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<ul><li>Amazon has introduced the <keyword id="6800629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cleo-skill">Cleo skill</keyword> for <keyword id="196611" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Alexa">Alexa</keyword> in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>, introducing Indian languages to the artificially intelligent virtual assistant.</li><li>Enabling Cleo would allow Alexa to recognise commands in <keyword id="6357660" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="hindi">Hindi</keyword>, <keyword id="6356629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tamil">Tamil</keyword>, Marathi, <keyword id="6354291" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="kannada">Kannada</keyword>, Bengali, Telugu, Gujarati and other local Indian languages. </li><li>The <keyword id="1183496" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="localisation">localisation</keyword> of the virtual assistant will help Amazon tap into the base of potential smart speaker users in India.</li></ul>While the market for smart speakers and voice platforms is rapidly expanding, artificial intelligence is India has struggled to overcome the linguistic barrier. But by launching the Cleo skill, Amazon is now introducing local languages like Hindi, Marathi and Bengali onto the platform. According to the company, the creation of a new languages for Alexa is a process that has gained a lot from developments in machine learning, computing power and data availability. The importance of localisation India is poised to become, and to quite an extent already is, a very important market for Amazon. A survey from Accenture <a href="https://www.accenture.com/us-en/_acnmedia/PDF-69/Accenture-2018-Digital-Consumer-Survey-Findings.pdf?utm_source=Triggermail&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20%28bii-apps-and-platforms%29:%20Google%20launches%20Slack%20competitor%20%E2%80%94%20Amazon%20Alexa%20eyes%20India%20with%20third%20smartphone%20partner%20%E2%80%94%20Fitbit%20broadens%20smartwatch%20line%20amid%20weak%20sales&amp;utm_term=BII%20List%20Mobile%20ALL">predicts</a> that nearly 30% of India’s online population will own a smart speaker by the end of 2018. But, the issue lies in the fact that even though Alexa was launched with ‘an Indian accent’ locally, the assistant isn’t quite Indian just yet. This ‘bias’ problem isn’t isolated to Alexa, but a predicament that most <keyword id="1896152" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="virtual-assistants">virtual assistants</keyword> in the market face today. According to Globalme’s <a href="https://www.globalme.net/blog/language-support-voice-assistants-compared">analysis</a>, the Google Home is 0.3% inaccurate for Indian markets while the Amazon Echo is off book 1.8% of the time. The percentage may seem very small, even insignificant, but even a slight gap could result in a major obstacle. It’s like when your phone keeps autocorrecting ‘pinching’ to ‘punching’. One letter apart, but a world of difference. While assistants like Alexa, Siri and Holly currently dominate the voice control market, experts are of the opinion that initiatives like the Mycroft project could knock them off their perch. This is primarily because while Amazon, Apple, Google and even Microsoft play their technology close to the vest, Mycroft is an open-source AI voice assistant. By making natural language processing technology available to people easily, it is likely to threaten the current status-quo should the big companies get too complacent. Because, at the end of the day, the advantages of open source lie in the fact that it develops faster, is way cheaper to develop and has a myriad of talent at its disposal. Thus, the importance of speedy localisation for Amazon. With 195 million people out of 325 million <a href="http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/WhatsNew/Documents/Press_Release_No.49_20_june_2016_Eng.pdf">being</a> local language internet users in India, that’s more than half of the users preferring an Indian language over English. In order to enable the Cleo skill for Alexa, users have to access the settings in the Alexa app and switch it on. Or, they could always ask Alexa to do it for them instead.

Here's why Amazon bringing local languages to Alexa in India matters

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Warning: Spoilers ahead for <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>'s "<keyword id="10217071" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-queens-gambit">The Queen's Gambit</keyword>."</li><li>In "The Queen's Gambit," a key turning point for Beth Harmon's character comes when she breaks her sobriety streak and gets drunk the night before an important game.</li><li>We're here to break down a fan theory that outlines why Cleo, the French woman with whom Beth gets drunk, may have been sent by Russia to intentionally sabotage the American chess champion.</li></ul>One of the most mysterious characters in Netflix's buzzy limited series <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/the-queens-gambit">"The Queen's Gambit"</a> is Cleo, the young French woman who befriends the show's protagonist Beth Harmon.Cleo winds up being the catalyst for Beth's most brutal tournament loss in a game against her main rival, Russian world champion Vasily Borgov.What if that "chance" meeting wasn't a coincidence?The first time I watched "The Queen's Gambit," I was immediately suspicious of Cleo. The second time watching the series, I was convinced she was working on behalf of the Russians in order to sabotage Beth, a theory shared by other <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/jkomwb/the_queens_gambit_2020_beth_harmon_was_a_victim/">fans on Reddit</a>.<h2>Cleo's introduction to Beth is suspiciously timed and is filled with a vague backstory </h2><div type="image" title="Cleo eyeing Beth The Queen's Gambit Netflix" height="1409" width="1880" msid="79616069" hostid="261"></div>We meet Cleo for the first time in the sixth episode, when Beth, who's now the US chess champion, and Benny Watts (the former champion) are training together in New York City. Benny invites a couple of friends over to help finesse Beth's already-impressive chess skills. When Hilton Wexler and Arthur Levertov, two other chess pros, come to the apartment, they're accompanied by Cleo. Cleo comes in, looking fabulous, and pops a bottle of champagne right when Beth settles in to work with Hilton for the first time. She offers Beth a glass and Beth looks over to Benny before she declines the offer.At this point, Beth had been sober for several weeks. She normally relied on her tranquilizer pills and alcohol to help focus on chess strategies and then wind down. But Benny, and others, had told her to try kicking the habit and so far the advice was working. Beth seemed to be in the best mental shape of her life, capable of destroying not just Benny in speed-chess rounds, but also Hilton and Arthur at the same time.Though Cleo doesn't derail Beth's training in New York, she immediately raises some red flags. <div type="image" title="Beth Arthur Cleo New York The Queen's Gambit Netflix" height="1666" width="2222" msid="79616070" hostid="261"></div>When Beth asks Cleo how she knows Arthur and Hilton, Cleo says she happened to run into both of them in Paris. "Those two stopped me from killing myself," Cleo says. "Like I say, a sad story. But as I walked past, Arthur and Hilton were having a violent argument over a chessboard and I became mesmerized by their passion."But then Cleo goes on to say that Benny was also there that day and that she became "mesmerized by Benny," who was US champion at the time.If Cleo was working on behalf of Russia, it makes sense that she might have