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In Zoom party for Harris, VCs break out checkbooks and take jabs at A16Z's Trump boosters

Kevan Parekh and the rise of Indian-origin leaders in multinational companies

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Eric Zhu raised $1 million for Aviato from his high school bathroom aged 15 for his startup Aviato.</li><li>Aviato is a data analysis platform for private markets and has raised $2.3 million to date.</li></ul>This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Eric Zhu, now 17 years old. He cofounded the startup Aviato and raised $1 million while still at high school aged 15. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider has verified his identity and the funds raised.I started raising money from my high school bathroom for a startup I cofounded at the age of 14 called <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.aviato.co/">Aviato</a>, a data analysis platform for private markets, and launched an investment fund.My journey as an entrepreneur started during the pandemic after I joined a community on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/discord-ceo-blames-tech-layoffs-company-growth-2024-1">Discord</a> called "Gen Z Mafia." I was lucky to meet some really smart people at the right time and thought "How can I be like them?" I started networking and worked with a few startups in 2021 to help build landing pages for their websites.I then joined Stanford's Online High School community and met some impressive people. At the age of 14, I cofounded a nonprofit that taught kids to code for free, and I also learned to code myself in the process.In 2021, I started raising money from my high school bathroom in Carmel, Indiana for a startup I cofounded called Aviato, and I also launched an investment fund called Bachmanity Capital.Aviato is like a Bloomberg terminal for private markets, and we provide insights such as the name of a top engineer at an organization, and how many shares an employee has.<h2 id="cb350857-f68e-449b-a548-354509c1aaa2">Bathroom meetings </h2>When it came to raising money, I didn't know many people in San Francisco. But I realized that the investors I saw on X had usernames that correlated to their <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wednesday-most-popular-day-work-meetings-avoid-overload-2023-12">Calendly</a> links, a platform that helps schedule meetings. So I wrote a scraper tool that would pull their usernames and find their Calendly link, and I'd use that to book meetings with many different people.I would attend those cold Zoom meetings from my high school bathroom and pitch to investors. I even bought a green screen and ring light for serious meetings. A lot of people were like "fuck you," but some ended up working out.I got my first check of $50,000 from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tom-preston-werner-resigns-from-github-after-harassment-accusations-2014-4">Tom Preston-Werner</a>, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/github-the-full-inside-story-2016-2">cofounder of GitHub</a>. When I got that check, I was like, "holy shit, they're actually giving me money." I would buy hall passes from other students to get out of class. At one point, I was spending about five hours a day in the bathroom taking meetings. But I ended up getting banned from going to the bathroom without an escort.<h2 id="1e0cfca8-7219-4790-bde4-26aa33236bca">Trial and error</h2>But it was worth it, as I raised $1 million in 2022. We've raised a total of $2.3 million and we're about to launch Aviato. Now, we're a team of nine people.I learned to navigate meetings with potential investors through trial and error. The first few calls were absolutely horrible, but they improved over time. I figured a lot of it out along the way.My age could be seen as both a negative and a positive factor. Some of the negative feedback was that I was still in school and not working on the startup full-time, so I'd often get asked why they should bet on me.On the flip side, my willingness to take a risk and hold meetings in my high school bathroom showed that I'm willing to go out of my way to build a company, so I think that was a big factor in winning over some investors.<h2 id="7dfd71f5-ad6d-488e-b852-14156773acf9">Going viral</h2>I took a photo of myself taking a meeting in the bathroom and posted it on X, which ended up blowing up and going viral. I learned there are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-promote-business-on-social-media-go-viral-influencers-2022-4">three things that go viral</a>: controversial, funny, and out-of-context.So we built our startup story around that and shared it through meme accounts, which can be a powerful form way to reach a wide audience. Going viral also helped me to meet new people.I haven't graduated from high school yet and I started taking online classes instead a few months ago after I got suspended for taking meetings in the bathroom. I then moved to San Francisco to work on building the company full-time. My parents are pretty chill about it, but for the first two months, they thought it was a little surprising for me to take a risk like this.I've learned a ton and experienced some highs and lows. It's opened up my world, but it hasn't come without difficulty.There are a lot of times when it's like, "I don't know what to do," but I've figured it out along the way. Surrounding myself with experienced people like my cofounders and investors has been really helpful. Got a tech career story to share? Contact this reporter at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:jmann@businessinsider.com">jmann@businessinsider.com</a>

