GoTenna está aumentando la red de malla del sector público con una ronda de $ 24M C

Jun 18, 2019

—

by

Neto

in Gadgets

GoTenna es mejor conocido por sus productos de consumo orientados al aire libre que le permiten enviar mensajes de texto y compartir ubicaciones entre teléfonos inteligentes fuera de la red. Pero la compañía ha descubierto que el trabajo del gobierno (militar, bomberos, rescate) es el verdadero mercado y lo está persiguiendo con la fuerza de una ronda de financiación de $ 24 millones.

“¡Hemos estado ocupados!”, Dijo Daniela Perdomo, fundadora y CEO de la compañía, en una entrevista. “Tenemos un buen problema, que es una tecnología que puede ser tan habilitadora para muchos casos de uso”.

La tecnología principal de GoTenna es la red de malla sobre las frecuencias de radio que normalmente se usan para walkie-talkies: largo alcance pero ancho de banda bajo. Sin embargo, si todo lo que necesita enviar son coordenadas GPS o un mensaje corto, es perfectamente suficiente y funciona bien donde las conexiones de satélites y móviles no son prácticas. Solo en el dispositivo, más pequeño que una baraja de cartas, y puedes chatear a lo largo de millas en medio de la nada con tus compañeros de escalada o amigos de esquí de fondo.

En los últimos dos años, la compañía ha cambiado sus prioridades de la tecnología de consumo, la serie de aparatos GoTenna y Mesh, a satisfacer las necesidades de los clientes del sector público que han estado pidiendo algo como esto durante años.

Bomberos, operaciones militares, policía local, búsqueda y rescate, muchos estaban usando soluciones voluminosas, sobre diseñadas y costosas que no han cambiado mucho en décadas. GoTenna funciona con casi cualquier teléfono inteligente y crea instantáneamente una red de malla que puede recorrer millas, lo que la hace perfecta para comunicaciones fuera de la red.

Perdomo dijo que esto era en realidad más o menos el plan desde el principio.

“Estaba en mi primer mazo de lanzamientos cuando planteamos nuestra semilla en 2013, había una visión de cielo azul de cómo se usaría la tecnología”, me dijo. “Pero fue más sencillo lanzar un MVP para los consumidores. Siempre sentimos que ese producto iba a entrar en el sector público. Y eso es exactamente lo que sucedió: cuando lanzamos nuestro producto de primera generación, creo que en 24 horas tuvimos una variedad de diferentes clientes del sector público que nos contactaron “.

“Ahora tenemos algunas agencias federales que han sido clientes a través de cada generación del producto. “Todavía tenemos nuestro producto de consumo, y la gente lo ama, pero es una pequeña parte de nuestro negocio en comparación con el sector público”, dijo.

Un ejemplo de cómo podría verse la interfaz en uso. Puede transmitir las ubicaciones de otros dispositivos GoTenna a intervalos, lo que ayuda a los equipos a mantenerse en contacto automáticamente.

Mientras que los equipos de respuesta a desastres, por supuesto, solo podían comprar un par de docenas de los productos GoTenna normales, rápidamente solicitaron versiones “pro” con características valoradas por usuarios avanzados y clientes militares.

Parámetros inalámbricos de mayor alcance, más programables, compatibilidad con varios sistemas heredados: las versiones Pro y ProX del sistema GoTenna alcanzan muchos puntos clave. Como Perdomo me dijo cuando salió por primera vez el Pro, los sistemas heredados son poderosos de alguna manera pero también pueden ser horriblemente costosos, incompatibles con sistemas inalámbricos extranjeros, o incluso tener restricciones legales sobre dónde pueden usarse.

Para una ONG con problemas de efectivo que hace la ayuda global, un dispositivo de $ 100 a $ 500 que convierte un teléfono normal en un nodo de malla versátil puede cambiar el juego. (También puede usarlos para reemplazar temporalmente la infraestructura de comunicaciones destruida).

Sin embargo, las agencias federales y las sucursales militares también están pagando los dispositivos y, cada vez más, los contratos de soporte de software que los acompañan. El Aspen Grove de GoTenna es un protocolo de red de malla patentado que se diseñó para ser más rápido y más robusto que cualquier otra cosa. Normalmente ejercería un poco de escepticismo aquí, pero por lo que he visto, los sistemas que GoTenna está reemplazando o aumentando no son exactamente competitivos.

De hecho, el siguiente gran proyecto de hardware de GoTenna es crear una tarjeta de red de malla que pueda integrarse directamente en el hardware existente, simplificando los sistemas y ampliando sus protocolos aún más.

“Tenemos una larga lista de compañías que desean integrar nuestra tecnología en vehículos, aeronaves, cualquier cosa que se pueda imaginar”, dijo Perdomo. “¡Así que puedes poner a uno de estos bebés en un UAV y dejar que 'Rip”! Nuestro rango récord, punto a punto desde un UAV, es de 69 millas “.

Mientras tanto, la compañía también está lanzando una plataforma de malla de código abierto más amplia llamada Lot 49 que está diseñada para ser capaz de soportar una infraestructura de mensajería global sin depender de ningún proveedor de servicios inalámbricos. Eso podría ser un gran problema para dispositivos de internet de tipo de cosas también.

Curiosamente, Perdomo no se siente amenazado por el nuevo y bastante temible chico del bloque: constelaciones de satélites de comunicaciones como Starlink y OneWeb. Si la idea es que GoTenna le permite comunicarse donde no llega la cuadrícula, ¿qué sucede cuando la cuadrícula es global?

“No importa cuántos satélites coloques, repetidores que coloques, cables que coloques, siempre tienes esa última milla. Necesitas resiliencia, acceso, y creo que también la neutralidad “, dijo. Y, de hecho, no va a llevar una estación terrestre Starlink con usted en una operación encubierta o en un incendio forestal activo. Y tener un acuerdo comercial existente y en curso con un proveedor de comunicaciones satelitales puede que ni siquiera sea deseable en primer lugar.

“Hay una razón por la cual ciertos titulares en el espacio de la radio táctica, así como los operadores, se asocian con nosotros”, señaló Perdomo, y de hecho Comcast Ventures es una nueva cara entre los inversores. “Estamos creando una nueva capa en la pila de comunicaciones, las redes de malla con un enfoque en los datos de ráfaga. Creo que nosotros somos perfectamente complementarios de todas las demás empresas de comunicaciones “.