infiltrated the American chess world by "running into" Benny, Hilton, and Arthur in Paris that day, and making up a dramatic backstory to gain their trust and sympathy.Then there's the vague way Cleo talks about her job. When Beth asks Cleo what she does for work, Cleo doesn't answer directly. Instead she has Beth guess, and when Beth says "something in fashion," Cleo says she's a model.What if that was a tactic, a way of letting Beth fill in her assumptions about Cleo while staying vague about the specifics of her job and home? <h2>The show already established how Russian representatives were tracking Beth's life as she ascended through the ranks of the American chess world</h2><div type="image" title="Anya Taylor Joy as Beth Harmon the Queen's Gambit Netflix TV show " height="1666" width="2222" msid="79616073" hostid="261"></div>In the fourth episode, Beth overheard Borgov and his Russian colleagues talking about her in an elevator. One of the men specifically says they need to "deal with her" either in Mexico or in Paris. Another says there's talk that Beth is "a drunk." KGB officers follow Borgov everywhere he goes in the US. Wouldn't it make sense that there are also Russian representatives tracking Beth's movements, especially once she becomes the US champion and therefore the greatest threat to Russian dominance in chess?Cleo sat in the room with Beth, Benny, Hilton, and Arthur, and witnessed exactly how skilled and prepared Beth was for her Paris tournament. And so Cleo's sudden appearance at the Parisian hotel, the exact evening before her game against Borgov in the tournament finals, feels extremely suspect. Beth is focused, sober, and ready to take on Borgov. And then Cleo calls from her hotel lobby and asks Beth to come have just one drink with her. Beth declines and tells Cleo that not only does she have a match the next day, but that it's the final. <div type="image" title="Cleo The Queen's Gambit Netflix" height="1402" width="1869" msid="79616074" hostid="261"></div>Cleo gives the appearance of understanding, but then teases Beth by saying she's planning to have a drink by herself at the hotel bar anyways. This succeeds in getting Beth down to the bar, where the young chess star says she'll have "just one drink" and then go to bed early. Suddenly we cut to Beth smoking a cigarette and sitting in front of not one, but three empty cocktail glasses as Cleo personally refills her cup. Then Cleo is the one who pressures Beth into chatting up some men sitting nearby.Before we know it, Beth is waking up in a bathtub, late for her game against Borgov. She loses, of course, too hungover and still high and drunk off the extra booze and pills she takes before the game. All of Beth's careful training went out the window that morning. Cleo slips in mid-game to watch Beth play, but then we never see her again, nor does Beth. If Cleo's intentions weren't malicious, why wouldn't she have apologized to Beth? Or at least tried to console her after the devastating loss? <h2>Townes mentions that the Russian embassy thought he'd distract Beth - another hint that Cleo wasn't all that she seemed</h2><div type="image" title="Beth and Townes The Queen's Gambit Netflix" height="1517" width="2023" msid="79616075" hostid="261"></div>Just in case you weren't already convinced by the "Cleo was a Russian plant" theory, another clue comes in the series finale. During the Moscow tournament, Beth is heartened ahead of her final game against Borgov by a surprise visit from D.L. Townes, the tall handsome chess player whom she met at her very first tournament.When Beth asks how Townes managed to get a visa at the last minute to travel to Russia, he says the Russian embassy may have helped because they thought he would distract Beth.That night at the Paris bar, Beth told Cleo about her unrequited love for Townes. It's the only time in the whole show we saw her talk about Townes to another person, let alone confess her love.So how would the Russian embassy know that Townes could be "a distraction" for Beth? It only seems possible if Cleo told Russian representatives about Beth's confession in Paris. So while the show never 100% confirmed Cleo's nefarious intentions, we remain convinced that she's the main reason why Beth didn't defeat Borgov sooner.For more details and analysis you might not have noticed in "The Queen's Gambit," <a href="https://www.insider.com/queens-gambit-details-you-might-have-missed-2020-12">read our breakdown here.</a><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/queens-gambit-details-you-might-have-missed-2020-12">17 details you might have missed in 'The Queen's Gambit'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/queens-gambit-beths-best-win-was-against-luchenko-2020-12">Why the Luchenko chess match in 'The Queen's Gambit' is the most powerful game in the series</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/interesting-things-about-the-queens-gambit-fun-facts">16 things you probably didn't know about 'The Queen's Gambit'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/shows-to-watch-after-the-queens-gambit-similar-series">12 shows to watch if you love 'The Queen's Gambit'</a></li></ul>

A theory about Russian spies in 'The Queen's Gambit' explains one of the show's unanswered questions

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Esports professional player Jay Won, known as <keyword id="10906021" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sinatraa">Sinatraa</keyword>, was accused of sexual abuse.</li><li>Won's ex-girlfriend Cleo Hernandez posted a 9-page Google Doc to Twitter in March.</li><li>Since the allegations, Won has been suspended from professional play and his team, the Sentinels.</li></ul>Jay Won, a professional esports competitor for the multiplayer video game Valorant and the 2019 Overwatch League MVP, has been suspended from professional play by Riot games until September after being accused of sexual abuse by his ex-girlfriend in March.Riot Games<a href="https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/esports/competitive-ruling-jay-sinatraa-won/"> issued a ruling on Won on Monday</a>, and said it would have him "complete professional conduct and professional conduct training." The post notes that "the investigation did not come to a definitive conclusion on the underlying allegations" but Won had "on at least two occasions... misrepresented certain facts." "To the extent that additional material information comes to light, from law enforcement or otherwise, the Competitive Operations team reserves the right to reopen the investigation and take further appropriate action," the post said.In the nine-page Google doc posted to Twitter in March, Cleo Hernandez accused the 20-year-old Won of manipulating her into having sex as well as gaslighting her over the course of their nine-month relationship in 2019. After the allegations surfaced, the Valorant Champions Tour NA Twitter account announced that Won would be suspended "throughout the investigation and therefore he will not be able to play this weekend."Won's team the Sentinels also tweeted that they would be launching an investigation into the matter and that he is suspended while it is pending.The San Francisco Shock team, which Won left in 2020, issued their own statement about the allegations, saying "we do not condone behavior of this sort in any way."Blizzard's Overwatch League Twitter account wrote that they are "aware of allegations made" and will refund any player who purchased Won's 2019 MVP skin Alien Zarya.