Xconomy doesn’t have annual awards (the X-ies, anyone?), but I don’t have any hesitation naming Juno Therapeutics (NASDAQ: [[ticker:JUNO]]) the biotech company of the year for 2014. This is neither a prediction of future success nor an endorsement. Rather, it’s an acknowledgment that hands-down, Juno was the most atypical biotech I’ve seen in years, perhaps … Continue reading “Larry Corey, Cofounder of 2014 Top Biotech Juno: “It’s No Outlier””
Category: National
Implications of the Oil Price Collapse
Instead of developing a warmed over list of “Top 10 Predictions for 2015,” over the past few months I have been most interested in the implications from the collapse of oil prices around the world. We will see the obvious and direct benefit to the U.S. consumer (November retail sales were up a surprising 0.7 … Continue reading “Implications of the Oil Price Collapse”
How Should the Innovation Community Solve Its Gender and Diversity Problems?
It’s been one of the hottest-button topics of the past year—and it’s not going away anytime soon. The under-representation of women and minorities in technology and innovation jobs is a real issue, particularly at the highest levels of organizations. The question, as I see it, is what to do about it. But not everyone sees … Continue reading “How Should the Innovation Community Solve Its Gender and Diversity Problems?”
So You Want to Be an Early Stage Investor?
I absolutely love what I do—running a seed-stage venture fund (Founders’ Co-op) and startup accelerator (Techstars Seattle)—but neither is a job with a well-defined career path. Unlike later-stage or public market investing, where finance and quantitative analysis is a big part of the job, effective early-stage investing requires a combination of human, strategic, and operational … Continue reading “So You Want to Be an Early Stage Investor?”
Teach More Business in School
Science, medicine and information technology have become intimately entangled with business on all levels. Whether in academic settings or business settings, success in these areas increasingly requires involvement with basic business concepts and principles that aren’t taught in college. Undergraduates in science and engineering disciplines graduate from universities and enter positions in biotechnology and technology … Continue reading “Teach More Business in School”
Zayo’s IPO, Datalogix, Orion Launch Highlight Last Quarter of ’14
Two of Colorado’s leading tech companies scored big exits during the fourth quarter, with Zayo going public and Datalogix being acquired by Oracle. But those were just two of the biggest stories as 2014 came to an end. Zayo’s IPO survives a rocky start. Telecom and broadband infrastructure provider Zayo Group (NYSE: [[ticker:ZAYO]]) has spent … Continue reading “Zayo’s IPO, Datalogix, Orion Launch Highlight Last Quarter of ’14”
Dallas Entrepreneur Center Aims to Bridge Tech’s Diversity Divide
The issue of gender and diversity is not a new challenge but one that has recently come to the forefront in a lot of our communities. There seems to be an awareness of the issues and an inherent need to address, but many are still conflicted how to best move forward. I think the best … Continue reading “Dallas Entrepreneur Center Aims to Bridge Tech’s Diversity Divide”
Hepatitis C Commercial Game Theory
Anyone either celebrating or fearing the start of a Hepatitis C drug price war should take a break from the excitement to consider that a far more nuanced and profound game is at hand, one where the rules of tacit collusion (the legal kind) constrain price erosion—and each new entrant with a “good enough” drug … Continue reading “Hepatitis C Commercial Game Theory”
Texas’s Innovative 2014: IPOs, Startup Funding Programs & SXSW
Another year comes to a close. Before you pop that champagne-bottle cork, let’s pause to remember the top innovation themes in Texas in 2014. The funding environment was brisk with Texas VCs deploying capital to startups in energy, life sciences, and IT. Two Texas biotechs made stock market debuts—the first ones in many years. While … Continue reading “Texas’s Innovative 2014: IPOs, Startup Funding Programs & SXSW”
Knowing When to Hold ‘Em: The Story of Poachable
Tom Leung and Ian Shafer had already reinvented their Seattle startup once when they glimpsed the end of the runway last summer. Their take on a localized version of Reddit’s ask-me-anything interview format was interesting, and it was doing better than their original idea—a community question-and-answer service centered on shopping—but growth had already plateaued. “We … Continue reading “Knowing When to Hold ‘Em: The Story of Poachable”
2014: The Bay Area Innovator’s Year In Review
[Updated 1/1/15, 1:37 pm. See below.] When you’re looking back on a year that’s winding up, it’s tempting to try to name the one new product that’s going to change the world. Our stories from the San Francisco Bay region have certainly turned up some candidates—from the Apple Watch to a potential new method of … Continue reading “2014: The Bay Area Innovator’s Year In Review”
The Small Business Revolution Will Be Measured
In 2015 I predict we will see a rise in the number of small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that collect and analyze data for improving operational efficiencies, reducing risk, and better meeting customer needs. People tend to think of big data and business intelligence as living mostly in the realm of the big enterprise. Large … Continue reading “The Small Business Revolution Will Be Measured”
What Was the Biggest Surprise of 2014?
