Gobble, a 15-minute meal kit delivery service, has raised $15 million in Series B growth financing from Khosla Ventures, TechCrunch has confirmed. Khosla Ventures led the round, along with participation from previous investors A16z, Trinity Ventures and Initialized Capital. Gobble came out of Y Combinator in 2015, around the same time many DIY meal kit services started to falter. For a while,… Read More

 Poor paper. It’s in that ironic category where those who love it the most are the ones trying their hardest to replace it. Case in point: Sony and reMarkable, a pair of companies as unalike as you’re likely to find, yet with the shared mission of making a device that adequately serves the same purpose a few sheets of paper do. Read More

 Traaqr, a St. Louis-based company, has just announced the launch of their interesting and clever new service. Essentially the system connects online interactions with real world customer service representatives, ensuring accurate attribution when someone goes from your website to your phone bank. Created by entrepreneurs Brian Handrigan, Jeff Linihan, and RJ Jones, the company has raised… Read More

 FirstMark Capital is one of the most successful early-stage VCs in NYC. With investments in Airbnb, Frame.io, Shopify, Pinterest, InVision, and Brooklinen, among many others, the firm is now looking to grow its internal roster. Today, FirstMark Capital is announcing the addition of a new partner, Catherine Ulrich. Ulrich started out at Harvard, where she was the Coxswain for the men’s… Read More

 Secret Escapes, the members-only travel club offering discounted rates on luxury hand-picked hotels and holidays, is closing in on Series D funding. According to sources, the London-headquartered company is on the verge of announcing a £50 million plus funding round. Read More

 Estonian startup Taxify just opened in Paris. It’s a ride-hailing company that is offering lower prices and taking a lower cut on each ride so customers end up paying less and drivers make roughly the same money. There are so many transportation companies in Paris that it’s hard to keep track of all them. But two players seem to be standing out — Uber and Chauffeur-Privé.… Read More

 UK-based insurance giant Aviva has announced it’s buying a majority stake in robo investment startup, Wealthify. Read More

 Nick D’Aloisio, who previously founded news summary app Summly, which he famously sold to Yahoo aged 17 for a reported $30 million, has raised funding for a new stealthy startup that promises to help you find and instantly chat to an expert on a range of topics. Read More

 Zefo, which bills itself as “India’s fastest growing used goods marketplace,” said today that it has raised $9.2 million in Series B funding. The round was led by returning investors Sequoia India and Helion Venture Partners, with participation by Beenext. Read More

 21Buttons, a social-commerce app that lets fashion influencers share their wardrobe, has closed $10 million in Series A funding. The round is led by Kibo Ventures, and JME VC. Read More

 Parenting young children involves a lot of logistics, including what to do with them when you need to run a last-minute errand, go to an appointment or just have a few hours to decompress. For parents who don’t have friends or relatives they can call on for babysitting, this can be tricky. Bambino wants to help by connecting parents with nearby babysitters who have already been… Read More

 Mobile rewards startup Kiip isn’t limited to mobile devices anymore. The company is launching its first integration on Amazon’s Fire TV. Co-founder and CEO Brian Wong said Kiip was actually approached by its launch partner, the developer of the trivia game QuizTix, which asked if Kiip could build an ad and reward experience for smart TVs. And that’s what Wong’s team… Read More

If you think venture capital is the only path to funding companies, you are, obviously wrong. Chris talks about a whole other world of OTC. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your...

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Victoria Pettibone, Managing Director of Astia Angels, a group focused on funding women entrepreneurs. She discusses what they like to invest in, as well as the trends she sees in the deal flow and...

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According to a MarketsandMarkets report, the global cyber security market is expected to grow 11% annually over the next five years to $231.9 billion from $137.85 billion in 2017. Recent cyber attack...

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Today the State of Remote Work 2017 report revealed that 63% of people in product and engineering roles work remotely at least once per week, which is 21% more than the average.

Along with key findings on how remote work is changing the workplace, the report also revealed that startup environments may be a particularly strong match for remote work. Why might that be? 

When breaking down remote work by company size, the report found that smaller companies are 2X more likely to hire remote workers than larger companies. 

Considering stage, sense of innovation, hiring needs and nimble state, startups have the upperhand when adapting to this cultural shift toward flexible work. In fact, I believe that startups are uniquely positioned to transition to remote work much more fluidly than other companies, and thus are likely to get far more benefit.

Here's why. 

1. Remote work expands the startup talent pool. As a leader of a startup, recruiting the best possible team is arguably one of the most important parts of the job and could make or break your long-term success. Finding the right person also can be incredibly difficult, especially if you are limited by your own network and local community. 

