Airbnb aims to be ‘ready’ to go public from June 30, 2019, creates cash bonus program for staff

While there have been many words written about gender bias in the context of entrepreneurship and funding, I thought the following TED Talk from Dana Kanze presented one of the best frames of references, supported by a real research study, that I’ve seen to date. In addition, she has some clear, actionable suggestions at the end of the talk to help eliminate the bias.

Her research emerges from her own exploration of a social psychological theory originated by Professor Tory Higgins called “regulatory focus.” This theory explores the different motivational orientations of promotion and prevention.

While listening to Dana’s explanation and examples in the video, I had a deep insight – around how to ask questions of an entrepreneur – that hadn’t occurred to me before. Here are her direct definitions of promotion focus and prevention focus.

“A promotion focus is concerned with gains and emphasizes hopes, accomplishments and advancement needs, while a prevention focus is concerned with losses and emphasizes safety, responsibility and security needs. Since the best-case scenario for a prevention focus is to simply maintain the status quo, this has us treading water just to stay afloat, while a promotion focus instead has us swimming in the right direction. It’s just a matter of how far we can advance.”

Dana’s punchline is that investors approach female entrepreneurs with a prevention focus and male entrepreneurs with a promotion focus. Interestingly, she finds this is consistent regardless of the gender of the investor!

The talk has a clear recommendation for female entrepreneurs in it. Basically, if you get a prevention question, reframe the answer in a promotion context.

“So what this means is that if you’re asked a question about defending your start-up’s market share, you’d be better served to frame your response around the size and growth potential of the overall pie as opposed to how you merely plan to protect your sliver of that pie.”

Dana also has a suggestion for how investors (both female and male) can help eliminate this implicit bias.

“So to my investors out there, I would offer that you have an opportunity here to approach Q&A sessions more even-handedly, not just so that you could do the right thing, but so that you can improve the quality of your decision making. By flashing the same light on every start-up’s potential for gains and losses, you enable all deserving start-ups to shine and you maximize returns in the process.”

Her talk is only 15 minutes long and well worth it. Or, if you are a fast reader, take a look at the transcript.

Also published on Medium.

Women’s co-working space The Wing adjusts membership policy to allow all genders

I read Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger by Rebecca Traister recently. It was recommended to me by Tami Forman, the CEO of Path Forward and I was immediately cheered on by Amy when I started reading it.

It was extraordinary. Every man I know should read it. I’m now officially a Rebecca Traister fan. I learned a lot, was forced to think about a bunch of uncomfortable stuff, and formed some new ideas about how to address some gender-related issues in our society.

And then I read the Bloomberg article Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All Cost and got mad at some men.

The article starts strong.

“No more dinners with female colleagues. Don’t sit next to them on flights. Book hotel rooms on different floors. Avoid one-on-one meetings.”

It then goes on and references this as “The Pence Effect.”

Call it the Pence Effect, after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who has said he avoids dining alone with any woman other than his wife. In finance, the overarching impact can be, in essence, gender segregation.

I thought the idea of the Pence effect, as stupid as it is, had come and gone. But I apparently am wrong.

“For obvious reasons, few will talk openly about the issue. Privately, though, many of the men interviewed acknowledged they’re channeling Pence, saying how uneasy they are about being alone with female colleagues, particularly youthful or attractive ones, fearful of the rumor mill or of, as one put it, the potential liability.”

Then I came upon a quote that was advice for men which seemed fitting and was a solution that I expect Rebecca Traister could be supportive of.

 “Just try not to be an asshole.”

If you are living in fear around the #MeToo issue, go read Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger. Confront your fear. Examine any guilt you have. Get real with yourself about the issue. Change your behavior. And just try not to be an asshole.

Also published on Medium.

An egg, just a humble chicken egg, has cracked Instagram by becoming the most-liked post of all time.

No, we're not yolking.

Posted with the sole intention of snatching Kylie Jenner's Instagram throne, the picture achieved its aim on Monday, surpassing 24 million likes at the time of writing.

Here is the egg, now the most famous in the world:

It's the only post from the account @world_record_egg.

The caption accompanying the image says: "Let's set a world record together and get the most liked post on Instagram. Beating the current world record held by Kylie Jenner (18 million)! We got this."

