Business – Page 17

42 percent of startups fail for this one simple reason (It’s not what you think)

May 2, 2018

Close to half of the over 100 startups analyzed made this mistake — and never recovered.

CBI Insights recently analyzed 101 startup post-mortems (reports they wrote after they failed). The researchers extracted the top reasons startups fail, including things like a pivot going wrong; legal challenges; disharmony within the team or with investors; poor marketing; and of course the one frequently cited: running out of cash money.

But the number one reason was none of those.

It was far simpler: the startup didn’t solve a big enough problem.

Continue reading… “42 percent of startups fail for this one simple reason (It’s not what you think)”

Analysis, Business, Human Behavior, New Viewpoints

Steve Blank: The unexpected reason why people start their own companies

April 22, 2018

A controversial study suggests that people become entrepreneurs because they realize they’re worth more than their resumes.

If you asked me why I gravitated to startups rather than work in a large company I would have answered at various times: “I want to be my own boss,” “I love risk,” “I want flexible work hours,” “I want to work on tough problems that matter,” “I have a vision and want to see it through,” “I saw a better opportunity and grabbed it. …”

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Analysis, Business, Life Skills

Here’s how old you should be when you start a company, according to science. (It’s not what you think)

April 22, 2018

The National Bureau of Economic Research used Census data to find the average age of super-successful founders.

Company founders can be as young as in their teens or as old as in their 80s. But is there an ideal age you should be when you start a company? It turns out there is, and it’s older than you may think.

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Alternative Transportation, Animals, Business, Transportation, Uber

Shared mobility is growing, but the ride-sharing economy still has a long way to go

April 20, 2018

If you live in a US city, car-sharing services like Lyft and Uber might seem omnipresent. However, the ride-sharing economy still has a ways to go, at least according to consumer sentiment.

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Business, Economy, Latest Trend

Retail bankruptcies just hit an all-time high — and these 18 companies could be the next to default

April 16, 2018

Retail bankruptcies hit an all-time high in the first quarter of the year, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

Sears, J.Crew, and Neiman Marcus are among the companies that could be next to default, according to S&P Global Ratings.

The fallout is far from over, however, with many more defaults expected for the remainder of 2018.

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Battery, Business, Energy, Latest News, New Discoveries

A massive, ‘semi-infinite’ trove of rare-earth metals has been found in Japan

April 13, 2018

Researchers have found hundreds of years’ worth of rare-earth materials underneath Japanese waters — enough to supply to the world on a “semi-infinite basis,” according to a study published in Nature Publishing Group’s Scientific Reports.

Rare-earth metals are crucial in the making of high-tech products such as electric vehicles and batteries, and most of the world has relied on China for almost all of its needs.

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Business, Coding, Entertainment, Game Development

Indie game publishers are the new indie rock labels

April 11, 2018

A new wave of boutique publishers is helping indies create better games.

In 2008, Vivendi, the parent company of Sierra Entertainment, merged with game publisher Activision. The result was a new, monolithic corporation called Activision Blizzard, that was now home to some of the biggest games in the world, like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. At the time, Sierra had a number of upcoming games on its slate, including an exciting heavy-metal adventure from Double Fine, the studio of game design legend Tim Schafer. The game was called Brutal Legend, and it starred Jack Black in the lead role. It was also one of many games to be canceled following the merger. What followed was a protracted process in which EA signed on to publish the game instead, only for Activision to sue Double Fine, followed by Double Fine filing a countersuit. During the toughest moments of game development, those last desperate months when the small details finally come together, Schafer and his team were distracted by legal matters.

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Aviation, Business, Space, Space Flight

Rocket Lab readies its first commercial launch

April 11, 2018

Rocket Lab’s Electron booster stands on the launchpad during testing

Following a successful January test launch that saw its Electron booster reach orbit for the first time, Rocket Lab is now getting down to business. The US-based private space firm and its wholly owned New Zealand-based subsidiary have announced plans to go ahead with its first fully commercial mission, with the launch window to open later this month.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Housing, Insurance, Space

This data startup uses artificial intelligence to figure out if your roof is in decent shape

April 10, 2018

When you first buy a house, your insurance company doesn’t know very much about it or how much insuring it will cost. That’s because it first has to send out an inspector to look at the exterior of your house, take measurements, and check out your roof to see what kind of shape it’s in.

Cape Analytics, a Mountain View-based data analytics startup, aims to change all that. Its API-pipeline can feed an insurance company information about a house’s exterior square footage, roof type, roof condition, changes in a home and more – all thanks to the use of machine learning to analyze aerial imagery.

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Business, Employment, Latest Trend

A new wave of innovation hubs sweeping the world

April 9, 2018

Around the world, in places like Barcelona, Paris, Buenos Aires and New York, there’s an exciting new co-location concept spurring innovation: Multi-sector innovation hubs that span a range of business models, ownership structures, and physical layouts. The goal of all is to create a motivating work environment where businesses of all kinds can learn from each other, make connections, develop new skills, and get inspired to reach the next level. Many of the hubs occupy imaginatively repurposed iconic buildings, including museums, warehouses, train stations, navy yards and hospitals, giving new life to underutilized parts of cities that had lost their previous vibrancy. What follows are six of the best global innovation hubs.

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Analysis, Business, Human Behavior, Latest Trend

73 Percent of Millennials are Willing to Spend More Money on This 1 Type of Product

April 3, 2018

It’s not even close to avocado toast.

In 2015, Nielsen polled 30,000 consumers in 60 countries around the world. They wanted to know more about what influences how people feel about brands, and how those feelings impact buying behavior.

One overwhelming conclusion of the report? That across the board, consumers are willing to pay extra for one thing: sustainability.

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Advertising, Business, Corporate Manipulation, Marketing

The rise of strategic narrative in marketing

April 2, 2018

It’s no secret that a person who talks endlessly about themselves is a bore. For years, businesses have been guilty of this “look at me” approach when it comes to positioning and messaging. Mission statements, inward value manifestos and the overuse of self-serving superlatives result in a dead end of unfocused and uninspiring brand messaging.

But the use of narrative in marketing is quietly and slowly gaining traction. While storytelling has helped move the needle away from traditional messaging approaches, narrative addresses the more strategic role industry vision and leadership play in the growth and success of an organization.

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