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McNair Center Weekly Roundup

Entrepreneurship Weekly Roundup 3/10/17

Weekly Roundup is a McNair Center series compiling and summarizing the week’s most important Entrepreneurship and Innovation news.

Here is what you need to know about entrepreneurship this week:

A Tale of Untapped Potential: Cincinnati

Eliza Martin, Research Assistant, McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

McNair’s Martin focuses on Cincinnati’s entrepreneurial ecosystem this week. While this midwestern city might appear a surprising or unlikely choice, many of Cincinnati’s entrepreneurs have thrived in recent years due to the city’s ample resources. For starters, the city is home to ten Fortune 500 companies, including Macy’s and Kroger. Its large corporations offer an invaluable network of resources and access to capital for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, the University of Cincinnati, which boasts a marketing program that ranks among the top five in the nation, and Xavier University both offer university accelerator programs designed to support young entrepreneurs as they look to launch a business plan. In addition to university accelerator programs, entrepreneurs in Cincinnati also have the option of applying to three other accelerators within the region, The Brandery, UpTech and Ocean Accelerator.

Although Cincinnati is home to a variety of different VC funds and investment options, like CincyTech and Cintrifuse, the city closes significantly fewer deals on average per year than the likes of Austin or Denver. Martin explains this smaller number of deal closures as a function of lower levels of VC activity and fewer funding rounds. To compete with major entrepreneurial hubs, Cincinnati must increase its VC presence even further.

Wanted: More Women Entrepreneurs

Taylor Jacobe, Research Assistant, McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

In her latest post for the McNair Center, Jacobe analyzes how improving female representation in entrepreneurship could boost economic growth in the U.S. Currently, women-owned businesses account for only 16 percent of employing companies. While women entrepreneurs tend to perform as well as, if not better than, their male counterparts, many cite lack of access to capital and limited mentorship opportunities as major obstacles to success.

According to a study from the National Women’s Business Council, women entrepreneurs start their businesses with 50 percent less capital than men. A survey conducted by the Kauffman Foundation revealed that 79 percent of women entrepreneurs drew from their personal funds when launching their business. Perhaps more telling, women are three times less likely than men to receive funding from angel and seed investors for their startups. By tackling gender bias in VC firms and other barriers to capital, public and private initiatives can better integrate women into America’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

As Snap Ascended, These Rival Apps Faltered

Joanna Glasner, Reporter, TechCrunch

According to TechCrunch’s Glasner, VCs love messaging apps for a number of reasons: “massive scalability, low startup costs, loyal users and the potential to mint billions without having to turn a profit.” Messaging apps present a huge potential for success for investors in the modern age, exemplified by Snap’s recent IPO and WhatsApp’s acquisition by Facebook for $17 billion in 2014. Despite this rosy picture, many VC-backed startups that were messaging apps have fallen through the cracks over the years. TechCrunch recently took a closer look at how much capital has been invested into messaging apps only to find that VCs have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into companies that haven’t raised a funding round in two years. Glasner concedes that it is too early to dismiss these once promising startups as failed investments. Regardless the outcomes of these startups, prospects of success in the messaging app arena are daunting.

Y Combinator Opens Registration for Its Free Startup School Online Course

Ken Yeung, Contributor, VentureBeat

Y Combinator,one of the most successful seed accelerators in the U.S., has funded over 1,464 startups since its founding in 2005. Known for its excellent track record of spotting tech giants (Dropbox, Reddit and Airbnb, to name a few), its companies have a total valuation of over $80 billion. The famous accelerator recently announced that it would be opening up its Startup School event to the masses through a massively open online course (MOOC). The 10-week online course will offer entrepreneurs, who are not enrolled in Y Combinator’s core program, access to online courses taught by successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and industry greats. Lessons will focus on important topics in the startup business, such as “idea generation, product development, growth, culture building, fundraising and more.” Y Combinator partner Jessica Livingston told VentureBeat  back in 2015 that the accelerator’s mission was “to help startups at whatever stage they’re in become billion-dollar companies.”

