Grit Daily was on the scene at Collision Conference in Toronto. At the event, LG Nova revealed the future of LG. The former is the division tasked with spurring the parent company’s efforts in open innovation. On June 20, 2022, the company announced the Select 20 winners of their global challenge. Dr. Sokwoo Rhee, LG Electronics senior vice president for innovation and head of LG NOVA, is the head of the program. Rhee reports to LG’s CEO, William Cho. This organizational hierarchy underscores the significance of his role. Without executive level support, most innovation programs collapse before they even get off the ground.

“As a company, we make $65 billion in revenues, but we can’t sit on that. We recognized that we needed to make a quantum leap.” ~Dr. Rhee

Innovation spans the Metaverse – Health – Energizing Mobility

Three categories were considered for investment: Connected Health, Metaverse, and Energizing Mobility. Approximately 1,400 companies applied to the solicitation posted for the Mission for the Future contest, a. Participation was global: about half the companies were from North America and the other half from Europe and Asia. Representation was reflective of the dynamic world of entrepreneurship. Although LG Nova’s challenge did not stipulate diversity as a requirement for application, the founders selected represent a broad swath across genders, age, and ethnicities.

The down-selection process was intense, highly structured, and required a large team to sift through. “Some companies fell out quickly,” said Rhee. “They were just too early in their life cycle and barely at the inception stage whereas others were clearly not interested in doing things differently.” By the time that the innovation team at LG Nova had narrowed it down to the Final 50, months had gone by. Dr. Rhee shared that each company was fully vetted through extensive conversation with his commercialization team.

The selection process

Even the losers are winners with this program. Only the Select 20 each received a cheque for $100,000, for a $2 million total investment. However, the other 30 companies remain an integral part of LG Nova’s innovation ecosystem. Dr. Rhee shared, “We’ll continue to meet with them and work together to advance new ideas; it’s an ecosystem play.” That’s a critical differentiator in their open innovation program versus others: they recognize the value of an innovation community to foster learning and growth.

Prior to launching the global challenge, Dr. Rhee traveled the globe to meet with the leaders of accelerators and some exceptional investors. As an entrepreneur himself, and an engineer, Rhee understood what founders needed and searched the world for the best ideas to bring them together into LG Nova’s open innovation program. To maximize success, Rhee assembled a corporate development team focused on M&A and Joint Ventures, a dedicated commercial team, a partnership team of success managers, and a team of engineers to work alongside the founders and their teams.

Open innovation by LG

The result is that LG Nova has created three new commercial verticals spurred by their identification and investment in the Select 20 startups. These verticals include: health, sustainable energy, and the metaverse. Rhee elaborated, “We’re building a new engineering and business development team around these external technologies.” The elite circle of winners will be mentored and sponsored by NOVA Capital Alliance. A Top 10 down-selection is on the horizon. Each winner will have the unprecedented opportunity to build their businesses together with LG. Dr. Rhee has labeled this opportunity as an “accelerated path to success.”

The Select 20 winners

Congratulations to the Selected 20 startups in LG Nova’s inaugural Mission for the Future Global Challenge. The Winners in connected health are: MayaMD, Inc., LifeNome, Mindset Medical, XRHealth, TRIPP, Inc., NeuroTrainer, and medZERO. In the metaverse category, winners include: iQ3Connect, Snickerdoodle Labs, and YBVR. Within the energizing mobility vertical, SparkCharge, Driivz , I-EMS Group, Ltd., Kardome, and Faction. Additional winners were named for their technology in smart lifestyles and innovation for impact. These include: a*kin, Digbi, and Chefling.

The post How do You Spell Innovation? Ask LG Nova appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Led by investor and entrepreneur Fernando Garcia, Bridge 3 Labs (B3L) is an Austin-based blockchain startup focused on long-term wealth creation through disruptive Web3 technology. Founded in January of this year, the startup describes itself as “the 1st NFT Venture Studio bringing access to exclusive IRL assets through utility NFT projects.”

Born in Spain and now living in San Francisco, B3L’s CEO and Co-Founder Fernando Garcia has made a name for himself as an unstoppable leader and entrepreneur. He currently holds the position of Vice President of K2 Capital and Senior Vice President at Postlane Partners, having held similar leadership positions at Gladieux Energy, CKC Partners, and Search Fund Accelerator. Fernando is now channeling all of his experience on Bridge 3 Labs, which he is sure will outperform his previous $75M fuel automation technology and distribution business.

