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TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018 | IN THIS ISSUE
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Scott Belsky |
In the startup world, Adobe Systems Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky is a kind of master mechanic.
"My specialty in working with entrepreneurs is helping them craft their product experience, and making sure their 'first mile' of product experience is a good one," said Mr. Belsky, who will come to Cedar Rapids May 18 as a keynote speaker for this year's EntreFEST.
Mr. Belsky knows the entire startup system well, however. He launched his own startup, the creative portfolio display site Behance, which was acquired by Adobe, and he has been an investor and product advisor on other wildly successful companies including Pinterest and Uber.
"That's always been my obsession," said the Boston native, a Harvard MBA and partner in the venture capital firm Benchmark.
After spending so much face time with entrepreneurs, Mr. Belsky believes that any type of person can become one. What makes them an entrepreneur is a deep passion, Mr. Belsky said, "a problem they want to solve, and a desire to do something about it."
There's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur than now, he added.
"I think entrepreneurship is all about optimism and transcending the market ups and downs that are happening. It's easier than ever to start a company, but it's getting more difficult than ever to scale a company. As you grow a business you need specific kinds of talent like data scientists, and that talent is hard to find. There are also more regulations to comply with, when it comes to data and privacy."
One of the biggest changes Mr. Belsky sees today is the emergence of thousands of tiny "microbrands," which are capturing business from established names. Mr. Belsky said microbrands use just-in-time supply chains that allow them to get by with minimal inventory, highly targeted marketing and agile social media strategies.
"It's a positive trend," says Mr. Belsky, who has increasingly patronized such brands. "It means in the future, there will be a lot more startups and entrepreneurs."
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 Going mobile: Insurance startups flip expectations
In the next few years, you might be saying goodbye to that file cabinet of insurance policies.
The eight startup founders presenting at last week's Global Insurance Symposium represented the latest graduating class of the Des Moines-based Global Insurance Accelerator, which has graduated 26 startup companies from the program, Kate Hayden of the Des Moines Business Record
reports.
Each pitch rejected the most common accusations leveled at large insurance companies - the inability to innovate - offering white-label and mobile-to-consumer solutions to the headache of policy shopping. Here's a brief roundup on this year's GIA participants:
AuthorityData: Insurance companies haven't yet dug into the benefits that households operating under the internet of things (IoT) smart home devices can offer, co-founder Tom Smith said. His take: Let AuthorityData work between the consumer and the insurance company. AuthorityData uses smart home devices installed by the homeowner to determine a property score based on risks mitigated by IoT devices.
Byeo: Co-founder Avril Gomez and her family spent nearly a year after her father's death trying to track down all his assets, including a life insurance policy he had never shared. Byeo is an app intended to protect other families from the same stress. Users can designate a digital vault on Byeo for all sensitive information, organize insurance policies and designate beneficiaries paper-free, designate a digital executor for social media, and write or record posthumous video messages for loved ones.
InsuredMine: InsuredMine consolidates all of a customer's insurance policies into one paperless suite -- creating value not only for the customer, but also for their agent, who can use the data to identify what assets a client has and what new policies the client can benefit from. With the client's permission, InsuredMine can also access the client's social media accounts and send triggers to an agent's inbox when InsuredMine identifies a new policy the client is eligible for, co-founder Raution Jaiswal said.
Insurmi: Founder Sonny Patel's Insure Chat product is the white-label chatbot that serves millennials and legacy insurers alike, Mr. Patel said. The Insurmi chatbot offers digital natives an instant online guide to identifying coverage needs, getting a quote and applying for a policy in minutes - while insurance teams track the chatbot's progress on a dashboard and can customize the chatbot based on the specialty product being sold.
Jauntin: Insurance can be on-demand, co-founder Maya Strasser said. Jauntin's mobile platform allows consumers to turn their insurance policies on and off with the swipe of their finger - paying only for the coverage they use, be it one week or one hour. For travelers, the platform reminds users to turn on their policies when they approach geo-fenced national borders or an airport, but the implications of micro-policies can stretch well beyond traveling, Ms. Strasser said.
LVLFi: Founder Alex Devoto wants to decrease the levels of health insurance claims through mobile games. Mr. Devoto's mobile gaming platforms lets employers and insurers alike incentivize employees through active mobile gaming, tracking the user's steps through wearable tech and ultimately decreasing the risk of claims from disease or injury.
ProtectRisk: Founder Asseged Major's platform aims to streamline the commercial insurance marketplace, matching the right consumers, brokers and insurance underwriters together, especially when businesses require high-risk or specialty coverage.