Read more: The Japanese billionaire who booked a place on Elon Musk's moon voyage has now posted the most retweeted tweet of all time

The account's bio now reads: "Official world record holders of the most liked picture on Instagram." And, with a question for Instagram, it adds: "Now where's our blue tick?"

@world_record_egg has not so much as beaten, as whisked the previous record for the most liked photo on Instagram. Posted by Kylie Jenner in February last year, it features her daughter Stormi Webster.

Jenner responded by posting a video of her cracking an egg on tarmac, which was recorded some time ago. "Take that little egg," she said.

It's the second time in a matter of days that a social media record has been smashed. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa surpassed a chicken-nugget-loving US teen by posting the most retweeted tweet ever this month.

His post, celebrating Maezawa's clothing company, Zozotown, making 10 billion yen ($92 million) in sales over Christmas, has been retweeted nearly 5.3 million times.

The record was previously held by Carter Wilkerson, a US teen who in 2017 asked Wendy's how many retweets he would need to be awarded a year's supply of free chicken nuggets. He racked up 3.5 million retweets.

NEW YORK — Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods didn't come as much of a surprise to Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen.

"We assumed that at some point, Amazon was going to do something in the physical world," McMullen told CNBC anchor Sara Eisen at the National Retail Federation's 2019 Big Show.

He said that his company, which currently has a $22.39 billion market cap, has worked for years under the assumption that the online retail giant would either establish their own grocery business or acquire a retail chain. The latter happened in 2017 when Amazon gobbled up Whole Foods.

According to McMullen, that longstanding prediction propelled Kroger Co. to "accelerate" its ecommerce capabilities over the past several years, even before Amazon's acquisition went through. McMullen singled out his company's 2014 merger with North Carolina-based grocer Harris Teeter as a major step. Harris Teeter was ranked America's sixth favorite grocer in Market Watch's 2018 rankings. Kroger took the 12th spot.

McMullen said that the merger was "driven by what we assumed others would do, not what they actually did."

The CEO added that Kroger was able to "leverage" Harris Teeter's existing technology and tech team in order to "accelerate" its own digital position. In 2018, Kroger Co.'s digital sales were a $5 billion business. And the grocer is predicting that that number could nearly double in 2019.

Read more:Your 'role will be removed': Whole Foods fires workers in 7-minute leaked conference call

But the team-up with Harris Teeter isn't the only move Kroger has made in the battle to gain ground in the ever-shifting retail environment. The grocer has also embarked on tech-centric partnership with Microsoft and Ocado, and even launched a number of pilot stores with Walgreens.

In a move that directly pits Kroger against Amazon's Whole Foods, the grocer is also doubling down on its Simple Truth brand. The organic brand first launched in 2012. Simple Truth products are billed as being free of artificial preservatives, GMOs, and, generally, unnatural ingredients "you can't pronounce."

"It's over a $2 billion brand today, growing in double digits," McMullen said.

Eisen asked McMullen if the Simple Truth was Kroger's solution to Whole Foods. He demurred, but said that "This was our solution to customers telling us that they don't want to have to look at the labels to understand what's in the product. They love it. The quality is outstanding."

In response to Eisen's question about whether Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger would be the three main figures dominating the grocery business 10 years from now, McMullen said that he believed that Kroger would certainly be "one of the players."

"It's such a big industry," he said. "Fortunately people will always eat. It's a $1.5 trillion industry, so I think there's plenty of room for a lot of players."

Baidu has just announced China's first open source edge computing platform - reflecting the country's growing open source community.

Baidu, a cloud company and search giant sometimes known as the "Google of China," unveiled OpenEdge at the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday.

"Edge computing is becoming more commonplace due to the rise of IoT devices," Zun Wang, a Baidu spokesperson, told Business Insider. "It brings different kinds of compute power, especially for AI processing, to the edges of your network, allowing close proximity of your data source with the cloud."

Edge computing means that the processing power is shifted away from the cloud and towards the "edge" — which is to say closer to the users who are using it. For example, edge devices might be gadgets people use each day, such as PCs, smartphones and tablets, or Internet of Things gadgetry like wearables and smart home appliances.

With OpenEdge, developers can build their own edge computing systems and deploy them on various devices and hardware. This platform include features that allow users program devices to collect data, send messages to each other, and generally "learn" from user behavior.

