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Piktochart’s drag-and-drop interface lets you create customized infographics based on the data you input. You can select one of their beautiful themes (created in-house), then change color schemes and fonts. Their basic plan costs $10/month. The Italy- and Malaysia-based startup originally envisioned becoming a visual editor for infographics, a substitute for programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. This focus on “big data” was confirmed by their contacts during Chinaccelerator, as well as the success of similar tools like Tableau, WonderGraphs, and Metamarkets....

Crowdfunding basics: Entrepreneur Magazine describes crowdfunding as being “about persuading individuals to each give you a small donation…..once you get thousands of donors, you have some serious cash on hand.” Basically, crowdfunding is a way to solicit donations from individuals without the traditional rules surrounding banking. Here are a few key points about crowdfunding to keep in mind. Preparing your campaign: It is highly advised that you have a business plan when preparing to launch your crowdfunding campaign....

To help, local leaders decided to do something and created a calendar of entrepreneurial events. Since its inception in 2016, there have been hundreds of events that enables countless interactions among aspiring entrepreneurs. The CT Entrepreneurial Event Organizers promotes collaboration to unite and engage all members of the entrepreneurial community. How does the calendar help? First and foremost, the calendar provides awareness of events that allows entrepreneurs to find and network with fellow entrepreneurs, along with meeting potential advisors, co-workers and future founders....

With more of us working from home in 2020 than ever, company security has been a hot topic, and one of the most vulnerable points of access is poor password management. Using the tool, employers will be able to identify and assist staff with compromised or weak passwords, to tighten security across their workforce. New Dashlane Features The new reporting dashboard, which according to Dashlane is an industry first, gives companies an overview of its employees password practice, even going so far as to assign every user their own unique ‘health score’....

We’re a consulting company ourselves and have seen what goes on here. That gives me the authority to write about this topic. I might be shooting my own foot with this article, but nevertheless, it will be in the favor of customers, and hence, us consulting companies eventually. So let’s get those dirty secrets out and give you pointers on choosing the firm that best fits your needs. IGNORE THE SUPERLATIVE TERM, BEST Best is a superlative word....

Lately, I’ve started watching House of Cards on Netflix. In case you’re not aware, House of Cards is the viewership darling of Netflix’s original programming. Netflix has 27 million subscribers in the U.S. and 33 million worldwide. An estimated 15 percent of all Netflix subscribers have streamed at least one episode of House of Cards. That means millions and millions of viewers. In many ways, House of Cards is a disruptive startup in it’s own right....

Further, they took their $5,000 winnings from Pitch Tech and reinvested it into San Diego, so to speak. The HouseCall team set up a fund to subsidize $1.00 window and power washes for victims and evacuees of the devastating fires. Roland Ligtenberg, co-founder of HouseCall, told me all of this and more during our face to face interview: check it out. Tech Cocktail: Where did the initial idea for HouseCall come from?...

Former President Trump was banned from Twitter and suspended from Facebook earlier this year after the January 6th attacks on the Capitol. Subsequently, many conservatives spoke out about the tech industry’s dramatic concentration of power when it comes to freedom of expression. Now, this new bill from Florida is poised to address the problem in the least helpful way possible, by fining social media companies for banning politicians. The fines are only incurred if the politicians are permanently banned, so temporary bans of less than 14 days will not draw the ire of the bill....

When Gary Vaynerchuk and clan talk about day-trading attention, they’re talking about finding where people spend their time and about making an impact in those places. They’re looking for where they can have the most influence. Why? Because influence is powerful, and it helps you succeed. Celebrity endorsements are older than the United States for a reason. People listen to those with celebrity status, and brands desperately want people paying attention to their message....

Currently, Google is insisting its workers are in the office three days a week, but with news that a prominent Google employment is leaving the company’s San Francisco base for New Zealand, as part of an “experiment” of remote working. Is Google’s Remote Working Policy Hypocritical? It was announced last week that Urs Hölzle, a long-term member of the company and senior vice president of technical infrastructure, would be leaving the San Francisco office for New Zealand....

The new Gmail features have, in fact, been available since March 25 if you wanted to opt-in early. Gmail will continue alerting its users to the upgrade in upcoming months before eventually making it mandatory and discontinuing the old Gmail for good. In other words, you might as well brush up on all the changes to expect from the world’s most popular email provider. Here are the top changes to expect from the new Gmail features, plus how to make practical use of them in your own inbox:...

The researchers from the French government agency ANSSI managed to trigger voice commands on both an Android phone with Google Now enabled on top of an iPhone with Siri. In order for them to use radio waves to actually activate the smartphone personal assistants, however, a pair of micro-phone equipped headphones had to be plugged into the phone itself. Using a software-defined radio, an amplifier, and an antenna, the researchers were able to broadcast radio wave signals that the phone interpreted as a person speaking into a microphone....

So how can you monitor your brand? By checking in with the leading trends. Here’s a look at the biggest takeaways from a recent study on the subject from the Employer Branding Academy. How to Identify Awareness Levels To properly measure brand reputation, you’ll need to know what a variety of demographics think about your company, based off their understanding of it and their personal values. It’s tough to measure, of course, but there are a couple levels of awareness that you can rely on to pinpoint how each demographic thinks....

There is a silver lining though, especially in geographical locations that are blessed with plentiful sunshine, where initiatives are in place to harness this abundant and never-ending source of energy. In particular, by showing increasing interest in solar panels, Tampa home and business owners are clearly indicating their keenness to make the best use of their Sunshine State status and their willingness to be environmentally responsible, too. To understand why going solar is the best option for you, start by learning how solar panels work and why they are a green option....

There have been many methods to choosing which employees have what it takes to be company leaders, from elaborate surveys to simple observations. But these methods always leave some people out, leading to a wasted opportunity for skilled employees. After all, it’s more a matter of how you tap into someone’s potential, rather than if they have it all. So how should you measure an employee’s leadership potential? TINYpulse, a software provider that helps businesses improve employee performance and engagement, teamed up with Microsoft Workplace Analytics in a new research study to try to answer that question....

Despite his confidence in the research results so far, Strange is careful not to oversell the company’s potential and its drug candidate. There are still many hurdles in front of them, not least of which is the need to raise massive amounts of money from investors. Leading a drug through clinical trials could cost as much as $30 million, he says, and the failure rate in drug development is incredibly high....

Applying for jobs online today is as straightforward as ordering delivery pizza, only less delicious. We have tools like LinkedIn, recruitment sites, and easy application forms that fill themselves with your data automatically. We can even apply on our mobile phones. We press send, and our details wing their way to an overflowing inbox somewhere. However, by making something more efficient and user-friendly, we have opened the floodgates to mediocrity and created an unscalable wall of applications for Human Resources departments, making it less likely you will ever hear back from your applications....

A good place to start is to offer the kinds of benefits that will attract and retain valuable employees. Some perks that are likely to motivate employees include catered lunches, areas in which to lounge or relax around the office, and the ability to work where and when it is convenient for each individual. Another way to build a great team is to leverage the employees that you already have....

What’s more, 38 percent rated their stress intensity as high or extremely high, while 45 percent said their stress occurs on a frequent or chronic basis. Tech professionals are stressed out and burnt out, and if employers and managers don’t take action, they’re going to face major talent problems. To get to the bottom of this issue, we talked to tech managers and executives about the drivers of stress in tech, and how to get it under control....

This guide is going to introduce you to some of the tips you need to follow in order to prepare your startup for funding. Get Your Business Plan Ready Your business plan is the first thing investors will see. It will also be the primary marker they use to make a judgment call on you. Your business plan shouldn’t just stick to how you think your company is going to be successfulf....