Lemnos Just Raised a $50 Million Third Fund to (Mostly) Focus on Hardware

Connie Loizos and Katie Roof, Contributors, TechCrunch

San Francisco-based VC firm Lemnos was founded in 2014 as a firm focused on seed-staged investment into hardware companies. Successful companies like Fitbit, Oculus, Square and GoPro have boosted investor confidence in hardware companies in recent years. Lemnos recently announced that it will discontinue its incubator program to focus solely on investing in promising software development and hardware startups. The announcement marks a new stage in the VC firm’s short history, as Lemnos used to invest exclusively in hardware companies. When asked about possible investment opportunities moving forward, Lemnos executives told TechCrunch that they were very excited about the field of robotics.

This Program Uses Lean Startup Techniques to Turn Scientists into Entrepreneurs

Greg Satell, Contributor, Harvard Business Review

In 2011 the National Science Foundation (NSF), headed by Subra Suresh, founded I-Corps, a program designed to help transform scientists into entrepreneurs. The idea for the program originated when Suresh noticed that many of the scientific discoveries, made possible with NSF research grants, were not breaking out of their academic silos and into the marketplace. Harvard Business Review’s Satell describes the program as an initiative by NSF to “foster better links between government and industry.” Errol Arkilic, director of I-Corps, initially reached out to Steve Blank to help design the program, which is now an 8-week course for graduate students. The curriculum adopts the philosophies of Blank’s lean startup movement. Blank stresses the importance of developing products that actually address consumer needs; early on, Arkilic realized that many aspiring scientist-entrepreneurs create solutions to problems that consumers don’t want. Upon completion of the entrepreneurship training, participants partner with VentureWell, a nonprofit accelerator.

As of last May, I-Corps successfully trained over 700 teams. In aggregate, I-Corps teams have raised over $80 million from government grants and VC firms. Significantly, 90 percent of the program’s participants say that I-Corps changed their approach to conducting research and writing grant proposals. In response to the program’s success, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense implemented programs that resemble the I-Corps model.

When Will All the Unicorns Exit? VC Liquidity Lagging behind Expectations

Mikey Tom, Senior Financial Writer, PitchBook

PitchBook’s Tom explains that “for the VC model to work, huge rounds need to lead to huge exits.” However, while 2015 was a year of unicorn funding rounds, 2016 did not bring large exits. In fact, VC-backed exits reached their lowest point in six years in Q4 of 2010. Part of the decline in exits could potentially be explained by an increased buildup of capital in private markets; abundance of VC in private markets might lead startups to wait longer to go public or get acquired. Another important statistic revealed by PitchBook’s analysis of VC liquidity in 2016: the median size of corporate M&A deals increased – by a lot. The total exit value of corporate M&A deal reached its second highest level in the decade, indicating larger and fewer acquisitions. On the other hand, the amount of capital raised and the number of completed IPOs in 2016 reached lows not observed since 2010 for VC-backed firms.

These Are the 50 Most Promising Startups You’ve Never Heard Of

Ellen Huet, Reporter, Bloomberg

Bloomberg recently released a list of the 50 most promising U.S. startups. Market researcher Quid generated the list by looking at over 50,000 startups and considering factors, such pace of funding, industry and history of the company’s founders.All 50 startups were founded within the last six years, and they represent a variety of industries. Startups involved in online security, fraud detection, AI, autonomous driving and AR drew the most capital. VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital each invested in six startups that made the cut.

 

The Weekly Roundup will return on March 24.

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McNair Center Weekly Roundup

Entrepreneurship Weekly Roundup: 2/17/17

Weekly Roundup is a McNair Center series compiling and summarizing the week’s most important Entrepreneurship and Innovation news.

Here is what you need to know about entrepreneurship this week:

The International Entrepreneur Rule: The US Startup Visa

Ramee Saleh, Research Assistant, McNair Center for Entrepreneurship

During the last days of the Obama Administration, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) passed the International Entrepreneur Rule. The legislation intends to attract international entrepreneurs to the U.S. by granting them “discretionary parole.”

Under the rule, entrepreneurs can apply for temporary five year visas, as long as they partially own a startup that has received at least $250,000 in VC funding from “established U.S. investors” or $100,000 from “government entities.” If a startup fails to meet these funding requirements, the applicant must prove that a “significant public benefit” would result from the his or her entry into the United States. Due to the strict standards, the Department of Homeland Security estimates the program to admit only 2,940 entrepreneurs annually.

