from freelancers trying to perfect their image because Huddle knows the value they bring to the team.
For makers, they have a Founder Community in beta. Since many founders aren’t ready to hire a team, each month they accept a few ambitious founders into their community to get support from their builders-in-residence for a small membership fee.
Other tools for freelancers and hiring managers:
Storetasker 2.0 matches you to a trusted Shopify Expert within a few hours for projects big and small.
Side Hustle Stack is a database of platform-based work opportunities — helpful for developers looking to add to their income.
Notion Pack gives freelancers out-of-the-box templates for working with clients.
FloTask and Borawork are project management platforms specifically designed for freelancers.
The Self-Employment Tax Hub provides free resources that help freelancers sort through the confusion around financials like taxes.
LaborX Gigs lets you create fixed-price gigs and get paid in cryptocurrency (NFT shopping, anyone?)
Zaprite is an invoicing platform enabling you to be paid in bitcoin.
May the stars align between more founders and freelancers.
Would you pay $600K for a meme?
This week musician and artist Grimes raked in almost $6m on 10 pieces of digital artwork in a 48-hour auction.
The recent craze around NFTs continues to make for jaw-dropping headlines.
If you need a refresher, an NFT (non-fungible token) is a digital collectible. A beloved piece of digital art — say a cat with a Pop-Tart for a torso — that was merely an internet meme can now be sold for 300 Ether (ETH), or about $590,000, thanks to a record on a blockchain. This blockchain record means that the true owner (or owners) can be verified and that the artwork cannot be reproduced, unlike regular memes or GIFs on the internet. Think of it like owning an original piece of art versus just taking a photo of one.
So are NFTs another step towards the democratization of art? Sort of. 30 minutes into the auction, one of Grimes’ works had jumped from $111 to $123,456. Investors are quickly gobbling up buzzworthy NFTs and reselling them for profit.
But it’s getting there and product makers are leading the charge as much as artists or crypto owners themselves with NFT marketplaces.
Rarible is like a Christies for NFT collectibles. A community-owned marketplace, Rarible lets artists mint their work with the option to sell with single or split ownership, and in an auction or at a flat price. Ilya Komolkin at Rarible confirmed to the Product Hunt community that you can track the value and history of your art over time.
SuperRare, Foundation, OpenSea, and Portion are four more NFT marketplaces to check out. SuperRare prioritizes the collectors just as much as the artists by letting you showcase your collections and highlighting top collectors.
Whether you intend to buy, window shop, or just want to gawk at bidding wars, exploring the artwork for sale is a rabbit hole of fun.
The recent craze around NFTs continues to make for jaw-dropping headlines.
If you need a refresher, an NFT (non-fungible token) is a digital collectible. A beloved piece of digital art — say a cat with a Pop-Tart for a torso — that was merely an internet meme can now be sold for 300 Ether (ETH), or about $590,000, thanks to a record on a blockchain. This blockchain record means that the true owner (or owners) can be verified and that the artwork cannot be reproduced, unlike regular memes or GIFs on the internet. Think of it like owning an original piece of art versus just taking a photo of one.
So are NFTs another step towards the democratization of art? Sort of. 30 minutes into the auction, one of Grimes’ works had jumped from $111 to $123,456. Investors are quickly gobbling up buzzworthy NFTs and reselling them for profit.
But it’s getting there and product makers are leading the charge as much as artists or crypto owners themselves with NFT marketplaces.
Rarible is like a Christies for NFT collectibles. A community-owned marketplace, Rarible lets artists mint their work with the option to sell with single or split ownership, and in an auction or at a flat price. Ilya Komolkin at Rarible confirmed to the Product Hunt community that you can track the value and history of your art over time.
SuperRare, Foundation, OpenSea, and Portion are four more NFT marketplaces to check out. SuperRare prioritizes the collectors just as much as the artists by letting you showcase your collections and highlighting top collectors.
Whether you intend to buy, window shop, or just want to gawk at bidding wars, exploring the artwork for sale is a rabbit hole of fun.
Deepfake Grandma
Deepfakes are no longer just for Gen Z and millennials perfecting their Tom Cruise impressions. They’re for your great-nana, too!
Your family’s old black and white photos are the latest to undergo deepfake transformation thanks to a partnership by MyHeritage, a family ancestry service, and D-ID, a company specializing in video reenactment with deep learning. Deep Nostalgia™ uses several drivers that consist of a fixed sequence of movements and gestures. When you upload your photo (for free), it applies those drivers to a face (one per photo) in your still to create a short video that you can share with your friends and family. In the words of MyHeritage, you can “experience your family history like never before.” You got that right.