I raised $1 million for my tech startup by taking Zoom meetings in my high-school bathroom

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-zoom-billionaire-eric-yuan-career-net-worth-life">Zoom CEO Eric Yuan</a> wants to leverage AI for "digital twins" that can attend meetings.</li><li>Yuan said AI avatars can eventually handle everyday tasks, shortening workweeks to three or four days.</li></ul>Zoom's CEO Eric Yuan is ready for a world where your AI clone handles your busy work — and he painted a picture of a life that sounds pretty relaxing.Yuan, in an interview with The Verge <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/3/24168733/zoom-ceo-ai-clones-digital-twins-videoconferencing-decoder-interview">released Monday</a>, said he hates his calendar, reading emails every morning, and finds a five-day workweek filled with meetings "boring."That's why he wants people to have their own personal AI "digital twin" to attend meetings and write emails for them so that they can "go to the beach" instead, he said. AI clones could help shorten the workweek to three or four days, Yuan added."You do not have to have five or six Zoom calls every day," Yuan said. "You can leverage the AI to do that."In Yuan's vision, your AI twin could also do other everyday tasks across Zoom Workplace, like messaging, phone calls, emails, coding, creative tasks, manager tasks, and project management, Yuan said in the interview.Delegating this work to your AI clone would allow <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zoom-fatigue-real-videoconferencing-study-brain-heart-scans-2023-11">people to have more time for in-person interactions</a> — in and outside of work, he said."Why not spend more time with your family," Yuan said. "Why not focus on some more creative things, giving you back your time, giving back to the community and society to help others, right?"While Yuan couched this vision as still being a ways away, he said Zoom started investing in generative AI before ChatGPT came out and sped up its advancement in the space after seeing it take off. Zoom has already introduced some AI features for its workplace platform Zoom Workplace, like AI Companion, which provides meeting summaries.The CEO said Zoom's digital twin technology would likely first start as a voice assistant, but could eventually become more immersive, making a virtual version of yourself available in virtual environments like those found in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/using-apple-vision-pro-for-the-day-productivity-2024-2">Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3</a>.Eventually, the goal would be a 3D version of yourself that can mimic you to the point where "you can't know if it's a real person or just a 3D version."Yuan also described how you theoretically have multiple versions of your digital twin based on different needs. For example, one version may be a sales expert and another may be an engineer.Yuan said the technology isn't there yet for two main reasons. First, the underlying AI models, or LLMs, that such a product would rely upon aren't advanced enough. Second, he said that such a customized AI clone would require a customized LLM that's based on all the data and context around each individual person. But Yuan said he expects AI technology to be capable of this in the next few years.So if workers' AI twins are handling a lot of the grunt work and enjoying the beach, what work does that leave them to do? Zoom's CEO said that AI could help for 90% of work, but said it wouldn't replace in-person interactions."We still need to have in-person interaction. That is very important," Yuan said. "Say you and I are sitting together in a local Starbucks, and we are having a very intimate conversation — AI cannot do that, either."But it seems that the avatars would make room for more in-person interactions outside of work, rather than at the workplace.In terms of in-person work, Yuan said new employees may want to start in the office for some real-life interactions, but overall he doesn't see people wanting to get together more often in real life once those connections are made. He said getting together once or twice a year is "good enough."Read the full interview <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/3/24168733/zoom-ceo-ai-clones-digital-twins-videoconferencing-decoder-interview">here</a>.

