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Finance Minister <keyword id="19916618" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nirmala-Sitharaman" source="keywords">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> on Tuesday announced abolishing <keyword id="20279287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="angel-tax" source="keywords">angel tax</keyword> for all classes of investors in <keyword id="19945815" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups" source="keywords">startups</keyword>. In her Budget speech, she also announced various changes with respect to tax rates for e-commerce players and certain financial instruments in the context of long-term capital gains. "First of all, to bolster the Indian startup eco-system, boost the entrepreneurial spirit and support innovation, I propose to <keyword id="20469312" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="abolish" source="keywords">abolish</keyword> the so-called angel tax for all classes of investors," she said. The removal of the angel tax is expected to be a boost for startups as it will help in promoting a more conducive environment for them. Sitharaman also proposed to thoroughly simplify the I-T provisions for reopening and reassessment to reduce uncertainty and disputes. "An assessment hereinafter can be reopened beyond three years from the end of the assessment year only if the escaped income is Rs 50 lakh or more, up to a maximum period of five years from the end of the assessment year. "Even in search cases, a time limit of six years before the year of search, as against the existing time limit of ten years, is proposed. This will reduce tax-uncertainty and disputes," she said. Further, she said long-term gains on financial and non-financial assets will attract a tax rate of 12.5 per cent while the TDS rate will be reduced to 0.1 per cent from 1 per cent for e-commerce operators. SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/budget-2024-25-changes-to-tax-slabs-increased-standard-deduction-and-other-changes-to-direct-taxation/articleshow/111951205.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/budget-2024-25-changes-to-tax-slabs-increased-standard-deduction-and-other-changes-to-direct-taxation/articleshow/111951205.cms" target="_blank">Budget 2024-25 – Changes to tax slabs, increased standard deduction and other changes to direct taxation</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/union-budget-2024-live-updates-finance-minister-nirmala-sitharaman-key-announcements-23-july/liveblog/111942008.cms" target="_blank">Budget 2024 Live Updates: FM Sitharaman announces comprehensive review of the Income Tax Act 1961</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/expectations-from-union-budget-2024-25-how-will-this-budget-impact-you/articleshow/111946291.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/expectations-from-union-budget-2024-25-how-will-this-budget-impact-you/articleshow/111946291.cms" target="_blank">Union Budget 2024-25: How will this budget impact you?</a>

Govt to abolish angel tax on investments in startups

Angel Investing Opportunities

<keyword id="19945815" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="startups" source="keywords">Startups</keyword> in <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="keywords">India</keyword> have high expectations from this year's upcoming <keyword id="19908389" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Union-Budget" source="keywords">Union Budget</keyword>. Early-age startups hope for the removal of angel taxes, while <keyword id="20677283" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="health-tech-startups" source="keywords">health tech startups</keyword> expect increased <keyword id="19913964" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="funding" source="keywords">funding</keyword> for the sector. Startups function as engines of economic growth, playing a crucial role in generating new jobs, ideas, products, and services. As of December 2023, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had recognised 1,17,254 startups. These startups have reportedly created over 12.42 lakh direct jobs, significantly impacting the economy. Eklavya Gupta, CEO and Co-founder of Recur Club, stated, "We are confident that India's business credit landscape is on the brink of a major digital overhaul. FinTechs are at the forefront of this change, deploying innovative technologies and utilising in-depth data analytics to streamline and expand <keyword id="20974354" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="credit-access" source="keywords">credit access</keyword>." He added, "While the current allocation of Rs 10,000 crore is an excellent initial step, realising the full capabilities of India's SME and startup ecosystem will necessitate greater investment, especially in credit guarantee schemes." Vinod K Singh, Co-Founder and CTO of Concirrus, expressed his expectations from the budget: "As the Union Budget 2024-25 approaches, we hope the government will address the pressing issue of the 'angel tax.' Eliminating this tax will enhance capital formation and attract vital <keyword id="19895633" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="investments" source="keywords">investments</keyword>. Streamlining the duty structure and reducing high tariffs on electronic inputs are also crucial to bolstering the startup ecosystem and driving innovation. Expanding the Fund of Funds and introducing low-interest loans would be beneficial." Rajiv Lamba, co-founder and CEO of AI-enabled customer feedback platform Surveysensum, added, "Just as the government has prioritised financial inclusion, it should now focus on <keyword id="22405441" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="technological-inclusion" source="keywords">technological inclusion</keyword> to propel India to the next stage of growth. By training youth in AI, the government can make a strategic investment in the nation's technological future. Given the rapidly evolving job market, a substantial increase of 20 to 25 percent in budget allocation should be considered for AI-based skill development and entrepreneurship." He further emphasised, "Incentivizing investment in <keyword id="20328842" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-startups" source="keywords">AI startups</keyword> and R&amp;D initiatives can boost local innovation in the AI space. The last budget introduced a deep tech fund of Rs 1 lakh crore with a 50-year interest-free loan period; the government should now establish a clear and transparent mechanism for access to this fund." Raja S, founder and MD of Hearzap, highlighted the expectations of health tech startups: "Health tech startups are eagerly anticipating increased funding that could usher in transformative advancements. This crucial investment holds the promise of extending cutting-edge healthcare solutions to rural and underserved areas, effectively bridging existing gaps in care. The upcoming budget ensures that every individual in our diverse population, from the youngest to the oldest, can access essential health services, including specialised care." Discussing taxation for startups in India, Vvihan Gulati, Director of Mediagraphics PR, commented, "Removing the angel tax is a highly anticipated move that would benefit early-stage startups and their investors. It would foster a more favourable environment for innovation and growth, allowing startups to attract much-needed capital without the burden of excessive taxation. This change could significantly enhance the ease of doing business and contribute to the overall growth of the startup ecosystem in India." The Union Budget 2024 will be tabled on July 23 by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. With this, she will become the first Finance Minister to deliver seven consecutive budgets, surpassing Morarji Desai. She presented the interim budget on February 1 of this year.

Startups demand angel tax elimination, incentives on investments in upcoming budget

