Startup Around

If you’re a woman small business owner who wants to do business with corporate or government clients, you know there’s a lot of competition.

Certification makes your business more visible to potential clients, increases your networking opportunities, and can expose you to new possibilities.

The Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) certification is for businesses wanting to do business with the private sector, nonprofits, state governments, or local governments.

For those wanting to work with the federal government, your goal is certification from Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) or Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB).

Businesses will need to certify through an approved third-party entity or go through the SBA’s free online certification at certify.sba.gov. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586044808.8986857/Upcoming-Certification-Changes-for-Women-Owned-Businesses?ref=audio_experience

To help you prepare for your all-important discussions with your legal and financial advisors, the following is food for thought about some of the most popular business entity types.

Business entity basics1.

Pass-through tax simplicity—Business profits and losses flow through to the business owners’ individual tax returns, keeping tax filing simple, too.

Also, outside investors typically will not fund businesses that haven’t formally registered as a statutory business entity (e.g., LLC or corporation).

Also, outside investors typically will not fund businesses that haven’t formally registered as a statutory business entity (e.g., LLC or corporation). | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586043007.3944628/Business-Entity-Types-101:-Is-It-Time-to-Rethink-Your-Business-Structure??ref=audio_experience

Writing and publishing a book is no small feat.

What is one particularly important thing for entrepreneurs to remember when they are looking to write or publish their first book?

Have a unique storyEvery entrepreneur with a social media presence is writing a book now.

Be sure you can offer a unique and entertaining story based off a successful background before you even think about publishing a book.

Take advantage of social mediaWhile you’re writing your book, be sure to include parts that redirect all your readers to some of your social media profiles. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586041206.4922523/Want-to-Write-a-Business-Book?-Follow-These-Expert-Tips?ref=audio_experience

Allaying fears of electricity grid failure following the Prime Minister's appeal to switch off lights on Sunday night, the Power Ministry said these apprehensions are misplaced and all protocols are in place to handle the fluctuation in demand.

However, the power ministry in a statement on Saturday said these "apprehensions are misplaced."

All local bodies have been advised to keep the street lights on for public safety, the Power Ministry said.

The SLDC in its letter asked the utilities to keep all the reactors of state grid in service while keeping capacitor banks inoperational.

Meanwhile, an official on the condition of anonymity said power demand may fall by 10 GW to 12 GW during the blackout, which will have no bearing on stability of the national power grid. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586039732.7774122/Fears-of-grid-failure-due-to-Sunday-blackout-misplaced:-Power-Ministry?ref=audio_experience

Layoffs at some high-profile startups - including Bird, Wonderschool, and ZipRecruiter - were announced via mass video calls.

On March 27, employees at the buzzy scooter startup Bird were invited to a 30-minute Zoom meeting titled simply, "COVID-19 Bird Update."

"I find a lot of the actions that took place on Friday horrendous," former Bird employee Jenny Li Alva wrote in a Medium blog post.

If the company mishandles layoffs, Riemer added, "it absolutely will impact recruitment and talent because the world is small."

In the Medium blog post, Alva, the former Bird employee wrote that "I still believe in the product" and in the dream of getting people on scooters and bikes, instead of "isolated in cars." | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586037605.338483/Hot-startups-like-Bird,-Wonderschool,-and-ZipRecruiter-have-been-doing-layoffs-via-massive-video-calls.-Here's-the-humane-process-you-can-follow-instead.?ref=audio_experience

The app will also provide other important information to the people of the stateThe government of Punjab has launched an on-demand delivery of essential goods and groceries through its COVA app.

The COVA app is expected to solve these problems.

Vendors can easily list themselves and their delivery platforms on the COVA app to get a pass to continue with their services.

Besides this, the UP government is also encouraging online food delivery.

Meanwhile, almost 70 Indian startups have been developing a “Quarantine App” to help the government for the same purpose. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586036027.288023/Punjab-Govt-Brings-Vendors-Online-With-COVA-Grocery-Delivery-App?ref=audio_experience

You could get 12 weeks of coronavirus-related paid leave under a new law - but only until December 31.

Here's how to know if you're eligible for the benefits. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586034225.4531567/30-startups-creating-the-future-of-work-that-will-prosper-in-2020,-according-to-VCs?ref=audio_experience

Bad news is some people across the ecosystem have been telling us some investors are indeed going back on their words.

Enter, the Ecosystem PledgeA thriving, and now resilient, ecosystem needs the active commitment of all the players that participate.

The VC AmendmentsSeveral VC firms including 500 Startups Latam, ALLVP, Angels Ventures Mexico, Dalus Capital, and Ignia, signed the agreement.

There are five pledges:I will honor all my signed commitments to VC funds and startups and will deposit in agreed timing and conditions.

I will not take advantage of the lack of liquidity to force VC firms or startups forcing them unfairly advantageous deals. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586032206.2139378/VC-firms-sign-pledge-to-commit-to-startup-ecosystem-during-this-crisis?ref=audio_experience

Bengaluru-based Juno, a cross-border neobank that provides customers an FDIC Insured High Yield Checking Account, on Friday officially announced that it has raised a seed round of $3 million from Sequoia Capital's Surge Program, Polychain Capital and Dragonfly Capital Partners.

Varun Deshpande, Co-founder of Juno, said,“With these marquee investors onboard, we are now well capitalised to launch Juno in the US and onboard initial customers with our High Yield Checking Account."

Juno was founded in July 2019 by Varun Deshpande, Ratnesh Ray and Siddharth Verma, who also created the Consensys-backed Nuo protocol in 2018.

The trio had earlier founded BeeWise, an alternate credit analytics platform acquired in 2017 by Aditya Birla Money.

Juno said its goal is to completely phase out the use of Savings Account by building a powerful High Yield Checking Account which can help save more with direct deposits, free cash withdrawals and no fees. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586030521.3367307/[Funding-alert]-Neobank-Juno-raises-$3M-in-seed-from-Sequoia's-Surge,-Polychain-Capital,-others?ref=audio_experience

There are expected to be 7 billion mobile users by 2021, with total annual mobile app downloads reaching 258 billion by 2022.

Since mainstream emergence in 2010, the mobile app market hasn’t experienced a significant market downturn.

Consumer app usage should be yet another consideration for app developers.

As normal life returns and people get back to their lives, app developers will see traffic fall and — coupled with lowered advertising spend — app developers will be stuck with the lingering, crushing reality of vastly affected revenues.

As is true in any industry, app developers will need to adapt or suffer. | To read full story, visit https://startuparound.com/read/1586028604.909933/App-developers-in-post-Covid-world:-A-bleak-future,-rife-with-opportunity?ref=audio_experience