It’s hard enough to stay afloat as a new business without having to worry about issues like employee fraud and cyber attacks. When it comes to helping founders protect their businesses, serial entrepreneur Ivy Walker is an expert.

She launched Helios Digital Learning, which uses storytelling to teach ethics to business professionals and students, and AskCoda, a risk management and compliance solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Her book Twelve-Minute Risk Management: Strategies and Tools Small Business Owners Need Right Now to Navigate Today’s Business World was published this spring.  

On Feb. 2, 2023, Walker hosted a webinar for Founders Network  where she provided her insights from working in corporate risk management.

To learn more about navigating security risks, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from February 2.

Here’s a sneak peek at her advice for startup founders as they navigate the security risks that come with launching a business.

Detecting Insider Fraud

You might be surprised to learn how many founders have caught their trusted employees skimming off the top, especially in the early stages of company formation when one person is handling all of the financial processes. 

While it’s fairly common, founders aren’t hearing about insider fraud, because there’s an incentive to keep this kind of behavior hidden, particularly from investors. 

“There are reasons a founder might not raise the red flag,” says Walker. “They might not want to look back in the eyes of investors and say, ‘We had an employee take cash or equipment.’ That looks really bad to investors.”

Avoiding the “Fraud Tax”

Insider fraud isn’t just embarrassing; it’s expensive. It’s estimated that insider fraud can claim up to 5% of revenue. 

“That may not be enough for you to notice, but it’s your money,” says Walker. 

Luckily, founders can bake corporate risk management into company culture. That requires establishing processes that promote accountability. 

“First and foremost, they have to set up a process that they follow no matter how busy it gets. You have to have a process of checks and balances in place that you stick to … When you’re asking questions on a regular basis about what’s going on, it makes it less likely that someone will do something that they shouldn’t be doing. When you’re not paying attention, that’s when people get comfortable,” Walker says.

In addition to codifying policies and procedures, segregating duties is another corporate risk management strategy. It’s harder to get away with fraud when financial responsibilities fall upon multiple people. 

In her work, Walker uses a chart to exemplify how startups of any size can accomplish this. 

How to Manage Conflict.. Before it Happens 

When Walker launched her first business, she was taking on 100% percent of the financial risk. Her business partner had a full-time job that took precedence. They had a verbal agreement that Walker’s partner would come on full time a year into the venture. 

But the partnership went south quickly, in part, because the pair had never codified expectations around the division of labor within the company. But, she didn’t make that mistake again. 

“We hadn’t agreed how we would handle conflict,” Walker says. “At the end of the day, it would have been easier if we had documented what we were saying in the beginning. I clawed back a big chunk of equity. It was very contentious.”

That’s why she stresses the importance of putting things into writing. 

As one of Walker’s mentors said: “Contracts are for the times when we don’t like each other.”

Contracts provide answers to questions like: how will we handle a dispute? What is the cool-down process?

With her current startup, which is pre-revenue, Walker has three people working with her. They started the venture with established expectations for what happens when those people come over full time. 

Walker’s webinar covered:

• Fraud-proofing your business
• Protecting against cyberattacks
• Preparing for conflict between founders
  

To learn more about navigating security risks, see if you qualify for membership and check out the webinar from February 2.

Sara Deshpande looks for three things when deciding whether to fund a startup.  They include:

1. An amazing vision worth fighting for
2. A multi-billion dollar market
3. A team capable of execution

“Ton of passion, can reach tens or hundreds of millions of people, will make their lives better and you can be really proud to bring it into the world, and it’s not solved in a way that’s good enough today.” - @sara_desh
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A vision worth fighting for 

While Deshpande acknowledges that there is a lot more diligence that goes into the final decision of whether Maven Ventures will fund, it is those three considerations that are most important. And so that leads to the question, what is an amazing vision worth fighting for?

Deshpande explains that it’s vital that founders truly believe that their product will have the opportunity to get in front of multiple millions of people. But they also need to believe in something more: that their product will be life-changing for customers.

That leads into the second, often overlooked part of a vision worth fighting for. “It’s got to be something that’s not already solved in a way that’s good enough today.” By good enough today, Deshpande references a problem that might not have the best solution but nonetheless has a widely adopted one. In these cases, you end up in competition with people’s existing behavior, something that is very hard to change.

To sum up an amazing vision worth fighting for? “Ton of passion, can reach tens or hundreds of millions of people, will make their lives better and you can be really proud to bring it into the world, and it’s not solved in a way that’s good enough today.”