Previously, Baidu has led other open source projects like Apollo, its autonomous driving platform, and PaddlePaddle, an artificial intelligence framework. It also offers cloud services that are based on open source software created by other companies.

However, this is Baidu's first open source initiative in edge computing, and the first coming out of China. Baidu hopes open sourcing this will improve the development of edge computing globally. It's generally believed in the industry that developments in artificial intelligence, coupled with the rising demand for smart gadgets, self-driving cars, and industrial robotics, mean that edge computing will be the next big thing after cloud computing.

Read more:One of the biggest trends in tech over the last decade has been the shift to cloud computing — and we're seeing the first signs of what might be next

"The explosive growth of IoT devices and rapid adoption of AI is fueling great demand for edge computing," Watson Yin, Baidu Vice President and GM of Baidu Cloud, said in a statement. "And by providing an open source platform, we have also greatly simplified the process for developers to create their own edge computing applications."

More recently, Baidu has been focusing on artificial intelligence and cloud computing. OpenEdge was originally designed as a part of Baidu Intelligent Edge, a commercial software product that works with Baidu Cloud, and will include functions to manage different edge computing applications.

"We wanted to let developers build their own edge computing system as well as contribute functions and edge apps to the existing platform," said Wang, the Baidu spokesperson.

McFly, an agriculture technology company, has used Baidu's software in drones to collect data about crops that helps it lower pesticide use. This is just one possible application of edge computing.

Similarly, Microsoft Azure also has an open source edge computing project, and offers edge computing services to developers. Amazon Web Services also offers edge computing services, but the underlying software is not available as open source.

Currently, China is seeing its slowest growth in decades, but despite the economic slowdown, analysts predict Baidu's annual revenue increased by 20% in 2018.

For many years, quantum computers have been within only the confines of the research lab.

On Tuesday, though, IBM unveiled the IBM Q System One, billed as the first-ever quantum computer designed for businesses to put to their own use — though the company is clear that this is only the first step toward a broader revolution.

Quantum computing is considered one of the most promising early-stage technologies out there today. That's because quantum computers can process exponentially more data and have the potential to completely transform entire industries. For example, they could streamline aerospace and military systems, calculate risk factors to make better investments, or, perhaps, find a cure for cancer and other diseases.

"Data will be the world's most valuable natural resource," IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said on stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where the IBM Q System One was unveiled.

Don't expect to install one in your office any time soon, though. While the computer is open to paying customers, developers will access its power from the comfort of their own homes or offices via the IBM Cloud. IBM Q System One. IBM

Average computers store data in binary, as either zeroes or ones — strings of ones and zeroes represent numbers or letters. However, quantum computers are much more powerful. That's because they store data using "qubits," which have a special property that allows zeroes and ones to exist simultaneously. This seemingly small thing gives quantum computers the ability to do exponentially more calculations at once, making them powerful enough for incredibly complicated tasks like drug discovery, intensive data analysis, and even creating unbreakable codes.

Enclosed in a 9-foot-tall, 9-foot-wide glass case that forms an air-tight environment, this sleek computer is IBM's first effort to bring quantum computing to businesses. The casing is important: Qubits lose their quantum-computing properties outside of very specific conditions. A quantum computer has to be kept well below freezing in an environment that is mostly free of vibration and electromagnetic radiation.

IBM's new system aims to address this challenge with an integrated quantum computer that solves all of that on behalf of its customers — hence the casing, which keeps everything in shipshape. However, this relative fragility is why you won't be installing an IBM Q System One in your own office — while it's definitely a major step forward, it's far away from being something you can order and have delivered.

"The IBM Q System One is a major step forward in the commercialization of quantum computing," Arvind Krishna, IBM's senior vice president of hybrid cloud and director of research, said in a statement. "This new system is critical in expanding quantum computing beyond the walls of the research lab as we work to develop practical quantum applications for business and science."

Read more: Here's why we should be really excited about quantum computers

Later this year, IBM will also open its first IBM Q Quantum Computation Center for commercial customers in Poughkeepsie, New York. At this lab, clients can use IBM's cloud-based quantum computing systems, as well as other high-performance computing systems.

