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Minuteman Press Syosset, NY Employee Todd Brown Hits 50 Years in Printing

Minuteman Press International Inc

In 1971, Todd Brown began his career in printing through a special program that gave him paid work at the school district print shop. 50 years later, Todd shares his incredible story of longevity in the industry, which includes over 40 years as an integral employee of Minuteman Press in Syosset, N.Y. The Syosset franchise is one of the original ten Minuteman Press locations. Todd says, “I started with Minuteman Press in September 1977. It was an entirely different business back then, and I was hired by Mike Jutt (Executive VP & Director of Training) as a press operator for the Syosset location. We had the original husband and wife owners and myself. I did whatever needed to be done and I already had six years of experience doing the kind of printing that we did during those early years.” Speaking on his printing background before Minuteman Press, Todd shares, “The school district print shop is where I was first hired while I was in high school. I was able to learn how to run a printing press and it’s where I cut my teeth in the industry and learned how to deal with paper and ink. After graduation, I worked for several print shops. One of my jobs was with Hills Supermarkets doing their printing. I was laid off and that’s when I replied to an ad for Minuteman Press.” Todd’s original run with Minuteman Press in Syosset lasted eight years. “I left for three or four years to learn more and take other positions. The owners reached out to me to come back and I agreed it was the best fit. I was now married, I had a house, and I agreed to come back to run the back of the shop and become Shop Manager.” “I simply know printing and I love what I do. I always took the attitude of treating the shop and customers like it was my own. You can’t work in this business and say ‘that’s not my job.’ It’ll get you and the business nowhere.” -Todd Brown Evolution of Printing Todd reflects on how the printing industry has changed over the years as well as how he has been able to keep up with the changes. “The entire industry has evolved. Digital printing is constantly changing as is technology.” He further explains how he was able to adapt to new technology over the years: “When computers became more prevalent, I made it a point to learn graphic design on my own with whatever programs were available. I’ve been a musician my entire life so I would use different programs like Adobe PageMaker, Photoshop, and Print Shop Deluxe for passion projects but also to learn more about graphics from a printing standpoint.” He adds, “As the business changed, I was able to pretty seamlessly move into that side of the business. When I created flyers for my band, I knew what I needed to do in terms of matching the design to the plates.” “The main thing about the printing side of this business that most people don’t realize is that it’s still about paper. Paper is the one thing that has remained consistent no matter what else has changed. Paper has certain characteristics and when you do a job, even digitally, you have to know the intricacies of the process. As a professional printer, you know what’s required in order to print, cut, bind, and assemble a job. If you want a button pusher, go to Staples.” -Todd Brown Team Effort & Todd’s Role Today For Minuteman Press in Syosse t, their success and longevity all comes down to a team effort. Owner Mitch Parker has been running the business since February 2008, and Todd works hand-in-hand with graphic designer Denise to make sure jobs are fit to print. Todd explains, “I am responsible for printing virtually any job that requires printing on digital machines. Denise does a fantastic job. She sets up the files, I double-check them, and then we go to print. We work together to make sure things are set up properly and I help fine-tune the printing end of everything. She has also taught me about the software and design aspects as well, which is really helpful.” One of the biggest differences between printing for clients 40 years ago vs. today is how the artwork is provided. Todd explains, “Back when I first started, you essentially made the artwork for clients. They would bring something in such as a sketch and you then created the specifications required for printing. Today, you are given the artwork and a lot of the job is educating customers on print specifications. It goes back to the fact that paper is different than a smartphone or computer screen. A little knowledge can be dangerous when you need the bigger picture to really get the job done right. So that’s where we come in.” Todd continues, “For example, we open up files from phones that are low resolution. We go back to the customer as early as we can in the process to make sure they are informed and to make sure the job goes out correctly. The quality of the finished product justifies the extra time in educating them and reaching out so it’s important to stay on top of customer-supplied artwork. It comes with experience.” “Customers have changed dramatically. The 80-year-old lady that comes in probably knows more than the younger customers about printing. It’s important to educate all of our clients with the knowledge we have so we can produce the best finished products for them. Most of the time, they do come back and say how much they appreciate our work. Once they see the high-quality work we have done for them, they are thankful.” -Todd Brown Outside of the business, Todd has taken up a new passion as his days as a musician have faded. “I am now 67-years-old so I am no longer doing as much music. Today, I am really into slot cars. I build tracks, I detail them, and I even create signage for the ‘town’ I’ve put together. I am on Facebook groups where people share their slot car photos. People have even asked me to make slot car signs for their towns after seeing my photos and the details I add. It’s a fun community.” Secrets for Success What are the key lessons that Todd has learned during his 50 years in printing? He answers, “Care, that’s the most important thing. Also, stay one step ahead of the customer and lead them in the right direction. You’re the professional, so use that experience to help them.” For more information on Minuteman Press in Syosset, visit https://www.syosset.minutemanpress.com. Learn more about #1 rated Minuteman Press franchise opportunities at https://minutemanpressfranchise.com. Contact Details Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