<h2>Won's ex-girlfriend made allegations of sexual abuse and gaslighting in a Google Doc</h2>Hernandez referred to incidents throughout her and Sinatraa's relationship in the Google doc. "What I want to talk about is the sexual abuse that was prevalent throughout most of our relationship," Hernandez wrote. "I never wanted to speak out about this and still have extreme trauma relating to this topic but I'm incredibly tired of keeping this secret for him."She went on to describe alleged incidents of sexual coercion and said she "lived in fear" during their relationship. Additionally, she shared screenshots of messages she says were between herself and Won in the Google doc.Hernandez tweeted out that she had been working on this document since April 2020 and thanked her supporters. Hernandez's original tweet spread on Twitter, getting 20,000 likes in under 12 hours. "Won" started to trend overnight, pulling in over 10,000 tweets discussing the allegations.Daniel Francesca, known as streamer Dafran, defended Won, tweeting that "we have to wait for Sinatraa's side of the story." Won has yet to respond to the allegations publicly. Won responded on Twitter, writing that he "never assaulted her in any way."<h2>Won has been accused of toxicity in his professional career </h2>Won started gaining traction in the world of Overwatch when he was just 16, becoming the highest-ranked player in the game in North America. His skills were overshadowed by his behavior and the comments he would say to teammates. Won was seen on stream calling his allies "trash" and intentionally losing games in several instances.In 2017, Overwatch developer Blizzard created the Overwatch League, an esports tournament series that would have the best players compete weekly. Won was a high-value target, who ended up being signed to the <a href="https://www.espn.com/esports/story/_/id/20564135/nrg-signs-17-year-old-overwatch-pro-sinatraa-150k">San Francisco Shock for $150,000 a year</a>.Won would make his debut on stage in 2018 when he turned 18 and in 2019, he carried the Shock to a spot in the Grand Finals and earned him the MVP award for the season. After the win, he made an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon."After retiring from pro Overwatch in 2020, Won moved onto Valorant, Riot Games' recently released competitive shooter game. In April of that year, he was signed to the Sentinels Valorant team.Claims that Won had reformed have been spreading over the past three years - in January, theScore esports posting a video titled <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07OHGHYjCjE">"The Redemption of Overwatch's Toxic Superstar."</a> Still, clips of Won acting out can be <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB2q0M8A2xU">found as recently as this year on YouTube</a>. Won and the Sentinels esports team did not respond to a request for comment.

Esports MVP Sinatraa suspended from from professional play for 6 months following sexual abuse allegations

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Elaine Thompson/AP</div></div></div><ul><li>Amazon added a new language-learning skill called Cleo to the Echo. </li><li>If you speak a language besides English, you can use the Cleo skill to teach it to Alexa. </li><li>Over time, Alexa will learn from you, eventually helping to expand its foreign language vocabulary. Right now, Alexa can speak three languages. </li><li>Google Assistant can currently speak more languages that Alexa, and Google expects the total to be over 30 by the end of this year. </li></ul>Usually, your Amazon Echo is used to answer questions or supply you with fun facts. Now, though, Amazon wants you to teach Echo a thing or two. Amazon introduced a new language-learning skill this week called Cleo. Built by Amazon's team of computational linguists and data scientists, Cleo is designed for people who speak a language that the Amazon Alexa smart assistant doesn't already understand.In other words, Amazon wants you to teach Alexa new languages. It's a first for Amazon - and it may have something to do with Amazon's competition with Google. <h2>Alexa vs. Google Assistant</h2>Compared to Google Asisstant, Alexa is behind when it comes to foreign languages. When it comes to English, Alexa can understand accents from America, India, the UK, and Canada. It can also speak German and Japanese. Alexa's support for accents and dialects is an encouraging sign, but it still only speaks three languages. That automatically limits Amazon's reach with Alexa. Alexa's chief rival, Google Assistant, has a few more languages under its belt. The Google Home speaker, powered by the Google Assistant, can speak English, German, Japanese, French, and Italian. And the Google Assistant smartphone apps can speak nine languages.Indeed, Google <a href="https://blog.google/products/assistant/google-assistant-going-global/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced last month</a> that it plans to make Assistant available in more than 30 languages by the end of this year. Plus, Google Assistant will soon be multilingual, which means it will be able to detect what language you're using to speak to it, and answer accordingly. Adding language abilities not only makes a smart speaker more attractive to foreign language speakers in the US and consumers in other countries, but it also means that developers are able to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-assistant-language-support-advantage-2017-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">create more foreign language voice apps and skills</a> for consumers. The benefit is two-fold. Amazon has already seen that benefit play out in the real world: the company says that since introducing accented English for its Indian customers last fall, <a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/innovation/alexas-newest-teacher-is-you" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1,000 new skills</a> have been added to Alexa. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Elaine Thompson/AP</div></div></div><h2>How it works</h2>If you're willing to help Amazon out, Cleo is easy to set up and start using.Cleo is intended for Echo owners who speak English, but are also fluent in a second language. It's free to enable in the Alexa app - just go into the Alexa skills section, search "Cleo," and hit "enable" - and you can start using it by saying, "Alexa, open Cleo."To get started, you'll have to let Alexa know - in English - which second language you speak. Alexa will then ask you in English to say something in that language. It could be something specific, like, "Okay, think of a band you listened to growing up. Ask me to play them." Or Alexa may just ask you to say anything you like. Cleo works similarly to other gamified language-learning apps like Duolingo. You play in rounds of five questions, and once each round is complete, Alexa will ask if you'd like to do another round. You can stop at any time. The more you use the Cleo skill, the more badges you'll earn. Those badges will help you "climb up the ranks," although Amazon hasn't said if or how you'll be rewarded. That data will, in turn, be used by Amazon to improve Alexa's linguistic capabilities. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-home-mini-release-pixel-2-event-2017-10">This is the Google Home Mini - Google's answer to Amazon's Echo Dot</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Amazon wants your help teaching Alexa new languages - and it could help in its fight against Google