En lo que respecta a esa financiación, se destinará a facilitar el rápido crecimiento que está experimentando la empresa, finalizar las opciones integradas y profesionales, contratar y expandir las operaciones para respaldar su creciente negocio de servicios. La ronda de $ 24 millones fue dirigida por Founders Fund, con la participación de Comcast Ventures y los inversionistas existentes Union Square Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Walden VC, MentorTech y Bloomberg Beta.

“Hemos estado en I + D durante mucho tiempo”, dijo Perdomo. “Es emocionante ahora ser también un negocio. Todas las tecnologías de telecomunicaciones convencionales más impresionantes que utilizamos hoy en día, cosas como Internet o GPS, se eliminan del parque con el sector público primero. Si puedes ganar allí, en situaciones de vida o muerte, sabes que también puedes ganar en cualquier otro lugar “.

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Hoy, Facebook se reúne con 27 organizaciones de todo el mundo para iniciar la Asociación Libra sin fines de lucro y ...

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publicado por Mark Zuckerberg en Martes 18 de junio de 2019

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Una moneda global

Facebook tiene algo seguro: el dinero de hoy no funciona para todos. Aquellos de nosotros que vivimos cómodamente en países desarrollados probablemente no veamos las dificultades que afectan a los trabajadores migrantes o los no bancarizados en el extranjero. Preocupados por los codiciosos prestamistas de día de pago y los servicios de remesas de alta tarifa, seleccionados por los atracadores y excluidos de los servicios financieros tradicionales, los pobres se empobrecen. Libra tiene el potencial de devolver más dinero de los padres que trabajan a sus familias y ayudar a las personas a retener el crédito, incluso si les roban sus posesiones físicas. Eso haría más para cumplir la misión de Facebook de hacer que el mundo se sienta más pequeño que todos los "Me gusta" de las noticias combinadas.

Si Facebook tiene éxito y las legiones de personas cobran dinero en efectivo por Libra, él y los otros miembros fundadores de la Asociación de Libra podrían obtener grandes dividendos sobre los intereses. Y si de repente se vuelve súper rápido para comprar cosas a través de Facebook usando Libra, las empresas aumentarán su gasto en publicidad allí. Pero si Libra es pirateada o no es confiable, podría costarle dinero a muchas personas de todo el mundo mientras las agrupa en las criptomonedas. Y al ofrecer una plataforma Libra abierta, los desarrolladores con sombra podrían crear aplicaciones que no solo capturan la información personal de las personas como Cambridge Analytica, sino también su efectivo digital.

Facebook acaba de intentar reinventar el dinero. El próximo año, veremos si la Asociación de Libra puede lograrlo. Me tomó 4000 palabras para explicar Libra, pero al menos ahora puedes decidirte si te da miedo el criptografía de Facebook.

Facebook finalmente ha revelado los detalles de su criptomoneda Libra, que te permitirá comprar cosas o enviar dinero a personas con tarifas casi nulas. Puede comprar o retirar su Libra en línea o en puntos de intercambio locales, como tiendas de comestibles, y gastarlo utilizando aplicaciones de billetera de terceros interoperables o la billetera de Calibra de Facebook. 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Josh Constine es un periodista tecnológico que se especializa en el análisis profundo de productos sociales. Actualmente es un Editor-At-Large para TechCrunch y está disponible para charlas.

Anteriormente, Constine fue la principal escritora de Inside Facebook a través de su adquisición por parte de WebMediaBrands, cubriendo todo lo relacionado con la red social.

Constine se graduó de la Universidad de Stanford en 2009 con una maestría en cibersociología, examinando la influencia de la tecnología en la interacción social. Investigó el impacto de los controles de privacidad en la socialización de los niños, los ciclos de popularidad de los memes y lo que influye en la tasa de clics de los enlaces publicados en Twitter.

Constine también recibió una licenciatura con honores de la Universidad de Stanford en 2007, con especialización en psicología social y procesos interpersonales.

Josh Constine es un orador público experimentado y ha moderado más de 120 entrevistas en el escenario en 15 países con líderes que incluyen al CEO de Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, al informante Edward Snowden (a través de una videoconferencia en el escenario) y al senador estadounidense Cory Booker. Está disponible para moderar paneles y charlas informales, ofrecer conferencias y juzgar competiciones de hackathon y pitch.

Constine ha sido citada por The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, The Atlantic, BBC World Magazine, Slate y más, y ha aparecido en televisión en Good Morning, America, The Today Show, China Central Television y Fox News. Constine está clasificada como la periodista tecnológica más citada # 1 en el prestigioso agregador de noticias Techmeme.

Entonces, ¿por qué me importa si el proveedor tiene que pagar tarifas de transacción a Visa? Eso no parece ser razón suficiente para que yo adopte una nueva moneda.

Esto puede reemplazar transacciones en efectivo o débito para muchas personas. Sin embargo, será una venta difícil para los clientes de tarjetas de crédito en los Estados Unidos. Las tarjetas de crédito tienen 4 beneficios sobre Libra.
n1) Capacidad para gastar ahora y pagar más tarde. Incluso sin intereses al pagar dentro de un mes.
n2) Capacidad para ganar dinero en efectivo o recompensas. Los comerciantes están pagando tarifas y recompensas, pero en los Estados Unidos rara vez cobran al cliente por esas tarifas.
n3) Las transacciones no son finales como lo son con efectivo, débito y Libra. El cliente puede impugnar cargos fraudulentos y hacer que las transacciones se reviertan.
n4) Se aceptan tarjetas de crédito en casi todos los Estados Unidos.

Dicho esto, este parece ser el mejor intento de crear una moneda criptográfica estable hasta el momento. Esto puede ganar mucha tracción en países donde las personas no tienen acceso a monedas estables y para las personas que no tienen acceso a crédito.

Soy escéptico Si KYC es un requisito, ¿qué les impide censurar a las personas que no les gustan? Por ejemplo, si tienes un canal de historia en YouTube o algo así, y ellos deciden prohibirte por discurso de odio. Y de repente no puedes gastar más tu Libra.

Facebook es conocido por censurar contenido indeseable y recopilar cantidades obscenas de datos privados sobre sus usuarios (y no usuarios. La subsidiaria de Facebook, WhatsApp, anunció que demandaría a los usuarios por violar sus Términos de Uso, incluso si esa violación se produjo en una plataforma o en una plataforma diferente). -espacio.

No puedo imaginar que FaceBucks esté libre de esas preocupaciones.

Todavía no he leído el documento. Creo que Libra va a tener una dificultad significativa para mantener la estabilidad de la moneda a menos que las tarifas de gas sean altas para desincentivar el arbitraje o que existan reglas estrictas para el comercio.

