Listen to “Rebecca Fannin latest book, Silicon Heartland Transforming the Midwest from Rust Belt to Tech Belt” on Spreaker.

Chronicling her return to America’s heartland, CNBC contributor Rebecca A. Fannin provides an optimistic and engaging look at the current entrepreneurial comeback happening in the Midwest, documenting its transformation from Rust Belt to Tech Belt.

The American Midwest was once a proud bastion of good-paying jobs and middle-class life. Recently it has come to evoke bleakness: job loss, opiate addiction, despair. But without fanfare, a pivotal movement has grown, quietly transforming the heartland into a high-tech hub.

In Silicon Heartland, tech journalist Rebecca A. Fannin returns to her hometown region to report on how tech ecosystems—of entrepreneurial talent, venture capital, accelerators, incubators, universities, and R&D—are retooling midsized heartland cities and Appalachian towns. Remote regions that were nearly forgotten when the money and power shifted to Silicon Valley—and to China—are being rebooted and reenergized like never before. This movement of tech startups burgeoning in Middle America bodes well not only for leading the region to greater heights, but also for boosting our economy and morale nationwide.

Structured around Fannin’s road trip across Middle America, her stories and interviews with venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and business from the Midwest make for a personal yet comprehensive look at the economic rebirth of a region that has been overlooked and underestimated for far too long. Highlighting the successes and efforts that continue to surprise coastal elites, Fannin introduces the resourceful people and the behind-the-scene stories that are reinventing the American Midwest.

“No place or company is immune from getting disrupted—and Silicon Valley is no different. In Rebecca’s new book, Silicon Heartland, she explores the tech innovation frontier emerging in states that were once centers of commerce but were left behind when they didn’t adapt to new technologies.” — John Chambers, founder and CEO of JC2 Ventures, and former executive chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems

“An indispensable book for founders, investors, and change-makers.”—Jim Breyer, founder and CEO, Breyer Capital

“A book that inspires hope for our future.”— Ro Khanna, author of Dignity in a Digital Age

“An uplifting journey into America’s all-too-often overlooked Midwest…the untold story of the Rust Belt rising.”— Maëlle Gavet, CEO of Techstars and author of Trampled by Unicorns

“A must-read for anyone who believes that entrepreneurial success is only possible on the coasts. The Silicon Heartland welcomes you!”—Brad D. Smith, president of Marshall University and former chairman and CEO of Intuit

“[A] much-needed boost of optimism at a time when it’s vitally needed.” — Chris Fenton, author, Feeding the Dragon

“An insightful look into the rebirth of cities and a region that launched American leadership in the global economy.”— Dan Schwartz, author of The Future of Finance: How Private Equity and Venture Capital Will Shape the Global Economy

“Only Rebecca Fannin, with her venture background, China experience, and heartland roots, could uncover the amazing tech revolution occurring in the middle of America.”— David Kaufman, director of global strategies, Nixon Peabody

The post Rebecca Fannin latest book, Silicon Heartland Transforming the Midwest from Rust Belt to Tech Belt appeared first on Good News!.

A leading mind in business growth for 30 years in Silicon Valley, Venture Capitalist, and Author Philippe Bouissou, Ph.D.

Aligning the Dots: The new paradigm to grow any business

Publisher: Onward Business Press Author Website: https://philippebouissou.com/

It’s eight o’clock Monday morning. What do you do to outpace the market and grow faster than your competitors? Aligning the Dots provides a clear answer to that deceptively simple question.

Although many how-to-grow business books have been published, none offer a pragmatic and reliable blueprint for top-line growth that is built on deep data analysis and a universal framework that leads to revealing insights. Without a clear roadmap to growth, a CEO’s demands for innovative product development, better marketing, and increased customer acquisition and conversion often fail to produce desired outcomes. An effective leader understands that without clear direction and guidance, teams will revert to business as usual and no amount of inspirational taglines will help the business grow faster.

Aligning the Dots introduces a new paradigm. It’s a universal, data-driven and prescriptive methodology, called A4 Precision Alignment, designed to accelerate any business. Based on the profound insight that the maximum top-line growth rate can only be achieved when a business and its target market are perfectly aligned, this methodology reveals how quantitative measurements of alignment form the base for the development a Growth Playbook.

That blueprint will guide any business to align the dots to outperform its target market and fly past its competitors.

