All posts tagged: digigram

Digigram Newsletter of January 2023!

Published by Gert Christen

Welcome back to DIGIGRAM! Thanks to those who read our last issue and inquired about USA Launching Pad and the recent Connected Life class at UC Berkeley. Excited to share that the next USA Launching Pad starts in March, and Connected Life will make a comeback in the fall semester (it was voted the second-most popular startup class at UC Berkeley, woohoo!). 2023 is off to a stormy start – literally! San Francisco just recorded the wettest 22-day period since 1862. It was so wet that it saturated sand dunes, which gave way to drop a world-war II bunker onto the beach below. Looks like a scene from the “1941” movie! Luckily, the sun has finally returned to dry out a soaked California. Photo: “Relocated” bunker at Fort Funston (Source) In this edition of Digigram: #1: MIT & Climate Energy Prize – This long-running competition for student-led climate startups is solving some of the biggest issues facing our environment. Hear from this year’s organizing team about how promising young people from the world’s best universities fight climate change today. #2: …

“Connected Life” Startup Class at UC Berkeley

Published by Gert Christen

I just finished teaching my latest course at UC Berkeley, “Connected Life”. In this course, we examined our “always-on” lifestyle and how this expectation of being ever-connected in our social and professional lives continues to develop, especially in a post-COVID world that allows for work via connectivity. We examined connectedness from an entrepreneurial standpoint to solve previously unsolvable problems using apps, data, IoT for machines, AI for decision-making, robotics for automation, and beyond. The course explored practical applications of e.g. 5G-connected smartphones, machines, and sensors, empowering entrepreneurs to solve previously unsolvable problems. For example, a surgeon can now use technology to save patients’ lives on the other side of the world, or anyone can be automatically alerted if a faraway family member needs help. However, questionable uses have also appeared, such as the constant battle to protect private data against illegal use for commercial, political, or criminal gain.  The course explored the use of technologies at the foundation of connectivity for people, communities, businesses, factories, and the environment and what happens when there is a lack of equity in …

USA Launching Pad Brings Mitipi to the USA

Published by Gert Christen

For many years startup and scale-up entrepreneurs have asked me about how to enter the US market successfully. As someone who built businesses in the USA before, I’ve experienced firsthand how complicated it can be. Getting noticed, creating messaging that resonates with the American culture, and campaigning and selling in the US are very different than in other countries. It is a very big country, and the biggest problem may be to know where even to start.  To navigate these obstacles, I founded USA Launching Pad, which helps foreign companies build their sales in the USA and be more successful more quickly. Our team of experienced American business builders supports entrepreneurs every step of the way with our proven method and our personal networks.  This fall, we worked with a cohort of three tech companies to bring them into the US market. One of these companies is Mitipi, who are innovating the home security market by creating a deterrent from burglaries and home invasions. Their first product, KEVIN, is a plug-and-play smart device that simulates sounds and projects images that make …

Digigram December 2022

Digigram Newsletter of December 2022

Published by Gert Christen

Welcome back to DIGIGRAM! After a bit of a hiatus, I am back to give you an update on the latest topics, trends, and stories from Silicon Valley and beyond. A lot has happened in the world over the last year. While a lot of gloom befell the world, there have also been some incredible milestones this year. There is much to celebrate that happened in 2022! For instance, in the last year, we’ve had these incredible technological and scientific breakthroughs: The United States Senate passed a bill to boost domestic chip manufacturing. The law also includes $67 billion to fund research into how to slow down climate change, a new record! I hope that a significant portion will go towards developing climate technologies. A new report found that if the current pace of wind and solar growth continues, the world will meet its climate targets. Switzerland qualified for the last 16 nations at the soccer World Cup. And was promptly eliminated by Portugal – oh well… In this edition of Digigram: #1: Mitipi and KEVIN’s …

Digigram Newsletter of April 2020!

Published by Gert Christen

Gert Christen’s April 2020 newsletter: This newsletter is dedicated to disruption. Think disruption is over because we accepted apps like Uber or websites like Airbnb? I’ve got news: It’s not over. Entire industries are not only ready for disruption, they’re at the very beginning of being disrupted. I discuss two examples in this newsletter.

Hot Trend: TikTok! The next big thing for self-expression, not just a music-selfie app.

Published by Gert Christen

“Every now and then, a technology appears that is so intriguing that it spikes fantasies of what it is, does and all the things it might make possible…” this is how I started an article about Blockchain in the July 2019 Digigram. And here we go again: The next such technology is TikTok, the world’s fastest-growing social media platform and the hottest new thing for 2020! TikTok will be very BIG. And it is way more than just a selfie-app for kids: Firstly, it completely hits the sweet spot of today’s mobile social media users – A “video first” combination of Facebook-Instagram-Vine-Snap-Twitter all in one. Secondly, it is easier to use than its predecessors – It includes tools for video creation and editing and for adding music (legally and without royalty costs!). An advantage that is hard for Instagram & Co. to copy because of their user interface legacy. And thirdly, they started with an almost exclusive focus on the teen segment, precisely the age group that advertisers will want to communicate with once TikTok …

Digigram Newsletter of December 2019!

Published by Gert Christen

The bi-monthly newsletter of December 2019. Covering TikTok, the next hot trend, Xaas – Everything as a Service – and the backend business opportunity. Top of the month: 26 Swiss managers & HWZ master students in Silicon Valley, and one of my teams reached 4th place in the startup competition at UC Berkeley.
Meet me here: At UC Berkeley’s “Deplastifying the Planet” course starting in Jan 2020
On my table: Thanks are on my table. Wish all happy holidays and happiness & success for 2020