For years — decades, even — there was little question about whether you could become a venture capitalist if you weren’t comfortable financially. You couldn’t. The people and institutions that invest in venture funds want to know that fund managers have their own “skin in the game,” so they’ve long required a sizable check from the investor’s own pocket before jumping aboard. Think 2% to 3% of the fund’s total assets, which often equates to millions of dollars.

In fact, five years ago, I wrote that the real obstacle to becoming a venture capitalist has less to do with gender than with financial inequality. I focused then on women, who are paid less (especially Black and Hispanic women), and who possess less wealth. But the same is true of anyone of lesser means.

Every aspiring entrepreneur I know is talking about the fact that there are over 2,000 billionaires in the world today, and how their innovative idea could make them one of the next ones. Most of you prefer to ignore the feedback from analysts that your chances of creating the next unicorn startup may be as low as one in five million. The big question is how you can beat these odds.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

The greatest part of my day job as a venture capitalist is the inspiration I draw from watching amazing Founders take a crazy concept, work tirelessly, and sacrifice a ton with the sole purpose of turning a dream into a reality. I recognize how hard the entrepreneurial journey is – and I know full well of the ups and downs that the job brings.

I fully believe the world needs entrepreneurs more than ever and I try my best to encourage and support anyone who is just crazy enough to jump into the arena and give it a shot. From my own experience, being an entrepreneur is the greatest job in the world. Innovation is the key to global progress and entrepreneurs have the potential to change the world, improve communities, create new jobs and solve some of the greatest challenges the world faces. What job even comes close?

When all the votes are cast and counted in this year’s momentous November 3 election, the results will have deep and potentially long-lasting impacts on numerous areas of society, including science. President Donald Trump and his challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, have presented vastly different visions for handling crucial issues—ranging from the deadly coronavirus pandemic to the damaging impacts of climate change and immigration policies.

In this special edition of The Next Normal, McKinsey senior partners envision how the COVID-19 crisis will transform entire industries in the coming 12 to 18 months.

The Glocal Innovation Life Sciences Meet-Up is run by the UK/Europe based #coffeebuddies online Thought-Leadership community. This is headed by Prof Tony Sedgwick and Graham Combe, and has an Agile Leaders Advisory Board of 18 life science innovation leaders and investors.

This Meet-Up has been inspired by huge advances in technology that allow us to connect, engage, inspire and entertain life science professionals from around the world. There are no boundaries for our abilities to connect and network with other global Thought-Leaders. We started with connecting our #coffeebuddies community with networks in Australia and NZ which is a phenomenal success. This event is the first in the series where we connect with the East Coast of the Americas.

Image: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk

Reports continue to mount on the decline of New York City through the pandemic months. In a July 2020 post, we summarized the situation:

A “real estate frenzy” has been noted in Connecticut, New Jersey, Westchester County and Long Island, as City residents seek to move to where there is more space and less danger of infection. These areas could become prime attractors of Manhattan employees who want to avoid the crowded offices, crowded transit, crowded elevators and generally overcrowded situations that naturally accompany super-high population and employment densities.

The ACA Angel Funders Report 2020 is a deep dive into investment trends reflecting a growing North American angel ecosystem, benefitting communities with innovative new companies and jobs. The report is based on information collected from a variety of ACA member groups, including some of the most active investing communities. The Angel Funders Report analyzes angel capital investments made during 2019, and features profiles, stories, and insights from leading angel investors and startup company executives. The report also includes initial perspectives regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the investing ecosystem.

Greater Baltimore is one of few regions ideally suited to pioneer the future of digital health, an industry that will revolutionize healthcare as we know it. Companies in Greater Baltimore benefit from a rich ecosystem of healthcare assets that collectively provide every component necessary for digital health innovation: transformative research, specialized business incubation, access to funding, a talented workforce, and easily-accessible local and federal clients. The growing list of successes among Greater Baltimore's digital health companies and groundbreaking partnerships showcase tremendous potential for this industry to play a defining role in the Region and influence healthcare throughout the nation for decades to come. The pandemic has accelerated the development of digital health technologies.

While the pandemic has put a spotlight on the need for digital technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), health care organizations were already experiencing some of their benefits prior to the crisis. “Deloitte’s 2020 State of AI in the Enterprise Study, 3rd Edition” by the Deloitte AI Institute and Center for Technology, Media and Telecommunications uncovered how organizations are adopting, benefiting from, and managing AI technologies by industry, including health care.

The Covid-19 pandemic has hurled life and work as we once knew it into a state of near-paralysing uncertainty. So much has changed about our world so quickly that our first instinct may understandably be to find some small patch of solid-seeming ground and plant ourselves there for as long as we can, to await the resumption of normality. But the longer the virus lingers, the clearer it becomes that any form of normal – new or old – will be slow to materialise.