In an interview on your program Dr. Philippe Bouissou can discuss:

1. There are 11,000 business books published every year. Why should we talk about your Book?

2. What results does this new paradigm to grow any business deliver?

3. Why did you choose to focus on the topic of growth?

4. What is unique about Aligning the Dots?

5. What are the traditional methods to grow a business?

6. Why do these traditional ways of growing a business rarely work?

7. What is counterintuitive about your new paradigm?

8. What is surprising about it?

9. How does it provoke new thoughts or bring “conventional wisdom” into question?

10. How did you come up with this new idea?

11. What in your background was critical to invent this new paradigm?

12. Does this new methodology apply to any business?

13. Can you give an example of a bad and a good alignment?

14. Who is the audience for this book?

15. How does the COVID19 pandemic affect the teachings in this system?

Aligning the Dots offers a new systematic methodology for optimizing resource allocation towards long-

term profitable growth. Philippe Bouissou’s engaging style uses a combination of personal anecdotes,

scientific analogies, and relevant case studies to convey his message of alignment. While the target

audience cuts across the broad business community, I find the methodology to be most directly relevant

to young technology startups who have a very low margin for error in their business model.

—Eric Benhamou Founder and General Partner, Benhamou Global Ventures and Former Chairman and CEO of 3Com

Every executive intuitively knows the importance of aligning what a company sells with what its customers

want, but few executives actually know how to do it right. In his smart, new book—Aligning the Dots—

business growth expert Philippe Bouissou presents a simple, but powerful framework for building

alignment along four critical business axes. No matter what size your business or what industry you’re in,

Aligning the Dots is the playbook you need to spark revenue growth right now — and well into the future.

—Peter Economy The Leadership Guy, Inc. Magazine

Aligning the Dots offers a precise, logical way to understand how the fundamental drivers of business

work, and how to align your company with them for long-term success. It’s the rare book that combines a

comprehensive science of how business works with dozens of practical tips that any leader can apply.

—Chris Yeh Co-author with Reid Hoffman of Blitzscaling

I’ve seen so many businesses struggle as the vision and expectations of entrepreneurs and company operators

are out of sync with the customer or the marketplace. Aligning the Dots provides an articulate, pragmatic,

and innovative framework for solving these misalignments. It is a resource that can and should be

referenced repeatedly to help pressure test strategy and plans for the competitive edge that derives from precision alignment.

—Lori Bush Former President and CEO, Rodan + Fields

Genius often creates out-of-the-box thinking. Aligning the Dots makes you think differently and that makes

it powerful. Any business should understand and use these concepts.

—Nolan Bushnell CEO of X2 Games Founder and former CEO of Atari and Chuck E Cheese!

Category: Business

Publisher: Onward Business Press

Page count: 240 (full-color)

ISBN: 9781734208702

Price: $27.95

Formats: Hardcover, e-book

About the Author:

Philippe Bouissou, Ph.D. has spent three decades in Silicon Valley as an entrepreneur, a CEO, a venture capitalist, and a management consultant. He is Managing Partner at Blue Dots Partners LLC, a firm he co-founded focused on top-line acceleration. He started his career as the founder and CEO of G2i, Inc. a Unix software company that was acquired by Matra. He then was Senior Vice President at Matra Hachette Multimedia, Inc., where he led US business development for electronic publishing for the $12 billion, high-tech and diversified media company before joining Apple as Director of the Worldwide Internet Commerce Group, where he founded and managed the online Apple Store and grew its revenue from zero to $350 million.

After Apple, Bouissou became a venture capitalist and successfully invested $43 million and generated double-digit cash-on-cash IRR. For over half a decade, Bouissou co-managed the Milestone Group, a management consulting firm serving over 220 clients. During his career, Bouissou led over 120 management-consulting projects with companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, SAP, and Verisign and served on the board of directors of 20 companies, including ACG (Association for Corporate Growth) Silicon Valley, where he currently serves.

Bouissou graduated from École Normale Supérieure in Paris and holds a BS in Mathematics, an MS in Physics, and a Ph.D. in non-linear physics and chaos theory.

The post Aligning the Dots: The new paradigm to grow any business appeared first on Good News!.

Aug.09 – Rebecca Fannin, founder of Silicon Dragon Ventures and author of “Tech Titans of China,” talks about the prospects for Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, the video-sharing app that the Trump administration has declared a national-security threat, and the rivalry between U.S. and Chinese technology companies. Twitter Inc. has held early talks about a potential combination with TikTok, Dow Jones reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Fannin speaks on “Bloomberg Markets: Asia.”

IPOs
Chinese AI unicorn Sensetime, backed by Softbank and Alibaba, is heading to a dual listing in Hong Kong & China + $1.5 billion of pre-IPO financing. See photo of founder Xu Li, early investor Frances Leung & me doing a Tech Chat at Silicon Dragon in Hong Kong, November 2017. Early trend-spotting!

Jack Ma lets Chinese startups in on one of his well-timed tips, and sure enough, they’re racing ahead now with IPOs before the coronavirus pandemic or trade war further damages the global economy. ⁦Bloomberg

DEALS
Ban on China-made apps in India gives TikTok rivals a boost such as Bangalore-based Trell, which just raised $11.4 million in Series A financing led by Sequoia Capital India with South Korea’s KTB Network on board.