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Mike BlakeJessica Richman, co-founder and CEO of uBiome, lied about her age to the media.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>The founders of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/parenting-app-cleo-greylock-partners-investment-2018-6">Cleo</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-nurx-birth-control-startup-nyt-expose-2019-6">uBiome</a> both lied about their age to the media to appear younger. </li><li>While telling white lies isn't an uncommon practice for startups, the founders may have felt added pressure to appear young due to perceived investor age bias. </li><li>Experts say the media's obsession with "under 40" and "under 30" could be driving that age bias.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Founders of hot startups <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/parenting-app-cleo-greylock-partners-investment-2018-6">Cleo</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ubiome-nurx-birth-control-startup-nyt-expose-2019-6">uBiome</a> landed profiles in major publications for creating multi-million dollar companies before turning 40.Turns out, they were lying.Earlier this month, Business Insider discovered the founder of the poop-testing startup uBiome presented herself as younger than she was to reporters. When she was 40, founder Jessica Richman misled Business Insider on her age to get included in the website's "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/30-most-important-women-under-30-in-tech-2014-2014-8">30 most important women under 30 in tech</a>" ranking.Reports recently surfaced that Shannon Spanhake, the founder of $115 million parenting app Cleo, resigned due to possible mismanagement. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/bizcarson/2019/06/18/exclusive-investigation-how-lies-and-a-troubled-workplace-brought-down-shannon-spanhake-cleo/#1f0ccf8c7608">Forbes</a> found Spanhake had lied to the publication to present herself as a 36-year-old CEO, when voting records show that she was 42 at the time.Many people bluff about their age, but two high-profile CEOs outright lying to journalists suggests an increased pressure to appear young in Silicon Valley. Yet research shows founders over 40 run the most successful companies. It may be that the media focus on entrepreneurs "under 30" is fueling ageism in venture capital. "I don't blame those women for lying about their age at all, because I get it," says Alice Fisher, founder of <a href="https://radicalagemovement.org/alice-fisher/">The Radical Age Movement,</a> a nonprofit advocating against age discrimination. "They're not gonna write about you if you started your business at 48, but they'll write about you if you started your business at 28."<h2>Telling investors little white lies </h2>Embellishing facts in Silicon Valley is nothing new. In quests to show investors how fast their company can grow, founders may lie about how many customers they've signed versus gotten handshake agreements with, or lightly embellish revenue numbers, according to <a href="https://medium.com/@foundercollective/spotting-stopping-the-slippery-slope-of-ethical-lapses-at-startups-83859ad254fc">Founder Collective</a>, a seed-stage VC fund.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retraining-doesnt-help-older-workers-find-jobs-because-of-ageism-2019-5">3 million older Americans can't find high-paying jobs, and it has nothing to do with skills. Here's the one barrier they face that no one's addressing.</a>Founder Collective has backed over 250 startups, and just one committed pre-meditated fraud, says the fund's managing partner David Frankel. He has seen how a white lie can snowball into an accounting scandal that threatens a company."In our experience, ethical lapses among entrepreneurs are rarely part of a Machiavellian plan; more often they're the result of a slow erosion of standards in the face of startup stress," Frankel said in an email to Business Insider.But the fact that Richman and Spanhake lied about their age rather than company growth, could have been to make sure investors didn't see them as too old. A survey of 539 startup founders by VC firm <a href="http://stateofstartups.firstround.com/2018/#parents-at-work">First Round Capital</a> reported 37% of them believe startup investors have an age bias, compared to the 28% who say they discriminate on gender and the 26% who say they discriminate on race.Entrepreneurs say venture capitalists begin to pass on founders once they turn 36, the survey found.<h2>The media's obsession with young entrepreneurs</h2>Young entrepreneurs' over-representation in news and entertainment could skew investors into thinking all successful founders are young. Mark Zuckerberg's "Harvard dorm room experiment turned billion-dollar company" became folklore, capped off with an Aaron Sorkin blockbuster. Business publications including <a href="https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2019/#4b16f00663b0">Forbes</a>, <a href="https://www.inc.com/30-under-30-2019-rising-stars.html%5C">Inc</a>, <a href="http://fortune.com/40-under-40/">Fortune</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/30-and-under-rising-stars-in-tech-driving-innovation-2018-6">this website</a> have regular lists showcasing entrepreneurs who managed to start a company before turning 30 or 40. In reality, the rockstar 20-something entrepreneur is an anomaly. The average age of business founders hovers around 40, according to research conducted by MIT professor <a href="https://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/directory/pierre-azoulay">Pierre Azoulay,</a> who analyzed 2.7 million people who founded companies between 2007 and 2014.Older people aren't just starting companies more often - they're often better at it. A founder at age 50 is approximately twice as likely to experience a "successful exit," meaning they get acquired or go public, compared to a founder at age 30, the research finds.Under-30 and under-40 lists lead us to associate entrepreneurship with youth in ways that are probably not correct. "If two entrepreneurs come to you with the same idea, everything is the same except the age of the founder, based on our data, you would expect the older founder to do better," Azoulay says. Given the data that suggests older founders run successful companies, investors themselves may not have an age bias, says Betty Wong, who runs <a href="http://stage2startups.org/">Stage2Startups</a>, which helps companies started by people over 45 get funding. Often time, VC firm partners hire young associates to go out and find companies to invest in, Wong says. Young people tend to go to events and run in circles with other young people. That's why associates bring VC partners companies started by young people, leading VC firms to invest more heavily in younger founders, in line with how hiring managers hire candidates <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/managers-hire-people-who-remind-them-of-themselves-2014-5">who remind them of themselves</a>.Still, Wong says, if the media were to showcase older entrepreneurs more often, VCs may actively seek out their companies."If you're a VC and you see 10 stories about a successful young entrepreneur but no stories about the older entrepreneur, you have to make a choice," Wong said. "If the media could run stories about entrepreneurs over 50 or over 40 or over 30, it would help to rebalance the opportunity." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/slack-messaging-app-productivity-changing-world-almost-didnt-exist-2015-6">The incredible story behind Slack, the app that's taken over offices everywhere</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Down with '30 Under 30': How the myth of the young founder is completely misguided - and leading to Silicon Valley lies

