CREATORS OF ALL TRADES

Newsletter #50

Impressing AI-powered video creation tool | The story of OnlyFans | Stripe payment links | TikTok guide | Linktree alternative | and more

Welcome to Fresh van Root #50!

The first edition of this newsletter was sent in April 2019, it started with 100 subscribers, and today I am around 1000 subs.

I am happy with the progress so far, especially considering I am still doing this on the side of running Fresh van Root agency and working for clients most of the time. Writing this newsletter & blogging sparks new ideas, opens connections, and is overall a motivating endeavor. Thanks for being a subscriber. My favorite link in this issue is the one talking about an AI-based video creation tool btw. :)

To celebrate the 50th edition of this newsletter, we created a video version of it.

Hello to all new subscribers: this newsletter is for curious marketers, content/web creators, and entrepreneurs. Content & tool curation as a service, that’s the mission. Stay fresh! Rolf

🧠 Hand-Picked Content

The Startup Story of OnlyFans (Article, 10min)

OnlyFans was growing big in the last couple of years. But what does the backstory of the creator-focused company (known for adult content mainly) look like? A look at the founder story, and also a detailed look at the growth strategies behind this success story. More

A Study on 2mio Outgoing Links in the NYT (Article, 10min)

A study analyzed the outgoing links in NYTimes articles published between 1996 to 2019. Over 2mio outgoing links have been analyzed, and 25% of those links were not accessible today. The article talks about the consequences of this linkrot, and how the issue could be tackled. More

What’s lost when working remote only (Article, 20min)

Fully remote, hybrid, or all in the office. Depending on the maturity of the company, the type of work you have to do, the business you are in.. many factors have to be considered when deciding what fits best for a business. This long read takes a look at examples from the finance and tech industry, and tells what is lost working remotely only. More

How SMBs can use TikTok (Guide, 60 pages)

This 60-page guide created by TikTok shows the possibilities it offers for business in the area of content creation, advertising, and collaborations. You can read what the guide is about, or browse it directly to check out small businesses that already utilize the platform. The guide is hosted as a website on Adobe, and you can play the videos, which is the way to go in 2021 (compared to creating PDFs,…) More

🛠️ Tools & Apps & Services

AI-Generated Videos for Marketing

Really impressed by the quality of this service called Synthesia. Feed the service with your text/images, and it creates a video with an avatar and voice of your choice. Useful for marketing, sales, HR, or whatever use-case you come up with. Watch the first video I createdMore

Stripe adds Payment Link feature

You do no longer need a website to collect payments via Stripe. The new payment link feature works like on Paypal. Creating a Stripe account might take longer than creating the payment link. Very useful for creators and small businesses. I tried it out and it’s super easy. Screenshot 1 | Screenshot 2 | More

Chrome Extension for Heavy LinkedIn Users

Do you spend a lot of time using LinkedIn website/apps and constantly get distracted by its user interface? Check out LeadDelta. It’s a Chrome extension that gives you powerful features for managing your contacts (tagging, messaging templates, ..). There are many tools out helping you to automate activities on LinkedIn, and many of them have a shady nature. This one seems to be different. Demo Video | More

Twitter Launches Paid Plan

It’s called Twitter blue and I think it’s lame. More

Organize Tabs in Chrome

Drowning in tabs? This extension might help. I am using Firefox 98% of the time, so I can’t test it. More

A Fun Linktree Alternative for Personal Websites

Do you need a personal page that links to all your profiles? mmmm is in Alpha, but already fun to use. I tried it out and created this exampleMore

📣 Fresh van Root

🎉 50 editions of Fresh van Root Newsletter

This is the 50th edition of this newsletter. Keep me going for at least another 50 by buying me a coffee. Only XL available at the moment. More

🔗 One More Link

Music to Unwind

This webiste does the job. More

Subscribe and get access to our list of 185 tested apps.

Curation & Analysis

Join 1600 B2B Creators who get our bi-weekly curated newsletter.

Hand-picked content & apps across social, tech, AI, productivity!