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☆ 'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' smashes box office records with the biggest global opening for an animated film ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" had the biggest opening for an animated film on record. The movie, based on Nintendo's video game, stars Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black. In the US the film took $31.7 million on Wednesday, $26 million on Thursday and a further $146.4 million Friday to Sunday. It's also the biggest opening of any film so far this year, beating "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Hollywood Reporter said "Super Mario" was set to be "the first all-audience blockbuster of 2023."

☆ BNPL Sezzle had a brutal 2022. The fintech's CEO lays out its comeback plan amid a competitive field in payments.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Paige Hagy | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Fintech Sezzle is betting on a comeback after a miserable year for not only itself but the wider buy now, pay later market. Murphy's LawTrue to Murphy's Law, anything that could go wrong did go for Sezzle, Charlie Youakim, Sezzle's CEO, told Insider. In February of 2022, Sezzle announced it would be bought by Zip, another Australian-traded BNPL. The shift leaves room for a "proliferation" of BNPL and other payment options, Savage said. That way, Sezzle can still extend credit to the customer, who can theoretically build on their credit score with short-term payments.

☆ Here is the 14-page pitch deck a fintech helping SMBs get approved for loans via alt data used to raise $1.8 million from ATX Venture Partners, Rex Salisbury, and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Here is the deck Uplinq used to raise a $1.8 pre-seed extension round. One financial-technology startup trying to bring alternative data to small-business lending is catching the attention and dollars of some of the most notable fintech investors in the space. The latest round brings Uplinq's total funding to $5.6 million, with the startup raising its initial $3.5 million pre-seed round in April 2022. And is the credit score really an accurate reflection of their true credit worthiness?" Here's the 14-page pitch deck Uplinq used to raise $1.8 million.

Parafin, launched in 2020, works with so-called platform partners, or companies that other small businesses sell their products through. All the cofounders knew was that they wanted to build technology that would help small businesses. And they may not get their first contract payment from the government for as long as 120 days," Reed, the startup's CEO, told Insider. Helping small businesses manage their taxesComplYant's founder Shiloh Jackson wants to help people be present in their bookkeeping. HoneyBookWhile countless small businesses have been harmed by the pandemic, self-employment and entrepreneurship have found ways to blossom as Americans started new ventures.

☆ Your 30-day plan for bouncing back from a layoff and landing a new job in no time
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Jerry Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But if you structure your first 30 days after a layoff wisely, you'll maximize your chances of landing your next job and minimize the "job gap" in your résumé. It's the same 30-day plan I've recommended to friends and former colleagues — and they all started landing interviews shortly after they followed it. If you're having a hard time remembering, find a similar job description on a job portal and see which are relevant for you. I'm writing to you to introduce myself and reach out for the role you're hiring for. It's important to be upfront about being laid off, but focus on the future — what you hope to gain from the new role you're applying to.

☆ Here are Monday's biggest analyst calls: Apple, Netflix, Disney, Microsoft, Robinhood, Gap & more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Stifel names Microsoft a top 2023 pick Stifel said it likes Microsoft's "strong product portfolio" for 2023. Goldman Sachs downgrades Ulta to neutral from buy Goldman said in its downgrade of the stock that it sees difficult comps. Evercore ISI names Netflix a top idea for 2023 Evercore said it sees "robust revenue growth" for Netflix in 2023. " Goldman Sachs upgrades Gap to buy from neutral Goldman said in its upgrade of the stock that it sees accelerated earnings growth. Cowen names Take-Two a top 2023 pick Cowen said the video game maker has a great "long-term track record."

☆ The cofounder of Wunderkeks cookie company wanted to build a culture where 'hungry' workers apply and thrive — and his mentor helped him get there
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | In Partnership With | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After having a bad employee experience, Hans Schrei, a cofounder of the cookie brand Wunderkeks, swore he would approach hiring differently this time. "How we build a team is going to impact the culture of the company and how it progresses," said Schrei, whose company is based in Austin, Texas. Learning from the pastEntering the mentorship, Wunderkeks needed to hire a CFO, content manager, sales manager, and head of e-commerce as part of its focus on scaling up. Establishing a hiring strategyAt the beginning of the mentorship, Nam expected to jump straight into helping Schrei write job descriptions and interview questions. Through the mentorship experience, Schrei has learned that hiring should be personal and deliberate, thinking of employees as people, not numbers, he said.

