Blog response idea - New Mobility startups

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Part of Monday's lecture will include investigating a new firm's finances using Crunchbase, a database that has information on financing of new ventures, primarily in technology. You can use Crunchbase to do the same for a new mobility startup or transportation technology venture.  In some cases, LinkedIn can also be helpful in deciphering what's going on with a new firm, but be aware that you may have settings in place that allow others to see you've viewed their profile.  Some key questions:

  1. What does the company do?
  2. What's their legal name?  
  3. When did they start?  Where are they based?
  4. How much money did they raise? From which VC firms? When? How was the financing structured (debt/equity/convertible/etc.)
  5. Who are key people on the leadership team? Where did they work before?
  6. How many people work there?
  7. Are they involved in any other business lines?
Open this link to start a blog entry  If clicking this link doesn't work, you'll need to look for an invitation email from Blogger to accept the invitation to join the blog or email jmatute@ucla.edu with your Google Account (g.ucla.edu or gmail.com address) so Juan can add you to the blog.

Crunchbase has a pay option, but you should be able to ascertain what you need for a blog post using the free version.

----Note that the universal blog prompt will appear when you begin your new blog entry:

The blog is an organized forum for students to provide their reactions and make arguments about topics discussed in the course. Each blog posts should be between 300 and 500 words, include a visual you've created or acquired that helps further your argument. Tag your blog post with the topic you are reacting to.

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