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☆ Cloud stocks creamed as Fed indicates more rate hikes are coming
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Investors pounded cloud software stocks on Wednesday on concern that interest rates will rise for longer than previously expected. Cloud stocks have been particularly sensitive to rising rates as investors prefer to own stocks with stronger current earnings that are less reliant on future growth. But for money-losing companies — and many cloud stocks are not profitable — the calculus is completely different. One gauge of cloud stocks, the WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund, is now down 51% for 2022, compared with a 110% rise in 2020. CrowdStrike , Qualtrics and other cloud software stocks have reported more scrutiny of deals in recent months.

☆ I run an 8-figure biscuit business that started as a side gig. Here's how I caught the attention of major distributors like Whole Foods and Costco.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Kimanzi Constable | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Ayeshah Abuelhiga, 36, started selling biscuits in 2014 as a side hustle while consulting full time. A customer asked if she would consider selling frozen dough so they could bake the biscuits at home. The day after, I drove a big ice chest filled with frozen biscuits to the stall before work. Two hours later, I got a call from my chef asking whether we had more frozen biscuits at the off-site kitchen because we had sold out. The company turned over eight figures last year, and Target, Publix, Safeway, Costco, and Aldi all stock our frozen biscuits.

☆ Who's up and who's down in the latest Goldman Sachs restructuring under CEO David Solomon
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

And he will also oversee a wealth management business that is now going to include portions of the consumer business, but wrapped in a wealth management offering. Both, according to Bloomberg's reporting, are being demoted to senior positions within Nachmann's asset and wealth management division. Stephanie CohenAnother executive thought by insiders to have lost some of her territory is Stephanie Cohen, the co-head of the consumer and wealth management division. Had Cohen been able to successfully helm the consumer and wealth management division alongside Tucker York, the currently discussed changes wouldn't have been needed, the people said. Cohen's co-head, York, will now return to his prior role of running the bank's successful private wealth management business.

☆ Google's hologram video call booths want to make you 'feel like you're there'—and they might be coming to your office
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In fact, it might not be long before you're attending a virtual work meeting with lifelike, 3D representations of your colleagues. That's the future Google is working toward: The company says it's expanding testing of its Project Starline, 3D video call booths where you can chat with holographic versions of your friends, family or coworkers. Google has not yet revealed its ultimate plans for the technology, including whether it'll eventually look to sell the 3D video booths to companies, consumers or both. In offices, the booths could theoretically be useful for meetings with remote workers, job candidates or corporate clients in other countries. Bill Gates has predicted that within a few years, "most virtual meetings" could take place in the metaverse, using those types of digital avatars.

☆ New cars are still selling for over MSRP. Here's how to avoid sticker shock
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A couple browses a car's sticker price. For example, Mercedes-Benz purchasers paid between 2% to 4% more than the sticker price. On top of that, the average price of used cars has been steadily dropping, even if that was coming down from a very high point. In August, the average used car sold for $28,061, a 4% year-over-year decline but still up nearly 40% from December 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic. The recent decline is a function of used car sales slowing, down 9% in August from a year earlier, making it even more likely you might get a good deal on a used car lot.

☆ Disney and Netflix are battling to sell ads on their cheaper versions, but Disney's pricing and seasoned sales teams are winning with brands
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Netflix is launching a tier with ads Nov. 3, with Disney+ following with a similar offering Dec. 8. Evercore estimated two-thirds of Disney+ subscribers would switch to the ad tier but the uptake remains a question. To be sure, many initial commitments to Disney+ Basic were negotiated as part of the larger TV upfront deals and ranged based on agencies' total spend. If Disney+ Basic underdelivers for advertisers, those buyers also have the assurance that Disney can fill the gaps with other parts of its video business. Disney+ has 152 million subscribers, including 45 million in the US, with a goal of hitting up to 165 million by the end of 2024.

☆ Exclusive: How Pigment, a business-planning startup, raised $65 million in Series B funding from IVP and Meritech Capital without a pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Pigment's cofounder shared how the team raised $65 million in Series B funding without a pitch deck. That inspired her to cofound Pigment, a startup based in France that recently raised $65 million in Series B funding from IVP and Meritech Capital. The capital was an extension of a Series B round in late 2021. Pigment — which competes against software companies like SAP, Oracle, Workday, and Anaplan — raised $73 million in Series B funding led by Greenoaks in November. Crespo told Insider that the company hadn't been planning to raise additional funding but was contacted by IVP and Meritech, which had heard about Pigment from customers.

