Author : zebethcontrol

Google is finally making Chrome tablet-friendly • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Android, Apps, Chrome, Google, tabletNo Comments

After ignoring the app experience on Android tablets for years, Google appears increasingly focused on turning things around. Earlier this year, the search giant introduced Android 12L, which brought an improved interface and multitasking experience to tablets and foldable. At the developer conference Google IO in May, it promised to finetune over 20 of its own apps for the tablet experience. Now the search giant is beginning to deliver on that pledge, starting with the browser Chrome. Google has rolled out an update to Chrome for Android tablets that introduces new features such as a side-by-side view for improved tab navigation and the ability to drag and drop information out of Chrome. The side-by-side view will help users navigate between tabs by swiping across the address bar (as shown in the gif below). This is helpful when you can’t really read tab names in settings such as split-screen. Image Credits: Google The drag-and-drop functionality allows users to move around links, images and text from Chrome to apps such as Gmail, Keep and Photos. Watch it in action in the gif below. Google introduced a similar drag-and-drop support for apps such as Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slide and Keep on Android tablets in July. Image Credits: Google What’s more, the refined Chrome for Android tablets adds a grid layout for tabs to make it easier for users to switch between them — instead of having to traverse through the horizontal line of tabs. The revamp also allows users to see large-sized previews of currently open tabs when they swipe up from the bottom of the screen. This feature is already available on Chrome’s smartphone app through the tab switcher. Image Credits: Google The company said its tab groups feature — first introduced for Chrome for desktop in 2020 — is also “coming soon” to Chrome for tablets. “No matter if you prefer using a mouse, a stylus, or your finger, the Chrome on Android experience should be as intuitive and familiar on tablets as on your computer or phone. We’re constantly exploring new ways to make it easier and more enjoyable to use Chrome on your Android tablet — whether it’s easier navigation with the visual tab grid, switching to desktop mode, or finding the tab quickly,” said Lola Adams, Product Manager, Chrome, in a statement. Google is slowly improving the Android tablet experience through app refreshes and software updates as it prepares to launch its own Pixel tablet next year.

Deep Render believes AI holds the key to more efficient video compression • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Battlefield 200, Deep Render, Disrupt, machine learning, Media & Entertainment, Robotics & AI, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

Chri Besenbruch, CEO of Deep Render, sees many problems with the way video compression standards are developed today. He thinks they aren’t advancing quickly enough, bemoans the fact that they’re plagued with legal uncertainty and decries their reliance on specialized hardware for acceleration. “The codec development process is broken,” Besenbruch said in an interview with ZebethMedia ahead of Disrupt, where Deep Render is participating in the Disrupt Battlefield 200. “In the compression industry, there is a significant challenge of finding a new way forward and searching for new innovations.” Seeking a better way, Besenbruch co-founded Deep Render with Arsalan Zafar, whom he met at Imperial College London. At the time, Besenbruch was studying computer science and machine learning. He and Zafar collaborated on a research project involving distributing terabytes of video across a network, during which they say they experienced the shortcomings of compression technology firsthand. The last time ZebethMedia covered Deep Render, the startup had just closed a £1.6 million seed round ($1.81 million) led by Pentech Ventures with participation from Speedinvest. In the roughly two years since then, Deep Render has raised an additional several million dollars from existing investors, bringing its total raised to $5.7 million. “We thought to ourselves, if the internet pipes are difficult to extend, the only thing we can do is make the data that flows through the pipes smaller,” Besenbruch said. “Hence, we decided to fuse machine learning and AI and compression technology to develop a fundamentally new way of compression data getting significantly better image and video compression ratios.” Deep Render isn’t the first to apply AI to video compression. Alphabet’s DeepMind adapted a machine learning algorithm originally developed to play board games to the problem of compressing YouTube videos, leading to a 4% reduction in the amount of data the video-sharing service needs to stream to users. Elsewhere, there’s startup WaveOne, which claims its machine learning-based video codec outperforms all existing standards across popular quality metrics. But Deep Render’s solution is platform-agnostic. To create it, Besenbruch says that the company compiled a dataset of over 10 million video sequences on which they trained algorithms to learn to compress video data efficiently. Deep Render used a combination of on-premise and cloud hardware for the training, with the former comprising over a hundred GPUs. Deep Render claims the resulting compression standard is 5x better than HEVC, a widely used codec and can run in real time on mobile devices with a dedicated AI accelerator chip (e.g., the Apple Neural Engine in modern iPhones). Besenbruch says the company is in talks with three large tech firms — all with market caps over $300 billion — about paid pilots, though he declined to share names. Eddie Anderson, a founding partner at Pentech and board member at Deep Render, shared via email: “Deep Render’s machine learning approach to codecs completely disrupts an established market. Not only is it a software route to market, but their [compression] performance is significantly better than the current state of the art. As bandwidth demands continue to increase, their solution has the potential to drive vastly improved commercial performance for current media owners and distributors.” Deep Render currently employs 20 people. By the end of 2023, Besenbruch expects that number will more than triple to 62.

