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Day: November 2, 2021

Visualizing Congestion at America’s Busiest Port

by Marcus Lu
This post is by Marcus Lu from Visual Capitalist

America's Busiest Port

The Briefing

  • There are an estimated 540,000 shipping containers waiting in queue at the Port of Los Angeles
  • The port has been unable to keep up with increased shipments from overseas suppliers

The Busiest Port in America: Los Angeles

U.S. e-commerce grew by 32.4% in 2020—the highest annual growth rate in over two decades. Such rapid growth has resulted in many more goods being imported, leaving America’s western ports completely overwhelmed.

To help you understand the scale of this issue, we’ve visualized the number of containers waiting at sea in relation to the Port of Los Angeles’ daily processing capacity.

Stuck at Sea

As of November 2, 2021, the Port of Los Angeles reported that it had 93 vessels waiting in queue. Altogether, these ships have a maximum carrying capacity of roughly 540,000 containers (commonly measured in twenty-foot equivalent units or TEUs).

On the other side of the equation, the port processed 468,059 import containers in September (the most recent data at the time of writing). Because the port does not operate on Sundays, we can conclude that the port can load roughly 18,000 containers each day.

That capacity seems unlikely to reduce the congestion. Over a two-week timeframe in September, 407,695 containers arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, which averages to around 29,000 containers arriving each day.

FigureApproximate Number of Containers
Current backlog540,000
Daily import arrivals29,000
Daily import capacity18,000
Daily increase in backlog11,000

What’s Being Done?

Solutions are needed to prevent the backlog (Read more...)

Angel Investment: Sauce Pricing

by Jo Tango
This post is by Jo Tango from jtangoVC.com

We’re happy to announce that our family angel program (back 80+ entrepreneurs over eight years and donate all gains to charity; details here) has invested in Sauce Pricing. It is our 20th investment so far (portfolio here). The company uses AI to improve deliveries for restaurants. One of my former students, Kevin D. Johnson, introduced

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The post Angel Investment: Sauce Pricing appeared first on jtangoVC.com.

Open Data: A New Power Struggle Emerges

by Sponsored Content

The following content is sponsored by the Hinrich Foundation.

Hinrich Foundation

Why the World Needs Open Data

Over the last 10 years, data has quickly become one of the world’s most abundant resources.

It’s easy to see how, as well. Things we use on a day-to-day basis—phones, TVs, and even home appliances—are often connected to the internet and thus able to collect data. The result is 64 zettabytes (64 trillion gigabytes) of data being created in 2020.

When we are able to share and analyze this data, we can unlock value for both businesses and society. For instance, health data collected from wearable devices can help governments make better decisions during a pandemic. Location data collected from smartphones can enable businesses to reach customers more efficiently. The list goes on and on.

In this infographic from the Hinrich Foundation, we highlight the importance of open data, and why some governments are trying to control the flow of data.

Open Data Comes Under Attack

Open data is data that can be freely shared, used, and built upon without restrictions—all important criteria for facilitating global trade and e-commerce.

Unfortunately, a handful of countries see data as a tool for gaining economic and political power. This leads them to impose data localization measures which hamper the international flow of data, digital products, or internet-enabled services.

The following table lists countries that have at least three of these measures.

CountryNumber of data localization measures
?? China29
?? India12
?? Russia9
?? Turkey7
?? (Read more...)

Snap Vision Founder And CEO Jenny Griffiths On Revolutionizing Fashion With AI

by Ayzia Vizcocho
This post is by Ayzia Vizcocho from Blog – Crunchbase

The Crunchbase “Female Founder Series” comprises stories, Q&As and thought-leadership pieces from glass-ceiling-smashers who overcame the odds and are now leading successful companies.

Jenny Griffiths is the founder and CEO of Snap Vision, a visual search company working with the fashion industry to revolutionize online shopping. Griffiths is a software engineer turned entrepreneur and was named by Forbes as one of the World’s Top Women in Technology. She won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s silver medal for contributions to U.K. engineering and was also awarded an MBE for Services to Innovation in the Fashion Industry.

In this Q&A, Griffiths shares the problems she’s solving in the fashion industry, the qualities needed to pioneer in her industry, and advice she has for other women beginning their entrepreneurial journeys. 

Jenny Griffiths, Founder and CEO of Snap Vision

Q: What inspired you to start Snap Vision?