IBM isn't the only company that's been working on quantum computing, as the technology is still far from ready for mass deployment.

Google is researching how to make quantum computers more stable and better able to find and fix errors, and it has also created and tested qubit processors as it pursues the technology. Microsoft is working on creating hybrid quantum computers, which combine the new technology with more conventional processors. Intel, too, has been working on quantum computing chips.

Facebook's brutal 2018 was accompanied by a wave of executive departures.

As the Silicon Valley tech giant grappled with the Cambridge Analytica scandal and its role spreading hate speech that fueled genocide in Myanmar, several longtime senior leaders at the company headed for the exit.

Instagram cofounders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, vice president of partnerships Dan Rose, WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum, and policy and communications boss Elliot Schrage are just some of the execs that have announced their departures over the last year.

As the new year kicks off, Facebook's turbulence shows no signs of abating, so Business Insider asked current and former employees a question: Who might be next to go?

Flight risk is an important issue at tech companies like Facebook whose fortunes can hinge on the talent of product visionaries and engineers, and the degree to which Facebook can retain its top talent will influence its ability to navigate its current crisis.

To be clear, this is informed speculation and guesswork: The sources we surveyed don't have inside knowledge of any confirmed but unannounced coming departures. But with Facebook under pressure to get its house in order, and with some executives no doubt scanning the horizon for less turbulent jobs, the names listed provide a guide to some of the company's leaders who insiders are watching attentively.

After being provided with the list of names, Facebook spokesperson Anthony Harrison provided the following statement: "This story is based on complete speculation. None of the people you mentioned to us are planning to leave Facebook."

A robotic sex toy had its innovation award revoked at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, prompting accusations of sexism.

The Osé hands-free personal massager is the first product made by Lora DiCarlo, a company that describes itself as "a woman-run start-up" that is "determined to change the face of pleasure products."

In an open letter, Lora DiCarlo's CEO, Lora Haddock, said the company submitted the Osé for the CES Innovation Awards — judged by the tech show's organizer, the Consumer Technology Association — and won, but the victory was short-lived.

"My team rejoiced and celebrated," she wrote. "A month later our excitement and preparations were cut short when we were unexpectedly informed that the administrators at CES and CTA were rescinding our award and subsequently that we would not be allowed to showcase Osé, or even exhibit at CES 2019."

Read more: Apple trolled Google with a massive billboard at the world's biggest tech show, which it's not even attending

In a statement to Business Insider, the CTA said:

"The product referenced does not fit into any of our existing product categories and should not have been accepted for the Innovation Awards Program. CES does not have a category for sex toys. CTA had communicated this position to Lora DiCarlo nearly two months ago and we have apologized to them for our mistake."

The product originally won in the robotics-and-drones category, and the organization did not explain in its statement why Lora DiCarlo was stopped from exhibiting at CES.

In her open letter, Haddock said that the CTA kept changing its story and that it initially told Lora DiCarlo the Osé had been disqualified on moral grounds, citing this rule:

"Entries deemed by CTA in their sole discretion to be immoral, obscene, indecent, profane or not in keeping with CTA's image will be disqualified. CTA reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any entry at any time which, in CTA's opinion, endangers the safety or well being of any person, or fails to comply with these Official Rules."

Haddock accused CES of sexism, saying gadgets geared toward men's sexuality had become a fixture on the showroom floor.

"A literal sex doll for men launched on the floor at CES in 2018 and a VR porn company exhibits there every year, allowing men to watch pornography in public as consumers walk by," she wrote. CES 2018 also featured robotic strippers with CCTV cameras for heads.

"Clearly CTA has no issue allowing explicit male sexuality and pleasure to be ostentatiously on display," Haddock wrote. "Other sex toys have exhibited at CES and some have even won awards, but apparently there is something different, something threatening about Osé, a product created by women to empower women."

She also said the notion that the sex toy did not fit into the category it was entered in was "even more insulting and frankly ridiculous."

She said the Osé was developed in partnership with Oregon State University's robotics lab, adding that the Osé "is the subject of eight pending patents and counting for robotics, biomimicry, and engineering feats."

"Osé clearly fits the Robotics and Drone category — and CTA's own expert judges agree," she said.

CES and Lora DiCarlo did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.