Hm ... ¿qué hay de enviar dinero a ultramar? Cuando viajas, necesitas hacer un cambio de moneda, pierdes un montón de dinero haciendo eso. 7% suena como una figura justa.

Compañías como TransferWise están reduciendo el costo de las transferencias internacionales y el acceso al dinero en el extranjero. No necesita monedas criptográficas para asumir la industria de las remesas. Solo necesita una empresa con menos gastos generales y más automatización para reducir los costos de transacción.

@Erik De Vries Transferwise lamentablemente sigue siendo realmente caro. Yo diría que debido a los requisitos reglamentarios impuestos a este tipo de empresas. A medida que se establezca la regulación, es probable que esta plataforma también se vuelva más costosa hasta que pueda ser verdaderamente descentralizada.

Josh Constine es un periodista tecnológico que se especializa en el análisis profundo de productos sociales. Actualmente es un Editor-At-Large para TechCrunch y está disponible para charlas.

Anteriormente, Constine fue la principal escritora de Inside Facebook a través de su adquisición por parte de WebMediaBrands, cubriendo todo lo relacionado con la red social.

Constine se graduó de la Universidad de Stanford en 2009 con una maestría en cibersociología, examinando la influencia de la tecnología en la interacción social. Investigó el impacto de los controles de privacidad en la socialización de los niños, los ciclos de popularidad de los memes y lo que influye en la tasa de clics de los enlaces publicados en Twitter.

Constine también recibió una licenciatura con honores de la Universidad de Stanford en 2007, con especialización en psicología social y procesos interpersonales.

Josh Constine es un orador público experimentado y ha moderado más de 120 entrevistas en el escenario en 15 países con líderes que incluyen al CEO de Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, al informante Edward Snowden (a través de una videoconferencia en el escenario) y al senador estadounidense Cory Booker. Está disponible para moderar paneles y charlas informales, ofrecer conferencias y juzgar competiciones de hackathon y pitch.

Constine ha sido citada por The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, The Atlantic, BBC World Magazine, Slate y más, y ha aparecido en televisión en Good Morning, America, The Today Show, China Central Television y Fox News. Constine está clasificada como la periodista tecnológica más citada # 1 en el prestigioso agregador de noticias Techmeme.

The first time I showed the Palm phone to the TechCrunch staff, they were excited. At the very least, it was a unique take on the category, designed to be a second phone for those moments that didnu2019t require a larger, bulkier device.

But reality set in pretty quickly. The deviceu2019s capabilities were severely limited by a number of factors, including size. The biggest issue, however, was a Verizon exclusive that only let users purchase the device as a second handset tied to an existing account.

Back in April, the company announced that the 3.3-inch phone could be purchased as a standalone device u2014 albeit still through Verizon or US Mobile. Today, itu2019s expanding that, making the handset available unlocked, so it will work with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and MetroPCS SIMs.

The phoneu2019s available u201cat onlyu201d $350. Thatu2019s cheap compared to many full-sized, mid-tier handsets, but cheapness is certainly a relative concept. It still seems like a lot for a second phone, and while itu2019s certainly adorable, Iu2019d strongly advise against anyone using it as a primary handset. Heck, itu2019s not even all that great as a standalone MP3 player.

If youu2019re still interested, you can pre-order it today u2014 and Palm will throw in a $30 leather case with neck and wrist lanyards. It starts shipping in six to eight weeks.

The first time I showed the Palm phone to the TechCrunch staff, they were excited. At the very least, it was a unique take on the category, designed to be a second phone for those moments that didnu2019t require a larger, bulkier device. But reality set in pretty quickly. The deviceu2019s capabilities were severely limited […] n","protected":false},"author":699688,"featured_media":1732288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"outcome":"","status":"","crunchbase_tag":0,"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"jetpack_publicize_message":"Palmu2019s tiny phone is available unlocked at $350 https://tcrn.ch/2IQznKt by @bheater"},"categories":[449223024,449557028],"tags":[1515,38616],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_event":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CMB_50021.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"shortlink":"https://tcrn.ch/2IQznKt","rapidData":{"pt":"","pct":""},"featured":false,"subtitle":"","fundingRound":false,"seoTitle":"","seoDescription":"","premiumContent":false,"premiumCutoffPercent":1,"tc_cb_mapping":[{"slug":"palm","cb_name":"Palm","cb_slug":"palm-organization","cb_link":"https://crunchbase.com/organization/palm"}],"associatedEvent":null,"event":null,"authors":[699688],"hideFeaturedImage":false,"relatedArticles":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1845252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1845252/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845265,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1845252/revisions/1845265"}],"authors":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/tc/v1/users/699688"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"count":1,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=1845252&order=asc&tc_hierarchical=flat"}],"https://techcrunch.com/edit":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1845252&action=edit"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/tc/v1/users/699688"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media/1732288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=1845252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories?post=1845252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?post=1845252"},{"taxonomy":"_tc_cb_tag_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/crunchbase_tag?post=1845252"},{"taxonomy":"tc_stories_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tc_stories_tax?post=1845252"},{"taxonomy":"tc_event","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tc_event?post=1845252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https://api.w.org/{rel}","templated":true}]},"_embedded":{"authors":[{"id":699688"name":"BrianHeater""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/brian-heater/""slug":"brian-heater""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"twitter":"https://twittercom/bheater""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/pub/brian-heater/1/a92/94""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/brian-heater"}"position":"HardwareEditor""cbDescription":"[{"id":699688"name":"BrianHeater""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/brian-heater/""slug":"brian-heater""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"twitter":"https://twittercom/bheater""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/pub/brian-heater/1/a92/94""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/brian-heater"}"position":"HardwareEditor""cbDescription":"[{"id":699688"name":"BrianHeater""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/brian-heater/""slug":"brian-heater""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"twitter":"https://twittercom/bheater""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/pub/brian-heater/1/a92/94""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/brian-heater"}"position":"HardwareEditor""cbDescription":"[{"id":699688"name":"BrianHeater""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/brian-heater/""slug":"brian-heater""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/eb77d830ad404e16ee7a4c7000b5f49d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"twitter":"https://twittercom/bheater""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/pub/brian-heater/1/a92/94""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/brian-heater"}"position":"HardwareEditor""cbDescription":"

Brian Heater is the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch. He worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.

So explain this to a dummy…

How can you use it as a second phone when the carriers won’t sell you two valid/live SIM cards that both point to the same phone number?

Gracias

Brian Heater is the Hardware Editor at TechCrunch. He worked for a number of leading tech publications, including Engadget, PCMag, Laptop, and Tech Times, where he served as the Managing Editor. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.