For 10 years, Joe Gallegos Jr. lived the life of an LA actor, driving from audition to audition across the sprawling city in the hopes of landing a role. Things were going well — he'd landed a role in "A Cowgirl's Story," a military drama starring Bailee Madison, the "Dance Moms" star Chloé Lukasiak, and Pat Boone, and he was starting to read for bigger projects.That all changed a few years ago when a film role brought him back to his native New Mexico. He was close to family for the first time in years, and the film industry there was burgeoning. When the movie wrapped, instead of sprinting back to Los Angeles, Gallegos realized he didn't have to go back. The pandemic had shifted from in-person to on-tape. He's since earned acting credits in TV shows like "Pulse," a medical procedural on Netflix; and "Duster," a JJ Abrams drama on HBO Max — both of which filmed in New Mexico. The money he's made from those gigs and a few independent projects made it possible for Gallegos to buy a townhouse in downtown Albuquerque — something he'd never come close to being able to afford in La La Land."It's been a good decision because, as an actor, I can be literally anywhere in the world now," he told me.Lately, creative workers are increasingly chasing their Hollywood dreams in production hubs far from Hollywood. LA continues to hold the lion's share of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hollywood-losing-dominance-tv-movies-employment-chart-2024-10">film and TV jobs</a> in America, but after a long grind of jobs slowly slipping away, the exodus from the city has accelerated in recent years. A recent analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics figures conducted by Patrick Adler and Taner Osman of Westwood Economics &amp; Planning Associates found that the figure was 22% in August, down from about 33% two years earlier.So what's making actors, executives, and studios look beyond the Hollywood sign? Some factors aren't new. Most notably, states have long used financial incentives to try to lure film investment away from California. But those incentives helped establish an infrastructure across the US — with top-notch sound stages being built in cities as varied as Dallas, Atlanta, and Miami — that was ready and waiting when the pandemic-era rise of remote work gave those seeking a lower cost of living a real choice in deciding where to live. Add it all up, and it seems that the glitz and glam of Hollywood is struggling to keep up with simple dollars and cents.The filmed entertainment industry's center of gravity is shifting further from Hollywood at a time of upheaval. The decadelong shift to streaming was exacerbated by the pandemic, which stalled, then boosted, production as people stayed inside and became couch potatoes. Peak TV came to a halt in 2022 when networks, studios, and streamers couldn't make the financial math for all those new streaming shows work. And filming was shut down once again in 2023 because of the Hollywood actors and writers strikes.When projects slowly got back on their feet, fewer of them were turning their lights on in LA. FilmLA, which issues permits for production in the region, found that Greater Los Angeles' share of US-produced TV and film projects declined from 23% in 2021 to 18% last year. The number of people employed in the traditional entertainment industry in LA, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hit a 30-year low in June. At the same time, jobs related to video gaming, live events, and the creator economy rose in the city as people's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.emarketer.com/content/digital-media-makes-up-nearly-two-thirds-of-consumers-total-time-spent-with-media">media diet</a> shifted toward social video and away from traditional TV and movies.The biggest reason that productions are looking elsewhere is cost. The wage gains made by the actors and writers have increased budgets for talent, leading producers to hunt for ways to drive down outlays in other areas — including locations. Thirty-seven states offer perks for film and TV production — typically in the form of tax credits equal to a percentage of a production's in-state spending, or cash rebates — and at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncsl.org/state-legislatures-news/details/watch-out-hollywood-states-want-a-piece-of-the-moviemaking-action-1">least 18 states have implemented or expanded</a> film tax incentives since 2021. Georgia boosted its incentive program in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ajc.com/blog/buzz/top-grossing-films-shot-georgia-since-2008/joqaWPplc0L2mKzwmcNMwK/">2008</a>, helping attract big-budget films like Disney's Marvel franchise and the Netflix hit "Stranger Things." Atlanta's share of entertainment employment is still relatively small — just 2%, according to the Otis Report on the Creative Economy, a closely-watched research study — but that has doubled over the past decade and shows no sign of slowing.As productions move out of Los Angeles, it becomes easier for others to follow. Tiffany FitzHenry, an executive producer known for "Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot," has seen the Atlanta area evolve since relocating there from LA in 2009."We have training for not just below the line but people in producing, packaging, financing," she told me, adding that the shift in major studio movies to the city had brought with it the structures needed to sustain a more permanent workforce."The biggest movies have been made here for the past 15 years," she said. "We have all the toys and tools at our fingertips."Other states are getting in on the action. Kentucky passed an incentive program in 2022 offering fully refundable production tax credits worth up to $75 million total or $10 million a project. Its second-largest city, Lexington, recently hired the entertainment marketer Lisa Brin, a Lexington native, to help persuade studios to shoot there. Brin said Lexington had attracted 30 film and TV projects so far this year, representing more than $2 million in local spending. In addition to the financial incentives, the city touts production spaces like Lex Studios, a facility with three sound stages, a growing crew base, and a willingness to pull strings as they did for a recent production that requested a major street to be closed for a shoot.In addition to luring productions, these areas are also trying to make it more appealing for creatives to stick around once the cameras shut off. Georgia and Kentucky are among states that have invested in training programs to foster homegrown talent and initiatives like FilmLex as a resource hub to help productions. For transplants, it's cheaper to live and raise a family outside LA as well as New York, the second-biggest entertainment market. And while jobs and the cost of living might be the primary reasons people move, the proliferation of cultural amenities in many smaller cities makes it easier for them to stay. 26 Keys, a production founded by Noah Hawley, an Austin native who created FX's "Fargo" series, is taking steps to build up Austin's entertainment cultural capital, with plans for a library, events like industry happy hours, and film screenings, working with organizations like the Austin Film Society and South by Southwest. "I just don't think there's a real sort of hub that's trying to connect them," said Maddy Bilder, a project director at 26 Keys. "That's what we're hoping to do here."It's not just other parts of the US that are drawing film crews away from LA; other countries are trying to win over Hollywood as well. Hungary, with a 20-year-old tax rebate and access to culture and an expanding stage system, was recently the setting for Yorgos Lanthimos' "Poor Things." Australia <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ausfilm.com.au/media-releases/ausfilm-celebrates-passage-of-australias-30-location-offset/">nearly doubled</a> its location tax credit to 30% this summer after big-budget titles like the Sony Pictures rom-com "Anyone but You" and the Universal Pictures comedy "The Fall Guy," which starred Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, were shot there. Roughly 60% of Netflix's and Amazon's commissions in the first half of this year were on continents other than North America, according to Ampere Analysis."I know of producers, senior production people, moving to places like Australia or working in Hungary," said Tyler Mitchell, the CEO of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-ron-howard-brian-grazer-impact-production-crew-staffing-platform-2023-3">Impact</a>, a LinkedIn-like platform for Hollywood. "In the UK, Australia, the governments have supported a lot of education, training, to make sure as they built up production facilities, they had enough crew to service sound stages. So there is more of a talent base globally in places like Ireland, Budapest, South Africa, and the UK. I've heard of more productions in Saudi Arabia looking for crew than I ever have."Actually being on a set is only one part of entertainment production. Development, preproduction, and postproduction are responsible for a huge portion of what ends up on screen. But here, too, the need to physically be in the mecca of moviemaking is waning. Technology is giving rise to a Tinseltown version of remote work.Self-tapes, where actors use ring lights and film themselves at home to connect with casting directors, have become commonplace. Many meetings to pitch projects that shifted to Zoom early in the pandemic have stayed on video. On the postproduction side, file sharing and editing platforms like Pix and ScreenIt Pro enable production companies like 26 Keys to review content locally rather than fly to editing rooms in LA."A lot of pitch meetings are happening over Zoom, four years later," Bilder said.While the power of Los Angeles is dispersing, no single "new Hollywood" is coming to take its place. The end of Peak TV has contracted employment all over — the total number of jobs in the industry, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hollywood-losing-dominance-tv-movies-employment-chart-2024-10">at 447,000</a>, declined 9.1% from 2013 to 2024. Even as markets like Atlanta and Miami grow, their homegrown entertainment encampments have a long way to match the hundred-year history of LA — the most valuable parts of the supply chain, like casting big stars, greenlighting, and packaging, are still concentrated in the city."There's high stakes there. This is an area where trust matters," said Adler, the principal at Westwood, which conducted research for the Otis report. "You built it through face-to-face interaction, repeated exchanges. That's why casting for top roles still happens in LA, even if they end up being shot elsewhere."For those who are just starting out or who work on the creative side, too, Hollywood is still where careers are made and nurtured. FitzHenry wishes there were more directors and producers with packaging and marketing skills in Georgia. "It's a skill set that hasn't been outside of Hollywood," she said. "Currently, the only way to learn is for a producer to adopt and teach you. I was lucky to work with highly skilled producers, which I learned in LA, like an oral tradition. That's a lot of relational capital that needs to be established." Keisha Perry, a longtime entertainment attorney in Atlanta whose clients have included Cedric the Entertainer's production company and the movie "The Waterboyz," said that being a local attorney had made it easier to connect with the growing number of productions taking place in the South but that she still traveled to LA regularly."The reality is, a lot of the decision-makers are in LA," she said. "There are those people who feel as though if you're not in LA, your legitimacy can be questioned."Further evidence of LA's staying power is in the industries like video games, marketing, and the creator economy that are concentrated there because of the city's legacy in entertainment, which has endured through the rise of radio, then TV, then streaming. That may not necessarily lead to more TV shows and films being made there, but it underscores The Town's cultural importance.Gallegos estimates that he still gets half his work from outside New Mexico, helped by representation he has in LA. "The reality is, major roles are not cast here and often not shot here," he said. For all the perks, he misses the excitement of being in LA. "There's stuff happening 24/7. I'm a trained dancer, too. I could always jump into something." Then there's the nagging feeling that virtual auditions don't count. "Sometimes I think I'm sending things out into the void that don't get watched."Despite the similar professional gaps she sees, FitzHenry remains deeply rooted in Atlanta. She's found an affordable, friendly place to raise her kids and a tight-knit professional community that pulls together to help bring projects to the state, things she never experienced in LA."There's a sense people really care about each other," she said. "There used to be that mentality of, you have to be in Hollywood to be in the business. I think that's changing."<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lucia-moses">Lucia Moses</a> is a senior correspondent covering the intersection of tech and Hollywood for Business Insider's Media team.