One of the most effective ways to maximize your talent pool is to remove all geographic limitations. Think about it ... perhaps your perfect VP of Engineering isn’t a reasonable commute away.

Companies who are open to growing their team by hiring remotely are much more likely to find the unique skillsets needed for the job. In fact, the State of Remote Work found that fully-distributed (or fully remote) companies hire 33% faster than other organizations. Use it to your advantage.

2. Expands diversity of thought. Here's another key benefit when hiring outside your bubble. When you remove geographic barriers, you will most likely find people from different parts of the country (or world) with varied perspectives -- and these individuals can bring strong diversity of thought.

Harvard Business Review examined the impact of diversity on business. The article cited a study by the London Annual Business Survey, which found a strong correlation between diversity and effective innovation. The report discovered that, "businesses with culturally diverse leadership teams were more likely to develop new products than those with homogeneous leadership."

Lean into this opportunity. Hiring a remote team can be an effective forcing function to find candidates and employees who bring experience much different than yours.

3. Remote work builds trust. When leaders work with remote employees for the first time, it’s common to be concerned about productivity. Will the remote person use her time effectively? How will you know if you can’t see her working at her desk?

Pause right there. What’s the real issue here? Is the problem that the person’s desk is 1,000 miles away? No. The issue is an absence of trust. In this case, the manager needs to back away from the compulsion to “monitor work.” That’s a cultural poison, and it also doesn’t scale.

Dr. Peter Hirst of MIT Sloan’s Executive Education Department spoke to the growth in trust after piloting a remote work program for his team: “We went from a culture of assuming people were working because you could see them working to having a clearer understanding of what outcomes we’re trying to achieve and trusting everyone to be a professional. …The [employee] engagement that we got from that change of management relationship was really tremendous.”

Building a culture of trust early will be especially impactful as the company scales. Startups don’t have time to babysit. Let your teammates results speak for themselves.

4. Drives flexibility. Employees at an early stage startup most likely have the propensity to work long and odd hours -- and most likely from anywhere. The State of Remote Work report found that 51% of remote workers choose to work remotely to support their work-life balance. Work-life balance is a challenge in any startup. (Let’s be real, our startup is our life.) However, supporting remote work to add flexibility to one’s life does make it easier to balance personal goals with professional. And happier employees will work even harder.

5. Develops culture. The larger an organization gets, the more difficult it becomes to make substantial cultural changes. If a later stage company wants to transition to a remote or flexible work environment for the first time, while possible, it will take significant planning and communication across the full employee base to make it work.

Remote work is also a forcing function that makes startups scale communication early. Think about it. When you have a small startup collocated in the same space, you can rely on your close proximity to communicate well.

If your organization is distributed, you need to learn how to communicate effectively across multiple locations, time zones, and technologies. These skills will prepare you to communicate effectively when your company is 10X its current size.

6. Lowers office costs. As a startup, every penny counts. Leaders need to make smart investments and keep a close look on the impact of their investments. While saving money shouldn’t be the primary advantage of supporting a remote work culture, it certainly can be a perk.

For example, in Boston (where I’m located), the average yearly cost to rent office space per employee is $6,080. In San Francisco it’s $13,032. While of course you should financially support your remote employees' work-from-home office setups, the costs will be substantially lower.

7. Retains employees. The most striking data point in the State of Remote Work was that companies that support remote work see 25% lower employee turnover than companies that don’t.

Considering the points earlier, perhaps you aren’t so surprised. As we discussed, companies that support remote work are more diverse, flexible, and practice trust. If you build your startup with those building blocks in your DNA, you’re off to a great start.

This was a guest post by Rebecca Corliss of Owl Labs. She and I had the pleasure of working together for eight years at HubSpot, and she’s since rejoined the startup ecosystem.

If you're as passionate about remote work as she is and want to learn more about the data cited in this post, check out Owl Labs' State or Remote Work 2017 report. 

Today the State of Remote Work 2017 report revealed that 63% of people in product and engineering roles work remotely at least once per week, which is 21% more than the average.

Along with key findings on how remote work is changing the workplace, the report also revealed that startup environments may be a particularly strong match for remote work. Why might that be? 

When breaking down remote work by company size, the report found that smaller companies are 2X more likely to hire remote workers than larger companies. 

Considering stage, sense of innovation, hiring needs and nimble state, startups have the upperhand when adapting to this cultural shift toward flexible work. In fact, I believe that startups are uniquely positioned to transition to remote work much more fluidly than other companies, and thus are likely to get far more benefit.