While studying for my degree in computer science I became fascinated by AI and computer vision. I had an idea to make a piece of software capable of identifying clothing from magazines and on people’s bodies, simply by taking a photo. 

I started working on making the idea a reality purely as an academic project, but the more people I told about it, the more people asked to have a go so they could find some clothing they had seen.  That’s when I knew I had a business and Snap Vision was born. In 2012 we launched as the world’s first (Read more...)

The 3 Presentation Templates Junior Sales Reps Need

by Jaclyn Robinson

This article is part of the Crunchbase Community Contributor Series. The author is an expert in their field and a Crunchbase user. We are honored to feature and promote their contribution on the Crunchbase blog.

Please note that the author is not employed by Crunchbase and the opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect official views or opinions of Crunchbase, Inc.

Selling has never been easy, particularly for sales representatives starting their careers or learning new products and territories. Throw in a global pandemic, remote selling and economic uncertainties, and it’s harder than ever to connect with and wow buyers. 

It’s imperative sales teams have the tools and processes it takes to win in this selling environment. The more streamlined and seamless those tools and processes are, the better, particularly for junior reps who are still learning the ropes. Thankfully, technology exists today to  ease the learning curve for these reps and help them hit the ground running to move leads through the sales cycle. 

 

Modern presentation software 

Sales collateral has always played an important role in converting leads into new business. 

How sales teams have created and shared that collateral has changed over time, in large part due to advances in technology and, more recently, the pandemic. This means tweaking the same old PowerPoint deck won’t cut it anymore. 

Presentation software today is so much more than a single, static presentation deck. Savvy organizations recognize buyers demand more and invest in technology that sets teams (Read more...)

Technology, Innovation, and Great Power Competition – Class 4- Semiconductors

by steve blank
This post is by steve blank from Steve Blank

This article first appeared in West Point’s Modern War Institute.  

We just completed the fourth week of our new national security class at Stanford – Technology, Innovation and Great Power Competition. Joe Felter, Raj Shah and I designed the class to cover how technology will shape all the elements of national power (America’s influence and footprint on the world stage).

In class 1, we learned that national power is the combination of a country’s diplomacy (soft power and alliances), information/intelligence, military power, economic strength, finance, intelligence, and law enforcement. This “whole of government approach” is known by the acronym DIME-FIL.  And after two decades focused on counter terrorism, the U.S. is now engaged in great power competition with both China and Russia.

In class 2 the class focused on China, the U.S.’s primary great power competitor. China is using all elements of national power: diplomacy (soft power, alliances, coercion), information/ intelligence (using its economic leverage over Hollywood, controlling the Covid narrative), its military might and economic strength (Belt and Road Initiative) as well as exploiting Western finance and technology. China’s goal is to challenge and overturn the U.S.-led liberal international order and replace it with a neo-totalitarian model.

The third class focused on Russia, which is asserting itself as a great power challenger. We learned how Russia pursues security and economic interests in parallel with its ideological aims. At times, these objectives complement each other. At other times they clash, Putin’s desire (Read more...)

Never Ever Ever a Better Time To Start A Company …Angel List Stack

by Howard Lindzon
This post is by Howard Lindzon from Howard Lindzon

In the early 1990’s when I started my first software company (MicroBase), it would take a few weeks for the phone company to show up at your office. Getting a bank account was a brutal process and that was just for paper checks. We sold software in packaged boxes through retailers like Egghead that went bankrupt on us or paid ‘net never’.  There was no internet and even though it was Phoenix, I remember having to walk through snow six miles uphill both ways everyday.

Life for an entrepreneur keeps getting better in 2021 and it does not hurt that global warming killed snow and the FED makes it rain US Dollars.

Recently AngelList launched Angel stack to help people effortlessly create a fundraising-ready startup. Angel stack includes: Incorporation, Banking, Equity Management, Fundraising, and Hiring.

AngelList stack provides:

– A Delaware C Corporation with founder-friendly docs
– An interest-bearing checking account with free wires
– Physical and virtual debit cards
– An automatically updating cap table
– Single link fundraising (direct & RUV)

The total cost is just $500.

Yesterday I was speaking to Avlok, the AngelList CEO, and he said the uptake has been incredible.

It is great news that not only is it the easiest and best time to start a company, but that people are taking advantage of it by starting their company with products like Angel stack.

Make sure you tell your friends and kids about it.

Disclosure – I am an investor in AngelList and been (Read more...)