Jamie Roberts, 57, owns charter company Tropic Air in Nanyuki in northern Kenya. Born and brought up in the area, where his father was a crocodile hunter who turned to fish farming, he's been involved in aviation on and off ever since he left school at 15.

Roberts started working for a local farmer handling machine maintenance at his various farms, and learned to fly to make it quicker and easier to commute between the far-flung locales. He eventually parlayed that experience into his own aviation company, which he first set up in 1990, taking out a loan for a Cessna 182. Today, 30 years later, Tropic Air has a fleet of planes and helicopters with a dozen pilots on call, including Roberts himself.

There's no typical day in his business, but here's what Roberts and his team could be called to do, depending on the season — and on what emergencies might arise.

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Whether or not he was born a morning person, Roberts has learned to love an early start.

Roberts will typically wake before dawn. He's used to the early start, as it's a fact of life for bush pilots. "The morning and late evenings are the nicest time to fly — it's less bumpy and turbulent because it's generally cooler," he said.

His morning task varies, according to the season.

When the rains are heavier, he's likely to be booked to help with crop-spraying. Corn is the dominant planting in this part of Kenya, and when land is too muddy for tractors or planters to tackle, herbicides aimed at aphids and armyworms will be dropped from the air.

This year, though, there's been a different problem — and a critical one: locusts. The World Bank reported it's the worst infestation in seven decades, and could cost the country $8.5 billion by the end of this year as they decimate plantings and other agriculture. Roberts has played a vital role batting them back: He's hired by the likes of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to fly over the insects in the early morning while they're still roosting; they won't usually take off looking for food until around 10 a.m.

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The best time to tackle the problem is while the locusts are sleeping.

"You fly through an area and look for vegetation where everything's red, the color of the locusts. You can see where a swarm is straightaway," he said.

It's not unusual for them to spread across 500 acres when at rest; in flight, that same group will expand to cover six times that area.

Fortunately, Roberts said, they don't startle even when the plane flies low to carefully dust them with insecticide.

Roberts usually sprays for four or five hours, returning regularly to the airstrip to refuel and replenish his supply of chemicals. The dangers occur if the locusts take off and begin to bombard the plane. 

"They can get into the oil cooling system, and the high temperatures mean you blow the engine and have to make an emergency landing," he said.

In dry season, his morning will likely look very different.

Roberts is qualified to fly both planes and helicopters, and is likelier to be in a chopper when the weather's good. That's because he's just partnered with ultra-luxe safari outfitter Roar Africa to offer one-percenters the ultimate adventure: a heli-safari. He's already flown a handful this year, his first operating them with the travel specialist, and more are booked as travel continues to return in 2021.

Wildlife looks very different from the air.

Roberts offers two kinds of trips via Roar Africa. There are the half- or full-day adventures, which range around his local region in northern Kenya, for $8,500 and $15,000 respectively for up to five adults.

"One client said to me, you know, Jamie, the great thing about a helicopter trip is that you can see something in the distance, and go and see it in a minute as opposed to a three-day walk," he said. He'll take clients soaring over the Great Rift Valley to the Selale crater, looking for elephants and giraffe.

He always does a fly-by on flamingos before settling down for lunch.

He might also whisk visitors to Lake Bogoria, on whose shores he grew up. Now that lake is home to tens of thousands of flamingos, drawn there to feed off the blue-green algae that blooms thanks to the high salt content of the water. It'll be bookended with lunch, in a hard to reach spot with a killer view.

Roberts doesn't just run day trips for tourists, either.

The second type of trip is even more ambitious and expensive: multi-day trips roaming around East Africa — into Sudan or Ethiopia, perhaps, where civic unrest has made ground tourism much riskier, or Chad, the landlocked country that's long been largely off-radar for travelers.

"They're expensive trips, but these are out-of-the-way places that very few people get to see," he said. A 10-day journey like this starts around $76,000 per person for a couple.

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When a Knight of the Realm summons you to assist, you don't refuse.

Mostly, though, he'll be idle during the height of the day — and the heat — but that isn't always the case. If he isn't taking wealthy guests on day-long heli-safaris, he could instead be working with a documentary film crew.

Roberts was tasked with ferrying Sir David Attenborough and his crew around the area several times while they worked on many of their well-known programs, including "Planet Earth." He's also regularly hired by geologists doing survey work of the land to see what natural resources might lurk under the surface.

He's also on call for emergencies.

Kenya's mountainous terrain attracts hikers and outdoorsy types keen to summit its peaks.  Not all of them can manage that.

"We do a lot of mountain rescues — people falling and ending up with broken bones who can't come down any other way," he said. "Or it could be edema, altitude sickness."

If a disaster happens, Roberts doesn't run away, but heads right toward it.

Some of his rescue missions have been even riskier. Roberts has long worked with independent medical humanitarian organization Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF), helping its medical personnel reach disaster areas in the region. 

"They're one of the most effective NGOs anywhere, and so quick to respond," he said. He dropped staff in Mozambique during recent flooding as a result of cyclones Idai and Kenneth. "They jump out of the helicopter with rucksacks and no idea where they'll sleep and just start fixing people up," he said. 

He'll also be deployed to handle extractions, as when he swooped into Somalia several years ago to help rescue two nurses, both MSF staffers, who'd been kidnapped by terrorist group Al Shabaab. "We went in and stopped in the bush close to Mogadishu to pick them up," he said. "There was supposed to be a vehicle there when we landed, but there wasn't one, and we were very short of fuel, so we didn't have a lot of time to mess around. But eventually, it did show up and there was a quick handover."

As night falls, he's usually grounded — though there are exceptions.

Airfields and strips in Kenya are not lit, so generally planes and helicopters don't fly at night except in emergencies, as when Roberts was called to save a baby elephant from a pack of looming hyenas. The calf had been orphaned after its mother died of natural causes — Roberts was called via radio about a pack of hyenas circling in and likely to lunge as darkness fell. 

"One other baby elephant we helped had been stuck in a little water hole, and the hyenas came in the night and ate off its whole trunk," he said. "We picked it up in the morning and it survived — it's like a human losing one of your hands."

Roberts managed to swoop in before the scavengers could attack.  "That's when we realized it was bigger than we all thought — about 1,300 pounds — but it wasn't a possibility to leave it for the night. It took 12 of us to get it in."

At the end of the evening, he's already planning the next day.

This year, the locust-spotters will likely radio in the location where a swarm has opted to roost for the night so he can plan for the next day. Though the spigot of international tourism was turned off by border closures for much of this year, it has slowly returned — in fact, Kenya was one of the first African destinations to reopen its borders, in August— so Roberts could be summoned for a last-minute tourism jaunt. He'll often not know how a day will unfold until the last moment, especially during peak tourism season, including over the holidays.

"It's changed so much from when the blue rinse brigade — older people, who'd retired and made a bit of cash — used to come," he said. "Their bookings used to come in so far in advance, maybe a year. Now, younger people are more flexible, and will make a decision within the week."

Even with a raging pandemic that has transformed work and living, life's basic necessities remain the same: we need to eat and sleep, we want to stay healthy and become smarter, and we want to achieve financial security. 

Technology, of course, has already changed how we achieve these things from ordering food to buying publicly traded stock, all from our phones. That cycle of innovation didn't stop in 2020 and is set to churn even faster in 2021. 

At the end of every year, Business Insider asks a group of well-known venture capitalists to name the startups they think will take off in the new year.

We published our main list of the 81 startups that will boom in 2021, but VCs nominated so many consumer startups that we couldn't include them all in that larger list. The companies they named were so intriguing that we decided they merited their own list.

The following crop of startups touches upon many of 2020's hot trends, such as the shift towards personal and remote banking and the rise of independent creators using new tools to make a living out of their passions. They also include products that improve life's more mundane moments, such as wearable ring that tracks our sleep patterns. 

These startups, organized alphabetically, are all venture-backed companies. We included the estimates of their total funding according to deal database Pitchbook as well. 

Here are the 36 consumer startups that VCs say are set to take off in 2021:

Albert: personalized financial advice

Startup: Albert

VC: Sumi Das, CapitalG

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $71.83 million 

Headquarters: Walnut, CA

What it does: helps people automate their financial well-being by tracking bills and spending habits, how much money you make, investments, and more.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Albert is leveraging automation and machine learning to improve consumers' financial wellness through their holistic, mobile financial advisor that Americans can actually afford," Das said. 

Bloomscape: e-commerce for plants

Startup: Bloomscape

VC: Johnson Yang, General Catalyst

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $24.2 million

Headquarters: Detroit

What it does: a plant shopping platform that delivers fully-grown potted plants to customers.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Bloomscape has figured out how to ship thriving, beautiful plants in a box all across the country 365 days per year, resulting in better quality, variety, and convenience than your typical big box store Garden Center offers," Yang said.

"It's never been easier for new plant enthusiasts to buy and care for plants thanks to Bloomscape," he added.

Chime: no-fee online banking service

Startup: Chime

VC: Shawn Carolan, Menlo Ventures

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $1.54 billion

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: A banking app with special perks like no-fee checking accounts and paycheck advances.

Why it will boom in 2021: Carolan expects Chime's features like paycheck advances and free "spot me" loans of up to $100 on overdraft will give the fintech startup an edge over traditional banks.

"They are growing a fantastic business while making average US consumers more financially secure," Carolan said.

Clay Software: reconnecting with forgotten friends

Startup: Clay

VC: Peter Boyce II, General Catalyst

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: NA

Headquarters: New York

What it does: a social networking app designed to help users connect with the people they've met throughout their life.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Clay is a beautiful and private rolodex that helps you remember and be more thoughtful with the people in your life," Boyce said, adding that the app can serve a variety of functions, including revitalizing old family relationships and surfacing potential job opportunities. 

Commonstock: app for sharing user knowledge

Startup: Commonstock

VC: Li Jin, Atelier Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $11.2 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: A site, still in beta, where novice investors can chat with experts, trace others' investment portfolios, and make trades of their own.

Why it will boom in 2021: "I'm excited about the future that Commonstock is shaping, in which investing is made more accessible, fun, and educational to a much broader swath of the population," Jin said.