Why you should be excited about getting an AI clone, according to Zoom's CEO

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Biden reportedly blew up at a House Democrat who's skeptical of his candidacy on a Zoom call.</li><li>"Tell me who did something that you've never done with your Bronze Star like my son," Biden said.</li></ul>During a tense Zoom call with members of the centrist New Democrat Coalition on Saturday, President Joe Biden reportedly took a swipe at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-army-ranger-capitol-siege-by-pro-trump-mob-2021-1">Rep. Jason Crow's</a> military service.The exchange, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://puck.news/biden-saturday-zoom-call-with-house-democrats-goes-off-the-rails/">according to Puck News</a>, took place after Crow, a Colorado Democrat who's been publicly skeptical of Biden's continued viability in the wake of a disastrous debate performance last month, asked the president a question about national security.Biden reportedly replied:Crow, a former Army Ranger elected to Congress during the 2018 "Blue Wave," earned the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-tell-where-service-member-has-deployed-based-on-medals-2019-2">Bronze Star Medal</a> for his service during the Iraq War. The award is given to members of the military who show acts of heroism in the field or had an otherwise praiseworthy tenure.Biden's son Beau, who died in 2015, also served in Iraq and received a Bronze Star.According to the report, Crow then said that Biden's message wasn't "breaking through" to voters."You oughta talk about it!" Biden reportedly replied. "On national security, nobody has been a better president than I've been. Name me one. Name me one! So I don't want to hear that crap!"The day after the call, Crow <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jason-crow-colorado-face-the-nation-transcript-07-14-2024/">said</a> on CBS's Face the Nation that Biden "heard our message very clearly" and that the president "promised to come back to us with more information to address our concerns and to answer our questions."A source familiar with Biden's calls with congressional Democrats — which in recent days have also included the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus — emphasized that Biden has open to feedback from lawmakers, rather than merely defensive.While some of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-democrats-capitol-hill-paralysis-joe-biden-2024-7">conversations around Biden's viability</a> have grown muted in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, they have yet to fully dissipate.As of Wednesday, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/which-elected-democrats-called-on-joe-biden-drop-out-2024-7">19 House Democrats and one Democratic senator</a> have publicly called on Biden to withdraw from the race, while others have flatly declared that they no longer believe he will be able to defeat Trump in November.

Biden took a swipe at skeptical House Democrat's military service during tense Zoom call, report says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Janine Pelosi was Zoom's CMO during the pandemic and is now CEO of a tech company called Neat.</li><li>She reflected on how remote work has impacted her own life and changed our working world.</li></ul>Janine Pelosi directs her company out of her home in California, but its headquarters are across the Atlantic, in Oslo, Norway, nine hours ahead of her.It's emblematic of our flexible post-pandemic world, which has allowed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-innovation-collaboration-return-to-office-work-from-home-2023-12#:~:text=Before%20the%20pandemic%2C%20most%20managers,know%20this%20assumption%20was%20wrong.">remote working</a> arrangements to thrive.Pelosi is the CEO of Neat, a tech company that sells videoconferencing devices. Prior to that, she spent eight years at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zoom-tells-employees-return-to-office-remote-work-video-conferencing-2023-8">Zoom</a>, including the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when she was the company's CMO.During a video call with BI, one of many virtual meetings slotted into her day, the CEO recalled her "unique perspective" of the pandemic, which saw Zoom become a household name.She said the pandemic destigmatized <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wfh-fears-impacting-kids-parenting-remote-work-2024-7">working from home</a> instead of in an office, but that, in turn, crowded many people's days with formal online meetings.Moving forward, the former Zoom CMO believes that developing in-person relationships and a strong company culture can support the effectiveness of remote work.<h2 id="ba6d81c4-da9f-45a6-b915-0db49b3782c7">More meetings don't equal more productivity, so employees should use their time wisely</h2><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-investor-happier-healthier-taking-meetings-off-zoom-on-phone-2024-5">Virtual meetings</a> can be time-consuming, but they don't always lead to increased productivity.Pelosi said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rules-for-holding-successful-virtual-meetings-with-employees">online meetings</a> are more structured than a coffee chat or desk-side discussions in the office.Because the video meetings are transactional and set up for a specific purpose, they're dealt with swiftly. "People are meeting for a reason, and getting to that purpose as quickly as possible is typically the reality of their days so they can get to the next thing on their plate," she added.Pelosi told BI that a calendar packed with meetings — a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/workers-spending-less-time-in-meetings-productivity-2024-4#:~:text=There%20was%20a%20jump%20in,almost%20overcorrection%2C%22%20he%20said.">fallout of remote work</a> — isn't necessarily productive, "For me personally, it does not equate to productivity because it doesn't give me room to actually think or strategize," she told BI.She said employees should feel empowered to ask for a meeting agenda and check whether they need to be present in meetings to ensure they're using their time wisely.<h2 id="9227fc8d-285a-4e58-82dc-e2d1b0c741a8">Technology can help bridge the gap between people meeting in different locations</h2><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/more-pointless-meetings-workers-more-productive-loneliness-2023-7">Excessive meetings</a> aside, Pelosi said remote work will continue to be crucially important to our future, despite the ongoing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tell-dell-annual-survey-results-show-employees-frustration-rto-push-2024-7">RTO debate</a>, because it allows people to be productive wherever they are."I think it would be a big mistake if we lost out on some of those gains. I think about the commute that I had five days a week before the pandemic, and it feels silly to me that I did that."Improving technology so people meeting from different locations are all fully present should be a priority, according to Pelosi."If you have a lag, if your audio is not crisp, if your video is not working to the best of its ability, then it will affect your ability to come to the same understandings when you are in a meeting. So that quality is going to be the thing that bridges the gap between being fully dispersed and being able to be in that same room."<h2 id="23942c29-b80e-4186-85f4-95add02a5c19">But nothing beats face-to-face connection</h2>Although she's spent roughly 20 years working in the videoconferencing industry, Pelosi said nothing can compare to an in-person connection: "There's no replacement for being in the same room."But it's become increasingly difficult to get teams together, Pelosi said, adding that building relationships and trust with employees will be key in a more digitalized future."I think it's incredibly important that the culture is strong within a company because what you're seeing too often is that folks have a relationship with their Zoom screen versus their employer," she said.Pelosi herself travels monthly to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-working-from-home-office-misses-friends-loneliness-remote-2024-6">see colleagues in person</a>, visiting Neat's HQ in Oslo as well as its London office. She said companies need to encourage connection in and outside meetings to increase productivity.She suggests hosting regular all-hands meetings, doing online cooking classes with teams, and encouraging employees who live in the same city to get together in person. This could help drive company culture and strengthen relationships in a world overcrowded with online meetings."Making room for that time to build relationships is going to allow for meeting remotely to be more effective in the future," she said.