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>The tech bus protest movement has run its course, and the Bay Area needs to find a new way to advance the discussion of what to do with the tech industry.The movement used to be one of San Francisco's most visual acts of class warfare. Protestors <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/now-its-personal-sf-protesters-targeting-tech-execs-by-name-2014-4">targeted tech execs by name</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/protestors-blocked-a-tech-bus-this-morning-with-vomit-2014-4">vomited</a> on bus windshields and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-bus-protests-get-uglier-2013-12">smashed</a> windows. They were extreme, and it's clear that tech companies and drivers have taken steps to try to avoid them.But on Friday, protestors stood outside MacArthur BART station in Oakland, California with "#FuckZuck" and "No one wants you here" signs for two hours. There were no chants. Just one loud organizer with a mic who only identified herself as Cleo, and about 30 other supporters holding pieces of cardboard or just lazily lounging against the wall. It was a tech bus protest that didn't ensnare a single bus. The lone bus that stopped by at 7:40 picked up one passenger on the other side of the street and was off before the crowd could even react.The protestors themselves gave mixed messages. Organizer Cleo, who refused to give a last name, was spouting off hatred towards tech workers on one end of the banner through a megaphone. "I don't want their jobs here. I want them to leave because they are not giving back to the community," Cleo said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div> Holding up the other end of the banner, Andre San-Chez was asking for dialogue and discussion."It's a lot easier to brush away online comments than it is face-to-face," San-Chez said.He talked about tech companies providing education to youth in Oakland to teach them coding skills to help them get jobs at the companies one day."It's not necessarily the employees, it's the CEOs and the companies," he said.However, the "Your friend request has been denied" banner Cleo and San-Chez were holding brings the protest back to what it was: a protest against tech in Oakland and the workers who were getting on the buses. The buses that then never showed up. There is no doubt that the technology industry has caused stress and strife on both sides of the bay. Some of the protestors at the event were teenagers who had seen their parents go up against landlords, trying not to lose their apartments in the face of gentrification. San-Chez has seen several houses on his block renovated with new neighbors moving in.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div> There's no way to have a dialogue between two sides, however, when only one person is there to hear it. The tech bus protest movement has lost support from all sides, and today the buses drove around it. The Bay Area needs to find a new way to draw attention to community issues like gentrification without harming property or disinviting the participants from the table in the first place by telling "techie scum" to "go away".If protestors like San-Chez want these companies to step in and educate youth or have tech workers give back to the community, that conversation should not be held at a protest specifically aimed against them. The bus protest no longer works as way to draw attention to what tech is doing to the Bay Area. As one woman said after she made her way through the crowd, laughing: "Oh, they're at it again." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mother-scolds-son-baltimore-protests-freddie-gray-2015-4">Watch this angry mom in Baltimore confront her son and pull him out of the police protests</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1qMGpzdDpsLqgrVg2RSQzcfopNXPd2Bm" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The tech bus protests are over, but the problems that created them are not

gary yim/ShutterstockThe Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, is consistently ranked among the top 10 graduate business schools in the world.</li><li>Approximately 3,700 students apply to the MBA program each year, but only about 12% are admitted.</li><li>Four alumni, the assistant dean of the full-time MBA program and admissions, and the executive director of the MFE program told Business Insider how to stand out and get in.</li><li>In your admissions essay and interviews, they recommended connecting your personal story to the school's four defining leadership principles, as well as taking computer science and programming courses as an undergrad to prepare for the technically rigorous MFE program.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></li></ul>The Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, nestled at the top of the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, is consistently ranked among the top 10 graduate business schools in the world. Its full-time MBA program is ranked No. 6 in the United States by <a href="https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/university-of-california-berkeley-01029">US News and World Report</a> and No. 9 globally by <a href="https://www.topmba.com/college/haas-school-business/full-time-mba">education specialists Quacquarelli Symonds</a>. Its Master of Financial Engineering (MFE) program is ranked No. 1 by <a href="https://tfetimes.com/best-financial-engineering-program-rankings/">The Financial Engineer Times</a>. And Haas is the nation's<a href="https://www.metromba.com/school/haas-school-business-uc-berkeley/"> oldest business school</a> at a US public university, according to its website.Students are drawn to Haas because of its curriculum focused on innovation, proximity to disruptive companies, and intimate class sizes - while some leading full-time MBA programs pack classes with around 900 students, the class size at Haas remains under 300.Admission is highly competitive. Each year, about 3,700 applicants apply to the MBA program, according to the <a href="https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/faq#AdmissionsGeneralInformation">Haas website</a>, but its acceptance rate hovers around 12%, <a href="https://poetsandquants.com/2018/10/16/meet-the-berkeley-haas-mba-class-of-2020/">Poets &amp; Quants reported</a> in 2018. (You can find an overview of MBA application requirements<a href="https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/application"> here</a>.)The Haas school also offers a Master of Financial Engineering (MFE) program: <a href="https://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/faq#MFEGeneral">One of only two financial engineering degree programs</a> in the US that is offered within a business school, rather than engineering or mathematics departments, according to the Haas website. In the rigorous, one-year program, MFE students learn about computational finance within the context of business applications. For its <a href="https://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/class-profile">2019 class</a>, the program received 565 applications; 79 students are enrolled, according to the MFE profile. (You can find an overview of the MFE application process <a href="https://mfe.