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☆ When he's not starring on Love is Blind, Berkeley Haas' Sikiru 'SK' Alagbada likes to invest in startups. Here's what he looks for.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Love Is Blind" contestant Sikiru "SK" Alagbada got into UC Berkeley's MBA program in 2021. Alagbada worked as a data engineer and is now the co-chair of LAUNCH, the UC startup accelerator. "It's almost like a mini-YC," he said, referring to the famous Silicon Valley startup accelerator, Y Combinator. He looks for startups that have a clear "founder-market fit," whether it's in terms of technical expertise or a strong network, Alagbada told Insider. When it comes to his personal investing, Alagbada prioritizes startups based in Africa.

☆ How Y Combinator-backed Web3 startup Courtyard raised $7 million and plans to redefine NFTs and the marketplace for digital collectibles
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Y Combinator-backed Web3 startup Courtyard has raised $7 million in seed funding led by NEA. Nicolas le Jeune was working at YouTube when he caught the NFT bug. Le Jeune, Courtyard's CEO, cofounded the startup with Paulin Andurand, who serves as the company's CTO. Le Jeune and Andurand launched a proof of concept by buying up packs of Pokémon cards with money lent from a friend. Fortunately, le Jeune and Andurand had already begun to make inroads with investors.

☆ This Y Combinator-backed startup wants to transform how hotels manage guests. Check out the 21-slide pitch deck Canary Technologies used to raise $30 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Canary Technologies has raised $30 million to overhaul the way hotels manage guests digitally. The startup's platform is used by global brands such as Radisson Hotels and Best Western. Check out the 21-slide pitch deck it used to raise the Series B round below. The startup's tech is used by brands such as Radisson Hotels, Best Western, and Four Seasons. Check out the 21-slide pitch deck it used to raise the funds below:

☆ How 32-year-old Katherine Homuth built the Y Combinator-backed startup behind the 'indestructible' Sheertex tights that are taking the hosiery industry by storm
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Homuth had to find a brand new fiber and build her own supply chain to create Sheertex tights. At least that's what SRTX founder and CEO Katherine Homuth, whose core product line is Sheertex tights, thought back in 2017. Before founding SRTX, Homuth had gained tons of supply chain experience starting another company in 2011 called ShopLocket, which focused on ecommerce sales support. It took another year-and-a-half, but by the end of 2019, Sheertex tights were finally as comfortable as Homuth had originally intended. These days, Homuth is focused on expanding SRTX's product line, so that the company is known for more than just making Sheertex tights.

☆ Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck Y Combinator alum Shimmer used to raise $1.3 million to bring ADHD coaching to adults
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Y Combinator alum Shimmer raised $1.3 in funding from VCs like Honeystone Ventures and Koa Labs. The startup provides ADHD coaching for adults. The adult ADHD space is much smaller, with medication-focused startups like Cerebral and Done receiving regulatory scrutiny for over-prescribing controlled medication like Adderall and putting patients at risk. At Shimmer, Wang says the focus on coaching, as opposed to medication, is a better long-term solution for many people managing ADHD. Here's a look at the 15-slide pitch deck Shimmer used to raise its seed round.

☆ This HR tech startup raised a $3 million seed round from Google and Y Combinator without a pitch deck. Here's how.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Jacob E. Robbins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

HR tech startup Pastio just raised a $3.25 million seed round without a pitch deck. Pasito, an HR tech startup, just raised $3.25 million in seed funding on Monday led by Google and Y Combinator — and it did so without a pitch deck. That generated lots of interest from investors, and helped it stand out in a hot HR tech market, Roteta told Insider. The HR tech firm pulls data from across internal records and the US census to pair workers with health insurance and retirement plans. But Pasito enters a hot market for HR tech.

☆ CEO of Singapore's multi-million dollar homecare start-up shares top tips for success
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's doing good, while doing well," said Gillian Tee, co-founder and CEO of Homage. After spending 15 years abroad, Singaporean entrepreneur Gillian Tee decided to return home in 2016 to be closer to her family. "I started off as a software developer and I was just very drawn to it because I liked building things. Gillian Tee Co-founder and CEO, HomageShe was referring to the book Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days, written by Jessica Livingston, who co-founded seed stage investment firm Y Combinator. Gillian Tee Co-founder and CEO, Homage"It's important to lean on specialists for clinical governance and compliance.

