How iSelect Got Its Start
I conceived of iSelect the day that Congress passed the JOBS Act. What the JOBS Act said is that, in the past when people were raising money for private deals for new startup companies, they couldn't advertise or solicit to broad audiences. You had to have a...
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Resistant Hypertension: Ending the Death Sentence
Physicians have been fascinated with blood and the circulatory system for hundreds of years. Records dating back to early Roman times prove that bloodletting was in wide use as a treatment for disease at least 2,000 years ago, and leeches have been used in medicine...
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Better Weekdays: The Future of Hiring Is Here
On today's podcast we discuss how startup company Better Weekdays is reducing friction in the talent acquisition process. With their interactive platform that provides tools and services, improving the hiring process for students, colleges, and employers. Carter...
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College Grads Aren’t Fitting Into the Job Market, and Here’s Why
First, the good news: Corporations are on track to hire more recent college grads this year -- up 5% versus last year, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers -- making 2017 the eighth year in a row that companies have increased their...
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What Is iSelect?
iSelect is a venture firm. What that means is we look at hundreds and hundreds of different companies as potential investments and we chose the best of those to invest in.
FairWords: Automating Compliance for Enterprise Communications
The term “Information Age” is generally associated with the rise of the personal computer in the 1980s and the World Wide Web in the 1990s, as human history shifted from the era of industrialization to the modern age in which information and communications are the...
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What Is a Market Network?
One of the reasons why Silicon Valley is very successful is the fact that it has what we refer to as a "market network." A market network is a combination of talent. You have local universities that have strong domain experience in IT or something of that sort and are...
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PopBookings: New Tools to Revolutionize Temporary Staffing
The U.S. labor market is changing, with more and more jobs becoming temporary or on-demand. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 27 million people are currently employed on a part-time basis, with temporary placements representing the fastest-growing...
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PopBookings Goes International, Bringing Its Industry-Leading Technology to the Global Events Market
PopBookings, the event staffing software that streamlines talent coordination for promotional models, brand ambassadors, street teams, bartenders, and more, is pleased to announce its expansion into the European market with its first services for clients in the U.K.
Cofactor Genomics: RNA Is About to Make Personalized Medicine a Reality
By David Messina, PhD This is an amazing time to be in biology. In fact, I like to say that right now we’re in a place that’s a lot like where personal computers were in 1987. In those days, PCs were pretty limited in what they could do. They still ran off of floppy...
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Immunophotonics, SAKK Move Forward with Research Collaboration
Cancer care is entering a new age, transitioning from treatments that attack both cancerous and healthy cells at the same time, to more targeted, specialized therapies that address the root cause of cancer itself without damaging surrounding tissues. Biotech company...
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Why iSelect Invests Away From Silicon Valley
At iSelect, we focus on investing outside of Silicon Valley. I’ve worked with many venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, and they are extraordinarily good at what they do. What they do is invest in IT technologies, media technologies, entertainment technologies. Not...
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Innovation Is Hard: Why We’re Still Waiting for the Next Silicon Valley
In 2012, Kansas City experienced what at the time must have felt like winning the tech industry lottery. Google, the Internet powerhouse from the Bay Area, was flying all the way out to the middle of the country to install its first fiber-backed broadband service,...
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Why 4% GDP Growth Matters
Entrepreneurs are the single greatest force for economic growth in American history. No government program, monetary incentive, or trade deal is going to outperform the efforts of everyday people, starting companies, hiring others and driving prosperity in their local communities. The fact is, they are the solution to the U.S. push for 4% GDP growth.
Meet the Companies That Are Revolutionizing Organics
The market for organics is changing, fast. According to a new report published this week in The Wall Street Journal, sales of organic crops are soaring, but the prices paid for those products are dropping steadily due to increased imports and new competition in the...
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The Midwest Is Back, and Innovation Is the Reason
The world is finally learning about a trend that iSelect has known about for years: that innovation and new technology are breathing new life into the economies of the U.S. Midwest. In fact, both Kansas City and St. Louis were featured in a recent CNN piece on...
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Gila Therapeutics: New Solutions for the Obesity Crisis
Obesity is the single largest health crisis facing the world today. More than one billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, accounting for 38% of the population. In the U.S., a full 68% of adults, or some 200 million people, are overweight. On average, obese...