☆ Jim Koch used 2 strategies when creating Samuel Adams 38 years ago. Here's what other entrepreneurs can learn from the $4 billion company's founder.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Jennifer Ortakales Dawkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jim Koch founded the Boston Beer Company, the maker of Samuel Adams, in 1984. The bottle is a Samuel Adams, a mainstay on shelves alongside American beer brands like Budweiser and Miller. The Boston Beer Company, which he founded in 1984, now owns Angry Orchard, Truly Hard Seltzer, and Twisted Tea. The billionaire founder and brewmaster said the strategies that made him successful 38 years ago are the same ones that continue to improve Samuel Adams beer today. "In my mind, there is a perfect Sam Adams Boston Lager.

☆ Prepare to pay up to $17,000 over MSRP for these 15 cars with the worst dealer markups, including the Jeep Wrangler and Porsche Cayenne
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

On average, dealers are asking 10% above MSRP for new vehicles, according to a recent study by the car-shopping website iSeeCars. Compare that to pre-pandemic times, when salespeople would hand out aggressive discounts to move cars off of their lots. View of a used car dealership in Ridgewood, Queens New York on January 19, 2022. Pablo Monsalve/VIEWpress/Getty ImagesSource: iSeeCars

☆ How Does Life Insurance Work and What to Know Before You Buy
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +14 min

What to know about life insuranceTerm vs. permanent life insuranceThe two main types of life insurance are term and permanent. Permanent life insurancePermanent life insurance comes in four main variations: whole, variable, universal and variable universal. How to buy life insuranceYou may already have free term life insurance through your employer. A life insurance policy you buy from a private company stays with you for as long as you make payments. How life insurance pays outBeneficiaries have a few choices of how to receive a life insurance payout.

☆ Salesforce aims for 25% operating margin in 2026 with more efficient spending
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The company is aiming for a 25% adjusted operating margin, including future acquisitions, she said. That compares with the 20% target Salesforce announced one year ago for its 2023 fiscal year. Salesforce indicated that it intends to push adjusted sales and marketing spending as a percentage of revenue below 35% by 2026 through increasing self-serve efforts, alliances with partners, and productivity improvements for salespeople. Additionally, Salesforce is keen to manage general and administrative spending, in part by evaluating real estate assets for a hybrid workplace. The company has begun buying back its own shares as part of its first share-repurchase program, Weaver said.

☆ Here's Bret Taylor's first big technical move at Salesforce since becoming co-CEO last year
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Ten months after his promotion to co-CEO of Salesforce, serving alongside famed founder Marc Benioff, Bret Taylor is gearing up to take the stage at the annual Dreamforce conference for the first time under his new title. It's called Genie, and it's designed to update Salesforce's dominant sales database software with modern technology that gives salespeople real-time information at their fingertips. Taylor and Benioff will deliver their keynote on Tuesday, starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time in San Francisco. The 23-year-old company's original data storage software functions with a transactional database from Oracle, where Benioff spent 13 years before starting Salesforce. Taylor said that, over time, Genie will be integrated into Salesforce's other key products — its clouds for sales, service and commerce.

☆ 'It's a very different pace': An American executive living in Sweden shares his 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily routine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Mark Bula is the chief commercial officer at H2 Green Steel in Stockholm, Sweden. Behind him on his left is Henrik Henriksson, CEO of H2 Green Steel. H2 Green Steel7:30 a.m. — arrive at the officeWhen he gets to the office, Bula checks his emails and touches base with the company's salespeople. In Sweden, Bula picks up fresh food at the store, walks the dog, and then goes home to prepare dinner. At H2 Green Steel, "there's always something different about it, and I find that to be a lot of fun."

☆ Netflix's aggressive move into ads made noise, but Disney's pitch for ad tier Disney+ Basic is winning over advertisers with lower pricing and seasoned sales teams
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The big question is how large Disney's audience for its ad-supported tier, Disney+ Basic, will be. Netflix is scrambling to launch its ads tier in November, which some ad buyers saw as a move to beat the Walt Disney Co.'s Dec. 8 rollout of Disney+ Basic. To be sure, many initial commitments to Disney+ Basic were negotiated as part of the larger TV upfront deals and ranged based on agencies' total spend. If Disney+ Basic underdelivers for advertisers, those buyers also have the assurance that Disney can fill the gaps with other parts of its video business. Both Disney+ Basic and Netflix's ad-supported tier will enter an increasingly crowded marketplace for streaming ads.