Here's why. 

1. Remote work expands the startup talent pool. As a leader of a startup, recruiting the best possible team is arguably one of the most important parts of the job and could make or break your long-term success. Finding the right person also can be incredibly difficult, especially if you are limited by your own network and local community. 

One of the most effective ways to maximize your talent pool is to remove all geographic limitations. Think about it ... perhaps your perfect VP of Engineering isn’t a reasonable commute away.

Companies who are open to growing their team by hiring remotely are much more likely to find the unique skillsets needed for the job. In fact, the State of Remote Work found that fully-distributed (or fully remote) companies hire 33% faster than other organizations. Use it to your advantage.

2. Expands diversity of thought. Here's another key benefit when hiring outside your bubble. When you remove geographic barriers, you will most likely find people from different parts of the country (or world) with varied perspectives -- and these individuals can bring strong diversity of thought.

Harvard Business Review examined the impact of diversity on business. The article cited a study by the London Annual Business Survey, which found a strong correlation between diversity and effective innovation. The report discovered that, "businesses with culturally diverse leadership teams were more likely to develop new products than those with homogeneous leadership."

Lean into this opportunity. Hiring a remote team can be an effective forcing function to find candidates and employees who bring experience much different than yours.

3. Remote work builds trust. When leaders work with remote employees for the first time, it’s common to be concerned about productivity. Will the remote person use her time effectively? How will you know if you can’t see her working at her desk?

Pause right there. What’s the real issue here? Is the problem that the person’s desk is 1,000 miles away? No. The issue is an absence of trust. In this case, the manager needs to back away from the compulsion to “monitor work.” That’s a cultural poison, and it also doesn’t scale.

Dr. Peter Hirst of MIT Sloan’s Executive Education Department spoke to the growth in trust after piloting a remote work program for his team: “We went from a culture of assuming people were working because you could see them working to having a clearer understanding of what outcomes we’re trying to achieve and trusting everyone to be a professional. …The [employee] engagement that we got from that change of management relationship was really tremendous.”

Building a culture of trust early will be especially impactful as the company scales. Startups don’t have time to babysit. Let your teammates results speak for themselves.

4. Drives flexibility. Employees at an early stage startup most likely have the propensity to work long and odd hours -- and most likely from anywhere. The State of Remote Work report found that 51% of remote workers choose to work remotely to support their work-life balance. Work-life balance is a challenge in any startup. (Let’s be real, our startup is our life.) However, supporting remote work to add flexibility to one’s life does make it easier to balance personal goals with professional. And happier employees will work even harder.

5. Develops culture. The larger an organization gets, the more difficult it becomes to make substantial cultural changes. If a later stage company wants to transition to a remote or flexible work environment for the first time, while possible, it will take significant planning and communication across the full employee base to make it work.

Remote work is also a forcing function that makes startups scale communication early. Think about it. When you have a small startup collocated in the same space, you can rely on your close proximity to communicate well.

If your organization is distributed, you need to learn how to communicate effectively across multiple locations, time zones, and technologies. These skills will prepare you to communicate effectively when your company is 10X its current size.

6. Lowers office costs. As a startup, every penny counts. Leaders need to make smart investments and keep a close look on the impact of their investments. While saving money shouldn’t be the primary advantage of supporting a remote work culture, it certainly can be a perk.

For example, in Boston (where I’m located), the average yearly cost to rent office space per employee is $6,080. In San Francisco it’s $13,032. While of course you should financially support your remote employees' work-from-home office setups, the costs will be substantially lower.

7. Retains employees. The most striking data point in the State of Remote Work was that companies that support remote work see 25% lower employee turnover than companies that don’t.

Considering the points earlier, perhaps you aren’t so surprised. As we discussed, companies that support remote work are more diverse, flexible, and practice trust. If you build your startup with those building blocks in your DNA, you’re off to a great start.

This was a guest post by Rebecca Corliss of Owl Labs. She and I had the pleasure of working together for eight years at HubSpot, and she’s since rejoined the startup ecosystem.

If you're as passionate about remote work as she is and want to learn more about the data cited in this post, check out Owl Labs' State or Remote Work 2017 report. 

Today the State of Remote Work 2017 report revealed that 63% of people in product and engineering roles work remotely at least once per week, which is 21% more than the average.

Along with key findings on how remote work is changing the workplace, the report also revealed that startup environments may be a particularly strong match for remote work. Why might that be? 

When breaking down remote work by company size, the report found that smaller companies are 2X more likely to hire remote workers than larger companies. 