Three years ago, I met with a founder who had raised a massive seed round at a valuation that was at least five times the market rate. I asked what firm made the investment.

She said it was not a traditional venture firm, but rather au00a0inversionista estratégico that not only had no ties to her space but also had no prior investment experience. The strategic investor, she said, was looking to u201cget their hands dirtyu201d and u201cget in on the ground floor.u201d

Over the next 2 years, I kept a close eye on the founder. Although she had enough capital to pivot her business focus multiple times, she seemed to be at odds, serving the needs of her strategic investor and her customer base.

Ultimately, when the business needed more capital to survive, the strategic investor didnu2019t agree with the founderu2019s focus, opted not to prop it up, and the business had to shut down.

Sadly, this is not an uncommon story as examples abound of strategic investors influencing startup direction and management decisions to the point of harm for the startup. Corporate strategics, not to be confused with dedicated funds focused on financial returns like a traditional venture investor like Google Ventures,u00a0often care less about return on investment, and more about a startupu2019s focus, and sector specificity. If corporate imperatives change, the strategicu00a0may cease to be the right partneru00a0or could push the startup inu00a0a challenging direction.

And yet, fortunately, as the disruptive power of technology is being unleashed on nearly every major industry, strategic investors are now getting smarter, both in terms of howu00a0they investu00a0and how they partner with entrepreneurs.

From making strong acquisitive plays (i.e.u00a0GMu2019s purchase of Cruise Automationu00a0oru00a0Toyotau2019s early-stage investment in Uber) to buildingu00a0dedicated funds, to executing commercial agreements in tandem with capital investment, strategics are getting savvier, and by extension, becoming better partners.u00a0 In some instances, they may be the best partner.

Negotiating a term sheet with a strategic investor necessitates a different set of considerations. Namely: the preference for a strategic to facilitate commercial milestones for the startup, a cautious approach to avoid the u201cover-valuationu201d trap, an acute focus on information rights, and the limitation of non-compete provisions.

Three years ago, I met with a founder who had raised a massive seed round at a valuation that was at least five times the market rate. I asked what firm made the investment…

Vector concept illustration

A number of incumbent banks are known to be developing new digital-first products in a bid to keep the new wave of challenger banks at bay and now it appears that the latest to make that move is J.P. Morgan.

According to sources, the investment bank has begun recruiting for a secretive skunkworks project within London’s booming fintech industry. Very few details are known about what exactly J.P. Morgan plans to build, although TechCrunch understands the bank is busy hiring high level developers with full-stack and cloud-based dev skills for the new project, along with other personnel.

One source tells me that interested candidates are being asked to sign an NDA, and that the project is still in its formative stages. They say the plan is to essentially build a startup within a corporation that will be run independently and entirely separately from J.P. Morgan’s existing technology and businesses. The bank is only hiring for permanent positions rather than contractors in order to keep it “secret,” another source tells me. J.P. Morgan declined to comment.

Meanwhile, for the few people I’ve spoken to who have heard about the project there’s speculation that J.P. Morgan is developing a competitor to “Marcus,” the digital bank launched by Goldman Sachs that focuses on savings and offers a competitive interest rate. That would also put it up against challenger banks such as Atom, Tandem and savings marketplace Raisin.

However, one source tells me they’ve heard that J.P. Morgan’s skunkworks project could in fact be a much more ambitious cloud-based banking platform on which numerous products can be launched. That would be more akin to a core banking SaaS platform or “AWS for Banking,” along the lines of Starling’s core banking product or Germany’s solarisBank or London’s 11:FS Foundry.

A number of incumbent banks are known to be developing new digital-first products in a bid to keep the new wave of challenger banks at bay and now it appears that the latest to make that move is J.P. Morgan. According to sources, the investment bank has begun recruiting for a secretive skunkworks project within […] n","protected":false},"author":1180458,"featured_media":1845416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"outcome":"","status":"","crunchbase_tag":0,"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"jetpack_publicize_message":"Sources: J.P. Morgan working on a secretive digital banking project based out of London https://tcrn.ch/2IoqdFN by @sohear"},"categories":[449557100,17396],"tags":[],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_event":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Jp_morgan_building.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"shortlink":"https://tcrn.ch/2IoqdFN","rapidData":{"pt":"","pct":""},"featured":false,"subtitle":"","fundingRound":false,"seoTitle":"","seoDescription":"","premiumContent":false,"premiumCutoffPercent":1,"tc_cb_mapping":[],"associatedEvent":null,"event":null,"authors":[1180458],"hideFeaturedImage":false,"relatedArticles":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1845202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1845202/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845514,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1845202/revisions/1845514"}],"authors":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/tc/v1/users/1180458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"count":0,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=1845202&order=asc&tc_hierarchical=flat"}],"https://techcrunch.com/edit":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1845202&action=edit"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/tc/v1/users/1180458"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media/1845416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=1845202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories?post=1845202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?post=1845202"},{"taxonomy":"_tc_cb_tag_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/crunchbase_tag?post=1845202"},{"taxonomy":"tc_stories_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tc_stories_tax?post=1845202"},{"taxonomy":"tc_event","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tc_event?post=1845202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https://api.w.org/{rel}","templated":true}]},"_embedded":{"authors":[{"id":1180458"name":"SteveO'Hear""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/steve-o-hear/""slug":"steve-o-hear""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"homepage":"http://wwwohearnet""twitter":"https://twittercom/sohear""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/in/ohear""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/steve-ohear"}"position":"Writer""cbDescription":"[{"id":1180458"name":"SteveO'Hear""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/steve-o-hear/""slug":"steve-o-hear""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"homepage":"http://wwwohearnet""twitter":"https://twittercom/sohear""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/in/ohear""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/steve-ohear"}"position":"Writer""cbDescription":"[{"id":1180458"name":"SteveO'Hear""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/steve-o-hear/""slug":"steve-o-hear""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"homepage":"http://wwwohearnet""twitter":"https://twittercom/sohear""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/in/ohear""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/steve-ohear"}"position":"Writer""cbDescription":"[{"id":1180458"name":"SteveO'Hear""url":"""description":"""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/steve-o-hear/""slug":"steve-o-hear""avatar_urls":{"24":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=24&d=identicon&r=g""48":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=48&d=identicon&r=g""96":"https://securegravatarcom/avatar/95b8a6df6d265cf57a4d89ee4856ea98?s=96&d=identicon&r=g"}"links":{"homepage":"http://wwwohearnet""twitter":"https://twittercom/sohear""linkedin":"http://wwwlinkedincom/in/ohear""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/steve-ohear"}"position":"Writer""cbDescription":"

Steve O'Hear is best known as a technology journalist, currently at TechCrunch where he focuses on European startups, companies and products.

