Scott Kupor, managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, says there’s a lot about navigating the venture capital world that entrepreneurs don’t understand. Some can’t figure out how to get in the door. Others fail to deliver persuasive pitches. Many don’t know how the deals and relationships really work. Kupor outlines what he and his partners look for in founding teams and business ideas and explains how start-ups work with VCs to become successful companies. He also discusses how Silicon Valley can do a better job of finding more diverse talent and funding new types of ventures. Kupor is the author of the book Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It.

Since 2013, SparkLabs Group has invested in more than 230 companies, and my general advice to our founders and portfolio companies hasn’t changed: I always tell them not to overthink valuation, know what they need in terms of capital for their seed round and how there is “good dilution” and “bad dilution.” Whether your dilution ends up being good or bad (or ugly) generally depends on how well you execute.

Image: https://techcrunch.com

Israel celebrated its 70th anniversary in May of 2018, but its brand image internationally was less than ideal. Market research revealed that many people associated Israel only with military conflict. Harvard Business School professor Elie Ofek discusses efforts to rebrand the country, and whether these efforts to shift perceptions are starting to show success, in his case: “Israel at 70: Is it Possible to (re)Brand a Country?”

Calling “innovation” a business buzzword is an understatement. In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, every business leader knows they have two choices: i nnovate or sink away into irrelevance.

Despite this dire imperative, businesses fail to innovate all the time. Getting an organization of individuals to work together and create something truly novel is a challenge even the greatest leaders struggle with.

If you’re single and looking to change that status, perhaps you have been pondering the mysteries of romantic attraction. It will come as no surprise to learn that research has established that physical appearance is one factor that predicts attraction. This is starkly evident in online dating. A study of thirty-somethings found that being rated in the top (versus bottom) ten percent on physical attractiveness roughly tripled the probability of receiving a “first-contact” message (Hi! How are you?). Like it or not, looks matter in the dating game.  

ST. LOUIS – The GlobalSTL Health Innovation Summit brings new international technologies to local health care systems to create competitive advantage and economic impact in St. Louis. The full strength of our region’s $240 billion health care industry will be on display for highlyinnovative digital health companies from Israel, Sweden, Portugal, Canada, and the United Kingdom at the third annual Summit on June 5, 2019.

GlobalSTL, the international company recruitment initiative of BioSTL, reviewed more than 750 digital health companies and invited 16 of the most compelling companies to pitch their cutting-edge technologies to 75 senior leaders from St. Louis and Midwest hospitals and corporations, as well as a cadre of partner organizations from throughout the Midwest and venture capitalists looking to invest in new companies.

Over the last 10 years, the U.S. National Institutes of Health has invested $170 million to better understand the universe of bacteria that live within us—the so-called microbiome. In the first phase of the project, researchers focused on cataloguing the myriad types of microbes found throughout the body, including in the mouth, nose, gut, and reproductive tract. The latest phase of the research, described in three papers published May 29 in Nature and Nature Medicine, focused on better understanding how changes in those microbial populations affect three conditions: diabetes, preterm birth and inflammatory bowel diseases.

A newborn. A fatal diagnosis. And soon, a one-time gene replacement cure in the first weeks of life.

The cost? You don’t want to know.

Gene therapy is about to achieve a milestone. As soon as tomorrow, drug giant Novartis expects to win approval to launch what it says will be the first “blockbuster” gene-replacement treatment. A blockbuster is any drug with more than $1 billion in sales each year.

The treatment, called Zolgensma, is able to save infants born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1, a degenerative disease that usually kills within two years. But its expected cost is shocking, too: between $1.5 and $2 million, which would make it the most expensive one-time medicine ever sold. 

The latest 2019 LinkedIn statistics support the importance to companies of having a well-established presence on LinkedIn:

• LinkedIn has more than 30 million companies on its platform. 
• LinkedIn is almost three times (277 percent) more effective in generating leads than Twitter and Facebook.

Even though LinkedIn can recognize Boolean operators and filter results according to the user’s search requirements to bring up the name of the company in the search results, companies still need to optimize their company page on the platform.