“What have you proven so far, and how much money do you really need to get to the next set of milestones?” - @sara_desh
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Your startup’s investment stage

When trying to determine what stage of investment to hit when, Deshpande points out that in today’s market there is a lot less differentiation between various fundraising stages. For Deshpande, the big questions are, “what have you proven so far, and how much money do you really need to get to the next set of milestones?” 

She offers a basic breakdown for the early stages:

1. Earlier Pre-Seed Rounds: Pre-product, pre-launch, very early data stage. $1 million, less than $2 million.
2. Seed Stage: With early customer feedback, early product at market and a team that’s working together you have proof points and mitigated risk from team and early product perspective. $2-3 million.

Deshpande stresses the importance of determining milestones in funding. Is the goal to see the company through to a Series A milestone? In that case, it’s a core seed stage.

“Once you have a good set of culture values you have to go beyond just having them written on a wall and actually integrate them into the daily behaviors of your team.” - @sara_desh
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Company Culture

Back in 2014, with just the founding partner, herself and an intern, Deshpande sat down to create a company culture, one that was intentional and committed to paper. At that time, the emphasis that Maven Ventures placed on creating a formal company culture was regarded as a nice thought. Today, though, Deshpande finds this idea really resonates with founders, not just because of all the highly publicized cases of massive culture failures within companies, but also because more and more investors have come to expect a well-established company culture.

In order to create a strong company culture, Deshpande recommends:

1. In the early days (before or during hiring) have an intentional discussion with the co-founding team.
2. Document the vision and mission of the company. What are the core values you would like to see the company and employees embody?
3. Make these 3-5 documented sets of values a core part of your company.

“Once you have a good set of culture values you have to go beyond just having them written on a wall and actually integrate them into the daily behaviors of your team.” This means making them a part of the hiring process, evaluation process and annual review.

For more from Maven Ventures, sign up for Founders Network for an upcoming event with Senior Associate, Robert Ravanshenas, or request to join to access the many resources that Founders Network offers.

Among them is Beth Devin, a strategic advisor at HearstLab, an innovation unit of Hearst whose mission is to close the gap in VC funding for women by helping founders build healthy, sustainable and highly scalable businesses. A longtime executive in media and finance, with prior roles CTO, CIO and managing director roles at Citi, Silicon Valley Bank, Charles Schwab and Turner Broadcasting, Devin is known as a “tech whisperer” for  her ability to build and lead technology teams while keeping the business strategy and goals at the forefront. 

In her role as a startup scout, Beth Devin evaluates early-stage startups using a rubric developed by the global design company IDEO. It boils down to six questions that measure “desirability, feasibility and viability,” she said. Those are the key ingredients to growth or scale. 

“There are startups we work with who have had to do a couple of pivots before they really get traction,” Devin added. In a Founders Network session, Devin shares the six key questions startups should answer before achieving scale.

Register at Founders Network’s webinar for a complimentary pass, or find out if you qualify for full membership here and get advice on:

• Sizing up the pain point you’re solving for
• Ensuring your solution is intuitive and understandable
• Assessing the technology and talent needed to execute
• Evaluating your growth plan in a specific marketplace
• Testing the market constantly to pivot when needed

The first question is: Are you filling a genuine need? 

“If people don't understand what you do. It's really hard for them to get on board.” - @bdevintracy
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“You may think you have this great idea, but there may not be a big enough pain point or enough motivation for people to want to adopt a great idea,” Devin explained. “It might be more like a nice to have, or as I’ve  sometimes called it, like taking vitamins.”

“That points to how large your prospective customer base is, whether they be consumers of enterprises. And figuring out how to validate and address those genuine pain points can be a tough nut to crack for some startups,” she added. Another component of desirability whether or not your solution is intuitive — in other words, easy to describe and to understand:

“If people don’t understand what you do. It’s really hard for them to get on board,” Devin said. 

“It’s not a one-and-done exercise. Be self-reflective and honest: Get out other people's opinions, test the market, and make sure you know the whole plan and path you're moving forward on.” - @bdevintracy
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Feasibility is an indicator of your ability to execute the idea. That ties both into the available technology — is your solution going to be reliable when built at scale?  — as well as your team’s track record as well as your ability to fill key roles needed to grow. 