He first joined TechCrunch in November 2009 as Contributing Editor for TechCrunch Europe, where he worked alongside Editor Mike Butcher to help build TechCrunch's coverage in Europe.

In June 2011, Steve took a break from journalism to co-found the London and Prague-based startup Beepl. In his role as CEO, he helped the company raise its first VC round, along with seeing the Question & Answer site through development, private alpha and a high profile public launch. In November 2012, Beepl was acquired by Brand Embassy.

Along with TechCrunch, Steve has written for numerous publications, including ZDNet (where he wrote the well-respected blog 'The Social Web'), The Guardian, Macworld, TES, Last100 and ReadWriteWeb. He also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Silicon Valley documentary 'In Search of the Valley', which was released in September 2006.

In 2002, Steve was made a fellow of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. He's also one half of ProtoBake Labs, an 'ideas incubator' he co-founded with Pete Harris.

Disclaimer: Steve owns a small amount of cryptocurrency, and doesn't generally write about crypto currencies. If and when he does, he will always disclose any potential conflict of interest.

Steve O'Hear is best known as a technology journalist, currently at TechCrunch where he focuses on European startups, companies and products.

He first joined TechCrunch in November 2009 as Contributing Editor for TechCrunch Europe, where he worked alongside Editor Mike Butcher to help build TechCrunch's coverage in Europe.

In June 2011, Steve took a break from journalism to co-found the London and Prague-based startup Beepl. In his role as CEO, he helped the company raise its first VC round, along with seeing the Question & Answer site through development, private alpha and a high profile public launch. In November 2012, Beepl was acquired by Brand Embassy.

Along with TechCrunch, Steve has written for numerous publications, including ZDNet (where he wrote the well-respected blog 'The Social Web'), The Guardian, Macworld, TES, Last100 and ReadWriteWeb. He also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed Silicon Valley documentary 'In Search of the Valley', which was released in September 2006.

In 2002, Steve was made a fellow of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. He's also one half of ProtoBake Labs, an 'ideas incubator' he co-founded with Pete Harris.

Disclaimer: Steve owns a small amount of cryptocurrency, and doesn't generally write about crypto currencies. If and when he does, he will always disclose any potential conflict of interest.

Following in the footsteps of AT&T and Verizon*, Sprint is now offering an LTE tracker. The matchbook-sized device, simply called Tracker, provides real-time location tracking on Safe + Found app.

Sprint’s new Tracker

The Tracker competes with Tile, but instead of Bluetooth, Sprintu2019s device uses 4G LTE, GPS and Wi-Fi location services, so it can be used to track things, people or pets that might travel a significant distance away, compared to a range of 100 ft to 300 ft for Tile (depending on the version). The Tracker is manufactured by Coolpad and users need to pay $2.50 per month for 24 months to cover the cost of the device, plus an additional $5 per month to connect it.

AT&T and Verizon both launched LTE trackers over the past year and Apple is also rumored to be working on a tracking device that connects to iPhones, based on an asset package for pairing devices by proximity spotted in the first beta of iOS 13 by 9to5Mac.

*Disclosure: TechCrunch is part of Verizon Media, a subsidiary of Verizon Communications.

Following in the footsteps of AT&T and Verizon*, Sprint is now offering an LTE tracker. The matchbook-sized device, simply called Tracker, provides real-time location tracking on Safe + Found app. The Tracker competes with Tile, but instead of Bluetooth, Sprintu2019s device uses 4G LTE, GPS and Wi-Fi location services, so it can be used to […] n","protected":false},"author":4330449,"featured_media":1845368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"outcome":"","status":"","crunchbase_tag":0,"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"jetpack_publicize_message":"Sprint is the latest telecom to offer a tracking device that uses LTE by 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Catherine Shu has covered startups in Asia and breaking news for TechCrunch since November 2012. She can be reached at shu@techcrunch.com, @catherineshu on Twitter or keybase.io/catherineshu

Disclosures: None

Catherine Shu has covered startups in Asia and breaking news for TechCrunch since November 2012. She can be reached at shu@techcrunch.com, @catherineshu on Twitter or keybase.io/catherineshu

Disclosures: None

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES – 2019/02/14: A Sprint store logo seen in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronen Tivony/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Startup founders don’t typically launch a company as a get-rich-quick scheme. Most know that it will be a long, hard slog if they are to succeed. There will be lean years where the money is tight, and where they may personally struggle to pay their bills. They do it because they believe in the mission and they want to build a successful company, where, if all goes well, they could end up with a healthy amount of money.

But it takes a lot of hard work, long hours, tough times and a bit of luck to find your way through to a successful outcome, however you choose to define that. Early on every dollar you give yourself is money that’s not going into the business, and while you don’t want to starve yourself, neither do you want to run out of money, and those early dollars are especially valuable.

While the ultimate goal is a successful exit, not everyone gets there, and it begs the question, how much is fair to take out in the form of salary, especially in the early years when money is tight, and at what point is it reasonable to sell a bit of equity to take some money out of the business and live a more comfortable life. There are no hard and fast answers.

Removing financial obstacles

Startup founders don’t typically launch a company as a get-rich-quick scheme. Most know that it will be a long, hard slog if they are to succeed. There will be lean years where the money is tight, and where they may personally struggle to pay their bills. They do it because they believe in the mission […] n","protected":false},"author":521068,"featured_media":1843909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"outcome":"","status":"","crunchbase_tag":0,"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[576602978,449162627,17396,35394854],"tags":[935707,449555225,1163985,576674110,576674108,576674109,576674107],"crunchbase_tag":[326875218],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_event":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/GettyImages-934873218.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"shortlink":"https://tcrn.ch/2MOKJUm","rapidData":{"pt":"","pct":""},"featured":false,"subtitle":"","fundingRound":false,"seoTitle":"","seoDescription":"","premiumContent":true,"premiumCutoffPercent":0.11,"tc_cb_mapping":[{"slug":"boldstart-ventures","cb_name":"Boldstart 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Ron Miller has been writing about the enterprise at TechCrunch since 2014.

Previously, he was a long-time Contributing Editor at EContent Magazine. Past regular gigs included CITEworld, DaniWeb, TechTarget, Internet Evolution and FierceContentManagement.