Scheduled to go into effect July 17, the International Entrepreneur Rule is still subject to change by any reforms to the H-1B visa program by the Trump Administration.

With $6B in Deals in 2016, ID Management Is a Hot Sector You May Have Missed

Joanna Glasner, Contributor, TechCrunch

In 2016, startups involved in identity management collectively claimed over $6 billion in acquisitions from private equity buyers. Identity management startups also experienced successful funding rounds, raising over $200 million from VCs. These startups are responding to a growing need for improvements in health care IT and authentication. Last year,ECRI Institute, a global nonprofit focused on patient safety, listed “patient identification errors” as the second most important safety concern for health care organizations.

TechCrunch’s Glasner highlights tech unicorn Otka, an identification management and authentication platform provider, that has raised over $200 million from VCs. Otka is considering going public this year.

Lawmakers Try to Stop State-Sponsored Retirement Plans

Anne Tergese, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

Last week, Republican Congressmen introduced measures to prevent small businesses from automatically enrolling employees in state or locally sponsored retirement plans. The bill comes as several states have enacted retirement savings programs that automatically deduct earnings from employee’s paychecks for deposit into individual retirement accounts.

These programs only affect residents who do not have access to a workplace retirement plan; AARP estimates that this number stands at 55 million people nationwide by. AARP executive vice president Nancy LeaMond has publicly stated that Congress should take steps to support, rather than end, these state savings programs.

Supporters of the bill believe that state-sponsored retirement plans “discourage small businesses from offering private-sector plans” by forcing employees “into government-run plans with fewer protections and less control over their hard-earned savings.”

Banks Are Finally Sprouting Anew in America

Rachel Witkowski, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

In the past few months, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation received the greatest volume of applications for “startup banks” since the financial crisis.The increase reflects an improving economy and expectations for future deregulation of the financial sector.

Startup, or “community,” banks are traditionally viewed as banks that hold less than $1 billion in assets. According to Q3 FDIC data from last year, community banks are responsible for 43% of loans to small businesses. The Wall Street Journal’s Witkowski reports that many community bankers believe that “the decline in the number of banks has led to fewer lending options for startups and small businesses.” Supporters of deregulation believe that greater numbers of community banks spur economic growth and job creation.

Don’t Panic Labs Pioneers “Dev-for-Equity” Model to Help Startups

Christine McGuigan, Reporter, Silicon Prairie News

Don’t Panic Labs is an offshoot of the engineering arm of successful VC fund, Nebraska Global. Don’t Panic Labs adopts a “dev-for-equity” model, assisting startups and entrepreneurs with software and product development in return for company equity. The firm also provides software development services for publicly traded companies that do not require capital investment.

Despite serving established companies, Bill Udell, Integrator for Don’t Panic Labs, told Silicon Prairie News that the firm’s “DNA is in creating startup companies.” In 2016, the firm poured $396,000 of dev-for-equity investment into startups. Don’t Panic Lab focuses on product development and training for its clients’ in-house software engineers.

PitchBook Brings Company Financial Data to Its Mobile App

John Mannes, Writer, TechCrunch

MorningStar, Chicago-based investment research and management firm, acquired PitchBook in 2016. Pitchbook is an industry leader in providing investors with up-to-date coverage of VC, PE and M&A transactions. According TechCrunch’s Mannes, PitchBook, although known for its comprehensive coverage of tech firms, is also increasingly expanding its database to include coverage on non-tech companies as well.

PitchBook recently announced plans to add financial data for 226,000 private companies to its mobile app. The update will provide the database’s 7,000 active members with previously unavailable insight into the financials and revenue figures of private companies.

And in startup news…

Ford to Invest $1 Billion in Artificial Intelligence Start-Up

Mike Isac, technology reporter based in The Times’s San Francisco bureau, and Neal E. Boudette, Reporter, The New York Times

Many automakers are hoping to achieve some of the success that many Silicon Valley startups have found by investing in autonomous vehicle technology and ride-hailing services. Ford recently announced that it will invest $1B in Argo AI, startup focused on utilizing artificial intelligence to develop self-driving cars. Mark Fields, president and CEO of Ford, told reporters last week that the automaker hopes to become “part of the ecosystem of Silicon Valley.”