☆ How a hybrid work model can offer multiple advantages to the small businesses willing to take the leap
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Dell Technologies | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Many small businesses could benefit from hybrid work, but are discouraged by concerns about productivity, security, and IT capacity. A number of tools from Microsoft and Dell Technologies can be tailored to provide support. Of course, no two small businesses are exactly alike, and each one will have slightly different needs, priorities, and goals for their day-to-day operations as we enter the post-covid era. Find out more about how Dell and Microsoft can help your hybrid work solution. This post was created by Insider Studios with Dell Technologies

☆ Risk officers are the next hot hire for fintechs reaching consumers in new industries, VCs said. Startups are poaching from big companies to find them.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Risk officers don't just safeguard data: They take charge of many regulatory and technological issues in financial-services businesses. But only some fintech companies may benefit from thinking about hiring risk officers early. Large banks still dominate hiring for risk officers, but startups are gaining groundFintech startups want to hire risk officers, but they face a hurdle: There aren't enough risk professionals. But fintech startups have been attracting risk officers from banking giants for a while. Still, according to White, there are benefits to hiring risk officers for both types of companies.

☆ Goldman finds prior year's losers tend to beat the market in the first quarter — 10 laggard buys
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As investors prepare their portfolios for the new year, Goldman Sachs revisited laggard stocks that have the potential to outperform at the start of 2023. In the past, stocks that lagged the broader market tended to become leaders in the first quarter of the following year, according to Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs searched for laggards across several different criteria. Another stock that made the list includes Adobe , which Goldman Sachs considers a buy-rated quality stock trading at a reasonable valuation. In October, Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan identified the name as a tech stock that is resilient in a downturn .

☆ This 'defensive' software stock could jump 70% going forward, Mizuho predicts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Investors should consider buying Intuit heading into 2023 as a defensive way of gaining exposure to the software sector, according to Mizuho. Analyst Siti Panigrahi reiterated a buy rating on Intuit after the company reported its latest quarterly results. The analyst said the company is set up to beat expectations next year after de-risking guidance for its Credit Karma and Small Business verticals. The company also lowered its fiscal 2023 guidance. The 2023 guidance for Intuit's Small Business vertical is similarly "achievable," especially as the the business outperformed in the most recent quarter, according to the note.

☆ TikTok is still hiring despite the tech downturn. Here's how much it pays for hundreds of engineering, marketing, and other US jobs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

Insider analyzed US work-visa data to gauge salary levels at TikTok and parent company ByteDance. The data show TikTok and ByteDance offered staffers on US work visas $30 an hour to $400,000 a year. And TikTok has begun to get into its stride with advertisers who are now taking it more seriously as a marketing platform. Based on the data, TikTok and ByteDance offered from late-2020 to mid-2022 base salaries ranging from $30 per hour to $400,000 per year for various roles. TikTok's median annual base salary was roughly $184,000 per year, based on data from 319 foreign-labor certification applications.

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☆ Sell pandemic darling Zoom Video before it falls even further, Citi says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

There's even more downside for telecommunications stock Zoom Video , according to Citi. Radke's new target implies downside of 17% from Tuesday's close. "ZM's post-COVID recovery, may continue to falter in Q3 as tightening IT budgets and a weaker macro outlook keep SMB new customer acquisitions low and churn elevated," Radke wrote in a Tuesday note. Shares of the one-time pandemic darling are down more than 50% this year after a rise in interest rates and inflation weighed on growth stocks. We forecast near flattish revenue growth next year with slight FCF growth," Radke wrote.

☆ Analysts are still bullish on Microsoft's long-term prospects but see more near-term headwinds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Still, most analysts covering Microsoft remained bullish on the company in the long-term. While a number of firms covering the tech company lowered their 12-month price targets, buy ratings for the tech giant remained intact. The firm reiterated its buy rating but cut its price target to $315 from $330 to reflect slower growth ahead. Lenschow maintained his overweight rating but lowered his price target to $296 per share from $310. The bank has a buy rating on Microsoft and a price target of $282 per share.

☆ 4 ways to establish trust with your workers so that they're more productive and less stressed, according to a senior vice president at Salesforce.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Marie Rosecrans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

She found that leaders build trust by being vulnerable and admitting mistakes. Employees can focus on the work of serving customers and delivering customer success when solid trust exists in the workplace. You can't build trust on shaky ground, so being aloof when it comes to owning up to a mistake can negatively affect a lot of relationships at work. As you're building trust with people, it's important to open yourself up as a way of investing more deeply in your relationships. A big part of that is knowing who you're meeting with, so do your own research (on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google search) to familiarize yourself with all the key players.