Disclosures:

Ron is currently corporate blogger for Intronis where he writes once weekly on IT issues. He has contributed to various corporate blogs in the past including Ness, Novell and the IBM Mid-market Blogger Program.

Ron Miller has been writing about the enterprise at TechCrunch since 2014.

Previously, he was a long-time Contributing Editor at EContent Magazine. Past regular gigs included CITEworld, DaniWeb, TechTarget, Internet Evolution and FierceContentManagement.

Disclosures:

Ron is currently corporate blogger for Intronis where he writes once weekly on IT issues. He has contributed to various corporate blogs in the past including Ness, Novell and the IBM Mid-market Blogger Program.

Getting an H-1B skilled-worker visa is like winning the lottery u2014 literalmente: With the number of new visas issued each year capped at 85,000, most of this year’s over 200,000 applicants face disappointment. But if youu2019re already working in the United States, then youu2019ve already won the H-1B lottery, and that makes you a hot commodity.

With H-1Bs in short supply, successful companies frequently poach skilled workers. Everyone knows the tech sector thrives on this free exchange of people and ideas, so if another employer needs your skills, why not start working for them?

Well, not so fast. H-1B holders can work only for the company that originally sponsored their visa application. So if you want to change employers, youu2019ll need to u201ctransferu201d your H-1B.

That process used to be relatively straightforward but not in the Trump era. (Boundless recently underwent this process with an employee, so we understand the pain.) The denial rate for initial H-1B applications spiked over five-fold to 32 percent just in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, up from 6 percent in 2015. Crucially, the Trump administration is targeting u201ccontinuingu201d H-1B applications used by existing employees to either renew their H-1B or switch it to a new employer. Even tech giants like Amazon are now seeing double-digit rejection rates.

The bottom line: The days of getting an H-1B transfer quickly rubber-stamped are long gone, and that makes it vital to do whatever you can to keep the odds in your favor. The stakes are high u2014 if things go south, you could lose your right to live and work in the United States. Hereu2019s what H-1B holders need to know about the right u2014 and wrong u2014 ways to set about switching employers:

Donu2019t take your transfer for granted.

First, understand that an H-1B u201ctransferu201d is actually a brand new visa application, not a simple handover of your existing H-1B visa from one employer to another u2014 thereu2019s no such thing.

Getting an H-1B skilled-worker visa is like winning the lottery u2014 literally: With the number of new visas issued each year capped at 85,000, most of this year’s over 200,000 applicants face disappointment. But if youu2019re already working in the United States, then youu2019ve already won the H-1B lottery, and that makes you a hot commodity.

A number of promising women’s health tech companies have popped up in the last few years, from fertility apps to ovulation bracelets — even Apple has jumped into the subject with the addition of period tracking built into the latest edition of the watch. But there hasn’t been much in the way of innovación in women’s sexual health for decades.

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) is now a 40-year-old invention and even the top pharmaceutical companies have spent a pittance on research and development. Subjects like polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis and menopause have taken a backseat to other, more fatal concerns. Fertility is itself oftentimes a mysterious black box as well, though a full 10% of the female population in the United States has difficulty getting or staying pregnant.

That’s all starting to change as startups are now bringing in millions in venture capital to gather and treat women’s health. While it’s early days (no unicorns just yet) interest in the subject has been jumping steadily higher each year.

To shine a better light on the importance of tech’s role in spurring more innovation for women’s fertility, we asked five VCs passionate about the space for their investment strategies, including Sarah Cone (Social Impact Capital), Vanessa Larco (NEA), Anu Duggal (Female Founders Fund), Jess Lee (Sequoia) and Nancy Brown (Oak HC/FT).

Sarah Cone, Social Impact Capital

Sarah Cone, Social Impact Capital

Weu2019re interested in companies that create large data sets in womenu2019s health and fertility, enabling personalized medicine, clinical trial virtualization, better patient outcomes, and the application of modern AI/ML techniques to generate hypotheses that discover new targets and molecules.

A number of promising women’s health tech companies have popped up in the last few years, from fertility apps to ovulation bracelets — even Apple has jumped into the subject with the addition of period tracking built into the latest edition of the watch. But there hasn’t been much in the way of innovation in […] n","protected":false},"author":4917400,"featured_media":1836935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"outcome":"","status":"","crunchbase_tag":0,"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"jetpack_publicize_message":"What top VCs look for in women’s fertility startups https://tcrn.ch/2I6Znlp"},"categories":[449557102,1772,576596927,337,446313605,20429,17396],"tags":[449547332,291,12374,10406,406669,35350,304713875,449553379,1460,91372,576599593,7383,326792,576608420,479814,449557049,202,449551602],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_event":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/GettyImages-623680490.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[{"service_name":"twitter","display_name":"@TCrunchTest","id":"21594151"},{"service_name":"twitter","display_name":"@TechCrunch","id":"21594318"}],"shortlink":"https://tcrn.ch/2I6Znlp","rapidData":{"pt":"","pct":""},"featured":true,"subtitle":"Investors are starting to pour millions into women's health tech. 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I write about the wild new frontier of biotechnology (3D printed organs, one drop blood tests, or hamburgers grown in a lab? I'm your gal), also a bit of politics, gender and diversity and sometimes they put me on camera at TechCrunch so send your fun gadgets and gizmos my way.

I write about the wild new frontier of biotechnology (3D printed organs, one drop blood tests, or hamburgers grown in a lab? I'm your gal), also a bit of politics, gender and diversity and sometimes they put me on camera at TechCrunch so send your fun gadgets and gizmos my way.

Beautiful women working out in gym together

Building a company is fueled by highs and lows, but one of the few moments of potential ecstasy (or perhaps for grizzled veterans, deep annoyance) is the VC outreach email. You are building your startup on deforming IKEA desks eating frozen dinners when out of nowhere, a major VC firm reaches out and wants to discuss a potential investment.

But then you look up your interlocutor online and find that they have that completely enigmatic title of u201cAssociate.u201d Heck, that email may well have been from me over the years.

What do you do? Do you connect with someone who may well be working at a prominent firm and try to engage? Do you flat out ignore it? Do you equivocate and delay?

In short, do VC associates matter to your fundraise?

First, what exactly are associates and what do they do?

The best way to understand the work of a venture firm is to look at their actual activities rather than the titles or listed duties of any individual person. On the investment side, there are three main activities: analytics, networking / deal sourcing, and closing.