As always, deepfake tech isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The word “creepy” got its fair share of use from a handful of PH commenters. But for other audiences, Deep Nostalgia hit that sweet spot, which we expect is exactly what MyHeritage and D-ID were looking for:
Your family’s old black and white photos are the latest to undergo deepfake transformation thanks to a partnership by MyHeritage, a family ancestry service, and D-ID, a company specializing in video reenactment with deep learning. Deep Nostalgia™ uses several drivers that consist of a fixed sequence of movements and gestures. When you upload your photo (for free), it applies those drivers to a face (one per photo) in your still to create a short video that you can share with your friends and family. In the words of MyHeritage, you can “experience your family history like never before.” You got that right.
As always, deepfake tech isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The word “creepy” got its fair share of use from a handful of PH commenters. But for other audiences, Deep Nostalgia hit that sweet spot, which we expect is exactly what MyHeritage and D-ID were looking for:
“Great feature! It also helps to "connect" with late relatives, that we never had the chance to meet. Great thumb up!” – Anna Costalonga
“AWESOME - was able to reanimate my dead mom and grandma :)” – Bibi Lauri Raven
“Wow, talk about hitting an emotional chord with this one. Off to search for some photos now!” – Harry Duran
If you’re thinking “It’s just like Hogwarts!” there are plenty of those comments too, and if you really want to go full in on this fantasy (“You’re a wizard, Harry!”), consider pairing your new animated bw photo with a Meural Canvas. 👻Once you’ve brought your ancestors into 2021 with Deep Nostalgia you can have more fun with deepfakes with these (use responsibly):
Impressions – An app that lets you create your own celebrity deepfakes in minutes.
Parodist – Send your loved ones a funny and unique video congratulations.
Deepfakes web – Deepfakes as a service.
And for those of you anti deepfake warriors (the world needs you):
Sensity – A deepfake detection platform.
Amber Video – Video authentication to combat deepfakes.
Impressions – An app that lets you create your own celebrity deepfakes in minutes.
Parodist – Send your loved ones a funny and unique video congratulations.
Deepfakes web – Deepfakes as a service.
And for those of you anti deepfake warriors (the world needs you):
Sensity – A deepfake detection platform.
Amber Video – Video authentication to combat deepfakes.
January's Maker Grant recipients are...
Join us today in celebrating our inaugural Maker Grant recipients: Kyleigh Smith of Hey It's Harold, Danny Postmaa of Pages by Headlime, and Derrick Reimer of SavvyCal.
These three makers inspired us through their creativity, determination, and commitment to follow their own paths in building their products. We’ll be sharing their individual stories on our blog throughout the week, so you can read in their own words the journey they have each been on.
"I’ve always looked up to all the makers in the Product Hunt community, so to launch a product of my own on PH in January was a dream come true. To now receive one of the first Maker Grants for that work is really beyond belief. I’m honored to be one of the first Maker Grant recipients and am excited to use this opportunity to continue my maker journey and empower others to become makers as well." - Kyleigh
"Amazing program, especially for starting indie hackers for whom this could go a long way. - Danny
"I'm honored to receive one of the first Product Hunt Maker Grants! Especially for makers not on the traditional venture capital track, every dollar counts. Thank you Product Hunt for investing in the community!" - Derrick
We are also excited to share the next three Maker Grant recipients from February very soon. We've been reviewing your nominations all weekend, thank you to everyone who has taken part.
Stay tuned for more Maker Grant recipient news dropping later in the week. 👀
These three makers inspired us through their creativity, determination, and commitment to follow their own paths in building their products. We’ll be sharing their individual stories on our blog throughout the week, so you can read in their own words the journey they have each been on.
"I’ve always looked up to all the makers in the Product Hunt community, so to launch a product of my own on PH in January was a dream come true. To now receive one of the first Maker Grants for that work is really beyond belief. I’m honored to be one of the first Maker Grant recipients and am excited to use this opportunity to continue my maker journey and empower others to become makers as well." - Kyleigh
"Amazing program, especially for starting indie hackers for whom this could go a long way. - Danny
"I'm honored to receive one of the first Product Hunt Maker Grants! Especially for makers not on the traditional venture capital track, every dollar counts. Thank you Product Hunt for investing in the community!" - Derrick
We are also excited to share the next three Maker Grant recipients from February very soon. We've been reviewing your nominations all weekend, thank you to everyone who has taken part.