Everlywell: at-home food sensitivity and COVID tests

Startup: Everlywell 

VC: Aileen Lee

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool

Total funding raised: $266.1 million

Headquarters: Austin, TX

What it does: provides consumers with at-home lab tests ranging from food sensitivity tests to metabolism tests.

Why it will boom in 2021: The company recently launched an at-home COVID-19 test, which Lee says will drive its growth numbers.

"Consumers are increasingly stressed about their health and well being, and have time to investigate and adopt new, more convenient and affordable ways to address their healthcare needs," Lee said.

Folx Health: healthcare for LGBTQIA+ people

Startup: Folx Health

VC: Chelsea Stoner, Battery Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool. 

Total funding raised: $4.35 million

Headquarters: Boston

What it does: Folx Health is a digital health company designed for LGBTQIA+ people specifically, offering services like hormone replacement therapy, HIV prevention, and fertility testing. 

Why it will boom in 2021: "LGBTQIA+ people often meet with clinicians who don't understand their bodies or their needs, resulting in often difficult and sometimes traumatic experiences. Folx is reimagining healthcare for this population from first principles with a medical team made up of leading queer- and trans-care specialists," Stoner said. 

Forage: career discovery platform

Startup: Forage

VC: Mercedes Bent, Lightspeed Venture Partners

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $12.06 million

Headquarters: Sydney, Australia

What it does: Forage is a career discovery platform that lets employers create courses simulating what it's like to work at their firms.

Why it will boom in 2021: Bent likes how job candidates on Forage can use it for both "casual learning and intense job searches," and how the courses on the platform are designed by actual employers, as opposed to third-party providers. 

Found: business banking for the self-employed

Startup: Found

VC: Bill Trenchard, First Round Capital and Mark Goldberg, Index Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VCs just think it's cool.

Total funding raised: $15.2 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: Found assists self-employed people with business banking services like expense tracking and tax savings.

Why it will boom in 2021: Trenchard said he's "impressed with the simplicity of the product" Found offers. "It radically simplifies finance tasks that millions of self employed people struggle with, including knowing what their taxes owed are in any given quarter (estimated payments) or what they can deduct."

"It's a major headache for freelancers to set aside the appropriate amount of money to pay in taxes, and Found combines banking with expense tracking to do this automatically. With a killer team, this is a company to watch in 2021," Goldberg said.

Hinge Health: digital healthcare for treating back and joint pain

Startup: Hinge Health

VC: Roger Lee, Battery Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $127.09 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: digital healthcare programs for chronic conditions such as back and joint pain.

Why it will boom in 2021: "As physical therapy and surgery continue to be postponed during the pandemic, folks with chronic conditions and pain are at risk for being left untreated," Lee said.

"Hinge Health provides a truly end-to-end solution by democratizing access to critical resources and quality services at a lower cost, and more conveniently to members," he said.

Hydrow: Smart rowing machines

Startup: Hydrow

VC: Michael Madden, Alumni Ventures Group

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $60 million

Headquarters: Cambridge, MA

What it does: Hydrow offers rowing machines for full-body home workouts which are used by star athletes like professional tennis player Sloane Stephens and NBA player Carmelo Anthony.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Hydrow is part of the revolution of in-home connected workout machines that allow people to exercise from home with all of the fun of being part of a group," Madden said.

Luma: Virtual event planning for influencers

Startup: Luma

VC: Li Jin, Atelier

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $3 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: Tools for influencers and content creators to plan, promote, and carry out remote events held via videoconference or livestream, as well as sell products to their followers.

Why it will boom in 2021: "In 2021, more creators will be making their living in the 'passion economy'," Jin said. "Luma gives these creators a home across platforms where they can develop a community and make money."

Lydia: PayPal of mobile payments

Startup: Lydia

VC: Amit Jhawar, Accel

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $72.78 million

Headquarters: Paris

What it does: Provides mobile payments, loans, checking accounts, and credit cards to a primarily French user base.

Why it will boom in 2021: Lydia has become the dominant peer-to-peer payment platform in France, and Jhawar expects it to continue to expand as it rolls out new features like online checking accounts.

"Lydia has become a verb in France and next year will bring a whole set of new capabilities to continue the momentum," he said.

M1 Finance: fintech for personal finance

Startup:M1 Finance

VC: Greg Baker, Alumni Ventures Group

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $99.5 million

Headquarters: Chicago

What it does: Fintech app that helps users consolidate their various personal finance needs by offering roboadvising, neobanking, and lending services onto a single platform.

Why it will boom in 2021:"M1 operates in a space where the vast majority of capital is kept in legacy systems, leaving a lot of room for M1 to grow its existing capital base as capital is transitioned into digital mediums," says Baker, who added that the company doubled its assets under management from $1 billion in February to $2 billion by October.

Notion: app for productivity, reminders, and calendars

Startup: Notion

VC: Ethan Choi, Accel

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $70.85 million 

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: A productivity app for consolidating calendars, notes, reminders, and other documents in one place.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Notion provides users and teams a single place to get work done and track it, resulting in less context switching, fewer applications to log into and pay for, and a more organized user interface with less searching for files," Choi said.

OmSom: direct-to-consumer Asian food

Startup: OmSom

VC: Anu Duggal, Female Founders Fund

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $3.15 million

Headquarters: New York

What it does: creates Asian cuisine starter kits and recipes that are easy to make.

Why it will boom in 2021: "OmSom makes it easy to recreate some of my fave dishes," says Duggal, who added that she grew up in Asia and loves all types of Asian cuisine. "As Americans are cooking more and more at home and expanding their palates in Asian cuisine, I have no doubt OmSom will do incredibly well in 2021."

Oura: wearable ring to track sleep patterns

Startup: Oura

VC: Shawn Carolan, Menlo Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $46.52 million

Headquarters: Oulu, Finland

What it does: A wearable smart ring that tracks people's pulse overnight and makes recommendations to improve their sleep.

Why it will boom in 2021: Carolan expects the sleep tech industry to soar in the coming year, with Oura at the forefront.

"They are the leader in the category, one that will become increasingly important as the power of the platform and algorithms increase to diagnose sleep disorders," Carolan said.

Outschool: online classes for small groups

Startup: Outschool

VC: Alex Taussig, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Mike Duboe, Greylock Partners

Relationship: Taussig is an investor. Duboe has no relation to the company. 

Total funding raised: $57 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: A marketplace that offers live, scheduled online classes that students or parents can buy from a variety of teachers across subject areas.  

Why it will boom in 2021: "The pandemic has significantly accelerated the adoption of online learning, and Outschool met the moment this year, growing over 30 times in just a few months earlier this year," Taussig said. 

"While models like Outschool gained momentum out of necessity during the pandemic, the duration of COVID has opened parents' eyes to what schools do and don't offer to students," Duboe added. "Video learning has been normalized, and even as students go back, Outschool plays a valuable role in enrichment content."

Popshop Live: live video streaming for e-commerce

Startup: Popshop Live

VC: Ian Sigalow, Greycroft

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $4.5 million

Headquarters: Los Angeles

What it does: an e-commerce platform that lets sellers use video streaming to market their products directly to customers.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Our team has spent significant time studying consumer behavior trends in the Chinese market, including the rise of social shopping platforms like Taobao Live. COVID-19 has accelerated the shift to ecommerce, and online shoppers are seeking more entertaining, social retail experiences," Sigalow said.

"We're excited about Popshop Live's potential to reinvent commerce in the U.S. and beyond," he added. 

Public: social network for retail investors

Startup: Public

VC: Ian Sigalow, Greycroft

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $91 million

Headquarters: New York

What it does: a "social investing" app that lets users trade stocks and learn from investing experts and other app users.

Why it will boom in 2021: "The company is led by a team of repeat founders with significant domain expertise that is able to rapidly release new features that delight consumers and inspire users to refer their friends, driving attractive network effects," Sigalow said.

Real: provider of virtual, remote therapy

Startup: Real

VC: Anu Duggal, Female Founders Fund

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $6 million

Headquarters: New York

What it does: app for mental health resources and remote therapy. 

Why it will boom in 2021: "With the ups and downs of 2020, there has never been a more relevant time for both men and women to invest in their own mental health practice," Duggal said, adding that Real hosts support group sessions on relatable topics like "Navigating the Holidays without Loved Ones" and "Undoing Your Upbringing."

Shef: marketplace for homemade meals

Startup: Shef

VC: Johnson Yang

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $8.95 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: A peer-to-peer, community-based online marketplace for homemade meals.

Why it will boom in 2021: Shef wants to give rise to amateur chefs, a "whole new category of gig economy workers," Yang said. 

"I believe Shef can do to the restaurant industry what Airbnb did to the hospitality industry, but similar challenges with regulation, operations, and growth hacking have to be surmounted," he added.

ShopShops: online shopping via livestream

Startup: ShopShops

VC: Eurie Kim, Forerunner Ventures

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $23.14 million

Headquarters: New York

What it does: Lets people remotely shop from brick and mortar stores via online live-streamed events.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Live stream commerce has been thriving in Asia for years, and is projected to drive [roughly] $170 billion in market value in China this year. We are just beginning to see this behavior take off in the US," Kim said, adding that she believes ShopShops will be at the forefront of that trend.

SoLo Funds: a way to get, and give, small loans

Startup: SoLo Funds

VC: Mercedes Bent, Lightspeed Venture Partners

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $23.93 million

Headquarters: Los Angeles

What it does: A peer-to-peer lending system that lets people provide loans of $50 to $1,000 without interest.

Why it will boom in 2021: "In stressful times like the pandemic SoLo is allowing users to more easily and affordably access short-term emergency loans," Bent said. "Many people are still under financial distress and in need of personalized lending solutions."

Sprout Therapy: at-home therapy for kids with autism

Startup: Sprout Therapy

VC: Ben Ling, Bling Capital

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $10 million

Headquarters: Bristol, PA

What it does: Sprout Therapy expands healthcare access to autistic children by matching families with healthcare providers, therapists, and experts.

Why it will boom in 2021: Ling believes that Sprout Therapy taps into a large market, noting that one out of every 52 kids in the US has some form of autism, according to the CDC. 

"Early treatment helps makes strides [for children with autism]," Ling said. "Sprout Therapy makes the process simple and painless for parents."