With the rise in popularity of “mobility services,” car ownership is growing increasingly unnecessary for consumers living in urban centers. Ford’s move suggests an industry-wide shift in strategy, as traditional automakers must adapt to shifting consumer attitudes. For instance, last year General Motors invested $500 million in ride-hailing startup, Lyft, and acquired Cruise Automation, a startup geared toward developing roadway technologies that support autonomous vehicles.

Fields explains the motives behind Ford’s investment: “If we can combine the best of a start-up and marry that with proper equity compensation, then that’s the best of both worlds.”

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McNair Center Weekly Roundup

Entrepreneurship Weekly Roundup: 11/18/2016

Weekly Roundup is a McNair Center series compiling and summarizing the week’s most important Entrepreneurship and Innovation news.

Here is what you need to know about entrepreneurship this week:

Nationalism is not putting a damper on this trillion-dollar sector

Elaine Pofeldt, Contributor, CNBC.com

CNBC Contributor Elain Pofeldt observes that the United States and Europe are witnessing a rise in nationalist and anti-globalization sentiment. She cites Mr. Trump’s election and the Brexit referendum as evidence. The trend may reflect a global desire to redistribute market and government benefits domestically – and a disapproval of corporations that send wages abroad and profits to the already wealthy.

In this uncertain climate, one economic principle remains key: Entrepreneurship fosters economic growth.

The Kauffman Foundation’s recently released Global Entrepreneurship Index emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurship to economic growth. This annual index rates countries on the health and quality of their entrepreneurial ecosystems. There is a strong correlation between a country’s GDP and its technological advancements. Governments should support a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem if they are truly serious about encouraging the country’s economic growth.

Currently the U.S. ranks number one on the index. The index suggests that the strength of the U.S. entrepreneurial environment lies in a strong perception for opportunity. One area of opportunity that U.S. entrepreneurs are increasingly tapping into are the regulated sectors, such as health care, energy and education.

Social entrepreneurs is also on the rise. Jonathan Ortmans, a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, notes how this relates to national policy: “We’re now seeing a much larger number of public-sector leaders — government at the national and local level — jumping in and asking, `How do we tackle this and build stronger entrepreneurial ecosystems?'”

The Role of Entrepreneurship in Job Creation and Economic Growth

Margarita Hakobyan, Contributor, Huffington Post

Huffington Post’s Hakobyan emphasizes the role of entrepreneurship in job creation and economic growth. According to a report released by the Small Business Administration in 2012, small businesses created 60 percent of new jobs in the previous decade.

New businesses challenge existing markets and encourage competition by offering new or improved products. Successful entrants often steer customers away from existing companies. Disruptions in the market consequently force existing companies to innovate or watch their market share diminish.

Although the manufacturing sector suffered job losses from advancements in automation and other technologies, its productivity and scale have both risen considerably.

Manufacturing is an exception – many market disruptions create jobs. For example, Netflix, dismantled the video rental industry but created jobs by feeding a demand for large-scale processing of DVDs and maintenance of the grocery store kiosks that sell these DVDs.

Small businesses can also contribute to economic growth through their flexibility and diversity. Flexibility allows startups to react quickly to market conditions. Startups can meet consumer demands faster than established corporations because large companies often must follow long administrative processes before implementing reforms.

Venture Capital Firm Navigates Uncharted Course to Success

Michael J. de la Merced, Reporter, New York Times

The Times’ Merced reports on venture capital firm, Spark Capital. The firm is known for early investment in promising startups like Twitter, Tumblr, Slack and Oculus.

Spark is also wading into uncertain industries. It recently invested in Cruise Automation, a San Francisco-based startup that develops software for self-driving cars. At a time when Google and Uber declared self-driving vehicles “among their top research priorities,” the success of less funded and less established startups competing to break into the same market seemed doubtful. Big industry players already dominated the research on self-automated cars, so most VC firms turned to alternative ventures within less-explored markets. Despite the industry’s conventional wisdom, Cruise Automation was sold to General Motors for $1 billion within months.