“The technology is critical, as well as the right team to execute your plan for building this company,” Devin said. “We have a lot of startups, for example, that have a small team and may have their original strategist or idea person, and maybe a CTO on board. But they may not have a sales team, or a marketing team — and all of those things are so important for scale.”  

Finally, viability points to your startup’s ability to gain traction, grow and retain your customer base, and compete in a specific marketplace over a longer period of time: “Have you really done your homework, and made sure there’s a addressable market out there that is that’s big enough to sustain this growth you’re aspiring to?” said Devin. 

“Some people feel like a pivot is viewed as a negative. I don't see it that way at all: The ability to flex and change is actually a sign of strength.” - @bdevintracy
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While desirability, feasibility and viability may be particularly critical for startups preparing for a growth period, it’s a good idea for startup founders to revisit these questions regularly. 

“It’s not a one-and-done exercise. Be self-reflective and honest: Get out other people’s opinions, test the market, and make sure you know the whole plan and path you’re moving forward on,” Devin added. “Some people feel like a pivot is viewed as a negative. And I don’t see it that way at all: The ability to flex and change is actually a sign of strength. Sometimes, original founders don’t see that.”

As you get to know your newest peers, keep an eye out: in addition to the usual educational pedigrees, we have a veteran of the International Physics Olympiad amongst us!

Please welcome to Founders Network:

Ann Montgomery, Co-Founder / CEO of Rolo: Rolo is a platform to easily capture, privately save, & selectively share anything you want to remember. Ann is based in San Francisco.

Jack Smith, Founder of PopRaz: Discover, organize and share the best businesses curated by experts. Jack is based in Seattle.

Jeremy Clement, Co-Founder of Project Expedition: A discovery and booking platform for tours and activities in adventure destinations around the world. Jeremy is based in New York City.

Jonathan Tang, Founder of WearApp Watch: App recommendations for smart watches. Jonathan is based in San Francisco.

Justin Santamaria, Co-Founder / Chief Product & Technology Officer of Rolo: Rolo is a platform to easily capture, privately save, & selectively share anything you want to remember. Justin is based in San Francisco.

Krassimir Fotev, Founder of Peer Belt Inc: Peerbelt combines Natural Language Processing techniques with behavioral curation to keep the best stories at your users’ fingertips. Krassimir is based in New York City.

Lee Loughnane, Founder & CEO of SocialSource: Phew! is the first and only app that provides parent/community approved, age-specific YouTube and web content for kids. Lee is based in San Francisco.

Leslie Wu, Co-Founder of Readme Labs: Venture News: Best content, best commentary, by community. Leslie is based in Silicon Valley.

Ricardo Amper, Founder & CEO of Incode Technologies: With Incode we want to revolutionize sharing and place control back in the users’ hands. Essentially, our goal is to give users their freedo. Ricardo is based in San Francisco.

Thomas Penichter, Founder of Gophr: your digital librarian. Thomas is based in New York City.

Vickie Zhao, Founder of Travel Startup-Name Pending: Stealth product. Vickie is based in San Francisco.

We can’t wait to see their contributions and successes through Founders Network!

Abhishek Agarwal, founder & CEO of Croudify. Croudify provides various tools to manage your P2P, Real Estate Investing, Small Business Lending, Merchant Advances, Equity investments. They provide a unified marketplace to institutions and retail investors. Abhishek is based in San Francisco, CA.

Ben Dempster, founder & CEO of Nearlist. Nearlist is a mobile-oriented marketing platform where customers and small businesses can connect to establish highly personal and efficient marketing and communication channels. Ben is based in San Francisco, CA.

Cayley Wetzig, founder & CEO of Infinity. Infinity is wearables for women, designed by women. Cayley is based in San Francisco, CA.

Danielle Patton, founder & CEO of Kid Carpool. Kid Carpool matches parents with other parents to ease the pains around finding and scheduling carpools for their kids. DriveLessPlayMore. Danielle is based in San Francisco, CA.

David DeMember, founder of Bassline. Bassline is in stealth mode. David is based in Millbrea, CA.

Gilad Gershoni, co-founder of Amplive. Amplive gives content creators the power to reach an audience in real-time to increase tune-in, engagement, lead generation or conversion. Gilad is based in San Francisco, CA.

Gunnar Counselman, co-founder & CEO of Fidelis. Fidelis is building a well integrated and comprehensive learning platform for fidall types of learning communities be they Universities, Companies, Military Units, Government organizations, or NGOs. Gunnar is based in San Francisco, CA.