Step: digital banking for teens

Startup: Step

VC: Todd Jackson, First Round Capital

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $76.3 million

Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA

What it does: Step's digital banking platform is geared toward teens opening their first bank account. It offers a free, FDIC-insured bank account and a secured spending card meant to help them build positive credit, as well as its own person-to-person payments platform.

Why it will boom in 2021: "[Gen Z] has been very vocal about wanting more modern financial resources and Step not only provides those but also markets directly to them," Jackson said.

"At the end of the day, this generation already has massive spending power so if Step can capture these users now, it's bound to be very lucrative," he said.

StockX: online marketplace for hypebeasts

Startup: StockX

VC: Roger Lee, Battery Ventures

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $565 million

Headquarters: Detroit

What it does: StockX's marketplace lets people buy and sell high-demand sneakers, streetwear, bags, and collectibles with a focus on rare and limited edition items that fetch high prices.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Despite unprecedented, industry-wide challenges in retail, StockX's digitally-native and asset-lite business model has proven to be quite resilient, allowing them to serve their consumers throughout COVID-19 with minimal disruption," Lee says, adding that the company is quickly expanding beyond its core Gen-Z demographic.

Substack: newsletter platform for independent writers

Startup: Substack

VC: Alex Taussig, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Eurie Kim, Forerunner

Relationship: No relation to either VC, but Taussig publishes his own (free) newsletter on Substack.

Total funding raised: $21.21 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: Substack's platform lets writers create newsletters which can be sent exclusively to paying email subscribers or published publicly online. 

Why it will boom in 2021: Taussig notes that Substack "has been able to attract top talent from big publishers across the media ecosystem," including writers who recently left established outlets like Vox and New York Magazine to start their own newsletters. 

"In a world where large publications must cater to a mass audience, Substack allows readers to vote with their dollars on content they want to see and this trend is likely to accelerate in 2021," Kim adds.

Tempo: AI-powered gym for at-home strength training

Startup: Tempo

VC: Ben Ling, Bling Ventures and Ed Yip, Norwest

Relationship: Investors

Total funding raised: $77.42 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: Tempo's home gym uses AI-powered 3D mapping to guide users through weight lifting regimens and give them feedback on their form.

Why it will boom in 2021: Ling says Tempo's strength is its "amazing product market fit with strong customer love and engagement," and that it's poised to capitalize on the growing at-home fitness trend.

"Consumers who were once too busy to commit to the gym or who were intimidated by classes are now hopping on the at-home workout train," Yip adds.

Toggle: market insights for amateur investors

Startup: Toggle

VC: Elizabeth Weil, Scribble Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: Not disclosed

Headquarters: New York 

What it does: provides AI-powered news alerts, analysis, and market insights for everyday investors.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Toggle is the Bloomberg Terminal for retail investors," Weil says. "Just as Schwab, Interactive Brokers, and now newcomers like Robinhood and Betterment have disrupted market access for retail investors, Toggle is aiming to disrupt investment analysis."

Tonal: an AI-powered home gym and personal training

Startup: Tonal

VC: Matt Murphy, Menlo Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $276.7 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: A rising star in the booming home fitness market, Tonal sells a smart mirror with adjustable pulleys that uses AI-powered computer vision to evaluate users' workouts and give them feedback, along with remote human-led classes.

Why it will boom in 2021: "The classes and AI to both motivate and improve your form are game changers. No question more people will be working at home post pandemic and home fitness will benefit from that shift," Murphy says.

Topicals: skincare for people with chronic skin conditions

Startup: Topicals

VC: Gabby Cazeau, Harlem Capital

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $2.6 million

Headquarters: Santa Monica, CA

What it does: Topicals sells skincare products geared towards people with chronic skin conditions like eczema and hyperpigmentation. 

Why it will boom in 2021: "While there's been considerable growth in the beauty category, there hasn't been as much focus on medicated skincare products," Cazeau said. "It is a massive market that hasn't seen much innovation and current products don't speak to the needs of millennials and GenZ."

She adds that "Topicals understands their community of 'skintellectuals' and engages with them in creative ways."

Upgrade: fintech platform focused on personal loans and credit cards

Startup: Upgrade

VC: Ben Narasin, NEA Ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $211.27 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: Founded by LendingClub founder Renaud Laplanche, Upgrade first launched with loans and credit card services and has more recently expanded into more banking tools like digital checking accounts.

Why it will boom in 2021: Narasin expects the startup to see "tremendous uptake" next year thanks to its service offering a low-cost traditional term loan of up to $30,000 that users can draw down with a credit card, "giving them a longer term (multi-year) payback period and lower loan-like rates," he said.

Wealthsimple: fintech platform for investing, crypto, and tax filing

Startup: Wealthsimple

VC: David Thacker, Greylock

Relationship: Investor

Total funding raised: $274.96 million

Headquarters: Toronto

What it does: The Canada-based startup began as an automated investing service and now also offers stock and crypto trading tools, savings accounts, a cash card, and tax filing software.

Why it will boom in 2021: "Consumers (especially millennials and Gen-Z) want modern financial products with low, transparent fees, a great user experience, and the convenience of using multiple financial products from a primary institution. This desire has created a massive opportunity to transform the Canadian financial services industry," Thacker says.

Whisper.ai: AI-powered hearing aids

Startup: Whisper.ai

VC: Ted Wang, Cowboy ventures

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $53 million

Headquarters: San Francisco

What it does: Whisper builds AI for voice recognition and uses it to power hearing aids, which distinguish spoken words from background noise.

Why it will boom in 2021: "The application of AI to hearing loss is an ideal fit," Wang said. Next year "will see the product rollout at scale and continue to increase its lead over conventional hearing aids."

Wyze: Internet-enabled smart homes devices

Startup: Wyze

VC: Scott Jacobson, Madrona

Relationship: No relation. VC just thinks it's cool.

Total funding raised: $36.30 million

Headquarters: Kirkland, WA

What it does: Best known for selling a $20 smart home camera, Wyze is now expanding into other internet-connected home devices.

Why it will boom in 2021: Wyze boasts a "strong team, great product at a great price and awesome growth," Jacobson said.

It's been a turbulent two years for Jeff Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez. 

In January 2019, the bombshell news broke that the Amazon CEO and his wife, MacKenzie, were getting a divorce after 25 years of marriage. Hours later, we learned that Bezos was in a relationship with Lauren Sanchez, a TV host and helicopter pilot who, along with her husband, had been friends with the Bezoses. 

Despite a tumultuous few months that involved leaked texts, blackmail, a billion-dollar divorce, and maybe even interference from the Saudi Arabian government, Bezos and Sanchez are still going strong.  

Here's how their relationship became public and how they've spent the 23 months as a couple. 

SEE ALSO: A history of the 30-year feud between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, whose love-hate relationship spurred the success of Microsoft and Apple

It all started on January 9, 2019. Shortly after 9 a.m., Jeff and his wife, MacKenzie, issued a joint statement on Twitter that they were divorcing.

"As our family and close friends know, after a long period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends,"the statement read."If we had known we would separate after 25 years, we would do it all again."

MacKenzie is one of Amazon's earliest employees. The couple has four children together. 

A mere few hours later, a second bombshell dropped: Bezos was in a relationship with Lauren Sanchez.

Sanchez started her career as a news reporter and anchor— she was a longtime anchor of "Good Day LA" on Fox 11 and worked as a correspondent on "Extra." 

More recently, she's worked as a helicopter pilot and founded her own aerial filming company in 2016 called Black Ops Aviation. Bezos has hired Sanchez's company to film footage for his rocket company, Blue Origin. 

Sanchez has also had TV and film roles, including as the host of the reality show "So You Think You Can Dance" and playing an anchor in movies like "Fight Club" and "The Day After Tomorrow," according to her IMDB page. 

At the time, Sanchez was married to Patrick Whitesell, the co-CEO of WME, a Hollywood talent agency.

Sanchez and Whitesell had been married since 2005, but at the time the news broke, the couple had been separated since the fall, according to Page Six. 

The couple was friends with Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos because they had houses near each other in Seattle, Page Six reported. 

The National Enquirer said it had conducted a four-month investigation into Bezos and Sanchez's relationship and had obtained texts and photos the couple had sent to each other.

The Enquirer said it had tracked the couple "across five states and 40,000 miles, tailed them in private jets, swanky limos, helicopter rides, romantic hikes, five-star hotel hideaways, intimate dinner dates and 'quality time' in hidden love nests." 

Page Six, which published the news a few hours before the Enquirer, reported that Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos knew that the Enquirer report was coming out and had timed their divorce announcement to get ahead of the news.

The gossip site also reported at the time that Bezos and Sanchez started dating after Jeff and MacKenzie had separated the previous fall, and that MacKenzie knew of the relationship. 

The Enquirer said it had gotten its hands on "raunchy messages" and "erotic selfies," including a text that reportedly read: "I love you, alive girl." The tabloid said it also had racy photos of both Bezos and Sanchez, including one that was too explicit to print.

Source: Business Insider

Almost immediately, questions arose about the Enquirer's motives for investigating Bezos and Sanchez and the tabloid's connection to President Trump.

A feud has simmered for years between Trump and Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, a frequent Trump target. The Enquirer's publisher, AMI, is run by David Pecker, a longtime Trump ally. 

By the end of January, The Daily Beast reported that Bezos was funding an investigation into who had leaked his private messages to the Enquirer. Bezos' personal head of security, Gavin de Becker, headed up the investigation. De Becker said at the time that he thought the leaks were "politically motivated," which AMI denied. 

The investigation initially pointed to Michael Sanchez, Lauren's brother and an outspoken Trump supporter, as the person who leaked the photos and texts, which Sanchez denied. 

Then, in February, Bezos dropped a bombshell of his own: an explosive blog post titled "No thank you, Mr. Pecker," in which he accused Pecker and AMI of trying to blackmail him.

Bezos wrote that the publisher had been threatening him with the publication of explicit photos he'd taken of himself unless he stopped investigating who was leaking his photos and texts to the tabloid.

AMI also demanded that Bezos no longer claim the publisher's investigation into his personal life was influenced by political motivations, Bezos wrote. 

As a result, Bezos published the emails he'd received from AMI.

"Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten," Bezos wrote.