GGV Capital leads a $22 million, Series B investment in Keya Medical, a Shenzhen-based developer of AI-enabled products for medical analysis.

Creative design platform Tezign in China announces it’s closed a Series C investment by Sequoia Capital China.

In a flurry of deals, Sequoia Capital India leads Series A funding in Singapore startup IncomLend, a trade finance and global invoicing platform, and puts $5 million in education loan startup Eduvanz.

DATA
Private equity takes a mid-year bounce off the bottom – Covid19’s impact. Bain

NOTEWORTHY
More than a dozen US corporate execs voice concerns to the White House that a WeChat ban could hurt business. WSJ

Commerce Department further restricts Huawei access to U.S. Technology and adds another 38 affiliates to the entity list.

Subscribe to Silicon Dragon News
Support Silicon Dragon: Join the Circle
Editor: Rebecca Fannin
news@silicondragonventures.com

The post In Search of the Next Tech Titans: Will US-China Rivalry Turn the Tides to Other Hotspots? appeared first on Good News!.

ORIGIN of the Bill:

1. B. Tina Ebey – citizen of San Jose, California

2. To my knowledge no similar bill has been introduced in any previous session.

1. PROPOSAL SUMMARY.

The proposal will authorize bonds to fund live feed satellite coverage into every fire station in the state to cut the response time of our honorable firefighters and increase speed and accuracy of advance warning to affected citizens.

2. PROBLEM.

At present most firefighters are on call. Based on research, firefighters too frequently lack access to the latest data regarding fire movements. This results in unnecessary delays for the firefighters to reach critical areas. It also results in firefighters not being able to alert citizens in a timely and efficient manner.

3. SOLUTION.

This proposal addresses the need for immediate live feed coverage into every station so that the firemen can carefully monitor their geographic area. Surveillance will include computer signaling of potential trouble spots to be investigated. In response multiple approaches can be initiated including surveillance drones, alerts through smartphone apps or live crews for additional protection.

4. COST.

TBD

5. ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT.

Firefighters

Silicon Valley Technology Leaders

US Government Weather Satellites

Citizens

Medical Professionals

Teachers

6. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT.

Global warming is increasing the potential for longer, hotter summers, droughts and more fires in California, putting firefighters and citizens at greater risk. The proposal would:

1. Employ use of existing technology used to protect our State, the people and the firefighters.

2. Enhance the effectiveness of current methods of fighting fires with comprehensive live feed coverage.

3. Gives the firefighters the ability to respond more efficiently by being deployed to target an fight fires in their geographic area.

7. ORGANIZATIONAL OPPOSITION.

None at present.

8. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION.

1. We have enough fire protection in the State.

2. The State can not afford any more expenditures.

3. Fires have become a fire hazard we have to learn to live with.

9. BACKGROUND INFORMATION.

Notes enclosed below.

10. CONTACT.

B. Tina Ebey

408-216-0278 home office

The post Concerned Citizen B. Tina Ebey shares her solutions for the Fires in California. appeared first on Good News!.

China VC Reaches For Ceiling
More China funds are popping up as venture capital tilts away from the Silicon Valley epicenter and toward emerging Chinese tech startups.
Sinovation Ventures debuted a $500 million fourth fund while Sky9 Capital launched a $200 million third fund. Sinovation Ventures, led by AI guru and former Google China executive Kai-Fu Lee, is investing in artificial intelligence, robotics and education startups. Sky9 Capital, headed up former Lightspeed China founder Ron Cao, focuses on backing early-stage Chinese companies in the Internet, enterprise and deep tech sectors.
In the wings is a new venture fund from China Creation Ventures, a spin-out by the former team of Kleiner Perkins China and led by founding managing partner Wei Zhou. Additionally, Sequoia Capital China is raising a $550 million China venture fund, its seventh, and a $150 million seed fund for China, its first.
Wonder if it’s too much capital chasing China startups?
Read Forbes: China venture ceiling

NEW FUNDINGS
Full Truck Alliance Group, China’s biggest app for Uber-like truck services, reportedly raised $1.9 billion in funding to fuel its expansion at a valuation of $6.5 billion with backers including SoftBank Vision Fund, China Reform Fund, GSR Ventures and Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG. Existing investors Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sequoia Capital also were involved in the round.
Keep on truckin.

Chinese biotech startup NuProbe has bagged $11 million in a Series A round co-led by Sequoia Capital China and hedge fund Serica Partners, plus corporate strategic investor WuXi AppTec.

Silicon chipmaker Innovium raised $77 million in a Series D funding from veteran chip investor Walden International.

Want to know how competitive the cryptocurrency market is for venture capital funding? Consider that Sequoia China sued the founder of crypto trading exchange Binance for failing to honor an exclusivity agreement during negotiations, and sought an injunction against the founder, well-known as CZ, from negotiating with other investors. Sequoia had offered Binance a term sheet for a $9.5 million, Series A investment for a 12% stake in Binance. A Hong Kong court recently struck down the injunction.