With this mission in mind, B3L is bringing together a private community of entrepreneurs and investors from different backgrounds to revolutionize how NFTs create wealth. By sourcing, identifying, and investing in promising teams, the startup not only helps new Web3 projects get off the ground but also brings value to its members. The B3L team has over 30 years of combined experience as founders and leaders of start-ups and mid-stage across the IT, Energy, Luxury Real Estate, and Wine industries.

The project uses its own NFT “B3L Pass” not only to grant its holder access to the exclusive community but also to advanced trading analytic tools, research, educational content, private IRL event invitations, and exclusive rewards. While the use of NFTs as a means to access a community is not new by itself, the highly professional nature of the B3L pass. In addition to this, the team will soon be adding value to the Genesis Collection via “Heirloom” NFTs.

Non-Fungible Tokens have been long criticized for their highly speculative nature and supposedly “lack of value”. Heirloom NFTs address this issue by using tangible high.end luxury experiences and commodities as their backing. At this time, these include a private Bitcoin mining operation, a boutique hotel chateaux, and a world-class winery. The high value and utility of the assets backing these NFTs mean that they will be especially beneficial to long-term holders, resulting in them being an heirloom of sorts as they continue to appreciate in value.

By taking the idea of NFT away from an art-focused technological tool, B3L is looking to make them a more effective and attractive wealth-generating tool. While this would be closer to the idea behind cryptocurrencies, Heirloom NFTs differ in their use of stable IRL assets instead of services and trust. B3L is bringing the best out of the worlds of crypto, NFTs, and luxury assets into a single product, a mix that is sure to be a game changer in the long term.

The post NFTs Changed Art and Gaming Forever: B3L Doesn’t Think That’s Enough appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Outdated or worn-out furniture can make even the most stylish room feel shabby and uninviting. Furthermore, old furniture is often less comfortable and functional than newer pieces.

When looking for a place to stay, hotel guests often look for unique experiences and value for their money. That’s why you need to meet their needs and provide them with excellent hospitality services. 

Upgrading your hotel furniture regularly is a wise investment that will pay off in the form of happy guests and increased bookings. 

In addition to attracting new guests, new furniture can create a more positive working environment for your employees, leading to improved morale and service. 

Also, you don’t have to have a huge budget to upgrade your hotel furniture. If you know where to look and how to choose a partner supplier or manufacturer, you can have functional, stylish, and comfortable furniture within a reasonable budget.

Ultimately, investing in high-quality hotel furniture is an investment in your business that will provide lasting benefits. 

Here are just a few of the many reasons why upgrading your hotel furniture is a wise investment: 

1. Better guest satisfaction

One of the most important aspects of running a successful hotel is ensuring guests are happy with their stay. Upgrading your furniture is one of the best ways to guarantee guest satisfaction. 

When guests are uncomfortable or unable to use the furniture in their room, they’re likely to have a negative experience and give your hotel a poor review. 

By providing guests with comfortable, stylish furniture, you’ll ensure they have a positive experience at your hotel and are more likely to return in the future. Customer retention is much cheaper than trying to attract new customers.

2. Increased profits

When guests are satisfied with their stay, they’re more likely to leave positive reviews online and recommend your hotel to others. This word-of-mouth advertising is invaluable for bringing in new business and boosting profits.

3. Brand personality

Upgrading your furniture allows you to design your hotel to reflect the brand personality that you want to impart. Brand personality is essential for leaving a great impression on your guests and making them remember your hotel.

Hotel guests will likely book again with a hotel brand they know, like, and trust. That’s possible when you make their stay memorable.

4. Connection with customers

The way you design your room allows you to connect with your customers. Customer preferences and needs evolve, so investing in new furniture to meet those factors helps your hotel stay relevant.

5. More efficient use of space

Aside from the room’s aesthetics, it also matters to customers that they can utilize the furniture optimally. Modern furniture pieces aren’t only stylish; they’re also highly customizable so that you can fit them strategically and efficiently in hotel rooms.

6. Improved staff productivity

High-quality furniture can also lead to increased productivity among your staff. If your employees are comfortable and have everything they need at their fingertips, they’ll be able to work more efficiently and provide better service to guests.

