Pick Good Cofounders Sometimes the problem lives within. Finding a good cofounder is not always easy, and just like finding a partner in love, finding the right business partner takes time. Graham says that, “the success of a startup is almost always a function of its founders,” and we couldn’t agree more. Launch Fast You don’t really know what your customers want until you launch. Launch before you get used to not being useful....

Take the poll and select the startup that you think is the most likely to succeed. We may have forgotten some great startups so be sure to write them in if your favorite DC area startup is missing. Also be sure to share the poll with a friend. If you aren’t familiar with some of these companies you might want to subscribe to our updates via email (on the right rail of TechCocktail....

Ten companies will be selected to participate in the program and will be housed on Qualcomm’s corporate campus in San Diego. The companies will build next generation smart machines that combine mechanics and intelligent controls, computer vision, sensors, navigation, and wireless communications. Over $1 million in aggregate funding will be committed by Qualcomm for the program participants. Additionally, participants will be offered business and technical insight on robotics during the program....

Social media bots – AI-powered chatbots that generate automated messages – have become a pesky staple of various platforms around the internet, particularly on Twitter. Until recently, these dubious accounts were often found trolling innocent content creators and retweeting outrageous theories about how the earth is flat to their four or five followers. But now, amidst a global pandemic and civil rights movement, these bots have adopted a new strategy: fanning the flames of divisive unrest....

Altman defines real work as work that’s directly related to growth. Building the product, selling it, and hiring meet his criteria; interviewing lawyers does not. This is why Y Combinator is relentlessly focused on tracking and encouraging growth week-over-week. What do they do instead? Fake work, which is easier and more fun. They raise money, try to get press – do anything that doesn’t make them grow faster, by whatever metric they’re using....

Thanks to a wide range of leaks, we already had a good idea of what to expect from the new Galaxy Z Flip and S20 range of phones. We knew, for example, what they would look like, what specs they would have, and roughly how much each phone would cost. However, that’s not to say that we weren’t impressed with Samsung’s offerings. The Z Flip’s ultra thin folding glass could be a genuine game-changer for folding phones, and the S20 range looks just as brilliant as its predecessors....

To overcome this problem, she built a secure and private mobile school directory for the school, and this product evolved to include an administration platform to help schools and PTAs to manage the directory, communications, and fundraising easily. This product, MobileArq, is now being used actively by over 30,000 parents in schools across the US. Mallavarupu says that this app is a simple convenience that will make life easier and better for parents, and that “the mission of our company, MobileArq, is to provide tools for parents to empower them and help them stay connected to their school community....

The startups were competing for a prize package valued at $15,000 based on their level of innovation, ease of implementation, and the benefit they can offer the local community. To help highlight all that made them awesome, Sarah Evans interviewed each startup off the stage. Jorja Leavitt brought her company, Sharetown, all the way to the final round. Fueled by her excitement, Leavitt was able to successfully showcase and represent her company to the bigger Las Vegas tech scene....

Shopify’s reasoning cites several security concerns — the potential for stolen data and the lack of Shopify’s own fraud protection. Why Can’t Shopify Merchants Use “Buy With Prime”? Now, research firm Marketplace Pulse reports that Shopify is sending its sellers warnings as soon as they add that code. Sellers can still use the “unsupported external checkout script,” but won’t receive any support from Shopify, which warns: Shopify continues on to say that it can’t guarantee that various features will continue working, including fraud protection and order accuracy....

To summarize the 164-page report (…no, I did not read it all): Inbound marketing is growing. More companies are adopting its methodology as well as the philosophy behind it – namely, that it’s possible to create marketing that is both effective and respected (or even loved!) by eliminating annoying interruption tactics and focusing on connecting with customers in the ways they want to be sought after. There’s no question that inbound marketing is on the rise in just about every industry for businesses of all shapes and sizes – and that HubSpot deserves much of the credit for igniting this revolution....

While most of startups do know the importance of creating valuable content, a majority of them have a hard time to devise a content strategy that works. Creating great content and taking advantage of that content does require a lot of attention and practice, which most of the startups cannot afford. Many large companies may pour millions into hiring full-time content marketing managers to develop and manage their content strategy....