July 19, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Amazon and Microsoft Veterans Join Forces with the Allen Institute for A.I. to Launch MajorBoost

MajorBoost

Three tech and healthcare veterans collaborating at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) today launched MajorBoost. The AI-based communication and decision support company is set to significantly improve efficiency in the healthcare system by reimagining how doctor’s offices and insurance companies communicate with each other. “Instead of spending more time on patient conversations and conducting health care follow-ups, medical providers are spending endless hours on the phone navigating the maze of health insurance call centers,” said Lekshmi Venu, co-founder and CEO of MajorBoost. “MajorBoost empowers providers to get their questions answered quickly, resolve insurance issues faster, and ultimately grow their patient service and human connection.” It’s estimated that medical providers lose $35B annually due to antiquated processes and inefficiencies in the insurance system, simply because they’re trying to confirm patient eligibility, claim status, and other administrative tasks. By serving the more than 2M medical billers, front desk staff and call center staff in the healthcare industry, MajorBoost has the potential to change lives and the nature of work. “The pain is real, and the younger generations aren’t going to put up with the current system,” said Ben Hesketh, co-founder and CTO of MajorBoost. “Our AI-enabled phone automation delivers productivity, intelligence and decision support to healthcare teams, getting them off the phone and back to helping patients.” With general availability imminent, MajorBoost is already working with private practices that report seeing immediate results including a boost in same-day issue resolution rates and more patient conversations by using the AI-based tool. Healthcare providers can register for access to MajorBoost at www.majorboost.com. About MajorBoost MajorBoost is founded by technologists who personally live with the challenges of health insurance reimbursement, and were leaders at major tech companies and health plans. Backed by the Allen Institute for AI, MajorBoost builds cutting edge AI to improve the lives of patients, healthcare workers, and call center agents. About the MajorBoost Founders As CEO of MajorBoost, Lekshmi Venu is building on her experiences at both Amazon and the healthcare industry. Prior to co-founding MajorBoost, Lekshmi led a global data science and AI team at Amazon. After earning her MBA at Harvard Business School, Lekshmi held leadership roles at Express Scripts (Cigna) and a mid-size long-term care distributor. Ben Hesketh, CTO of MajorBoost, is a tech innovator and entrepreneur. Ben created first generation products in IoT, AR/VR and NLP and amassed over fifteen patents to date with Microsoft. He began his software career in video game development soon after graduating from Cambridge with dual degrees. MajorBoost is Ben’s third co-founded startup. Andrew Palmer, VP of Engineering, is a technologist and professional weightlifter with a passion for improving the lives of patients and healthcare providers. After graduating with an Engineering degree from University of Dayton, Andrew developed health insurance software and later joined Microsoft as a software developer. Andrew was a developer at Moz and Rover, and most recently founded and led engineering for a social network with over 500K users. About the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) AI2 was founded in 2014 with the singular focus of conducting high-impact research and engineering in the field of artificial intelligence, all for the common good. AI2 is the creation of Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder, and is led by Dr. Oren Etzioni, a leading researcher in the field of AI. AI2 employs more than 200 top researchers and engineers from across the globe. To date, AI2 has spun out over 10+ companies via its commercialization arm, the AI2 Incubator. Learn more at allenai.org and ai2incubator.com. Contact Details Owen Media Forrest Carman +1 206-859-3118 forrestc@owenmedia.com Company Website https://www.majorboost.com/

July 15, 2021 07:03 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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John Steven Joins ThreatModeler's Advisory Board

ThreatModeler Software, Inc.