Spark adopts a nontraditional process for investment decisions that focuses on products rather than markets. Instead of specializing in certain industries or markets, partners at Spark can bring any prospective venture to the table. Investors then debate the merits of pursuing the opportunity until a consensus among the partners is reached. Spark accredits its most successful decisions to an “appreciation for good product design.”

In total, Spark manages $3 billion in investment funds. Its fifth venture fund will have a first-close target of $400 million.

Ever Wanted to Back a Start-Up? Indiegogo Opens the Door to Small Investors

Stacy Cowley, Reporter, The New York Times

Indiegogo is a popular crowdfunding site that enables small venture capitalists to invest personal money into promising and creative ventures. The major crowdfunding site is the first to take advantage of a new securities rule, which allows “ordinary investors to risk up to a few thousands dollars a year backing private companies.”

Before the rule was passed, only accredited investors, or those with an annual income greater than $200,000 or net worth of $1 million, could invest personal funds in these riskier ventures. With the passage of the new rule, crowdfunding backers can own equity stakes in the companies they invest in.

The new rule addresses an issue raised during Oculus’ acquisition by Facebook. Oculus raised millions of dollars on crowdfunding sites during its early investment stages. The startup used the investments raised by crowdfunding backers to prove to venture capitalists that there was a market demand for its products. Investors poured money into the company, and Facebook subsequently acquired Oculus. The firm’s original crowdfunding backers reaped no gains; angel and venture capital investors took home the profits.

The Reason Silicon Valley Beat Out Boston for VC Dominance

Anil Gupta and Haiyan Wang, Contributors, Harvard Business Review

The Boston-Cambridge and Bay Area have histories in technology entrepreneurship and venture capital (VC). However, since the 1990s, Silicon Valley has consistently snatched a larger share of all VC investments in the US than its Northeastern counterpart. New England’s share in VC investments plateaued at roughly 10 percent. Meanwhile, the Bay Area’s share of VC investments has grown from 22.6 percent to just over 50 percent.

HBR’s Gupta and Wang identify cultural factors and state-level policies as possible explanations for the divergence between the two coastal VC hubs. For example, Massachusetts, unlike California, allows businesses to include noncompete covenants in their employment contracts. Noncompete covenants offer company loyalty, but they can also remove the need for fast-paced innovation that many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs face.

Additionally, New England and Silicon Valley differ in the type of investors and companies that they attract. The Northeast dominates in the life sciences; in the first three quarters of 2016, 60 percent of New England investments involved ventures focused on biotechnology and medical devices. Silicon Valley, on the other hand, is home to many of the startups that develop platform technologies integral to the digital age.

According to Gupta and Wang, California’s stronghold on the digital and tech industry has resulted in a “growing agglomeration effect.” Increasingly, entrepreneurs are migrating to or launching their businesses in the Bay Area to gain access to these synergies that come from being immersed in the world’s greatest entrepreneurship ecosystem.

And in startup news…

Womply bags $30M to Help Small Businesses Harness Data

Tomio Geron, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

San Francisco-based Womply raised $30 million in its most recent round of financing, bringing its funding total up to $50 million since 2011.

The startup’s platform offers a “web-based suite of software tools” that allows small businesses to analyze performance data on sales, marketing, consumer behavior, revenue and online reputation.

Womply serves a diverse set of clients, ranging from salons to legal firms, but focuses on supporting service-oriented small business. The startup allows small businesses to gain valuable insights into their performance and consumer base. President Cory Capoccia says Womply is helping small businesses increase their efficacy “by “building technology to help grow, protect and simplify running small businesses.”

Rice Entrepreneurs

Spotlight on Rice Entrepreneurs: East-West Tea

Carlin Cherry, Research Assistant, McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

East-West Tea is a student-run business that sells boba tea to Rice University students. Initially developed as a project for an undergraduate marketing class, East-West launched operations last month. The McNair Center’s Carlin Cherry interviews operations manager Andrew Maust.

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McNair Center Weekly Roundup

Entrepreneurship Weekly Roundup: 10/28/2016

 Weekly Roundup is a McNair Center series compiling and summarizing the week’s most important Innovation and Entrepreneurship news.