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/requirements">here</a>.)Business Insider spoke with six Haas affiliates, including four alumni, the assistant dean of the full-time MBA program and admissions, and the executive director of the MFE program, about how to gain a coveted acceptance letter. <h1>Connect your story to Haas' leadership principles</h1>Haas focuses on developing business leaders who reflect the school's four defining leadership principles: "Question the Status Quo," "Confidence Without Attitude," "Students Always," and "Beyond Yourself."Peter JohnsonPeter Johnson.These principles are the school's way of being "direct about planting a flag in saying these are the kinds of leaders we want to develop," said Peter Johnson, the assistant dean of the full-time MBA program and admissions. "We look for candidates that we feel reflect the defining principles in their professional work to date."Allison Gigliotti - a 2011 graduate of the full-time MBA program who now works as head of marketing and growth for a seed-stage startup called <a href="https://outofoffice.app/">Out of Office</a> - has participated in applicant interviewing."Someone who is successful in the interview is thinking about stories that pertain to those different aspects of the Haas culture and how they fit into it," she said.Tushar Patel - chief marketing officer at the software company<a href="https://www.cleo.com/"> Cleo</a> and a 2009 graduate of the Haas <a href="https://ewmba.haas.berkeley.edu/academics/program-overview">evening-and-weekend MBA program</a> - said that articulating his personal connection to Haas' values was instrumental in his acceptance. He was denied admission on his first try, but reapplied a couple years later with the same undergraduate grades and GMAT score and was accepted. What changed was how he conveyed his story of why Haas was the right program for him.Tushar PatelTushar Patel."I started digging into what Berkeley stood for. It also forced me to look at other programs in the same way," Patel said. In his application essay, he focused on the leadership principle of "Question the Status Quo" to discuss how he had taken initiative with his employer to gain more international experience in Asia. He described how his experience working with the company's counterparts in Taiwan, China, and Japan helped him accelerate his understanding of diverse business models and broadened his approach to problem solving.<h1>Be authentic about how you will use your degree</h1>Johnson said authenticity is key to creating an application that stands out. He advised candidates to use the application process as a way to reflect on what they value and their career goals, rather than write what they think the school wants to hear."A better perspective is to say, 'Here are the reasons why this program will help me move forward in my career - here are reasons why I will be a great addition to your class,'" Johnson said.For Gigliotti, the most difficult part of her application essay was articulating how Haas would help her make a career change. She had been working on Wall Street and wanted to use her MBA to pivot into marketing in the outdoor apparel industry. Allison GigliottiAllison Gigliotti."It was not an easy story to tell; it didn't really make sense to people," she said. While putting her essay together, she reached out to people at the companies she wanted to work for and talked with current Haas students to learn about their stories. She researched classes and extracurricular clubs, and took an interest in the school's<a href="https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/academics/experiential-learning"> experiential learning courses</a>, which offer students the opportunity to work on real-world projects with companies.Now, when evaluating candidates, Gigliotti pays specific attention to their plans to use their MBA."You only have two years, and a lot of the important work you do is in that first semester to set yourself up for an internship your first summer," she said. "Can they come to Haas and completely change their mind? Absolutely. But I think having that plan on the onset makes them a more successful student." <h1>Take programming courses</h1>The MFE is a distinctive program within Haas and focuses on quantitative finance. When considering applicants, the MFE application committee looks closely at candidates' academic preparation in mathematics, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-teach-yourself-corporate-finance-fast-former-mckinsey-consultant">corporate finance</a>, and economics, as well as in programming, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-teach-yourself-code-and-land-6-figure-job-2019-7">coding</a>, and machine learning. Not only should applicants have excelled in rigorous undergraduate coursework, but they should also demonstrate "intuition in finance," said Linda Kreitzman, the MFE's executive director.Linda KreitzmanLinda Kreitzman.Having a strong background in at least three of these areas could be enough for the admissions committee to offer a contingent recommendation for acceptance. For some promising candidates, the school will consider designing a program for them and following their progress before offering an official acceptance letter, Kreitzman said. "In other words, I will say to the students, 'We want to recommend you for admission, but we are going to have some requirements, and [admission] will be subject to you fulfilling requirements,'" like select courses or internships that will address the candidates' skills gap, she explained.Brodie Gay - who finished the MFE program in 2016 and now works as the vice president of research at <a href="https://www.unison.com/">Unison</a>, a home-ownership investment company - became interested in the MFE program while he was an undergraduate engineering physics student at Berkeley. He looked into several MBA programs, but upon learning more about the Haas MFE program, felt that it was the best fit for him. He stopped by Kreitzman's office in person to introduce himself and to learn more about the program's offerings and requirements.Brodie GayBrodie Gay.Of his classmates, Gay said, "We were all looking at MBA programs, but [the MFE] fit our skill set far more. It's often a different look at the same material. It's a look that's more of an engineer's perspective on finance." Even for students pursuing the traditional MBA, being familiar with programming can give students a "way to think algorithmically through problems," Gay said. "You're going to be doing a lot of Excel modeling; it can help you think through a particular modeling challenge."<h1>Express how you will give back to the community</h1>The Haas admissions team looks for applicants who will not only fit in with the community, but who will give back to their peers and the school - both while in the program and after they graduate.In the last year, the application committee has been focusing on how "to develop leaders who understand how to lead in diverse environments, and how to create inclusive work environments," Johnson said. The current <a href="https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/admissions/class-profile">MBA class profile</a> includes 35% of students who come from international backgrounds, and about 30% who identify as US minorities.For Kira Noodleman - a principal at the venture capital firm <a href="https://www.beepartners.vc/">Bee Partners</a> and a 2017 graduate of the full-time MBA program - her international work experience as a product manager in Buenos Aires and San Francisco set her application apart, she said. In her essay, Noodleman highlighted her early product management experience at a Google innovation lab. She described how she'd led a development team spread across South America to build a type of smartphone for populations that didn't have internet access. She'd included how she could contribute her knowledge in software product management as a resource for her peers, but also discussed the missing pieces in her knowledge that she wanted to gain from others - more about business operations, marketing, and design innovations.Kira NoodlemanKira Noodleman.At Haas, Noodleman offered her experience as a resource for colleagues who wanted to pursue a career path in product development. She also took advantage of the option Haas gives for students to <a href="https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/academics/personalized-learning">develop and run their own courses</a> - she built on her personal interest in mindfulness meditation and created a one-credit class for other students, which continued to be offered after she'd graduated."There's so much trust baked into the way that culture is built and the way they bring people into the community. It feels like a family." Noodleman said. Haas alumni have expressed that the school's commitment to its culture and community is one of the most valuable benefits they have gained from their experience."It really is a tight community," Kreitzman said. "We have a very close, personal relationship with the alumni. Many of them are personal friends." <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/adam-grant-on-narcissism-happiness-leadership-careers-at-davos-2020-1">Leading behavioral psychologist reveals how to be a successful narcissist and why you should stop trying to be happy</a></h3>

