This is the tale of a technology enabled phoenix. This is the tale of the death of a startup. It is the tale of betrayal and survival. It is long. It is a tale of redemption. It is worth the read. In the year 2011, I was inspired to start a technology-enabled primary care practice that would cut the cost of healthcare in half while 10x-ing the patient experience. I knew a lot about healthcare but nothing about running a clinic. Yet, I knew that I had done harder things
By all traditional estimates, Merline Saintil was not destined for success. Growing up as a poor girl in Haiti, she never dreamed of working side by side with world-class engineers and leaders in Silicon Valley. But, one afternoon at a career fair changed everything. “Actually, my first love was math. I only stumbled into computer science (CS) during a career fair in college. I credit this fortuitous event for propelling me from humble beginnings as a 5-year-old immigrant to living in the epicenter of Silicon Valley in less than a
BetterCloud are hiring for a whole bunch of roles on pocitjobs.com. Check it out! Tell us a bit about yourself? Sure. My Name is Mosi Platt. I’m a security compliance manager at BetterCloud. I joined the company on March 1st, 2018. Before joining BetterCloud, I was a governance risk and compliance consultant for 16 years. What’s your typical day like? So a typical day for me, the first thing I do when I come in and check email and check slack messages. And then I will start working. We are
Earlier this week, I decided to leave the London-based Pre-seed accelerator programme, Entrepreneur First (EF). I was a member of the 10th London cohort. EF is a startup accelerator backed by Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn), Greylock Partners, Mosaic Ventures, Founders Fund and Lakestar. Their USP is that they invest pre-team and pre-idea (truly pre-seed in every sense). I originally joined EF, because I bought into the opportunity presented that ‘EF is one the best place to find a co-founder and build a globally important company.’ It is important to
Alexandria Prather is Director of Strategic Partnerships and the latest member of the senior staff at All Star Code. What’s your background? I’m originally from Indianapolis. I did undergrad at Indiana University (go Hoosiers!) where I majored in International Studies & Spanish, and then American University in Washington DC, where I earned a Masters in Public Policy. When I was in DC doing my Masters, I interned at the White House and worked in Leader Nancy Pelosi’s and Representative André Carson’s office. I also worked at The Brookings Institution, a
We are so used to the narrative of the starving artist, or the former star crashing and burning, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at those hip-hop artists using tech to buck the trend. The ones who have been wise enough to capitalize on tech’s slow coup-ted of every industry. The ones who have been investing in startups, raising capital and founding their very own. This is far from the canonical list, and I’ve missed out on many others [honorable mention to Chamillionaire, and of course Dr.
Tell us about yourself and what you do? I am a proud Londoner living in New York, passionate about creative marketing and innovation in the media tech space. This currently plays out for me in my day job at Verizon, where I work within the innovation team as a Senior Product Manager. I predominately lead teams of engineers, designers, and strategists to focus on how we can better video content experiences for the millions of customers globally. Verizon’s video content spans across their FIOS cable network, streaming services or range
When it really comes down to it, there are only three initial paths you can take as a startup founder. These three, according to Porter (in ‘Generic Competitive Strategies’) are: Cost leadership: low-cost provider in your space Differentiation: providing a unique product Focus/niche: pick a segment (geography, market or product) Three primary approaches to entering a market To bring a product to market with one of these three is not innovative regardless of how you finesse it on a pitch deck. Where it gets more interesting is in combining two of
In 2016 I discovered the library by our new home. It’s been amazing! I’ve been able to avoid buying books while being able to read them. Finding the library coincided with a lot of travel across the world. Throw on top of that a lot of time assisting startups, VestedWorld’s world-changing portfolio, and it’s made for a year filled with learning to do 3 things I love; improving company operations, reading and writing (culminating in Linkedin selecting me as a Top Voice for Technology and my publishing a book I
Here are a few lessons I picked up raising our seed round for Amaliah.co.uk. [All the investor quotes are genuine but anonymised]. 1. Don’t be put off Investor: “I simply believe that what you are doing is going to fail” Meh…. Everyone will have an opinion. Not everyone you meet will understand what it is that you are trying to do. As long as you know, that is all you need. 2. Know what words are sexy AI, Fintech, VR = Sexy Words 😍 E-commerce, advertising = Unsexy 😷