Leaving Los Angeles: Why the film industry is ditching Hollywood

Prime Minister Narendra <keyword id="19899684" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi" source="keywords">Modi</keyword> on Friday said the government is making necessary <keyword id="20861068" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="policy-changes" source="keywords">policy changes</keyword>, like removal of <keyword id="20279287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Angel-Tax" source="keywords">Angel Tax</keyword>, to promote the <keyword id="19945816" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="fintech" source="keywords">fintech</keyword> sector, even as he asked the <keyword id="19962476" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="regulators" source="keywords">regulators</keyword> to take additional measures to check cyber frauds which can have a crippling impact on startups. Lauding the fintechs for democratising <keyword id="19976433" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="financial-services" source="keywords">financial services</keyword>, Modi said the sector, which has attracted USD 31-billion investment in the last 10 years, has played a key role in denting the parallel economy. The Prime Minister was addressing the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2024, jointly organised by the Payments Council of India, the National Payments Corporation of India and the Fintech Convergence Council. He said the domestic economy and the capital market are in a celebratory mood at a time when the nation is also going through a festive period. Modi underlined that the government is making all necessary changes on the policy level to assist the fintech sector and gave examples of doing away with Angel Tax, allocating Rs 1 lakh crore to encourage research and innovation in the country and implementing the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. Broadly, fintech refers to entities utilising technologies for providing financial services. Expressing the need to put an end to <keyword id="19901142" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cyber-fraud" source="keywords">cyber fraud</keyword>, he urged the regulators to take major initiatives to boost digital literacy. It is equally important to ensure cyber fraud does not come in the way of the growth of fintech and startups in the country, Modi said. In his speech, the Prime Minister also cautioned about the dangers of a parallel economy for the world. Fintech, he said, has played an impactful role in denting such a system and credited the emergence of transparency. He said that digital technology has introduced transparency in India and gave the example of the implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer used in hundreds of government schemes that has prevented leakages in the system. "Today, people can see the benefits of aligning with the formal banking system," he said. Modi further said the trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile have broken down the mentality of 'Cash is King' and made way for approximately half of the <keyword id="20004116" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="digital-transactions" source="keywords">digital transactions</keyword> in the world taking place in India. "India's <keyword id="19900911" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="upi" source="keywords">UPI</keyword> has become a major example of fintech in the world," he said, adding that it has enabled 24X7 banking services in every village and city in all weather conditions. Underlining the role of fintech in democratising financial services, the Prime Minister gave examples of readily available loans, credit cards, investments and insurance. He said that fintech has made access to credit easy and inclusive, and gave the example of PM SVANidhi scheme that has enabled street vendors to avail collateral-free loans and further expand their business with the help of digital transactions. "Sustainable <keyword id="19900794" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="economic-growth" source="keywords">economic growth</keyword> is India's priority today," he said and emphasised that the government is creating robust, transparent and efficient systems to strengthen financial markets with advanced technologies and regulatory frameworks. About 800 speakers, including policymakers, regulators, senior bankers, industry captains, and academicians, from India and other countries are participating in the fest.

