Judy Thelen and Eliot Frost built their relationship around the same activity that inspired their company: dining out.

The married couple, co-founders of social restaurant review app Beli, met while working at McKinsey in New York. The self-proclaimed “restaurant-obsessed” pair created a Google map that tracked everywhere they ate together. “It was ranked, color coded, notes, favorite dishes, all that,” said Frost.

Together, Thelen and Frost attended Harvard Business School, and their dedication to tracking restaurant data became more than a hobby. The two launched Beli in the 2021 and have since collected over 120 million restaurant ratings—largely from Gen Z and millennial users—according to Thelen.

In a conversation with Founder Brew, Thelen and Frost discuss launching their consumer app and the best rules to follow when married to your co-founder.

You’ve said before in interviews: “Don’t do what we did,” when it came to using your friends and classmates for beta testing. Why is that?

Judy Thelen: Friends aren’t honest. It’s really hard for your friends to give you real feedback because they’re your friends, so that’s one. Obviously saying friends aren’t honest is a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s really hard for a friend to hurt your feelings, and so they’re not likely to tell you the harsh stuff.

Two, your friends are likely not the target persona. They’re just convenient, and so you would be getting feedback from people that aren’t actually the people you’re trying to target, which is not helpful. Those are probably the two biggest reasons not to lean on friends.

What business metrics do you think are overrated?

Thelen: We don’t track time spent in the app, and that as a social company is usually the most important metric. Beli is all about getting you to do things in real life, and if you’re spending a long time on Beli, we’re not getting you to do that, and that goes against what we believe in…Making sure that the metrics you’re tracking are aligned with your values and your mission is really important.

Eliot Frost: Focusing on fundraising as an end goal rather than a means. There’s a lot of pressure to feel like if you raise a lot of money, then that means you’re successful, but that’s kind of backward. Fundraising is a tool that helps you bring the company to a next stage, and isn’t something you should seek out as an accolade on its own. I think a lot of people fall into that trap.

Read more about how the Beli founders build together.—AM

As international soccer fans enjoy the novelties of American culture during the World Cup, small businesses and host cities are reaping the benefits.

According to new data from fintech company Square, analyzed between June 11 and June 27, cities hosting World Cup games are seeing a major lift in transactions since the tournament kicked off. Among the cities hosting games, Boston has seen transactions increase 28%, Philadelphia 23%, Seattle 21.8%, and New York/New Jersey 18.5%.

The data shows that bars and breweries have experienced a revenue lift of 8% during the group stage, with an over 20% increase in transactions during late-night hours (specifically between 10pm and 1am). Among these businesses, the following purchases have seen an uptick:

• Food orders increased 13.6%, with burgers seeing a 11.6% lift and ranch dressing sales increasing by 11.5%.
• Nonalcoholic drinks and mocktail sales grew 11.8%, while beer sales increased 8.8%.
• Soda sales grew by 11.1%.
• Full-service restaurants saw a similar increase in revenue with a 3.5% jump in sales and in quick-service restaurants 3.1%.

“The world’s biggest football tournament coming to North America is more than a global sporting event, it’s a meaningful economic moment for local businesses,” said Alex Fisher, global head of revenue at Block, Square’s parent company, in a press release.—LI

Joulent, a US-based energy startup developing infrastructure for data centers, has received a $1.75 billion investment from UK’s National Grid, in exchange for a 35% stake. The investment will provide the company with resources to execute Kilby, its multi-gigawatt project, advance its pipeline, and scale its capabilities. (the Wall Street Journal)

Together AI, a developer of infrastructure for companies running open-source AI models, has raised $800 million in Series C funding, which values the San Francisco-based startup at $8.3 billion post-money. Aramco Ventures led the round. (Reuters)

Premier Lacrosse League, a US professional lacrosse league, closed a $100 million Series E funding round led by Ares Management and Joe Tsai, with ESPN and actors Glen Powell and Rob McElhenney among the participants. (Dateline)