John Steven is joining the advisory board of ThreatModeler Software, Inc. Mr. Steven has over two decades of software security experience including notable achievements in threat modeling, cloud security, architectural risk analysis, and security testing. In 2015, he founded Codiscope, a spin-off of Cigital which was acquired by Synopsys. He will be working closely with ThreatModeler’s executive team to help shape and guide the company’s planning and go-to-market strategies. “Threat modeling can frustrate organizations because they’re advised to over-rely on singular tactics, such as data-flow diagramming, and because they implement threat modeling as a point-in-time activity. I encourage organizations to treat threat modeling as a capability, incrementally maturing activity throughout their DevOps lifecycle,” said Mr. Steven. “ThreatModeler is uniquely positioned to help teams facilitate threat modeling capabilities throughout their SDL. from secure design, to security test planning, to defect or vulnerability triage and remediation.” Mr. Steven, currently the Chief Technology Officer at Concourse Labs and Founding Principal of Aedify Security LLC, possesses extensive knowledge in managing innovative security firms. His capabilities include identifying and solving cloud risk problems through automated cloud governance, as well as creating efficient threat modeling and security architecture. Mr. Steven is a keynote speaker, co-author of the BSIMM study and has helped several CISOs define and implement their security initiatives. “We’re delighted to welcome John Steven to ThreatModeler. We’re continuously striving to innovate and making one click threat modeling a reality. The experience and insights he brings to our mission will be invaluable,” said Archie Agarwwal, co-founder and CEO of ThreatModeler. About ThreatModeler Software, Inc. ThreatModeler is an automated platform that provides a sustainable, self-service threat modeling practice for applications and infrastructure that evolves as the infrastructure grows. ThreatModeler encourages collaboration through its simple process flow diagram-based functionality. It is easy to use in the creation of threat models which identify, prioritize and mitigate threats, while communicating them broadly. ThreatModeler integrates with JIRA, Jenkins, and Azure Boards and Pipelines, with bidirectional web services API also unifying stakeholders in collaboration. Teams are empowered to code and deliver new products with security built-in as early as the design phase, which is based on global security and compliance standards. Contact Details ThreatModeler Software, Inc Sarah Chan +1 201-266-0510 marketing@threatmodeler.com Company Website https://threatmodeler.com/

July 15, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Cyvatar Wins Grand Trophy in the Annual Disruptor Awards

Cyvatar

Cyvatar won its second Grand Trophy of the year during the 2021 Disruptor Company Awards. In addition to its Grand Trophy win, the company walked away with a gold award for security services and bronze for security cloud and SaaS. The disruptor awards judges recognize disruptors as highly persistent, mostly beginning from scratch without the constraints of traditionally accepted processes or business models. Instead, they use modern technology and tools to achieve superior end results. The excellence and innovation found in Cyvatar’s cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) offering has been recognized again and again since its debut last fall. The disruptor awards mark Cyvatar’s 17th win in eight months. “Like other disruptors, we do things differently at Cyvatar,” said Cyvatar Co-Founder and Chief Product and Strategy Officer Craig Goodwin. “We’re not hindered by legacy systems or bound by outdated solutions. We confidently face the challenges of providing security solutions that are effortless for our members to use and affordable for them to purchase.” Cyvatar brings the membership economy to cybersecurity with its innovative CSaaS model and a platform that has already become the de facto operating system for today’s security programs. It transforms cybersecurity for its customers and continually meets their ever-evolving business and security requirements. The company was selected from organizations around the world that vied for top honors. Its disruptive, game-changing platform delivers fast, affordable, fully managed security programs for any size business; processes designed to provide outcomes, continuous remediation, and ongoing solution maintenance; and the ability for all of its members to execute their security strategies at speed and scale. Does your organization need award-winning cybersecurity? Find out how Cyvatar can help. About Cyvatar Cyvatar is committed to effortless cybersecurity for everyone. As the industry’s first subscription-based, cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) company, it’s our mission to transform the way the security industry builds, sells, and supports cyber solutions. We empower our members to achieve successful outcomes by providing expert advisors, proven technologies, and a strategic process roadmap to guarantee results that map to their business drivers. Our approach is rooted in proprietary ICARM (installation, configuration, assessment, remediation, maintenance) methodology that delivers smarter, measurable security solutions for superior compliance and cyber-attack protection faster and more efficiently, all at a fixed monthly price. And because we’re a subscription, members can cancel anytime. Cyvatar is a global organization with operations around the world. Begin your journey to security confidence at https://cyvatar.ai/ and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Contact Details Cyvatar KC Higgins +1 303-434-8163 kc@cyvatar.ai Company Website https://cyvatar.ai/

July 13, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Starting With Reducing World Inequity; W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Esri, and PVBLIC Form New Data Alliance Using Big Data Geospatial Technology for SDG Goals

