Why Getting a Risk Assessment Right First Time Will Help Your Business | The Startup Magazine

July 12, 2023July 11, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In today’s dynamic business environment, understanding and managing risks is essential for the success and sustainability of any organization. One crucial aspect of risk management is conducting a comprehensive risk assessment.

By getting the risk assessment right the first time, businesses can unlock numerous benefits and ensure a proactive approach to risk mitigation. In this article, we will explore why getting a risk assessment right from the start is crucial for the growth and resilience of your business.

Understanding Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is a systematic process of identifying, analyzing, and evaluating potential risks that may impact your business. It involves assessing the likelihood and potential impact of these risks, enabling organizations to make informed decisions and implement appropriate risk management strategies. A thorough risk assessment requires careful data collection, analysis, and consideration of both internal and external factors.

Tips for Entrepreneurs to Minimize Expenditure | The Startup Magazine

July 12, 2023July 11, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Entrepreneurs who have a great business idea and have started a company need to keep a keen watch over where they spend their money. This includes variable costs (e.g., sales commission, raw materials, and packaging) and fixed costs (property rental, company car instalments, etc.). Some of these decisions are easy to make while others require you to do your research and make comparisons. For example, the decision to rent or purchase a business property is usually an obvious one for a start-up.

Initially, you need to have the cash flow to keep the company up and running and start making profits before looking at big investments like commercial property.

The early years of a business often require trade-offs between something that would really help you and not being able to take on more fixed costs. Cash flow should not be put at risk as the young business is still in a very vulnerable area of its growth and an unexpected expense could land you in hot water. Here are some startup cost cutting tips to help you to minimize your business expenditure.

Easyjet cancels 1,700 flights from July to September | BBC News

July 11, 2023July 10, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Easyjet has confirmed it has cancelled 1,700 flights as people prepare to travel on their summer holidays.

The airline has axed flights during July, August and September, travelling to and from Gatwick airport.

Easyjet blamed constrained airspace over Europe and ongoing air traffic control difficulties, which are causing regular cancellations.

The company said 95% of affected passengers had been rebooked onto alternative flights.

Easyjet announced the decision as many schools in England and Wales prepare to break-up for the summer holidays.

Threads: Meta sets out planned new features | BBC News

July 11, 2023July 10, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Threads is looking into adding an alternative home feed, of only posts, in chronological order, from the people each individual user follows, according to Instagram boss Adam Mosseri.

It currently shows a mix of recommended content and posts from those followed.

Threads was billed as an “initial version” at launch and the company has signalled more features are to come.

But a planned system to make Threads compatible with some other apps, such as Mastodon, has met with resistance.

Instagram, which is owned by Meta, built the Threads app.

How to identify, interview and hire a head of growth for an early-stage startup | TechCrunch

July 10, 2023July 8, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The waters are never calm when scaling a startup. In fact, they are typically quite choppy. However, by making the correct hire in the head of growth position, you can navigate to shore much more smoothly.

The individual you’re looking for will create and execute growth strategies, manage marketing initiatives and, ultimately, drive revenue. My more informal take on this role is that it’s someone who deeply understands growth fundamentals, has significant expertise in one to two growth pillars and knows how to build an effective team.

I’ll walk you through when and how to hire your head of growth, their archetypes, how this role stands apart from other marketing executive positions, and what to expect from this hire during their first few quarters.

MIT develops a motion and task planning system for home robots | TechCrunch

July 10, 2023July 8, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Why aren’t there more robots in homes? This a surprising complex question — and our homes are surprisingly complex places. A big part of the reason autonomous systems are thriving on warehouse and factory floors first is the relative ease of navigating a structured environment. Sure, most systems still require a space be mapped prior to getting to work, but once that’s in place there tends to be little in the way of variation.

Homes, on the other hand, are kind of a nightmare. Not only do they vary dramatically from unit to unit, they’re full of unfriendly obstacles and tend to be fairly dynamic, as furniture is moved around or things are left on the floor. Vacuums are the most prevalent robots in the home, and they’re still being refined after decades on the market.

3 Things to Look for to Determine If AI Is Being Used Ethically | Entrepreneur

July 7, 2023July 6, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

AI has been a topic of great interest — we’re all amazed by its potential and the impact it may have on our lives, mostly because AI is the first tool in history that can make decisions by itself. Take ChatGPT as an example. It embodies more knowledge than any human has ever known. This tool can be a force for enormous good. Imagine what AI can do in healthcare and its enormous databases of genes, medicines and disease symptoms, and drug interactions, for example? It can literally save lives. But that’s also a huge responsibility we’re putting on a technology that we haven’t even begun to fully understand.

As investors, entrepreneurs, and users, we directly impact where the technology will go, and we are setting the stage for where it will end up.

Shake Shack Founder Blasts Tipping for To-Go Orders | Entrepreneur

July 7, 2023July 6, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Famed restauranteur and Shack Shack founder Danny Meyer believes customers shouldn’t have to tip for to-go orders.

“If you’re just taking out food, and it was just a transaction — I give you money, you give me a cup of coffee — I don’t think there’s any obligation to tip whatsoever,”

Meyer said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Meyer was responding to a question about the proliferation of point-of-sale devices from companies such as Square and Toast, which allow customers to tip staff anywhere from 15% to 25%. In many instances, the devices have replaced the omnipresent tip jar.

But these public displays of satisfaction have caused many people to feel social pressure to tip — even if they don’t want to.

Google adjusts privacy policy allowing use of public data for AI training | Mashable

July 6, 2023July 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Google can now use public data to help train and create AI products, according to new privacy policy changes.

As of July 1, the tech giant’s newly adjusted policy reads: “Google uses information to improve our services and to develop new products, features and technologies that benefit our users and the public. For example, we use publicly available information to help train Google’s AI models and build products and features like Google Translate, Bard, and Cloud AI capabilities.”

Previously, the policy only stated that publicly available information could be used to help train Google “language models” and gave a single mention of Google Translate.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta launches Instagram’s Threads app, a rival to Twitter amidst Elon Musk backlash | CNN Business

July 6, 2023July 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Facebook has tried to compete with Twitter in numerous ways over the years, including copying signature Twitter features such as hashtags and trending topics. But now Facebook’s parent company is taking perhaps its biggest swipe at Twitter yet.

Meta on Wednesday officially launched a new app called Threads, which is intended to offer a space for real-time conversations online, a function that has long been Twitter’s core selling point.

The app appears to have many similarities to Twitter, from the layout to the product description. The listing, which first appeared earlier this week as a teaser, emphasizes its potential to build a following and connect with like-minded people.