5 things to expect  

We’re assembling the world’s largest community of corporate strategy, innovation, M&A, and corporate venture practitioners at The Collective (Dec 10-11, NYC).

Here are 5 things you can expect:

1. Dig into the playbooks of executives from Goldman Sachs, Adobe, Qualcomm, and 25 other companies to see how they’re driving growth.  

2. Detailed case studies on CVC, innovation, and corporate M&A strategies. (Take a look at some videos from last year’s event here.)

3. 3000+ 1:1 meetings with your executive-level peers in our meeting lounge.

4. Keynote address and analyst deep dives from CB Insights’ all-star team. (Check out a video of last year’s presentation here.)

5. No sales pitches, no pay-to-play speakers, no bu11sh*t.

Do as I say, not as I do

The cruel reality is 70% of startups fail — sometimes even after raising hundreds of millions and hitting billion-dollar valuations.

From Pets.com to Theranos to Klout, we analyze the extravagant failures of 8 startups to see what went wrong and what we can learn.

Ag bots

A family-owned market in the San Francisco Bay Area is now selling produce from a nearby farm run by robots.

The farm, operated by startup Iron Ox, isn’t completely automated yet — humans plant the seeds and package the produce after harvest, but robots do the rest. 

Indoor hydroponic farms like Iron Ox reportedly use 90% less water than typical outdoor farms, which means they could be a big help in addressing the challenges of feeding ~10B people by 2050.

Atlas Obscura has more on the story. Check it out in The Blurb.

Bloomberg. Allison Ingersoll writes about funding to European fintech companies and references CB Insights’ latest Global Fintech Report.

American Banker. Penny Crosman (@pennycrosman) reports that challenger banks raised record funding in H1’19 and cites CB Insights’ new Global Fintech Report.

Tech Node. Nicole Jao (@nicole_i_jao) reports that India surpassed China in terms of fintech deals in Q2’19 and refers to CB Insights’ Global Fintech Report.

P.S. We're hiring a sales manager. Check out the job description here. If this sounds like you, drop us a line.

Farmer Bot. A family-owned market in California is selling produce from a farm run by robots.

Atlas Obscura

Sing a little song. Do better appliance alarms make customers happier?

The Atlantic

Pretend you’re on the beach. VR headsets might help women manage the pain of childbirth.

BBC

It’s a bird, it’s a plane… This startup is working to have zero-emission airplanes in the air by 2022.

The Verge