Esri

A long-term universal threat to social and economic development, inequity hampers poverty reduction initiatives, destroys people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth, and stunts every human’s potential. In September 2015, world leaders agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that have the power to create a better, more equitable world by 2030. Reducing inequality is the most important step countries can take to improve standards of living. Based on the foundational principle of reducing inequalities of all kinds, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Esri, the PVBLIC Foundation, and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Secretariat, announced today they have joined forces to form the SDG Data Alliance. Using the power of purpose-driven collaboration, globally recognized geospatial frameworks, and leading GIS technology, this influential group of partners will accelerate achievement of the SDGs by creating 17 SDG Data Hubs across developing nations in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Based on geospatial frameworks and technology, the data hubs will assist developing countries in measuring, monitoring and reporting on their progress toward reducing inequality and will empower people to ensure inclusiveness and equality. The SDG Data Alliance will empower governments, businesses, and people to respond to and manage shared global challenges like poverty, inequality, and climate change. SDG Data Hubs at Work. A Few Local Examples Ireland and Gender Equality. Women are significantly outnumbered by men in both local and national politics in Ireland. The introduction of gender quota legislation before the 2016 General Elections produced an increase of 6.5 percentage points in female representation in those elections. The gender quota legislation did not apply in the 2019 Local Elections, which saw a smaller increase of 3.8 percentage points in the number of seats won by women. With SDG equity data, gender information, constituent and population information, and economic data help identify marginalized workers, economic and labor market opportunities, and gender balance in government. Iraq and Health Access Inequity. A young pregnant woman living in an informal settlement in Iraq during COVID-19 pandemic may not have adequate water, sanitation, housing or access to healthcare facilities. With SDG equity data around water, healthcare and housing, gaps and patterns can be identified in context to build an infrastructure to keep this woman and her baby healthy during the pandemic. Haiti and Climate Justice. Haiti is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters with more than 90 percent of the population at risk. A young man makes his living and supports his family by selling fruit on the street during rush hour and at tourist destinations. Hurricane Irma nearly swept away his family’s home and his ability to go to school for a better economic potential. With SDG equity data around education, economic growth, climate, and agriculture, insights can be found and shared to provide this young man the opportunity to finish his education and build a more promising future for his family. The SDG Data Alliance’s technology, expertise, and financial support will help countries around the world measure their progress in achieving global equity. Geospatial information and the collaborative efforts to collect and share SDG data are the foundation for connecting people to their location and environment. This alliance enables countries to more precisely allocate resources to address all forms of inequity - reducing inequalities of all kinds, including equity for women, reducing hunger, poverty, improving access to clean water and taking action to reduce the impact of climate change. “Together, we have a vision to build the capacity of communities, governments and NGOs to monitor their progress towards their goals,” said La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “At the heart of this partnership is the belief that people have the capacity to create the conditions for their children to thrive and for communities to become equitable places of opportunity. When communities see the full picture of what’s at play, it will only accelerate that change.” “Inequality threatens long-term social and economic development, and hampers poverty reduction initiatives, especially among vulnerable global communities,” said Jack Dangermond, Esri founder and president. “Open, community-driven partnerships like the SDG Data Alliance offer a framework to create a reporting environment that help communities see patterns and trends around issues like inequality. Our goal in this partnership is to enable the world to work more effectively together on reducing inequalities by leveraging geospatial technology to better understand and solve these challenges.” “We have been advancing this concept for many years and it is remarkable to see this dream become a reality with so many global partners coming together,” said Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, Chairman of PVBLIC Foundation. “Our core mission at PVBLIC is to mobilize media, data, and technology to take action on the sustainable development goals and that’s what the SDG Data Alliance is all about. The partners assembled here are poised to rewrite history, around the role of data, in a post-pandemic world.” “Reducing Inequalities is fundamental to creating a just and prosperous world where no one is left behind and everyone can thrive,” said Michelle Gyles McDonnough, Director, Sustainable Development Unit, Executive Office of the Secretary-General at the United Nations. “It is essential that member states build up their capacity based on actionable data to measure and monitor their progress on the SDG 10 – Reducing Inequalities. The SDG Data Alliance is an example of a multistakeholder initiative that drives progress and offers innovative solutions. Greater universal equality among women and men, income groups and regardless of race and ethnicity will enable us to keep the promise to reach the goals by 2030.” Visit the SDG Data Alliance site at alliance.sdg.org. Members of the SDG Data Alliance have already helped many countries create, organize and implement their SDG Data Hubs including Colombia, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, State of Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United Arab Emirates. About W.K. Kellogg Foundation: The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org. About Esri: Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, location intelligence, and mapping, helps customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Founded in 1969 in Redlands, California, USA, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations globally and in over 200,000 institutions in the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and universities. Esri has regional offices, international distributors, and partners providing local support in over 100 countries on six continents. With its pioneering commitment to geospatial information technology, Esri engineers the most innovative solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics. Visit us at esri.com. About PVBLIC Foundation: PVBLIC Foundation is an innovative non-profit organization that mobilizes media, data, and technology for sustainable development and social impact around the world. The Foundation connects public, private, and nonprofit sectors, plugging innovations into social agendas and helping governments, NGOs, and intergovernmental organizations amplify their impact through original programs, creative partnerships, and strategic donor funds. The foundation has managed programs and partnerships that have reached more than a billion people in 125 countries and inspired global action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Contact Details Esri Jo Ann Pruchniewski +1 301-693-2643 jpruchniewski@esri.com W.K. Kellogg Foundation Kari Carlson +12698832220 kari.carlson@wkkf.org PVBLIC Foundation Luisa Fernanda Ruiz +573105819176 luisaf@pvblic.org CIEN+ Angela Sustaita-Ruiz +19172042787 angela.sustaitaruiz@cien.plus

