Institutional Investor (August 29)
“Ever since ChatGPT burst onto the scene last November…so-called “generative AI” has turned the markets on their heads.” Venture capitalists, “coming off the worst year in recent history,” have “redirected their dollars to AI upstarts. Meanwhile, the stock prices of the big tech names suspected to be the major beneficiaries of this often-called ‘revolutionary’ form of artificial intelligence have skyrocketed.” In 2023, “generative AI and machine learning start-ups raised about $39.4 billion.” The massive inflows are creating an ideal environment for fraudsters and critics “are starting to wonder whether the latest technology is really transformational or merely evolutionary.”
Tags: Big tech, ChatGPT, Critics, Evolutionary, Fraudsters, Generative AI, Machine learning, Markets, Revolutionary, Skyrocketed, Start-ups, Stock prices, Technology, Transformational, VC
Financial Times (August 1)
“The venture capital world is in the grip of a silent crash. Unlike the stock market, there are no daily market indexes to broadcast the pain, and no individual share prices for anxious tech employees to watch as their personal wealth evaporates.” It remains unclear “how long it will take the venture capital market to reset, or how many of today’s investors and start-ups will still be standing when it does.”
Tags: Anxious, Indexes, Investors, Pain, Personal wealth, Reset, Share prices, Silent crash, Start-ups, Stock market, Tech employees, Venture-capital
Financial Times (April 11)
“For decades, Japan has struggled to remove barriers to the growth of technology start-ups,” but risk aversion and social pressure caused job seekers to focus on established companies. “That may be changing” as economic stagnation “threatens lifetime employment at big companies. More young people are joining start-ups or even going freelance to enjoy flexibility in their working life. Part-time or contract workers now account for about 40 per cent of Japan’s workforce.”
Tags: Barriers, Contract, Established, Freelance, Japan, Jobs, Lifetime employment, Part-time, Risk, Start-ups, Technology, Workforce
New York Times (October 19)
“The regulatory woes seem to be never ending for the newest wave of tech start-ups.” Start-ups like Uber and Airbnb are facing regulatory hurdles and legal battles in numerous jurisdictions. A naïve “belief that problems can be solved without involving people is probably why many of these companies did not meet with regulators and officials before starting services in new cities. And it has come back to haunt them.”
Tags: Airbnb, Officials, Problems, Regulators, Regulatory, Services, Start-ups, Tech, Uber
Institutional Investor (October 10)
“As refugees from Syria and Iraq flood across the border and, the real economy suffers, Lebanon’s central bank is looking to start-up lending as a way to boost growth.” Despite an influx of 1.3 million refugees (roughly a third of its pre-crisis population), Lebanon’s “economy has remained intact. Growth, while meager, is still projected to reach 1.8 percent this year….Much of this resilience is down to the creativity of the central bank” and the novel approaches it is adopting.
Tags: Border, Central bank, Creativity, Economy, Growth, Iraq, Lebanon, Lending, Refugees, Resilience, Start-ups, Syria
Washington Post (August 13)
“U.S. businesses are aging…and a sharp decline in start-up companies is a big reason. As the share of young firms shrinks, the surviving companies are naturally older — and this may have huge ramifications for the economy.” Nobody’s sure why this trend is occurring, but it suggests slower job creation and raises a troubling question. “Could it be that a society whose members are getting older is more risk-averse and less adventurous?”
Tags: Adventurous, Aging, Businesses, Decline, Economy, Job creation, Ramifications, Risk-averse, Society, Start-ups, U.S.
Euromoney (August Issue)
In the U.S., it seems everyone is becoming an entrepreneur. “Some 6 million businesses were created in the U.S. in 2012. The country is experiencing a start-up boom…. Since the financial crisis, the number of businesses being started has rocked.”
Tags: Boom, Businesses, Entrepreneur, Financial Crisis, Start-ups, U.S.
New York Times (March 11, 2012)
The proposed JOBS Act (an acronym for Jumpstart our Business Startups) is “a terrible package of bills that would undo essential investor protections, reduce market transparency and distort the efficient allocation of capital.” Amazed by the utter lack of memory, the New York Times stands opposed. “We know memories are short in Washington. But Enron was just 10 years ago. And the entire system almost imploded in 2008. There is no excuse.”
Tags: Congress, Enron, Financial Crisis, Investors, JOBS Act, Start-ups, Transparency
Telegraph (March 28)
“StartUp Britain” is being launched by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs with the aim of “celebrating, inspiring and accelerating enterprise in the UK.” The Prime Minister is lending support and the new campaign has Government backing. Start-ups and small firms account for nearly 60% of private sector jobs in the UK. Sir Richard Branson writes that “firing up a new generation of entrepreneurs will be a crucial part of our recovery and essential for creating sustainable growth in Britain over the next decade and beyond.”
“StartUp Britain” is being launched by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs with the aim of “celebrating, inspiring and accelerating enterprise in the UK.” The Prime Minister is lending support and the new campaign has Government backing. Start-ups and small firms account for nearly 60% of private sector jobs in the UK. Sir Richard Branson writes that “firing up a new generation of entrepreneurs will be a crucial part of our recovery and essential for creating sustainable growth in Britain over the next decade and beyond.”
Tags: Economy, Entrepreneurs, Recovery, Start-ups, UK