IPOs
Chinese ride-hailing leader Didi Chuxing is preparing for an IPO as early as this year at a valuation of $70 billion to $80 billion, up from its most recent venture funding valuation of $57.6 billion. Didi could beat Uber to the public markets.

NOTEWORTHY
Image recognition has caught on in China in a big way. Beijing airport security checks scan your passport and face at the same time before sliding your luggage through. And parking garages are scanning license plates on cars to whisk drivers through the toll gate. No more reaching for paper tickets out the car window.

Anyone that believes that Apple will discontinue the iPhone X or that iPhone sales are down has not been to China. If anything Apple will make an X+ and make it bigger and more expensive. iPhone shipments to China were up 32% in Q1 2018, and Apple’s share of the Chinese smartphone market rose to 14.3% from 10% a year ago.

The post SILICON DRAGON NEWS, Click Here for Podcasts… appeared first on Good News!.

NEW FUNDINGS
Full Truck Alliance Group, China’s biggest app for Uber-like truck services, reportedly raised $1.9 billion in funding to fuel its expansion at a valuation of $6.5 billion with backers including SoftBank Vision Fund, China Reform Fund, GSR Ventures and Alphabet Inc.’s CapitalG. Existing investors Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Sequoia Capital also were involved in the round.
Keep on truckin.

Chinese biotech startup NuProbe has bagged $11 million in a Series A round co-led by Sequoia Capital China and hedge fund Serica Partners, plus corporate strategic investor WuXi AppTec.

Silicon chipmaker Innovium raised $77 million in a Series D funding from veteran chip investor Walden International.

Want to know how competitive the cryptocurrency market is for venture capital funding? Consider that Sequoia China sued the founder of crypto trading exchange Binance for failing to honor an exclusivity agreement during negotiations, and sought an injunction against the founder, well-known as CZ, from negotiating with other investors. Sequoia had offered Binance a term sheet for a $9.5 million, Series A investment for a 12% stake in Binance. A Hong Kong court recently struck down the injunction.

IPOs
Chinese ride-hailing leader Didi Chuxing is preparing for an IPO as early as this year at a valuation of $70 billion to $80 billion, up from its most recent venture funding valuation of $57.6 billion. Didi could beat Uber to the public markets.

NOTEWORTHY
Image recognition has caught on in China in a big way. Beijing airport security checks scan your passport and face at the same time before sliding your luggage through. And parking garages are scanning license plates on cars to whisk drivers through the toll gate. No more reaching for paper tickets out the car window.

Anyone that believes that Apple will discontinue the iPhone X or that iPhone sales are down has not been to China. If anything Apple will make an X+ and make it bigger and more expensive. iPhone shipments to China were up 32% in Q1 2018, and Apple’s share of the Chinese smartphone market rose to 14.3% from 10% a year ago.

The post China VC Reaches For Ceiling appeared first on Good News!.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/silicon-dragon-salon-with-china-institute-tickets-39373667700?utm_campaign=reminder_attendees_48hour_email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eb_email&utm_term=eventname

Silicon Dragon was formed in 2010 by Forbes journalist, author and media entrepreneur Rebecca Fannin. Ms. Fannin has been covering tech innovations trends globally for 15 years, beginning with Red Herring magazine during the dotcom era. She is the author of two influential and well-received books, Silicon Dragon (McGraw-Hill, 2008) and Startup Asia (Wiley, 2011).
Silicon Dragon spans a global network of 15,000 startups, emerging companies, venture capitalists, angel investors and startup stakeholders. The group is based in Silicon Valley with offshoots in New York City and Hong Kong.
For more info, see:
www.silicondragonventures.com
and
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/
@rfannin
@silicondragon

The post Silicon Dragon Salon NY 2017 appeared first on Good News!.

Wed, July 26, 2017
2:00 PM – 9:00 PM PDT
Add to Calendar

Pasadena Convention Center
300 E. Green St.
Pasadena, CA 91101

SPEAKER BIOS
HOLLYWOOD-CHINA DEALS
Max Epstein, Vice President, DMG Entertainment
Mark Rafalowski, EVP-International Distribution, Dick Clark Productions
William Pfeiffer, Executive Chairman & Co-founder, Global Gate Entertainment
Sarah Platt, International Business Development, Wanda Studios
David Uslan, Partner, Uslan Entertainment
Eric Mika, Senior VP, LeEco
Tom McGrath, COO, STX Entertainment
Moderator: Robert Cain, Partner, Pacific Bridge Partners

DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT INNOVATION & INVESTMENT
Marc Jackson, Managing Director/Founder, Seahorn Capital Group
Chang Xu, Investor, Upfront Ventures
Bert Reuler, Global Product Lead, Emerging Tech, Mattel
Gary Kho, CMO & CTO, Wanda Studios Qingdao
Moderator: Danny Le, Partner, KPMG
TECH CHATS: VR – LA to CHINA
Shiraz Akmal, CEO & Co-founder, Spaces
Pete Blumel, CEO, The Rogue Initiative
Isaac Yang, Partner, China Big Time Fund
Ryan Wang, Co-founder & General Partner, Outpost Capital
Azel James, VP of Content, Immerex Inc.
EB-5 FINANCING & ECONOMIC IMPACT
Kevin Wright, Consultant, Baker Tilly Capital
Jor Law, Co-founder, Homeier Law & VerifyInvestor.com
Christine Lu, Co-founder & Partner, America Innovates
Tyler Rooker, China Investment Manager, Gemdale USA Corp.
Moderator: Justin Thompson, Partner – Real Estate Practice Group, Nixon Peabody

VIDEO CLIP
Peter Crosby, Producer, Return to the Belly of the Dragon
MC: Rebecca Fannin, Founder/Editor, Silicon Dragon
2:30pm – 6pm Forum at Pasadena Convention Center
6 – 7 pm VIP Reception: Gold Room, Pasadena (VIP tickets only)
7:30 pm – 9pm Rooftop Party, Downtown LA
(included in forum ticket)
Thanks to Sponsors: KPMG, Nixon Peabody, Pasadena Economic Development
Supporters: Pasadena Economic Development, PlusYoou, Plug and Play, Innovate Pasadena, N3XTCON, LAEDC, CIE, Geoskope, America Innovates
Media Partners: Forbes, Variety, China Daily, Startup Digest, Crowdfund Beat, LA Tech Digest, Twitter, WeChat, BeFast.TV

Silicon Dragon
Organizer of Silicon Dragon LA 2017 + VIP Reception + Rooftop Party
Organizer Website
Silicon Dragon publishes news of technology, venture capital and startup trends in emerging markets and hosts forums in innovation hubs. Forums are held regularly in New York, Silicon Valley, London, Beijing, Shanghai, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangalore.
Silicon Dragon was formed in 2010 by Forbes journalist, author and media entrepreneur Rebecca Fannin. Ms. Fannin has been covering tech innovations trends globally for 15 years, beginning with Red Herring magazine during the dotcom era. She is the author of two influential and well-received books, Silicon Dragon (McGraw-Hill, 2008) and Startup Asia (Wiley, 2011).
Silicon Dragon spans a global network of 15,000 startups, emerging companies, venture capitalists, angel investors and startup stakeholders. The group is based in Silicon Valley with offshoots in New York City and Hong Kong.
For more info, see:
www.silicondragonventures.com
and
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccafannin/
@rfannin
@silicondragon

Silicon Dragon comes to New York, June 21, NASDAQ funders event. Rebecca Fannin shares her Good News.
June 21

at Nasdaq, Times Square 2pm – 6pm

Plus After-Event Reception with Food & Drinks

Celebrate Summer on The Terrace!

757 Third Ave. Grant Thornton 6pm – 8pm

PROGRAM

New York’s Global

Innovation Revolution (bet you didn’t know there was one!)

PITCHES

VC JUDGING

$200K AWARD
VC PANEL M&A DEALS PANEL TECH CHATS BOOK TALKS TECHNION IN NY

NY’s TOP VCs

JUDGE THE PITCH CONTEST

Jim Robinson RRE Ventures Brian Cohen NY Angels

AFTER-EVENT

RECEPTION: 6-8pm

Where: Grant Thornton on the terrace

757 Third Ave.

For skeptics of New York City’s startup scene, it helps to have a close-up view. Rather than look at things through the lens of Silicon Valley, the Big Apple has developed its own brand of startups.

Of course, this has long been called Silicon Alley. That used to mean mostly startups centered on advertising, media and e-commerce.

But today, it’s branched out to artificial intelligence, biotech, virtual reality, fintech, natural drinks, livestreaming content and mobile app for foodies, sports and drivers looking for a parking space.

Just like Stanford, Berkeley and UC Davis fed entrepreneurial talent to the Bay Area, it’s Columbia, NYU, Princeton and Cornell in New York that are churning out a new generation of well-educated and well-rounded techies.

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg put this startup movement into action — and the new Technion-Cornell Institute that is opening up on Roosevelt Island is just one example. Indeed, Silicon Alley is much broader than the area around the Flat Iron district where it grew up the late 1990s Internet boom.

Silicon Dragon has been involved in this ramp-up too, holding a pitch contest at Nasdaq MarketSite June 21 for the best and brightest up and comers in the city.

Read Forbes post: Does NYC have what it takes?