RiskPossible: Risks for insurers are never static, co-founder Michael Desiato said. RiskPossible designed the Continuous Underwriting Engine to help property and casualty insurers continuously assess risks by monitoring public and proprietary data sources -- from monitoring a public Facebook page to identifying new licenses granted by a state to a business. Once the engine identifies an industry-specific trigger, the underwriter is alerted to take action on a policy.
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Crystal Group accepting applications for Innovation Scholarships
Crystal Group Inc., the Hiawatha-based designer and manufacturer of rugged computer and electronic hardware, is now accepting applications for its Innovation Scholarship program.
The Innovation Scholarship is awarded annually to two full-time students pursuing an undergraduate degree in business, engineering or related majors, and who demonstrate exceptional academic achievements and innovative spirit. Each scholarship winner receives a one-time scholarship of $1,000 payable directly to the institution in which they are enrolled.
"We are pleased to award these scholarships to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue careers in the spirit of innovation," President Scott Kongable said in a press release. "In the long term, the scholarship program will help raise the quality of innovation in their professional pursuit and the communities that they serve. It's gratifying to support these talented students in such a direct way."
To qualify for the scholarship, applicants must be enrolled full-time at an accredited college or university in the United States during the fall semester of the 2018-2019 academic year. Completed Innovation Scholarship applications must be received no later than May 31. Winners will be notified and announced by June 29.
Complete details are available at the Crystal Group
website.
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With all the talk about the need for those able to speak computer languages, Iowa companies are also looking for those who can speak more traditional tongues.
In an effort to bolster the state's ranks of multi-lingual workers, Gov. Kim Reynolds recently signed Senate File 475 into law, which contains a Seal of Biliteracy program to recognize high school graduates with proficiency in a second language other than English.
A broad coalition of elected officials and business organizations supported the legislation, including the Greater Des Moines Partnership, the Iowa Chamber Alliance and
New American Economy (NAE), a national coalition of municipal and business leaders who support immigration reforms that will create jobs for Americans today.
With Ms. Reynolds' signature, Iowa joins 26 other states across the country that have adopted such a program.
"I commend the state legislature and Gov. Reynolds for working together and recognizing Iowa's need to celebrate students achieving a high proficiency in multiple languages," said Mary Bontrager, executive vice president of talent development at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. "This initiative serves as a critical stepping stone for our dynamic workforce, and incentivizes key qualifications our employers highly value in a 21st century economy."
Iowa business leaders hailed the benefits of the initiative, which creates a tangible incentive for Iowa high school students to become proficient in a second language. Several studies show that learning a second language can enhance a student's cognitive development, equip them with greater cultural understanding and help them develop and prepare for a globalized job market.
The legislation is supported by NAE research that highlights the growing demand from Iowa's largest employers and industries for bilingual workers. According to an analysis of job posting data acquired by Burning Glass Technologies, NAE found that between 2010-2016, the number of online job postings in Iowa for bilingual workers grew by nearly 200 percent, from 1,658 to 4,946 positions.
Of the top ten Iowa employers seeking bilingual workers in 2016, seven called for bilingual candidates in more than half of their online job postings, including H&R Block (69 percent), Crossmark (86 percent) and U.S. Bancorp (52 percent).
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Rockwell demonstrates data links in tests for NASA
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A Pulse Vapor 55 Unmanned Aircraft System, the model used by in the NASA test flights. SOURCE www.skylineuav.com.au
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Rockwell Collins recently participated in two weeks of critical testing for the NASA Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) program.
As part of the test flights, Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins served as the UAS Service Supplier (USS) for the safe management of a UAS flying beyond visual line of sight.
The company demonstrated how its CNPC-1000 Command and Control (C2) data links can be redundantly integrated to provide a fail-safe connection for operating the UAS. For example, if one link gets cut off, the operator still has a connection through another link to assure the safe operation of the UAS. Rockwell also demonstrated how its webUAS service can successfully manage multiple UAS in the air, redirecting aircraft set on conflicting flight paths as needed.
The test event was planned and orchestrated by the Northern Plains UAS Test Site staff under a NASA contract. The University of Iowa Operator Performance Laboratory (OPL), a key partner for Rockwell Collins, supported integration of the CNPC-1000 C2 links into its Pulse Aerospace Vapor 55 unmanned test vehicle and successfully piloted the aircraft throughout the test event.
"We're playing a significant role in the research and development of UTM interoperability strategies needed to successfully merge UAS operation into the National Airspace System," said Boe Svatek, program director, UAS Strategic Programs for Rockwell Collins, in a press release. "These recent test flights demonstrate that we're able to leverage safe and proven flight operations management capabilities from our ARINC heritage to ultimately enable airspace integration of all aircraft, traditional and new."