Swap Robotics is paving the way for electric solar vegetation cuts and sidewalk snow plowing • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Battlefield, battlefield 2022, Disrupt, Robotics & AI, Startups, Swap RoboticsNo Comments

Swap Robotics, a company that manufactures electric grass-cutting and snow removal robots, presented today at ZebethMedia Disrupt Startup Battlefield to detail how it’s making sustainable outdoor work equipment. For the next few years, 95% of the startup’s focus will be on facilitating robots that cut grass and vegetation on 1,000+ acre utility-scale solar farms. The company’s secondary focus is sidewalk snow plowing. The startup was founded in October 2019 by CEO Tim Lichti, CTO Mohamed H. Ahmed, Machine Design Lead Spencer Kschesinski and Electrical Design Lead Adonis Mansour. Lichti, Kschesinski and Mansour all attended the University of Waterloo together and then got to know Ahmed during their first year. The team originally planned to develop a robotic cutting solution for sports fields, but kept hearing from landscapers that cutting 1,000+ acre utility-scale solar installations was a challenging job that could use a modern solution. Tim Lichti, CEO at Swap Robotics pitches as part of ZebethMedia Startup Battlefield at ZebethMedia Disrupt in San Francisco on October 18, 2022. Image Credits: Haje Kamps / ZebethMedia The team decided it would be their mission to create a solution that could sustainably cut grass in a controlled environment. Swap Robotics was aware that solar vegetation cutting comes with its challenges, as it requires a unique type of cutting deck that is able to get underneath solar panels, and recognized that a robotic solution could address the problem. “Right now, there are a couple of main challenges when cutting all of the vegetation in solar fields,” Lichti told ZebethMedia in an interview. “The way it’s done is unsustainable. It’s done by gasoline or diesel-powered equipment, so there’s obviously a big carbon footprint there. There’s also a high cost from gasoline and diesel itself. The equipment is also going through rough terrain, so there’s a lot of equipment breakdown and costs associated with that. Since what we’re doing is 100% electric, it’s a lot more sustainable. There are also way fewer parts, so it’s not going to break down nearly as often.” Image Credits: Swap Robotics The robots have built-in hydraulics that move the grass cutting blades and the snow plow attachment. The attachments have a “quick swap” system, hence the name Swap Robotics, to make it easier and quicker to switch attachments. The robots’ batteries can also be swapped in five minutes, which allows for nearly 24/7 operation. The robots can also hold more than 1,000 pounds. Within 60 days of debuting its robots in mid-2022, Swap Robotics had over $9 million of signed agreements for solar vegetation cutting. Swap Robotics says it has developed the world’s first 100% electric cutting deck to reach the grass and vegetation underneath solar panels. The company also says it has developed the world’s first 100% electric “rough cut” deck that can easily cut down vegetation up to two-inches in diameter. Lichti says Swap Robotics currently has several robots in commercial operation in Texas, but is unable to disclose which companies are currently using the robots. The startup is also in the midst of releasing a batch of 10 new robots and has ordered supplies for the next batch of 10 robots. The company anticipates additional sales in the future as a result of its new relationship with SOLV Energy. As for the company’s business model, Swap Robotics charges a price per acre. Lichti says the model is convenient because customers are already familiar with paying a price per acre for grass cutting done by humans. The price per acre can vary depending on factors such as the size of the site, frequency of cuts and the terrain. The startup’s goal is to provide customers with 15% to 20% in savings when compared to their current cutting costs per acre. Image Credits: Swap Robotics The startup also announced that it received an investment from SOLV Energy, the largest utility-scale solar building company in the United States, but is unable to disclose the amount. Lichti says the funding is part of its pre-Series A round that it plans to close at the end of October. A large portion of the investment will go toward commercialization of the startup’s robots. The company plans to ramp up operations to have dozens of robots in service. In addition, some parts of the investment will be used for capital expenditure. Prior to this investment, Swap Robotics raised $3 million in the three years after its launch from angel investors and SOSV. The funding was used to get Swap Robotics’ initial batch of a dozen robots into commercial operation. The investment was also used for software, mechanical and electrical development. Swap Robotics at ZebethMedia Startup Battlefield at ZebethMedia Disrupt in San Francisco on October 18, 2022. Image Credits: Haje Kamps / ZebethMedia Swap Robotics plans to have a larger Series A round in 2023. “Long term, we would love Swap Robotics to be an outdoor robotics platform for work,” Lichti said. “We’ve developed a form factor that is compact, extremely strong and robust and has a built-in hydraulics system that can have dozens of different use cases. I think this makes it an ideal platform for heavy use cases, especially those that sometimes may be seasonal.” Lichti reiterated that the startup’s main focus will largely be on solar vegetation, and that the potential for its additional use cases is part of its longer term vision. As for what these use cases could look like, Lichti noted that the robots could potentially be used for street sweeping or reforestation efforts.

