June 18, 2019It’s an exciting time for leaders. Artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are on the precipice of revolutionizing the way we work, reshaping businesses, industries, economies, the labor force, and our everyday lives. We estimate AI-powered applications will add $13 trillion in value to the global economy in the coming decade, and leaders are energizing their agendas and investing handsomely in AI to capitalize on the opportunity—to the tune of $26 billion to $39 billion in 2016 alone.

When was the last time you changed how you communicate to your team and to your customers? The way you deliver your message is key to maximizing its impact, or even reaching the intended audience. Don’t count on people reading your Annual Report for breaking news. Your team needs to hear from you on a regular basis, on a channel they can relate to easily and quickly.

Gen Z doesn’t want to get drunk. Millennials are tired of the obligatory after-work drinks.

Haus, a new startup selling apéritifs online, has a solution for them. The company’s beverages have a lower alcohol content than standard hard liquors on the market, which means you can drink one, even a few, without getting wasted. Made from distilled grapes, fresh herbs and botanicals, its natural ingredients and A-plus branding are sure to appeal to the younger demographic.

Talk about a nonlinear career path.

Lexi Reese started out making documentary films, then worked in the sex-crimes unit in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, before moving on to management positions at American Express and Google.

Today, Reese is the COO of Gusto, a company specializing in human-resources software.

Each time Reese thought about making a career move, she asked the same questions to reach a decision.

"The most fulfilling journeys are ones where people are really honest with what they love, what they're good at, and where they see a big need," she said.

A common misconception I often hear in the startup world is that non-profits are easy and safe, since they don’t have to pay taxes, and they don’t have to make a profit for their shareholders. In reality, from the feedback I get from non-profit executives, exactly the opposite is true.

Technically speaking, in the United States, a non-profit corporation or association is one which has been exempted from Federal income taxes by meeting the criteria set out Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, most notably religious, educational, and charitable entities like the Salvation Army. Other countries have similar exemptions for similar organizations.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

We recently watched a heated debate between our client and two of his direct reports. Our client, a leader responsible for a $350M division, and one of the direct reports, the head of marketing, were ready to extend an offer to a candidate for a new position: VP of analytics. But the head of HR was adamant that they had the wrong candidate. Her reasoning, expressed with unyielding conviction, was that the candidate didn’t meet the “adaptability” dimension of the hiring profile, which for her, was a deal-breaker. The leader and the head of marketing felt like while this candidate was admittedly imperfect, she was the best they’d seen of the nearly 40 they’d interviewed, and they were willing to live with her shortfalls. After rounds of discussion, the HR lead played the ultimate trump card and said, “Look, you either want my expertise or you don’t. You made me your head of HR, and if you’re not going to take my advice, then why did you give me this job?”

It's cliche because it's true: capital is the lifeblood of your business. There's just no way around it. If you don't have the capital to fund your operations, you can't execute your vision or scale your startup. 

Of course you can bootstrap, but that only works for certain types of businesses. Startups require talent, equipment and other costs that sweat equity can't always solve. The playbook for running a successful startup suggests that founders raise money from venture capital firms (VCs). Yet there are significant trade-offs with taking venture capital. 

BALTIMORE (ABC7) — The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy has launched the nation's first Master of Science program in medical cannabis science and therapeutics.

The university says the degree will provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to support patients and the medical cannabis industry.

The program will be based at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG) in Rockville, Md. It will be a two-year program designed for any individuals who has completed his or her undergraduate degree and is interested in pursuing a career in the medical cannabis industry.

Image: The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy has launched the nation's first Master of Science (MS) in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Adaptive Biotechnologies has raised the price for its initial public offering, putting itself in a position to raise more cash than any other biotech IPO this year. The Seattle-based company, which makes technology that can read the genetic information of the human immune system, increased its target price to $18 to $19 per share and could raise as much as $327.5 million from investors, according to a new SEC filing.

That haul would value Adaptive at more than $2 billion when the company debuts on the tech-heavy NASDAQ exchange under the ticker ADPT on Thursday.

Image: Adaptive Biotechnologies co-founder and CEO Chad Robins speaks at the 2018 GeekWire Summit. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

As the dominant economic geography of America, metropolitan statistical areas largely determine our success as a nation. These groups of counties with a large central core account for 88.6 percent of jobs, 89.1 percent of wages and 90.0 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Further, metropolitan statistical areas account for the bulk of innovation such as research and development and patenting activity. Understanding the mechanisms underpinning the growth of top-performing metropolitan areas, and sharing best practices, could assist other communities in boosting their economic fortunes. The Most Dynamic Metropolitan Index, ranking 379 metropolitan areas, seeks to provide an objective measure of the economic vibrancy of communities where the lion’s share of Americans work and live.