As we close out the year, we at Xconomy have been asking our network of sources and informal advisors (the Xconomists) a series of questions. An obvious but telling one was to inquire about the biggest surprise of 2014, from their point of view. We’ve been posting their answers on a variety of topics as … Continue reading “What Was the Biggest Surprise of 2014?”
Improve Education with Great Expectations for All Students
If I could change one thing about our K-12 education system, it would be to end the curse of low expectations in Washington’s public schools. Numerous studies have shown that teacher and principal expectations have a profound effect on school culture and student performance. A student treated as if she or he can accomplish anything … Continue reading “Improve Education with Great Expectations for All Students”
Attracting, Retaining Talent Key to Driving Economy Forward
A major issue continues to be how to attract and train the necessary talent to drive forward both individual businesses and the economy as a whole. This issue is being addressed in pockets (such as some nascent, innovative programs in Michigan), but not nearly at the scope that is needed. Among other things, it involves … Continue reading “Attracting, Retaining Talent Key to Driving Economy Forward”
5 Tips for Students to Get Ahead in Technology and Business
What advice would you give students interested in your field? That’s a question we posed to our network of Xconomists around the country. They range from academic leaders to startup founders to venture capitalists. What we found was that their answers were generally bigger than their particular field of expertise. Taken together, the tips provide … Continue reading “5 Tips for Students to Get Ahead in Technology and Business”
San Diego Innovation and the Top 10 Stories of 2014
To understand the ebb and flow of innovation in San Diego over the past year, I combined a ranking of stories with the most page views on Xconomy San Diego with my own editorial curation. Some themes are apparent in this top 10 list. The life sciences are ascendant here, with advances in genomics, stem … Continue reading “San Diego Innovation and the Top 10 Stories of 2014”
14 for ’14: Xconomy’s Top Innovation Stories of the Year
It has been quite a year for one-word headlines: Ebola, Sony, Uber, WhatsApp, to name a few. Behind those headlines are complex issues in business and technology that came to the fore in 2014. Things like impediments to vaccine development; mounting threats in cybersecurity and privacy; the regulatory and cultural struggles of high-flying startups; and … Continue reading “14 for ’14: Xconomy’s Top Innovation Stories of the Year”
To Diversify the Innovation Community, Jump-Start Female Entrepreneurship
Just about a year ago at this time, I read a report that made me ask myself whether I was doing enough—and the right kind of “enough”—to encourage diversity in our technology startup community and innovation ecosystem here in Boston/Cambridge. Fortunately, when I looked at the startups in my portfolio of seed investments, I found … Continue reading “To Diversify the Innovation Community, Jump-Start Female Entrepreneurship”
Expand Our Notion of Success from Wealth Creation to Value Creation
We have too narrow a view of success in the tech community, fueled by investors wanting big returns, business schools reinforcing these values, and universities trying to maximize financial returns on their research. Young people see this. Many children of immigrants want to help their parents’ homelands. Many young people want to build a more … Continue reading “Expand Our Notion of Success from Wealth Creation to Value Creation”
10 Bits of Advice for Students Interested in Drug Development
Here are my 10 crucial pieces of advice for students who aspire to a career in pharmaceutical labs: 1. You need a solid foundation in science. Master the basics, and learn how to apply that knowledge. 2. But, try to also take classes and build skills in complementary areas like business, legal topics (especially intellectual … Continue reading “10 Bits of Advice for Students Interested in Drug Development”
Kicking the Cyber Attack Can Down the Road
By far the most important issue where the can got “kicked down the road” is any kind of concerted effort to deter or dissuade cross-border cyber-crime, cyber-attacks, cyber-vandalism and other various forms of hacking mischief. As more and more people become reliant of digital devices and networks for their livelihoods and leisure, their vulnerability to … Continue reading “Kicking the Cyber Attack Can Down the Road”