Even Zoom's ex-CMO is tired of non-stop video meetings. Here's her take on how remote work needs to change. 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>President Joe Biden crashed a Zoom call with his staffers to shore up morale, per Politico.</li><li>On the call, he told staffers that no one is pushing him out, and that he plans to stay the course.</li></ul>President Joe Biden crashed a Zoom call with staffers on Wednesday to shore up morale and convince them that he's not dropping out, per <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/03/biden-no-ones-pushing-me-out-00166497">Politico</a>. The president hopped on a Wednesday call with his campaign and Democratic National Convention staff, citing anonymous staffers in the call.Seated beside Vice President Kamala Harris, he told staffers that no one is "pushing him out" of the reelection bid."Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can — as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running," he said on the call, per Politico.He added: "I'm not leaving. I'm in this race to the end, and we're going to win."Harris echoed his sentiments, saying their team will not back down, and will "follow our president's lead.""We will fight, and we will win," she said, per Politico.Biden's efforts to consolidate support from his team come as he faces mounting pressure to step away from the race following his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happened-biden-trump-debate-takeaways-2024-6">disastrous debate performance</a> on June 27.On Wednesday, a second Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/us/politics/raul-grijalva-biden-drop-out.html?smid=url-share">publicly called</a> for Biden to quit. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/02/politics/house-democrat-call-biden-withdraw/index.html">Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas was the first</a>, calling on the president to step down on Tuesday.A House Democratic aide <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-reassure-democratic-governors-meeting-after-shaky-debate-performance-2024-07-02/">told Reuters</a> on Tuesday that 25 Democrats are preparing to call Biden to quit the race.Biden's debate performance has also spooked donors. A longtime Democratic donor, Whitney Tilson, <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/whitneytilson/status/1807239014157586631">wrote on X</a> on Saturday that he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-donor-giving-cash-waste-of-time-and-money-2024-7">felt "deceived"</a> by Biden's poor showing."If the man I saw at the debate is the real Joe Biden right now, then it would be a waste of my time and money to support him because he has almost no chance of beating Trump," Tilson wrote.Representatives for Biden didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.