Here's exactly what it takes to get accepted into the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, according to 4 alumni and 2 program directors in charge of admissions

The 2001 musical comedy "<keyword id="3686511" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Josie-and-the-Pussycats">Josie and the Pussycats</keyword>" has all of the trappings of an early aughts hit: a killer soundtrack, a glitzy makeover scene, a wardrobe of low-rise jeans, and three talented leads determined to bring the Archie Comics series to the big screen."Josie" was written and directed by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, creative partners who grew up 10 minutes from each other in Pennsylvania but didn't meet until they attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.Kaplan told Insider that writing and directing an original musical like "Josie and the Pussycats" was an opportunity they couldn't pass up, even though neither had ever written a song before.They enlisted <keyword id="1604657" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rachael-Leigh-Cook">Rachael Leigh Cook</keyword>, Rosario Dawson, and <keyword id="14231" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tara-Reid">Tara Reid</keyword> to play the Pussycats. Alan Cumming and the indie darling Parker Posey rounded out the cast.But the <keyword id="6356021" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="movie">movie</keyword>, which follows the Pussycats as they're discovered by a nefarious record executive with an ulterior motive, bombed at the box office.<div type="image" title="josie and the pussyctas" height="1500" width="2000" msid="82050584" hostid="261"></div>Critics weren't too keen on the film either. In <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-reviews/josie-and-the-pussycats-125972/">Rolling Stone</a>, Peter Travers called the movie a "harmless girlie trifle" that lacked "any kinky action," while <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/josie-and-the-pussycats-2001">Roger Ebert</a> said the Pussycats were "not dumber than the Spice Girls, but they're as dumb as the Spice Girls, which is dumb enough" in his half-star review. The initial reception for "Josie and the Pussycats" suggested it was a film doomed to be forgotten, written off as a feel-good "girlie" movie that missed the mark.But in recent years, the movie has begun to resonate more with audiences. And with newfound appreciation from critics and fans alike, "Josie and the Pussycats" has finally received some positive recognition two decades after its release.Why did this famous flop become a cult classic? Does it still hold up for cast and crew two decades later? And how on earth did Eugene Levy end up in the film?On the movie's 20th anniversary, Insider spoke with Kaplan and Elfont, as well as Reid and Cook, about the legacy of this "totally jerking" film.Based on characters introduced in the Archie Comics, "Josie and the Pussycats" follows three young women - Josie (Cook), Val (Dawson), and Melody (Reid) - in a ragtag rock band who are discovered by big-shot record executive Wyatt Frame (Cumming).The only problem is Frame's boss, Fiona (Parker Posey), is secretly colluding with the US government to hide subaural, pro-consumerism messages in the Pussycats' songs. Their plan is to brainwash America's teenagers through music, leading to total mind control.As the Pussycats, Cook, Dawson, and Reid not only had to look the part of aspiring rock stars but had to learn the basics of their characters' instruments too.Since authenticity was important for Kaplan and Elfont, the movie's stars headed to a three-week band camp, where Cook learned to play guitar, Dawson honed her bass-playing skills, and Reid set out to become a drummer."We had to drill them on getting comfortable with their instruments. We had actual musicians show them where their hands should go on the guitar," Elfont said. "We wanted them to look like they were playing the real chords, not just moving their hands up and down quickly."<div type="image" title="josie and the pussycats 4" height="1500" width="2000" msid="82050585" hostid="261"></div>Cook agreed, telling Insider: "It was very important to them for the movie to never just seem like an impersonation of itself, with regard to the musical element. The music had to be true."She added: "I think that Deb and Harry are incredibly cool. And the idea of being fakers or posers would have been totally blasphemous to them."The filmmakers were so dedicated to the actresses' musical training that when Reid's drum coach wasn't there, Elfont said he stood in to show the actress exactly what she should be hitting when.Reid said she had trouble "separating her hands from her feet" in the early days of camp."I was, like, 'I'm never going to be able to do this.' And we had to do it for about two months, every day for about - I don't know - five hours a day," Reid said. "None of us knew how to do anything. We were, like, 'Oh gosh, we're never going to make this - like, we're going to get fired.' And it just worked itself out, you know?"While all three ended up playing their instruments during the movie's scenes, Josie's vocals were provided by Letters to Cleo singer Kay Hanley instead of Cook, who said she wasn't as confident as a vocalist."I feel like I got away with murder because I didn't really do any of the recorded stuff," Cook told Insider. "I just got to pretend - the way people sing into hairbrushes at home."Behind the scenes, an all-star team of artists assembled to write, produce, and perform the soundtrack, which <a href="https://mondoshop.com/blogs/news/music-weekly-josie-and-the-pussycats">went gold</a> after its release.Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds led the charge as the executive producer, and teamed up with Gigolo Aunts' Dave Gibbs on half of the songs. Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger produced and wrote tracks as well. And Counting Crows' Adam Duritz, the Go-Go's Jane Wiedlin, and others also contributed to the film's iconic soundtrack.Kaplan and Elfont joined the list of legendary musicians, embarking on their first foray into writing music. They cowrote tracks, including "Three Small Words," "Come On," "DuJour Around the World," and "Backdoor Lover."<div type="image" title="dujour" height="3000" width="1995" msid="82050586" hostid="261"></div>"I've always been slightly musical, but it was a whole other deal going in and working with professional songwriters," Elfont said. "It boosted our confidence to the point that we thought we could write songs." And while the Pussycats' songs remain pop-punk classics, those tracks weren't the only original music written for the film. Another fictional group - the ill-fated boy band DuJour - plays an important role, and they also had their own memorable tunes.DuJour's songs, Kaplan said, were some of the most entertaining to write because they contain numerous double entendres. The subversive catchy hit "Backdoor Lover," for example, is quite clearly about sex."That was a blast. To get away with that and not have anyone say, 'No, sorry you can't make a song about butt stuff,'" Kaplan joked.Both Reid and Cook had appeared in popular films before "Josie and the Pussycats" - Reid in "American Pie" and Cook in "She's All That." Dawson was still relatively early in her career, but that didn't stop the three women from becoming close, especially after long days of filming."None of us knew each other at all beforehand. It was an intense bonding experience," Cook said."It was the first movie I ever did that was a 'girl movie' and we had so much fun," Reid added. "It was kind of like sleepaway camp.""Imagine three girls basically going on vacation, becoming rock stars," Reid continued. "Going out at night and having dinners, having fun, studying your scripts together, playing our instruments in the room."