Removed Angel Tax, taking policy measures to promote fintech sector: PM Modi

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Los Angeles voted to invest in street safety after a two-decade high in traffic deaths.</li><li>But the LA firefighters union opposed the policy, arguing it will slow emergency response times.</li></ul>Los Angeles is the car capital of America. That also means it has some of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/road-rage-traffic-deaths-car-crashes-pedestrians-los-angeles-vermont-2024-2">most dangerous roads in the country</a>. In 2023, <a target="_blank" href="https://abc7.com/south-los-angeles-teen-killed-hit-and-run-crash/14372665/#:~:text=According%20to%20statistics%20from%20the,the%20courthouse%2C%20it%20was%20postponed.">traffic fatalities</a> in the city hit a two-decade high. Of the <a target="_blank" href="https://xtown.la/2024/01/19/los-angeles-automobile-related-deaths-rise-to-337-fatalities-last-year/">337 people who were killed</a>, half were pedestrians. And traffic accidents are a leading <a target="_blank" href="https://ladotlivablestreets.org/programs/vision-zero">cause of death for kids</a> in the city.Many of the city's residents want to take action to make their streets safer. They're demanding improvements to pedestrian infrastructure, bike lanes, and mass transit.But firefighters — the very people tasked with keeping them safe — are standing in their way.In March, LA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2024-03-05/2024-california-election-los-angeles-city-measure-hla-results">voted</a> overwhelmingly for a street safety policy that will finally enforce a nearly decade-old <a target="_blank" href="https://planning.lacity.gov/odocument/523f2a95-9d72-41d7-aba5-1972f84c1d36/Mobility_Plan_2035.pdf">mobility plan</a> to make the city's streets safer for non-drivers. The Healthy Streets Los Angeles Ballot Measure will mean hundreds of miles of new bike lanes, 300 miles of improved bus lanes, and updated public transit stations.But the union that represents LA's firefighters <a target="_blank" href="https://www.latimes.com/california/newsletter/2024-02-28/hla-street-safety-advocates-vs-firefighters-essential-california#:~:text=Why%20are%20firefighters%20opposed%20to,create%20more%20danger%20and%20chaos.">opposed</a> the policy, also known as Measure HLA, and aggressively campaigned against it. They argued that wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, fewer driving lanes, and other street safety measures will make it harder for their trucks to navigate through traffic, elongating emergency response times. "Vehicles will not be able to pull to the right, and we're stuck behind them," a firefighter said in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a7hlsZpV7c">a video</a> opposing the campaign. The union didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.Michael Schneider, founder and CEO of Streets For All, a nonprofit that ran the campaign in favor of Measure HLA, said his group reached out to the firefighters union to talk about the policy before they came out against it but didn't hear back. He noted that LA's fire department, which isn't allowed to engage in politics, signed off on the underlying mobility plan back in 2015. A study of the plan actually found that without the policy, emergency response times would get longer as vehicle traffic increased."They're very myopic in how they view public safety," Schneider said of fire officials. "A two-decade-high pedestrian deaths is a public safety crisis, too."But this battle between fire officials and street safety advocates isn't unique to LA. Fire departments across the country have for decades opposed safer street design. But this battle is increasingly playing out across the country as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/traffic-deaths-topped-40000-last-year-nhtsa-looks-reduce-distracted-dr-rcna145818">traffic deaths skyrocket</a>.<h2>The supremacy of fire codes</h2>When private vehicles began to dominate American roads in the 1920s, transportation engineers <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2023/12/20/engineers-resist-narrow-lanes-change-coming">believed that wider streets</a> were safer, as they give drivers a larger margin for error. But as American cities became more car-centric, traffic accidents skyrocketed and engineers began to understand that the opposite is true: wider roads encourage drivers to go faster, leading to far more accidents, injuries, and deaths.Studies have found that vehicles traveling more than 20 miles per hour are far more likely to kill people they hit. In fact, a pedestrian is about 70 percent more likely to die if they're hit by a vehicle going 30 mph versus 25 mph, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.propublica.org/article/unsafe-at-many-speeds">research has found</a>. Streets with driving lanes that are nine or 10 feet wide are significantly safer than those with 12-foot wide lanes, a major Johns Hopkins <a target="_blank" href="https://narrowlanes.americanhealth.jhu.edu/">study found last year</a>. "That is the opposite of the general belief and what has been the foundation for street design and lane-width guidelines," the researchers noted.These discoveries, however, aren't reflected in the fire codes that govern our streets.The vast majority of US states follow what's called the <a target="_blank" href="https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IFC2024P1">International Fire Code</a>, updated every few years by a Texas-based nonprofit called the International Code Council. For decades, the code has called for streets to have at least 20 feet of unobstructed width. With a parking lane and sidewalks, residential streets in the US tend to be <a target="_blank" href="https://streetwidths.its.ucla.edu/#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20residential,than%20in%20most%20other%20countries.">around 50 feet wide</a> — far wider than in many other countries. In Osaka, Japan, and Paris, France, for example, the typical residential street is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.planning.org/blog/9229552/the-costs-of-wide-streets-in-the-us/">less than 20 feet wide.</a>Roads that encourage speed are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-11-03/why-us-traffic-safety-fell-so-far-behind-other-countries?embedded-checkout=true">part of the reason</a> the US has far more <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/briefing/us-traffic-deaths.html">traffic deaths</a> than its peer countries. At the same time, US traffic fatalities far outnumber deaths from fires — while <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/traffic-deaths-topped-40000-last-year-nhtsa-looks-reduce-distracted-dr-rcna145818">40,000 people died</a> on American roads last year, <a target="_blank" href="https://apps.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v11i2.pdf">fewer than 3,000 people die</a> annually in the US in residential fires, on average.The international fire code's name is a bit of a misnomer: it's used virtually nowhere outside the US. And it differs in key ways from fire safety regulations used by other advanced countries. American fire trucks and other firefighting equipment also tend to be much bigger and less able to navigate narrow streets than their equivalents in other countries.The fire code's dangerous results reflect a failure to understand safety holistically, experts say. "If you become overly specialized and focus only on one problem without considering at all the effect that you might be having on other problems, you can very easily do a lot of harm while trying to do good," said Patrick Siegman, a transportation planner and economist.<div type="image" title="A small Tokyo fire truck with a woman firefighter in foreground" height="853" width="1280" msid="109475862" hostid="261" sizebytes="103606"></div><h2>A growing battle</h2>Conflict between fire officials and street designers has become increasingly common. In most cases, cities and states bend to the will of their fire departments. Indeed, many in the government are unaware of how dangerous their policies are."Unless you've really gotten to know the issue, planners, even transportation engineers, often don't realize the implications of the fire code for street designs and ultimately for traffic safety," Siegman said.But in some places, road safety advocates are winning out. In Baltimore, an attempt in 2018 to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-11/fire-trucks-and-engines-are-too-big-let-s-shrink-them?embedded-checkout=true">amend the city's fire code</a> to make room for bike lanes erupted in an ugly public fight that included a firefighter assaulting a city planner. But the city's code was ultimately <a target="_blank" href="https://blog.qrfs.com/172-how-walkable-streets-are-changing-fire-code-and-safety/#:~:text=In%202018%2C%20city%20officials%20in,allowing%20for%20narrower%20street%20widths.">amended</a>.In 2013, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors <a target="_blank" href="https://sf.streetsblog.org/2013/06/19/board-of-supervisors-unanimously-passes-wieners-ped-safety-reforms">changed its interpretation</a> of the fire code so that sidewalks, pedestrian islands, and other curbs less than six inches high weren't considered an obstruction to emergency vehicles. It's allowed the city to build wider sidewalks and more protected bike lanes, among other features to boost street safety.San Francisco's fire department has also adapted to safer streets in another way by buying smaller fire trucks. The California city's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wired.com/story/sanfrancisco-smaller-firetrucks/">so-called "Vision Zero truck"</a> — a reference to the road safety policy — is a bit shorter and skinnier than its older trucks and has a smaller turning radius, which makes it far more capable of traveling down narrow, windy streets.Not to mention that fire trucks with full fire-fighting capabilities aren't necessary in most instances. Only about 5% of the 1 million calls to fire departments nationally are fire-related, <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/general-news-15e06ad3778f4ee88b67a1bdbbc97c29">according to</a> the National Fire Protection Association. Instead, firefighters largely respond to medical emergencies, which don't require trucks carrying 500 gallons of water."There are other ways to put out fires and respond to emergencies," said Andy Boenau, a transportation engineer and urbanist activist. "Do you need to send the biggest fire truck when someone's choking on a walnut?"Dan Burden, a veteran transportation planner who served as Florida's first state bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, works with and trains fire officials on road safety issues. He said fire departments can be convinced to support safer street design if they're heavily engaged by planners. "Too often, the fire administrator is brought in too late in the process," he said.Burden, whose father was a fire chief, believes they can find common ground."My dad always said, 'Dan, don't over-build for our needs, build streets for people first, and we'll figure out a way to make things happen,'" Burden said.

Los Angeles firefighters fought investments in safer streets. For decades, fire regulations have made roads deadlier.