Biden crashed a Zoom call with his campaign and DNC staff to say: 'No one's pushing me out' 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Zoom event with 44,000 Black women supporting Kamala Harris reportedly raised $1.5 million.</li><li>The organizer, Jotaka Eaddy, was dubbed the "Olivia Pope of Silicon Valley" by Forbes.</li></ul>The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.winwithblackwomen.org/">#WinWithBlackWomen</a> network, founded by organizer and strategist Jotaka Eaddy, hosted a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/zoom-different-company-remote-working-return-to-office-2023-11">Zoom</a> call for Black women on Sunday that garnered 44,000 participants and raised over $1.5 million for Kamala Harris' newly launched presidential campaign, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-07-22/how-44-000-black-women-galvanized-support-for-kamala-harris-on-sunday-night?srnd=homepage-asia&amp;embedded-checkout=true">Bloomberg</a> reported.Eaddy, the CEO and founder of social-impact consulting firm Full Circle Strategies, is known as the "Olivia Pope of Silicon Valley," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephaniemacconnell/2018/07/27/fintech-regulation-bridges-silicon-valley-and-washington-d-c/">Forbes</a> reported. She previously worked as a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fintech-investors-investment-areas-ai-payroll-infrastructure-2024-1">fintech</a> executive at LendUp and a strategist at the NAACP.Eaddy created #WinWithBlackWomen in 2020 as a network of Black women leaders in business, tech, politics, and entertainment, among other industries.<h2 id="1fc25c68-27ed-444b-85dd-444f838fdff3">The 'biggest fundraising day' of 2024</h2><div type="image" title="Jotaka Eaddy, wearing a yellow blouse and blue blazer, speaks into a microphone." height="683" width="1024" msid="111937670" hostid="261"></div>The Zoom call for Harris featured speakers including Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio and Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Bloomberg reported. Rep. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/maxine-waters-affordable-housing-homelessness-spending-bills-help-homebuyers-renters-2023-6">Maxine Waters</a> of California, who made history as the first woman and African-American chair of the House Financial Services Committee, also reportedly spoke at the event.In just three hours, donations surpassed $1.5 million, #WinWithBlackWomen shared on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C9t69PAyaLh/">Instagram</a>.Attendance peaked at 44,000 members, #WinWithBlackWomen said in an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C9t1zI7Os0W/">Instagram</a> post. Skyrocketing attendance caused the Zoom meeting to crash as even more people attempted to join the event.In a post on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/JotakaEaddy/status/1815328813632385183">X</a>, Eaddy thanked Zoom COO Aparna Bawa for helping "create the space for history." A marketing manager who wrote on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/JunaeBrown/status/1815233069084721594">X</a> that she was on the call added that Bawa stepped in to allow the online meeting platform to accommodate tens of thousands of participants. Representatives for Zoom did not immediately respond to Business Insider's inquiry about Bawa's involvement in the event.After President <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-dropping-out-what-happens-next-2024-7">Joe Biden</a> succumbed to pressure to bow out of the 2024 race and endorsed Harris as the new candidate, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/democratic-fundraising-after-biden-dropped-out-2024-7">surge of donations followed</a>. In a post on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/actblue/status/1815198823771165179">X</a>, ActBlue said that $46.7 million had been raised for Harris' campaign in the seven hours since it was announced — the biggest fundraising day of the 2024 election.

44,000 Black women raised $1.5 million for Kamala Harris in 3 hours on a Zoom call that crashed the online meeting platform