From STEM to C-Suite, Steps to Improve Technology’s Gender Balance
Gender and diversity problems certainly aren’t new for either the technology community or for business in general. Over the past several decades, women and minorities have worked to gain access to higher levels within organizations, and many white males already in senior roles have also worked to address these issues. However, progress has been slow, … Continue reading “From STEM to C-Suite, Steps to Improve Technology’s Gender Balance”
Biggest Surprises in 2014: Apple After Steve Jobs
What was the biggest surprise of the year? The continued success of Apple. It’s been a quiet period after Jobs’s disappearance and it is very difficult to step into those shoes, I had not counted on the success. The iPhone 6 is a marvel even if it’s not a groundbreaking innovation. But the Apple Watch … Continue reading “Biggest Surprises in 2014: Apple After Steve Jobs”
Simple Steps Toward More Inclusive Entrepreneurship
At conferences, meetups, and events, my colleagues and I often lament the lack of diversity in the audience, particularly the lack of women. Organizations like the Doyenne Group here in Madison, WI, are doing great things to cultivate entrepreneurship among women. Some recent changes in my life, however, have given me a new perspective on … Continue reading “Simple Steps Toward More Inclusive Entrepreneurship”
That OnDeck $200M IPO, and Keeping Things Real in the New York Scene
It may be a rosy holiday for OnDeck (NYSE: [[ticker:ONDK]]) after its $200 million IPO, but this city’s tech scene needs to stay grounded as 2015 approaches. New York-based OnDeck, an online service for small business loans, went public last week in one of the largest IPOs in the history of local technology companies. Prior … Continue reading “That OnDeck $200M IPO, and Keeping Things Real in the New York Scene”
AltheaDx, with Personalized Medicine Diagnostics, Files for IPO
San Diego-based AltheaDx, which uses diagnostic tests and bioinformatics to help doctors identify the optimal drugs based on a patient’s genetic make-up, plans to raise as much as $69 million in an IPO. The company, which began operating in 2008, says in its IPO filing that it has used its IDgenetix technology to complete tests … Continue reading “AltheaDx, with Personalized Medicine Diagnostics, Files for IPO”
A Bad Week for North Korea’s Rickety Internet, But Who’s to Blame?
It’s not clear how it happened. But following a massive leak of stolen Sony information—blamed on North Korea after the company filmed a movie about assassinating Kim Jong Un—the reclusive communist nation’s fragile Internet connections have spent a few days getting hammered by outages. Thanks to a company based in Manchester, NH, we can get an idea of … Continue reading “A Bad Week for North Korea’s Rickety Internet, But Who’s to Blame?”
Device-Maker BeneChill Seeks to Raise $14.6M Through IPO
BeneChill, a startup established in San Diego eight years ago to develop a rapid-chilling technology to treat patients suffering from heart attacks and brain injury, intends to raise more than $14.6 million through an IPO. The company needs the cash. In its IPO filing with federal regulators, BeneChill says it generated only $400,000 in revenue … Continue reading “Device-Maker BeneChill Seeks to Raise $14.6M Through IPO”
Wisconsin Roundup: Zeon, Exact Sciences, Swoop Search, Isomark, & More
As everyone gets ready to enjoy time with family and friends, let’s take a moment to recap some of the big Wisconsin tech announcements in the days leading up to the holidays: —Milwaukee-based software services company Zeon Solutions was acquired by St. Louis-based Perficient for $35.7 million, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported. Most of Zeon’s … Continue reading “Wisconsin Roundup: Zeon, Exact Sciences, Swoop Search, Isomark, & More”
What’s Missing From Education? Critical Thinking
There is too little emphasis on teaching critical thinking skills in schools. Many adults have little understanding of important science and technology issues, which leaves them open to poor decision making on matters that will affect both their families as well as society in general. A good example would be a failure to understand and … Continue reading “What’s Missing From Education? Critical Thinking”
What’s the Most Important Issue That Didn’t Get Addressed in 2014?