Building a company is fueled by highs and lows, but one of the few moments of potential ecstasy (or perhaps for grizzled veterans, deep annoyance) is the VC outreach email. You are building your startup on deforming IKEA desks eating frozen dinners when out of nowhere, a major VC firm reaches out and wants to […] n","protected":false},"author":15408904,"featured_media":1841458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"outcome":"","status":"","crunchbase_tag":0,"amp_status":"","relegenceEntities":[],"relegenceSubjects":[],"jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[576602978,20429,35394854],"tags":[576673265,20334,576673264],"crunchbase_tag":[],"tc_stories_tax":[],"tc_event":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/GettyImages-88622588.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"shortlink":"https://tcrn.ch/2MK9SzJ","rapidData":{"pt":"","pct":""},"featured":false,"subtitle":"","fundingRound":false,"seoTitle":"","seoDescription":"","premiumContent":true,"premiumCutoffPercent":0.12,"tc_cb_mapping":[],"associatedEvent":null,"event":null,"authors":[1719192],"hideFeaturedImage":false,"relatedArticles":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1841449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/types/post"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1841449/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1841462,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/1841449/revisions/1841462"}],"authors":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/guest-authors/danny-crichton-2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"count":2,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=1841449&order=asc&tc_hierarchical=flat"}],"https://techcrunch.com/edit":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1841449&action=edit"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/tc/v1/users/15408904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media/1841458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=1841449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/categories?post=1841449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?post=1841449"},{"taxonomy":"_tc_cb_tag_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/crunchbase_tag?post=1841449"},{"taxonomy":"tc_stories_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tc_stories_tax?post=1841449"},{"taxonomy":"tc_event","embeddable":true,"href":"https://techcrunch.com/wp-json/wp/v2/tc_event?post=1841449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https://api.w.org/{rel}","templated":true}]},"_embedded":{"authors":[{"id":1719192"name":"DannyCrichton""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/danny-crichton-2/""description":"DannyCrichtonisaninvestorat[{"id":1719192"name":"DannyCrichton""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/danny-crichton-2/""description":"DannyCrichtonisaninvestorat[{"id":1719192"name":"DannyCrichton""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/danny-crichton-2/""description":"DannyCrichtonisaninvestorat[{"id":1719192"name":"DannyCrichton""link":"https://techcrunchcom/author/danny-crichton-2/""description":"DannyCrichtonisaninvestoratCRV and a former contributing writer at TechCrunch. ","slug":"danny-crichton-2","links":{"homepage":"https://www.dannycrichton.com","facebook":"http://www.facebook.com/dancric","twitter":"http://twitter.com/dannycrichton","linkedin":"http://www.linkedin.com/in/dannycrichton","crunchbase":"https://www.crunchbase.com/person/danny-crichton"},"position":"Contributor","cbDescription":"

Danny is Executive Editor of TechCrunch Extra Crunch, where he covers technology and power. Previously, he was a foreign correspondent at TechCrunch based in Seoul, South Korea as well as a venture capitalist with General Catalyst in Palo Alto and Charles River Ventures in Boston and New York. He was awarded a Fulbright research scholarship to South Korea, where he researched the development of Koreau2019s startup ecosystem. He is a PhD dropout from Harvard where he studied public policy and an honors graduate of Stanford, where he studied mathematical and computational sciences. Danny is based in Brooklyn.

His ethics statement is located at https://www.dannycrichton.com/ethics/

totally agree. relationships are everything

Entrepreneurs need to understand that VCs mean no offenses in having associates in the frontlines. Associates make a GPs work scalable. They are the extension of the GPs work – usually very synergetic. So, beware not to underestimate an associateu2019s influence on an investment decision. Being arrogant may spoil your opportunity, no matter the size of the fund on the other side of the table.

Danny is Executive Editor of TechCrunch Extra Crunch, where he covers technology and power. Previously, he was a foreign correspondent at TechCrunch based in Seoul, South Korea as well as a venture capitalist with General Catalyst in Palo Alto and Charles River Ventures in Boston and New York. He was awarded a Fulbright research scholarship to South Korea, where he researched the development of Koreau2019s startup ecosystem. He is a PhD dropout from Harvard where he studied public policy and an honors graduate of Stanford, where he studied mathematical and computational sciences. Danny is based in Brooklyn.

His ethics statement is located at https://www.dannycrichton.com/ethics/

Buying a car is painful. Dealerships are the worst, and the options are endless. The rise of the Internet produced powerful tools for shoppers, but in the end, most buyers still have to trudge down to a car lot.

For this series of articles, TechCrunch spoke with several founders and investors attempting to rethink car buying. It’s clear these startups are the underdog in this fight. Most consumers buy cars the same way as their grandparents did and for good reason. Dealerships nationwide fought for years to enact laws and regulations that protect their businesses.

Several young companies are attempting to put the dealership online. Companies like Carvana, Shift, Vroom and Joydrive are putting the entire car buying process online, allowing customers to buy, trade-in and even test drive vehicles without talking to a salesman in an oversized golf pullover.

In the next part of this series, weu2019ll look at companies like Fair that are moving consumers away from purchasing and into short-term leases. Even automakers are trying something new. Tesla sells directly to consumers while Volvo, BMW, Mercedes and others are launching subscription options to give owners even more flexibility.

The three new dealerships

Several companies are building online car dealerships. Shoppers find and buy a vehicle solely through these sites, and often, the cars are delivered to the buyer. These online dealerships even take trade-ins.

Three services dominate this space, and they were all founded in 2013. Carvana, Shift, and Vroom hit the market at the same time but have experienced different paths. One thing is clear though: it takes hundreds of millions of venture capital money to build an online dealership.

Emily Melton, co-founder and managing partner, Threshold Ventures (formally known as DFJ Ventures), points to consumeru2019s changing expectations and an optimized process across all kinds of vehicles. She co-led Shiftu2019s Series A in 2014.

Buying a car is painful. Dealerships are the worst, and the options are endless. The rise of the Internet produced powerful tools for shoppers, but in the end, most buyers still have to trudge down to a car lot. For this series of articles, TechCrunch spoke with several founders and investors attempting to rethink car […] 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nkedin":"https://wwwlinkedincom/in/mjburnsy""crunchbase":"https://wwwcrunchbasecom/person/matt-burns"}"position":"SeniorEditor""cbDescription":"

Matt is a Managing Editor at TechCrunch.

He started at TechCrunch as a freelance writer in 2008 and moved up the ranks to become the Managing Editor in early 2017. Born and raised in the heart of the automotive world, he has a special place in his heart for mobility startups and gadgets.