Hormona wants women to track their ‘hormonal health’ with at-home testing • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Battlefield, battlefield 2022, Biotech & Health, Disrupt, Hormona, hormone tracking, StartupsNo Comments

Quantified health activity is all around us these days, as scores of people use mobile sensing technologies to keep an eye on their well-being by tracking their steps, workouts and even how long and deep they sleep — so why shouldn’t women who cycle (as in menstrual cycle) track monthly changes to their hormone levels? London-based femtech, Hormona, which is pitching its hormone tracker in the Startup Battlefield at ZebethMedia Disrupt, hopes to encourage people with periods to do just that: Add hormone-monitoring to their quantified health mix. Today it’s announcing the launch of its app in the U.S. after a period of early testing with “a few thousand” women in Europe (it’s been beta testing in Sweden). The 2019-founded U.K. startup has already spent a couple of years in R&D developing an easy-to-perform, proprietary at-home hormone test to underpin a forthcoming monthly subscription business that will enable users of its (freemium) app to pay to regularly test and report their hormone levels. In the near future, in return for “roughly” $40 per month (for the subscription package which includes a supply of self tests), paying users will get feedback on whether they’re inside or outside the normal hormonal range for women their age — and suggestions for treatments if something looks amiss. That’s for starters. Hormona’s overarching goal, as is often the case with femtech startups, is to encourage a critical mass of users to get on-board with a mission to help plug the data gap that persists around women’s health (as a result of medical research being historically skewed towards male biology) — by agreeing to pool data for research aimed at improving understanding of the roles hormones play in areas like fertility and the menopause. (This side is of course optional: Hormona confirms that any studies it engages in involving user data will be consent-based, i.e. requiring the user to opt their information in.) Jasmine Tagesson, COO at Hormona pitches as part of ZebethMedia Startup Battlefield at ZebethMedia Disrupt in San Francisco on October 18, 2022. Image Credits: Haje Kamps / ZebethMedia “As of now, there isn’t enough data around hormonal health and it’s really affecting every single woman in different stages of her life so it’s a very important topic that we really need to spend more time to do more research and understand,” says Hormona CEO and co-founder, Karolina Lofqvist, ahead of today’s on stage pitch at the Startup Battlefield in San Francisco. “With this test we can really help women to figure out if they have irregular cycles, if they’re going to have problems getting pregnant or if they’re going into menopause,” she continues. “Our full solution is really on hormonal health — and follow[ing] a woman from her first cycle all the way to her last.” “We are hoping that with the data [users opt in] we can do more studies around how women are affected by their hormones, how different connections and different levels between hormones can be connected to hormone related issues such as PCOS [polycystic ovary syndrome] or — eventually, perhaps — endometriosis as well, even if it’s not a direct hormonal issue. But PCOS for sure, and infertility and menopause,” she adds. “There are a lot of things that are connected to your hormones that are currently understudied that we are very excited to do more studies and bring more awareness around.” The startup has raised a total of $1.5 million in early backing from three VC firms so far: SFC Capital and Nascent Invest, as well as Techstars — after going through the latter’s LA accelerator program earlier this year. Cycling through hormone testing Hormona’s at-home hormone tests — which are lateral flow, urine-based tests for (initially) three separate hormones (FSH; progesterone; and estrogen) — will be available from Q1 next year, per Lofqvist, starting in the U.S., with a European launch to follow later. That means, for now, its (free-to-download) app is essentially a general resource that provides information about the function of different female hormones. As tests become available, it’s also designed to funnel users towards regular self-testing (and paying a subscription) to unlock personalized hormonal insights once the testing component of the business launches early next year. “In the app today you can start to understand what is supposed to happen with your hormones and then when the test is available women can confirm that what is supposed to happen is