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Jayshri

Jayshri is an Electronics Engineer, but her passion towards writing made her to be in this field. Apart from content writing, she loves reading, writing and surfing on various topics. In her free time, she likes to watch TV series and news. Sherlock Holmes is her all time favorite show. Jayshri loves cooking various Indian-western dishes.

Dwolla

Unstoppable Journey of Dwolla towards becoming an E-commerce platform for businesses building the future!

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Sometimes simple ideas give birth to game-changing businesses. Like a leading payment start-up Dwolla, based in Des Moines that is the product of a simple idea. The idea was related to money transfer. Founder thought it should be simple, speedy, and affordable to all, and as a result, they started a platform called Dwolla. Presently, it is the US’ only e-commerce Company, provides mobile payment networks and online payment systems.  It deals with moving money that is affordable yet, simple. Well, we know that dozens of platforms are available for money transfer. But, with the unique idea of Ben Milne and Shane Neuerburg, Dwolla stands out from others. Also, many other businesses chose and succeed with Dwolla as it is customer-centric and its several other features are just great. To take the progress further, recently on 30 March 2020, the firm appointed Brady Harris as a new CEO of the company.

About Founders of Dwolla

Any company is the product of ideas, dedication, and determination of founders. However, the further policies of them build a strong foundation for the company, and help in exploring the business. Dwolla is a perfect example of it. Its foundation is based on Ben Milne and Shane Neuerburg’s idea of moving money in a faster, simpler, and affordable way. In 2008, they set up Dwolla and made the money moving faster, simpler, and affordable than before.

Former CEO and co-founder: Ben Milne

He is the originator and CEO of the company. Under his policies, Dwolla raised a huge investment of approximately 22 million dollars for further exploration of the company. Ben helped to acquire investors like Union Square Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz. Also, under his tenure, Dwolla honored as one of the world’s “50 Most Innovative Companies of 2014” by Fast Company.

As well, Milne honored as one of Forbes’ “Disruptors of the Year”. Additionally, he has appeared on an annual 30 under 30 collections of Inc. Magazine, appeared on The TODAY Show, and Bloomberg TV. For his work, he named in the list, “Innovators Under 35” by MIT Technology Review in 2013.

Shane Neuerburg- CTO and Co-founder

In 2008, he helped in the establishment of Dwolla as well as served as CTO. Apart from that, he is the advisor at Safe Talpa from 2019. Coming to his education, he attended the University of North Dakota for studying computer science. Today the idea of Shane and his co-founder fellow Ben enabled the money transfer with very low transaction costs, faster service, and a feasible approach.  

Brady Harris- Present CEO

He has 20+ years of experience in leadership in the e-commerce sector. Earlier, Harris served at Payscape as a president.

The Backstory of Foundation

In 2008, it is set up and earlier the firm provided local services especially in Lowa. That time, only two employees handled all work of the firm. The actual start of Dwolla is considered in 2010 when it was launched in the US. Earlier, services provided to a few small banks, shops, and retailers. After one year, the firm acquired 20000 users and also, the number of employees increased to 15. Only in the first week afterward, it successfully processed 1 million dollars. 

Significance of Dwolla as an E-commerce platform

It is an e-commerce firm that provides services related to online and mobile payments. Its White label service is constituted of APIs and these are expanded to include instant bank authorizations. In 2011, Dwolla improved its service with Fisync integration and enabled instantaneous transactions which it discontinued in 2017. Also, it has eleven financial firms signed on that provide access to many potential customers (600000 approx).

Lowa based Government authorities use the Dwolla platform as payment methods. In fact, Dwolla is added to the systems of the US Treasury Department’s Bureau of Fiscal for dealing with all kinds of electronics payments.

Controversy

Four years back, in 2016, Dwolla had been accused of inadequate security practices. CFPB charged Dwolla for data security-related issues. As per CFPB, Dwolla didn’t maintain adequate data security practices as mention on the company’s website.