Joel Garcia, co-founder & CTO of TidalWave. TidalWave has developed a SaaS and cloud solution allowing users to build business and transactional capabilities with a simple drag & drop. Joel is based in San Francisco, CA.

Landry Ngambia, founder of Huddlon. Huddlon is building a platform to revolutionize the way we create and preserve souvenirs associated with gatherings we organize or attend. Landry is based in San Francisco, CA.

Matthew Ramirez, founder & CEO of WriteLab. WriteLab draws on natural language processing algorithms to analyze your text and give thoughtful responses. Matthew is based in San Francisco, CA.

Naga Surendran, founder & CEO of Liri App. With Liri App, you can be effective on mobile with a unified search across E-mail, Salesforce, Evernote, Asana, Dropbox and more. Naga is based in San Francisco, CA.

Oren Boiman, founder of Magisto. Magisto is an application for Web, iOS and Android that offers users a fun and easy waymag to share their experiences through video. Oren is based in San Francisco, CA.

Tudor Cobalas, co-founder & CEO of SafeDrive.  SafeDrive improves the traffic safety and gets you discounts on products and services you need. Earn points for not using your phone while driving your car. Tudor is based in Amsterdam.

With the addition of the June ’15 Cohort, Founders Network is now more than 500 members strong! You can check out our previous cohorts here. 

We are passionate about combining the rich and diverse experience and perspectives all of our members bring to our peer mentorship community of tech startup founders. Together, we are taking management and personal risk off the table and ensuring mutual success. Stay tuned to Founders Edge for startup updates, tips and lessons learned from each of our new members. To learn more about Founders Network click here.

A big welcome to our March ’15 cohort of tech startup founders!

One of the strengths of Founders Network is the distinctive breadth and depth of experience that our members bring to our community. This month, our newest Founders Network members include backgrounds in education, medicine,  non-profit work, nutrition, and real estate — and a wealth of talent and accomplishments that range from MBAs at Berkeley and Northwestern, with work experience from Google, IBM, Microsoft, and more.

Founders Network is truly a global community, with our newest members joining us from throughout the United States, through Canada, Finland, and Poland.  We welcome our newest 2015 cohort and can’t wait to see their growth and impact in FN!

Emily Baum, CEO and Founder of Keyrious

Keyrious is the first luxury wearables solution that inspires and enables extraordinary experiences. Emily is based in the SF Bay Area, CA.

Chad Fisher, Co-Founder of Content Runner

Content Runner is a marketplace for connecting users and writers for the exchange of unique written content. Chad is based in Seattle, WA.

Alexandra Greenhill, CEO and Cofounder of myBestHelper

myBestHelper works to fundamentally improve how families find help around the home. Alexandra is based in Vancouver, Canada.

Helge Hellberg, CEO and Founder of Organic Media Network

Organic Media Network online publisher of education and entertainment for the lifestyle of health and sustainability. Helge is based in the SF Bay Area, CA.

German Heller, Founder and CEO of 3dar

3dar is an award-winning studio specializing in content creation.

Fahrzin Hemmati, Founder of chain reaction

chain reaction uses advanced algorithms to optimize manufacturing assembly lines. Fahrzin is based in the SF Bay Area, CA.

Timo Kari, Founder of Ostio.

Ostio is a platform for questions and answers, simplified. Timo is based in Finland.

Sebastian Krakowski, CEO and Founder of my.safenetwork

my.safenetwork is an innovative way to turn your home network into a private cloud. Sebastian is based in Poland.

Michael Meram, Founder of VOWD.

VOWD is the world’s first all-in-one collaboration site that links users to crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, and e-commerce. Michael is based in Detroit, MI.

Hubert Palan, Founder and CEO of ProductBoard

ProductBoard is a software-as-a-service platform for strategic product management. Hubert is based in San Francisco, CA.

Robert Reyes, CEO & Founder of M-Novation, Shouteri

Shouteri, a media startup currently in stealth mode. Robert is based in Texas.

Wojciech Sobczuk, Founder & CEO DynaDo

DynaDo is a comprehensive solution for team management, communication and productivity platform for doing business better. Wojciech is based in Poland.

Jason Wiener, Founder of GraphFM

GraphFM is a platform to raise developers abilities to the next level. Jason is based in San Francisco, CA.

With the addition of the March ’15 Cohort, Founders Network is now more than 500 members strong! You can visit our previous cohorts, here. 