Stay tuned for more Maker Grant recipient news dropping later in the week. 👀
Announcing Product Hunt Maker Grants
Each month we are blown away by the creativity of the Product Hunt community. Hundreds of products are launched on Product Hunt every week, from the clever, to the useful, to the downright zany. It’s our privilege and joy to play a part in each Maker's journey and each new product discovery.
We know that building products can be expensive work, and passion doesn’t always pay the bills. As a way of saying thank you to the community, and to encourage makers to keep building, this year we’re offering cash gifts of $5,000 to three makers each month.
You might be asking: how are the Maker Grant winners selected? We’re reviewing makers who launched in the previous month who we believe are shining examples of innovation, grit, and engagement with the PH community. We’ll also be prioritizing those who are bootstrapping their businesses or working on their side projects without the help of venture funding.
This is just the beginning. We’ll be building the Maker Grants program out further with community feedback over the course of the year, including exclusive benefits just for grant recipients.
Please tell us your thoughts or even nominate a Maker who inspires you for February's grant.
We know that building products can be expensive work, and passion doesn’t always pay the bills. As a way of saying thank you to the community, and to encourage makers to keep building, this year we’re offering cash gifts of $5,000 to three makers each month.
You might be asking: how are the Maker Grant winners selected? We’re reviewing makers who launched in the previous month who we believe are shining examples of innovation, grit, and engagement with the PH community. We’ll also be prioritizing those who are bootstrapping their businesses or working on their side projects without the help of venture funding.
This is just the beginning. We’ll be building the Maker Grants program out further with community feedback over the course of the year, including exclusive benefits just for grant recipients.
Please tell us your thoughts or even nominate a Maker who inspires you for February's grant.
Spend money. Save the planet.
The ecofriendly product trend is one we're encouraged to see continue to build momentum.
Watershed, launched today, is a software platform for running climate programs, helping others to offset their own carbon emissions. Companies like Stripe, Shopify, and Sweetgreen are using Watershed for their climate programs for instance.
"Watershed enables companies to measure their carbon footprint, build a plan for reductions, then take action—from funding carbon removal projects to buying clean power."- Taylor Francis, cofounder Watershed
In other Green Tech product news this month:
TreeCard, the wooden debit card that plants trees as you spend, has today announced it has raised $5.1 million in seed funding.
Olive launched last week to help reduce packaging from online shopping. Consolidate multiple items from different stores into one recyclable package.
inBalance, hunted by YC's Michael Seibil, uses machine learning to accurately forecast electricity prices from solar, wind and load.
If this mini-round up piqued your interest to discover more socially minded products, we covered more climate conscious launches in this September digest.
To keep on top of emerging products in this space as they launch, you can always follow the Green Tech topic.
Watershed, launched today, is a software platform for running climate programs, helping others to offset their own carbon emissions. Companies like Stripe, Shopify, and Sweetgreen are using Watershed for their climate programs for instance.
"Watershed enables companies to measure their carbon footprint, build a plan for reductions, then take action—from funding carbon removal projects to buying clean power."- Taylor Francis, cofounder Watershed
In other Green Tech product news this month:
TreeCard, the wooden debit card that plants trees as you spend, has today announced it has raised $5.1 million in seed funding.
Olive launched last week to help reduce packaging from online shopping. Consolidate multiple items from different stores into one recyclable package.
inBalance, hunted by YC's Michael Seibil, uses machine learning to accurately forecast electricity prices from solar, wind and load.
If this mini-round up piqued your interest to discover more socially minded products, we covered more climate conscious launches in this September digest.
To keep on top of emerging products in this space as they launch, you can always follow the Green Tech topic.
Remote onboarding FTW
Today's newsletter was crafted by us and sponsored by our friends at Rippling.
Rippling has helped thousands of startups automate their HR and IT.
In its latest product drop, Rippling is making it easier for startups to hire and manage people remotely, anywhere in the United States.
As soon as someone is hired out of state, Rippling's new PEO will automatically register the company with each state tax agency, keeping it compliant with all of the different local labor laws. Rippling will handle the whole onboarding process, from payroll and benefits to devices and apps (like Slack, AWS, and GitHub).
For anyone that has hired someone out of state and only afterward realized the paperwork headache that can follow - this product is for you.
The Rippling PEO can also give founders and employees access to better benefits that would normally only be accessible to much larger companies. As a result, Rippling can help some companies save an average of $1,775 per employee per year in benefits and admin savings.
