Court hears arguments on net neutrality
Executive coaching should be accessible to anyone who is interested, but oftentimes scaling the education is not practical. With her company Zella Life, co-founder Remy Meraz is democratizing professional development using AI. We sat down with her to discuss AI, independent contractors, and more.
After working in the financial sector for over 20 years, Mical Jeanlys-White founded her own company, WealthMore, a wealth tech with a focus on tackling a key financial barrier—wealth building and management. Her company leverages technology to connect everyday Americans with accessible wealth management services, aiming to provide wealth creation for all. We sat down with her to discuss her journey in raising capital, navigating tax policy, the evolving role of AI, and more.
Vance Reavie is no stranger to entrepreneurship. Using his knowledge from previous ventures, he created an AI platform that intelligently automates manual marketing and merchandising workflows and content generation processes for brands and retailers. We sat down with Vance to discuss the startup ecosystem in Arkansas, AI policy and regulation, grant opportunities, and more.
Founded in 2017, 60Hertz set out to tackle critical challenges in maintaining microgrids and renewable energy systems, particularly in remote regions like Alaska. Now active in eight countries, the company provides advanced maintenance technology through its SaaS platform. In this blog post, we dive into 60Hertz’s journey, from early capital-raising hurdles to success with government grants, and explore the future goals of this innovative company.
Nova Credit is a cross-border credit reporting company that allows immigrants to easily transfer their international credit histories to the United States. We recently spoke with Nicky Goulimis, Nova Credit’s Co-Founder and COO, to learn more about the startup’s work, the important role that immigrants play in the U.S. economy, and how policymakers can better support foreign-born workers and visa holders.
Last month, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) announced a reorganization which, among other things, eliminated the positions of Deputy Commissioner and Associate Commissioner for Patent Quality. This is the latest in a series of policy developments which have had the effect of deprioritizing patent quality in the U.S.
TLDR: The U.S. tech industry and startup ecosystem rely upon the important contributions of high-skilled foreign talent to drive innovation and economic growth. But the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the country’s visa programs by suspending work visas for immigrants and attempting to narrow eligibility for H-1B visas will harm domestic innovation and drive qualified talent to other countries.
Located on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, Change Labs is a nonprofit organization working to foster small business development and increase economic opportunities for Native American entrepreneurs. We recently spoke with Heather Fleming, Change Labs’ Co-Founder and Executive Director, to learn more about the nonprofit’s work supporting Native entrepreneurs, some of the challenges that startups and small businesses face on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, and the steps that need to be taken to advance Native American founders.
The Big Story: Spotlight on content moderation ahead of election. With the presidential election weeks away, and Americans increasingly relying on Internet services amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, digital platforms are working overtime to identify and moderate user-generated content that could cause real-world problems. But policymakers are turning up the heat on the already difficult and contentious issue of content moderation, with platforms’ efforts to combat the spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation leading to partisan pushback and claims of supposed censorship.
TLDR: U.S. startups are in need of further economic relief to support their business operations amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a recent survey conducted by Engine, a majority of respondents who received federal assistance said the financial support they obtained was insufficient, and entrepreneurs voiced support for a variety of more-targeted policy proposals—such as equity investments, forgivable loans, a startup fund, tax credits, and grants—that could help provide them with the assistance they need during this difficult time.
The Big Story: House antitrust report suggests sweeping changes to tech landscape. After spending the past 16 months investigating allegations of anti-competitive practices by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, the House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic leadership this week released a 449 page report proposing that lawmakers overhaul existing U.S. antitrust laws, including limiting large tech firms’ ability to acquire startups. While policymakers proposed taking a variety of steps to address claims of market dominance and abuse—such as breaking up the largest firms and providing more regulatory authority and resources to federal agencies overseeing the tech industry—lawmakers must remain vigilant that their overall recommendations do not harm competition by hindering startup growth and innovation.
Miami-based startup CitiQuants uses “decisional data” on cities’ livability, workability, sustainability, and governability assets to help other startups and established businesses make important hiring and expansion decisions. The focus on city-level data has also pushed the company to start developing tokenized city stocks that can be used to generate public investments in local communities. We spoke with Philip Peters, CitiQuants’ Founder and CEO, to learn more about his startup, his PEV Token concept, and steps that policymakers can take to support growing startups—particularly those affected by the pandemic.
