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| |  Image Credits: Nigel Sussman | | Buoyed by last week’s election results, the public markets got another shot in the arm yesterday after news broke that a coronavirus vaccine candidate was 90% effective. Shares of Zoom and Peloton were down after the announcement but Lyft and Uber saw the, since “investors are taking money out of companies that were expected to do well thanks to the pandemic and moving that capital into firms that were weakened by the pandemic,” writes Alex Wilhelm. It’s too early to predict how this will shake out, but Alex thinks it’s likely that the pace of digital transformation spurred on by the pandemic will decelerate. And ff a COVID-19 vaccine smashes the reset button, “what's next for insurtech, edtech, fintech and SaaS?” he asks. Thanks for reading Extra Crunch; I hope you have a great week. Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
@yourprotagonist Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images | | The pandemic opened doors for many edtech entrepreneurs, but after working in the sector for almost two decades, Darshan Somashekar decided to co-found a gaming platform. In a guest post for Extra Crunch, Somashekar discusses constraints like seasonal usage and GTM challenges that plague all companies in the sector. “While there were risks to gaming, the large and growing market size, resilient economic model and high engagement rates were compelling enough to look past them,” he says. Read more | | | |
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| |  Image Credits: McDonald's | | Yesterday, fast-food behemoth McDonald’s announced that it would roll out McPlant, a platform of plant-based foods its customers can sink their teeth into in 2021. Although I found the news interesting, it was a bit anti-climactic; last Friday, Jon Shieber wrote a deep dive into the global market for meat substitutes and lab-grown meat. Besides burgers, foodtech startups are inking deals to bring replacements for crab, lobster, chicken and shrimp to drive-thru windows and home kitchens. "I'm eager to invest in companies using non-traditional ingredients or processes that exactly mimic the end result," said Tess Hatch, a vice president at Bessemer Venture Partners. Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: 10'000 Hours / Getty Images | | San Francisco residents have been sheltering in place since March 17, but we’re still adapting. A few times each week, one of my neighbors drags a shipping box for a new office chair out with their recycling. A couple who lives across the street now works head-to-head in their front window at a partner desk. To find out “how can we make the most of this working approach for however long this pandemic lasts,” enterprise reporter Ron Miller interviewed Karen Mangia, vice president of customer and market insights at Salesforce. "Leaders want to know that their employees are working on what's expected and delivering outcomes. Employees want to make sure their managers know how hard they're working and that they're getting things done,” she said. “And the technology and tools I think help us solve for that trust gap in the middle.” Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Randy Faris / Getty Images | | A poor user experience is the death knell for any startup. Unfortunately, many founders won’t learn this until it’s too late, and as the cliché goes: you only get one chance to make a first impression. Jason Buhle, a USC professor who is also Director of UX Strategy at AnswerLab, shared five UX research errors that frequently hobble startup teams. His first suggestion? Conduct UX research early and throughout product development beicause “deas that seem good at first may not seem so great after research, and many commonly criticized failures were likely results of insufficient research.” Read more | | | |
| |  Image Credits: Treedeo / Getty Images | | In this week’s column, reporter Zack Whittaker looks at issues related to last week’s U.S. presidential election, recapped notable funding news for security-related startups and covered a successful hacking attempt at video-game company Capcom. He also included a few words for iPhone owners who haven’t yet installed iOS 14.2: “If you haven't already, update today!” Read more | | | |
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