Lawmakers lament detriment to startups of Trade Rep’s digital trade reversal
After overcoming childhood shyness in the warmth of his local Caribbean-owned barbershop, Royon Jeffrey knows the power of the beauty industry firsthand. He set out to create ListedB, an online marketplace for beauty industry professionals. We spoke to him about the financial opportunity within the industry, navigating capital access and investors, and his desire to empower small businesses owners.
Foreign nations are saddling U.S. companies — including startups — with discriminatory burdens.
MegaMinds was created out of a need to make learning more creative, fun, and hands-on for students. In our conversation with Co-Founder and CEO Eric Tao, we learned about the growing popularity of immersive learning, the tricky regulatory landscape for a product like MegaMinds, and what it’s like for many first-time entrepreneurs to build businesses.
The Big Story: A second Senate privacy hearing. The Senate Commerce Committee held its second hearing on online privacy this week, which included testimony from privacy advocates pushing for federal privacy legislation.
This week, we met with Sue Marshall who has helped to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Minnesota, including her own company NetZro. Leaning on the traditional industry of food processing, Sue created a company to decrease food waste. Sue wishes for more policies creating low-cost and free space for research to be done by startups.
The Big Story: Privacy Looms Large in Washington.
This week, the European Parliament approved sweeping changes to its copyright regime, including Article 13, which would effectively require all websites hosting user generated content to adopt expensive and ineffective content filters. The proposal also creates a new IP right for publishers that requires websites to pay publishers if the website creates a link to the publisher’s content.
To celebrate and support latino entrepreneurs, we met with Robbie Cabral, founder and CEO of BenjiLock. Latino entrepreneurs face challenges such as inadequate access to capital; in fact, only 12% of Latino firms employing more than one person received bank loans, compared to 18% of white-owned firms, 15% of Asian-owned firms, and 14% of Black-owned firms. Despite these challenges, Robbie is thankful for the mentorship and guidance received from SBA’s SCORE programs. He hopes that policymakers can focus on creating more opportunities for entrepreneurs from every walk of life.
The Big Story: Europe passes online filtering rules.
This week, the European Parliament approved sweeping changes to its copyright regime, including Article 13, which would effectively require all websites hosting user generated content to adopt expensive and ineffective content filters. The proposal also creates a new IP right for publishers that requires websites to pay publishers if the website creates a link to the publisher’s content.
Fady Saad is the co-founder and director of Partnerships at MassRobotics, innovation hub and startup cluster focused on the needs of the robotics community. As leader in New England and the U.S., MassRobotics has attracted attention from policymakers, locally, nationally and even internationally - including receiving over two million dollars from the state government.
Current legal frameworks have allowed us to build creative online communities that have enabled musicians, writers, artists, developers, designers, and filmmakers throughout Europe to access a global online market. We are concerned that proposed changes to the European Copyright Directive, specifically Article 13, will threaten the existence of these vibrant online communities.
Amelia Friedman and her team at Hatch Apps empower people around the world to create their own mobile apps. By leaning on a strong tech community in Washington, D.C., Hatch Apps has quickly grown. As an international company, legislation like GDPR has changed the way they do business and deal with data.
As the voice of startups to government, Engine proudly assisted in organizing this year’s Startup Week Across America. Officially held August 20-24, more than 50 House members met with startups in their communities to learn more about the issues that matter most their businesses.
Long Island is famous for beaches, bagels and vineyards, but it also has a budding innovation ecosystem. Just outside of New York City, Long Island, Suffolk County in particular is growing into an entrepreneurial powerhouse. Phil Rugile, Director of LaunchPad Huntington, recognized the need for a space to attract talent, host events and build community; he then founded LaunchPad.
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