In this article, Barry Horwitz highlights the value of risk and how to track trends that may foreshadow problems. In the early weeks of March, many in the tech sector were surprised and distressed by the sudden collapse of a once-great institution, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Founded in 1983, it was the 16th largest bank in the US and was a very active and positive influence on the technology sector — in Silicon Valley, of course, but also significantly in…

Boris Galonske shares an article that explores how to manage commodity economics and exposures protecting company financials and decreasing vulnerability. The war in the Ukraine has caused turmoil not only in energy markets but also in broader commodity markets. As such not only companies’ financials are at stake, structural risk exposures and vulnerabilities have surfaced. What to expect … A new normal … In February 2022 the war in the Ukraine started adding another element of political risk[1] to the…

Jeffery Perry identifies strategic moves that will help a company maintain status as a global player during times of geopolitical risks. Expanding the global footprint of business has long been a key strategic focus, leading to overall success. Global drivers include access to new markets, lower labor costs, innovative talent, and diversified revenue streams, just to name a few. While there has been a rise in global expansion, geopolitical risks have risen across the business landscape as well. Given this…

Davide Gronchi shares an article on how to approach risk mitigation. Whilst in the middle of a heavy and unexpected crisis, company leaders are requested to keep looking far ahead and shape the future of their company by (re-)designing the strategy and how to implement it. Current times are full of worries and threads, every day are more negative than positive news that capture our attention. How to concentrate on our business, sailing in calm waters and heading to a…

With new COVID strains popping up and a future that holds new and evolving viruses, Martin Pergler’s post on how epidemiologists measure the severity of a pandemic may be useful. We all look at our national and local COVID infection counts. But to really measure the pandemic’s pulse, epidemiologists monitor a number called Rt and do their best to wrest it below 1. What is Rt, how does it work, why do we care, and what are its limitations? What…

With new COVID strains popping up and a future that holds new and evolving viruses, Martin Pergler’s post on how epidemiologists measure the severity of a pandemic may be useful. We all look at our national and local COVID infection counts. But to really measure the pandemic’s pulse, epidemiologists monitor a number called Rt and do their best to wrest it below 1. What is Rt, how does it work, why do we care, and what are its limitations? What…

Joy Fairbanks shares an article based on a chat with Michael Margolis on user experience research to discover your product-market fit.  How can you find your TAM and validate your product-market fit if you don’t know who your bulls eye customers are?  UX research is a way to accelerate the learning curve of startups and derisk the investment. This week my student founders and I had the pleasure of welcoming Michael Margolis, UX Research Partner at GV (Google Ventures), to…

  Davide Gronchi shares an article on risk mitigation that includes his pragmatic method designed to drive out ‘failure-mode and effects analysis’ designed by the U.S. military in the 1940s.  Whilst in the middle of an heavy and unexpected crisis, company leaders are requested to keep looking far ahead and shape the future of their company by (re-)designing the strategy and how to implement it. Current times are full of worries and threads, every day are more negative than positive…

  Martin Pergler summarizes the assessment of comparative risk levels from two recent press articles and compares them to simple-minded risk assessments to identify the value of the information.  As we gingerly try to “unfreeze” economic and social activity after this first wave of COVID, there’s a lot of prognostication what formerly normal activities are more or less risky. Two recent U.S. press articles thoughtfully assess comparative risk levels, but also fall into several pretty typical risk assessment traps. What…

  Vik Muktavaram applies a few principles of risk management to understand why COVID-19 grew from a risk to a pandemic.  As the federal government finally took the first decisive step in stemming the outbreak of COVID-19 in the US, the images of serpentine lines of arriving international passengers at airports waiting for immigration and screening for COVID-19 coronavirus ubiquitous online and in print. Presumably, the rationale for the screening was that these arriving passengers represented a high-risk cohort. Yet,…

  Davide Gronchi provides a pragmatic approach to risk mitigation and shares a method he uses that was invented by the US military in the late 1940s: FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) to assess risk under three lenses.  Whilst in the middle of a heavy and unexpected crisis, company leaders are requested to keep looking far ahead and shape the future of their company by (re-)designing the strategy and how to implement it. Current times are full of worries…