It’s Monday, and it’s great to see you, friend. Let’s kick the week off with some techy trivia. The average startup founder’s age is 42. But for the most successful tech companies — we’re talking the top 0.1% of revenue — the average age is a little different. Are the most successful tech companies founded by someone older or younger than 42? (Hey, you have 50‑50 odds today!) Answer’s at the very end.

🚀 Welcome aboard the Komando tech news rocket! No algorithms here. I handpick every single item in these newsletters so no cloud is left unexplored in cyberspace. Let’s blast off! — Kim

Savvy small-business owners and team managers, this one’s for you. It seems like every business software platform I’ve used takes five months and at least $50,000 to get up and running. So, that’s why I found some tech tools that can help you out today. Oh, and they’re all free!

Grow your sales

🔍 Boost your web traffic: Most SEO and keyword tools are pricey, but Neil Patel’s UberSuggest has a free tier so you can get more people to your website without spending a dime. You’ll see keyword volume, your keyword competitors and even seasonal trends.

• How to use it: Their free reports allow you to brainstorm headlines using key phrases people search for online regularly. You can also analyze your competitors’ websites, see what keywords they’re using and even steal their tactics! Sneaky smart.

👍 Get help with social media: Use ChatGPT. Yeah, there are specialized tools for social, but this is the best I’ve found. You can use it to generate captions for individual posts or come up with campaign ideas based on content from your website or blog.

• How to use it: The trick is to train ChatGPT to sound like you or your brand. Just include examples from other social media accounts you like or previous posts of yours that have performed well in your prompts!

🚘 Test-drive something flashier: If you’re skeptical about going all in on a larger solution, software platforms like NetSuite* let you test-drive it for six months before you buy. One of my radio listeners increased their profits by 17% in about two months!

• How to use it: Think of NetSuite like QuickBooks on steroids. You can use its in-depth dashboards and expense tracking to improve your bottom line.

Scale your team

📈 Train new hires: Try Scribe. It uses talk-to-text to turn your existing processes into step-by-step guides. Onboarding new folks is a pain, and documenting your processes saves a ton of time. Plus, it reduces your risk of losing historical know-how if an “A” player leaves your company.

• How to use it: Turn on Scribe’s recorder and walk through your instructions, and it’ll automatically create an onboarding doc you can share with your team. Scribe has some handy templates, too. The free version is pretty darn good, but if you want features like custom branding, you can always upgrade to a paid account later.

⚡ Automate daily tasks: Zapier’s basic automation platform is free and can help you cut down on mindless data entry. It also helps your different systems “talk” to each other, even if they don’t have built-in integrations. You don’t have to know any code, either. Super handy.

• How to use it: When a customer fills out a form online, you can set up a “zap” (aka a trigger) to automatically send their info to your email list and then send an email from you.

🙋 Get help: If you’re having trouble finding good talent, you need a bigger applicant pool. Posting your job on LinkedIn* lets you tap into the largest network of job-seekers in the world. I have an exclusive link to post a job opening for free.

• How to use it: Use LinkedIn’s custom filters to sort profiles by experience, location and education. It makes it so easy to find high-quality candidates — and the right fit!

Three bonus freebies

1. Shipping boxes and materials: Order ‘em right from the USPS site here.
2. Email your customers: Get going with email marketing using Mailchimp for free up to 1,000 monthly sends.
3. Survey your peeps: Figure out what your customers like, don’t like and what they’ll buy more of using SurveyMonkey.

Feel empowered yet? Forward this newsletter to a small-biz friend to save them some time and money, too!

It’s too risky to toss your expensive laptop into your bag and call it a day. A sleeve keeps it scratch- and crack-free. I found three steals.

💡 Pro tip: To check your laptop size, on a Mac, click on the Apple logo in the top left of your screen, then About this Mac > More and scroll down to Display. In Windows, click on the Start menu, then Settings > System > Display > Advanced.

1. This one has pockets for your chargers, comes in lots of nice colors and includes an optional shoulder strap (love that). Plus, it’s 50% off.
2. Go versatile with a shoulder strap, briefcase handle and pockets for chargers, plus a separate strap to slide it onto your rolling suitcase. It’s 25% off (only $14.99).
3. Just the sleeve, please. This slimmer option is 40% off and super simple.

🪦 To die for: Watch out for ambiguous-sounding Facebook posts, like, “It won’t be the same without him” or “I can’t believe he is gone.” That’s a big, red flag your connection’s account got hacked and the scammer’s setting you (and other connected friends and family) up to steal account creds — or money.