At TechCrunch he manages the editorial side of the company's events including TechCrunch Disrupt, TechCrunch Sessions and the company's various worldwide events. Previously he was a freelance writer at Engadget and EngadgetHD where he hosted podcasts until he was removed from that role after saying a swear word. He's very sorry and promises it won't happen again.

His passions include emails, run-on sentences and following through with action items developed during a conference call. And woodwork.

Matt is a Managing Editor at TechCrunch.

He started at TechCrunch as a freelance writer in 2008 and moved up the ranks to become the Managing Editor in early 2017. Born and raised in the heart of the automotive world, he has a special place in his heart for mobility startups and gadgets.

At TechCrunch he manages the editorial side of the company's events including TechCrunch Disrupt, TechCrunch Sessions and the company's various worldwide events. Previously he was a freelance writer at Engadget and EngadgetHD where he hosted podcasts until he was removed from that role after saying a swear word. He's very sorry and promises it won't happen again.

His passions include emails, run-on sentences and following through with action items developed during a conference call. And woodwork.

GoTenna is best known for its outdoors-oriented consumer products that let you text and share locations between smartphones off the grid. But the company has found that government work u2014 military, fire, rescue u2014 is the real market, and is pursuing it with a vengeance on the strength of a $24 million funding round.

“We’ve been busy!” said Daniela Perdomo, founder and CEO of the company, in an interview. “We have a good problem, which is a technology that can be so foundationally enabling for so many use cases.”

GoTenna’s core tech is mesh networking over radio frequencies normally used for walkie-talkies: long range but low bandwidth. Yet if all you need to send are GPS coordinates or a short message, it’s perfectly sufficient and works great where mobile and satellites connections are impractical. Just on the device, smaller than a deck of cards, and you can chat over miles in the middle of nowhere with your climbing partners or back country ski pals.

In the last couple years the company has shifted its priorities from consumer tech u2014 the GoTenna and Mesh series of gadgets u2014 to filling the needs of public sector clients that have been asking for something like this for years.

Firefighters, military operations, local law enforcement, search and rescue u2014 many were using bulky, over-engineered, expensive solutions that haven’t changed much in decades. GoTenna works with nearly any smartphone and instantly creates a mesh network that can span miles, making it perfect for off-grid communications.

Perdomo said this was actually more or less the plan from the beginning.

“It was in my first ever pitch deck when we raised our seed in 2013, there was this blue-sky vision of how the technology would be used,” she told me. “But it was simpler to launch an MVP to consumers. We always felt that product was going to bring in the public sector. And that’s exactly what happened u2014 when we launched our first generation product, I think within 24 hours we had a variety of different public sector customers reach out to us.”

“We now have some federal agencies that have been customers through every generation of the product. We sill have our consumer product, and people love it, but it’s a small part of our business compared to the public sector,” she said.

An example of how the interface might look in use. It can relay the locations of other GoTenna devices at intervals, helping teams keep in touch automatically.

While disaster response crews could of course just buy a couple dozen of the regular GoTenna products, they were quick to ask for “pro” versions with features prized by advanced users and military customers.

Longer range, more programmable wireless parameters, compatibility with various legacy systems u2014 the Pro and new ProX versions of the GoTenna system hit a lot of sweet spots. As Perdomo told me when the Pro first came out, legacy systems are powerful in some ways but can also be horribly expensive, incompatible with foreign wireless systems, or even have legal restrictions on where they can be used.

For a cash-strapped NGO that goes around doing global aid, a $100-$500 gadget that turns an ordinary phone into a versatile mesh node is potentially game-changing. (You can also use them to temporarily replace destroyed communications infrastructure.)

But deep-pocketed federal agencies and military branches are also shelling out for the devices, and increasingly for the software support contracts that go with them. GoTenna’s Aspen Grove is a proprietary mesh network protocol that they’ve engineered to be faster and more robust than anything else out there. I’d exert a little skepticism here normally, but from what I’ve seen the systems GoTenna is replacing or augmenting aren’t exactly competitive.

In fact GoTenna’s next major hardware project is to create a mesh networking board that can be integrated right into existing hardware, simplifying the systems and baking its protocols in even deeper.

“We have a long list of companies that want to integrate our tech into vehicles, aircraft, anything you can think of,” Perdomo said. “So you can put one of these babies on a UAV and let ‘er rip! Our record range, point to point from a UAV, is 69 miles.”

Meanwhile the company is also releasing a broader open source mesh platform called Lot 49 that’s meant to be capable of supporting a global messaging infrastructure without relying on any wireless providers. That could be a big deal for internet of things type devices as well.

Interestingly, Perdomo doesn’t feel threatened by the new and rather scary kid on the block: communications satellite constellations like Starlink and OneWeb. If the idea is that GoTenna lets you communicate where the grid doesn’t reach, what happens when the grid is global?

“No matter how many satellites you put up, repeaters you put up, cables you lay down, you always have that last mile. You need resiliency, access, and I believe neutrality as well,” she said. And indeed you’re not going to take a Starlink ground station with you on a covert operation or into an active wildfire. And having an existing, ongoing business agreement with a satellite communications provider may not even be desirable in the first place.

“There’s a reason why certain incumbents in the tactical radio space as well as carriers are partnering with us,” Perdomo pointed out u2014 and indeed Comcast Ventures is a new face among the investors. “We’re creating a new layer in the communications stack, mesh networks with a focus on bursty data. I think of us as perfectly complementary to every other communications company.”

As for that funding, it will go towards easing the rapid growth the company is experiencing, finishing the pro and embedded options, hiring up, and expanding operations to support their growing services business. The $24M round was led by Founders Fund, with participation from Comcast Ventures and existing investors Union Square Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Walden VC, MentorTech, and Bloomberg Beta.

“We’ve been in R&D for a really long time,” Perdomo said. “It’s exciting now to also be becoming a business. All of the most impressive mainstream telecommunications technologies we use today, things like the internet or GPS, they hit it out of the park with the public sector first. If you can win there, in life or death situations, you know you can win everywhere else as well.”

GoTenna is best known for its outdoors-oriented consumer products that let you text and share locations between smartphones off the grid. But the company has found that government work u2014 military, fire, rescue u2014 is the real market, and is pursuing it with a vengeance on the strength of a $24 million funding round.

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He first wrote for TechCrunch in 2007. He has also written for MSNBC.com, NBC News, DPReview, The Economist/GE's Look Ahead, and others.

His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Devin Coldewey is a Seattle-based writer and photographer. He first wrote for TechCrunch in 2007. He has also written for MSNBC.com, NBC News, DPReview, The Economist/GE's Look Ahead, and others.

His personal website is coldewey.cc.