☆ The executive running Oracle's tattered marketing group, called 'the hatchet man' by some employees, is tasked with cutting costs, insiders say
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-26 | by ( Belle Lin | Ryan Joe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Oracle's marketing team "imploded" following layoffs and the departure of its CMO this summer. A source told Insider that means salespeople will be selling products to sectors they never had before, including healthcare, which is now a key focus with Cerner. Plus, products like Oracle's cloud infrastructure face competition from tech giants like Amazon, making marketing a key lever in that fight. That morning, nearly 50% of some marketing groups received phone calls that they were being laid off, including Kelman's senior staff, multiple sources told Insider. Oracle's marketing structure, as it once was, is gone.

☆ After 28 years, 'Day 2' finally arrives at Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-24 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Amazon is known for "Day 1" culture, maintaining a nimble mindset found on a startup's first day. This is a big challenge facing Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who replaced founder Jeff Bezos last year. On May 26, Amazon retail CEO Dave Clark held a fireside chat with employees at an internal event called Fishbowl. But 28 years on, Day 2 has finally arrived, according to more than a dozen current and former Amazon employees who cited problems including a stodgy engineering culture, extra management layers, and rising red tape. "Historically Amazon was one of the best places for builders, but now when people want to build, they leave Amazon," this person said.

☆ Andy Jassy officially starts as Amazon CEO today. Insiders describe his 'CHOP' meetings, micromanagement, and 'Nice' emails.
▼ + stars: | 2021-07-05 | by ( Eugene Kim | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

On July 5, Andy Jassy officially became Amazon CEO, succeeding Jeff Bezos, who steps into the position of executive chairman. When Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy has a big decision to make, it usually comes at the Chop. "If you go to a Chop meeting with Andy, you better be ready," one former senior-level employee told Insider. Though he's one of the longest-serving executives at Amazon and a close confidant of CEO Jeff Bezos, Jassy still remains relatively little-known outside tech circles. Early on in the pandemic, Jassy told AWS employees that "the world is relying on Amazon," according to an email seen by Insider.

Persons: Andy Jassy, Jeff Bezos, Jassy, Andy, —, Dan Ives, Bezos, It's, Jassy's, Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella, Travis Kalanick, he's, Dave Matthews, Rothschild, Scott Chancellor, who's, let's, Jeff, Taimur Rashid, AWS's, Rashid, it's, Tim Bray, Bray, Marc Benioff, Salesforce, Chancellor, MARK RALSTON, He's, Trump, Donald Trump's, Jeff Wilke, it'll, didn't, Ashley Stewart, Eugene Kim Organizations: Amazon, Amazon Web, Seattle, Charterhouse, Wedbush Securities, Services, AWS, they're, Harvard, New York Times, Redis Labs, Amazon ., Getty, Lawmakers, Defense Department, Microsoft, Black, Google, Netflix, Black Employee Network, African, Lambda, Web Services Locations: Parma, Jassy, manila, Bezos, AFP, DynamoDB

☆ There are 3 types of employees. Here’s the rarest one—and why psychologists say they outperform everyone else
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-17 | by ( Bill Sanders | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Since they assume that no one else will look out for them, they place their own interests first and last. A rarity in the workplace, according to Grant, their style is more typical of the way we treat family and friends. Givers pay it forwardIn any given field, you'll find givers near the top of their career ladder. "Successful givers are every bit as ambitious as takers and matchers," Grant writes in his book. In short, it's important to distinguish between passive giving and negotiated giving: Passive givers are giving in to avoid conflict, en route to stunted deals and lowered expectations.

☆ Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop must stop making bogus claims about its $66 'vaginal eggs' because of a legal settlement. Here's the real science.
▼ + stars: | 2018-09-05 | by ( Hilary Brueck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A "vaginal egg" will not balance your hormones, regulate your menstrual cycle, or help with bladder control. On Tuesday, Goop settled a lawsuit brought by the Santa Clara District Attorney’s office and others that alleged the company's claims about its "vaginal eggs" were hogwash. Candace Lowry/YoutubeThe statement added: "Goop provides a forum for practitioners to present their views and experiences with various products like the jade egg. I need to start my jade egg practice," she said with a laugh. Jen Gunter, a California-based obstetrician and gynecologist, wrote a widely cited blog post in 2017 about why Goop's vaginal jade eggs are a bad idea.

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