TLDR: The U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument this week in the almost decade-long dispute between Google and Oracle over the permissible use of software interfaces—known as application programming interfaces (APIs). Startups and developers rely on APIs as a fundamental tool for developing new software and enabling interoperability. Oracle is asking the Court to upset a long-held understanding that APIs cannot be subject to copyright infringement claims. And a ruling in Oracle’s favor would expose U.S. startups and software developers to sizable new risks, generate more litigation, and increase barriers to startup growth and innovation.
The Big Story: Congress must keep startups in mind while reviewing the DMCA. The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week about § 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”)—a critical area of the law for startups which provides a balanced and certain framework for addressing allegations of online copyright infringement. As we have explained, if Congress were to consider any revisions, it is essential they carefully weigh how important § 512 is to startups. While much of the Committee’s hearing ignored those needs, there were indications some lawmakers and witnesses are still mindful of startups and the users and Internet-enabled creators who rely on them.
Dr. Edouard Siregar, a former researcher with NASA, founded Sofia Labs as a way of using human-centered artificial intelligence to help users lighten their workloads and finish complex projects. We recently spoke with Dr. Siregar to learn more about his company’s product, what policymakers should do to support startups affected by the pandemic, and how the government can best advance emerging technologies.
TLDR: Many members of Congress are calling for changes to Section 230—a bedrock Internet law that allows Internet platforms to host and moderate user content without having to worry about ruinous lawsuits. But Democrats and Republicans see very different problems with Section 230 and Internet platforms' content moderation practices, and most policymakers’ criticisms focus exclusively on a handful of large companies while ignoring the outsized impact that changes to Section 230 would have on startups.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cripple economic growth across the globe, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and policymakers need to be prepared for trading partners seeking to recoup lost revenues through new international taxation measures. Specifically, more nations are considering implementing or have implemented digital services tax (DST) frameworks that would largely discriminatorily target U.S. tech companies to help cover budgetary shortfalls.
The Big Story: Reflecting on the life and career of Justice Ginsburg. Over the past week, extraordinary attention has rightfully been paid to the life and legacy of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the future of the Court she leaves behind. While Justice Ginsburg’s contributions—and celebrity status—are often couched in terms of her being a bulwark for certain liberal values, her legacy and contributions are not so limited and the reach of her work is woven into the fabric of the country. Indeed, it is apparent her contributions benefited U.S. startups, and her absence on the Supreme Court may soon be felt by the startup community.
Postagraph is a recently launched social messaging app that works to connect verified users with their family and friends in a private environment. By focusing on creating a digital community free of filtered falsehoods, Pelumi Olatinpo—Postagraph’s CEO—is working to create an authentic user experience for those tired of the digital noise and lack of privacy on other social media and messaging platforms. We recently spoke with Olatinpo to learn more about Postagraph, his thoughts on social networking platforms, and steps that lawmakers should take to support the startup community and underrepresented founders.
This year has been difficult for every individual and company in the country. During a global pandemic, which has caused widespread economic damage and uncertainty, startups are struggling—struggling to find funding, struggling to navigate existing government relief programs, and struggling to maintain jobs and operations (let alone sustain growth). And across the country, people are looking to Washington for support and guidance.
As negotiations continue on a trade deal between the United States and the United Kingdom, it is crucial that policymakers push for balanced and commonsense intellectual property frameworks around the world so that startups can grow globally. This July, the U.S. and the U.K. entered the third round of negotiations on an expected trade agreement, following the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union earlier this year. While a number of topics are on the table, including critical digital trade provisions, the intellectual property provisions will prove essential to U.S. startups.
TLDR: While the European Union has moved in recent years to take the lead on enforcing global privacy standards, Congress has let states like California largely dictate the country’s privacy laws as a result of federal inaction on a national data privacy framework. As lawmakers prepare to discuss the importance of crafting comprehensive privacy legislation this week, it’s critical they pursue a framework that balances strong consumer privacy protections with much-needed clarity for startups and entrepreneurs.
The Big Story: Acquisitions, content moderation become focus of antitrust hearing. A Senate antitrust panel held a hearing this week to examine the impact of Google’s online advertising market on competition, but in what is becoming a routine occurrence, policymakers shifted their focus to other areas, spending considerable time airing unrelated and unsupported claims about Google’s supposed anti-conservative bias and the alleged harms of acquisitions.
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