The bottom line

Upgrading your hotel furniture unfolds many benefits beyond the aesthetic appeal of hotel rooms. It allows you to provide a better and unique customer experience, improve your brand, boost profits, connect with customers, and improve staff productivity. In addition, you can upgrade your furniture without hurting your budget, and it will be a wise investment that will pay off in many ways.

The post Why Upgrading Your Hotel Furniture is a Wise Investment appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Grit Daily News is on the scene! Here are some highlights from the first full day of the event. Today is also National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada, so we’ve chosen to lead with some innovative efforts by Indigenous founders.

Indigenous Representation

Brian Ritchie is the founder and CEO of Kama.ai. Artificial intelligence (AI), largely in the form of chat bots, has application in just about every industry today. One of the areas that AI can have tremendous impact is in mental health. Ritchie is a member of the Chapleau Creek Cree Tribe and recently conducted a pilot in healthcare. With the goal of impacting community well-being, Kama has developed technology that engages with people on a human level based on personal values. The pilot showed that people responded favorably, felt connected to their community, and felt less lonely.

Plato Testing is putting Indigenous people to work. Thus far, over 200 jobs have been generated as a result of their training and services platform which provides talent to tech companies seeking quality assurance testing for their software. According to the company’s founder, Keith McIntosh, “This is a $40 billion market where less than 1% is represented by Indigenous talent. We’re doing QA testing today and looking to grow into cybersecurity.”

A Word from the Mayor

Toronto Mayor John Tory addressed the audience in an open Q&A. With Toronto now being recognized as the third-largest tech hub worldwide, the Mayor expressed his enthusiasm for the future potential of the city he governs. He highlighted two reasons for their success as a tech hub: 1) excellent education within the province at the K-12 and post-secondary level; 2) a partnership-based approach which brings government, educators, and businesses together to not only create jobs and drive revenues into the city, but to also generate social dividends. “As I’ve been touring various cities,” the mayor shared, “I’ve been asked why tech likes Toronto. Our values are stable here, there are no corrosive debates about whether someone should have equal rights.” Numerous questions from the audience probed on the homeless situation in the city: the mayor responded with a general plan that offers more personalized support to the individuals in need.

Women in Tech

Women in tech were well represented on the stage and in the startup exhibition hall. Some startups of note include Thymia, Xare, Localyze, and PokPok. Xare, under the leadership of Padmini Gupta, the company’s co-founder and CEO, aims to enable the 4.5 billion people on the planet who don’t work yet control $25 Trillion of the spending. The software enables people to share their credit cards with each other, set purchase limits, and track spending. They are currently the largest global fintech company in the world with nearly two million users. Dr. Cindy Hovington founded PokPok out of a personal need to offer valuable screen time to toddlers: their games inspire creativity. Emilia Molimpakis, PhD is the CEO and co-founder of Thymia which has tapped into the mental health challenge faced by society today. By combining neuroscience with AI, their video games can assess fatigue, stress, depression, and other indicators of poor mental health. Hanna Asmussen, the co-founder and CEO of Localyze, founded the company to streamline visa and travel applications for people on the move and working abroad.

The Investment Perspective

From the investment side, most of the panelists stressed that they remained optimistic, but the trends tell a different story. In general, the later the stage a company is in its growth cycle, the less favorable current conditions are for securing investment. In the “Hard Truths” panel discussion featuring Villi Iltchev (Two Sigma), Beth Ferreira (FirstMark), Logan Bartlett (Redpoint), and Matt Carratt (CRV), moderated by Katie Roof (Bloomberg), the collective advice was to “cut your burn rates.” Series A and B rounds have slowed, valuations are nowhere near their 20-30x peak at the height of the bubble a few months ago, and deals are taking longer to close. Startups are also getting fewer term sheets to consider: investors are allocating their funds as dry powder for follow-on investments with companies already in their portfolios. Down-rounds were forecast by the panel to begin trending.

The situation appears somewhat more promising for seed-stage companies. In a panel discussion moderated by Grit Daily News editor Jordan French, Jenny Fielding (The Fund), Jon Soberg (MS&AD Ventures), and Magaly Charbonneau (Inovia), embraced optimism yet repeatedly referenced the current “shaky times.” The investors advised startups to “grow into their valuations and conserve cash.” Conservatism is not a surprising trend given how second-time founders and YC startups were “getting huge valuations with no real product.” Key metrics of note include how investors are now seeking to invest when a company has 18 months – and up to 2.5 years (according to Inovia) – of runway between raises. With deals taking longer, the panel advised founders to plan wisely. However, they also encouraged startups to keep going because investors are still writing cheques: The Fund wrote 20 cheques in the past quarter alone.