☆ Silicon Valley's not-so-secret thing for turning everyone into millionaires is angel investing. Here's how they do it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Once only for the superrich, angel investing is now open to anyone with a few thousand dollars. With an estimated 360,000 active angel investors, it's become a favorite pastime in Silicon Valley. "It felt like gambling," David Spreng, a veteran venture-debt investor who's been angel investing as a side hustle for more than a decade, said. He wrote his first angel check shortly thereafter, a $1,000 investment in an electric-aircraft maker. The currency of Silicon Valley"Your currency, for lack of a better term, in Silicon Valley is you either started a company or you angel invest, right?"

☆ How to improve your workday without quitting your job — and how to know when it's time to leave
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Shana Lebowitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Sometimes your job really isn't a fit, and it helps to know how to cautiously make a career change. In that case, it can be heartening to know that there are plenty of relatively simple ways to improve your work experience. Read more:A few small changes can make you happier at a job you don't like, experts sayNot quite ready to quit your job? In other words, think about how your work will help you get your next job, the one you really want. Here's what you need to know about the challenges you'll face overhauling your work life.

☆ This Y Combinator-backed fintech provides loans to small businesses in Africa. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck Numida used to raise $12.3 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Numida, a Ugandan fintech that offers credit to small businesses, has raised $12.3 million in new funding. The startup, which was founded by three Canadian Y Combinator graduates in 2015, wants to expand access to working capital for businesses across Africa. Numida believes there are 20 million small and micro businesses lacking working capital, an opportunity it values at around $5 billion. "Our initial process was simple: How do we provide the best form of working capital to excluded people?" Serena Williams' fund Serena Ventures is leading a $7.3 million portion of equity funding alongside Breega, 4Di Capital, Launch Africa, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, and MFS Africa.

☆ Karn Saroya's Web3 seed startup is creating a version of Lloyds of London for crypto. It was just valued at $100 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( April Joyner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Web3 reinsurance company Re has raised $14 million from investors such as Tribe Capital. Now he's seeking to apply Web3 tools to make that industry, which is dominated by firms such as Munich Re and Lloyds of London, more accessible. The company participated in Tribe Capital's crypto incubator, Tribe Crypto Labs, and its other investors include Defy, Exor, Stratos, Framework, Morgan Creek Digital, and SiriusPoint. Cover started out as a search tool for insurance policies but then became an insurer in its own right. Like other financial products, such as mortgages and loans, insurance policies can be bundled up and sold as securities.

☆ Designers say Figma gave them 'superpowers.' With Adobe's $20 billion takeover, some think the beloved startup is as good as dead.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | Jessica Xing | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

When Adobe announced its $20 billion bid for Figma, the design community was immediately concerned. When Adobe announced it was acquiring the design startup Figma for $20 billion, designers were quick to express their discontent over the blockbuster deal. So when Adobe announced its intention to buy Figma, much of the design community was immediately concerned. Designers worry Figma will become less accessibleWhile Field's committment to keeping prices the same for now may reassure some, others are skeptical. And some designers Insider spoke to say the acquisition could even benefit companies that have been paying a hefty bill for both.

☆ Sequoia partner Jess Lee reveals 4 do's and don'ts for founders who hope to be selected for the firm's new ultracompetitive accelerator
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jess Lee, a Sequoia partner, shared tips for founders hoping to be selected for next year. The firm's first US Arc class is beginning its second week of a seven-week intensive course to help founders hone their startup business plans. It isn't enough to just have a great business idea, Lee said — the idea has to be in a market where there is the possibility of huge disruption and growth. "It's not easy to start a company," Lee said. "At seed and preseed it is so much about the story of who you are and why you had this insight," Lee said.

☆ The CEO of a plant-science startup that's raised $27 million shares the biggest lessons he learned about pitching investors while at Y Combinator
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-08 | by ( Sasha Weilbaker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He was accepted into Y Combinator and adjusted his pitch to focus on a quick business sell. Since Y Combinator, the company has secured $27 million from three funding rounds. This led to the founding of The Supplant Company. Companies like Airbnb, Instacart, Dropbox, and more have gotten their starts through Y Combinator. "One of the hard things I learned at Y Combinator is the difference between doing what's right for the business versus doing what you want to do," Simmons said.