actually happening,” says Lofqvist, going on to explain that subscription users will be testing roughly one hormone per week (using a separate test per hormone) and doing this at home — “without the need for a lab”. The three hormones it’s selected for testing were picked because they’re “connected to so many different issues that we women go through”, she says, adding that they may add tests for more hormones in the future — with testosterone and cortisol being two others of potential interest. The initial batch of hormone tests are performed by users as three separate tests, rather than being bundled onto a single test strip. This is because Lofqvist says that certain hormones need to be tested on certain days to properly understand how levels are changing throughout the cycle. “You don’t test your estrogen on the same day as you test your FSH,” she notes, adding of the individual test dates: “It’s based on our algorithms telling when your estrogen and FSH is supposed to be at the highest or lowest level.” App users need to provide Hormona with some information about themselves (such as their age) and about their cycle (e.g. regular or irregular; and its length) in order that it can calculate personalized testing dates. Lofqvist confirms these dates “can vary a bit” depending on what the user’s goal and age is. While she tells us the overall accuracy of its hormone tests is “on par” with an at-home blood test. “We’ve spent the last two years in order to evaluate antibodies to give us as good result

Meet E-liza Dolls, the startup that’s building dolls to help young girls learn to code • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Battlefield 200, Disrupt, e-liza dolls, Robotics & AI, Startups, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

E-liza Dolls, a Berkeley-based startup, is aiming to challenge the gender gap in STEM by helping young girls learn to code using dolls. The company, which exhibited as part of the Battlefield 200 at ZebethMedia Disrupt, builds dolls that include programmable computers that girls can code through an app. The startup was founded in 2021 by Eliza Kosoy, a Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley, who is focused on the intersection of child development and artificial intelligence. Kosoy originally came up with the idea for the dolls in 2017 while she was working at MIT in an AI lab that was mostly made up of men. Kosoy says she realized that if only a certain group of people were designing the future of AI and technology, it would only benefit that group, which is when she had the idea to come up with a way for young girls to learn to code. Kosoy wanted to find a way for girls to learn about coding without having to give up their interests, which is why she decided to combine dolls and technology. Regardless of what people may think about gendered toys, the purpose of E-liza dolls is to help girls feel confident when it comes to exploring STEM by giving them a product that is designed specifically for them. The market is filled with toys that are designed and marketed for and by males. Of course girls can play with these toys too, but some of them may prefer to play with something that is designed for them. “We want to expose young girls to technological concepts and encourage creative thinking through hardware and software, preventing girls from being influenced by generational stereotypes,” Kosoy told ZebethMedia. “Parents have so few options; they feel they need to force their daughters to play with STEM products designed for boys in order to get their daughters on a STEM path. We believe little girls don’t have to sacrifice their interests in order to play with educational STEM toys.” E-liza Dolls is currently in talks with manufacturers and plans to launch on Kickstarter in early 2023. Kosoy says the team is one prototype away from the Kickstarter launch, as the startup plans to add a few iterations to the dolls and enhance their design features. After the initial launch on Kickstarter, the company plans to release the product officially in mid-2023. The 18″ dolls operate via a piece of hardware embedded in each doll. The device has a screen and is Bluetooth-enabled to receive code via the doll’s companion app. Girls can plug in different sensors or use the built-in sensors to code the doll to do different things, such as building a security alarm for your room using a distance sensor or creating a truth detector using a heartbeat pulse sensor. Since launching, E-liza Dolls has received $100,000 in funding from AIX Ventures. The company is currently in the midst of raising a pre-seed round that consists of funding from several angel investors, including poet Rupi Kaur.