Bezos also hinted in the post that there may have been a link between the investigation into his relationship with Sanchez and the Saudi Arabian government — specifically, that he might have been a target of the Saudis because he owns the Washington Post, which provided "unrelenting coverage," Bezos said, of the murder of its journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by Saudi agents. The "Saudi angle" of Bezos' own investigation into the leaks seemed to have "hit a particularly sensitive nerve" with Pecker, Bezos wrote. 

For its part, the Saudi Arabian government denied any role in the situation and called the whole saga a "soap opera." 

Things quieted down for Bezos and Sanchez publicly for a few months, until April, when Jeff and MacKenzie finalized the terms of their divorce.

Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos both released statements on Twitter saying they had "finished the process of dissolving" their marriage and would be co-parenting their four kids.

MacKenzie said she was granting Jeff all her interests in the Washington Post and Blue Origin, as well as 75% of the Amazon stock they owned and voting control over the shares she retained. Her remaining stake in Amazon is estimated to be worth about $38 billion, placing her among the richest women in the world, according to Forbes.

One day later, Sanchez and Whitesell filed for divorce.

TMZ reported at the time that the couple asked for joint custody of their two children. The couple reportedly finalized their divorce in October. 

The Bezos divorce was finalized in July. A few days later, Bezos and Sanchez made their first public appearance as a couple at Wimbledon.

The couple was seated behind the royals at the men's Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic at the All England Club. 

The pair was spotted again in August on what appeared to be a fabulous European vacation: They were seen strolling through Saint-Tropez and cruising off the coast of Spain, in the Balearic Islands, aboard media mogul David Geffen's superyacht, the Rising Sun.

Other guests reportedly included Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and the founder of Thrive Capital, Josh Kushner, along with his supermodel wife, Karlie Kloss. (The group was pictured in an Instagram post that has since been deleted.)

Bezos and Sanchez were then seen on fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg's sailing yacht off the coast of Italy. The couple appears to be close friends with von Furstenberg and her husband, IAC Chairman Barry Diller.

Source: Page Six

In December, Bezos reportedly threw Sanchez an elaborate 50th birthday celebration that included both a private dinner and a star-studded party attended by von Furstenberg and Diller, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, and Timothée Chalamet.

Source: Page Six

Around the holidays, the couple jetted off to French-speaking Caribbean island St. Barths, relaxing on yachts and meandering around the island with Sanchez's son, Nikko Gonzalez.

Source: The Cut

In January, Sanchez accompanied Bezos on a trip to India.

Sanchez attended Bezos' visit to Mahatma Gandhi's tomb and walked the red carpet with Bezos at an Amazon Prime Video event in Mumbai. 

A few weeks later, Sanchez traveled with Bezos to another international event — this time, a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, France. 

Since February, Bezos has been embroiled in a legal spat with Michael Sanchez, Lauren Sanchez's brother.

Sanchez filed a defamation lawsuit against Bezos in February, claiming Bezos and his security consultant, Gavin de Becker, falsely accused him of providing Bezos' nude photos to the National Enquirer. Sanchez claimed in the suit that Bezos told journalists he had handed over the images to the tabloid, but he says he never had the photos in his possession. 

Bezos said in a court filing of his own that the suit amounted to "extortion" and directly threatened free speech. Bezos sought to dismiss Sanchez's lawsuit under a California law that's intended to protect against frivolous lawsuits. 

A judge has since tossed Sanchez's defamation suit, citing a lack of evidence. 

In the lawsuit, Sanchez used the word "fiancé" to describe Bezos' relationship to Lauren Sanchez, implying that the couple is engaged.

Here's the full sentence from the lawsuit (emphasis ours):

"While Mr. de Becker's initial asserted theory was that Mr. Sanchez had sold out his sister for $200,000, Mr. de Becker soon realized this theory would not hold up because, among other reasons, it was inconceivable that Mr. Sanchez would ruin his relationship with his sister and her current fiancé, the richest man in the world, for financial gain."

Bezos isn't described as Sanchez's fiancé anywhere else in the suit, and Bezos and Sanchez have never confirmed that they're engaged. In December, Page Six published photos of the couple on vacation, noting that Sanchez was wearing a large diamond ring on her right hand (engagement rings are worn on the left hand). 

At the time lawyers for Michael Sanchez said in a statement, "Michael's complaint speaks for itself." Representatives for Bezos and Sanchez did not respond to requests for comment.

News broke in February that Bezos had reportedly purchased the Warner estate, a massive Beverly Hills compound, for $165 million. The purchase was the most expensive home sale in California history.

Prior to the sale, The New York Post reported that Bezos and Sanchez had been house-hunting in Los Angeles and touring mansions throughout the area for weeks.

The Warner estate was built by Hollywood mogul and Warner Bros. cofounder Jack Warner in 1937. It spans eight acres and is situated in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Beverly Hills. It's an incredibly private property that's surrounded by tall hedges, blocked off by a large gate, and completely hidden from view from the street.

The compound is home to multiple dwellings, including two guesthouses and a 13,600-square-foot mansion. The estate also features a pool, tennis court, and manicured gardens, as well as a nine-hole golf course and a "motor court" with its own garage and gas pumps, according to Architectural Digest. 

December is usually the season for office parties and congratulatory all-hands meetings, but the coronavirus has put paid to end-of-year celebrations around the world.

2020 has been largely defined by the "black swan" event that has brought a stark death toll and upended the way most of us live, work, and interact with each other. When the disease sent most of the Western world into lockdown in the spring, there was a broad sense that things would be back to normal by the end of the year.

They are not, and difficult decisions remain for governments, businesses, and individuals alike about how to cope in 2021.

We spoke to 15 CEOs, founders, and executives from firms such as Facebook, Revolut, and Darktrace about how 2020 had changed their priorities in work and life, and the lessons they want to take into 2020.

Some expressed gratitude to be working at a time when many people are on furlough or have lost jobs. Others fretted about the financial impact of the pandemic and lockdowns on women. And others remain laser-focused on their businesses, noting an uptick in customers using online services through the year.

These interviews have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Facebook's VP of Play, Jason Rubin, says games have 'helped people find their happy place'

"This has been a horrible period of time. I keep telling my seven-year-old she'll remember these times and tell her own kids and grandkids about it. She hasn't seen her friends in months or been to class. It's been really hard.

"On the upside, I have this job and I'm not looking for employment, and I'm aware a significant part of the US is just trying to make ends meet.

"As a games maker, I had a very strong belief they would be the biggest entertainment medium in the world, but also that they would be a force for good, and something that made the world better.

"It's hard to say there have been many upsides to the past year. I've had the benefit of being able to spend more time with my kids and get into shape. I think this is a moment of change that isn't going to bend back, and I hope we can all keep pushing forward."

'We are vulnerable,' says Axel Hefer, CEO of Trivago

"The top priority for 2021 for business and for personal is to find and be comfortable within this new normal — be it as a travel business to serve the changing traveler needs and adapting the business for the new industry norm, finding a new normal as a hybrid of office work and remote work, and being able to get back to a regular routine with the family.

"To me the key lesson is that we are vulnerable. Everything is optimized to the status quo.  When you think about it, there is very little slack — in our healthcare system, or in many of our businesses."

Tania Boler, chief executive of femtech startup Elvie, worries about culture being lost for remote hires

"As with all businesses, 2020 has brought a plethora of challenges across our entire value chain. For most of these, we've managed to weather the storm through resilience, creativity and innovative solutions.

"However, the lingering impact I'm most worried about is the effect of remote working for both our team members and culture. 

"This year, we've had 114 new starters, which represents a +80.5% growth. When any company is scaling this rapidly, there's a significant risk of the cultural DNA getting diluted or lost.

"With COVID and remote working, this is exacerbated even further. So as we (hopefully) emerge from the stresses of the pandemic, our big re-focus will be on people and culture in 2021. As soon as it's feasible and safe, we'll be investing in making up for lost time – encouraging quality collaboration between team members and socializing in real life!

"Going into 2021, we must remember that progress can be eroded, so we must re-energize discussions and actions on female-friendly workplaces and champion a more equitable division of labour at home.

"We were slated to raise further funds in March, but Q2 presented a very volatile investor sentiment, with many startups being forced to take down rounds. We needed to stay agile, changing our Series C fundraising plans and conserving cash.

"But like many businesses that needed to adapt and react, we're moving forward with renewed focus on profitability so we can weather any global volatility." 

Markus Villig, chief exec of ride-hailing firm Bolt, isn't convinced remote work is forever

"In 2020, the way people moved changed dramatically ... We learned that even massive markets can change overnight — this taught us that the companies that are able to adjust will be the ones that survive, and we had to be one of those companies. We appreciated this early on and pivoted our product to help with what people needed at the time — access to food and groceries.

"Of course 2020 had an impact on a more human level, too. The switch to remote work has been well documented. I'm not sure that fully remote work is here to stay. Internal surveys we ran indicated the flexibility is appreciated but there's still power in discussions and relationship building that takes place in the office. As a result, we're opting for a hybrid approach where 20% of employees will have designated seats.

"We couldn't have survived 2020 as a company the way we did without being anything other than truly honest and grounded. We were in it together. Instead of firing people to save costs, we decided to do a temporary salary cut for the entire organisation. Fortunately, the result was that we didn't let anyone go. We kept the team informed with how things were going, even about the financial situation and logic behind decisions that were hard to make."

Anne Boden, CEO of Starling Bank, says there'll be less presenteeism in the future

"2020 has been a transformational year for Starling when we hit breakeven and became a serious lender, despite the impact of the coronavirus emergency. In fact the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital.

"For us, this meant a huge increase in account numbers and in our deposit base and a steady increase in employee numbers (we've grown the staff by over 280 people since the start of the first lockdown in March). We raised a further £100 million in funding from our existing investors and gave free shares to all employees...

"We've learned new and better ways of working in 2020. I fully expect there will be long-term improvements to the world of work in banking and elsewhere once a new kind of normality resumes.

"This will involve more remote working and less presenteeism in the office. Done well, this has huge potential to boost productivity, give us all a better work life balance, protect the environment and boost the economies of local communities. It also gives us a great opportunity to boost regional economies, by encouraging remote working."

Oaknorth CEO Rishi Khosla say the lessons of COVID-19 could help 'generations to come'

"Our priority has always been to support the Missing Middle — high-growth businesses who have the largest positive multiplier effect in the economy in terms of productivity, job creation and GDP growth.