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From around the web:
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Bits and bytes
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Corridor Stocks
|
NAME
|
SYM |
PRICE |
CHG |
%CHG |
| AEGON |
AEG |
7.20 |
-0.06 |
-0.76% |
| Alliant Energy |
LNT |
42.83 |
-0.12 |
-0.28% |
| Deere & Company |
DE |
135.35 |
0.02 |
0.01% |
| Dow Jones |
^DJI |
24,099.05 |
-64.1 |
-0.27% |
| General Mills |
GIS |
43.53 |
-0.21 |
-0.48% |
| GoDaddy Inc. |
GDDY |
64.03 |
-0.53 |
-0.82% |
| Great Western Bank |
GWB |
41.63 |
0.49 |
1.19% |
| Heartland Express |
HTLD |
17.69 |
-0.14 |
-0.79% |
| KemPharm |
KMPH |
5.15 |
0.00 |
0.00% |
| Marsh & McLennan |
MMC |
81.49 |
-0.01 |
-0.01% |
| MidWestOne |
MOFG |
32.50 |
0.23 |
0.71% |
| Pearson |
PSO |
11.30 |
-0.12 |
-1.05% |
| Pepsico |
PEP |
99.13 |
-1.81 |
-1.79% |
| Principal Financial |
PFG |
58.30 |
-0.92 |
-1.55% |
| QCR Holdings |
QCRH |
45.85 |
0.60 |
1.33% |
| Rockwell Collins |
COL |
132.18 |
-0.36 |
-0.27% |
| S&P 500 |
^GSPC |
2,654.80 |
6.75 |
0.25% |
| Tanger Factory |
SKT |
22.32 |
0.37 |
1.69% |
| Procter & Gamble |
PG |
71.92 |
-0.42 |
-0.58% |
| United Fire Group |
UFCS |
50.30 |
0.01 |
0.02% |
| U.S. Bank |
USB |
50.74 |
0.29 |
0.57% |
| Wells Fargo |
WFC |
52.55 |
0.59 |
1.14% |
| West Bank |
WTBA |
24.50 |
0.15 |
0.62% |
| Whirlpool |
WHR |
155.93 |
0.98 |
0.63% |
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Short-Term Event Planner
May 2
1 Million Cups
, by 1MC, 9-10 a.m., Geonetric, 415 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids and MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. Join for community connections, startup pitches and free coffee. Free. For more information, visit facebook.com/1MCICR.
May 3
Open Coffee, by Washington Chamber of Commerce, 8-9 a.m., Dodici's Shop, 120 S. Iowa Ave., Washington. Join an open discussion about fostering creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in Washington. Free. For more information, visit
chamber.washingtoniowa.org or call (319) 653-4712.
Wake Up Marion, by Marion Chamber of Commerce, 8-9 a.m., Marion City Hall, 1225 Sixth Ave., Marion. Start your day with coffee and connections with fellow Marion Chamber members. Free. To register, visit
bit.ly/2CmfjyP.
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Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
Members of the La Porte City community are planning to gather to support the family of Jake Wilson as the search for him goes on. A candlelight vigil will be held at Wolf Creek Landing at the corner of Main Street and Tama Street on May 7. The public is invited to start gathering at 8 p.m., with the candle lighting taking place at 8:45 p.m. If the weather is bad, the vigil will be held at American Lutheran Church at 801 Monroe St. in La Porte City. The vigil is not an acceptance that Jake is gone, but instead a show of support to Jake's family and friends and a reminder that he is in everyone's thoughts as the search and investigation continues. The 16-year-old with autism was last seen on April 7 when he left his home to go for a walk.
The Iowa City Police Department is investigating a reported strong-arm robbery that happened early Tuesday morning on the southeast side of town. Investigators say they were called out to 2722 Wayne Ave. just before 1 Tuesday morning. The victim reported he was pushed to the ground and robbed. The suspect stole an undisclosed amount of cash and fled northbound from the scene. There were no reports of any weapons displayed. Police officers searched the area, but did not locate the suspect. No arrests have been made so far. Iowa City Area CrimeStoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information is urged to contact CrimeStoppers at 358-TIPS (8477).
T
hese news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
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CBS2 Chief Meteorologist Terry Swails' Weather First Forecast
An active pattern is unfolding across Eastern Iowa and will lead to showers and thunderstorms through the middle of the week. It will remain warm with temperatures in the 70s and 80s and moisture will be settling in. Today there will be a mix of sun and clouds and temperatures will climb close to 80 degrees. A few showers and storms will be possible early in the day with a greater chance for storms after 7 p.m. Some storms could be strong to severe, with strong winds and small hail possible. Two more rounds of thunderstorms will be possible Wednesday and Thursday. There will be the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms both days.
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