Online rental platform <keyword id="20045635" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="frontdesk" source="keywords">Frontdesk</keyword> has become the first tech startup to lay off employees in 2024 -- its entire 200-person workforce -- during a "two-minute Google Meet call". The layoffs included full-time, part-time workers and contractors and the proptech startup is now on the verge of shutting down, <keyword id="19895623" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="techcrunch" source="keywords">TechCrunch</keyword> reported on Wednesday. Frontdesk CEO Jesse DePinto apparently told employees that the company would be "filing for a state receivership, an alternative to bankruptcy". The startup was yet to comment on the report. Founded in 2017, the startup managed more than 1,000 furnished apartments across the US. Frontdesk had raised about $26 million from investors such as <keyword id="20045638" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="jetblue-ventures" source="keywords">JetBlue Ventures</keyword>, <keyword id="20045636" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="veritas-investments" source="keywords">Veritas Investments</keyword> and <keyword id="20045637" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="sand-hill-angels" source="keywords">Sand Hill Angels</keyword>. The startup aimed to raise fresh capital but failed in its attempt. "Frontdesk was apparently still optimistic about its ability to raise more capital; the startup had posted on LinkedIn openings for several jobs, including a chief of staff role, just two months ago," said the report. Tech companies, including startups, around the world fired more than 425,000 employees in the last two years, with more than 36,000 employees being sacked in India in the same time period. In 2023, nearly 2.6 lakh employees were laid off in the global technology and startup sector. Citing the global macroeconomic conditions, Big Tech firms and startups across the spectrum have sacked employees, and layoffs continue to happen. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/webstories/new-upcoming-smartphones-in-india-in-2024-apple-samsung-google-mobiles-in-the-list/slidelist/106489936.cms">Apple to Samsung and many more – smartphones set for launch in 2024</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/samsung-galaxy-s24-series-with-improved-telephoto-lens-exynos-2400-chipset-expected-mid-january/articleshow/106484424.cms">Samsung Galaxy S24 series with improved telephoto lens, Exynos 2400 chipset expected mid-January</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/new-creta-to-punch-ev-cars-hitting-indian-market-in-january-2024/slidelist/106479554.cms">New Creta to Punch EV – Cars hitting Indian market in January 2024</a>