"We have continued to support these businesses throughout this year as evidenced by the software licensing partnerships we've announced with banks, as well as the amount of lending we've done via OakNorth Bank in the UK. This will continue to be our priority throughout 2021 and beyond given the vital role these businesses will play in the economic recovery as the world emerges from COVID-19.

"One of my greatest lessons from the 2008 financial crisis was that some of the most challenging periods economically can also create some of the biggest opportunities. Some businesses will emerge from this crisis even stronger and more resilient than before, and just like after the 2008 crisis, we will see new businesses and innovations being born out of the ashes of the crisis.

"I want us to be able to look back on this and know that as a society, we came together to support one another, to help the vulnerable, and to protect businesses and those they employ. If we get that right, it will be a great learning not just for 2021, but for generations to come."

Nik Storonsky, boss of challenger banking app Revolut, says challenges like Covid-19 can't slow ambitious founders down

"From a customer perspective, we are focused on launching products and services to support customers in these challenging times...

"From a business perspective we've increasingly diversified our revenue streams. We remain focused on the goal of becoming profitable next year and, thanks in part to the way we adapted to the pandemic, we are making good progress.

"We'll continue to build on revenue-generating products and reduce unnecessary operational costs. We'll also be rolling out banking operations across Europe next year, and unveiling new lending services in those markets.

"Go back to the drawing board and ensure that you are building products that are relevant for the new normal, and adding real value for your customers.

"Reevaluate your culture in 2021 to ensure that you are adapting to the changing needs of your employees, and going the extra mile to support them. It's been a huge gain, and a lesson, to have pretty much our whole workforce move to working from home with no loss in productivity but massive gains in work/life balance.

"2021 will be another challenging year, but don't let that dilute your ambition or slow you down. Many of the greatest tech companies were born, and flourished, during a crisis."

'Become a camel, not a unicorn,' say Deployed cofounders Kayleigh Kuptz and Emma Rees

"Become a camel, not a unicorn.

"Tech startups thrive to become unicorns, with a growth-at-all-costs approach to scale the business and its value as fast as possible. This is exciting and possible in a strong and certain economy.

"However, events in 2020 — from the pandemic to global political unrest and the UK officially being in a recession, the capital pool for startups dried up. All have made it harder to fund a scale-fast approach. Instead of aspiring to become a mythical creature, we now aspire to become a worldly beast; the camel, a creature able to survive and thrive when the resource pool is dry, and traverse whatever uncertain landscape lies ahead.    

"Put people first. Growing an early stage start-up in 2020 has taught us that our team comes first. Lines between working and living are blurred with everyone working from home and creating new routines and habits.

"Communication, touchpoints, virtual coffees and listening are key to creating a culture of integrity and compassion; we are all human and are all in the same boat."

The old ways of doing cybersecurity have 'gone out the window', says Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson

"Focus now is more important than ever. When your business is moving fast and the world is moving fast around you, you must be laser-focused on what's right in front of you.

"Personally, I'm focused on two key business challenges: maintaining a company culture of an ambitious, driven and dedicated workforce in a socially distanced world, and ensuring that we keep our eyes on innovating with, and ahead of, customer needs in a world that is constantly in flux.

"At several points throughout the pandemic I have taken a step back, paused and asked myself: 'Are we still delivering what the customer wants?' In many ways, this comes down to one key principle: Keep a short list and do it well.

"The theme of 2020 has been uncertainty. In a post-Covid world we will see an amalgam of uncertainty and opportunity, and the challenge will be to balance new opportunities with new risks....

"The old ways of doing security have gone out the window and the urgent problem for businesses to tackle in 2021 will be ensuring they have best in class technology to defend their organization."

Matt Cooper, CEO of Skillshare: '2020 has made me realize how much I've missed spending time at home.'

"On the company side of things, the pandemic has accelerated our business by 1-2 years. Both in terms of revenue and subscriptions, we're way ahead of where we thought we'd be during this time last year. Of course, being 'ahead of schedule' means that we're also playing catch up in some ways—we need to scale up our team sooner and build key infrastructure —but these are all great problems to have.

"On the personal side, 2020 has made me realize how much I've missed spending at home —working from my house each day has allowed me to experience this whole 'other world' that goes on between 7am and 7pm when I would normally be either commuting or at the office. It's been a tough year for everyone, but the silver lining is that I've been able to spend a little more time with my family. 

"I'm amazed at how resilient people are. Think about everything that we've been confronted with this year: COVID, political chaos, racial injustice, hurricanes, wildfires, just to name a few. Of course, we're far from being out of the woods on any of these issues — but the strength and resiliency shown by so many people this year gives me hope that we are heading in the right direction. 

"I remain concerned about the political divisions in this country and the spread of misinformation. When truth is defined by what news channel you watch or who you follow on Twitter, it strains our collective ability to have meaningful conversations with each other about how to make our world better.

"I don't have a grand solution on how to balance free press and free speech, but I do think that there needs to be more accountability for institutions and corporations to tell the objective truth, rather than the version that supports their agenda."

Charlie Delingpole, founder and CEO of ComplyAdvantage, is rethinking the future of work

"Prior to March, for decades people spoke about remote work and centripetal trends like megacities but by and large people were in the office every day and people gravitated toward hubs like London, New York and Singapore.

"Overnight endless coffee catch-ups, physical team meetings and conferences have been transferred to Zoom and people are leaving the big cities. Are we just as effective all working from home, and is this all going back to cafes and offices in April 2021?

"At ComplyAdvantage in 2020, we hired a lot of people outside our core offices of New York, London and Singapore and we've seen them highly valued members of our teams. Our traditional models of work have changed completely and it's difficult to say if this is a permanent or temporary change.

"The lessons we can learn depend on what we think the point is of face-to-face meetings. If our job is building trust or a relationship then in all likelihood we will revert to the status ante and back to coffee and conferences. If the job is to exchange information or update a project status, then this will potentially stay on Zoom.

"Either way many in-demand employees have become attached to working from home and companies will be at a competitive disadvantage if they are unable to offer the working environment and model that expensive and rare employees demand.

"Many potential clients are now no longer willing or able to meet physically at their dispersed kitchen tables, so potentially the non-technical workforce will also be forced into learning lessons that they would not necessarily like to learn."

Entrepreneur First's Matt Clifford says 2020 shows any good service can be delivered online

"One big conclusion from 2020 is that sometimes 'in person' is a superpower and sometimes virtual is. Pre-pandemic I probably did far too much in person by default, where virtual would have provided more reach, scale or efficiency.

"But this year has also demonstrated the (for now) un-substitutable power of physical presence for the most important relationships in our work and lives. In 2021 I'm looking forward to getting that back — but I'll also be more deliberate about what it's worth getting on a bus, train or plane for.

"The big lesson from 2020 is that any good or service that can be delivered over the internet serves a bigger, faster, more global market that we realized before.

"It's been a horrible, tragic year, but it's created a world with less friction for anything that touches software. That's good news for entrepreneurs and customers, and will drive the creation of new and important businesses in 2021."

CEO of AI chip producer Graphcore Nigel Toon will never take gatherings for granted again

"This year has affirmed my belief in the power of shared purpose when building a business. Our employees around the world have spent much of the year working from home; at kitchen tables and in spare rooms, from Bristol to Beijing — yet they have delivered our second-generation IPU products, launched a global partner program and held to our ambitious software release schedule.

"The drive and determination that makes that possible can only come from a belief that you're doing something important, and the knowledge that you're working with like-minded colleagues. So despite the separation, we've never felt more like a team.

"Having said that, I'm looking forward to a 2021 when we are all able to come together again in person, something that none of us – myself included – will ever take for granted again.

"It might be foolhardy to extract lessons from a situation that is ongoing, and where the consequences are yet to be fully felt and understood. However, what has been extremely impressive this year is how many businesses have dramatically re-configured the way they work to suit the changed circumstances.

"We obviously hope not to see a pandemic like this again, but that ingenuity and willingness to respond rapidly to a changing world will continue to be extremely valuable."

Alex Chesterman, chief exec of user car service Cazoo, says changes from Black Lives Matter were long overdue

"Covid has, of course, had a terrible impact on many businesses and livelihoods. In retail there has been an accelerated shift online during 2020 and this will continue as consumers have discovered new ways of transacting and prefer the convenience of the digital experience. Our priorities for 2021 haven't changed, but we are just moving at an even faster pace.

"Cazoo is certainly seeing an acceleration of those who are happy to purchase a car entirely online and that is likely to continue given that consumers love the experience. We have ambitious growth plans for 2021 as we continue our mission of turning Cazoo into a household name and delivering the best experience in terms of selection, value, quality and convenience for UK car buyers.

"Aside from COVID, this year has finally seen many employers taking long overdue steps, as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement, to ensure that they are doing everything possible to stamp out all forms of systemic racism and to create a level playing field.

"It is very important that this is not just a 2020 issue and that the changes organizations are making are long term and permanent."

COVID-19 has made Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen, general partner at Balderton Capital and former Uber exec, reconsider his carbon footprint

"This year has changed all of our behavior. I won't be flying as much in 2021 even if airports are running and countries open their borders. When you look back now, you just realize how much you could have done over Zoom, and how much time it would have saved. 

"Honestly, I think the awareness of our own carbon footprint has grown too. Everyone is contributing to trying to solve that issue now. There's been a huge shift in businesses thinking all the time about how they can be more sustainable.

"We have a generation of folks starting companies now, and they're committed to saving the planet — it might be even more of a priority to them than their bottom line. 

"We've felt it here in London, even in the reduction of basic noise pollution. I think there will be some very positive long-lasting effects to come out of this. It's too blatantly obvious what we have to do."

TS Anil, CEO of challenger bank Monzo, says 2020 has been filled with 'compassion and support'

"There's no denying this has been a tough year for everyone, but at Monzo we've had some amazing successes alongside this as well, and it's clear to me what our priorities in 2021 need to be.

"Two things really struck me about 2020 despite the incredibly difficult circumstances we all found ourselves in.

"First, there have been so many examples of compassion and support for each other during these times, and the importance of communities. We certainly felt that way at Monzo. As a digital-focused business, we were in a better position than many to adapt and help our colleagues through this big change. Our teams were able to transition to remote working smoothly. And then importantly, we've been able to continue serving our customers without disruption and give them the support they need.