“Pay attention,” Susan Sontag once advised a young audience; she was speaking of the creative process, but also of living. “It’s all about paying attention. It’s all about taking in as much of what’s out there as you can, and not letting the excuses and the dreariness of some of the obligations you’ll soon be incurring narrow your lives. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.”

You probably think that the fact that you have started your own business validates your leadership ability. It may confirm that you were a leader yesterday, but do you have what it takes to be a leader tomorrow? In this era of rapid change, you can’t afford to stop learning, or you will find that your competitors, your customers, and your team, may soon be following someone else.

Crowdfunding, a fairly new concept in South Africa has emerged as an epic tale, marking the start of a new era.

SA equity crowdfunding platform Uprise.Africa‘s third campaign, a regtech identity platform called Intergreatme recently shook the investment industry in South Africa...

Image: https://ventureburn.com

Amsterdam and Rockville, Maryland June 5, 2019— Catalyze and BioHealth Innovation, Inc. have entered an agreement to actively bridge the Life Sciences communities in the US and the EU. This transatlantic partnership will increase opportunities for translating biohealth discoveries to market through grant writing services, expanded technology commercialization and international soft-landing support. The two parties have a wide range of resources and knowledge which combined will better aid in delivering high-impact, customer-specific solutions.

Nearly 550,000 people become business owners every month, according to the Kauffman Index of Startup Activity. Many of these new entrepreneurs get into the startup space with one goal in mind: selling a business.

It's no wonder. After failing to secure backing for a wi-fi enabled video doorbell on Shark Tank, Jamie Siminoff went on to build Ring. In 2018, Amazon purchased the company for more than $1 billion.

Some entrepreneurs just love to start businesses — over and over again.  There’s even a name for them: serial entrepreneurs. But have you ever wondered where to find serial entrepreneurs? Our rankings of the Best Cities for Serial Entrepreneurs highlight where you can find large concentrations of serial entrepreneurs.

Serial entrepreneurs for our purposes are defined as those who have started three or more businesses prior to the one they run today. Below you’ll see a list of metropolitan areas where large numbers of these serial entrepreneurs live and work.

If you are a business leader, you are probably thinking about radical change. New industrial platforms, geopolitical shifts, global competition, and changing consumer demand are reshaping your world. You face upstart competitors with high valuations encroaching on your business, and activist investors looking for targets. Meanwhile, you have your own aspirations for your company: to be a profitable innovator, to seize opportunities, to lead and dominate your industry, to attract highly committed talent, and to carve out a socially responsible role in which your organization makes a difference. You also probably want to clear away the deadwood in your legacy system: practices, structures, technologies, and cultural habits that hold your company back.

OTTAWA, June 3, 2019 /CNW/ - When we support new ideas and help researchers, businesses and universities to work together, we create conditions for breakthrough technologies to benefit all Canadians. As a partner to businesses and large-scale teams of Canada's top scientists, the National Research Council Canada (NRC) supports the small- and medium-sized companies that drive our economy, and plays a vital role in making Canada's science and research landscape stronger and more innovative.

Across the world, the creative economy is one of the most rapidly growing sectors, in terms of income generation and export earnings, apart from being a flagbearer for a country’s cultural identity. But in India, the story is different. The creative industry here, with around 250 million artists and craftspersons, is a symbolic representation of the country's traditions, heritage and diversity, which are slowly disappearing. Dubbed as a 'sunset' industry for several years, these women entrepreneurs are doing their bit for its revival and preservation, and making it more relevant for the future.

 Image: https://yourstory.com

If you’re skeptical about the value of qualitative market research, Jesse Caesar gets it. “I started out as a creative. I saw market researchers as these killjoys who came in and lifted their leg on all of my beautiful work to make it bland and palatable for the masses,” he says. “Obviously, as a market researcher, I think a little differently now.”

Most research and training in sales focuses on acquiring customers, but, as ecosystems become increasingly dynamic and discontinuous, it’s also important to focus on winning back customers you’ve lost.

Reacquisition is especially important for B2B companies. Because of current trends— increase in the number and size of mergers, the variety of choice in global markets, and uncertainty about trade wars—customers are constantly re-evaluating their relationship with suppliers and making changes.