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Christina Farr, who invests in healthcare tech startups, has ditched most of her Zoom meetings.</li><li>Farr, 36, said she's "happier" and "healthier" after switching 90% of her meetings to the phone.</li></ul>If anyone is ready to kick <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-the-never-ending-zoom-thats-like-a-virtual-office-2021-11">Zoom</a> to the curb, it's Christina Farr.The 36-year-old healthcare tech investor said <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/chrissyfarr/status/1786376488490561913">on X,</a> formerly Twitter, earlier this month that 90 percent of her meetings are phone calls, while 10 percent are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/largest-zoom-conversation-database-science-interact-video-chat-2023-4">on Zoom</a>."I'm healthier, happier, and the benefits derived from taking meetings on a walk far outpace my enjoyment of seeing someone's face over a screen," wrote Farr, who also writes a Substack newsletter on healthcare technology called <a target="_blank" href="https://secondopinionmedia.substack.com/">"Second Opinion"</a> for 20,000 subscribers.Other desk workers have moved away from video calls, a decision that is also backed up by recent research on Zoom fatigue.<h2 id="50402997-50bd-411c-b9f8-f029735545ce">Switching video meetings to phone calls</h2>Speaking to Business Insider — over the phone, of course — Farr said the choice to switch to mostly phone meetings with her network of startup founders, investors, and operators happened after she developed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/treatments/lower-right-back-pain">sciatica</a>, or nerve pain, while working remotely for a venture-capital fund in 2021."Suddenly, I was six months pregnant, sitting at home during a pandemic, and on these back-to-back Zoom calls," said Farr, who now mostly works a hybrid schedule. "I was just sitting all the time."She said her condition "got so bad" that she struggled to move toward the end of her pregnancy. Though sciatica can have various causes, Farr said she firmly suspects the hours on Zoom sans physical activity was one of the main culprits.Farr started moving her video meetings to phone calls so that she could take walks during them. She recalled some people she asked to switch formats reacted with surprise, "You feel like you're that annoying person that's like, 'Hey, do you actually mind if we don't do video?'"<div type="image" title="Christina Farr spoke to Business Insider the same way she does 90 percent of her meetings —&#xa0;over the phone." height="2316" width="3088" msid="110184133" hostid="261" sizebytes="819486"></div>But the more she asked, the more Farr — who said she has up to seven hours of meetings each weekday — realized how many other people also hated Zoom."People almost want to talk to me because it's the one break in the day when they don't have to be sitting," she said. "I have been getting responses like, 'Oh my God, thank you so much. I really don't want to do that either.'"Farr knows phone calls don't work for every type of meeting, especially when visuals are crucial — like when a slide deck is being presented. However, she said, it's usually a viable option.<h2 id="036bc226-ea2d-4caa-b816-76a0ddde88f7">There's a perception that being off camera is rude</h2>Alyssa Jaffee, a friend of Farr's who is also a healthcare-tech investor, also prefers to use the phone for most of her meetings — which can take up to 10 hours during her workday, depending on the day.Jaffee, a partner at Chicago-based VC fund 7wireVentures, believes the pandemic propped up the idea that it's "rude" to be off-camera because "you're not present if you're not on video.""There is a challenge around the perception that is hard to break free from," Jaffee, 37, said.But she said it's a false narrative."When I am on audio only, I am often moving, I'm often walking in my neighborhood, I'm walking on the treadmill in my basement, and I'm only focused on the conversation I'm doing now," she said, adding that being on the phone mitigates the chance of being distracted by incoming notifications, emails, or other browser tabs. "There's no universe that just sitting in front of a screen looking at your own face is better for you."Jaffee also said that some meetings that people think need to be on video because they involve presentations could actually be conducted audio-only."We did this long before Zoom existed for pitch calls," she said. "People used to be good storytellers."<h2 id="dd767928-2e14-40f4-b7b3-bbcb0ef07387">Zoom haters have research to justify their stance</h2>Farr's and Jaffee's criticisms of video conference calls are backed up by a recent academic journal article by Stanford professor Jeremy Bailensonon why <a target="_blank" href="https://tmb.apaopen.org/pub/nonverbal-overload/release/2">people typically find video meetings exhausting</a>.Bailenson's report, which expands on his <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-zoom-meetings-can-exhaust-us-11585953336">Wall Street Journal opinion piece</a> from 2020, argues that the primary cause of "Zoom fatigue" is "nonverbal overload," because people work harder to communicate with body language.In his newer report, Bailenson said the overload may be caused by aspects of video calls including unnatural and "intense" prolonged eye contact, constantly being able to see yourself, reduced mobility, and unconsciously having to work harder to execute "nonverbal communication."Bailenson concluded the report with a simple suggestion: "Make 'audio only' Zoom meetings the default, or better yet, insist on taking some calls via telephone."For Zoom haters like Farr, reports like Bailenson's are vindicating."I don't want to see my face. I don't particularly need to see anyone else's face," Farr said. "I certainly don't want to see your face at the expense of my own health and well-being."