"Second, even in this time of so much pain and disruption, there was still much to be grateful for. We've seen many examples of this in our personal lives, gaining a better understanding of what really matters and what we can do without...

"While I hope to get back to normal in 2021, I also hope we don't forget what we've learned this year. We must show the same level of compassion and understanding towards our friends, family and colleagues, as we continue to earn the trust and love from the customers we serve."

One of the big themes in the stock market that has emerged in 2020 has been the huge bifurcation in the performance of growth shares and classically defined value shares.

This has been particularly evident since November, after a number of trial vaccines have come closer to becoming viable candidates to ward off COVID-19, with Moderna and Pfizer's starting to be rolled out throughout several countries.

But this outperformance of growth stocks over value stocks isn't new. Over the last 10 years, the MSCI Growth Index has risen by 179.37% in price while the Value Index has risen by 42.36%.

However, with the positive vaccine news there has been a rotation into value caused by prospects of an economic recovery in 2021, on hopes that there will be a successful rollout of several coronavirus vaccines which should stimulate the global economy - something that usually benefits value companies.

"In 2020, it got supercharged, and we've seen the valuation spread between growth and value has ballooned as a result of this dynamic," Ilan Chaitowiz said. Chaitowiz is co-manager of Nomura's $50 million Global High Conviction Fund and part of a team that manages $4 billion in assets.

"Value stocks" include a vast range of companies - anything from heavy industrial firms that make earth-moving equipment, to banks, or consumer discretionary firms that provide anything from high-end clothing, to cars, home appliances or entertainment.

Simply put, it encompasses all the kinds of stocks that have been badly beaten down this year by the pandemic, but that will likely bloom once the economy returns to some kind of normality, along with a successful vaccination effort and plenty of fiscal and monetary support from central banks and governments. 

"The outlook for the world has totally reversed in the space of a month," Chaitowitz said. For him, the vaccine catalyst will simply result "in a far faster and more aggressive snapback in people's spending behavior than is anticipated from where we sit today... In six months time, we will see an unleashing of pent up demand from businesses and consumers to get on with their lives, which will be supported by government efforts to facilitate that - it's in everybody's interest that this happens," he said.

In essence, you should have moved to value "yesterday," Chaitowitz said figuratively.

"Trying to time the shift from growth... is like playing chicken with a steam train - you know it's coming. The risk is that even if you look like a hero doing it… it's a really stupid thing to be doing," he said.

Growth stocks are those that are less correlated with the health of the underlying economy. These companies provide goods or services that consumers need every day - anything from food and drink, to pharmaceuticals, to utilities. These now also include the big "work from home" stocks, such as video conferencing and message software, cloud computing, online shopping and even app-based food delivery services.

These are unlikely to take the kind of beating the value sector has, but their days of 2020-style explosive gains may be in the past, Chaitowitz said.

"The backdrop is a stellar performance of growth businesses [in 2020], many of them are likely to be overowned - if not overvalued - heading into an environment with an explosive economic rebound where value stocks are unloved, under-owned and deeply discounted," he said.

Aside from the fundamental economic backdrop that supports the shift into value, there is a market-based indicator that suggests this trade is long overdue. 

The difference between 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields, which has been steadily marching higher since last year, has widened sharply over the course of the last six months, as investors see a greater chance of growth improving, inflation picking up and a smaller chance of looser monetary policy coming into effect. 

When this widening, or steepening, of the Treasury curve takes place, value stocks tend to outperform their growth-focused counterparts. While the MSCI Value index has risen more quickly in the last month than the Growth index, the relationship with the Treasury curve is a lot weaker than it has been in the past. 

If the typical relationship is seen as correct this means one of two things, Chaitowitz said. Either the Treasury curve needs to flatten and the gap between 2- and 10-year yields needs to shrink, or value stocks have a lot of catching up to do and, therefore, have more room to rally. 

"Essentially growth might have had it too good this year. It's reasonable to expect value to recover a decent amount of loss ground heading into next year," Chaitowitz concluded.

These are the four stocks that he believes are ideally placed to benefit from the catch-up rally in value shares:

Ross Stores

• Ticker: NASDAQ: ROST
• Sector: Retail
• Market Cap: $40.51 bln

Commentary:

"Ross Stores is bricks and mortar retail, so you've got a pandemic which has accelerated shift online purchasing, and kept people who for good reasons away from, from shops. But, that's as bad as it gets for Ross Stores," Chaitowitz said.

Heading into 2021 Ross Stores is set to benefit from the consumer discretionary rebound effect with the revived economy. But, additionally, you have "a financially strong business... which has been able to maintain its operations... and actually most recently beat top-line expectations," he said.

"Its Q3 results were on the top line with 10% ahead of consensus expectations. To me, that's amazing, it's kind of insane that a close retailer in the depths of the worst pandemic we've seen in generations is massively outperforming," he added.

Secondly, lots of other clothes shops are shutting down, meaning Ross Stores will "pick up market share," he said, and coming out of the crisis, "lots of middle-low income people, which are Ross Stores main clientele... people who've been hit economically and need new clothes are going to be even more incentivized to go to a discount retailer then than they would have in normal time," he added.

"That's a triple whammy in rebound of consumer discretionary spending, market share gains where the competitive environment has been weakened and a much bigger addressable consumer market because people are worse off than they were before, and they're going to be attracted to this value statement," he concluded.

Inditex

• Ticker: BME: ITX
• Sector: Retail
• Market Cap: €44.10 bln

Commentary:

Inditex are the owners of the Zara brand owner with shops in most of the central locations across Europe.

"We have built up a pretty big position over the summer because people were running away from bricks and mortar retail for the obvious reasons. Strength of their brand, so Zara is not a brand that isn't going to just shut down - it's strong business," he said.

"But, also actually they're relatively late development of their online offering which we think is underappreciated in the context of a global pandemic, but also is going to be a real tailwind to its growth going forward," he added.

Network International

• Ticker: LON: NETW
• Sector: Payments
• Market Cap: £47.19 bln

Commentary:

Network International is a UK-listed payment processor business with its operations based mainly in the UAE.

The company has been hit by two things:

"Firstly, they did an expensive looking acquisition over the summer and that spooked some people," he said. Secondly, UAE is "massively reliant on tourism and business travel" putting it in the crosshairs of a collapse in hospitality and business travel. So as demand for these international payments has declined, Network International has been "a real COVID loser," he said.

However, that dynamic should "reverse into 2021," he said.

Dubai, is going to be hosting a "massive expo conference," with initial expectations pre-Covid of 25m visitors, vs Dubai's population of 3m, he said. "Experts I've spoken to the industry were thinking that this could boost UAE GDP by 10-15%," he added.

The event has been delayed to October '21 – March '22 and should offer a good opportunity for Network International, he said.

Lears Corp

• Ticker: NYSE: LEA
• Sector: Manufactoring
• Market Cap: $9.52 bln

Commentary:

Lear Corp manufacturer car interiors, but with a lot of focus on Tesla - which Lear does not supply to - this has been a weight on the stock, he said. However, Chaitowitz argues that the market is missing "the fact that every other single car manufacturer is plowing billions into developing their own EV offering to which Lear is a key supply into a very consolidated market - car interiors," he added.

As indicated by Boris Johnson's bringing forward of the banning of fossil fuel vehicle sales to 2030, the regulatory changes to greener solutions are fast approaching, and "Lear is going to be a key beneficiary of what we think is going to be a prolonged conversion cycle into more fuel efficient or less polluting vehicles," he concluded.

(all share prices taken from Dec 11th)

By 2040, UBS envisions business travellers will once again be jetting around the globe faster than the speed of sound.

A recent UBS evidence lab survey found around 25% of over 6,000 respondents would be willing to pay for speed.

The last time passengers could travel at supersonic speeds was in 2003 when Concorde made its final flight. However, UBS is predicting a return to supersonic travel. In a new evidence lab report released on December 1, UBS equity analysts take a deep dive into the current, and future, state of the industry.

"We  see  supersonic  bizjets  viable  in  the  late-'20s  and  supersonic  commercial  jets  in  the  mid-to-late-'30s with  hypersonic  travel  a  decade  later," UBS equity analyst Myles Walton said. " Implications beyond aero/airlines include air freight, lodging and broader industrials, as 'just-in-time' is redefined (30%+ time savings potential)."

The supersonic industry is predicted to be worth $340 billion by 2040, UBS says. This will be divided up with $85 billion for business jets, $75 billion for commercial and $180 billion for operators.

But what exactly is supersonic?

Supersonic is defined as travelling at a speed greater than the speed of sound, which around 760 miles per hour at sea level, also known as Mach 1.

Commercial jets generally fly between Mach 0.75 and Mach 0.85 at cruising altitude, Walton said. However, some business jets can hit speeds of Mach 0.95.

Concorde, an Anglo-French supersonic passenger jet that entered service in 1976,  was the only commercial aircraft to routinely travel faster than Mach 1, enabling passengers to travel from London to New York in three and a half hours. 

In 2000, Concorde crashed on an Air France flight from Paris to New York, killing 100 passengers, nine crew members and four people on the ground, according to the I paper. It was the only fatal crash in Concorde's 27-year history, but it resulted in the aircraft being grounded for over a year, returning to service with a test flight on September 11, 2001.

The combination of the crash in 2000, high costs and a general slump in travel following 9/11 resulted in Concorde being retired in 2003.

There is also hypersonic travel, which is speeds above Mach 5. But most business models currently target between the Mach 1.4 and Mach 3.0, Walton said.

The future of supersonic travel

Supersonic travel could disrupt a number of industries. It could change how the aerospace and airline industry operate, in particular the high-end private jet industry. 

"As adoption spreads in commercial air transport, airline business models would have to change to accommodate re-banking of hubs to enable the dramatic changes to schedules that could arise from transit times that are cut in half," Walton said. "We suspect an arms race for the business-jet traveler among the global airlines in the age of supersonic travel would put pressure on capital budgets, as well as aircraft valuations, which would be victims of cannibalization."

Consumer habits might also change as it creates more options for high speed delivery, less need for overnight stays for business trips and potential shifts to airport scheduling.