Gone in 2 minutes: Frontdesk lays off entire staff over a short GMeet call

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Eva Longoria stepped in at the last minute with a $6 million investment that saved "John Wick."</li><li>Since then, she's invested in two soccer clubs, a tequila, and a food brand, and has her own production company.</li></ul>Ten years ago, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/eva-longoria-producer-john-wick-2024-10">Eva Longoria became the unlikely savior</a> of "John Wick."About a week before the movie was set for release in 2014, stuntmen-turned-directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch ran out of money when they lost almost $6 million in gap financing.Unbeknownst to them at the time, Longoria, who was then best known for playing Gabrielle on the hit series "Desperate Housewives," stepped in with the cash to complete the movie."CAA, which was putting the financing together, they offered the opportunity to some actors who had some bankroll," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/john-wick-keanu-reeves-popularity-chad-stahelski-david-leitch-interview-2024-10">Leitch told Business Insider in an interview</a> alongside Stahelski celebrating the movie's 10th anniversary. "'You'll be first out of this waterfall, you'll get your money back then X amount.' Eva was like, 'Cool!'""She came to the rescue," Stahelski added.You know the rest. The movie, which stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, a former assassin who returns to the bloody trade to avenge the death of his dog, became a surprise box office hit, earning over $86 million worldwide and spawning a successful franchise.The movie revitalized Reeves' career, giving him his biggest hit since "The Matrix," and turned Stahelski and Leitch from stunt guys into viable action directors.The last-minute financing save also marked a turning point for Longoria, kick-starting her interest in becoming a major investor in Hollywood.Since then, Longoria has started the production company Hyphenate Media Group, which most recently produced the Apple TV+ series "Land of Women," in which Longoria also starred. She's also invested in two soccer teams, including Natalie Portman's Angel City FC, the most valuable team in women's sports history; the tequila company Casa Del Sol; and Siete Foods, which sold to PepsiCo in October for over $1 billion.Business Insider spoke to Longoria about what led to her investing in "John Wick" — the first time ever she's spoken on the topic publicly — and how she's become a successful investor in the years since.Chad and David told me they had lost $6 million in gap financing and that "John Wick" was literally going to be shut down in a day until you agreed to invest that money to save the movie. Is that accurate?That is accurate. By the way, I was in my infancy. I love David saying, "They went to people with bankroll." [Laughs.] My bankroll was very new, and it was a lot of money, and I was like, "So how does it work?" I had no idea. I would love to say I was an investment genius and I just knew and I calculated my risk. No, none of that. How did it all happen?An agent, and he wasn't even my agent, he called me and said, "You got money, you should put your money here." And I didn't even know how a movie was made. I was like, "What do you mean gap financing?"But something that I've learned, looking back, I love investing in people. You can tell me you're opening a chicken farm, but if you're fucking passionate about it and you've done the work and know the market, I mean, Chad and David did their work. They put in their 10,000 hours as stunt guys and second unit directors; they had seen all the bad movies and knew how to make a good one. It was that. They were undeniably passionate and I knew they were going to make an undeniable product. They have that hunger and scrappiness that I have. I'm very scrappy in my life. I'm like, "Why can't we just do this like this?"<div type="image" title="john wick " height="2756" width="4332" msid="114818649" hostid="261" sizebytes="196522"></div>In the 10 years since "John Wick" came out, have you thought about how significant your investment in this movie was, especially in the action genre?It changed the genre. Took Keanu in a whole new trajectory. I remember last year at one of the Oscar dinners, I'm sitting at my table and across from me is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-fall-guy-david-leitch-kelly-mccormick-relationship-stunts-interview-2024-4">David Leitch with his wife</a>. And I didn't recognize him at first. He goes, "Hello," and I go, "Hi." And he goes, "It's David." And I'm like, "Hi?" And he was like, "You changed my life."Then I realized who it was. We hadn't spoken in 10 years. I never saw them again, and I didn't need to because I was getting the checks. [Laughs.] But it was such a serendipitous moment to sit with him and get the inside story of what happened. My husband was there and was like, "What did you do?" I was like, "John Wick."My husband is friends with the head of Lionsgate and he'll say to him sometimes, "I see we wrote a check to Eva this week." But the geniuses were Chad and David and the star that was Keanu. I just wrote the check. To this day, you still get checks from "John Wick"?Yes. What I'm pissed off about is I wasn't connected to the rest of them. This was a one-time thing. That was the gamble. But that was my only mistake, not being attached to all of the films. What have you made off that $6 million investment?You know, I would have to check. More than double, for sure. Have you run into Keanu since?I have! Again, that was recently, too. We ran into each other because of his <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/keanu-reeves-alexandra-grant-relationship-timeline-photos-2022-6">girlfriend, Alexandra</a>. We know her through some friends, and we met her and Keanu at an art event. Keanu said, "I'd love to take you to dinner; we should celebrate 10 years." So we toasted to "John Wick." What you've done since is very impressive. You've invested in two soccer clubs, a tequila, a food brand, and you own a production company. How did your ambition as an investor evolve after "John Wick"? I like to say, "Yes, I'm a genius." No, everything comes up in different ways. I get asked a lot to invest and the things I invest in have to have purpose, they have to have a point of view, they have to fix a market problem or improve upon a market problem. For instance, with the tequila, Casa Del Sol, I was blown away by the brand story in that our tequila is the number one spirit drank by women and we have a lot of women in key positions. Even our master distiller is a woman, which is rare in the tequila industry. So I wanted to support her. <div type="image" title="Angel City players celebrating on the soccer field" height="3517" width="5275" msid="114818654" hostid="261" sizebytes="1176010"></div>And with Angel City, Natalie Portman came to me and said she wanted to do an experiment to see if we can run a football team with a different business model where everyone benefits, especially the female soccer players. She wanted to change the business model for female soccer. So I was like, "Okay great!" I thought it was a donation. I thought I was helping a cause. So <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/sep/05/nwsls-angel-city-sold-for-record-breaking-250m-to-disney-ceo-bob-iger">when we sold</a>, I was like, "Oh, my god." That was 14 times what I put in. It was crazy. And the other soccer team, Club Necaxa, you're <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/club-necaxa-eva-longoria-fx-disney-1236064184/">shooting a docuseries</a> for that?Yeah. We're currently shooting season 1. Actually, more people in the United States watch Liga MX than the Premier League. So my partners in that, Al Tylis and Sam Porter, they came to me because they wanted an authentic Mexican connection and though I was already with Angel City I wanted to expand my sports portfolio and uplift Mexican soccer. It's one of the great leagues in the world. And this team is one of the oldest teams, like Wrexham. But we're in a bigger division. Speaking of Wrexham AFC, how are you and Club Necaxa connected with that club's owners, Ryan Reynolds and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rob-mcelhenney-always-sunny-philadelphia-wrexham-wife-learning-disability-2024-6">Rob McElhenney</a>? They invested in us and we invested in them, so that's how we're connected. Once you invest in a soccer team you realize very quickly you need more investment. [Laughs.] Will we see you on "Welcome to Wrexham"?Yeah. I shot some stuff for "Wrexham," in Wrexham. And Rob and Ryan are coming out to Aguascalientes [the home of Club Necaxa] next weekend. And Siete Foods recently was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pepsico.com/our-stories/press-release/pepsico-to-acquire-siete-foods-for-12-billion10012024">acquired by Pepsi for $1.2 billion. </a>That's another crazy investment. I had been a fan of the product and had used it since its infancy when it was in Ziploc bags, because they are from Texas like me. I love the Garza family and tried to invest many times early on. They are family owned; they did everything themselves.When I came in they were already a $400 million company, and it was time to take them to the next step to become a billion-dollar food brand and also one of the only Hispanic food brands to reach $1 billion. I just believed in the product and their mission. We came from the same culture and same values. So about a year ago, I invested in them and we just sold to Pepsi. <div type="image" title="Eva Longoria next to bottles of Casa Del Sol" height="2401" width="3600" msid="114818645" hostid="261" sizebytes="222612"></div>You really have a magic touch in investing. What is the secret to being successful at this?It's a lot of work. This is my day job. The amount of days I dedicate to going to distributors and shaking hands with retailers for my tequila is the majority of my year. Going to the restaurants and bartending at events to bring brand awareness. And the same thing with Siete. Doing the social media, going into the research kitchen, looking at the market and seeing what we want to represent in our culture in a mainstream market, is it the healthy choice? It's a lot of work. I'm not just writing checks. It's my sweat. Looking back, how significant was the "John Wick" investment in your investing career today? If it crashed and burned, would you still have been willing to invest again?That's a good question. I don't know if that would have put a bad taste in my mouth. I'm really lucky to have had amazing investors around me and I'm intensely curious. I always ask, "How does my money make money?" I've been obsessed with that. I want to be making money while I'm sleeping. So surrounding myself with people who can tell me what is risky and what isn't is good. "How much are you willing to lose?" is always a big question. [Laughs.] I'm like, "How much am I willing to lose?" Nothing! Zero. How much is acting a priority in your life now?I've been behind the camera for the last 12 years and I finally went back in front of the camera with a show for Apple ["Land of Women"]. I also did "Searching for Mexico" and "Searching for Spain" on CNN. But that's a bit of an extension of my food brand. I have a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/739587/my-mexican-kitchen-by-eva-longoria/">cook book coming out</a>. I really want to do stuff that I love with people that I love. That's the blueprint. Are you still on the grind of looking through scripts to find projects?Yes, but for my media company, Hyphenate Media. Producing and directing is still my core. That's the tentpole of the circus. That's what holds everything up. So I'm now reading scripts and developing shows for other people.I want to make 40-50 more Eva Longorias. I don't want to star in everything, I want to build up the next generation of actors and writers and producers from the Latino community and also women. So that's, again, that purpose-driven aspect of everything that I do. What am I doing? What am I saying? Is it going to make a difference? This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Funding 'John Wick' kick-started Eva Longoria's investing career. Now, it's her day job.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>William Reeve is an entrepreneur who's been angel investing for the past 25 years.</li><li>When weighing up investment opportunities, he's looking for founders who'll listen well.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with William Reeve, 52, an angel investor based in North London. Reed is the CEO of the lettings platform <a target="_blank" href="http://Goodlord.co">Goodlord.co</a>, and a non-executive director of the homeware retailer Dunelm. One of the companies he founded, LOVEFiLM, a DVD rental and streaming business, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-lovefilm-2011-1">was acquired by Amazon in 2011</a> and reportedly valued at $312 million at the time. The following has been edited for length and clarity.I've been a fairly active <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-60-top-angel-investors-for-b2b-startups-2024-6">angel investor</a> for 25 years now.From a young age, I was a computer geek. In 1997, I set up my first business, Fletcher Research, researching the internet for large corporates. I was in the right place at the right time. My company <a target="_blank" href="https://uk.themedialeader.com/forrester-acquires-fletcher-research/">was acquired in 1999</a> for a life-changing amount of money.I didn't have a plan for that money.In the early 2000s, I loaned a university friend some money and from there, began making more investments. I had some connections with people I'd done a graduate program with at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mckinsey-ai-consulting-focus-future-2024-6">McKinsey</a> who had investment opportunities.Roughly four years after my first business was acquired, I cofounded LOVEFiLM, a DVD rental company. People I worked with there went on to run Zoopla, a well-known UK property website, which I invested in.I've made about 60 investments over my lifetime, including repeat investments and crowdsourcing. My ticket size is usually around £20,000, around $25,000. This is relatively small, but I've got a lot of experience that founders look for in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/seed-100-best-early-stage-vc-investors-2024-5">investors</a>. I've built up a strategy for fielding opportunities over the years and learned about what makes a good investment.<h2 id="97712f69-8bfa-4a5c-8480-18f6eeaec799">I'm looking for entrepreneurs who I can help, not people who just want the money</h2>I'm generally looking to invest in companies where I have expertise to offer, either because tech is integral to their strategy or I can support their <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/entrepreneurship-guide-pitch-deck-startup-venture-capitalist-raise-money-2019-3">fundraising</a> and hiring.When I meet a founder, I look for their ability to listen; the best entrepreneurs are usually naturally curious and good listeners. There's nothing more frustrating than offering advice and being ignored. If a founder only wants money and has no intention of talking or listening, I tend to pass.I've reached out to companies I liked in the past, but it's rare. I mostly wait for people to pitch to me.One filtering mechanism I have is that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/female-startup-founder-mode-ceo-double-standard-2024-9">founders</a> must contact me through another investor or entrepreneur I know. I'm a well-networked guy; there are hundreds of people I'd happily accept an introduction from. It speeds up the process.I've learned not to invest after a first meeting. I need three touchpoints, such as meetings or emails, to sense whether my relationship with a founder is developing or if they're meeting their promises.I also leverage my network to do due diligence. If I know someone who knows the space better than me, I'll chat with them or ask them to meet potential investees for me.My standard ticket size is around £20,000 or £25,000, but I've invested up to about £100,000 in some businesses over multiple investments. It's stayed at that amount over the years partly out of habit, but also because I want to focus on the entrepreneur and business without getting distracted by trying to "game" the ticket size.The expertise you can offer as an investor is fairly general, such as insights about fundraising strategy or how boards should be structured. But I've also made specific contributions: I found a CTO for one business and have supported several others in securing their main investor. However, I usually make the most impact with companies when I am on their board, which I've done for about a dozen of my investments.<h2 id="57f967e5-d9df-4314-9651-aa8e115dd063">There are good and bad signs in a potential investment</h2>I love companies that have a "MacGuffin," a term Alfred Hitchcock used to describe the hook that draws viewers into a film. I want to see the hook that explains why a business will win in a competitive marketplace.If I'm meeting entrepreneurs, I'll point to a passerby and ask, "Those guys are setting up the same thing as you. Why are you going to win?"The good answers are "MacGuffins." They could already have a deal with the No. 1 player in that space or have patents on amazing technology.A bad signal for me is when I see families working together, like couples or siblings. To me, it means there are probably some non-rational factors at play, like family relationships, that make it hard for people to do what's best for the business.The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-neumann-launching-wework-rival-different-business-strategy-2024-10">business model</a> is most often what makes me pass. It's pattern-matching — when I've seen something like it before, and it didn't work, I won't invest. It's annoying for the poor entrepreneur, but I like to apply my experience and knowledge of business.<h2 id="0b415f81-ec62-4072-a532-084b345a9350">My advice is to invest in people you know</h2>Angel and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-are-hedging-their-bets-backing-competing-llms-2024-10">venture investing</a> is a high-risk, high-reward activity. If you're not willing to lose everything you invest, it's not something you should be engaging in. You almost have to assume that investments are written off and the money's gone, and what comes back to you is a windfall.I've seen returns several times the value of what I've invested, which is a really fortunate position to be in, and I still have some significant investments that haven't returned any cash yet, though I think they will.I'd say the sort of people who do <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-become-an-angel-investor-in-tech-startups-2022-10">angel investing</a> because their accountant suggests doing it for tax breaks aren't going to do very well. I'd encourage people to think about where their edge is — where do they have some advantage over others as an investor? The obvious option is to back people you know because not everyone knows them.Successful <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/30-of-the-most-successful-early-stage-investors">angel investors</a> are people that founders see as providing more than just money. Regardless of the company's outcome, they have a positive impact on the businesses and entrepreneurs they invest in.Do you want to share your angel investing story? Email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:ccheong@businessinsider.com">ccheong@businessinsider.com</a>