Redditors have created millions of crypto wallets to buy NFT avatars • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Apps, Reddit, Social, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

In July, Reddit jumped on the NFT train, launching an NFT-based marketplace that allows users to purchase blockchain-based profile pictures for a fixed rate. Given the general sentiment around NFTs today, you might assume — like me — that the experiment ended poorly. But the opposite’s the case apparently. Today during a panel at ZebethMedia Disrupt, Reddit chief product officer Pali Bhat revealed that over three million Redditors have used Reddit’s Vault blockchain wallet to create over three million crypto wallets to date. Most of those — 2.5 million — were created to purchase NFT avatars that can be used as profile pics on the platform, he said. It’s difficult to put the figures into context, given that not all NFT marketplaces willingly share those sorts of metrics. But Dune Analytics estimated in a recent report that one of the leading platforms, OpenSea, was hosting over one million active wallets as of January. Meanwhile, crypto wallet MetaMask was serving over 30 million users as of March. Reddit partnered with roughly 30 artists to release around 40,000 NFT avatar designs a few months ago, which could be purchased via the Reddit mobile app at prices ranging from $9.99 to $99.99. (They’re all sold out at the moment.) Users who purchased one of the limited-edition pics got licensing rights to use it on and off of Reddit as an avatar, and could mix and match their avatar’s look using a built-in avatar builder tool. Reddit partnered with Polygon, an Ethereum-compatible blockchain, to mint the avatars. (In blockchain jargon, “minting” refers to publishing a unique NFT so that it can be bought or sold.) Vault is used to store and manage NFTs through the Reddit app. Reddit’s latest foray into the NFT space comes after the social network began allowing users to set any NFT as their profile picture, following on the heels of Twitter. At the time, NFT avatars were exclusively available to members of the r/CollectibleAvatars subreddit, which was invite-only. Beyond NFTs, Reddit has branched in a number of different directions in recent months in search of new lines of revenue. The company has toyed with the idea of introducing TikTok-like video editing tools and made several targeted acquisitions, buying content moderation startup Oterlu, natural language processing company MeaningCloud, machine learning platform Spell and contextualization company Spiketrap. Reddit also revamped its developer portal to give third-party apps and bots a boost, and it upgraded its live audio product, Reddit Talk, with new discovery features.

Activision Blizzard’s Johanna Faries highlights the company’s emerging ‘anti-tox’ strategy • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Activision Blizzard, call of duty, Disrupt, esports, Gaming, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