July 13, 2021 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Velocity Global acquires Shield GEO in second growth transaction this year

Velocity Global

Company continues to scale leading global work platform Follows acquisition of iWorkGlobal in April Combined company serves more than 1,000 brands and over 7,000 supported employees this year DENVER, July 13, 2021 — Velocity Global continues to scale its leading global work platform with the acquisition of Shield GEO, an established global Employer of Record (EoR) provider. This is Velocity Global’s second acquisition this year, after it acquired iWorkGlobal in April. The company deployed capital from the $100 million growth investment from FFL Partners announced in April to complete the transaction. Terms of the deal were not announced. Velocity Global adds scale to its global work platform that simplifies the employer and employee experience. The platform combines the company’s cloud-based workforce management technology, personalized expertise, and unmatched global scale. Users access automated technology as well as partner with a dedicated experience team for individualized solutions and expertise. As the largest global EoR in 185 countries and all 50 United States, Velocity Global manages a client’s workforce by providing in-country and in-state compliance, payroll, and benefits for the supported employees. The company also offers Independent Contractor Compliance to assess a workforce and Agent of Record (AoR) to streamline payments to contractors globally. “For the last seven years we built our platform to support how and where work gets done. This now allows us the strategic position to scale up to meet the accelerated demand from the shifting workforce,” said Ben Wright, Velocity Global founder and CEO. “Both sides of the employment equation -- employers and employees -- fundamentally changed in the last 18 months. It’s not just about working from anywhere, it’s about how to recruit, how to retain employees, how to grow revenue, and how to manage a newly empowered work-life balance.” The “future of work” or gig economy is worth $4.5 trillion according to a 2020 report from Staffing Industry Analysts. “Velocity Global’s continued profitable organic growth sets the foundation for further scale through strategic acquisitions,” said Cas Schneller, FFL Managing Partner. “Both of the company’s recent acquisitions were of profitable, strong businesses at a time when scale is needed to match the market. Velocity Global strengthens its leadership position in the future of work.” The combined company serves more than 1,000 brands and over 7,000 supported employees this year. Velocity Global is registered in all 50 United States and continues to grow its footprint to include 50 wholly owned foreign legal entities in the most desired international markets by year’s end. “We share a proud history of organic growth, and now was the time to combine the global reach of Shield GEO with that of Velocity Global, and deliver an even greater experience that the market is demanding,” said Duncan Macintosh, Shield GEO co-founder. “This combination multiplies the growth opportunity for our team.” “We have known Ben and Velocity Global for a long time and we’ve always viewed our industry similarly, especially in terms of how we service our customers and the employees that we support for them,” said Tim Burgess, Shield GEO co-founder. “Delivering a great human-focused customer experience is important to all of us. We are excited by what our combined teams can do together.” Shield GEO is based in Hong Kong with entities in the U.K. and Australia, and a global remote team. The combined company welcomes all 75 Shield GEO employees and is led by Wright under the Velocity Global brand. Burgess and Macintosh will support the integration of Shield GEO into Velocity Global. ABOUT VELOCITY GLOBAL Velocity Global accelerates the future of work beyond borders. Its global work platform simplifies the employer and employee experience through cloud-based workforce management technology, personalized expertise, and unmatched scale. As the largest global Employer of Record (also known as International PEO) in 185 countries and all 50 United States, more than 1,000 brands rely on Velocity Global to build global teams without the cost or complexity of setting up foreign legal entities or state registrations. The company offers additional services including Independent Contractor Compliance to assess a workforce, and Agent of Record (AoR) to streamline payments to contractors. Velocity Global was named a “Leader” in Global Employer of Record services by prominent analyst firm NelsonHall. Founded in 2014, the company has hundreds of employees in 27 countries. For more information visit velocityglobal.com. Contact Details Velocity Global John Hall +1 720-650-4348 news@velocityglobal.com Company Website https://velocityglobal.com/

July 13, 2021 05:30 AM Mountain Daylight Time

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25-Year Independent Printing Business Custom Printing Converts to International Minute Press Franchise in Nampa, Idaho