Immigration. Very sad and shows how deeply dysfunctional our system is. This is really hurting innovation—and other countries, like Canada, U.K., Chile and Spain, have moved way ahead of us. Very frustrating. [Editor’s note: To tap the wisdom of our distinguished group of Xconomists, we asked a few of them to answer this question heading … Continue reading “What’s the Most Important Issue That Didn’t Get Addressed in 2014?”
Upstart’s CEO Sees Boom and Shakeout in Online Lending in 2015
Dave Girouard may have changed his business model at the right time. The company he co-founded in 2012, Upstart, became a new entry early this year in the rising field of online lending. That field enjoyed a huge visibility boost in mid-December when San Francisco-based Lending Club (NYSE: [[ticker:LC]]) became the first online loan marketplace … Continue reading “Upstart’s CEO Sees Boom and Shakeout in Online Lending in 2015”
Big D’s VentureSpur Targets Innovation in Retail & Restaurants
The VentureSpur accelerator in Dallas aims to make itself the destination of innovation that reflects the city’s overall economy: retail and restaurants. It makes sense when you’re located in the home of retailers ranging from luxury peddler Neiman Marcus to more down-market JCPenney, as well as food chains like Brinker International Restaurants, which has Chili’s … Continue reading “Big D’s VentureSpur Targets Innovation in Retail & Restaurants”
Grading Gener8tor’s Startup Accelerator: Exits, Failures, & Progress
[Corrected 12/27/14, 2 p.m. See below.] For all the hype that Gener8tor has garnered in Wisconsin since it formed in summer 2012, the startup accelerator’s leaders acknowledge that they’ll ultimately be judged by the performance of their portfolio companies and the returns that the accelerator’s investors get. This month, Chicago-based Optyn became the first announced … Continue reading “Grading Gener8tor’s Startup Accelerator: Exits, Failures, & Progress”
What the Grad Students at Cornell Tech Have Been Working On
Last week, graduate students from Cornell Tech demoed a few of the ideas they developed this semester in collaboration with companies. It was a chance to display the early work in data and technology emerging from the applied sciences and engineering graduate school being established by Cornell University. Construction continues on the $2 billion Cornell … Continue reading “What the Grad Students at Cornell Tech Have Been Working On”
West Coast Biotech Roundup: Gilead/AbbVie, Juno, Auspex, Bina & More
It was a very good year for the Bay Area’s Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GILD]]), which saw its new hepatitis C treatments— sofosbuvir (Sovaldi) and Harvoni (a combination of sofosbuvir and ledipasvir)—make big inroads and help cure patients, even as the price tag of the drugs raised ire. Hackles were up not just among longtime industry watchdogs like … Continue reading “West Coast Biotech Roundup: Gilead/AbbVie, Juno, Auspex, Bina & More”
SAIC Founder J. Robert Beyster Dies
J. Robert “Bob” Beyster, the nuclear physicist who founded Science Applications International Corp.—the multibillion-dollar government contractor better known as SAIC—died of natural causes yesterday at his home in San Diego. He was 90 years old. Beyster was a Cold War scientist who founded SAIC to tackle some of the nation’s most-difficult problems in national security—and … Continue reading “SAIC Founder J. Robert Beyster Dies”
Holiday Shopping Ride-Along: How Mobile Improves Large-Format Retail
Not everyone loves holiday shopping, but new mobile commerce services can make a trip to the big box retailer quicker and less painful. With nine shopping days left before Christmas, I met up with Josh Marti, the CEO of Point Inside, which makes indoor location technology, to see how he gets the job done. Point … Continue reading “Holiday Shopping Ride-Along: How Mobile Improves Large-Format Retail”
Officials Say Fuji’s Purchase of Kalon Boosts Texas’s Biotech Profile
A Texas A&M University spinoff has been acquired by Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, a transaction that helps to secure Texas’s role as an innovation hub for the testing and manufacturing of vaccines for pandemics, as well as cancer drugs. Terms were not disclosed for the deal involving College Station, TX-based Kalon, which was spun out of … Continue reading “Officials Say Fuji’s Purchase of Kalon Boosts Texas’s Biotech Profile”
Sisu Global Health Wins $250K Grant, Launches Indiegogo Campaign
Sisu Global Health, a Grand Rapids, MI-based medtech startup focused on making products for the developing world, launched an Indiegogo campaign last week to fund a training workshop in Zimbabwe that will teach doctors how to use its Hemafuse product. The company hopes to raise $45,000 by Jan. 16. So far, 20 donors have ponied … Continue reading “Sisu Global Health Wins $250K Grant, Launches Indiegogo Campaign”
The Sony Wake-Up Call
[Corrected, see below] The Sony saga continues. Last week, the FBI said there is enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for the Sony cyberattack. Now some are beginning to wonder how the U.S. should retaliate. Surely, new developments will continue to unfold, but our focus remains on what this breach … Continue reading “The Sony Wake-Up Call”
ImmusanT Grabs $12M as Celiac Vaccine Hits Critical Proving Ground
[Updated, 12/22/14, 4:02 pm ET] ImmusanT is trying to prove that a vaccine it’s developing can help celiac patients eat gluten without getting sick. Today, the Cambridge, MA-based company got enough dough to test that theory in real patients. ImmusanT has raised a $12 million Series B round from Vatera Healthcare Partners, the New York … Continue reading “ImmusanT Grabs $12M as Celiac Vaccine Hits Critical Proving Ground”
Oracle to Buy Colorado-based Data Broker Datalogix
[Updated 12/22/14 10:25 a.m. See below.] Oracle announced Monday it will buy Datalogix, the Westminster, CO-based data broker used by companies such as Facebook and Twitter to understand the offline consumer activity of their users. The price of the acquisition was not disclosed, but one media report puts it at several hundred million dollars. Datalogix … Continue reading “Oracle to Buy Colorado-based Data Broker Datalogix”
Bakken Rounding Up Investors for Madison HealthX Ventures
[Corrected 12/22/14, 1:30 p.m. See below.] Early in his career, Mark Bakken never imagined himself as an investor in startups. But the serial entrepreneur has lately become one of the more active angel investors in Madison, WI. “The perception growing up was that venture capital is ‘vulture capital,’” Bakken says. “You don’t know anything about … Continue reading “Bakken Rounding Up Investors for Madison HealthX Ventures”
Raleigh-Durham Roundup: BioCryst, Scioderm, Red Hat & More
Here are the week’s headlines in North Carolina tech and biotech news: —BioCryst (NASDAQ: [[ticker:BCRX]]) received Food and Drug Administration approval on an intravenous antiviral treatment for influenza, marking the first U.S. drug approval for the Durham, NC-based company. Peramivir (Rapivab) was developed in partnership with the with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, … Continue reading “Raleigh-Durham Roundup: BioCryst, Scioderm, Red Hat & More”
Rethinking Venture Philanthropy After the Kalydeco Windfall
The Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Foundation’s big win in venture philanthropy can fuel constructive competition among companies developing innovative CF drugs, benefiting both patients and the healthcare system by increasing future treatment options and reducing their cost. CF is a fatal genetic disease affecting around 30,000 people in the U.S. that is caused by mutations in … Continue reading “Rethinking Venture Philanthropy After the Kalydeco Windfall”
Two Guys, a Connected Home, and Kickstarter: The Water Hero Story
[Updated, 12/24/14. See below] In a newfangled world of connected homes, crowdfunded projects, 3D printers, and mobile apps, it’s refreshing to see a couple of guys in their 50s put it all together and try to make something meaningful. I write not only in striking range of said demographic, but as a concerned citizen and … Continue reading “Two Guys, a Connected Home, and Kickstarter: The Water Hero Story”
#Hashtag This: How the Twitter Hashtag Caught Fire in San Diego
It’s been over seven years since Chris Messina proposed that Twitter users adopt the hash symbol as a way to collate their discussions and designate groups. I’m only just now catching up to him, although I have an excuse. I used to be mainstream media. Still, as Messina told me recently by phone from San … Continue reading “#Hashtag This: How the Twitter Hashtag Caught Fire in San Diego”
Juno Just Raised A Ton of Cash. Here Comes the Spending Part.
The IPO is just another round of financing. Forgive the biotech cliché, but with Juno Therapeutics, it’s never been more evident. Seattle-based Juno (NASDAQ: [[ticker:JUNO]]) ended its first day of trading Friday, and both investors and company should be happy. The stock price rose nearly 50 percent, from $24 at the opening bell to $35 … Continue reading “Juno Just Raised A Ton of Cash. Here Comes the Spending Part.”