Bottom Line

Despite all odds, Dwolla assisted many small to large businesses to achieve their goals. Also, the firm is known for its unique work method. As a matter of fact, you will never find the Dwolla team in one place. They believed in decentralization, and for that prefer building remote offices at various locations.

As per the idea of founders, the firm is successfully enabled the money transfer with lower transaction costs as compared to Credit card and other payment methods. However, it aims to make the platform more feasible for all kinds of a user in the coming years.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles – New beginning of two firms towards fully-integrated global automaker

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There are many examples all around the world that showed how a powerful company with its powerful strategies can dominate any sector. But what if two powerful companies come together? Well, in this case, it may lead to a new beginning that would be powerful than imagined ever. So, we can say that exactly happened with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Two independent automobiles firms, Fiat and Chrysler merged together and set the new beginning as a fully-integrated global automaker. Today, several leading brands in the automobile industry came under its portfolio. Includes, Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Jeep, Maserati, Fiat, and the list continues with many other brands. Presently, it is one of the automakers on the planet that are dominating this sector.

The Backstory Of Foundation

Established in the late 19th century, Fiat is one of the old automakers on the earth. With several up-downs, the firm became a successful automobile company as well, its rise as dominating automakers in the world. Six years ago (in 2014), the new phase of Fiat automobiles had been started with acquiring the Chrysler group’s ownership. Now it is renamed as FCA, stands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Currently, its two main branches FCA Italy and FCA US handle all-important automotive operations needed to fulfill the requirements of the mass-market.

Both corporate and financial headquarters of the firm are stated in Amsterdam and London respectively.

What leads to the merging of two leading firms?

Though these two firms merged in 2014, it has a long story behind the integration. It started in 2009, it was a tough time for Chrysler. Because the firm was going through bankruptcy reorganization. That time, Fiat owned 20% stakes of Chrysler which later on grew more than 50% in 2012. In 2014, Fiat purchased the remaining stakes and own the firm with 100% stakes. However, the firm was previously known as a SPA Fiat that became FCA on August 1, 2014.

Recently, it signed a combination agreement with PSA related to creating a leading global mobility company. Also, it operates in four international markets NAFTA, LATAM, APAC, and EMEA.

Leading automobile Brands under FCA

As said earlier, several leading brands come under FCA including American, and Italian based automobiles brands. In fact, Maserati is a well-known luxury brand. Here is the list of brands based on the region.

Italian Based Brands- Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Lancia, Fiat Professional, and VM Motori.

America based brands- Ram Trucks, Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge.

Exploring the business

After integration with Chrysler in 2014, FCA announced five years plan for exploring the business. As per that, the firm focused on increasing sales to seven million units. However, this plan then updated in 2016. Also, FCA focused more on brand Jeep for the global growth of the firm. While Alfa Romeo will compete with Mercedes, Audi, and BMW. The crown brand of the company, Maserati has prepared to compete with other Ultra Luxury brands around the world. However, Ram Trucks remained the same.

 FCA’s Achievements

It is known as a unique automobile firm that earlier also manufactured other vehicles rather than its famous luxurious cars. For example, military vehicles, railway engines, as well as aircraft. Apart from that, the firm also had a Ski Resort in the Alps Mountain. Presently, it is the eighth largest automaker on the planet. Also, several brands under the FCA manufactured dominating sports cars.

Moreover, it is also active in the field of advertising and print media. In fact, the firm was a stakeholder in the creation of the largest media group of Italy known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale. Additionally, it owns industrial subsidiaries Teksid and Comau.