Josh Kirdy knows how to hustle.

When he's not working full time as an assistant store manager at Universal Orlando, the 26-year-old is on the prowl for side work, landing stints walking dogs and putting in part-time hours at a local mall retailer.

He developed this juggling act to put extra payments toward his $37,000 student-loan debt.

Western Europe is in the midst of an intense, dangerous, and possibly even deadly heat wave this week, with temperatures due to soar as high as 45 degrees Celsius, or 113 Fahrenheit.

Countries including France, Spain, and Portugal are expecting temperatures much higher than normal. New temperature records have already been set in Germany and the Czech Republic.

It's not clear when the heat wave will end.

Image: The temperature anomaly across Europe as on June 26, 2019. TropicalTidbits.com

Health Tech early stage (below $10 million) investing grew consistently from 2010 - 2017, but then stalled in 2018 showing declining deal count in every quarter over the previous year. At the same time, total capital invested was flat. Was it a correction?

Results from Q1 2019 show the segment is back on the growth track. Deal counts won't yet match 2016 and 2017 levels, but they will be up from 2018 and capital invested in U.S. early stage health tech is likely to be the highest on record.

There was a time when women were either only consumers or less paid employees to businesses, and entrepreneurship among them was rather exceptional. Both social and economic factors were discouraging to women entrepreneurs until the late nineties. Then comes the era of IT and the Internet which has drastically changed the business landscape and the whole world got shrunk into a virtual market where selling innovative ideas and concepts was much easier than ever before.

As a statistician, I appreciate the quote by applied statistics pioneer W. Edwards Deming, “In God we trust. All others bring data.” But as a social scientist, I’m compelled to warn you that many decision-makers chase data with too much zeal, running from ignorance but never improving their decisions. Is there a way to land in the sweet spot? There is, and it starts with one simple decision-making habit: Commit to your default decision up front.

For the first time in history, a major political party in the United States has several women who have declared their candidacy to be their party’s presidential nominee. But TV pundits have been questioning whether, despite the progress indicated by the huge influx of women elected into Congress last fall, the U.S. is ever going to elect a woman to the country’s highest leadership position.

SoftBank and Andreesen Horowitz (a16z) recently announced new funds that reinforce the increasing scale of the venture industry. SoftBank announced its intent to raise a second Vision Fund through a public offering, a first for any venture firm. A16z announced two new funds, an early-stage $750 million fund and a growth-stage $2 billion fund.

A16z is the latest firm to launch a family of funds, four in the past 18 months totaling $3.5 billion, including the earlier announced Bio and Crypto funds. A16z joins GGV, Lightspeed and Sequoia as firms that have raised families of funds that cover specific sectors, stages or countries. In the last 18 months, Sequoia has raised nine funds, with nearly $9 billion committed; Lightspeed four funds for nearly $3 billion; and GGV four funds with $1.8 billion.

The 21st century workplace is increasingly dominated by technology, and jobs that rely on a mastery of those machines are likely to become more important — and lucrative.

We assembled a list of fast-growing, high-paying jobs that are set to dominate the emerging digital workplace through 2026.

The Department of Labor's O*NET Online occupational database includes survey-based measures of several work characteristics for the nearly 1,000 occupations tracked by the database.

For two decades, the world-renowned media company has recognized exceptionally talented technologists whose innovations are poised to transform our world

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MIT Technology Review today announced its annual list of Innovators Under 35. This acclaimed list honors innovators making great strides in their respective fields.

The 35 innovators on this year's list include entrepreneurs, humanitarians, inventors, pioneers, and visionaries in industries ranging from energy and biotech to artificial intelligence and robotics. Honorees on this global list represent six countries: United States, China, Ghana, Peru, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. To learn more about each honoree, visit www.technologyreview.com/tr35.

It's no surprise that doctor's make a lot of money. Depending on the type of medicine they practice, doctors can make an average of $148,000 to $267,000 a year.

But just because you didn't go to medical school doesn't mean you have to give up your dreams of a salary that high. In fact, in some cases, you don't even need to go to college to earn a salary of $150,000 or higher.

We found nine jobs that, if everything goes right, can earn people a doctor's salary without requiring a college degree.