"Within the air freight industry, a new premium product of super-high speed delivery options would be available that while likely small to start could have a bigger than expected impact over time," Walton said. "For example, the global supply chain is able to get even smaller and high value inventory safety stocks around the world are materially reduced."

The headwinds

However, even with technology advancing rapidly. Several challenges remain, the sonic boom is the biggest obstacle for the adoption of supersonic air travel.

A sonic boom is the noise made when an object travels through the air faster than the speed of sound generating an enormous amount of sound. Many compare the noise of a sonic boom to the sound of an explosion.

Several firms are exploring the concept of a quiet boom. NASA launched a program targeting the mitigation of sonic boom effects and awarded the contract to Lockheed Martin, Walton said. They received a subsequent contract in 2018 to build the 100 foot long X-59 QueSST with a goal of achieving a flight at Mach 1.4 with  a sound that is the equivalent of a car door closing, Walton said.

Another headwind is that supersonic travel goes directly against the growing movement towards investing in assets and projects that meet ever-tougher environmental, social and governance-related (ESG) criteria.

"The new supersonic jet players are targeting messages around sustainability merits of their offerings, but the greening of aviation will be a counterweight to faster adoption,"  UBS head of sustainability and ESG research Americas Aniket Shah said.

Unless emissions decrease significantly through technological advancement, Shah expects there will be significant implications for the supersonic travel segment. However, Shah also notes that if supersonic travel could replace the private jet segment, then it could have a net positive impact on the environment. If it replaces business, or first-class, commercial travel, then it could have net negative impact.

The players

Several private companies are leading the way in supersonic innovation. Boom Supersonic is focusing on the commercial market by creating a 50- to 80-seat business class aircraft. This year Boom began ground testing their prototype, XB-1, and will start flight testing in 2021. 

Their competitor is Aerion Supersonic, which was founded in 2002 by Robert Bass, is aiming to design and develop an 8 to 10 person business jet. In August, Virgin Galactic entered the speed race announcing that they were in the first stage of designing a new high speed aircraft. 

UBS also notes there are two other start-up competitors, Spike Aerospace and Gulfstream. Major aerospace companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing, are doing research in this space.

Several companies are expected to be best positioned for the adoption of supersonic travel, either directly or indirectly.  Here is UBS's list of companies expected to have the most positive impact from supersonic travel:

Read More: JPMorgan names 2 cheap defense stocks to buy before they surge in 2021 — and one with a 50% downside

The stock picks

1. Raytheon Technologies

Ticker: RTX

Sector: Aerospace & Defense

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Positive

Analyst commentary:"RTX is a major player across every major system on aircraft."

Source: UBS

2. Hexcel

Ticker: HXL

Sector: Aerospace & Defense

Rating: Sell

Likely impact: Positive

Analyst commentary:"HXL's carbon fiber is likely to play a significant role in any supersonic design."

Source: UBS

3. Virgin Galactic

Ticker: SPCE

Sector: Aerospace & Defense

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Positive

Analyst commentary:"VG's data on human high speed travel/pax vehicle construction will make them important partners."

Source: UBS

4. Rolls-Royce

Ticker: RR

Sector: Aerospace & Defence

Rating: Neutral

Likely impact: Positive

Analyst commentary:"RR has been identified as propulsion partner on SSJ designs."

Source: UBS

5. Fedex

Ticker: FDX

Sector: Transport

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Positive

Analyst commentary:"FDX has the greatest leverage to international package and airfreight markets."

Source: UBS

6. UPS

Ticker: UPS

Sector: Transport

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Positive

Analyst commentary:"UPS also has strong exposure to international package and airfreight markets."

Source: UBS

7. Deutsche Post-DHL

Ticker: ETR:DPW

Sector: Transport

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Positive

Analyst commentary:"DHL dedicated freighter fleet is set to benefit from an environment of upwards pressure on air freight rates."

Source: UBS

8. Spirit Aerosystems

Ticker: SPR

Sector: Aerospace & Defense

Rating: Neutral

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"SPR is a top aerostructures provided and has already agreed to build fuselages for Aerion."

Source: UBS

9. TransDigm

Ticker: TDG

Sector: Aerospace & Defense

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"TDG is a key provider of parts and components for aircraft."

Source: UBS

10. Triumph Group

Ticker: TGI

Sector: Aerospace & Defense

Rating: Neutral

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"TGI is a provider of aerostructures and components and systems."

Source: UBS

11. Delta Air

Ticker: DAL

Sector: Airlines

Rating: Neutral

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"Supersonic aircraft could serve routes."

Source: UBS

12. General Electric

Ticker: GE

Sector: Industrials

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"GE is providing engine for Aerion AS2, but will be very small part of overall business for some time."

Source: UBS

13. IAG

Ticker: IAG

Sector: Airlines

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"Supersonic aircraft could serve routes."

Source: UBS

14. Air China

Ticker: SHA:601111

Sector: Airlines

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"Tier 1 city exposure (eg Beijing/Shanghai) which would benefit from increased flights and mix."

Source: UBS

15. China Eastern

Ticker: SHA:600115

Sector: Airlines

Rating: Buy

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"Tier 1 city exposure (eg Beijing/Shanghai) which would benefit from increased flights and mix."

Source: UBS

16. Host Hotels

Ticker: HST

Sector: Lodging

Rating: Neutral

Likely impact: Slightly positive

Analyst commentary:"Owned hotels in gateway cities are the preferred way to play supersonic travel."

Source: UBS

17. Park Hotels & Resorts

Ticker: PK

Sector: Lodging

Rating: Neutral

Likely impact: Slightly positive 

Analyst commentary: "Owned hotels in gateway cities are the preferred way to play supersonic travel."

Source: UBS

Read more:

• Buy these 26 stocks poised to surge as China starts to dominate the electric-vehicle landscape, UBS says
• Buy these 28 discounted stocks from an LGBT-inclusive index that's crushed its global benchmark since 2010, says Credit Suisse
• A stock picker at a $558 billion firm lays out 2 under-the-radar trends disrupting the future of transportation— and explains why Slack and Virgin Galactic are perfect fits for his portfolio

Billionaire superlawyer David Boies, who has represented Al Gore, Harvey Weinstein, and some of Jeffrey Epstein's victims, has listed his California ranch for $23 million.

Diamond B, as the property is known, contains five houses and extensive vineyards.

Located off the major wine corridor Highway 29 in the Lower Lake area, and two hours from San Francisco, the ranch spans about 1,183 acres and includes four lakes and a pool.

"It offers the ability to create an entirely off-the-grid, organic ecosystem employing the closed system biodynamic philosophy, and a rare opportunity to live safely and independently away from it all,"estate agent Red Oak Realty said in the listing.

The owners can "easily" operate the ranch, vineyard, and equestrian facilities commercially, it added, and there are potential locations to add a helicopter landing pad.

Boies is one of this generation's best known lawyers. He represented Al Gore in the 2000 Bush v. Gore case, led the federal government's antitrust case against Microsoft, and has fought for same-sex marriage rights. But he's also represented some controversial clients, including Harvey Weinstein.

An investigation this year by Insider spoke to more than 50 people about a massive shakeup at his elite law firm Boies Schiller that saw more than 30 members of staff leave the company.

Their investigation uncovered pay rifts, a partner divide, and a threat at the Ritz Carlton.

Read more:Elite law firm Boies Schiller just named 3 new managing partners, including lawyers who have represented Epstein accusers and Hunter Biden's business partner

SEE ALSO: Elite litigation firm Boies Schiller is looking to sublet its glitzy NYC office after a firm-wide restructuring and attorney exits

Diamond B spans around 1,183 acres in total ...

... including five houses.

The main property is a traditional three-story log cabin.

The interior is spacious ...

... and it has five bedrooms and five bathrooms.

Between the five properties, the ranch has 12 bedrooms.

Across the main property and four additional ranch homes, there is plenty of space to host and entertain guests.

The properties have stunning views across the ranch, too.

The property is dominated by 18 acres of vineyards, and has permission to extend this to 58.

The ranch currently is home to 15 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, and one each of Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Sirah.

The site also includes an equestrian center with both indoor and outdoor riding facilities.

The property has a covered 14-stall, cedar-lined mare barn and a covered indoor arena with stadium seating.

The site offers "everything a horse lover needs, plus the opportunity to host equestrian events and horse breeding operations," Red Oak Realty said in the listing.

As well as horses, there's plenty of space for cattle. The ranch currently has more than 30 Highland cattle.

The property and its surrounding area is also full of wild turkey, boar, quail, vultures, hawks, deer, coyote, and mountain lions and bears, Red Oak Realty says.

The property also includes four lakes.

These are well stocked with catfish, black bass, minnows, and red ear sunfish, according to Red Oak Realty.

When it comes to customer relationship management (CRM) software, Salesforce is usually top of mind. Two decades ago, the cloud giant pioneered new way to deliver software over the cloud via subscriptions, changing CRM software forever. 

Even now it has an iron grip on the market, holding a 18.4% share as of 2019, according to a report from IDC. By contrast, other large players like SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Adobe have single digit percentages (although Microsoft is aggressively investing in its own cloud-based CRM application, called Dynamics 365). 

CRM software generally includes customer-facing tools for divisions like sales, customer service, and marketing and has traditionally served as an electronic Rolodex-of-sorts for a company's customers. But the software is quickly evolving, said a senior research director at Gartner, Brian Manusama. 

Nowadays, companies don't want their CRM systems to simply help their own employees, but also to make their overall customer experiences smoother and simpler, too, Manusama told Business Insider, by, for example, providing tools to automate online problem-solving processes for customers. As automation capabilities become standard for modern CRM systems, that often means integrations with outside applications or social media.

Salesforce is primarily built for large enterprise customers, so smaller CRM startups have popped up to cater to small and medium-sized businesses, Bessemer Venture Partner's Alex Ferrara told Business Insider. Also, because CRMs encompass a wide range of tools and software, many companies start in one category — sales, services, or marketing — and then expand outward from there.

"I think most modern organizations today want all of their employees to have access to customer data," partner at venture firm CRV, Murat Bicer, told Business Insider. "It's not just sales anymore."

As the pandemic pushed businesses to digitally transform faster than ever, modern CRM software is critical to helping them stay connected with customers. 