Bottom Line

Last year FCA made several announcements to explore its business further. It includes investment in Michigan for increasing manufacturing units that will create 6000+ jobs. Also, the firm invested in Detroit for its Jeep Manufacturing unit in 2019. Recently, it signed a combination agreement with PSA in 2019. Currently, several leading brands in the automobile industry came under its portfolio such as Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Jeep, Maserati, Fiat, and the list includes many dominating brands. Presently, it is one of the automakers on the planet that are dominating this sector. In March 2020, the firm took the big step to fight against coronavirus outbreaks by shutting down its manufacturing units on a basis of rotation. Shutting down major manufacturing units is considered a great step amid the corona pandemic.

alfa romeo

Nicola Romeo – A Person Who Marked The Beginning Of Alfa Romeo Automobiles

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Italian entrepreneur and businessman Nicola Romeo is recognized for his several miscellaneous businesses and start-ups. Well, Alfa Romeo Automobiles is one of those companies. The same firm whose models are well-known for challenging in several car races including Grand Prix motor racing. In fact, it has a huge success in Motorsports since its beginning. In 1915, the firm handover to Nicola Romeo and after that Alfa Romeo witnessed the next level of success. 

Nicola Romeo – Mastermind behind Alfa Romeo Automobiles success

He is one of the finest businessmen to remember who share great contribution in shaping the automobile industry. Rather than this, he owned many other companies. Includes, CEMSA, Nicola Romeo Co, etc. As well, he was a senator in the 18th Legislature of the Kingdom of Italy. Let’s have a look at the life journey of N. Romeo, a person who marked the beginning of Italy’s leading company.

Personal Life

He was born on 28 April 1876 in Magreglio. Romeo married to Portugal based pianist and Opera singer, Angelina Valadin in 1905. Maurizio, Edoardo, Piera, Elena, Nicholas, Giulietta, and Irene are their children.

Education and Early business

Nicola attended Politecnico di Napoli for studying engineering. Presently, the same college is known as Universita Degli Studi di Napoli Federico II. After working for some time, he earned another degree in electrical engineering in Belgium. Thereafter, he returned his homeland and tried luck in entrepreneurship. Romeo started a firm related to the mining industry called Ing. Nicola Romeo e Co. The firm is specially manufactured pieces of machinery and devices needed for the mining industry. 

Acquisition of Alfa Romeo Automobiles

The first start-up of Nicola showed him great success in a short period. After that, he never looked back and focused on expanding his business further. In the end, he acquired a car manufacturing firm “A.L.F.A.” in 1915. It was Milan based automobile firm that later on renamed as ALFA Romeo. Apparently, he renamed the firm by attaching his last name. 

The backstory of foundation

It is an Italian car manufacturing firm established at the beginning of the 20th century. Alexandre Darracq, a Frenchman set up the firm with a simple car manufacturing unit. Later on, the firm started designing new cars. On 24th June 1910, this firm is merged in Milan based automobile firm and then rises with a new name called A.L.F.A. (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili). Since then, the firm started sports car manufacturing and later on involved in car racing. After that, when Nicola acquired the firm, it re-named as Alfa Romeo. 

The firm under N. Romeo’s direction

In 1921, the firm manufactured the first sports car with the unique Alfa Romeo badge on it. Specifically, the badge was “1921 Torpedo 20/30 HP”. After that, Alfa Romeo became a reputed name in the automobile industry. Several years firm deliver the best models that were elegant as well, safe. The year 1927, unfortunately, turned out as a black year for the firm. In fact, the firm was very near to bankruptcy. Because the firm wasn’t got any good investors for a long time. After that, Nicola had to deceased from the firm due to members of the boards. 

Later life

In the 18th Legislature of the Kingdom of Italy, Nicola served as a senator. However, he died at the age of 62 in 1938. His contribution to the automobile industry especially in race car manufacturing is admirable. As well, Naples, the third-largest city in Italy dedicated a street to his memories known as Via Nicola Romeo. 