Minuteman Press International Inc

Mike Cutler started selling print out of his garage in 1996. Over the next 25 years, Mike built a successful printing business that averaged over $1 million in gross sales over the past 5 years. Mike shares his experience in attempting to sell his independent printing company Custom Printing on his own for six to eight months and reveals how Minuteman Press International was able to step in to help him successfully sell the business. History of Custom Printing Mike says, “Custom Printing was a true family business I built from the ground up. I learned the printing trade through my father, who was a line and typesetter dating back to the 1950s. After starting the business in 1996, I quickly out-grew my garage and opened my first retail location in 1998. At the time, my specialties were thermography, offset printing, and stationery (envelopes and forms). By 2006, we out-grew the original location and expanded to a 6,000 sq. ft. facility. Between 2006 and 2014, I completed eight acquisitions to expand my business. The companies I acquired were in the areas of large format printing and signs, lithography, trophies, and reprographics.” Mike continues, “In 2015, we expanded even more, giving us 8,200 sq. ft. of space to work with. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we actually excelled and recorded our biggest sales year operating as an essential business. At the time of the sale, we had nine full-time employees and some part-time staff. Our 5-year average was $1.2 million in yearly sales.” Selling the Business By June 2020, Mike decided that it was time to sell Custom Printing. At first, he was asking different colleagues and people he knew. However, Mike quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be easy. He says, “I tried to sell the business that I worked so hard to build for six to eight months on my own. I was also preparing to let it go at a very undervalued price as I couldn’t find the right people to buy the business and I found many of them were time-wasters and tire-kickers. On top of that, when I consulted with a business broker, they were asking me for 10% off the top of the sale, and they also wanted a percentage of my lease agreement.” After experiencing these challenges on his own, Mike turned to Minuteman Press International to help sell his printing business. “One of the franchisees I knew locally in Idaho referred me to Chris Jutt, Minuteman Press International Regional Vice President. After our first phone call, I felt confident that Chris had the ability, drive and connections to make this dream a reality for me. Our meetings were always super easy going and comfortable. Chris took all the pressure off of me and said to focus on my successful business and he would do the rest. That is just what he did.” Before meeting with Minuteman Press International, Mike even went as far as to get a professional valuation of his printing business. He shares, “When I knew I was going to be selling, I made sure to get the shop ready. I made sure my financials were in proper order, I kept up with equipment maintenance and repairs, and I kept running and growing my business. Just to get a valuation of my business, I spent $3,000 to get it done professionally. Minuteman Press International did this for free and came up with the same number. That really impressed me and reassured me that the sale of Custom Printing was in capable hands.” “We set a price for my independent printing business that was significantly higher than I anticipated, and Chris Jutt recommended some terms. Within one week, I had several very interested parties. Chris found the perfect people to purchase my business – James and Sheryl Wisler – that will continue what I started some 25 years ago. Minuteman Press International knew that the most important things to me were my long-term employees, my clients, and the reputation I had worked so hard to build. Chris found buyers that valued the same things. He and the entire team at Minuteman Press International delivered on all of my expectations and exceeded in most of them. Looking back, if I knew this was going to be this easy, I would have contacted him years ago.” -Mike Cutler, independent print operator, Custom Printing (now International Minute Press, Nampa, Idaho ) Transition to New Owners After the sale of his business, Mike quickly realized how beneficial it was to have the team at Minuteman Press International assist with all aspects of the transition to the new owners. He shares, “At first, I was apprehensive about how the transition would go. I was immediately relieved when I saw how Minuteman Press International took the reins to teach and train James and Sheryl. We are only two and a half weeks into the transition phase, and already I feel like I am not needed as much as I thought I would be. My employees are in great hands, my clients are being taken care of, and James and Sheryl are doing a fantastic job.” He adds, “The entire team both here locally and at their corporate headquarters has been phenomenal. No matter who I’ve talked to or worked with during this entire process, everyone has been professional as well as instrumental in making this happen. It’s a win-win situation all around.” “The smooth transition has reassured me that it was the right move to sell my business with Minuteman Press International. They have the right plan, the right experience, and everyone has been incredible to the very last detail. In my acquisition experience, nothing has ever been as easy as this. I had everything to gain and nothing to lose, and there were absolutely no hiccups along the way. I would easily rate my experience as 10/10.” -Mike Cutler Advice to Other Sellers When asked what advice he would give to other print shop owners looking to sell, Mike answers, “Don’t even waste your time trying to do this yourself. When you try to sell on your own, there are so many bottleneck issues and you will likely undervalue your business. I couldn’t find the right buyers on my own and I had to spend too much time to meet with people repeatedly while still running my own business.” Mike concludes, “Minuteman Press International alleviated the bottlenecks and came forward with qualified buyers who were ready to write the check for the right price. I am 100% satisfied beyond my expectations. This was a total team effort by everyone, and they all came through for me.” Contact Minuteman Press International today for a free valuation at no obligation and learn more about how we can help you sell your printing business at no cost to you. Call us at 1-800-645-3006 or visit https://bit.ly/minutemanpressconversions Contact Details Minuteman Press International Chris Biscuiti +1 631-249-1370 cbiscuiti@mpihq.com Company Website https://minutemanpressfranchise.com