DEALS & FUNDS

Chinese bicycle sharing app MoBike has raised $600 million in a Series E round from lead existing investor Tencent and Sequoia Capital China to aim (amazingly) to bring the station-less bikes to 200 cities globally by end of 2017. Mobike has raised nearly $1 billion since October 2016. The race is among China’s bike-sharing rivals to ramp up the fastest.

VC deals in the transit sector are where it’s at. Chinese used car trading platform Quiza has raised $400 million in a second round from Sequoia Capital China (again!), Matrix Partners, BlueRun Ventures and Hive Capital. Used car sales are on the upswing in China as first-time drivers upgrade to their next model.

NOTEWORTHY

In a quantum leap forward, Chinese scientists have come up with a breakthrough satellite and physics technology that could lead to an ‘unhackable’ global communications network. Even the Pentagon described the advance as “notable.”

China’s detention of the chairman of Anbang Insurance Group and Chinese banks’ curbs on sales of the company’s investment products could ripple through the country’s financial system. The crackdown comes as Anbang has been testing the limits on expansion and funding sources in a global M&A shopping spree that included the iconic Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York in 2014 and talks to buy a Manhattan office tower from Jared Kushner’s family.

Even the Vatican has gotten into startups! Inspired by the Pope’s call for tech startups to do more social good and fight climate change, Fresco Capital founder Steven Forte started a two-month accelerator program in Rome that includes $100,000 in equity financing and a demo day in December at the Vatican. Honolulu-based agtech startup Smart Yields made the first cut and is headed to Rome.

Michael Bloomberg

The Asia Society of New York hosted a summit discussing the Belt and Road Initiative. Speakers included Michael R. Bloomberg, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former mayor of New York City, Kevin Rudd, president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, Ambassador Cui Tiankai, current ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the U.S., and C.H. Tung, vice chairman of the Twelfth National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Check out Bloomberg’s remarks on climate change and a full video of the Asia Society program. It was a packed house!

UPDATE: The Clock is Ticking!

SILICON DRAGON’S PITCH CONTEST

June 21 at Nasdaq

15 FOUNDERS HAVE WON THE CHANCE TO PITCH

Judges Q&A, Audience Feedback

Winners will be announced on stage, June 21

2 Finalists go to Beijing August 18 to compete globally

Global champion wins funding of up to $200,000 ++

Buy A Ticket

To Watch The Show LIVE

WINNER OF THE SILICON DRAGON PITCH CONTEST 2016

The post Silicon Dragon, LA 2017, Video and Podcast are Here… appeared first on Good News!.

NOVEMBER 10, 2015 (SAN FRANCISCO, CA and NEW YORK, NY) – Unveiled today in “Eureka Park” at CES Unveiled New York (the annual event which provides a sneak peek at the year’s most innovative products and technologies), Silicon Valley startup LifeSite® launches LifeSite Vault®, a new, secure web-based solution for storing all of life’s vital information and documents. Also introduced is the LifeSite Vault companion mobile app, that provides safe anytime, anywhere access to users’ information from any mobile device.
LifeSite’s unique platform provides an intuitive solution to organize, categorize, manage and safely share information accumulated through every phase of life. LifeSite Vault guides users with easy prompts for entering and encrypting information in different categories such as personal, medical, people, pets, online accounts, career, finances, property, insurance and legal – and provides convenient features to enter, attach and share information and documents. LifeSite Vault helps organize and store everything in one safe place. The solution facilitates collaboration with family members and advisors, and lets users establish backup contacts, so that a trusted family member or loved one can access key personal information in the event of an emergency.
To accelerate their launch, LifeSite secured $4.5M in early stage funding, co-led by Inmost Partners, and a syndicate of private investors.
LifeSite’s founding team members are among the most successful solution-oriented techies in the industry, and were eager to collaborate on the development and launch of a truly secure web-based storage solution that puts users and families first. Co-founders include serial entrepreneur and technology veteran Chris Wong, Kstartup partner YoonJin Chang and Miss California 2013 Crystal Lee. Other members of the founding team include former Google NY executive Khee Lee and security technology expert Barney Lee.
Truly democratizing their technology during its launch, LifeSite is allowing everybody to register and use LifeSite Vault for free, for a limited time.
While everyone may have their own type of filing system at home for important documents and information, common methods such as hardcopy files, safe deposit boxes, home computers or mainstream file-sharing and note-taking apps are simply not designed or safe for sensitive information storage, management or access. Floods and fire can destroy paper and compromise safe deposit boxes, computers can crash or be breached from a virus, and flash drives can be lost or stolen. LifeSite was created to provide families with a safe, easy-to-use alternative solution.
“At LifeSite, security isn’t just a feature, it’s our number one priority!” exclaims Chris Wong, LifeSite CEO. “We have designed LifeSite solutions from the ground up, with the safety and security of your information in mind. We proactively engaged security experts during design, development and testing. We use the latest military-grade security protocols, and are continuously monitoring and auditing our systems to maintain the highest level of security.”
“Change is a constant. The ability to adapt to change is what separates good ideas from great ideas. And LifeSite is a great idea,” says Morgan Wright, international cyber security expert and national advisor on cyberterrorism. “We have evolved into a highly mobile society. For too long our vital information was not as mobile as our lifestyle. That has changed with LifeSite.”
“In my appearances before Congress, and of the hundreds of national news and media appearances I’ve made on cybersecurity, the one common thread among failures I’ve been interviewed about was the lack of focus on security,” says Wright. “That isn’t the case with LifeSite.”
“By obsessing on security from the start,” Wright continues, “LifeSite has separated itself from other solutions that were more concerned with getting to market than focusing on the security and privacy of your personal information.”
LifeSite has combined secure information access and controlled, permission-based sharing with high-level document encryption and security, to provide a safe and smart digital storage solution. LifeSite Vault encrypts all data during both transmission and storage, and each user’s encryption key is as unique as they are — no two users share the same key. Each user manages their own access. Even LifeSite employees do not have access.
“You could not build a system like this even a year ago, because a number of the core technologies we used did not even exist,” says Wong.
LifeSite provides convenient, 24/7 access to all of one’s personal information stored on LifeSite Vault. The companion LifeSite Vault mobile app is now available for download on all popular mobile operating systems, including Apple iOS, and Android.
About LifeSite
Based in Silicon Valley, LifeSite was created to inspire and empower users by connecting their heads and their hearts — providing peace of mind today, and protecting their legacy for their family and loved ones tomorrow. LifeSite’s secure, convenient, and smart web-based solutions help individuals, families and “life networks” store, organize and access the most important information in their life, anytime, anywhere. With security as their first priority, LifeSite combines secure file access and controlled, permission-based sharing with high-level document encryption and security, to provide a safe and smart digital storage solution.
Life’s Information. All in one place. For more information, please visit lifesite.co