☆ These 12 behind-the-scenes execs are innovating TikTok's surging ad business, which will soon be worth more than Snap's and Twitter's combined
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Lindsay Rittenhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

TikTok's ad revenue is expected to triple to $11.64 billion this year, and it's building out products aggressively to hit its goal. In fact, if TikTok's ad revenues triple to $11.64 billion this year from 2021, as Insider Intelligence predicts, it will surpass the combined ad revenues of Twitter and Snapchat combined. Gabriela Comazzetto, head of LATAM global business solutionsComazzetto, another Facebook poach, has been overseeing TikTok's ad business in one of its fastest growing regions for just over a year. Shant Oknayan, general manager of METAP global business solutionsOknayan manages the TikTok for Business platform for the METAP region. Sameer Singh, general manager of APAC global business solutionsSingh oversees the TikTok for Business platform across APAC.

☆ FedEx's Shopify strategy could prove costly as e-commerce cools and logistics firms fight over small business, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The logistics giants are taking different paths when it comes to e-commerce platforms like Shopify. "Every entity in the parcel-delivery market — i.e., UPS, FedEx, USPS, Amazon Logistics, and every third party out there — is looking to that SMB customer," Shanker said. UPS and FedEx are taking opposite approachesMany small e-commerce businesses buy their shipping services through the online platforms they use to sell their products. "They want you to click on the FedEx logo because you think FedEx is great." "I think while FedEx talks about its focus on SMB shippers, I think UPS is actually executing on it," said Rick Watson, the CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting.

☆ TikTok just launched a major offensive to grab advertiser dollars — and these are the top 12 execs who are making the app a major competitor to YouTube and Meta
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-15 | by ( Lindsay Rittenhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

TikTok's ad revenue is expected to triple to $11.64 billion this year, and it's been hiring aggressively to meet that goal. Chandlee spent 12 years at Facebook, where he managed global agency partnerships and client relationships, before joining TikTok in 2019. Monga came from Snap, where she led global agency partnerships and was involved in key presentations and pitches. Shant Oknayan, general manager of METAP global business solutionsOknayan manages the TikTok for Business platform for the METAP region. Sameer Singh, general manager of APAC global business solutionsSingh oversees the TikTok for Business platform across APAC.

☆ PPP SMALL BUSINESS LOANS: How $525 billion in coronavirus-linked loans were spread across banks lenders
▼ + stars: | 2021-02-03 | by ( Insider Intelligence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

This is an update to our May and July PPP Small Business Loans reports. Its average loan size of $104,760 is just over the program's overall average of $101,000—this is particularly impressive when compared with its average loan size of $515,304 in the PPP's first tranche. It approved $6.55 billion in loans with an average loan size of $32,960, making it the bank with the lowest average loan size among top lenders. Best PPP LendersIn PPP Small Business Loans—the final of three updates—Insider Intelligence looks at how different lenders fared at implementing the PPP. Looks into PPP loan sizes and total fees gained by lenders, and examines total funded loans and average loan amounts for the top PPP lenders.

☆ Care vor fi tehnologiile vedetă ale anului viitor și cum ne vor afecta viața
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-15 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +4 min

Mai mult, cei mai mari jucători de pe plan local vor continua să mizeze pe aportul tehnologiei și anul viitor, căci perioada de adaptare și stabilizare nu s-a încheiat, sunt de părere reprezentanții Wizrom Software. Acest lucru se va întâmpla și anul viitor, perioada de transformare nu se încheie aici. Vom vedea mișcări spectaculoase de strategii și modele de afaceri și în 2021, companiile vor investi în soluții IT din cele mai inovatoare”, declară Adrian Bodomoiu, Director General în cadrul Wizrom Software. Credem cu tărie că schimbările aduse de COVID-19 vor determina un nou mod de lucru la nivel global și vor impune inovări tehnologie continue în toate domeniile. Mai mult, aceste softuri vor fi tot mai cerute anul viitor, potrivit directorului Wizrom Software.

Persons: Adrian, ., Adrian Bodomoiu Organizations: Mediafax Locations: România

☆ Employees who trust their bosses have more energy, less stress, and fewer sick days. Here are 4 ways to establish trust with your workers, according to a senior vice president at Salesforce.
▼ + stars: | 2020-12-01 | by ( Marie Rosecrans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Employees can focus on the work of serving customers and delivering customer success when solid trust exists in the workplace. A lack of trust hinders productivity for the simple fact that people aren't able to get their jobs done. As you're building trust with people, it's important to open yourself up as a way of investing more deeply in your relationships. A big part of that is knowing who you're meeting with, so do your own research (on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google search) to familiarize yourself with all the key players. And, if you're facing resistance when you need to deliver feedback, consider these steps:Know whether and when you need to improve.

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