With Rippling, founders can manage and run HR and IT all in one place, meaning more time for doing what matters most, building your product.
Rippling has helped thousands of startups automate their HR and IT.
In its latest product drop, Rippling is making it easier for startups to hire and manage people remotely, anywhere in the United States.
As soon as someone is hired out of state, Rippling's new PEO will automatically register the company with each state tax agency, keeping it compliant with all of the different local labor laws. Rippling will handle the whole onboarding process, from payroll and benefits to devices and apps (like Slack, AWS, and GitHub).
For anyone that has hired someone out of state and only afterward realized the paperwork headache that can follow - this product is for you.
The Rippling PEO can also give founders and employees access to better benefits that would normally only be accessible to much larger companies. As a result, Rippling can help some companies save an average of $1,775 per employee per year in benefits and admin savings.
With Rippling, founders can manage and run HR and IT all in one place, meaning more time for doing what matters most, building your product.
Invest in Nothing
Last week, OnePlus cofounder Carl Pei announced a new way to invest in, well, Nothing. That is, his new venture called Nothing. 😜
"Usually, the community would have to wait for an IPO to invest in a company, but by that time, the valuation is already high. We are inviting you to own Nothing from the very beginning, at the same price as our Series A, and be on board for the entire ride.🚀"
Since announcing the community-funding opportunity, Carl and the team at Nothing have already received over $27M of registered interest in just 7 days from over 20,000 people, eclipsing their $1.5M allocation.
It's not too late to get involved. If you pre-register, you will have private access to the round on Crowdcube before it goes public.
How it works and what to do now:
1. Submit your email for for early access. *If you live in the United States, Canada, Japan or any country where you think crowdfund based equity might be restricted: please read the FAQ and do your research as you might not be able to invest.
2. Make sure you select Product Hunt on the drop-down list for where you heard about this.
3. Go to Crowdcube and create an account. (This is where the investing will take place)
4. Have a credit or debit card ready, sit tight and wait for Nothing's email. You’ll get a notification a few minutes before go time, be sure not to miss it!
**It’s important you know that investing in start-ups and early-stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio.
"Usually, the community would have to wait for an IPO to invest in a company, but by that time, the valuation is already high. We are inviting you to own Nothing from the very beginning, at the same price as our Series A, and be on board for the entire ride.🚀"
Since announcing the community-funding opportunity, Carl and the team at Nothing have already received over $27M of registered interest in just 7 days from over 20,000 people, eclipsing their $1.5M allocation.
It's not too late to get involved. If you pre-register, you will have private access to the round on Crowdcube before it goes public.
How it works and what to do now:
1. Submit your email for for early access. *If you live in the United States, Canada, Japan or any country where you think crowdfund based equity might be restricted: please read the FAQ and do your research as you might not be able to invest.
2. Make sure you select Product Hunt on the drop-down list for where you heard about this.
3. Go to Crowdcube and create an account. (This is where the investing will take place)
4. Have a credit or debit card ready, sit tight and wait for Nothing's email. You’ll get a notification a few minutes before go time, be sure not to miss it!
**It’s important you know that investing in start-ups and early-stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio.
The Clubhouse collection
Last week we reviewed 10 new tools that can help level-up your Clubhouse experience.
This a trend that looks set to continue as more Makers are innovating on top of the latest audio social network.
Here are 6 new tools to add to your Clubhouse collection.
Direcon for Clubhouse launched today and serves as a moderation platform and audience insight tool.
Clubhouse App Invites will help anyone still waiting for an invite to get immediate access.
Clubhouse Bio Builder helps your bio standout with access to 70 fonts and easy to use text-editor.
Clubhouse Avatar Maker allows you to quickly add colorful rings to your avatar.
Clubhouse Bio Generator lets you create an influencer worthy bio with this satirical product.
Clubpad brings sound reactions to your show including applause, laughter, crickets and more.
This a trend that looks set to continue as more Makers are innovating on top of the latest audio social network.
Here are 6 new tools to add to your Clubhouse collection.
Direcon for Clubhouse launched today and serves as a moderation platform and audience insight tool.
Clubhouse App Invites will help anyone still waiting for an invite to get immediate access.
Clubhouse Bio Builder helps your bio standout with access to 70 fonts and easy to use text-editor.
Clubhouse Avatar Maker allows you to quickly add colorful rings to your avatar.
Clubhouse Bio Generator lets you create an influencer worthy bio with this satirical product.
Clubpad brings sound reactions to your show including applause, laughter, crickets and more.