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AlwaysOn’s Silicon Valley Innovation Summit (SVIS14) is a two day executive gathering where you’ll Meet the Captains of Innovation. This event highlights the significant economic, political and commercial trends affecting the global technology industries. SVIS features the most innovative companies, eminent technologists, influential investors and journalists in keynote presentations, panel debates and private company CEO showcases. SVIS’ goal is to identify the most promising entrepreneurial opportunities and investments in the global tech industry.

Yes, please reserve my ticket for AlwaysOn’s Silicon Valley Innovation Summit on July 29th-30th.

We have an amazing program lined up, including Bill Gurley, General Partner at Benchmark, who will be joining us for a fireside chat to discuss Unleashing The Instant Economy.

Josh James, Founder and CEO of Domo, and his two-time VC backer Mark Gorenbergwill have a conversation on July 29th about the current state of the big data and analytics boom.

Chegg CEO, Dan Rosensweig and Michael Moe, ‎Founder and CEO of GSV Capital, will be joining us for a fireside chat to converse on how the current disruption in the the education market will leave a better educated world.

Francine Hardaway, Partner at Stealthmode Partners, Kevin Morrow, VP of Content Services & Corporate Development at Samsung, and Greg Biggers, Chief Product Officer at SenseLabs, will be discussing the Wearables Boom 2.0?

Bill Cleary, Founder of Cleary Partners will host a panel discussion on the $25 billion mobile advertising opportunity.

Jay Samit, Serial Entrepreneur and Disruptor will present a Lunch Keynote on Disruption Decoded: Strategies for billion dollar success in the Era of Endless Innovation.

Additionally, Mihir Jobalia, Managing Director and Global Head of Technology Corporate Finance at KPMG will host a panel discussion on The venture capital outlook for 2014—boom or bubble?  He will be joined by Andrew Scharf, Vice President, OurCrowd, Norm Fogelsong, General Partner, Institutional Venture Partners, Ryan Caldbeck, CEO, CircleUp.com, and Ramneek Gupta, Managing Director, Citi Ventures

See the full list of speakers and agenda here.

At SVIS you meet the New Captains of Industry before they become household names. Previous speakers include:

• Larry Page, CEO, Google

• Chad Hurley, Founder & CEO, YouTube

• Niklas Zennström, Founder & CEO, Skype

• Tim Draper, Managing Director, DFJ

• Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO, Facebook

• Marc Benioff, Founder & CEO, Salesforce.com

• Jack Dorsey, Founder, Twitter & Square

• Michael Dell, Founder & CEO, Dell

• Ray Lane, Managing Partner, KPCB & Director, HP

• Bill Campbell, Chairman, Intuit Here are some of the companies and organizations attending SVIS14:

• 1World Online, Inc.

• 451 Research

• 7Echo

• Ace Learning Company, Inc.

• Addison Marketing

• AdRoll

• Affluence

• Agari

• AirBlade

• AlienVault

• Alpha Software Corporation

• Altimeter Group

• AlwaysOn Ventures

• appbackr inc.