We are passionate about combining the rich and diverse experience and perspectives all of our members bring to our peer mentorship community of tech startup founders. Together, we are taking management and personal risk off the table and ensuring mutual success. Stay tuned to Founders Edge for startup updates, tips and lessons learned from each of our new members. To learn more about Founders Network click here.

We are proud to introduce our February ’15 cohort of tech startup founders!

Our newest members join Founders Network with backgrounds in a diverse number of fields — from food, to fitness, software engineering, and e-commerce. Among our 13 newest members, we welcome a Yale MBA, a professor of entrepreneurship, as well as founders with previous work experience at SanDisk, Texas Instruments, and Yahoo. These founders join with decades of tech startup experience, representing tech hubs in London, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.  We welcome this second cohort of 2015 and can’t wait to see their growth and impact in FN!

David Calabrese, Founder of Healthy Cheats.

Healthy Cheats specializes in providing expertly-curated, great tasting (and nutritious) snacks at reasonable prices. David is based in San Francisco, CA.

Holly Cardew, Founder and CEO of Pixc.

Pixc provides a quick, efficient way to have retail-ready photos for use in less than 24 hours. Holly is based in San Francisco, CA.

Maria Fernandez Guajardo, Co-Founder and CEO of Magnetic Will, Inc.

Magnetic Will helps turn an exercise goal, into a lifelong habit. Maria is based in Silicon Valley.

Kevin Hailstock, Founder of Insightful Art, Inc.

Insightful Art offers an interactive website that helps you discover and create your own personalized art style. Kevin is based in New York City, NY.

Jay Hung, Founder of Mixture Labs

Mixture Labs — parent company for Bevvy — is a data-and-socially-driven online recipe platform for libations, and a community for imbibers. Jay is based in San Francisco, CA.

Han Jin, Founder and CEO of Lucid VR

Lucid VR brings to VR not only the world’s first portable double ultra-wide lens, 3D HD camera, but also an online portal to share your world: GoPro meets virtual reality. Han is based in London, UK.

Jake Risman, COO of Power Supply.

Power Supply provides table-ready, yawn-free meals crafted by local chefs and delivered weekly. Jeff is based in Washington DC.

Joshua Kriger, Co-Founder of Power Supply.

Power Supply provides table-ready, yawn-free meals crafted by local chefs and delivered weekly. Jeff is based in Washington DC.

Niles Lichtenstein, CEO / Co-Founder of The History Project.

The History Project is a multi-media platform that gives individuals and organizations a simple and powerful way to capture, build, and experience their history. Niles is based in San Francisco, CA.

Pat Santora, Application/Systems Architect of Swaddo.

Swaddo is a mobile device app that empowers parents and caregivers of infants and toddlers by enhancing communication. Pat is based in San Francisco, CA.

Maurizio Tripi, Founder & CEO of Real Contacts, Inc.

Real Contacts is the first mobile app that helps users understand the value and dynamics of their real life relationships, and bridges a gap between merely connecting on social networks and creating meaningful real life relationships. Maurizio is based in San Francisco, CA.

Tanya Troshyna, Curbsidr.

Curbsidr is a United States-based company developing a mobile application to find, buy, and deliver gourmet products to companies, curbside. Tanya is based in San Francisco, CA.

Daniel Uyemura, Founder of Push Press.

Push Press PushPress provides robust, simple, and elegant recurring billing and membership management solutions. Services the niche industry of fitness. Daniel is based in Los Angeles, CA.

With the addition of the February ’15 Cohort, Founders Network is now more than 500 members strong! We are excited about the deep and diverse experience sets and perspectives each new member brings to our peer mentorship community of tech startup founders. Together we are taking management and personal risk off the table and ensuring mutual success. Stay tuned to Founders Edge for startup updates, tips and lessons learned from each of our new members. To learn more about Founders Network click here.

Arun Agrahri, Co-Founder and CTO of Airseed. Airseed is a platform that provides consumer data focused tools, analytics, and intelligence. Arun is based in San Francisco, CA.

Mark Anderson, Founder of Verse Buy Verse. Verse Buy Verse is a publishing startup in stealth mode. Mark is based in Los Angeles, CA.

Jose Batalla, Founder of Eazylingo. Eazylingo is a hybrid online and traditional language center that combines an effective teaching method with a user-friendly platform. Jose is based in San Francisco, CA.