July 12, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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WellSaid Labs Announces $10M Round Led by Fuse to Build “Voices for Every Brand”

WellSaid

WellSaid Labs, the artificial intelligence text-to-speech technology company, announced a $10 million Series A round led by FUSE, with participation from previous investor Voyager, as well as Qualcomm Ventures LLC, and GoodFriends. The Series A was oversubscribed with interest from VCs given the record year-over-year growth in revenue and incredible customer demand. WellSaid Labs plans to use these funds to drive further AI and product innovation, scale go-to-market functions, and grow the team. With a mission to offer businesses and brands the highest quality Text-to-Speech (TTS) service imaginable, WellSaid Labs empowers content creators and product teams to create engaging voice content for infinite use-cases in streaming services, radio, programmatic advertising, digital marketing, and corporate training content. WellSaid Labs has rearchitected TTS to resolve business’ toughest content development problems and deliver an easy way for content creators — big or small — to develop all their desired content in one consistent voice that represents their brand. WellSaid Labs’ Voice Avatar library provides access to multiple read styles and tones anyone can use for their productions. In addition, brands can create their own AI Voice Avatars to spec — capturing the likeness, style, and uniqueness of the voice needed to tell their stories in exactly the right way. “Plain and simple, WellSaid is the future of content creation for voice," said Cameron Borumand, General Partner at FUSE. "This is why thousands of customers love using the product daily with off-the-charts bottom-up adoption. Matt and Michael have assembled a world-class team and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of the WellSaid journey.” Creating natural-sounding speech from text is considered a “ grand challenge ” in the field of AI and has been a research goal for decades. Over the last three years, WellSaid Labs has consistently researched and developed tremendous breakthroughs in the quality, speed and reliability of neural text-to-speech systems. In June 2020, WellSaid Labs' TTS became the first to achieve human parity for naturalness on short audio clips across multiple voices. "We’ve added AI Voice to the toolkit of thousands of content creators and their teams," said Matt Hocking, CEO of WellSaid Labs. "Our human-parity AI voice can be produced faster than real-time, and updated on-demand. Opening up new and exciting opportunities to 'add voice' where never before perceived possible. AI voice easily ensures every production can be created and updated efficiently at scale." “Content creators or product experience designers were previously faced with difficult tradeoffs between quality and scalability when using TTS tools or human voiceover. WellSaid’s incredible voices, which are accessible through a studio application or a scalable API, removes the need to choose whether you want natural, lifelike speech or infinitely scalable and easily editable voice content. WellSaid provides both and delivers it however your team would like to consume it,” said James Newell, Partner at Voyager Capital. “Creative teams have found it to be extremely useful when they need to produce multiple pieces of high-quality content in a consistent voice in hours instead of weeks.” “Recent developments in TTS technology using generative AI have enabled synthetic voices to sound very human-like, finding exciting new applications for voice including e-learning, advertising and news readers," said Carlos Kokron, Vice President at Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Managing Director at Qualcomm Ventures Americas. “WellSaid Labs provides an industry leading product that generates highly accurate human-like voices. We look forward to working with WellSaid Labs to help fuel the creator economy with human-parity AI voices across mobile and IoT.” "WellSaid's team has applied deep technical expertise to build a platform that enables easy creation and editing of incredibly life-like audio," said Dave Gilboa of Good Friends and co-CEO of Warby Parker. "We see meaningful growth potential in the use of high-quality audio in giving brands the ability to communicate with customers and creators the ability to engage with audiences." WellSaid Studio eliminates the complexities traditional text-to-speech technologies present to creatives — making the production, updating, and publishing of voiceovers extremely simple and cost effective. Product developers access WellSaid Labs’ core AI engine via real time APIs to power up digital experiences with a reliable and scalable voice infrastructure. About FUSE FUSE is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in Pacific Northwest-based companies that are reinventing the modern economy with software. FUSE is committed to supporting the next generation of B2B technology entrepreneurs building category-defining businesses of lasting value. General Partners Kellan Carter, Cameron Borumand and Brendan Wales are joined by Venture Partner and Seattle Seahawks captain Bobby Wagner, as well as Senior Operating Partners John Connors and Satbir Khanuja. Their strategic LP base includes current and former executives at the Pacific Northwest’s top companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Nike, Starbucks, Costco, T-Mobile, Boeing, Avalara, DocuSign, Smartsheet and many more. For more information about FUSE, please visit fuse.vc. About Voyager Capital Since 1997, Voyager Capital has focused on first-round venture investments to help entrepreneurs in the Pacific Northwest create winning businesses. Built on the team's extensive experience with startups and its exceptional network across the industry, the firm's entrepreneur-centric approach accelerates the pace at which companies can build, execute, pivot and scale. Voyager has $520M under management investing in B2B software, cloud infrastructure, and applications driven by AI and machine learning. With offices in Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, BC, Voyager provides its portfolio the unwavering support and stage-appropriate connections needed to disrupt markets and create sustainable competitive advantage. About Qualcomm Ventures Qualcomm Ventures, acting through Qualcomm Ventures LLC or its affiliated entities, has been making strategic investments in technology companies that have the potential to dramatically transform our world since 2000. As a global investor, we look to help entrepreneurs build revolutionary businesses that reshape the world around us. For more information please visit: www.qualcommventures.com. About GoodFriends Good Friends is a venture capital firm that was started in 2019 by the founders of Warby Parker, Harry's, and Allbirds. Good Friends invests in early stage businesses with a consumer lens. About WellSaid Labs WellSaid Labs is the leading AI text-to-speech technology company and first synthetic media service to achieve human-parity in voice. Creators, product developers, and brands alike power up their stories and digital experiences with a wide variety of voice styles, accents and languages — at scale. For more information go to www.wellsaidlabs.com Contact Details Forrest Carman +1 206-859-3118 forrestc@owenmedia.com Company Website https://wellsaidlabs.com/