• AppEnsure

• Applied Materials

• Appnomic Systems, Inc.

• Areamarketing

• Argus Insights

• Arrayent

• Aryaka

• Associated Press

• BA Securities

• Bavarian U.S. Offices for Economic Development, LLC

• Benchmark

• BeyondCore Inc

• Big Data, Cloud and Mobile

• Bluebox Security

• BlueLine Grid

• Boost

• BootUp Ventures

• Brandscreen

• Breakthrough Venture Partners

• Bridge Bank

• BSkyB

• Bullpen Capital

• C9

• CampVentures

• Canadian Trade Office in Palo Alto

• CareerArc Group

• CashStar

• Chahil.com

• Chegg, Inc.

• CinemaShares.com/MediaShares

• CircleUp

• Cisco Systems

• CitiVentures

• Cleary & Partners

• CloudFlare

• CloudVelox, Inc.

• clypd, inc.

• COMPELLA Executive Search

• Consulate General of Luxembourg

• Continuum Education

• Cooliris

• CRANIUM, LLC

• Cresta Partners

• CrowdCurity

• DataFox

• Diamondhead Ventures

• Digital Ventures LLC

• DogVacay

• Domo

• DoubleRock

• Draper University

• E-Cubed Ventures

• Eduvize, LLC

• Epic Web Solutions

• Ericsson Inc.

• etouches

• Etransfr- Making Secure Communication Simple

• Events.com

• Examiner.com San Francisco

• Expensify

• FEM Inc.

• Findly Talent

• Forbes.com

• Game On Mobile Inc.

• GANELES AND ASSOCIATES

• George Washington University

• Getynet Innovation AS

• Gigaom

• Global 3C Newsletters/Topology

• Global Asset Capital

• Globaloria

• GMB Consulting LLC

• GoCoin

• goDog

• GridGain

• GSV Asset Management

• GSV Capital

• GSV Partners

• GSVAM

• GSViQ

• Hand of God Wines

• HealthTech Capital

• HEC – Polytechnique

• HeyWire

• HP

• Idea to IPO

• Indus Tech Reports

• Influitive

• InFlux Partners

• Innovation West

• InsideTrack, Inc.

• Instart Logic

• Institutional Venture Partners (IVP)

• Integration developer news

• IT Newswire

• Kalinda Software

• Keiretsu Forum

• KPMG LLP

• KSC

• Labrador Ventures

• Legacy Venture

• LGTCA

• LRG Rewards Inc.

• Manatt

• MassIntent

• Mateo’s Tech Travels

• Maven

• MC10 Inc.

• Medroster

• Mergermarket

• Microsoft

• Mocana Corporation

• Multicoreware, Inc

• MySuccess.com, Inc.

• N2N Global, Inc.

• NestGSV

• Octopi Network

• Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade & Employment

• Opus Bank

• OurCrowd

• Palantir Technologies

• Papitv.com

• Pashadelic

• Pearltrees, S.A.S.

• Peritus Partners

• Phunware

• Pluribus Networks

• PMWC Intl

• PocketMath

• Quarrio

• Racklive

• Rackspace

• Resiligence Inc.

• Retailigence

• Rivers Companies, Inc.

• Rivetz Corp.

• Roly Mobile Marketing Ltd.

• Rosetta

• Samba Ads

• Samsung Electronics

• Sand Hill Angels

• SAP

• Savoy Magazine

• Scoot Networks, Inc.

• ScreamingBox

• SenseLabs

• SF Examiner

• Silicon Bai

• Smaato

• SOLiD

• Sony Electronics Inc.

• StartupTrek TV Inc.

• Stealthmode Partners

• strategic artistry XFRM

• StudyPad, Inc.

• SugarSync

• Synaptop

• Sys-Con

• TAMCI

• TEAM COTE Dâ€AZUR

• Tech Central SF

• Technology Crossover Ventures

• tempCFO, Inc.

• The Angels’ Forum

• The Trade Desk

• ThirdLove

• Thismoment

• Thomvest Ventures

• Tis R and D Center Inc.

• Toyota Motor Sales

• Travel Tech Consulting, Inc.

• Trinity Capital Investment

• UCSF

• Ulterius Technologies, LLC

• Unboxed Media

• Unified

• USVP

• Uversity, Inc.

• Vasona Networks, Inc.

• Vaurum

• VinCompass

• voicebase

• Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year

• WebsiteBox

• WhichBox Media

• WirtschaftsWoche Germany

• Woodside Capital Partners

• World Beacon Technologies

• Zeetings

• Zoom Video Communications

• Zyante This event sells out each year, so we encourage you to take a moment now to secure your seat for SVIS14. We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at AlwaysOn’s 12th annual Silicon Valley Innovation Summit 2014 at the Computer History Museum on July 29th – 30th!

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