Shivon Zilis was pictured for the first time alongside Elon Musk and their twins on Wednesday. Musk quietly fathered twins with Zilis, a director at Neuralink, in 2021. She has a high-level role at NeuralinkIn 2017, Zilis joined Neuralink, the futuristic brain microchip company also co-founded by Musk. Tesla's new Gigafactory is located near Austin, and court documents obtained by Insider show list Musk and Zilis as residents of that address. Zilis and Musk's twins were born in November, a few weeks before Musk and the musician Grimes had their second child via surrogate.

Persons: Shivon Zilis, Elon Musk, Musk, Zilis, Elon Musk's, Walter Isaacson, —, Isaacson, Musk wasn't, Twitter —, Justine, Grimes, he's, Ray Kurzweil, I've, Sam Altman, Neuralink, Tesla, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, ck Elon Musk, Gonzalez, Austin Zilis Organizations: Elon, Service, SpaceX, Twitter, Yale University, Yale, IBM, Bloomberg Beta, Forbes, Canadian, Conference, Neuralink, California Locations: Zilis, Wall, Silicon, Austin, Ontario, Canada, Markham , Ontario, California, Texas, Boca Chica, South Texas

☆ What to know about the booming psychedelics industry, where companies are racing to turn magic mushrooms and MDMA into approved medicines
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-30 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

In the early days of the industry, nonprofits and scrappy startups made up the psychedelics space. Research on compounds like psilocybin, the active compound found in magic mushrooms, and MDMA is resurfacing after years of neglect amid the war on drugs. Soon, VC firms focused on psychedelics companies began to emerge. Some psychedelics VCs, however, are still wary about entering the newest psychedelics space: Oregon's soon-to-be-legal magic mushroom market. Insider published a list of the psychedelics startups that raised the most cash in 2020.

☆ Burger King's owner opened its first ghost kitchen in Miami. Meet 7 innovative ghost-kitchen startups expanding the multibillion-dollar segment beyond the models developed by CloudKitchens and Reef Te
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-27 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Burger King's owner recently opened its first ghost kitchen, or digital food hall, in Miami. Meet 7 nontraditional ghost kitchen startups. And, recently, the parent of Burger King, Restaurant Brands International, opened its first ghost kitchen in Miami. These ghost kitchens on wheels, outfitted with cooking equipment and chefs, can be hailed through an app. The company, which ended its partnership with Miami-based Reef Technology this year, is not labeling the facility as a ghost kitchen.

☆ Inside the disastrous early days of the Thiel Fellowship and the depression, mental health issues, and drug abuse that followed
▼ + stars: | 2021-09-21 | by ( Dorothy Cucci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After reading the script for "The Social Network," Peter Thiel didn't like how the film portrayed him. But for some Thiel fellows, the program ended up being "disastrous," according to a new biography about the billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist. The staff failed to act quickly enough to help either of them, past fellows told Chafkin. I just need someone to hang out with," one Thiel fellow told Chafkin. One fellow told Chafkin that "they'd come to regard their time with Thiel not as some profound intellectual exercise, but rather, 'a super-smart PR move.'"

☆ 33-year-old self-made multimillionaire: Here's how to achieve extreme success
▼ + stars: | 2019-01-30 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

On Thursday, Altman revealed how to achieve such extreme success in blog post called "How To Be Successful." It's been viewed more than 200,000 times, according to Altman's site, and he calls it "one of the most important things I've ever written." This is very long, but I think one of the most important things I've ever written. "It is much more important to work on the right thing than it is to work many hours," says Altman. It's also easier to work hard when you have fewer other responsibilities, which is frequently but not always the case when you're young," Altman says.

☆ LinkedIn May Not Be The Coolest Social Network, But It's Only Becoming More Valuable To Businesses
▼ + stars: | 2014-07-23 | by ( Cooper Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

LinkedIn has developed a special identity — and utility — as the social network for professionals. BI IntelligenceEngagement is rising fast on LinkedIn, as the social network becomes a content destination. The social network is also high-income and highly educated, and it has a big international presence. Already, a survey from Cogent Research finds that LinkedIn is the preferred social network by a wide margin for building a brand identity. The report also spotlights the opportunities that lie ahead for each social network, and how social media usage compares between the U.S. and international markets.

Persons: Y Combinator, Gerry Tan Organizations: LinkedIn, Business, Insider Intelligence, U.S, Facebook, Twitter

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