At ZebethMedia Disrupt today, Activision Blizzard General Manager Johanna Faries elaborated on the company’s plans to clean up some of the worst behavior in the franchise’s community, even as new lawsuits and allegations about its own culture continue to emerge. Last month, Activision Blizzard released a formal code of conduct for the Call of Duty community, which encompasses its broad consumer player base and the competitive scene. While the policy is pretty basic — no harassment, hate or cheating — it’s something the company can point to when it enforces the rules. “I’m happy to say, especially since you know the time that I’ve been in the chair, we’ve really raised the bar in terms of paying attention to ‘what does an anti-tox strategy need to look like? What does creating fair play environments, safe play environments look like?’” Faries said. “We just released for example — and it started in the beta — a first-ever franchise-wide code of conduct, which I know may sound like table stakes, and in many ways it probably is — but it’s here now. Faries noted that Activision Blizzard has teams “focused 24/7” on anti-toxicity, weaving together automated machine learning solutions with human moderation. The goal is to make it easier for players to quickly report bad behavior but also to incentivize the kind of good behavior that should serve as a model for the community. The crackdown on toxic behavior — which often disproportionately impacts marginalized players who still struggle for representation in streaming and gaming — goes hand in hand with weeding out players who cheat, according to Faries. “So there’s more to come on this, but I was really proud to see in addition to Ricochet [anti-cheating tech] and a lot of our anti-cheat anti-hacking initiatives that we’ve rolled out as well… our anti-toxicity focus is one that is a masthead going into this upcoming launch and for years to come,” Faries said. “We’re putting the best systems in place to make sure that players have the tools, but also have again the incentives, to continue to raise the bar of what it means to play fair to play with respect for everyone to play with integrity.” Over the weekend, Activision seemed to put its money where its mouth was, allegedly banning top competitor Doug “Censor” Martin from competing in the Fortune’s Keep tournament, citing his interactions with Call of Duty streamer Nadia Amine. Martin previously filmed a joke marriage proposal to the female player, who has faced a firestorm of sexism and baseless accusations that she’s somehow cheating at the game. In a tweet, Martin said that Activision “blocked him from competing” in the tournament over harassing Amine, though Activision Blizzard hasn’t yet confirmed the claim. If the company did indeed dole out an event ban over directing unwanted attention at a fellow player, it would track with its new emphasis on cleaning up behavior in the notoriously toxic Call of Duty scene.

AI content developer Jasper now valued at $1.5B following capital infusion • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Daily Crunch, Startups, Venture, venture capitalNo Comments

To get a roundup of ZebethMedia’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. The newsletter is a little later than usual today and for the next three days. Don’t worry, it’s for fun reasons: We want to be the first to tell you about the awesomeness that is our ZebethMedia Disrupt Battlefield companies. Find ’em in our special Battlefield section belooooow! And, this is the first time EVER, that we are writing Daily Crunch, sitting next to each other, IRL. — Christine and Haje The ZebethMedia Top 3 Someone’s having a good day: Jasper, which calls itself an “AI content” developer, raised its first round of funding ever — and a big one at that, at $125 million, to give it a $1.5 billion valuation, Kyle reports. It also comes as the company is in the process of acquiring a grammar- and style-checking platform, Outwrite. Turning renters into owners: Christine provides an update on Landis, which raised $40 million in Series B funding. The company buys homes on behalf of clients while also providing a patch for them to build up their credit and eventually get a mortgage on the home they rent. So, Apple had an event: Romain gives you a look at the new entry-level iPad that he says looks just like the iPad Pro. Alas, it’s also more expensive, but you get a larger screen. Priorities, amirite? Startups and VC Venture capital funds focusing on niche sectors are “in,” according to Connie, and Will Ventures is here for it. Christine reports that the low-flying, Boston-based venture outfit just tripled the size of its second fund to $150 million thanks to its approach of investing in sports technologies with the help of its community of athlete backers who help promote and grow the portfolio companies. Turo, the peer-to-peer car-sharing platform that’s been described as the Airbnb for cars, will expand to Australia before the end of the year, Rebecca reports. Local car owners in all major cities, including Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane, can join the waitlist on Turo’s website. Okay, fine, have a few more: News Drops from Disrupt Crypto accelerator: Andreessen Horowitz’s Chris Dixon dishes to Anita about a “Crypto Startup School,” an inaugural accelerator program that will kick off next year in Los Angeles. He also provided more info on the firm’s recent giant investment in our favorite controversial founder, Adam Neumann.Stealthy startup: Both Harri and Tim sat in on Ingrid‘s interview with Marc Lore, who disclosed a new sports ticketing startup that he is working on called Jump Platforms and provided some insight on the Diapers.com sale to Amazon, calling it a “forced transaction.”On cloud nine: Netflix VP of Gaming Mike Verdu spoke to Amanda about opening a new gaming studio in SoCal and getting into cloud gaming. Startup Battlefield It’s Disruuuuuupt! We are so excited we can barely sit still. Here’s the first batch of Battlefield companies that pitched onstage on this fine California Tuesday — and if you’re curious, Neesha revealed the 20 companies that are presenting on the Disrupt Stage earlier today. Here’s the first batch that pitched today: NXgenPort: A Saint Paul, Minnesota–based startup that’s looking to remotely monitor cancer patients in between doctor visits using a port catheter. Omneky: Leverages OpenAI’s DALLE-2 and GPT-3 models to generate visuals and text that can be used in ads for social platforms. Circular Genomics: Claims its new form of genetic testing can identify which medications will work for a patient in a fraction of that time. Anthill: Connects frontline workers to company resources through text messaging. AppMap: Was built on the simple idea that developers should be able to see the behavior of software as they write it so they can prevent problems when the software runs. Mother Honestly: New commerce offering aims to give employees more freedom when it comes to caregiving spending. Digest.ai: Beyond flash cards to create an AI dialogue assistant that we can all carry around on our phones. Swap Robotics: Paving the way for electric solar vegetation cuts and sidewalk snow plowing. Hormona: Hopes to encourage people with periods to do just that — add hormone-monitoring to their quantified health mix. Staax: Thinks peer-to-peer payments can onboard a new generation of stock investors. How to combine PLG and enterprise sales to improve the funnel and drive bottom-line growth Image Credits: Richard Drury (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Products and services that sell themselves sound great, but product-led growth (PLG) startups still launch marketing campaigns and hire sales teams. Combining PLG with traditional sales-led growth efforts can raise retention and acquisition to the next level, says Kate Ahlering, chief revenue officer at Calendly. In this TC+ guest post, Ahlering lays out multiple strategies that will help teams implement a “hybrid GTM strategy,” which includes suggestions for leveraging PLG data and optimizing success metrics. Three more from the TC+ team: ZebethMedia+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Big Tech Inc. We have even more for you from Apple’s surprise October event. Brian takes a look at the company’s new M2 iPad Pro, which got a refresh and arrives October 26. He talks about chips and inches, and a pencil…you get the picture. Even more Apple for you to bite into: Since we have all the Battlefield companies for your reading pleasure, here are just a few more:

