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Day: November 15, 2021

Living Security CEO and Co-Founder Ashley Rose on Solving Human Cybersecurity Risk

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

The Crunchbase “Female Founder Series” is comprised of stories, Q&As and thought-leadership pieces from glass-ceiling-smashers who overcame the odds and are now leading successful companies, or investing in them.

Ashley Rose is the CEO and co-founder of Living Security. Living Security is a human risk management platform that’s moving the needle in enterprise security by effectively changing human behavior and proactively identifying vulnerabilities.

Prior to founding Living Security, Rose worked on a software team at American Campus Communities, where she quickly developed a strong intuition for delivering customer-centric solutions. She and her husband, Drew Rose, realized that amidst growing cybersecurity threats, there was a massive need at enterprises to improve security training and have a way to measure whether they were reducing risks. In 2017, the duo launched Living Security and now have more than 130 enterprise companies leveraging Living Security’s solutions.

In this Q&A, Ashley shares her journey launching a startup, how she raised more than $20 million in under four years, and the biases she faced from investors. 

Ashley Rose, CEO and Co-founder of Living Security.

Q: Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I have always loved solving problems and helping others by making their lives a little easier. I think that’s really what drives my innovative spirit and led me down this path of founding a company. I first dipped my toe into the entrepreneurial pool as a young mom. I was at the beach, (Read more...)

Aliens Would Visit for Knowledge, Not Resources

by naval
This post is by naval from Naval

They would want to teach us, not imprison us

Brett: I think Stephen Hawking said that it was a mistake to broadcast radio waves out into the universe because the aliens are going to be out there and they’re going to be like conquistadors. They’re going to want to take over our planet for their resources and various other things. 

There’s a couple of responses you can have to the idea of evil aliens coming to get us.

The first is that the only way to make progress into the infinite future and to have the technologies that would enable you to traverse the galaxy, is to have this vision of knowledge that Popper had—namely, that you are freely able to explore the space of ideas, able to falsify assumptions, and don’t have centralized authorities and force being used on paper, which dampens down creativity.

To have a maximally creative society, you have to have freedom, you have to have liberty, and therefore you will have a non-violent society. You’ll have a society that values creativity as an end in itself.

When we encounter the aliens, we shouldn’t expect that they’re going to be immoral bastards that are going to want to take over our resources, but the opposite: They’re going to look at us and think what primitive savages that we are. They’re going to think that we’re moral midgets, and they’re going to want to teach us. They’re not going to want to put us in prison or (Read more...)

The Nuts & Bolts of Hiring Remote

by jasoncalacanis
This post is by jasoncalacanis from Jason Calacanis

Lots of founders have started hiring remote. We brought on Scott Orn from Kruze Consulting to explain the pitfalls & options available to do it right. Listen here: bit.ly/twiste1326

  • Using PEOs to hire far & fast
  • Sales tax implications of a remote team
  • Virtual compliance best practices
How to hire anywhere in the world (legally) | Finance Basics with Kruze Consulting’s Scott Orn | E1326

The post The Nuts & Bolts of Hiring Remote appeared first on Jason Calacanis.

The High Cost of Chronic Diseases Worldwide

by Sponsored Content

The following content is sponsored by NuGen Medical Devices.

Cost of Chronic Diseases

The High Cost of Chronic Diseases Worldwide

Are humans healthier than we ever were in the course of history?

While the state of healthcare systems has drastically improved and we’re living longer lives, there are some diseases that are proving difficult to beat completely—specifically, they are called chronic diseases.

This infographic from NuGen Medical Devices highlights the true cost of chronic diseases, and the pressing challenges we face in treating them.

The Impacts of Chronic Diseases on Healthcare

Chronic diseases refer to conditions that last at least a year, and up to a lifetime. They typically require ongoing medical attention, affect quality of life, or both.

According to the World Health Organization, chronic diseases make up 73% of all global deaths, and an additional 60% of the global burden of disease. This latter measure is an indicator of the impact of living with illnesses and premature deaths.

Here are some contributing risk factors for contracting a chronic disease:

  • Poor nutrition
  • Lack of physical activity
  • Tobacco use
  • Excessive alcohol use

Chronic diseases affect more people than we realize. In the U.S. alone, 6 in 10 adults have at least one chronic disease. They can also compound significantly: it’s estimated that 4 in 10 adults suffer from at least two or more.

So what are the major types of chronic diseases, and their implications?

Highlighting the High Costs of Chronic Diseases

Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are some leading (Read more...)

How One Self-funded Tech CEO is Using Data and Analytics to Drive Passion

by Jaclyn Robinson

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

Nancy Smith is president and CEO of Analytic Partners, a marketing analytics solution provider. Smith founded the company in 2000 after working at ASI (now, Ipsos ASI) and Clairol, where she managed forecasting and analytics. 

In this Q&A, Smith shares more about her passion for turning data into expertise to deliver growth and advice for other entrepreneurs trying to scale their companies.

Nancy Smith, President and CEO of Analytic Partners, headshot
Nancy Smith, President and CEO of Analytic Partners

Q: As a female founder, how did you learn to overcome societal barriers to achieve global impact?

I have always felt confident and empowered–I knew that through imagination, vision and determination, I would be able to make a global impact. As a result, I have always focused on the outcome; the strategy to drive toward success for our clients and ourselves. Whenever I have encountered points of resistance or societal barriers, my strategy has always been to continue pushing forward and focus on the value to be created.  

Q: How have you integrated your values and mission into your own company structure and professional career as a whole?

