Key Takeaways Herrera’s firsthand experience working at a call center helped inspire the outsourcing startup Horatio. The company launched in 2018 with its first location in the Dominican Republic. Today, Horatio leverages AI without losing sight of human value to see 9-figure annual revenue. After starting his career at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, Dominican founder Jose Herrera couldn’t shake the “entrepreneurial bug.” He began investing in direct-to-consumer startups and noticed a common pain point: The businesses consistently struggled with customer service. Herrera had firsthand experience on the other side, having worked a summer job at a call center before…
Author: Staff Writer
Wendy’s just lost its spot as America’s No. 2 burger chain. Same-store sales fell 7% and traffic dropped 12.5% in the second quarter, the company’s sixth straight quarterly decline, according to Restaurant Business. It’s been a rough go for the burger dynasty. Wendy’s has closed 245 restaurants so far this year. Meanwhile, Burger King’s sales jumped 8.5% last quarter, enough to push Wendy’s into second place behind McDonald’s. Bob Wright, who took over as Wendy’s CEO in May after leading Potbelly through a turnaround and a $566 million sale, didn’t hold back about what went wrong. “Our quality differentiation has…
A group of Wall Street’s biggest investment firms wants to hand Nvidia $500 billion for AI infrastructure, but not everyone is jumping for joy, according to Bloomberg. Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR are among the firms in talks, with a deal possibly landing as soon as Monday. It’s not yet clear which projects the money would back, or whether the commitments are brand new or stuff Nvidia already agreed to spend. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s stock dropped 2.2% the same day the news broke. Some investors are concerned about Nvidia’s dealmaking. The chip company has…
On the Fourth of July, more than 100,000 people packed San Francisco’s waterfront for a fireworks show. When the crowd tried to head home, Waymo’s robotaxis blocked intersections, choked traffic and left some stuck behind them for over three hours. At least two drove over exploding fireworks, one of them catching fire, according to the New York Times. “We were just in absolute shock,” said Rose Peterson, who was inside one of them. The car smelled like it was on fire, she told the Times, before it stalled out at the next intersection. The autonomous vehicle industry has a term…
Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500-word essay this week laying out his vision for artificial intelligence. The timing isn’t random. Meta is lagging behind in the AI race and trying to catch up to rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI, according to the Wall Street Journal. It also comes as investors grow impatient with Meta’s AI spending, after the company’s free cash flow recently collapsed. Here’s the gist of his argument. Zuckerberg wants AI to stay open, meaning anyone can download and build on Meta’s models, rather than locked inside a few giant companies. He’s argued before that concentrating AI power is…
President Donald Trump secretly flew out of last month’s NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on an alternate military aircraft while the White House made it appear that the Republican president was flying on Air Force One, according to a report published by The Washington Post on Monday.The Post said the operation was prompted by an Iranian assassination threat against Trump. The ruse was carried out as journalists and some White House staff members were led to believe they were on the same plane as the president as he began his journey back to Washington from the annual gathering of NATO…
On Monday, the South American country of Colombia was struck by a powerful earthquake at 7:34 a.m. local time. According to the Associated Press, the quake reached a magnitude of 7.4 on the Richter scale, which caused Colombia’s Geological Service to declare it the strongest earthquake to hit the country “in the 21st century.” The quake epicenter was in San José del Palmar, a city in western Colombia, about 250 miles west of the country’s capital of Bogotá. While search and rescue efforts are ongoing, the death toll has already been confirmed to be high. According to the AP, at…
COMMENT: Marty, your report “Is It Time to Nuke Kiev?” really brings things into focus. The U.S. ended World War II by using nuclear weapons on Hiroshima, and Russia might be driven down a similar path—largely because of this current idiot in charge. I’m genuinely stunned that he’s attempting to interfere in Russian elections. What a reckless move. PA ANSWER: He is a puppet. The Neocons always think of just taking some action that is in front of their nose without ever thinking through what comes next. Zelensky’s attacks are more likely to ensure that the Hawks gain the majority,…
Unbeknownst to her, a bald eagle in Big Bear, California, captured the hearts of millions of people around the world and taught them about perseverance, conservation, and the perfect stick placement in nests. Sadly, despite the best efforts of the rehabilitation facility Ojai Raptor Center, Jackie the bald eagle died early Monday morning. As fans mourn this unspeakable loss, it is comforting to look back on her history and consider the lasting legacy she leaves behind. The life of Jackie The nonprofit Friends of the Big Bear Valley was founded in 2001 by residents who wanted to preserve the natural…
For decades, titanium dioxide has been used to make products bright white, from paint to powdered donuts. It’s effective, cheap, and hard to replace. But after the European Union (EU) banned it as a food additive in 2022 over potential health risks, companies have been searching for better alternatives. One new colorant uses an unlikely design. Seprify, a Switzerland-based startup, took inspiration from a beetle that appears bright white because of the microscopic structure of the scales on its exoskeleton. “It’s not hard to make anything white, but making white using very little material and very thin films is the…