Considering stage, sense of innovation, hiring needs and nimble state, startups have the upperhand when adapting to this cultural shift toward flexible work. In fact, I believe that startups are uniquely positioned to transition to remote work much more fluidly than other companies, and thus are likely to get far more benefit.

Here's why. 

1. Remote work expands the startup talent pool. As a leader of a startup, recruiting the best possible team is arguably one of the most important parts of the job and could make or break your long-term success. Finding the right person also can be incredibly difficult, especially if you are limited by your own network and local community. 

One of the most effective ways to maximize your talent pool is to remove all geographic limitations. Think about it ... perhaps your perfect VP of Engineering isn’t a reasonable commute away.

Companies who are open to growing their team by hiring remotely are much more likely to find the unique skillsets needed for the job. In fact, the State of Remote Work found that fully-distributed (or fully remote) companies hire 33% faster than other organizations. Use it to your advantage.

2. Expands diversity of thought. Here's another key benefit when hiring outside your bubble. When you remove geographic barriers, you will most likely find people from different parts of the country (or world) with varied perspectives -- and these individuals can bring strong diversity of thought.

Harvard Business Review examined the impact of diversity on business. The article cited a study by the London Annual Business Survey, which found a strong correlation between diversity and effective innovation. The report discovered that, "businesses with culturally diverse leadership teams were more likely to develop new products than those with homogeneous leadership."

Lean into this opportunity. Hiring a remote team can be an effective forcing function to find candidates and employees who bring experience much different than yours.

3. Remote work builds trust. When leaders work with remote employees for the first time, it’s common to be concerned about productivity. Will the remote person use her time effectively? How will you know if you can’t see her working at her desk?

Pause right there. What’s the real issue here? Is the problem that the person’s desk is 1,000 miles away? No. The issue is an absence of trust. In this case, the manager needs to back away from the compulsion to “monitor work.” That’s a cultural poison, and it also doesn’t scale.

Dr. Peter Hirst of MIT Sloan’s Executive Education Department spoke to the growth in trust after piloting a remote work program for his team: “We went from a culture of assuming people were working because you could see them working to having a clearer understanding of what outcomes we’re trying to achieve and trusting everyone to be a professional. …The [employee] engagement that we got from that change of management relationship was really tremendous.”

Building a culture of trust early will be especially impactful as the company scales. Startups don’t have time to babysit. Let your teammates results speak for themselves.

4. Drives flexibility. Employees at an early stage startup most likely have the propensity to work long and odd hours -- and most likely from anywhere. The State of Remote Work report found that 51% of remote workers choose to work remotely to support their work-life balance. Work-life balance is a challenge in any startup. (Let’s be real, our startup is our life.) However, supporting remote work to add flexibility to one’s life does make it easier to balance personal goals with professional. And happier employees will work even harder.

5. Develops culture. The larger an organization gets, the more difficult it becomes to make substantial cultural changes. If a later stage company wants to transition to a remote or flexible work environment for the first time, while possible, it will take significant planning and communication across the full employee base to make it work.

Remote work is also a forcing function that makes startups scale communication early. Think about it. When you have a small startup collocated in the same space, you can rely on your close proximity to communicate well.

If your organization is distributed, you need to learn how to communicate effectively across multiple locations, time zones, and technologies. These skills will prepare you to communicate effectively when your company is 10X its current size.

6. Lowers office costs. As a startup, every penny counts. Leaders need to make smart investments and keep a close look on the impact of their investments. While saving money shouldn’t be the primary advantage of supporting a remote work culture, it certainly can be a perk.

For example, in Boston (where I’m located), the average yearly cost to rent office space per employee is $6,080. In San Francisco it’s $13,032. While of course you should financially support your remote employees' work-from-home office setups, the costs will be substantially lower.

7. Retains employees. The most striking data point in the State of Remote Work was that companies that support remote work see 25% lower employee turnover than companies that don’t.

Considering the points earlier, perhaps you aren’t so surprised. As we discussed, companies that support remote work are more diverse, flexible, and practice trust. If you build your startup with those building blocks in your DNA, you’re off to a great start.

This was a guest post by Rebecca Corliss of Owl Labs. She and I had the pleasure of working together for eight years at HubSpot, and she’s since rejoined the startup ecosystem.

If you're as passionate about remote work as she is and want to learn more about the data cited in this post, check out Owl Labs' State or Remote Work 2017 report. 

Sramana Mitra: You knew that you needed to move out. You didn’t know where to move out to. Aviram Jenik: Exactly. It’s not that we had a brilliant idea at that time. We just thought, “Education is...

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