As Day 1 here at Collision Conference winds down, one thing is certain: there’s no end of innovation out there. Startups take grit. Persistence can pay off. Check back tomorrow for more highlights.

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Founded in 2020 and based in Boston by Sean Mack, Lux Algo was born with the mission to bring clarity to investors dealing with technical indicators. To do this, the startup launched a suite of tools on TradingView and Discord designed to help investors separate the noise from meaning when dealing with technical indicators. Advanced charting, profiles, signaling, and other tools are just some of the features developed by the team for this purpose.

At this time, Lux Algo’s platform is now used by over 50k traders all around the world, becoming one of the most popular vendors of technical analysis indicators. The platform’s tools can be used for scalping, swing trading, day trading, options trading, and much more across the stocks, indices, forex, futures, currencies, and commodities markets. 

As most beginners won’t be familiar with multiple investment strategies and markets, Lux Algo also gives special importance to education beyond platform tutorials. The startup offers resources that cover topics ranging from the basics of trading to advanced technical analysis indicators. This, in combination with the simplicity of the platform, makes for a tool that can help beginners navigate the current chaos.

Lux Algo’s Version 5, which was launched in late May of this year, is especially reflective of the startup’s mission. The release introduced presets designed to let users display multiple features based on their trading style. New oscillators and overlay indicators were introduced, in addition to a new toolkit, allowing users to better choose the indicator for specific market conditions.

With the markets being more volatile than ever, being on top of sudden fluctuations is increasingly important. Lux Algo also gives access to fine-tuned automated alerts that can be triggered by any condition the user sets for any specific asset. These alerts further increase the dynamism that the platform brings to the table, which is especially useful for high-frequency traders or long-term traders who want to avoid surprises.

In its effort to make smart investing as easy as possible, the Lux Algo team has also prioritized the creation of a strong community. The project’s official Discord server has over 100k users connected by their interest in trading. The server offers channels to discuss all things related to the platform, the markets, investment strategies, news, and much more. 

While there certainly is an emphasis on beginners and making technical analysis as easy as possible, this doesn’t mean that Lux Algo doesn’t pack a punch. In fact, the open-source projects run by Lux Algo in TradingView are some of the most popular. There are a total of 50 scripts liked by over 121k users, all of them covering a vast range of use cases and markets. The open-source nature of the scripts also means anyone can provide feedback, report bugs, and adapt them to their specific needs.

The democratization of the markets is a process that has gained momentum over the past years, with the fintech industry driving the effort. Unfortunately, opening the doors to the markets is not enough to truly level the playing field. Easing the technical barriers via powerful yet simple tools and education is just as important, especially during tumultuous times.

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Most of the conversation around the metaverse has centered around digital land grabs. Yet, the sustainability and long-term view of the metaverse and ownership in Web 3.0 have largely been ignored. ATLAS EARTH is working to change that by allowing players to build real value in the virtual world by creating a virtuous cycle between the real and virtual worlds.

How does it work exactly? 

Founded by marketing and mobile gaming expert Sami Khan, ATLAS EARTH is the first game of its kind. Players can purchase virtual real estate with the in-game currency ATLAS BUCKS as a location-based game. But they can only do it where they are in real life, within 100 yards. Players then get cash back of about $.05 per parcel of land owned and can supercharge their entire real estate empire by up to 30 times by watching in-app ads. You can also buy ATLAS BUCKS in the Appstore or Google Play.

Players can become the Mayor, Governor, or President of their City, State, or Country by owning the most land in real-world geographic locations, such as Austin, Texas. These titles are broadcasted to everyone playing the game in their respective geography. So, for example, the Governor of Texas will be seen by everyone playing the game in Texas.

Ultimately, ATLAS: EARTH is the only virtual real estate project that is mobile-first and location-based. So we’re not talking about real estate displayed on a map where you can zoom wherever you want. Instead, players can only buy land where they are physically standing, validated by their mobile device. 

Furthermore, ATLAS: EARTH is the only metaverse where players can earn land credits by shopping at real-world merchant partners. Using ATLAS BUCKS, players can shop at national partners and earn atlas bucks for every dollar they spend. So, for example, spending $10 at SONIC will earn you 10 atlas bucks as well, which you can use towards more land.

