2020 has saddled us with one of the roughest rides in recent history. From the spread of COVID-19 to the resulting lockdown to a sinking economy to political strife and protests, it’s been a tough year for individuals and for organizations.

SEE: Launching and building a startup: A founder’s guide (free PDF) (TechRepublic) 

Despite the challenges of doing business, especially as a startup firm, many companies have been able to not only survive but thrive. In a new report published Tuesday, LinkedIn looks at the top 50 startups in the US as proof of resiliency in the face of obstacles and as an aid for professionals looking for a new opportunity.

To compile the list, LinkedIn’s editors and data data scientists analyzed the actions and information

The development of quantum computers poses a cybersecurity problem such as the IT industry has never seen before. All stored data currently deemed secure by modern standards – whether that’s health records, financial data, customer databases and even critical government infrastructure – could, in theory, be cracked by quantum computers, which are capable of effectively short circuiting the encryption we’ve used to protect that data until now.

Efforts to protect our data from the quantum threat are underway, though whether the issue is being looked at with the urgency it deserves is up for debate. PQShield, a post-quantum cryptography startup spun out of Oxford University, perceives a disconnect between the scale of the threat and the current cyber-readiness of most businesses in 2020, which

For middle America, the 25 states that sit between the Rockies and the East Coast, easy access to venture capital has long been a dream just out of reach. Traditionally, venture capital funds have largely ignored this section of the country in favor of startups on the coasts. 

No more. According to a new report, “State of the Mighty Middle Report,” from Crunchbase and Dundee Venture Capital, over the past decade investments grew to $20 billion in 2019 from $5.8 billion, a 13% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR). Even with the COVID-19 economic lockdown in full swing, first quarter 2020 investment was $2.5 billion. As would be expected, this is down from the fourth-quarter of 2019 where investors poured $4.7B in early- and late-stage companies in

Someone once told me that a year’s subscription to the The Wall Street Journal was a little bit like earning an MBA part-time. That may be so and I tried it and found it painfully dry.

Replace dry with quick-witted and funny, replace the MBA with human nature, venture capital, and computer science, and you have the recipe for HBO’s Silicon Valley. The show also adds a few fart jokes and a lot more vulgarity. Once you get past that, the touching story of a hero’s journey reminds me very much of my own three years at a Silicon Valley startup.

During the coronavirus pandemic

Length: 8:31 |
Apr 16, 2020

Why cell phones can hold the key to tracking future cases of COVID-19 with artificial intelligence.