Here is what you need to know about entrepreneurship this week:

Big Problems for Small Practices

Catherine Kirby, Research Assistant, McNair Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Kirby examines the effects of the Affordable Care Act on entrepreneurship within health care. U.S. health care regulations currently hinder entrepreneurship among healthcare professionals, particularly for doctors seeking to establish private practices.
Kirby recommends that the U.S. implement policy changes that would better foster entrepreneurship among physicians. Measures like restructuring reimbursement rates and improving quality of care requirements would reduce the burdens that many private practices face and enable physicians to start small medical practices.

U.S. early stage investment holds up, late stage plunges

Joanna Glasner and Gené Teare, Contributors, CrunchBase

Venture capital investment slowed in the third quarter. Glasner and Teare write that estimates relying on end-of-quarter data may overstate declines in early stage investment.
Crunchbase compares its own projected funding totals with reported round count totals for the third quarter. Quarterly projected funds show bullish early stage investment. When factoring in projections, Crunchbase’s report for the third quarter finds that U.S. startups continue to enjoy high levels of strategic, seed and venture capital investment during seed and early stage rounds. However, there is a steep decline in late stage investment, with fewer companies raising late stage rounds and investors pouring less money into Series C and later rounds.

Startups get bought not sold

Ken Elefant, managing director at Intel Capital, PE Hub

Many entrepreneurs focus, sometimes shortsightedly, on the dream of reaching an IPO. As a result, start-ups often fail to develop important relationships with corporate investors. According to data from Dealogic, only five U.S.-based tech companies went public in the first eight months of 2016. To avoid going out of business or selling at a fire-sale price, Elefant recommends that entrepreneurs develop strong relationships with corporate investors early on so that a later search for an acquisition offer does not turn into a last-ditch attempt to save a sinking ship.
Corporate investors invest in companies for three reasons: to gain access to a technology, to break into other markets and to acquire. For start-ups, relationships with corporate investors offer viability and credibility. Additionally, these relationships provide development, support,  feedback and access to corporate engagement and funds. For companies that might not be on track for an IPO, strong relationships with corporate investors can lay the groundwork for an acquisition.

‘Shark Tank for Students’ Re-Defines Entrepreneurship

Christopher Putvinski, SAPVoice, Forbes

Putvinski focuses on a new television series, The Social Innovation Series. This “Shark Tank or a Y Combinator for students” asks aspiring entrepreneurs to address problems in health or wellness in their own communities.
The show grants $1,000 to students with promising and innovative ideas and a grand prize of $10,000 and the title of “SAP Teen Innovator” to the student with the winning idea.

How Blind Hiring Can Make Your Company More Inclusive

Frida Polli, Mattermark


In an editorial for Mattermark, Polli writes on how diverse companies outperform their non-diverse counterparts. Increasing diversity among employees not only promotes a more fair and equitable workplace environment but also offers a high return on investment for companies. See the McKinsey & Company Report on how diversity improves company performance. Polli suggests that “blind auditioning” is a possible solution for the lack of diversity in companies’ workforces. Using advanced analytics and assessment technologies, companies can ensure predictability and eliminate bias in their pre-hiring assessments of applicants. According to Polli, “improving diversity isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.”

And in startup news…

Google buys eye-tracking VR firm Eyelock

Grant Gross, Senior Editor for IDG News Service

Eyefluence is a California-based startup focused on eye-interaction technologies in Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) headsets. Serial entrepreneurs Jim Marggraff and David Stiehr founded Eyefluence in 2013.
Google acquired the startup on Tuesday. The acquisition reflects Google’s growing interest in VR and AR technology. The deal further shows the growing potential of VR and AR for entrepreneurs interested in building successful tech startups.

Wavefront gathers $52 mil Series B

Iris Dorbian, Author, PE Hub

Another California-based tech-based startup, Wavefront, recently reported raising $52 billion in Series B funding. Investors include big names such as Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures and Tenaya Capital.
Wavefront develops metrics monitoring services for cloud and modern application environments. Wavefront offers invaluable services to leaders in the software industry that rely on Cloud technology, such as Workday, Box, Lyft, Microsoft, Intuit and Groupon.