I'm a seasoned angel investor. Here's what I'm looking for from entrepreneurs — and what makes me turn them down.

The Congress on Wednesday said the <keyword id="19900449" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="government" source="keywords">government</keyword>'s proposal of giving individuals the option to choose between two tax rates for long-term capital gains (<keyword id="6357448" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="LTCG" source="Orion">LTCG</keyword>) tax on properties is not enough. It should also allow <keyword id="21006654" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="indexation-benefits" source="keywords">indexation benefits</keyword> for other forms of <keyword id="20044873" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="savings" source="keywords">savings</keyword> such as <keyword id="19905382" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="stocks" source="keywords">stocks</keyword> and <keyword id="19975805" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fixed-deposits" source="keywords">fixed deposits</keyword>. Professionals' Congress Chairman Praveen Chakravarty accused the government of "betraying" the middle and salaried class in the Union Budget through the removal of indexation and higher taxes on their savings and <keyword id="22703183" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="investment-gains" source="keywords">investment gains</keyword>. "On 23rd July, Finance Minister <keyword id="19916618" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="nirmala-sitharaman" source="keywords">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> presented the government's budget in Parliament. We welcomed certain aspects but we strongly opposed many parts of the budget. We welcomed the fact that the FM took some ideas from the Congress party's manifesto such as the employment linked incentive (ELI) scheme, the Apprenticeship Act and removing Angel tax," Chakravarty said at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here. Among other things, we strongly opposed what the finance did to the middle class and salaried professionals, he said. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in his response to the Budget in Parliament categorically said that this was a "betrayal of the middle class" through removal of indexation and higher taxes on their savings and investment gains, Chakravarty pointed out. "He (Gandhi) had promised to fight for the middle class on this issue. This issue affected nearly 7 crore Indians who filed income taxes, owned or aspire to own a home and invest their savings. In this budget, effectively, through removal of indexation and increase in capital gains taxes, the taxes of salaried professionals through investment gains went up dramatically," he said. Already, the middle class and the salaried professionals are bearing the brunt of taxation under the Modi government because for the first time in India, total income taxes paid by middle class individuals are higher than taxes paid by rich corporates, Chakravarty said. There were huge protests on social media and in business events in cities like Mumbai where professionals came out spontaneously to protest, he said. Chakravarty said the <keyword id="22703184" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="All-India-Professionals-Congress" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="All India Professionals' Congress" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="All India Professionals' Congress">All India Professionals' Congress</keyword> and the Congress Party launched a campaign to 'Bring Back Indexation' with a petition asking people to sign it. "We had nearly 12,000 people who signed the petition in just one day since its launch. Yesterday, the government of India announced a rollback of indexation of property gains by giving individuals the option to continue with indexation benefits. We welcome this. This is a victory to the 7 crore people that file income tax," he said. "But this is not enough. We urge the government to allow indexation benefits for other forms of savings too such as stocks, debt, fixed deposits and so on," Chakravarty asserted. More importantly, this is a testament to middle class power and the power of democracy, he said. "When professionals come together and raise their voice, it will be heard. This is also proof of what a strong Opposition and a concerted and united effort can achieve for the people of India. The AIPC will continue to raise issues that impact the middle class working professionals," Chakravarty said. His remarks come a day after the government proposed significant relief for individuals who bought houses before July 23, 2024, by giving them the option to choose between two tax rates for long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax. The Budget 2024-25 had proposed to lower the LTCG from 20% to 12.5% but removed the indexation benefits. The new rates have come into effect from July 23, 2024. The indexation benefit allowed the taxpayers to compute gains arising out of the sale of capital assets after adjusting for inflation. The tax experts had said that the proposed changes in the Budget would raise the LTCG tax burden. As per the amendments to Finance Bill, 2024, circulated to the Lok Sabha members on Tuesday, individuals or HuF who bought houses before July 23, 2024, can compute his/her taxes under the new scheme (@12.5% without indexation) and old scheme (@20% with indexation) and pay such tax which is lower of the two. After the Budget presentation, the Income Tax department said that 'substantial tax savings' are expected for a vast majority of taxpayers due to a reduction in the long-term capital gains tax (LTCG) rate in the real estate sector. As per the changes brought in the 2024-25 Budget, the government has retained the indexation benefit for the taxpayers on properties bought or inherited before 2001.