Company’s Later Successes

Since the beginning, the firm is well-known for its unique Iconic car designs. Later on, many other designs got famous counting 1955 Giulietta Spider which was the first mass-produced car of the firm. Thereafter, another model Giulietta SZ became hit. It also won 1.3-liter class FIA Sports Car Championships for two years. Alfa Romeo Carabo is also one of the iconic designs of the firm. Apart from unique designs, the firm is well-known for its legendary racing team. Considering the need for race cars, the firm not only focused on innovation but also delivered innovative models. In 1931, the Alfa Romeo’s innovative model 8C 2300 won Italy’s first prize at Le Mans. Moreover, the successes continued and in 1950, Alfa Romeo’s first win at Formula-1 World Championship. The firm that started in the early 20th century remains famous among the buyers for decades. Five years ago, the firm unveiled its new badge that matches the new era’s requirements

fitbit logo

The Leading Fitness Tracking Wearable Company Fitbit Charge 4 Tracker Is Available For Sale – New Features Are Stunning

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Highlights

1.  Charge 4 fitness tracker is a new wearable tracker for fitness lovers.

2. It looks similar to an earlier Charge 3 version. But it is loaded with new updates that make it a more powerful upgraded version.

3. As well, the 90-day trial of Fitbit Premium is available.

Fitbit Charge 4 Tracker
Image Source: Google Images

The world is changing and now people are more concerned about their health. Physical activity, good sleep, and a healthy lifestyle are important to maintain health. However, tracking those activities is as important as doing it. Fitbit is helping many to live a balanced and healthy life by tracking physical activity, exercise, heart rate monitoring, weight and also sleep. Now with the Fitbit Charge 4, tracking will be more advanced. Today, the leading fitness tracking wearable company Fitbit, launched its brand new Fitbit Charge 4 tracker in the market for $149. Yet, it comes with new features like Fitbit Pay, GPS (built-in), and allowed to control Spotify. It’s available for sale in three colors in blue, black, and mauve.

What makes Fitbit Charge 4 Tracker a better version?

The look of a new fitness tracker is similar to the earlier version, i.e., Charge 3 Fitbit tracker. But the new features made it more powerful than the old version. If you have used a smartwatch of Fitbit then you may feel familiar with these new features. New features are built-in GPS, Spotify control, and Fitbit pay. As well, the battery life is powerful as compared to the older versions. It can be used for up to five hours with continuous GPS monitoring. However, without continuous GPS use, the battery life of the product is almost a week.

Features in details

1. Built-in GPS- To track actual physical activity like walking or running, users have to take their phones with them. So, they can record the activity precisely. Now with a new Charge 4 tracker having built-in GPS, users no need to carry cell with them.

2. Extended battery life- It can be used for up to five hours with continuous GPS monitoring. However, without continuous GPS use, the battery life of the product is up to seven days.

3. Spotify control and Fitbit pay

All features now come standard with the Charge 4 and no need to have a splurge for a special edition.  Charge 4 tracker’s dimensions are the same as the Charge 3 dimensions. Thus, the earlier model’s band is perfect fits on the new tracker.

What else is new?

One more good news to the Fitbit users. This brand new fitness tracker comes with a newer fitness metric, Active Zone Minutes. With this, the Charge 4 tracker can automatically recognize that the heart rate is sustainable or not, counts the minutes when the fitness wearer is active. Also, it will automatically detect the heightened level. Basically, Active Zone Minutes is based on heart rate. However, the score is calculated differently based on the height, weight, and fitness levels of each person.

Fitbit Tracker 4 to promote people to be active in Lockdown

As per the Fitbit officials, all new features are to promote the people all around the world to be active in this tough period. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the whole world is in lockdown mode. In this period, it is somewhat difficult to be active. While the Tracker 4 will promote people to be active for at least 30 minutes a day, said Fitbit. Its features follow a series of other Fitbit metrics including sleep score and 10,000 daily steps. Fitbit uses it as basic guidelines for encouraging wellness.

The new Charge 4 Tracker also comes with an extended 90-day trial of Fitbit Premium, offering many other packages to help you achieve your fitness target. Includes, fitness programs, classes, and personalized challenges.