Why members-only club Chief, with a waitlist of 60K, hates the term ‘girl boss’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in chief, Disrupt, Startups, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

Chief co-founders Carolyn Childers and Lindsay Kaplan started the company because they had experienced first-hand being women executives without a ton of support. They created a community of female leaders that is now 20,000 strong, with 60,000 sitting on waitlists, but just don’t call these women ‘girl bosses.’ The two women appeared at ZebethMedia Disrupt today in San Francisco. Kaplan asked the audience how many men call themselves “boy bosses.” Nobody raised their hand. “We don’t use the phrase ‘boy boss.’ We only use the phrase ‘girl boss’ because we’ve put women in another category instead of just assuming that a woman can be a leader. And so I don’t like the phrase because of that. I don’t like thinking about women in leadership. It’s just leadership,” Kaplan told the Disrupt audience. She added, “How can we celebrate women, not tear them down, not infantilize what it is to be a woman leader by calling them a ‘girl boss’ and truly make sure that women can lead and do it in their own way.” The three-year-old startup has grown from a 200 person group in NYC to a 20,000 strong organization that has raised $140 million on a $1 billion valuation. Yet they have another 60,000 women who want to join. Kaplan stresses that giving its members a highly curated and valuable experience is more important than growing too fast and losing their value proposition. “The member experience is most important. So when you ask about growth, when we think about how we’ve only scratched the surface of 5 million women [executives] in the US, it is so critical for us to make sure that members are really loving their experience,” she said. It all comes back to the mission, which was born in personal experience, says Childers. “When I started to get in the room where decisions were happening, and I realized that there were differences in the way that conversations were running for different people within the organization, that was just a really eye-opening thing for me,” she said. She decided creating a network of like-minded women could be incredibly helpful. This week the company opened what they call ‘a clubhouse’ in San Francisco, a place for women to meet in person. They have three others in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. In addition, they expanded outside the U.S into the U.K. for the first time.