“There is a misguided view that holds that patents are somehow not necessary and that inventors will invent and companies will spend millions or billions of dollars in research and development without the prospect of owning any rights in what is being developed. That fairly-tale fantasy is not real life, and it ignores human nature. ” – Gene Quinn

The risk of COVID-19 transmission onboard a plane is "reduced to very low levels," Harvard researchers concluded. The onboard ventilation systems coupled with measures such as masks, frequent cabin cleaning, and distancing during boarding and deplaning help keep the virus from spreading.

"This layered approach reduces the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission onboard aircraft below that of other routine activities during the pandemic, such as grocery shopping or eating out," the report stated.

Image: https://abcnews.go.com

Over the past nine months, more than $7 billion in federal money has poured into the BioHealth Capital Region in support of therapies, diagnostics, and vaccines against COVID-19. In that short time, the region has shown its importance in halting the spread of the ongoing pandemic.

At the 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum, COVID-19 was a central focus of attendees and panelists. One panel, Strength of Our Region: Combating Infectious Diseases, included representatives from four companies in the region that provided an overview of the region’s role in combating the novel coronavirus as well as other infectious threats. Company representatives from Novavax, Emergent BioSolutions, BioFactura, and Aperiomics pointed to the work conducted by their organizations in COVID, as well as other infectious diseases, including Ebola, influenza, RSV, and SARS. The panel was moderated by Karen Smith, chief medical officer of Emergent BioSolutions, who said she was struck early on in the pandemic that companies in the BioHealth Capital region battling the pandemic are “all in the same storm, just in slightly different boats.” She said they are all trying to figure out a solution to this pandemic but in different manners due to their areas of expertise.

An interesting article on entrepreneurship in Bloomberg BusinessWeek (A Reset for Entrepreneurship, June 29, 2020) highlights some points that need to be amplified and some that need to be explored.

Amplify

The article says that venture capital (VC) has a Silicon Valley skew. Yes. More than 90% of billion-dollar entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley used VC – but they delayed getting it till Aha, when their potential was evident. But here’s the interesting point – more than 90% of billion-dollar entrepreneurs outside Silicon Valley grew without VC. Let’s give exposure to unicorn-entrepreneurs who do not use VC.

As the global pandemic continues, many people are finding themselves forced to isolate for safety reasons. Isolation is a negative experience because we are social creatures. Social interaction can often be the highlight of the day. However, if you’re an entrepreneur like me and well-versed in finding the positive in a negative situation, isolation can be brilliant. 

Every successful business leader needs to know how to communicate effectively. Both written and verbal communication skills are crucial if you want to build and maintain strong relationships with your employees, customers and partners.

These essential communications insights are often learned throughout an entrepreneur’s journey, and sometimes they can come to you through unexpected career situations. That’s why we asked the members of Young Entrepreneur Council to share the best communication lessons they’ve learned during their careers so far. Here are their top 10 lessons and why each was so impactful.

Image: Young Entrepreneur Council members share the important communication lessons you'll learn throughout your career. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.

Data-mining company is developing a tool that health authorities plan to use to monitor the manufacture of coronavirus vaccines and determine where they should go

Image: Palantir’s technology is already being used by Health and Human Services to track hospitals’ Covid-19 data. PHOTO: DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Every workplace has unwritten rules. If you’re on a video call with 20 of your colleagues, is it okay to turn your camera off? When you email your boss, do you include a bunch of emojis? 

During stressful times (i.e. right now), it’s good practice to write down the unstated cultural and emotional norms that exist within your team or company. They might have changed since you all started working from home, or perhaps they’ve never been explicit to everyone. You might know that it’s okay to take a walk in the middle of the day to clear your head, but it might not be as obvious to your colleagues, especially if they’re new hires. These seemingly small uncertainties (“Can I step outside to take a short break?”) can become major stressors. Combating them is crucial to helping everyone on your team feel secure and supported, especially in the current climate.

Abby Falik is the founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year, a nonprofit that operates a gap-year program for new high school graduates who aspire to become global leaders. Over the last decade, Global Citizen Year has sent hundreds of fellows to countries including Brazil, India, and Senegal.  

We did an emergency evacuation (of our fellows) in April, just before airports were closing. The writing was on the wall. It was most likely that we wouldn’t be able to run our fellowship the next school year, and that there were going to be a record number of kids that couldn’t go to college as planned. So we launched the Global Citizen Academy for high school graduates worldwide. (Students) take a course on leadership; they have access to mentors and coaches, access to a speaker series. In a way, this is what we’ve been planning for. How can we normalize new pathways and take advantage of this moment, when everyone is questioning the time and cost of a bundled higher education?