Friday Finds: Entrepreneurship Stories Of The Week In February

Five must-read pieces for business founders and builders.

February 25, 2022 -- Happy Friday and welcome back to Friday Finds! From a startup for conscientious renters to funding for minority owned businesses, here are The Hustle’s picks for inspiring and insightful entrepreneurial reads.

1. As pandemic-related aid programs fade, some funds are stepping in to help minority-owned businesses. Check out this list of capital available to underrepresented founders. 
2. To help renters get more out of their money and build credit, Piñata works with management companies to reward tenants for good behavior (such as paying on time) and report their payment history to credit bureaus. 
3. A recent study shows 60% of remote workers feel less connected to their colleagues. To help your virtual workforce grow closer connections, consider starting a mentorship program, setting up virtual social events, and staging more frequent check-ins. 
4. Tahir Murray started Legacy History Pride, which makes trendy apparel for HBCUs, as a college student at Howard University. Today the firm makes clothes for 40 HBCUs, plus special edition sets for pro sports teams like the Brooklyn Nets. 
5. Email marketing can be a quick and cost-effective way to engage and develop loyal customers. If you're thinking of implementing this tool at your business, see the 16 best email marketing services in 2022.

February 18, 2022 -- Happy Friday and welcome back to Friday Finds! From cannabis-infused beverages to telehealth startups, here are The Hustle’s picks for inspiring and insightful entrepreneurial reads.

1. The global market for cannabis beverages is expected to reach $2 billion by 2026. Investors are taking notice: Cannabis-infused beverage startup Cann recently raised $27 million for its Series A round.
2. Whole-grain foods manufacturer Bob's Red Mill has ducked the effects of the Great Resignation. Founder Bob Moore says its secret lies within giving employees ownership of the company.
3. Kristina Saffran, who's in recovery from anorexia, cofounded telehealth startup Equip to provide families with treatment resources for their loved ones suffering from eating disorders. Equip recently raised $58 million to help with its effort to expand services nationwide. 
4. A James Beard Award-winning restaurant, a boutique hotel and an apothecary, Margo Roberts' Alma turns a hotel stay into a 24 hour wellness experience. 
5. Logos are an integral part of a company's branding strategy. To create the perfect one for your business, check out 19 logo examples, samples, and sources of inspiration.

February 11, 2022 -- Happy Friday and welcome back to Friday Finds! From skills training startups to a swab maker in Italy, here are The Hustle’s picks for inspiring and insightful entrepreneurial reads.

1. The Great Resignation has increased interest in startups that offer to upskill or reskill workers. The skilling space has attracted more than $2.1 billion of VC funding since last year.
2. A family company in Italy is behind a critical component of covid tests -- flocked swabs. Its swabs have been used in at least a billion molecular tests since the start of the pandemic. 
3. Supply chain issues are likely to persist throughout 2022. To prepare, business owners should place orders far in advance, look into moving manufacturing facilities, and try to use standardized instead of specialized parts in their products.
4. Navigating a mishmash of state benefits, company benefits and vacation policies to cobble together work leave can be a nightmare. Three women started a leave management platform, Cocoon, to streamline the process for every type of employee leave. 
5. If you need to export customer data or move your business site from one platform to another, check out the 7 WordPress import plugins for simple site migrations.

February 4, 2022 -- Happy Friday and welcome to Friday Finds! From HR tech's funding boom to an e-commerce pioneer in India, here are The Hustle’s picks for inspiring and insightful entrepreneurial reads.

1. With the rise of remote working, demand for HR tech is heating up. In 2021, $12.3 billion of venture capital poured into HR tech startups, about 3.6x the amount in 2020. 
2. In 2012, Falguni Nayar founded Indian e-commerce platform Nykaa to address her home country’s underserved beauty market. The company eventually went public at a $13 billion valuation, making Nayar the first woman in India to lead a unicorn to IPO. 
3. Some best practices for companies committed to diversifying their workforce: expand interview panels, diversify candidate sourcing networks, and post hiring announcements on a broader set of channels. 
4. Less than 3% of genomic data in research comes from the African population. A Nigerian professor is teaming up with biotech startup 54gene to expand genetic sequencing in Africa. 
5. To keep customers happy and coming back, check out the 15 customer success metrics that actually matter.

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