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Holganix for Property Managers: Stronger Turf, Better Profits
Green, LEED, and environmental sustainability are all becoming increasingly important to tenants and customers. Simultaneously, how a property looks, from the grass to the ornamental plants, also carries weight in the leasing decision. But, landscaping is a cost...
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House Calls Are Back: How Epharmix Is Revolutionizing Healthcare
There is massive consolidation occurring in the healthcare space right now, and as a result hospital systems are acting almost like private equity groups. They're sucking up all of these once-independent primary care providers and are distributing all of the...
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iSelect 101: Funding Midwestern Entrepreneurs
In this first installment of iSelect’s new video series, iSelect CEO Carter Williams speaks about how he, as a trained engineer, sees the work that iSelect is doing to bring funding to entrepreneurs in the Midwest. It’s a problem, he explains, but like all...
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Inside the $8 Billion: Here’s What’s Holding Back U.S. Innovation
The biggest myth in American entrepreneurship is the idea that we’re riding a bubble of unprecedented startup funding driving new innovation.
Benson Hill Biosystems and the Changing Face of Agriculture Technology
The global population is booming, diets are shifting and urbanization is rising. Never has so much been asked of agriculture to meet the needs of our society. Never have the external risks to agriculture advancement been greater, whether from changing climate, limited...
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Holganix: Probiotics Are Changing Agriculture In a Big Way
It’s often the smallest things that make the biggest differences in our lives. Consider probiotics, for instance. Probiotics are living organisms—typically bacteria, yeasts and other microorganisms—that work in partnership with the human body to improve our health. Unlike bacteria that can cause disease, these are often called “good” or “helpful” bacteria because of the benefits they provide.
Crowdfunding Can Be Risky. iSelect Has the Solution
The JOBS Act has opened the door to all venture investors, allowing everyone to invest in startup companies via online crowdfunding platforms.
Benson Hill Biosystems Receives AgFunder Innovation Award
We are thrilled to announce that AgFunder has named iSelect portfolio company Benson Hill Biosystems to its annual list of "Most Innovative" startups, including it on its list of "The 5 Most Innovative U.S. Startups at Series A and Beyond" alongside AgBiome, Blue...
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John Talley Turns His Attention to Cancer Therapy
For Euclises, it’s simple. Without the work of John Talley, Ph.D., the world would not have Celebrex®, the blockbuster arthritis treatment that has generated in excess of $3.5 billion in sales for Pfizer. Or Dynastat®, an injectable COX-2 inhibitor that’s sold...
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The $3 Trillion Problem: Solving America’s Infrastructure Crisis
The United States has an infrastructure problem. By some estimates, America needs about $3 trillion of investment in its critical infrastructure to support its crumbling bridges, highways, dams and other structures. That's a big number. The American Society of Civil...
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iSelect Named to 2016 ‘Hot in St. Louis’ List
Big news for iSelect: We have been named a winner of Owler’s 2016 “Hot in St. Louis” award!
Venture Capital Is Changing From ‘Craft’ to ‘Lean’: Here’s Why That’s Important
Venture capital is the highest performing asset class available to investors today, but it is far from a level playing field. In truth, a large portion of the return in the asset class comes from a few top tier funds and the balance from smaller emerging manager...
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Make Money Investing in Entrepreneurs, Drive Growth
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Private Equity Shakeup: What CalPERS Means for Venture Investors
I’ll just come right out and say it: We saw this coming. CalPERS last month announced that it was exploring changes to its private equity program, including the removal of general partners and making private equity investments directly. As a $300 billion pension fund—among the 10 largest in the world—a move like this by CalPERS, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, signals big changes coming to the market.
The Thanksgiving Feast: Venture’s Time Has Arrived
This Thanksgiving, investors have a lot to be thankful for. Markets are up, uncertainty is fading and the long-term outlook for the U.S. economy is improving. What’s more, there is still capital waiting on the sidelines. After sitting in cash for the better part of eight years and holding back, many investors are looking for an outlet to drive the next round of growth.
The Path to 4% GDP: Entrepreneurs are the Answer
Entrepreneurs are the single greatest force for economic growth in American history. No government program, or monetary incentive, or trade deal is going to outperform the efforts of everyday people, starting companies, hiring others and driving prosperity in their local communities.
