With a background in product marketing and research, Kene Anoliefo knew the struggles of increasing research insights to match the fast-paced development of products. We sat down with the HEARD co-founder to discuss her company, the role of AI in the startup ecosystem, and more.
House advances capital formation bills
The market for carbon-free, reliable energy is growing along with a rising electricity demand. Josef Hjelmaker, through his company, Electric Outdoors, plans to save millions of dollars in electrification conversion costs and make long-term access to the outdoors safer and more sustainable for all. We sat down with Josef to discuss his company, his experience raising capital in Michigan, and the recent American trade policy shifts.
Artificial intelligence is a foundational technology driving innovation in every corner of the economy.
The Big Story: States push ahead on privacy in lieu of federal action. Virginia officially became the second state in the nation—following California—to implement its own comprehensive data privacy law last week. The passage of Virginia’s privacy law comes as other states—including Minnesota, New York, Oklahoma, Utah, and Washington—consider implementing their own sweeping data privacy measures.
TLDR: Following House passage of President Joe Biden’s stimulus package this weekend, Senate Democrats are pushing forward with the measure that would provide billions of dollars to Americans and small businesses affected by the pandemic. As the Senate prepares to vote on the stimulus plan, it is important for policymakers to guarantee that the money set aside for struggling small businesses effectively provides the entrepreneurial community with the targeted emergency assistance it needs to drive the nation’s long-term economic recovery.
The Big Story: Despite progress, barriers still stand in the way of Black founders. Although the U.S. startup ecosystem is increasingly vast and diverse, Black entrepreneurs across the country still face barriers to entry—such as a lack of equitable access—that make it more difficult for them to compete with their peers. And the pandemic has only exacerbated some of these disparities, with a report from the Center for Responsible Lending finding that approximately 95 percent of Black-owned firms stood almost no chance of receiving a first round Paycheck Protection Program loan from a traditional bank or credit union.
TLDR: The federal government recently solicited public input about a national strategy for building more diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystems. While startup communities across the country comprise individuals of every race, gender, ethnicity, and culture, more needs to be done to empower underrepresented entrepreneurs and dismantle the unjust barriers they routinely face. As the U.S. continues to address systemic inequalities, many startups, entrepreneurs, and support organizations are calling on the government to use this opportunity to support entrepreneurship for all.
The Big Story: Congress, FCC take steps to narrow the “digital divide” amid pandemic. As millions of Americans continue to depend upon reliable Internet services to work, learn, and connect amid the ongoing pandemic, policymakers are moving to address gaps in high-speed connectivity and broadband infrastructure across the United States. The issue of broadband access was in the spotlight this week as the Federal Communications Commission and a top House panel both took steps to improve connectivity and identify areas of the country where access is still lagging.
TLDR: As the Biden administration prepares to unveil an immigration reform bill this week that would provide millions of undocumented immigrants with a pathway to citizenship, policymakers need to remain mindful of the valuable skills and talents that foreign-born workers bring to the United States. In order to support entrepreneurs—particularly those economically disadvantaged by the pandemic—policymakers must improve access to high-skilled talent in any immigration reform efforts in order to bolster U.S. innovation.
The Big Story: Net neutrality back in the spotlight as DOJ drops California suit. The U.S. Department of Justice this week dropped its challenge to California’s 2018 net neutrality law, removing one of the major roadblocks to its implementation. The law—which would have reinstated the net neutrality protections in the state of California—was signed by then-Governor Jerry Brown after the Federal Communications Commission repealed the net neutrality protections at the end of 2017. In a statement following DOJ’s announcement, FCC Acting Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said “[b]y taking this step, Washington is listening to the American people, who overwhelmingly support an open Internet, and is charting a course to once again make net neutrality the law of the land.”
TLDR: Democrats are moving forward with President Joe Biden’s stimulus package that would provide billions of dollars in relief to small businesses and entrepreneurs affected by the pandemic. As policymakers finalize the proposal, they should work to ensure that economic relief earmarked for startups and other nascent companies truly provides long-term, targeted support for the U.S. entrepreneurial community.
The Big Story: States pushing social media laws based on unfounded bias claims. Republican state policymakers across the country are pushing for laws that would stop social media companies from engaging in content moderation, amplifying GOP politicians’ long-standing complaints about anti-conservative bias, which were refuted in a recent report. But while Republicans have directed their ire at large Internet companies and Section 230—a bedrock Internet law that allows companies of all sizes to host and moderate user content without being held liable for the content they moderate or for what their users post—their state-level efforts to ban moderation are legally problematic and would hurt small and new companies attempting to compete in the Internet ecosystem.