Yesterday, their hard work came to fruition, as they announced that One Million Degrees will be the first local nonprofit to benefit from SVP Chicago’s venture philanthropy funding model. One Million Degrees works to empower low-income, highly motivated community college students in Chicago. Being an SVP Chicago investee means that One Million Degrees will have the opportunity to receive $75,000 over the next three years, and will have access to the professional skills of the SVP partners in 10 capacity-building areas, including strategy and planning, leadership and board development, financial management, information technology, marketing, human resources, legal, program design and evaluation, and fund development....

Digital word-of-mouth: this is what Sooligan is offering. It’s based on the idea that people (both natives and transplants to a city) should be able to engage in community-centered dialogue through a digital means. Sooligan is a real-time social search platform where users can find and share opinions on the various experiences that take place in any given city. The app (currently only available on iOS) gives a user insight on the ins and outs of a city, as well as the opportunity to engage with other users in ways that let them feel like a part of the local community....

To adapt a solution to his need, Hindman and Brett Boskoff cofounded Splash, a New York City-based online event management service that empowers users to create memorable event experiences. Traditionally, creating a compelling event managment website requires a working knowledge of webpage development. Splash provides all the necessary tools, like designs, plans, and social media integration, for anybody to create a custom event site and manage every aspect of their event from start to finish....

Sportech Labs is a startup focused on creating software solutions for athletic organizations, whether that’s the local softball team or the Chicago Bears. While Armstrong was a student at Western Michigan University, he ran IT for the school’s athletic department. For four and a half years, he helped the department keep track of the D-I school’s athletic equipment. Through this role, he became frustrated by the current technology that was being used to manage the inventory for the entire athletic department; the most popular program was a desktop software that lacked any useful features and only served to be slightly better than using traditional paper and Excel spreadsheets....

Behere Behere is a service that helps working women travel by taking care of the planning. That way, they spend more time enjoying their free-moments on vacation instead of dealing with logistics. Behere’s travel and work lifestyle experience can last from one month to six. Behere covers the necessities like major travel, a furnished apartment and (our favorite) a workspace with reliable high-speed internet. Additionally, they support a balanced lifestyle with suggested itineraries and networking opportunities....

According to a survey from mattress company Amerisleep, people that get exactly seven hours and six minutes of sleep per night are the happiest. In the survey of 2,000 participants, those that received seven hours and six minutes of sleep deemed themselves perfectly happy. In contrast, those with only seven were mostly happy, and it only got worse from there. While the range has been a bit all over the place, seven hours has been the standard for a long time....

But, in recent years, we’ve started side-eyeing tech’s drinking habits. The #MeToo movement has impacted drinking policies at major companies – most prominently, WeWork dropped its unlimited beer tap option last October following sexual assault allegations at WeWork events. Now, a new study has pulled tech drinking culture back into the spotlight. The tech world, the study found, is the single industry most likely to allow or sponsor alcohol consumption in the workplace....

The real hallmark of San Diego is the opportunity it provides to young professionals, specifically small-stage entrepreneurs. Sure, some people might argue that there is a lack of opportunity when it comes to capital and accelerators, but that’s only because San Diego is still growing. EvoNexus is an incubator that embodies the very meaning of the word “inclusive.” They operate under the umbrella of CommNexus, a nonprofit company, and provide a completely subsidized work space for the 27 startups that work there....

In a Facebook post written by his brother, Robert Goldberg, earlier today, Robert writes: The CEO of SurveyMonkey, Goldberg found his way to the company after some time at Yahoo! and finding himself as an entrepreneur in residence at Benchmark Capital. While serving as the director at Ancestry.com, he got connected to SurveyMonkey, and eventually found himself in the role of CEO. According to Re/code’s Kara Swisher, Goldberg was a beloved member of the Silicon Valley community: UPDATE, May 4: Re/code has reported that David Goldberg collapsed in the midst of exercise while on vacation in Mexico....