A millennial investor feels happier and healthier after taking most of her meetings off Zoom

<ul class="summary-list"><li>US legislators are again trying to ban TikTok with a bill in the House.</li><li>TikTok leaders were not expecting the new bill to progress so quickly, per The Wall Street Journal.</li></ul>A bill to ban TikTok in the US is speeding through Congress and has caught the social media platform off guard, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/why-the-new-effort-to-ban-tiktok-caught-fire-with-lawmakers-7cd3f980">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported.The <a target="_blank" href="https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/Protecting%20Americans%20From%20Foriegn%20Adversary%20Controlled%20Applications_3.5.24.pdf">new bill</a>, sponsored by Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, would force <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-ban-china-congress-bill-force-sale-bytedance-why-2024-3">Chinese company ByteDance</a> to sell TikTok to non-Chinese owners or face a ban in the United States.Leaders at TikTok had been tracking the legislation, but were not expecting it to move so quickly through the House, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. The proposed legislation was put up for a vote and unanimously approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee <a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521/all-actions?s=1&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22TikTok%22%7D">on Thursday</a>.The House is set to vote on the bill on Wednesday.If it passes, it will move on to the Senate and get one step closer to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jason-palmer-ai-helped-block-joe-biden-presidential-primary-sweep-2024-3">President Joe Biden</a>. Biden indicated he would <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-ban-china-congress-bill-force-sale-bytedance-why-2024-3">sign the ban</a> should it hit his desk, despite having an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-tiktok-is-pissing-everyone-off-right-now-2024-2">account on the app</a> himself.The president joined the app to connect with voters, but his stance could backfire. Polling from the <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-biden-bytedance-china-2acbaeb71e8bb0c6341f2bc55ba33e80">Associated Press</a> shows that 73% of people who use the app at least once a day oppose a ban.A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktokers-joining-war-on-congress-over-potential-ban-2024-3">TikTok</a> spokesperson told Business Insider it expects the bill to pass, saying it had a "predetermined outcome.""The government is attempting to strip 170 million Americans of their Constitutional right to free expression," the company told BI in a statement. "This will damage millions of businesses, deny artists an audience, and destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country."<h2>The unlikely characters trying to save TikTok</h2>Whether the bill makes it through the Senate is less clear, as Republican Senators like Rand Paul and Lindsay Graham have voiced concerns about it. Others, like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-comments-tiktok-ban-bill-facebook-zuckerberg-2024-3">former President Donald Trump</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-sides-with-donald-trump-tiktok-ban-2024-3">Elon Musk</a>, have also weighed in, expressing their opposition to a TikTok ban."I don't think we should ban ownership in companies because we don't like some of the different governments that are involved or some of the different countries," Paul told the Journal on Friday.In the past, Democrats have mostly supported a ban on TikTok, but some legislators have said there should be a focus on other tech giants, like Meta and Google, regarding <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-fined-record-13-billion-for-data-privacy-breaches-2023-5">data privacy laws</a>."Here's the reality: asserting that TikTok stands alone as the one platform that poses a serious surveillance threat to our nation's youth is deliberately missing the Big Tech forest for the TikTok trees," Sen. Ed Markey said in a statement last year.Meanwhile, American business leaders are toying with the idea of buying the app. The Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, said that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/activision-ceo-bobby-kotick-400-million-payout-microsoft-acquisition-scandal-2022-1">former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick</a> approached <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-billionaire-zhang-yiming-net-worth-lifestyle-2019-11#zhang-founded-tiktoks-parent-company-in-2012-4">ByteDance cofounder Zhang Yiming</a> about acquiring the app.Other unnamed sources cited by the Journal said that Kotick also floated the idea to a group of people that included <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-return-openai-board-directors2024-3">Open AI's Sam Altman</a>.Representatives for Kotick, OpenAI, ByteDance, and TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by BI outside regular business hours.The movement to ban TikTok in the US has been pushed by legislators who believe the company will hand over user data to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandralevine/2023/06/21/tiktok-confirms-data-china-bytedance-security-cfius/?sh=67987fef3270">Chinese government</a>. So far, TikTok has said it would not comply should it receive a request to do so.In response to the House bill, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-pressure-campaign-congress-backfire-2024-3">TikTok</a> went on the offensive and urged its users to contact their representatives to let them know they opposed it.

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