Allow indexation benefits for savings such as stocks, fixed deposits: Cong to govt

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Tim Milgram is a director, cinematographer, and producer in the <keyword id="22233570" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Los-Angeles-dance-community" source="keywords">Los Angeles dance community</keyword>.</li><li>After learning about the management company 7M's control over some of his peers, Milgram wanted to do something.</li></ul>One day over dinner in 2019, Tim Milgram got some disappointing but understandable news. Isaiah Shinn, who shot video for his production company and dance studio, told him he'd be parting ways with the company to work for his father, who wanted to "invest in him." Milgram wasn't surprised that Shinn would depart to join the family business. But he was surprised when he later learned that the family business was <keyword id="22233571" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="7M-Films" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="7M Films" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="7M Films">7M Films</keyword>, a management company that would come to be dubbed "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/robert-shinn-dancing-for-the-devil-7m-tiktok-cult-creators-2024-6">the TikTok cult</a>." It would take more than two years for Milgram to connect the dots. The director and producer in the Los Angeles dance scene had worked with former 7M members<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AqWP4pqSRw"> BDash and Konkrete</a> on his own content and had crossed paths with content creators <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/where-is-miranda-wilking-tiktok-cult-7m-robert-shinn-2024-5">the Wilking sisters</a> at events. So when Melanie Wilking and her parents <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CaYQL7dJ9DR/">posted an emotional livestream</a> saying they had lost all contact with Miranda and alleging that she was "no longer in control of her life," Milgram knew he had to do something. The result is "Dancing for the Devil: The 7M <keyword id="22233572" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="TikTok-cult" source="keywords">TikTok Cult</keyword>," a three-part Netflix series that alleges <keyword id="22233573" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shekinah-Church" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Shekinah Church" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Shekinah Church">Shekinah Church</keyword> pastor <keyword id="22233574" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Robert-Shinn" source="keywords">Robert Shinn</keyword> lured Los Angeles content creators to his talent management company<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/7m-films-tiktok-shekinah-church-robert-shinn-dance-cult-miranda-derrick"> 7M Films</a> and subjected them to sexual abuse, as well as cult-like behavior, including encouraging content creators to cut ties with family members. (Shinn has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/7m-dancer-and-shekinah-church-member-miranda-derrick-calls-netflix-doc-one-sided">denied</a> all allegations against him.) The series, on which Milgram serves as a co-executive producer, has been wildly successful in spreading the word about 7M: In its first five days, it amassed 8.8 million views and was one of the most-watched original series on the streamer, according to Netflix's <a href="https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/netflix-top-10-streaming-ratings-may-27-1236033789/" target="_blank">Top 10 list data</a>. "I think it's a beautiful thing for us to be able to stand up against something like that," Milgram told Business Insider of creating the doc. "For us in the dance community to be able to stand up and say, 'No, this is not okay for an organization like this to take advantage of dancers' — that is a triumph." Below, Milgram talks to Business Insider about the documentary's inception and what he hopes will change now that the world has seen it. <div type="image" title="Tim Milgream wears a black T-shirt and black baseball cap standing against a rainbow graffiti wall." height="1072" width="1074" msid="111349846" hostid="261"></div>What started it all? When did you first think about making a documentary about 7M? When I saw <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CaYQL7dJ9DR/">that video</a>, my heart sank. The Wilkings were so careful not to say the wrong thing. And it seemed like they were genuinely scared. They didn't want to cause any harm, do anything that would push their daughter further away. And seeing how genuine they were in that video… a lot of people in the dance community saw it and started talking to each other. I did some of that as well. But I also started digging, trying to find records of anything pertaining to Robert's businesses, dealings that might connect him to this thing. At the same time, people on the internet started posting about it. I started putting this all together: Wow, this seems to go really, really far back: This isn't just about 7M management. There has been something going on for multiple decades. What happened next? The day after seeing their video, I called the Wilkings. We spoke for about an hour and a half. It was an incredibly emotional experience for me because I felt like I really needed to help them. There was a lot that they didn't and couldn't say in the video. And what I talked to them about brought me to tears. I was pacing around my house, just wiping tears away. I knew after that phone call that it was going to be my mission to try to help them. <div type="image" title="Tim Milgram in a grey T-shirt holding a camera and Isaiah Shinn in a black T-shirt holding lighting on a video shoot." height="1000" width="1500" msid="111349847" hostid="261"></div>You had been well-acquainted with Isaiah and even met the Shinn family. I knew they were religious. Isaiah came across as a very wholesome, friendly Christian man. I thought he was a very respectful guy. However, when I asked about his faith, I got really vague answers, but I never pushed. I always got a strange vibe when I was [at the Shinn house] working with Isaiah. What were your first impressions of 7M's content creators? I thought the videos were great. At first, I was rooting them on, like, wow, these videos are going super viral. And what a successful thing Isaiah was doing, I applauded it. Then, after seeing the [Wilking] video and realizing this whole time that what I'd been watching is not what I thought it was — that was a really visceral thing for me. What motivated you and your producing partner <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/brianafrapart/">Briana Frapart </a>to pitch this as a documentary? Dancers are always being taken advantage of. We're paid late, certain jobs don't have the best working conditions or the best rates. Companies wanting to take advantage of genuinely talented people — this is not something new. This is just a different version that nobody has seen before. Watching as this organization in an organized manner take advantage of dancers, doing what it did to their families — I couldn't let that be. I've been in Los Angeles for almost 14 years now. I've pursued dance professionally, I opened my own dance studio. I've been filming dancers the majority of the time I've been here, and I've created an immense amount of content. I've seen these situations, heard all these stories, and been in situations where things felt unfair. When I saw that video, I felt like I wasn't just trying to help their family. I felt like I was trying to help my family. <div type="image" title="Melanie Wilking in &quot;Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult.&quot;" height="2160" width="3840" msid="111349849" hostid="261"></div>How did you approach the Wilking family and Melanie to convince them to participate? It was a long process of maintaining a relationship with them. At first it was just me, then it was Jessica [Acevedo, an executive producer]. It was building a foundation of trust that we were going to handle this with the utmost care, that we weren't out to just make some money or make a thing about their family to try to exploit them. Because that was absolutely not the case. The first five months were brutal. We reached out to friends of 7M members, as well as choreographers who worked with them. A lot of people were scared; they were hesitant to comment or be involved. Nobody wanted to take the risk. And we didn't really know the details of what was happening. We were digging in the dark, just trying to figure out, what really is this thing? We needed [the Wilkings] to know that all of us, including them, were in alignment on what we wanted the outcome to be. And because of the nature of the situation that Miranda was in, it's very hard for any family — not just the Wilkings — to know what the right thing is to do in that situation. So yeah, it took time. Have you talked to Isaiah since he left? We remained in contact a little bit at the beginning of 2020, but we just stopped talking after that. What do you hope for him? Ultimately, Isaiah is a victim whether or not he benefits from being in the business with his dad. Isaiah is somebody who I used to call a friend, and hopefully can call a friend again. I would genuinely love for that to happen. What do you hope the series' impact will be? I want this organization to stop what it's doing. I believe that there is a future where every victim of this thing comes out of it and finds their own path in life. To me, that's the most important thing. Seeing this at No. 1 on Netflix was a surreal moment of some victory. When people say congratulations, there's a bit of bittersweet sorrow because I want the impact of the documentary, which might not come right away. And hopefully the impact is that people put pressure on this organization and put pressure on Robert. That's the only way that any kind of change is going to happen. But at the moment of this interview, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dancing-for-the-devil-miranda-derrick-wasnt-brainwashed-robert-shinn-2024-6">Miranda is still in the organization</a>. That was initially the driving force for me to want to get involved in pursuing this. It was not to get a <keyword id="22233569" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Netflix-documentary" source="keywords">Netflix documentary</keyword>. It was the outcome that still hasn't happened yet. So when I hear Congratulations, it's No. 1, that's awesome. But I can't fully accept it. I feel a certain sadness. I'm not a documentary filmmaker. My origin is filming dance, being a dancer, and providing a physical space for people to train and to find community. It's not about my career as a filmmaker or as a producer. It's about leaving a legacy of some sort of positive change in our dance community. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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