Startups
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Prospera raises $7 million to put computer vision and AI to work on the farm
A Tel Aviv-based startup called Propsera has raised $7 million in new venture funding to build out systems that will monitor and help farmers improve the health of their crops, and optimize their operations. Bessemer Venture Partners led the Series A round. Prospera CEO and co-founder Daniel Koppel said agriculture professionals have plenty of tech at their disposal today from soil and… Read More
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Zenefits gets a small fine in resolving regulatory concerns in Tennessee
Zenefits has been under fire for skirting regulation, resulting in the ouster of its previous CEO Parker Conrad and a heavy-duty overhaul underway of the company. The results of that effort are now seemingly starting to emerge, starting first with a resolution in Tennessee which will cost the company $62,500 and allow it to continue operating. The company continues to have conversations with… Read More
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Don’t make founders’ equity even
Sometimes I think about replacing the table in my office with a sofa and a box of tissues. I’m a lawyer, but sometimes I feel like a therapist. When startup founders sit down with me to hash out equity splits and trust and commitment issues, their tempers sometimes flare. Uncomfortable silences ensue. Feelings get hurt, and tears sometimes fall. Read More
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Recasting Silicon Valley’s role in society
At Bloomberg’s recent technology confab in San Francisco, Marc Andreessen offered a vision for entrepreneurship, defining it as the ability to see how the world potentially could be, then inventing what is needed to change it. Herein lies the dilemma for Silicon Valley: The same questions that spur its entrepreneurs to remake the world are often the same questions that lead it into conflict. Read More
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Pop culture stimulates the evolution of the LA tech scene
It wasn’t so long ago that venture capital was a suburban California phenomenon. Los Angeles didn’t have much in terms of a real tech scene — and even San Francisco only had a few VCs or tech companies. Now, VC offices have sprung up in San Francisco, moving more of the investment energy up there. That great migration of companies and activity touches upon what is now… Read More
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Let’s meet in Chicago for a mini-meetup
I’ll be in Chicago this week and I’d love to meet some startups. I’m thinking about holding a micro-mini-meetup on Tuesday, July 26 at a location to be determined. Here’s what I need from you all: Email or tweet me with recommendations where we can meet. I like to just hang out in bars but I could do a co-working space. I know there are a few in town but I’ve… Read More
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Bad UX kills
It clogs systems, causes accidents, wastes energy and makes people unhappy. It’s more than a bad experience on a website — in cities, bad user experience (UX) design can actually kill. We’re talking about signage, public spaces, civic and emergency communications and other forms of urban design that influence our daily routines and, in some cases, are there expressly for… Read More
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Waiting for the right professional network
Today there is enough data available to bring people of similar or adjacent profiles closer, and inform them about signals and contexts where they could either help, pay it forward or seek help. Over a period of time, a community (a micro-market network) will form that will prospect for each other — be it for a job or a deal or funding. Read More
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RNDMWRK randomizes remote work with subscription spaces
Toronto entrepreneur David King learned something over the past four months, doing random bringing people together for random dinners at restaurants in Toronto: Many of the people participating were freelancers and entrepreneurs, and many of them wanted somewhere to work more often than they wanted a dinner party. He already had the two ends to his double-sided marketplace, he just… Read More
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Hacking poverty through mobile tech and social entrepreneurship
In Silicon Valley the term “hacker” has evolved to connote high praise for someone particularly creative, ingenious and adept at finding clever new ways to accomplish a difficult task. And it’s with that framework in mind, rather than some of the other meanings that “hack” has represented over time, that I suggested during my recent TEDx talk that Pope Francis and… Read More
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