<div type="image" title="josie and the pussycats" height="3290" width="4462" msid="82050588" hostid="261"></div>She touted the film's costumes as being a special part of filming. As to be expected for a film set in 2000s Hollywood, most of the costumes in "Josie and the Pussycats" involved low-rise jeans, belly tops, and sky-high heels, which led to some discomfort, Reid said.It was the "little things like that," Reid said, that made shooting the movie "amazing."Reid also defended her character Melody, the childlike and naive drummer of the Pussycats who seems to be the group's token "dumb blonde" - a mainstay in late-'90s and early-2000s teen movies."I fell in love with Melody, and yeah, she seemed ditzy," Reid said. "But if you really look and watch the movie again, she's not. She seems clueless, but then all of a sudden she comes to these revelations.""Really, what attracted me to Melody was that this was a girl that had such belief in this band, and her heart was so pure," she said.The movie takes a dark turn about a half hour in, when Fiona (Posey) descends into the underground epicenter of the operation with numerous world leaders.There, she hopes to convince her guests that they, too, should be molding children's "Play-Doh" brains. Fiona plays an educational video hosted by Eugene Levy, who appears as himself to make the case for hiding "subliminal messages in rock 'n' roll music.""We had written some other celebrities in it," Elfont said. "At one point it was Chris Rock, then at another point it was somebody more music-connected."Eventually, they landed on Levy, who was asked to appear in the cameo as a favor, Elfont said."It happened because our executive on the movie was also the executive on 'American Pie 2,'" he added, referring to his other film. They brought their cameras to the set of Levy's "American Pie 2" to shoot the scene. <div type="image" title="eugene levy josie and the pussycats" height="1500" width="2000" msid="82050591" hostid="261"></div>Levy has since become a household name after creating and starring in the award-winning "Schitt's Creek." But when the cameo was shot, the actor was coming off major roles in "American Pie" and "Best in Show." As Elfont said, Levy's appearance only became cooler with time."He said he did it because he thought his kids would find it funny, which now is funny because he must've been talking about Dan," Elfont said, referring to Levy's son Dan, who also created and starred in "Schitt's Creek." "And it's just so weird because like now it's the coolest cameo ever, because he's now Eugene Levy from 'Schitt's Creek,'" Elfont added. <div type="image" title="josie and the pussycats concert" height="1309" width="2000" msid="82050593" hostid="261"></div>The movie's final scene - in which the Pussycats play a live concert for the first time - was an emotional experience for the cast and crew.Reid said that it "was a moment of pure bonding when we did it.""I think every actor wants to be a rock star and every rock star wants to be an actor," she said. And Cook, who makes an emotional speech to the Pussycats' young fans at the start of the concert before reuniting onstage with her love interest, Alan M. (Gabriel Mann), said the scene is unforgettable."I remember it feeling just as epic and special and massive in scope as the movie depicts it," she said. "It was also at the end of an incredibly fun and bonding, and also physically taxing, shoot. So the whole day was emotional and spectacular in all the very best ways."Despite Kaplan and Elfont's unique vision, the film - with its slyly subversive message of staying true to yourself, even when trapped in a capitalist hellscape - was mostly misconstrued by critics, who took the hundreds of tongue-in-cheek product placements in the film at face value.The lukewarm reception influenced the filmmakers' careers in a notoriously difficult industry, though they eventually went on to write and direct episodes of shows such as "Mary + Jane" and "Liza on Demand."<div type="image" title="deborah kaplan and harry elfont" height="2074" width="3258" msid="82050596" hostid="261"></div>"It's not that we weren't offered any work after that. We were offered scripts to direct," Elfont said. "We were still viable directors, but I think because the experience was hard, we ended up saying no to a lot of things just because we wanted to really love it." "The takeaway was it was hard to have the movie come out and not do well," he added.Cook said that most film critics didn't exactly fall into the movie's target audience."It's easy to write off the lack of critical attention - or should I say appreciation - that we could have gotten to the fact that they weren't the demographic, that's an easy out," Cook said of critics, who are <a href="http://assets.uscannenberg.org/docs/cricits-choice-2018.pdf">largely white and male</a>. "But they just quite simply didn't get it. It just sort of seemed to fall on deaf ears."<div type="image" title="josie and the pussycats" height="3000" width="1995" msid="82050598" hostid="261"></div>The movie's satirical tone may have gone over critics' heads, but "Josie and the Pussycats" still holds a special place in the hearts of cast and crew.Its feminist undertones and promotion of individualism and free thought also began resonating with viewers in the years since its release, earning Kaplan and Elfont's film a cult following.In 2017, Mondo released the <a href="https://mondoshop.com/blogs/news/music-weekly-josie-and-the-pussycats">"Josie and the Pussycats" soundtrack</a> on vinyl, and the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles <a href="https://theatre.acehotel.com/events/josie-and-pussycats-record-release-party/">hosted a screening with a concert</a> for fans - exposing a whole new generation to the magic of the film.Since so many people have now latched onto "Josie and the Pussycats," with its unforgettable characters and catchy soundtrack, the cast and crew said they ultimately would not want to go back in time and change a single aspect of the movie.The Ace Hotel concert was "pretty cathartic," Elfont said, "having been through the failure of the movie, to see a packed house full of rabid fans who knew every word of the movie and every word of the song."According to Kaplan, Elfont alerted her that people were talking about "Josie and the Pussycats" on Twitter shortly after he joined the social-media platform. Elfont told Kaplan that numerous fans had reached out to him about the 2001 film."It's a movie for the outcasts, the weirdos, and the artists. It's not a movie for the class presidents. It's for everyone else, which is kind of where we'd rather sit," she added.Both Cook and Reid were similarly enthusiastic about the movie's newfound popularity."What's interesting about it is that it became such a cult film. I think it really deserved that," Reid told Insider.Cook added that the film's popularity ballooned because of "pure word of mouth. This is not anything other than people just actually liking the movie ... It caught zero lucky breaks - it completely made its way by itself.""I'm just really happy that we're talking about it all these years later," Cook added. "My God, I still can't believe I got to be in that movie."

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