I have always been passionate about turning data into expertise to deliver growth. Analytic partners’ values are: People, Passion and Growth. We value our People–team members, clients and partners, we are Passionate about turning data into expertise–we love what we (Read more...)

NEW: VC+ Just Got Even Better This Month

by Michelle Takenaka

In 2019, we launched our premium newsletter and community, called VC+, as a way to give our most passionate supporters even more visuals that help in explaining the world.

VC+

But we’re a data-driven brand—and we’ve been listening closely to our thousands of VC+ members. Based on their feedback, it was very clear how we could make the VC+ experience far more valuable and worthwhile for our members.

So, we’ve doubled down on the most popular part of VC+ and we think you’re going to like how it makes your life easier.

Learn about it more below, see what’s on tap for November, and get free samples of what’s been sent to VC+ members recently.

The Trendline

PREMIUM NEWSLETTER: Our Bi-Weekly Newsletter for VC+ Members

                     The Sunday Edition                                          The Midweek Edition

        The Best Visualizations Each Week                 The Best Data and Reports Each Week

Sunday EditionMidweek Edition

                    >> View free sample                                            >> View free sample 

Before, members received The Trendline newsletter once a week. But now, we’ve doubled the dose—members now receive The Trendline twice a week.

On Sundays, we (Read more...)

Long Live the Library

by Collaborative Fund

When you speak to folks with niche passions about how they got into their craft, their stories are often similar.

They stumbled upon it, and it stuck.

It’s usually something like, “I discovered my love of music as a kid while playing piano with my dad.”

Or, “I started making films in a media studies class in junior high and never stopped.”

In high school, my niche thing was graffiti art. Some friends roped me into it and I ended up falling in love. I would go around DC taking photos of street art on my mom’s film camera, then I’d have to go to the library to scan them into the computer.

Eventually, my love for graffiti art naturally gave way to my love for tech.

Spending time taking photos, scanning them, and submitting them to forums online familiarized me with computers and the internet at a time when home computers weren’t yet commonplace. And if it hadn’t been for that library scanner, I would’ve just been sifting through film prints at home alone.

The barrier to entry for most things is access to resources.

For many, a lack of access means a lack of exploration.

And everyone, especially young people, deserves to explore the possibilities in the world around them. A person shouldn’t have to be limited to what’s available or what’s familiar.

That’s why I love public libraries.

Beyond books and being a community space, libraries provide access to technology that isn’t commonplace in the average person’s (Read more...)

A Guide To Scaling Your AI Product

by Jessica Galang
This post is by Jessica Galang from Georgian

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing business — but that doesn’t make it valuable for all organizations looking to generate value and drive growth. The challenge is knowing when and how to use AI wisely. 

Dr. Jerrold Jackson is VP and Head of Machine Learning and Data at Exos, a human performance and wellness company, where he is using AI to deliver personalization and optimize customer experience in real time. At Georgian’s ScaleTech Conference, he shared his insights on the fastest and most effective way to create value by adding AI capabilities to your products and services. 

Drawing on his experience designing and implementing data strategies at Exos and in several other fast-moving industries, Jerrold provided real-life examples of when and how to scale AI in your organization, plus tangible ways to evaluate success. Below, we round up some of the top takeaways from his talk, like the right way to evaluate AI opportunities and scaling your AI product. 

Is AI a good fit?

AI can help companies deliver tremendous value to their customers but it isn’t the right tool for everyone. So how do you evaluate whether AI is the right solution at the right time? Jerrold said the answer is often driven by data. 

AI is data-hungry and requires constant feeding, so it is best applied in industries where data is plentiful and accumulates quickly, such as fintech or adtech, where it can be used to train and refine machine-learning algorithms.  

“Many growth-stage companies don’t naturally have (Read more...)

Visualizing The World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Funds

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

Largest Sovereign wealth funds

Visualized: The World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Funds

Did you know that some of the world’s largest investment funds are owned by national governments?

Known as sovereign wealth funds (SWF), these vehicles are often established with seed money that is generated by government-owned industries. If managed responsibly and given a long enough timeframe, an SWF can accumulate an enormous amount of assets.

In this infographic, we’ve detailed the world’s 10 largest SWFs, along with the largest mutual fund and ETF for context.

The Big Picture

Data collected from SWFI in October 2021 ranks Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (also known as the Norwegian Oil Fund) as the world’s largest SWF.

The world’s 10 largest sovereign wealth funds (with fund size benchmarks) are listed below:

CountryFund NameFund TypeAssets Under Management (AUM) 
?? Norway Government Pension Fund GlobalSWF$1.3 trillion
?? U.S.Vanguard Total Stock Market Index FundMutual fund$1.3 trillion
?? ChinaChina Investment CorporationSWF$1.2 trillion
?? Kuwait Kuwait Investment AuthoritySWF$693 billion
?? United Arab EmiratesAbu Dhabi Investment AuthoritySWF$649 billion
?? Hong Kong SARHong Kong Monetary Authority Investment PortfolioSWF$581 billion
?? SingaporeGovernment of Singapore Investment CorporationSWF$545 billion
?? SingaporeTemasekSWF$484 billion
?? ChinaNational Council for Social Security FundSWF$447 billion
?? Saudi ArabiaPublic Investment Fund of Saudi ArabiaSWF$430 billion
?? U.S.State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF TrustETF$391 billion
?? United Arab EmiratesInvestment Corporation of DubaiSWF$302 billion 

SWF AUM gathered on 10/08/2021. VTSAX (Read more...)