The Charge 4 on sale

Today, Fitbit Charge 4 tracker goes on sale for 149$. It will be available in blue, black, and mauve color. However, Charge 3 is not available to buy on Fitbit’s website from now. Though, one can purchase it through other retailers. It means, Fitbit is not selling Charge 3s anymore. So, the price of the older version can fluctuate.

airbnb

A lodging offering platform, Airbnb has extended its full cancellation policy due to COVID-19

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Coronavirus has become a worldwide crisis. Due to this pandemic, many mega-events are either canceled or postponed, visits are negated, and people are canceling their pre-booked tickets and travels. In the beginning, most of the people were panicked because of the refund complications on their ticket bookings and lodging but now they are relived as the terms are relaxed. Many companies have changed their policies amid coronavirus breakdown. Every sector, every industry, and every human is worried due to coronavirus pandemic. In this situation, Airbnb gave relief to the customers. A lodging offering platform, Airbnb has extended its full cancellation policy keeping this corona pandemic in mind. They have also kept $250 million aside for the hosts who are affected because of these canceled bookings.

Airbnb company’s old policy

Airbnb’s old policy allowed guests to get a full refund if they void their booking within 48 hours of booking their trip, or a 50% refund if they do within seven days. This policy is canceled on Saturday and it is replaced by extenuating circumstances policy.

Who can get a full refund? – New extenuating circumstances policy 

The guests who have booked their stays on Airbnb with the check-in between 14-31st March will get a full refund. This is under Airbnb’s extenuating circumstances policy. With the money that is set aside, Airbnb will ensure that hosts get some of the lost money.

Before this announcement was done, Airbnb expanded its extenuating circumstances policy to refund bookings between the fixed period of 14th March to 31st May. The policy does not talk about the refund terms for hosts though. Some of the Airbnb are upset because the company did not provide any fix financial net to them. As the cancellations are allowed and no new booking is being made, hosts have their calenderer empty. The change in policy has affected the hosts in California, Florida, Kansas, Utah, Michigan and the state of Washington. They have lost thousands of dollars.

Some hosts said that they empathize with the guests as the current situation is not under anyone’s control, but their business and livelihood are at risk. Whereas, some of the hosts are extremely angry and have put the entire blame on Airbnb for the loss of business.

The change is policy is a relief for guests, but the hosts are upset with the company. Airbnb is taking further steps to strengthen the relationship between hosts and them to ensure the unchanged partnership in the future.

Airbnb’s action on hosts’ disappointment

Airbnb is ready to extend help for hosts and the CEO Brian Chesky asks for forgiveness for the chaotic messaging around the policy changes in recent times. He said, “I deeply regret the way we communicated this decision, and I am sorry that we did not consult you — as partners should. We have heard from you and we know we have let you down. You deserve better from us.”

The company has donated $10 million to help its “super hosts” and the ones who’ve been contributing to Airbnb’s tour guide-style practices. Other hosts can apply for $5,000 help from the fund starting from April. The CEO of Airbnb has requested hosts to trust into the company as the trust is the foundation of a partnership.

Airbnb at loss because of travel restrictions

As the entire business of Airbnb depends on travel and tourism, the past few months have been difficult for the company. Because of the restrictions on overall global travel, many small and big companies like Airbnb facing problems with their business, as the countless countries have advised people to stay home and follow the lockdown.

In the US, the guidelines for social distancing have extended until April 30th as the COVID-19 cases are increasing rapidly. As per recent reports, the US has crossed 160000 cases so far and has the highest number in the world. Major population countries like India are under complete lockdown to prevent from getting into community transmission phase.

Bottom line

Not only travel and hotel businesses at risk but also other businesses are facing the impact of coronavirus spread all over the world. In some countries, the situation is gone out of control and some are in the stage of community transmission. Let’s hope this shall pass soon and everything comes back to normal.

Meanwhile, for any information head to WHO’s site to avoid the spread of misinformation.