So far, many metaverse products have been lands that exist somewhere in the “ether” and left up to the trust of the DAO that more land will never be minted. When land is tied to the real world, that land is limited—as is the case with ATLAS: EARTH. 

“Our mission is to create a system that allows players to earn value while holding their property,” said CEO and co-founder Sami Khan. “Most people already feel a connection with their city, state, or country,” “They also feel a connection to the real-world locations that they utilize in their daily lives, such as their homes. So we felt that ATLAS: EARTH was a perfect way to create.”

Khan added, “In short, ATLAS: EARTH desires to move the metaverse space forward by creating a more proper analog to real-world real estate—to gain value as you hold the properties, not only when you attempt to sell them for a profit.”

The post Augmented Reality Game Bringing Real Value to Virtual Real Estate With a Cash Back Model appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The founders of the ambitious Fat Cats project wish to remain anonymous for now. As one of the first collections built on the Flare Network, the genesis Fat Cats collection of 1000 NFTs was within the top 200 NFT projects all chains by volume traded. The second drop in the Fatcats project of 3000 NFTs titled the Fat Leopards sold out in 50 minutes on April 30. I sat with one of the founders to find out what this project is all about. 

 A number of the NFT projects that you stumble upon today are missing one key ingredient, the community of collectors that are actively seeking access to new NFT artists. The Fat Cats founders are working with artists and collectors at the same time. They spotted a gap between the NFT space and the real-life art industry so they began connecting the important pieces of the equation to bring The Fat Cats collection to life. The collection is a series of four NFT drops which leads to tiered membership of a high-value Web3 club. 

“I got in touch with two friends with complementary skill sets, we have someone who is just completing their PhD in artificial intelligence and we’ve got someone else with architectural backgrounds and design skills. And I personally have been in the startup industry for a while, so the kind of venture capitalist side. We got together and started to create this collection, which is essentially a series of four drops, leading to people having memberships of different tiered levels,” says the Anonymous Co-founder that prefers to go by the name of Catticus for now.

I am assured that all will be revealed in the not-so-distant future. 

“The point of the memberships is to belong to a club and to help create the Catalyst, which is an online 3d Art Gallery, where we will be able to bridge the two worlds, which is what we’ve started working on. So the kind of the overall point of it is to bridge the high-end established art place to also provide a spotlight for up-and-coming artists, and to connect with the NFT space and Web3 and actually utilize that to expand the market.”

What are the four Fat Cats NFT drops?

The first drop is the original Fat Cats NFT collection. The second was the Fat Leopards.  The third is the Fat Tigers and the final in the series is the Fat Kittens, which I imagine will be very popular among those of us who watch cuddly kitten streams on a regular basis. The playful idea of The Fat Cats is a play on the idea of being a Fatcat and being quite successful. As the initial supporters have done very well from the Fatcat’s first drop “It’s a big group of fat cats in Web3, and having kind of gone against the system in a way so it’s sort of a joke on that but so all of these collections are part of the overall Fat Cats club,” explains Catticus. 

The Fat Cats team is also working on a longer-term vision to build the Catalyst Gallery, giving access to unique NFT collections and immersive experiences. I asked Catticus about their latest venture which is working to create an immersive tour of Malcolm X’s ancestral home. This is a national heritage site that has been used for many events in the past and for starting political movements. This is a charitable project that the founding team is bringing to life. With the right connections they were able to do a 3D scan of the home to create an exact replica and using Unreal engine they are creating a high definition virtual version of this home that people can walk through, see artifacts, personal items, and educational pieces. 

“We’re working with the family so that you can discover things you might not have known about and actually interact with the family at times as well. We had the first interview with one of the family members last week or a few days ago. We’re trying to use Web3 in a way that connects people in a way that provides benefits to everyone.”

This project and others will bring people together from all over the world to have unique interactions in virtual environments. It is the first wider experience with a broad purpose that the Catalyst is doing. 

Developing The Fat Cats collection on the Flare Network, the team felt that they could build from the ground up with fewer barriers to entry. Catticus is quick to convey his excitement to be sitting on Flare with such a large, open market to tap into and a strong ecosystem that spawns growth at every turn. 

