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File this article as another example of “Downs” in Crowdfunding. After receiving a promising update on my purchase of the Rocket Bike in October, imagine my surprise when receiving November’s soul-crushing newsletter.

Thinking more significantly, I wanted to contribute once again to a couple of more oversized ticket items. I had some minor success and now seemed like the right time to branch out again. Given my recent interest in E-Bikes, an opportunity came upon me which check several boxes of “wants” by myself.

My next contribution seemed to be well justified and founded. My wife had bought me a gift for my office, which I loved. The item was an aquarium named Ecoqube C. I loved having a small, ultra-low maintenance aquarium for my office. It proved to be a friendly habitat for a Betta fish and home for a small basil plant. When the Ecoqube C+ was announced on Indiegogo, I was instantly sold. It promised everything of the previous model, but with a larger tank and more plants could be grown. The fish produces waste, the built-in filter turns the waste into fertilizer, and the plants flourish while keeping the tank clean. A handy LED lighting system is positioned above the aquarium. The LED lighting is fully equipped with a timing system and color-changing ability. I was an early backer and immediately invested in the dual aquarium offer saving 50 dollars bringing the total to around $200.

Crowd Working TogetherPhoto by Camylla Battani on Unsplash. Crowdfunding was always appealing to me, as it was exciting to see what technological ideas someone could bring to the market based on monies invested by Joe Public. Someone could build a better mousetrap, market the item themselves on sites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter, and people like myself could buy-in. Generally speaking, you could buy in with a “contribution to the project at a discounted amount to receive one of the first units off the production line. There was always the option of just donating to the cause with a few dollars, and you could feel good about being an original backer.

DISCLAIMER:The author of this article holds stock in one or more of the below-mentioned companies. This article is meant to inform and educate. It does not and should not constitute financial advice.

Jeffrey Clos signed up in the affiliate Aptera plan designed to provide a means for sites to earn referral credit by linking to Aptera.com. There are links within this article to the described product.

MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) is a new and emerging field that is meant to simplify the process of deploying machine learning models. MLOps platforms are designed to make it easier for developers to deploy their models, monitor them, and iterate on them. These platforms are also designed to make it easier for data scientists to create models in the first place. This article will introduce some of the leading machine learning platforms to check out.

Conversational AI technology is becoming increasingly popular in the sales industry. AI-powered conversational interfaces are already being used by companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon, as well as companies like Intercom, which provide a conversational AI solution to a vast amount of startups. One startup that caught our attention in terms of delivering added value, as well as a significant increase in ROI for its clients, is Rep, an AI-Powered Sales Associate that has been able to produce a 250% conversation rate uplift as well as a 17% revenue uplift for its clients in the e-commerce space. Rep’s AI uses behavioral analysis to detect when customers are about to abandon a website; then, they offer them contextual and personalized shopping assistance in real-time. We had a chance to talk to Yoav Oz, Rep’s Co-Founder & CEO, and ask him several questions.

If you’re a startup founder, to avoid wasting money you know how important it is to find the right promos. Not only that, when you’re starting out, the budget is tight. And with so many options out there, it can be tough to know where to start – and even tougher to find the right deals and discounts.

It’s a stark reality many startups shut down in their infancy. Two common reasons for failure are that they either didn't satisfy a market need or didn’t attract enough financial investment to sustain their business. Sometimes these two reasons can be related.

B2B Advertising has gone through a transformation in recent years. If once B2B companies invested a majority of their marketing budgets into trade shows, nowadays, more and more funds are being allocated to online advertising, with Google & LinkedIn ads becoming the main B2B marketplaces. We had the pleasure to interview Yoel Israel, Founder & CEO of WadiDigital, a leading B2B advertising agency, and ask him detailed and in-depth questions on how B2B advertising has been evolving and what are some of the strategies and tactics we need to pay attention to.

Commercial loan volumes have increased heavily early this year, with growth encouraged by inflation and a rise in deferred investments. Business owners have been keen on borrowing more, and a strong indication of that is U.S Bancorp, where commercial loans increased 8% from the previous quarter, while Wells Fargo saw a 5.3% rise as well.

Accessing basic information might be difficult for those with visual impairments. How does a blind person get their bearings and determine the best path? Or maybe you want to read a document that isn't available in braille? Respond to a coworker's email?

Marketing is certainly an art form—the ability to tap into people's aspirations, ideas, and needs. Being able to construct a targeted narrative that leads to action is highly valuable, especially in the tech landscape, where leadership teams are required to deliver their highly complex product into a simple message that can resonate with many. We talked to Omri Hurwitz, the CEO of a leading Tech PR firm and a writer whose work is constantly featured in influential publications such as Entrepreneur, Yahoo Finance, and Forbes.

It is the creator economy, and more and more startups are building up their products and services to tailor influencers, marketers, and companies that produce content. We have seen social media automation tools take flight, as well as editing and design apps like Canva. A big part of social media is the engagement factor. It is not merely about the broadcast aspect like in traditional media. It is about the ability to connect and engage with an audience, and let the audience become an integral part of the conversation. Since the pandemic, we have seen how physical events have been adapted into virtual ones. We had a chance to talk to Eran Eluz, the CTO of evmux, a startup that created a very advanced live streaming solution, in essence, they are presenting this intersection between the creator economy and the modern way of doing virtual events.

B2B sales have been innovated in the last several years. The dinosaur feeling of cold LinkedIn outreach, combined with robotic-like templated product presentations, has led several emerging startups to rise up to the challenge. One of them is Walnut. The New York startup, founded by Yoav Vilner and Danni Friedland, has created a personalized sales demo platform that allows companies to easily create staggering sales experiences tailored for each individual prospect. The platform is built on a no-code infrastructure and has been flourishing since its launch, growing a staggering 700% in four months near the end of 2021.

Capital markets are being innovated in a multitude of ways. Since Cryptocurrencies and other various forms of digital assets have begin to gain traction and awareness, the traditional capital markets industry has had to make a technology jump in order to keep up with the growing demands of retail and brokerage investors. With the buzz surrounding WEB 3.0 and the constant tweets referring to NFT launches, new tokens, and tech mogals entering the digital assets space, it is no surprise that we are seeing emerging startups looking to provide solutions and products to larger enterprises and institutions in the capital markets arena. We had a chance to interview Guy Melamed, the Co-Founder & CEO of Exberry, a company that has built a SaaS platform for exchange marketplaces. What is intriguing about Exberry, is that their solution is asset agnostic, and, essentially, anyone with a desired marketplace in mind can build, without writing a line of code.

AI has been consistently providing an uplift to traditional industries. We see that in real estate, transportation, healthcare, and others. This is a strong indication that the implementation and integration of AI software are being adapted effectively. This can include easier onboarding processes, faster time-to-market integrations, and an understanding from traditional industries that an in-house CTO, with our without a tech team, is essential for the innovation and customer satisfaction of the clients and partners. Not to mention the productivity and competitive aspects.

Not long ago, there was a time when it seemed like you were a fool if you weren’t on Clubhouse. The concept was pretty intriguing: a social audio app. It was like a chat room, podcast, and social media all at once.

In just 48 hours of funding, electric ultra terrain vehicle (UTV) startup, Battle Approved Motors (BAM), raised more than $94,000 in its second round of funding. Breaking away from the traditional mold of its predecessors, this early-stage startup raised more than $100,700,000 during its first round of funding and will begin production of its all-electric UTVs.