LaunchDarkly

LaunchDarkly One of the best Feature Management Platform co-founded by Edith Harbaugh

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Technology advancement is unstoppable and it is mapping all sectors including feature management. Due to altering technology, there are many challenges in the field of feature management that deals with modern software development. While when it comes to feature management platform LaunchDarkly is dominant in this field. Currently, the firm is assisting several leading software companies to build better software solutions in less time. Also, it serves 100 billion-plus feature flags on a daily basis. The company is working to deduct the risk of the software development cycle. 

Basically, the firm handles the complete feature lifecycle, starting from the concept to launch to the value of their clients. Because of the best management, LaunchDarkly is rise as a dominant feature management platform. In 2014, Edith Harbaugh and J. Kodumal set up the company. Today, it is serving more than 200 billion feature flags per day.

About LaunchDarkly 

The Oakland based feature Management Company worked to deploy code at any time. With LaunchDarkly it is possible even if a feature is not ready to be released to the audience. It is well-known as a company that powering the best software products. Additionally, the company raised 78 Million dollar funding in series A, B, and C. As well, LaunchDarkly is a partner with leading companies including Redpoint, Vertex, Threshold, Uncork, and Bloomberg. 

As per Cloud 100’s rising stars, the firm is honored as one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies. 

The Backstory of foundation

LaunchDarkly platform came into reality based on two different directions. One is Lean Startup, based on the idea to break features into smaller fragments. Then these features can represent to the customers and asking them for feedback. Another one was continuous deployment. That time, co-founder Edith was working in the field of project management. While another founder Jhon was working in the engineering field. They realized, that small and medium-size companies are far away from feature management for their business. 

When they research, they came up with the answer that these firms could not afford their own platform for feature management as the other IT giants. Like Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, and many other big firms could build own feature management platform. But there is a need to do something for small and medium-sized firms. And so, they end up with one platform called LaunchDarkly, merging two ideas into a single platform. 

What LaunchDarkly do?

In the digital world full of competition, every company is based on software. However, it is needed to have fast and proper control over it. LaunchDarkly assists the companies in feature management in the launch, starting from the concept to maintain value. The firm has the best team that assists in controlling the complete feature life cycle as mention earlier. 

For this, the company uses a streaming architecture to serve feature flags in microseconds and this all flags are served locally.

Edith Harbaugh- LaunchDarkly’s co-founder and present CEO

She is the CEO of the company which is a leading feature management platform all over the planet. However, she is working in the field of product management for more than 10 years. The Oakland based company worked under her policies. In 2014, she successfully co-founded the firm with Jhon. Apart from that, she worked at Tripit in Product and Management. Also, her contribution to exploring EasyBloom’s business is considerable. Moreover, she worked as a Product Manager at Vignette. As well, Edith is the host of podcasts called To Be continuous. On this platform, she informs people about continuous delivery and software development. 

Educational Background

Harbaugh attended Harvey Mudd College for studying engineering in Bachelor of Science. Also, she attended Pomona College for pursuing a degree in Economics. She named several patents on her name in the field of portal deployment.  

John Kodumal- Co-founder and CTO

He is LaunchDarkly’s present CTO as well, the co-founder of the company. Before that, he worked as a development manager at Atlassian. As well, he served at Coverity as an architect. Coming to his education, Jhon attended UC Berkeley for his Ph.D. Jhon attended Harvey Mudd College to study BS. 

Bottom Line

Presently, several leading companies including CircleCI, AppDirect, as well GoPro uses LaunchDarkly for feature management. The company stands out from other competitors because of its best service. As well, the firm gives the option of feature management for small and medium firms that could not build own platform for this. In the present scenario, the company is serving more than 20 billion features with subscription control that is a long term too. However, recently the firm raised funding of 78 million dollar funding in series A, B, and C. Also, many leading companies are ready to invest in the LaunchDarkly.