Creating an online gallery in a virtual world

The idea of the Catalyst, the Fat Cats long-term vision, is to create a 3d Gallery with a central unit and have branches of it to offer unique exhibitions using the advances of virtual economies.  The Malcolm X immersive experience is the first branch that the team is working on. “The aim is to bring maximum utility using the power of Web3, and to demonstrate what The Catalyst can do.”

The Fat Cats club members will get a number of benefits in terms of what they’re able to experience such as whitelisting and access to exclusive airdrops and other features. “Something that people are getting quite excited about as well is that they get 10% of the profit profits that The Catalyst makes. So that all members get a little kickback for taking the risk and putting their trust in us.”

Educating and informing the community at all times is crucial

The founding team understand the NFT space from the inside and this allowed them to conjure up the idea that created the base community and validated the value that they can bring to their community. When determining the value of a piece of art Catticus says

“You may not be the most interesting person or you may not be the collector of that particular piece. However, the transition from that piece of art into this community due to the fact that the community is small relative to the real world and the niche area of interest makes it difficult to communicate the value of these pieces in the traditional art world, people are not the same. This is where we come in, we need to educate, we need to have an audience listening, and in return, the community needs to listen, understand, and then validate. The kickback for, that is to say, thank you for listening and understanding.”

When it comes to members say in the types of NFT collections created by The Fat Cats the founders are taking a leaders approach. The primary idea is not about creating a big gallery that is governed by the community. “This is about having the gallery leading the way, leading the space and curating it and ensuring that the quality is very high at all times and delivering something that is very hard to replicate below as well as as well as that we are going to absolutely have a sort of focus on up and coming artists.”

The Fat Cats collection was designed with a community-first focus. The Catalyst Gallery will provide a unique home for immersive collections and offer a dedicated space for collectors to gain access to interactive NFT collections.

The post The Fat Cats NFT Project creating a community first membership Club appeared first on Grit Daily News.

The firm behind Startup World Cup, Pegasus Tech Ventures, is a global venture-capital firm with US$2 billion in assets under management. Pegasus offers intellectual and financial capital to emerging technology companies. The corporations for which Pegasus invests – through its venture capital-as-a-service model – typically attend because they want to partner with cutting-edge technology startups. Doing so helps these corporations become more innovative and successful. 

SWC’s past success stories inspire entrepreneurs to apply and corporate executives to attend. Since the company’s participation, The Japanese startup UniFa signed 40+ partners from global corporations, grew revenue to US$30 million, and plans to IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. MIT-born Leuko Labs completed a successful fundraising round and 2019 winner from Vietnam Abivin expanded dramatically, increasing its geographical presence and finalizing a new funding round. 

The excitement is ramping up as entrepreneurs prepare for the SWC Silicon Valley Regional Competition on June 2, 2022, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. 

The winning startup will join 70+ other global finalists at the SWC Grand Finale on September 30, 2022. The winner will receive a US$1 million investment prize – enough to turn dreams into reality and change the lives of everyone involved. Confirmed speakers include Nikesh Arora, Chairman & CEO of Palo Alto Networks; Spencer Rascoff, Co-Founder of Pacaso and Zillow; Ryan Kavanaugh, Principal & Co-Founder of Triller; Jordan French, Founder & Executive Editor at Grit Daily; and Marianna Tessel, CTO of Intuit.

It will be exciting to see the amazing business and technology ideas presented at the Startup World Cup. No doubt some of the smartest startup founders, investors, and corporate executives from around the world will join the event to network and to collaborate with other creative thinkers.

For tickets, see this link.

The post <strong>Everything You Need to Know about the Startup World Cup</strong> appeared first on Grit Daily News.

By leveraging the creativity of its community members and producing partners, $FLIX can generate revenue for film projects while at the same time increasing the token value for investors. And because $FLIX isn’t beholden to the old system of gatekeepers, they have the freedom to take creative risks, ultimately making the kinds of movies Hollywood is too afraid to make. 

So, how does it work?

$FLIX uses a percentage of every transaction to fund movie projects, then successful projects fuel interest in the coin, interest fuels volume, and volume funds the “film wallet.” Once a film, script, or concept is sold, money from that sale is used to buy back tokens and “burn” them. This makes the token deflationary: over time, there will be fewer and fewer tokens worth more and more. 

