AI may take jobs, but it makes starting a business easier than ever - here's how

This is an interesting headline! The article is OK, but not great. E.g. too much vibe coding!

"... AI taketh away, and AI giveth. With AI tools, launching one's own startup is easier and cheaper than ever before. 

"Solo founders will become a huge thing," ...

Recognize that AI can now solve most up-front problems ...

Conduct a small demonstration project ..."

AI may take jobs, but it makes starting a business easier than ever - here's how | ZDNET "Here are 6 tips for using AI to jump into entrepreneurship."

Why Everyone Is Flocking To North Carolina's Tech Hub

Recommendable!

Inside Elon Musk’s Fascination With ‘X’

I will call Twitter going forward TwitterX (still shorter than 150 character)! 😊

The Fall of Byju’s | Why Indian Startups are Struggling with Palki Sharma

Recommendable!

Chart of the day

Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2023 (GSER 2023) Brexit was not a mistake! Germany has become a banana republic! India, a rising superpower! Singapore ranks 8th.

Nuview emerges from stealth with plans to map the Earth using lidar

An ambitious undertaking! Aim high, achieve it!

"... The company aims to build out a constellation of 20 commercial satellites outfitted with its proprietary lidar [light detection and ranging] system. The “endgame,” as Nuview founder and CEO Clint Graumann put it, is to map the entire land surface of the Earth with lidar — on an annual basis. ..."

Nuview emerges from stealth with plans to map the Earth using lidar | TechCrunch

Gulf countries eye economic opportunities in Africa

Good news! Taking advantage of the recent African Continental Free Trade Agreement!

Startups in Pakistan: The ecosystem (finally) takes off

India's rival is emerging. Pakistan has been discovered.

"[Pakistan] has ... the fifth largest population in the world, approaching 230 million. And that population is both overwhelmingly young, with a median age of 22, and bi-lingual, with the fourth largest number of English speakers in the world. Add to that one of the fastest-growing middle classes, more than 100 million mobile broadband subscribers, and hundreds of thousands of tech professionals, and you have all the makings of a fertile market for new enterprises and digital services.
Yet until recently, venture or growth funding in Pakistan was barely a trickle compared to similar countries in the Middle East/North Africa region or in other parts of Asia. In the last couple of years, however, global VCs and other foreign investors have begun making significant bets on local start-ups as many regulatory and cultural barriers have started to soften. ..."

Startups in Pakistan: The ecosystem (finally) takes off | McKinsey With a massive young, English-speaking population and a fast-growing, tech-savvy middle class, Pakistan has many ingredients for a thriving start-up ecosystem. So why is it only now starting to live up to its entrepreneurial potential, and where is it headed?

Israeli Startup aims to make honey without bees

Honey made in Israel! This is like thinking outside the bee hive! 😄

"... It’s no secret that bees are in trouble. A 2021 study found that 25 percent of known bee species have disappeared since the 1990s. The study notes that the roughly 20,000 bee species “are the most important group of insect pollinators” on Earth, contributing to some 85% of cultivated crops.
The problem ... is that only seven of those 20,000 species make honey.  ...
Bee-io makes cultivated honey by mimicking the bees’ natural process. Nectar collected from plants is filtered and inserted into a biosynthesis machine where it’s mixed with specific enzymes and evaporated, resulting in honey. (The enzymes are produced using a fermentation process, making Bee-io’s product truly vegan.) ..."

Startup aims to make honey without bees - ISRAEL21c Siblings whose last name means ‘honey’ have a technology for cultivating honey in the lab as world’s bee population fast dwindles.

On the state of freelance work: You are competing with the world

I have recently checked out some of the top freelance jobs websites for particular software development jobs/projects. 

What I noticed is that your bid competes with other bids from all over the world. 

Many of the newly posted jobs/projects had already plenty of bids received.

These websites also make it very easy and convenient for you to place bids. They do impose limits on the number of bids per time period you can place depending on your membership status etc., but they are fairly generous.

Some of these websites want freelancers to become paying members etc.

One of these freelance jobs websites posted jobs/projects in foreign currency (Indian rupee, Australian dollar etc.) and did not even bother to convert the amount in a common currency or the website visitors preferred currency.

Tough or not easy, I would say.

Taiwan Becomes More than a Tourist Destination for Hong Kong as Beijing Tightens Grip

If confirmed, this is another blow to the Communist Party of China!

"The political and business environments in Hong Kong are deteriorating further as Beijing tightens its grip over the Special Administration Regions (SAR), once the poster child for business innovation and economic vibrancy. Local startups are increasingly looking outside the territory for expanding business opportunities. In a recent poll conducted by a Hong Kong organization, Taiwan has emerged as the top choice for local startup businesses looking for expansion opportunities. Indeed, amid Beijing’s suppression of Hong Kong’s political space, many business enterprises are looking at Taiwan and Southeast Asia as their top two destinations of choice."

The Global Taiwan Brief Volume 5, Issue 8