July 07, 2021 09:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time

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Cyvatar Takes Home Top Prize in 2021 Fortress Awards

Cyvatar

Cyvatar today received more industry accolades as it was named a winner in network security by the Business Intelligence Group for its innovative Cybersecurity-as-a-Service (CSaaS) offering as part of the 2021 Fortress Cybersecurity Awards. The Fortress awards program identifies and rewards the world’s leading companies and products that are working to keep data and electronic assets safe among a growing threat from hackers. “2021 is rapidly becoming the toughest year for cybersecurity professionals and as our reliance on networks continues to accelerate, our identities and data have quickly become global currency, so security is more important than ever,” said Maria Jimenez, chief nominations officer at the Business Intelligence Group. “We are proud to recognize all of our winners and finalists who are on the frontlines of the effort to prepare, defend and respond to this growing threat.” Cyvatar’s proprietary ICARM method guarantees proper installation, configuration, assessment, remediation, and maintenance for every Cyvatar technology solution so that organizations actually achieve better protection and resilience from their investments And because Cyvatar’s method is continuous, it protects against attack vectors that haven’t even surfaced yet. “It’s continued validation of our unique CSaaS model that industry peers recognized Cyvatar again for exceptional leadership and innovation,” said Cyvatar Co-Founder and Chief Product and Strategy Officer Craig Goodwin. “As the first subscription-based CSaaS company to deliver effortless, affordable cybersecurity, we enable our members to protect confidential information with the people, processes, and technology essential to ensure they get value from their security tools, from conception and strategy to implementation and maintenance. No other provider delivers holistic security at price points that work for any size customer and guaranteed value that allows customers to cancel anytime.” Cyvatar CSaaS levels the playing field by democratizing cybersecurity and making the best protection accessible and affordable for every size organization, even if they have no cybersecurity expertise in-house. If your organization needs award-winning cybersecurity, Cyvatar can help. About Cyber Defense Magazine With over 5 Million monthly readers and growing, and thousands of pages of searchable online infosec content, Cyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of IT Security information for B2B and B2G with our sister magazine Cyber Security Magazine for B2C. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and special editions exclusively for the RSA Conferences. CDM is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group. Learn more about us at https://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com and visit https://www.cyberdefensetv.com and https://www.cyberdefenseradio.com to see and hear some of the most informative interviews of many of these winning company executives. Join a webinar at https://www.cyberdefensewebinars.com and realize that infosec knowledge is power. About Cyvatar Cyvatar is committed to effortless cybersecurity for everyone. As the industry’s first subscription-based, cybersecurity-as-a-service (CSaaS) company, it’s our mission to transform the way the security industry builds, sells, and supports cyber solutions. We empower our members to achieve successful outcomes by providing expert advisors, proven technologies, and a strategic process roadmap to guarantee results that map to their business drivers. Our approach is rooted in proprietary ICARM (installation, configuration, assessment, remediation, maintenance) methodology that delivers smarter, measurable security solutions for superior compliance and cyber-attack protection faster and more efficiently, all at a fixed monthly price. And because we’re a subscription, members can cancel anytime. Cyvatar is headquartered in Irvine, California with locations around the world. Begin your journey to security confidence at CYVATAR.AI and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Contact Details Cyvatar KC Higgins +1 303-434-8163 kc@cyvatar.ai Cyber Defense Magazine April Palanca +18338449468 Company Website https://cyvatar.ai/

July 07, 2021 11:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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