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Free-yay! Grab your calendar and mark November 17, 2022 on it, then get yourself a plane ticket to Miami, Florida. That’s right, TC Sessions continues with a special event for Crypto. It’s our first special crypto event, so come by and turn on your NFTs, blockchains and web3. Buy your tickets today and save a few hundred dollars! — Christine and hi
The ukbusinessupdates.com Top 3
- Exceptional reviews: That’s our game on Better Opinions, an Indian startup that claims to build “a prediction market” and may be Meta’s next acquisition in the region, manish writes.
- Rolling with the default settings: Microsoft users will want to set their July 27 calendar. That’s when the tech giant blocks Office macros by default to reduce malware introduced via email. this is something carly reports were paused by Microsoft earlier this year, but are now back in full swing.
- One company’s cutbacks are another company’s lesson: Big Tech taking time out from hiring could give startups some leeway to dive into that pool of expertise talent and come back with some, like Alex it says, “human capital for their financial capital.”
Startups and VC
‘Shark Tank’, America’s favorite television show, disguised as ‘this is how investing works’, made Mark Cuban a household name. It may therefore come as a surprise that Cuban has generally failed to make a profit on its Shark Tank portfolio, Amanda reports.
Ride-hailing services may be getting a quality boost: “We needed to hire our drivers so we could not only select and vet them, but more importantly train and manage them to provide our passengers with a consistent, high-quality experience.” Alto’s founder told Rebecca.
oh and hi got really excited about interviewing the CEOs of Sarcos Robotics and Boston Dynamic about how to take robots from the lab to the real world.
More? More!
- Domo Arigato: If you missed yesterday’s TC sessions: Robotics, Mat has a great summary so you can keep yourself informed.
- I want a book, an apple and a colonoscopy, please: Amazon bought One Medical, reports Alex, Natasha Mand Mary Ann.
- Beautiful plumage: Custom Wigs, Meet AI – Parfait has raised $15 million to rock the $13 billion custom wig industry, reports Ron.
- Ooh I wouldn’t cut that if I were you: AI platform Theator analyzes surgery videos to improve training and quality of care. The company raised nearly $40 million, Ingrid reports.
- 0.76 billion for opportunitiesMenlo Ventures Raised $761 Million, Largest Opportunity Fund Ever, Harris reports.
How to check founder-investor alignment before starting fundraising?
Image Credits: Joseph Giacomin (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
Everyone wants to get their business off the ground, which is why it’s critical to find an investor who shares your values and perspective.
It’s especially tempting to accept the first offer that comes, but “choosing the right partner for the right stage of your business can make the difference between building a multi-billion dollar business and losing control.”
Partners Evan Kipperman, Paul Hughes and Len Gray of law firm Wiggin and Dana shared a post with TC+ that explores the intricacies of working with institutional investors, angels, friends and family, and capitalists of other styles.
“As it gets harder to get funding, your risk tolerance may change, but your investor evaluation process shouldn’t be.”
(ukbusinessupdates.com+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams move forward. You can register here.)
Big Tech Inc.
It was apparently a day when people announced that they were leaving companies. First, Kirsten report about VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who is leaving the helm after four years. Porsche boss Oliver Blume was appointed by the board to replace Diess from September 1. The move may have been a harbinger – Kirsten writes that Diess has “survived a number of clashes and power struggles with the board and unions over the past two years.”
Then, just as SAP announced its second quarter results, ukbusinessupdates.com learned that DJ Paoni, the president of SAP North America, was leaving after 26 years. Natasha M and Ron have more.
Natasha M was also all over a recent item about Apoorva Mehta, the executive chairman of Instacart, who announced via Twitter that once the company goes public, he will be stepping down from the board of directors.
Now on to some further earnings chats for the second quarter. Snapchat reported that sales were up but missed analyst expectations and declined to predict future financial performance. Aisha reports. Later on the day, Luke writes that Snap’s stock did not do so well because of this. Meanwhile, Twitter reported a quarterly revenue decline and also revealed that it spent $33 million to close the Elon Musk acquisition, Paul writes.
Even more:
- Copyright, schmopyright: Kylea digs a little deeper into commercial image-generating artificial intelligence, and the legal issues within it, in light of the beta launch of the DALL E-2.
- Don’t let that bother you: We enjoyed AmandaThere’s a look at a TikToker that may have gotten over its head with some pink sauce that allegedly contained questionable nutritional information, and some customers reported that the sauce bottle exploded in packets before it arrived at their home.
- Do you want to drive?:Jaclyn brings us a bit of car porn today with a look at the Cadillac Celestiq flagship EV and some explanation from the automaker on why it’s its “most advanced vehicle in 120 years.”
- move over: Oh, and Tesla and its suppliers now have their own dedicated lane when crossing the Mexican border, Rebecca reports.
As you read above, yesterday was TC Sessions: Robotics, so don’t miss out, here are some highlights from Brian and Devin:
