Author name: William Smith

With increasing advancements in communication and technology, people resort to new methods of bonding, communication, and business. Social network giant Facebook has started a way to profit from WhatsApp with a plan to connect organizations with clients. Facebook has been testing a “WhatsApp Business” tool. This tool is meant to bridge the gap between clients and businesses. They have been testing this tool for almost 90 organizations including Uber and Singapore Airlines. In an online post, Facebook mentioned how they were introducing a solution for organizations so that one can start a conversation on WhatsApp from an ad on Facebook. Whatsapp Business allows companies to broadcast “Non-promotional” content like shipping, cost charges, delivery instructions or route specifications. Companies can respond within 24 hours and late responses will be charged. The messages are charged between 0.5 cents to 9 cents mostly depending on the user country. They can be sent by humans or by using bots. What does the new “Whatsapp Business Tool “do? It will connect clients and business owners It will connect the numerous ads on Facebook and divert them into a communicable medium that is WhatsApp. It also will in future provide the option of payment through WhatsApp. What are the Advantages of the new tool? It will help people discover your business and grow a relationship It will increase awareness about new areas where growth is possible There will be more customer interaction and communication One can answer customer’s questions in a free, fast and efficient manner. Will this lead to a spam of business messages? This will not lead to an over flooding. This is because- Businesses can send only selective messages so there is no clutter Since messages are encrypted, one can block a business if they are not interested. Facebook intended to slowly make the new device accessible to more organizations, concentrating first on organizations with a solid need to oversee client correspondences. It wants to start small to eventually capture the market in this hitherto untouched arena. This is specifically important considering how Facebook has been performing in the share market. The effect of the data privacy scandal is not lost and there is a slow user growth.

Here’s good news for all startups this 2018! Venture capital investment in startups has reached its highest level ever — $148 billion in the last 12 months. Combined with an expansion of the economy, job growth, and a booming stock market, it’s the time for entrepreneurs to rise and shine with their brilliant ideas. Startups across America are influencing people’s lives like never before! From fitness tracking to AI to driverless cars – the transformation towards technology is rapidly on the stride. For those looking to launch their own start-ups – you are no longer limited to Silicon Valley! Previous hotspots have become passé. Here’s the latest list of the top 5 Hottest Startup Cities in the US which offers ample growth for your startup! What were the Factors Considered? Some of the factors considered to select the top 5 from over 200 American cities were: Local Employment – High % of employment (90%) The surge of startups – high % of Startup growth (75%) Young Adult Residents – Age group of (25-34) Favorable Local Laws – Quick response and uncomplicated laws Education Levels – (Holding graduate or professional degrees) The 5 Hottest Startup cities in the US Austin, TX This Texas hub of technology is home to over 5,500 budding startups and also has offices of tech giants like Apple, Facebook, and Google. Similar to the bay area, you can find plenty of educated millennials here with the city’s vibrant culture and dining scene. The lower cost-of-living compared to the bay area contributes to immense employment opportunities. Why is Austin Preferred? No. of startups 5,500+ State Income Tax Texas has 0% in state income tax versus up to ~10% in California and ~6.5% in New York Rent and Employee Salaries You spend 40–50% less renting a home/office and 20–30% less on employee salaries Quality of Life Techies prefers Austin for the quality of life that compares to California, but at half the cost of living. Camaraderie Austin folks truly celebrate each other’s win and also possess a greater sense of wanting to give back Minneapolis, MN Similar to Austin, Minneapolis is an upcoming city which boasts of high education, a young population and an affordable lifestyle. Why Minneapolis completely aced to the top 5 is the start-up growth rate – 121.3% which is one of the highest in the US. The pay is decent and the cost of living is inexpensive. Simply put, salaries in Minnesota though slightly lower than the Silicon Valley and New York areas, enable employees to enjoy a high quality of life. Why is Minneapolis Preferred? No. of startups 500+ The employable Talent Large local population of professionals with domain expertise in healthcare, technology and so on. Rentals Affordability and quality of life are high. Cost of homes and rentals is a fraction of cities like San Francisco. Salaries Minnesota’s tech pay is almost twice as high as the average state wage. Seattle, WA When giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks embrace Seattle, can startups be far behind? This Emerald city is youthful, vibrant, highly educated and culturally rich. It’s as expensive as San Francisco with respect to the housing and is rated the second best for tech market after San Francisco. For aspiring entrepreneurs, Seattle boasts all the elements necessary to boost startups: talent, large research universities, and good work-life balance and so on. Why is Seattle Preferred? Big Firms Employees Many Microsoft/Amazon employees save up to launch their own startups in Seattle. Employable Talent You can access the fruits of the labor of larger, well-established companies like Amazon and Microsoft. Affordability A lot more affordable than New York or San Francisco—with a better metro and transportation facilities. Camaraderie The business community here is very open and lets you in with plenty of support Boston, MA This college town has many degree holders and professionals – but a high cost of living! However, the start-up growth observed here is robust – with talented employees to match! A lot of investor money is flowing into Boston too – Boston start-ups raised $367 million in February 2018 alone. The innovation ecosystem that exists in Massachusetts, brings together and builds on the unique partnership between universities like MIT and startups and tech firms. Why is Boston Preferred? Top Universities Boston has excellent pillar companies and universities like MIT for sourcing talent. Transportation Boston has excellent public transportation – while Silicon Valley is spread out. Improved Value The share of next-wave startups——grew 29 percent from 2016-2017. Columbus, OH This is the capital city of Ohio and has a large, educated and young population with smart numbers for a startup’s growth – a recent $277 million Smart City grant to boost the city’s infrastructure. Since 2013, venture capitalists who are Ohio-based have raised nearly $1 billion and 70% of this was Columbus based investors, a sharp reason for the boost in startups. Columbus is also highly affordable, but not as culturally rich as others on the list. Why is Columbus Preferred? Best Universities The Columbus Region is home to powerful research organizations including The Ohio State University Centrally Located Nearly 50 percent of the U.S. population is within a day’s drive of Columbus Grants Received a $277 million Smart City grant from the federal government to develop the city’s infrastructure

There are many startup companies in the gaming scene that provide interesting, concept-based games. One such company is Knock Knock.  They are a team who believes that chat platforms work dually both for connecting with friends and to play games. They build chat-native games that work well during chatting and even work best on chat platforms. It is headquartered in San Francisco and is made up of the best in the industry. The CEO Andrew Friday was a senior product manager at Zynga, co-founder Andrew N Green was the business operations head at TinyCo. Apart from this, they have a member from EA also, thus all industry biggies talent is part of the startup. They have recently received a $2 million in a seed funding round that was led by Raine Ventures, London Venture Partners that is Supercell and Unity. Ludlow Ventures and Gregory Milken are also participating in this round. Since they don’t build chat fiction, they are designing bots which will address the chats without disturbing the flow of the game. Thus there is no interaction which alters the user interests and dynamics. They plan to use bots in innovative ways by introducing group chat, messaging momentum into game dynamics. Currently, they are building for Facebook Messenger and WeChat which will release in 2018 and 2019. It is said to be a frictionless experience as there is no download and there is a seamless connection between games and chatting with friends. Most games that cater to chat plus games are limited to certain genres and this makes it monotonous for users. They plan to rework on these fundamentals and create new interesting themes and genres that can be experimented upon. Friday also said that they focused on casual games instead of thoughtful, deeper games as they are for a chat as well as a gaming platform. The venture capital partners were impressed by their track record and the zealous team and felt that ushering life into their vision would make for a good investment.