Chandra DeKeyser, Co-Founder and CEO of MoodMe. MoodMe allows users to create living emoticons with their faces. Chandra is based in Palo Alto, CA.

Rafael Jimenez, Founder and CEO of Seenapse. Seenapse is a search engine for creative people who are looking for non-obvious, divergent results to spark ideas. Rafael is based in Mexico City, Mexico.

Tobi Kornwasser, Founder of MicroDynamics. MicroDynamics is a technology company with deep expertise implementing business process analysis and BPM solutions. Tobi is based in Melbourne, Australia.

David Plonsky, Founder of MyStandby. MyStandby is in stealth mode. David is based in New York, NY.

Raj Ray, Founder of VIP Bidding. VIP Bidding connects people making last minute plans with popular night clubs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Raj is based in Chicago, IL.

Rachael Rusting, Founder and CEO of Kesetodo Inc. Kesetodo Inc. is in stealth mode. Rachael is based in San Francisco, CA.

Roberto Scaccia, Founder and CEO of VeebProject. Veeb aims to change the way people communicate around the world using a collective visual vocabulary. Roberto is based in San Francisco, CA.

Alex Tang, Founder of Gruv Music. Gruv Music is bringing social music creation to everyone. Alex is based in the Silicon Valley.

With the addition of the December ’14 Cohort, Founders Network is now more than 500 members strong! We are excited about the deep and diverse experience sets and perspectives each new member brings to our peer mentorship community of tech startup founders. Together we are taking management and personal risk off the table and ensuring mutual success. Stay tuned to Founders Edge for startup updates, tips and lessons learned from each of our new members. To learn more about Founders Network click here.

Nitin Pachisia announces Unshackled, a new $3.5M early stage fund (via Jordan Crook, TechCrunch). Unshackled is an innovative way of seeding startups by hiring founders on payroll, including those on visas.

Jay DeDapper, Founder of Buzztala announces the general availability of its Organic Video Ad Network (via PRWeb). Buzztala is reinventing paid search for retailers and brands with stackable, searchable, tasty short video product review summaries.

William Li announces that Knightscope will have 10 robots deployed by the end of the fiscal year (Mashable). Knightscope is developing technology that will predict and prevent crime utilizing autonomous technology, robotics and predictive analytics.

Jeremy Almond announces that PayStand is partnering with the Santa Cruz Warriors (via PRWeb). PayStand makes it simple for anyone to sell or receive money online – directly on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs or any Website.

Jesse Maddox announces that TripLingo is partnering with Travizon Inc (via PRWeb). TripLingo develops mobile applications that help international travelers translate various languages.

Shannon Ong announces the launch of The Catch (via Jessica Nemire, SF Weekly). The Catch is a playful online dating game.

Founders Network offers peer mentorship for over 500 tech startup founders. If you are interested in learning more about our approval process, please click here.

Check out Founders Network members making tech startup news headlines in this week’s member news roundup. Founders Network offers peer mentorship for over 500 tech startup founders. To learn more about FN, please visit www.foundersnetwork.com

Miguel Amaro‘s Startup UniPlaces raises $3.5M in Series A funding (via Natasha Lomas, TechCrunch). UniPlaces is the fastest-growing international website for booking student accommodations online.

Michael Meinhardt, Founder of Cloudwords announces they are the 1st marketing globalization platform to integrate with Oracle Marketing Cloud (via Marketwired). Cloudwords accelerates content globalization at scale, dramatically reducing the cost, complexity and turnaround time required for the localization of all marketing content.

Stacy Chapman, Founder of SwoopTalent announces a strategic partnership with TalentCircles (via PRWeb). SwoopTalent is a subscription based sourcing platform which semantically searches a range of social platforms to identify, match and rank quality passive candidates for recruiters, and then uses the social networks of employees to connect, reference check and refer these candidates for faster, more effective hiring.

Taylor Umphreys, Founder of Zuli announces that they have simplified the smart home (via Michael Brown, PC Advisor). Zuli is creating a brand new experience for the home, in which the home adapts to who you are, what room you’re in, and what your preferences are to make you more comfortable and energy efficient.

Alec Matias‘ startup Pawzii wins the Edg3 Fund competition (via Kitsapsun Peninsula Business Journal). Pawzii is on a pet-focused mission to rescue the lost, rehabilitate the injured, and rehome the abandoned.

If you are interested in learning more about our approval process, please click here.