As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but using no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business.

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ImpactAlpha, June 8 – Venture capitalists have long been criticized for funding mostly white, male founders. Just one percent of venture-backed founders are Black. With racial justice thrust into the national spotlight, some of the largest VC firms are starting to take action.

As more testing for COVID-19 rolls out, you may be wondering whether you should get tested.

Tests for COVID-19 include the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) diagnostic test, which is a nasal swab. There’s also the antibody test, a blood test that can tell whether you had an infection in the past.

So, should you wait till you have symptoms to go ahead and get tested? Or is it worth it to see whether you had an infection in the past?

A new nationwide accelerator is launching, and it’s looking to mentor startups outside of Silicon Valley.

Matt Hanson, principal at D.C.’s Blu Venture Investors, launched the PAX Momentum Accelerator earlier this year as he sought to widen his impact in the startup world.

“I’ve been very active in angel investing for the last 10 to 15 years and I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had several outstanding companies that I was the lead investor on,” he said. “I wanted to take what I’m doing to the next level.”

As an early-stage business, there are very few things that are more important than capital. The competitive landscape will change, market conditions will fluctuate, customer behavior will vary and your team will transform. Such volatility is to be expected in any early-stage business, but one thing that cannot withstand long-term volatility is the amount of capital you have to run your early-stage business.

COVID-19 is a global crisis that knows no borders, has impacted billions of lives, and has left no organization or economy untouched. It’s shown how systemic risks can have exponential repercussions — on health systems, sudden unemployment, supply chains, and the global economic outlook. Our preparation and resilience are being tested. The immense scale and diversity of the challenges sound very familiar to those who have long championed urgent action to avert catastrophic climate change and rapid nature loss. The difference with climate change is we know what the costs will be if we don’t act now.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” This opening line from Charles Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities captures the contradictory times we live in. It also describes how organisations may react to the coronavirus pandemic in very different ways.

Virtual apprenticeships could be a boon to the future, some experts say. They would open up opportunities for those with disabilities that make working in an office difficult, or provide greater access to those in areas with a dearth of apprenticeship options.

But virtual options could lack the important pieces of apprenticeships that make them successful, others say.

Savvy entrepreneurs start testing their ideas on potential customers even before the concept is fully cooked. They have enough confidence in their ability to deliver that they don’t worry about someone stealing the idea to get there first, and they don’t forget to listen carefully to critical feedback. They become walking public relations machines for themselves, as well as their idea.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

On June 3-4, 2020, The Association of University Research Parks (AURP) held their Bio Health Caucus Virtually with panels and keynote speeches focusing on topics from Bio Health Innovation Districts to the Role and Responsibility of Bio Health Anchor Institutions in Community Engagement.

miRecule CEO Anthony D. Saleh, Ph.D. guests on BioTalk to discuss his company, his many roles in startup companies, and being an Entrepreneur in Residence with BHI

Anthony is a biotech entrepreneur and having served in a variety of roles in startup companies. He is currently the CEO of miRecule, Inc., but also helped found MIMETAS US, and Birich Technologies. As an “Entrepreneur in Residence” at BioHealth Innovation, he has consulted for over a dozen biotech companies. In this role, he led technology diligence, market analysis and business and product development efforts. He also participated in funding raises for two companies, and performed scouting efforts for Roche and MedImmune, leading to several academic collaborations. As the President of MIMETAS US (a startup affiliate of the Dutch company Mimetas BV), he raised over $4.5 M in non-dilutive funding and over $1 M in commercial partnerships to develop organ-on-a-chip based drug discovery models. Dr. Saleh has more than 15 years of experience in microRNA research, nucleic acid chemistry and the design of therapeutic oligonucleotides at Johns Hopkins University, The National Institutes of Health, and in the private sector. Dr. Saleh has raised about $5 M in dilutive and no-dilutive funding directed to gain IND approval for miRecule's lead therapeutic MC-30.

While office real estate has taken a hit amid the coronavirus pandemic, the life sciences sector has remained strong throughout this year. 

Life sciences construction, leasing activity and funding for new projects has held stable throughout the global health crisis. There are between 800K and 900K SF of active lab requirements in New York City — some of which is coming from companies trying to combat the coronavirus, according to a CBRE report. 

July 2020 was supposed to be a great month for Naomi. After a lot of hard work, the 50-year-old childcare-center worker was set to complete her studies and become a fully qualified teacher in Singapore, where she lives with her husband, mother, and niece in a cramped four-room apartment.

The new credential would have opened doors, giving Naomi chances at more fulfilling work and higher income. But COVID-19 has delayed those dreams for now. Instead, Naomi will carry on her work indefinitely at the center, which has so far remained open throughout the crisis to look after the children of essential workers.

As pundits and industry insiders line up to say farewell to the dream of the Bay Area and the mythos that accompanies it, Silicon Valley veterans who have weathered previous storms remain skeptical much will change. After all, the cradle of innovation on California’s coast has already survived multiple major downturns, including the dot-com crash of the late 90s and the financial crisis of 2008.

Image: Kelly Javanmardi/Unsplash

COVID-19 has brought unprecedented human and humanitarian challenges. Many companies around the world have risen to the occasion, acting swiftly to safeguard employees and migrate to a new way of working that even the most extreme business-continuity plans hadn’t envisioned. Across industries, leaders will use the lessons from this large-scale work-from-home experiment to reimagine how work is done—and what role offices should play—in creative and bold ways.

Venture capital investment in Atlantic Canada was already weakening before the Covid-19 crisis sent shockwaves through the economy, new data from the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association shows.

In fact, if you consider the funding announcements of the past two months, it’s a safe bet that Atlantic Canadian VC funding will be larger in the second quarter – when the shutdown was in full force – than the first.

Image: CVCA Chief Executive Kim Furlong. Imag

It is tempting, during a crisis as severe as the Covid-19 pandemic, for leaders to respond to big problems with bold moves — a radical strategy to reinvent a struggling business, a long-term shift to virtual teams and long-distance collaboration. Indeed, so much of the expert commentary on Covid-19 argues, as did a recent white paper from McKinsey & Company, that we are on the brink of a “next normal” that will “witness a dramatic restructuring of the economic and social order in which business and society have traditionally operated.”

Amidst the gloom and doom of the early months of the Covid-19 crisis, something surprisingly uplifting started to happen: Companies began to come together to work openly at an unprecedented level, putting the ability to create value before the opportunity to make a buck. The German multinational Siemens, for instance, opened up its Additive Manufacturing Network to anyone who needs help in medical device design.

Jay’s family would have been used to a particular lifestyle, given his income and position in society. As a household moves up the income ladder, what would have been discretionary spending earlier, become essential expenses. This may include salaries of support staff, entertainment and socialising costs, travel and other such expenses. Jay has to make a realistic estimate of these and deploy an adequate corpus so as to insulate these from the volatilities of the enterprise he begins. The corpus should be able to cover three years’ expenses, adjusted for inflation.

Many colleges are planning to return to campus, but some of the costs remain unknown, according to a Chronicle survey.