“At $FLIX, we believe that Web 3.0 is the meaning economy: community replaces clicks, and storytelling trumps algorithms.” Co-Founder Micho Rutare continues, “Crypto investors aren’t just looking at their bottom lines; in this era of the Great Resignation, people are looking to align their investments with their passions. So $FLIX is all about the story: the storytelling of the films, the story of the coin, and the story of how a community of film lovers, filmmakers, and crypto investors comes together to change the way.”  

$FLIX began as a meme coin, a hyped-up cryptocurrency. But while most meme coins are pump and dump schemes, Rutare and Rosenblatt intend to pump and not dump. Instead, they are building long-term value with our film projects and our community. And while they are prioritizing long-term value, they want to generate enough activity to make the coin an attractive short-term investment. 

In the short run, $FLIX is focused on developing a slate of projects, building value with the product rather than hype. Secondly, they plan to produce and release films, with community involvement along the way. Lastly, they want $FLIX to become a real currency, both in the metaverse and at brick-and-mortar theater chains. 

How does this change the landscape of crypto in general? With the recent contraction of the market, the speculative bubble of meme tokens and NFTs is coming to a close. As a result, investors are looking for real value and are more reluctant to throw money at whatever coin is mooning on a given day. “We believe that this current contraction is a lot like the Dot Com Bubble of the early 00s–it took the crash to clear the underbrush, paving the way for the FANG companies to define the Web2 era,” said Rutare. “$FLIX is well-positioned to be one of the giants of the Web3 economy, harnessing the power of the blockchain and using it to create real-world consumer experiences.”

Rutare added, “Ultimately, $FLIX will be a vertical filmmaking platform, generating revenue at every phase, from development through exhibition. For film finance, we want to do what Apple did for personal computing–to create a user-friendly consumer brand that eventually builds its own walled garden ecosystem.”

The post The “Sharknado” Creator Developed a Cryptocurrency Token Revolutionizing Film Financing  appeared first on Grit Daily News.

But in the present day, where timing and popular opinion can dictate the trajectory of a business, taking the progressive route may not cut it against the competition. Increasingly, companies that promise to accelerate the start-up process are entering the marketplace, pledging to bring businesses to the peak of their powers earlier in their development.

However, quick fixes may not be a sustainable solution for a complex growth process. Business people, including Ali Sina, the founder of Stealth Ventures, believe recognizing trends such as the rise of AI could be the key to the future of start-up companies.

Solve a human problem

Some companies are founded on the belief that there is a particular demand for what they are offering. But the most compelling use cases can be made when the appeal of a product or service speaks for itself. As societal demands grow and shrink, enterprise has the potential to find a solution and capitalize on it.

“Disrupting everything that is not currently working is an effective way to look at start-ups,” Sina said. “The best companies are built out of real necessities that profoundly affect human life.”

Broadly speaking, climate change, income, and the future of education are often touted as compelling necessities in contemporary life. Harnessing common needs at the center of a business’ ethos could dictate its success as a start-up.

Think outside the venture capital box

Venture capital (VC) is commonly seen not as beneficial to a new business but essential for its existence. Some argue that all companies are different and have different operational requirements and product values. Therefore, the argument goes that alternative sources of funding that circumvent traditional barriers to entry could be more suitable.

“Some venture capital firms contractually have short-term horizons,” Sina explained. “Using VC can also pressure founders and business operators to rush their development. Finally, entrepreneurs may not all have access to the same VC firms, meaning opportunities may not be relevant to all businesses.”

Advocates against venture capital contend that public investment could be in the future for start-up businesses. Following the recent popularity of stock trading online, a similar system could be used to give traction to upstart ventures. In an increasingly automated world, some argue that putting investment in the hands of a specified few may not be beneficial for the majority.

Embrace artificial intelligence

Businesses that offer brick-and-mortar products or services are often claimed to be everlasting. The claim may be valid, but the methodology of producing those outcomes could change soon. Artificial intelligence’s (AI) growing influence may trigger a seismic shift in business practices that start-ups should be aware of.

“Advanced AI could change everything,” Sina said. “The changes may be drastic and intimidating if entrepreneurs are not prepared. Start-up businesses can improve their likelihood of success by entering the field and recognizing the potential of an AI-powered society.”

Other innovations such as cryptocurrency and NFTs are likely to shape the next few years of commerce. Start-ups themselves can define the future, and many business people desire their success due to the potential impact on the world. Embracing innovative trends while sticking to the business fundamentals could see a more significant proportion of start-up companies find their place in the market.

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