iSelect

On today's podcast, Cofactor Genomics COO, Dr. David Messina discusses how his company is working to make personalized medicine a reality by focusing on the potential of RNA as a diagnostic tool. Unlike DNA, which is set in stone at birth, our RNA changes on a minute-by-minute basis and acts as a barometer of our health. Led by 3 former researchers from The Human Genome Project, Cofactor Genomics is developing a patent-pending RNA-based technology that will allow medical researchers to...

Dr. Todd Mockler is one of the world's leading experts on plant genetics and has dedicated his career to better understanding how the genetic code of different types of plants impacts their behavior and responses. As a member and principal investigator with the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, his research has focused on the development of plant genomic tools, with the end goal of improving crop performance and yield.

On today's podcast we discuss how startup company Better Weekdays is reducing friction in the talent acquisition process. With their interactive platform that provides tools and services, improving the hiring process for students, colleges, and employers. Carter Williams: This is Carter Williams, CEO of iSelect with Chris Motley. Chris Motley: Hello. How are you? CW: Welcome Chris. Chris is one of iSelect's portfolio companies and the CEO of Better Weekdays. Better Weekdays is a software...

There is massive consolidation occurring in the healthcare space right now, and as a result hospital systems are acting almost like private equity groups. They're sucking up all of these once-independent primary care providers and are distributing all of the administrative functions that these providers manager to shared, centralized care teams in an effort to cut costs, just like any good private equity investor would. In the case of healthcare, most of this is happening in outpatient care...

The global population is booming, diets are shifting and urbanization is rising. Never has so much been asked of agriculture to meet the needs of our society. Never have the external risks to agriculture advancement been greater, whether from changing climate, limited natural resources, concerns over chemical inputs, protests over GMO, industry consolidation or reduced choice in the marketplace. In the face of all these challenges, new innovations are needed to advance agriculture for people...

The United States has an infrastructure problem. By some estimates, America needs about $3 trillion of investment in its critical infrastructure to support its crumbling bridges, highways, dams and other structures. That's a big number. The American Society of Civil Engineers' grades our infrastructure as a D+, and the World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. 16th in overall infrastructure quality, behind France, Spain and Japan. The good news is that, if you go to Washington today, about the...

Venture capital is the highest performing asset class available to investors today, but it is far from a level playing field. In truth, a large portion of the return in the asset class comes from a few top tier funds and the balance from smaller emerging manager funds. The bulk of other funds underperform. This has led to a perception that returns in venture are a function of the manager - bright insightful investors with a perception of the future somehow can ordain positive outcomes. In...

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of sitting down for a conversation with Michael Greenberg, the host and founder of St. Louis Business RadioX, a podcast focused on business issues facing Missouri and the greater Midwest venture opportunity. Anyone who has been reading my blog posts over the course of the last year can probably guess what we talked about: innovation, startup growth and the amazing opportunities I see every day in the venture capital space. But there's more to it than just...