Not a scratch: In January, an iPhone was sucked out of a Boeing 737 midflight and found on the ground completely intact, despite falling 16,000 feet. How’d that happen? As it turns out, an iPhone’s max freefall speed (WSJ, paywall link) is about 60 mph due to air resistance and gravity. Plus, it landed in a forest, not a hard tile floor.

🔋 New battery safety feature: In 2020, one-and-a-half-year-old Reese Hamsmith swallowed a coin-shaped button battery and died. Her parents pressured Energizer to make a change — now, these batteries taste awful and dye your mouth bright blue when mixed with spit. Keep an eye on your kiddos; these batteries are in everything from watches to remote controls.

Apple’s AI play: On May 7, Apple will announce (Bloomberg, paywall link) its first truly AI device: An OLED iPad Pro powered by their own M4 chip. This smart move sets up Apple to be all in on AI, just in time for its June developers conference. This fall, the new iPhones will have AI baked in, too. Hopefully, they fire Siri.

✈️ Mind your drone business: Michelle Reyes captured a video showing a “flying cylinder” whizzing by after she took off from LaGuardia Airport near New York City. UFO experts aren’t sure what it is, and some folks are saying it’s a bug. Looks like a drone to me. But having a drone that close to an aircraft is very scary.

Rising car thefts: With just a smartphone app or a $25 Bluetooth signal finder, clever criminals can scan your car for valuable tech. The signals from turned-on devices tell them which vehicles will deliver the biggest paydays. Keep your electronics with you, folks — or at least turn them off.

⛪ Need an ark? I Noah guy: Catholic “priest” Fr. Justin hit the web sporting a collar and gray beard to bring more people into the faith. He gave out sacraments and absolved sins … and said it was OK to baptize babies with Gatorade. Yeah, he was “defrocked” as AI. These days, Justin’s still giving bizarre advice … but as a regular ol’ layperson.

🌟 I did the math: My average rating for this newsletter is 4.88 out of 5 with over 240,000 positive reviews. (Thank you!) Share your unique referral link towards the bottom of this email with family and friends to win great prizes, including $1,000 in cash. Btw, if you want to sign up your HOA, social group, classroom or school, let me know, because there’s a better way than using your referral link.

r/Update: Reddit has been crappy to navigate on mobile for, well, forever. Not anymore. The latest app update makes it easier to get to the comments (what most of us use Reddit for anyway), watch videos and add your two cents.

Night vision: Blue light tells your brain to wake up. You can switch your iPhone to warmer red hues for bedtime — and it looks neat, too. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. Turn on Color Filters, then choose Color Tint, and move Intensity and Hue all the way to the right.

For your eyes only: Quickly hide message previews popping up on your Android lock screen. This is an “A” and “B” conversation, so “C” yourself out, snoopers! From Settings, tap Display > Lock Screen > Privacy.

Space out: On your Mac, click a file, then hit the spacebar. You’ll be able to view it without opening the Preview app. Handy little timesaver!

📺 Smart TVs and your PC: A Montreal woman experienced issues with her Windows PC like vanishing taskbars and unresponsive display settings. The culprit? Her Hisense 50Q8G TV was overloading the "Device Association Framework." Have the same TV? Take it off your PC’s network. Or get yourself a nice Samsung.

The only way to keep it your business do that is with a VPN. A virtual private network encrypts your data and hides your IP address, giving you an extra layer of protection from snoops, advertisers and Big Tech companies looking to profit off you.

Some VPNs slow your connection or, worse, track your internet activity and compromise your security. Not ExpressVPN. Plus, you can connect in just one click from a Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, iPad, you name it.

🚨 Deal alert: Get an extra THREE months free since you subscribe to my newsletter.

Spoiler: Rose lets go after she sees who Jack’s been DMing.

The answer: Older! The average age of the most successful startup founders is 45, three years older than the average age for startup founders. And yeah, OK, Steve Jobs founded Apple at age 21 — but he was 52 when he launched the iPhone.

😂 Speaking of age … What did the aging 007 agent say to his pharmacist? “Bond. Gold Bond.”

Are you following me on social yet? I’m always posting behind-the-scenes clips and news updates — like my cornea transplant with no more stitches! Check out a pic on Instagram here. But wait! There’s more: I’m on YouTube, Facebook and X, too. I’ll be back at you tomorrow morning with the best newsletter in the USA! — Kim