Freight forwarding is a multi-trillion industry of moving boats, trucks and planes full of stuff across the world. Historically, freight forwarding has been handled by a mess of paper manifests, emails and spreadsheets. Flexport is both a traditional freight forwarding service and a data provider. It has just raised a $65 million Series B at a valuation well over $300 million to make freight forwarding programmable. Read More>>
Monthly Archives: September 2016
Millennials Want To Be Entrepreneurs, But A Tough Economy Stands In Their Way
Financial challenges facing today’s young adults are stifling their entrepreneurial dreams. A recent survey published by EY, suggest millennials’ economic hardships prevent them from starting businesses.The EY survey data implicates financial barriers as the culprit of this failure to launch. Read More>>
Google launches Allo, bets on AI to spice up chats
Google launched Allo, a messaging app that incorporates Google’s search feature and a chatbot that uses machine learning to “improve” itself over time. Allo will compete with Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp and Messenger. Google has started rolling out Allo and said the app would be available worldwide in the next few days. Read More>>
Churn and failure define a successful startup ecosystem: Mitchell Patterson
More startups is not a measure of success. More startups simply mean more people are attempting to create companies that could succeed. If we want to create a new economy, we should embrace new metrics. Failure is one. So is churn. Measuring churn and failure represent better thinking. Read More>>
When every company is a tech company, valuations go insane
For years we measured the success and future promise of a business with time-honoured valuation techniques; amongst other criteria, we looked at income and profit, the value of liabilities and assets, the potential market.
New-world companies don’t fit the bill; the likes of Airbnb, Uber, Alibaba, Facebook, Netflix, Niantic Labs and Snapchat are the fastest-growing companies the world has ever seen. Their growth is exponential, their assets are almost ephemeral, they shun all traditional economic models for valuations. The investments required to scale are almost negligible, their market size often unlimited, their shift from loss-making to profit can be almost immediate. Read More>>
Six Tools for Communicating Complex Ideas
Business leaders need to know how to make their information stick. professor of finance, Petersen spends a lot of his time trying to convince people about how to think about problems. He offers up these six tools to help you communicate complicated ideas to audiences. Read More>>
These 5 flying taxis could revolutionize your commute
From “Back to the Future”-esque flying cars you can own to flying taxi systems, these new transport systems are slated to arrive sooner than you think.
One of them is a German company eVolo is working to make its multi-copter the future of urban mobility called the Volocopter. The Volocopter is powered by six batteries that allow for 20 minutes of flight, but eVolo is working to get that up to an hour. Read More>>
How to master Facebook advertising and targeting
Facebook advertising is becoming very useful, especially when you explore its potential and all its targeting options. It makes sense for your brand to explore Facebook’s advertising options, as this is the platform that most users spend their time on while using their mobile devices. Read More>>
Portfolium raises $6.6 million to get college students into jobs where they’ll kick butt
A San Diego startup called Portfolium has raised $6.6 million to help college students get jobs where they are likely to succeed. Founded in 2014, Portfolium has partnered with about 200 universities and colleges to-date, and has 3.75 million students under contract. Read More>>
How One Startup Developed a Sales Model That Works in Emerging Markets
BioLite designs and manufactures personal-scale energy appliances that enable users to cook, charge, and light their lives off the grid. They serve two markets that are very different but united by the common need for reliable, safe access to energy: outdoor recreationalists and low-income households in emerging markets and their flagship products are wood-burning stoves that generate electricity from fire while reducing toxic smoke emissions by 90%. Read More>>
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