TLDR: As we round out the second week of the Biden administration, the president is continuing to chart out the country’s long-term economic recovery from the pandemic. While President Joe Biden has already taken a number of positive early steps—including prioritizing vaccination efforts, rescinding harmful immigration orders issued by the previous administration, and advancing racial equity efforts—it is integral that the administration devote time during its first 100 days in office to support and strengthen America’s startup ecosystem across a range of policy areas.
The Big Story: Biden’s regulatory freeze is a mixed bag for startups. President Joe Biden’s decision to institute a 60-day regulatory freeze on new or pending rules from federal agencies and executive departments could significantly impact the U.S. startup community. As the Biden administration undertakes this assessment, which gives officials the opportunity to review proposed regulations from the previous administration, federal officials should take care to refrain from holding up any policies that would expand and enhance entrepreneurship, while taking a closer look at rules that would prove detrimental to innovation and competition.
In a new Medium post, Engine announced the launch of our Startup Agenda 2021, which outlines the policy priorities of the U.S. startup community. The Startup Agenda 2021 covers a range of policy issues that include capital access, connectivity, intellectual property, privacy, and more. As we explain in our post below, there are startups in every state and congressional district across the country, and their perspective is especially critical if policymakers hope to craft rules and regulations that boost innovation and competition.
The Big Story: Biden administration hits the ground running on immigration. The technology sector is already rallying behind President Joe Biden’s early immigration moves, which have included rolling back several of the previous administration’s harmful immigration policies and proposing legislation that would overhaul the nation’s immigration system. Now, entrepreneurs are hopeful that Biden will continue to undo the last administration’s policies, which have, among other things, limited tech companies’ access to high-skilled, foreign born talent.
TLDR: As President Joe Biden’s transition team continues to vet and identify key federal officials, agencies that contribute to technology and small business policy—such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)—will likely see new leaders in the coming months. As the Biden team picks new federal officials, however, it should be guided by a commitment to supporting and enabling the nation’s innovation ecosystem.
The Big Story: Biden proposes billions in COVID relief for entrepreneurs. President-elect Joe Biden unveiled an ambitious $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package yesterday focused on bolstering the nation’s response to the pandemic, providing more direct relief to working families, and supporting small businesses and communities that have been most affected by the ongoing economic uncertainty. Building off of economic relief efforts signed into law at the end of last year, Biden’s proposed package would place a greater emphasis on relief for the U.S. entrepreneurial and small business communities.
TLDR: Although the technology industry remains hopeful that the incoming Biden administration will overturn President Trump’s harmful immigration policies, startups and other businesses are concerned that a federal rule published in the last days of Trump’s term would further weaken and restrict access to the H-1B visa program. Tech companies rely upon the significant contributions of foreign-born workers to grow their businesses, but ongoing efforts to limit access to crucially-needed talent will only drive high-skilled workers to other nations.
The Big Story: After attack on U.S. Capitol, Internet companies move to block Trump. Content moderation efforts at the world’s largest Internet companies were under the microscope this week as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube took action against content shared by outgoing President Donald Trump that led to a violent riot at the Capitol that left five dead, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
TLDR: Over the course of 2020, policymakers engaged on a variety of critical issues and concerns impacting the nation’s startup community, especially around the COVID-19 pandemic, which upended daily life for millions of Americans. Small businesses and entrepreneurs affected by the pandemic called for Congress to provide nascent companies with the emergency support needed to weather the economic uncertainty. The startup perspective has also been crucial in discussions about the importance of Section 230 for small Internet companies that host user-generated content, changes to a law that provides startups with a balanced framework for addressing allegations of online copyright infringement, policies limiting access to high-skilled talent, and much more. As the end of the year draws near, we wanted to highlight just a few of the policy issues that have affected the startup community in 2020.
The Big Story: Trump tees up NDAA veto fight over Section 230. President Donald Trump is still threatening to veto the must-pass annual defense authorization bill over his demand to repeal Section 230. Trump and some Republican lawmakers have spent months falsely claiming that the bedrock Internet law allows technology companies to “censor” conservative voices online, despite the fact that changes to the law would likely have an outsized impact on startups and others that rely on Section 230’s liability limitations to host and moderate user content.
TLDR: As the year draws to a close, Congress has yet to cross the finish line on another much-needed relief package to provide economic relief for Americans, including small businesses and entrepreneurs. But even as a bipartisan group of policymakers introduces a two-part relief package this week, U.S. entrepreneurs are still eagerly waiting for assistance that will help ensure the long-term survival of the country’s startup ecosystem.
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