Business Insider asked venture capitalists and analysts to name smaller CRM companies competing with behemoths like Salesforce and Microsoft. They named both innovative startups and smaller companies that are growing in popularity. 

Some of these smaller companies could also be acquisition targets for big cloud firms looking to improve their own capabilities. For example, Facebook said in November that plans to acquire customer service startup Kustomer — reportedly for $1 billion. 

Here are 16 customer relationship management companies that experts say to watch in 2021:

(All private company funding amounts and valuations taken from Pitchbook.)

Pipedrive

Pipedrive is a sales management tool to help coordinate the sometimes complicated or lengthy sales process. It's tailored the help salespeople do their jobs as opposed to sales managers, which more traditional CRM systems focused on, said Bessemer's Alex Ferrara, who led Pipedrive's Series A round in 2015.

Pipedrive has customizable fields, Google Apps integrations for email, and data importing and exporting, so salespeople can plan their strategy, track deals, and record conversation history on one platform. 

Ferrara says it's a company to watch because it's very profitable and has a really great team of product and engineering folks on board.

Total funding raised: $95.4 million

Valuation: $1.50 billion 

Iterable

Iterable is an email marketing platform that helps automate the customer reach-out process.

The company was founded in 2013 and started with marketing automation before quickly realizing how much more it could do with the customer data stored on its platform.

It essentially allows companies to customize the way they interact with customers based on their preferences, said CRV's Bicer, who sits on Iterable's board. CRV participated in Iterable's Series A round in 2016. 

"It's giving you a more of that full picture of your entire customer base and how they're behaving," Bicer said. "I think that's the kind of scale that even Salesforce today wouldn't really be able to do."

Total funding raised: $141.84 million

Valuation: $535 million

Gorgias

Gorgias makes help-desk software — primarily for small online businesses — to help manage customer service. It uses machine learning and integrations with other software to create templates and suggestions on how to resolve customer service requests so businesses can respond quickly. 

The company was founded in 2015 and just raised a $25 million Series B led by Sapphire Ventures in early December. CRV's Bicer recommended the firm. 

Total funding raised: $44.77 million

Valuation: $325 million

Freshworks

Freshworks is best known for its customer service product, Freshdesk. It was founded in 2010 after CEO Girish Mathrubootham saw an opportunity to change the way companies handle customer support.

In the 10 years since, Mathrubootham has expanded the firm's customer support focus to build a platform that provides software to help manage every interaction a customer has with a company, from marketing to customer support. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California, although the majority of its employees are based in India.

Freshworks' strengths continue to grow because it has made a number of acquisitions over the last few years to build out its platform, Gartner's Manusama said. 

Total funding raised: $401.1 million

Valuation: $3.5 billion

SugarCRM

SugarCRM, founded in 2004, offers a range of customer experience tools including for sales, service, and marketing divisions. A recent Gartner report called SugarCRM's products "easily configured and customized."

In addition to sales automation, customer service, and marketing tools, SugarCRM has also added products for data visualization, analytics, and integration.

"They've got a pretty comprehensive offering compared to most smaller market CRMs," said Nucleus Research analyst Dan Elman, who expects the firm to keep growing.

Notably Salesforce has a similar line-up of products in its CRM platform. 

SugarCRM was acquired by private equity firm Accel-KKR in 2018. 

Total funding raised: $119.64 million up to 2013, unknown after that

Valuation: Unknown

Techsee

TechSee is a customer service platform that uses new technologies like artificial intelligence and internet connected devices, while also serving as a traditional CRM. In particular, it can help field service agents who respond to customer support requests at specific locations, allowing them to connect with customers via a live virtual chat.

The company is based in Israel and raised a $30 million Series C round in August led by Salesforce Ventures, TELUS Ventures, and OurCrowd. Gartner's Manusama recommended it as a field service-focused CRM company to watch. 

Total funding raised: $53.50 million

Valuation: Unknown

Hubspot

Hubspot started as a marketing automation company, making it easy for small businesses to launch marketing and go-to-market strategies. Once Hubspot started seeing how its platform could use the customer data it was collecting, however, it began adding more features to make it a full CRM platform, including sales and service software.

The company went public in 2014 and has 95,000 customers. It is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and run by its cofounders Brian Halligan (CEO) and Dharmesh Shah (CTO). 

CRV's Bicer and Bessemer partner Ferrara both noted that Hubspot was a smaller CRM company to watch. 

Market cap: $18.86 billion

Zendesk

Zendesk is known for its customer service software, but it also offers sales software and a marketplace of customer engagement apps. Its software makes it easier to help customers across self-service options, connecting all the communication methods — like phone, chat, messaging, and email — in one platform. 

Nucleus Research's Elman said he already sees Zendesk in competition with Salesforce for deals so he expects that competition to only get more intense as Zendesk grows. More often now, CRMs are expanding to include that "customer experience distinction," he said.

Zendesk was founded in 2007 and went public in 2014. 

Market cap: $16.7 billion

Zoho

Zoho is an Indian software company that provides tools for finance, productivity, collaboration, and more, with its sales, services, and marketing tools integrating with its entire product portfolio. 

Zoho's CRM offering is more developed than most companies of its size, said Nucleus Research's Elman, so it could likely compete with Salesforce more effectively than others.

Earlier this year Zoho released tools to help businesses reopen safely, similar to Salesforce's Work.com tools. 

The company was founded in 1996 in Pleasanton, CA but its global headquarters are in Chennai, India. It has remained private and claims that it never took outside funding. 

Total funding raised: N/A

Valuation: Unknown

Glia

Glia is a customer service platform that allows businesses to connect with customers using messaging, video, and other online avenues. The software is intended to make it simple for customers to learn about a product, purchase it, and access customer service, too. Sellers can interact with interested parties in real-time to try to convert them into paying customers. 

Glia's customers include several big banking organizations, said Gartner's Manusama, making it a firm to watch.

Total funding raised: $28.75 million

Valuation: $68.5 million

Conversica

Conversica is an AI-driven platform to help salespeople connect with potential customers and sign them on. It uses chat bots to automatically start conversations with potential buyers over email, text, or social media to schedule sales meetings or gauge interest, and it can also collect overdue payments from existing customers, too. 

Its customers include Oracle, Beck & Masten, and Talend, and it also has partnerships with Salesforce, Hupspot, and Marketo. Gartner's Manusama recommended it. 

Total funding raised: $106.8 million

Valuation: Unknown

GetAccept

GetAccept is a sales enablement platform that aims to digitize the sales process from the first conversation to a signed contract. The software includes features like video, live chat, sales content, proposal design, document tracking, and e-signatures to simplify the sales process. It also allows sales reps to track their pipeline.

Bessemer's Ferrara likens it to digitizing the deal room where sales contracts get discussed and signed. His firm led GetAccept's $20 million Series B round in early December.  

Total funding raised: $30.6 million

Valuation: $36.88 million before its Series B, current unknown

Insightly

Insightly is a project management-based tool for keeping track of customer interactions. The platform helps companies manage their customer contacts, tasks, and projects on desktop and mobile, and also offers a marketing automation tool. Its tools integrate with Google Apps and GSuite, Microsoft 365, and Quickbooks.

Insightly was founded in 2009 and is backed by Emergence Capital Partners, Cloud Apps Capital Partners, Scott Bommer, and Sozo Ventures. Bessemer's Ferrara named Insightly as a CRM startup to watch, though his firm has not invested.

Total funding raised: $40 million

Valuation: $220.67 million

Copper CRM

Copper is a CRM system designed to be used with GSuite and Google Apps. It helps salespeople identify, track, and optimize sales. The integration with GSuite allows users to update opportunities, add contacts, get account histories, and manage the pipeline directly from their Gmail inbox. It also automatically scrapes data from Gmail to automate recurring tasks. 

The company was founded in 2011 and has CRM products tailored for the tech industry, real estate firms, consulting companies, and small businesses.

Ferrara recommended Copper, though Bessemer has not invested in it.

Total funding raised: $108.12 million

Valuation: $77.68 million as of its Series B in 2016, current unknown

Affinity

Affinity is a CRM startup that's focused on managing relationships as opposed to simply serving as a database of contacts. Its scans the email and calendars of its workers in customer-facing roles to map out how people are connect and suggest ways to leverage existing relationships to secure new relationships and deals.

Bessemer's Ferrara said his firm is a customer of Affinity and has seen first-hand the value it can bring to organizations. It has products tailored towards the real estate industry, venture capital firms, and financial institutions. 

Total funding raised: $40.5 million

Valuation: $96.5 million

Nimble

Nimble is another CRM platform that integrates with productivity suites from Microsoft and Google. It allows users to access their CRM while working in their email inbox or websites like LinkedIn.

Its differentiator is a "focus on mining social media," said Nucleus Research's Elman. "It can link your records with social media, so it gives you more up-to-date info on when your contacts are active and what they're thinking about." 

Nimble is part of the Microsoft Accelerator. 

Total funding raised: $15.5 million

Valuation: $34 million

The stock market's historic rally from its lows in March has been historic in its speed and scope, but Fundstrat head of research Tom Lee says it's also been historically normal.

In a note to clients, Lee says that when stocks go through a major sell-off, they typically come back at about the same speed they fell. It almost resembles Newton's Third Law of Motion — "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

He illustrates the point with this series of graphs that covers all of the market's slumps of 36% or more since 1932.  

With that recovery complete, at least as measured by major stock indexes, Lee says 2021 will be a year of "cycle reversion" in company profits and investing in areas like product inventories and housing, and in volatility, which remains high.

He says other reversions should take place in stock valuations, which he writes are low compared to bonds.

They should also occur in investing styles, as value stocks begin what could be decades of outperformance. That echoes Lee's recent calls for investing in stocks at the "epicenter" of the recession and the ongoing recovery.

"These are the stocks that were hit the hardest by the pandemic and have the greatest operating leverage to a re-opening," he said. "And we like the earnings upside in these stocks, because of the massive cost reset."

Lee is decidedly bullish on 2021, saying that he expects the S&P 500 to hit 4,300 by the end of the year after it overcomes a modest slump in the first half of 2021. Going even longer-term, he says that if the current recovery follows the templates of the early 1980's or 2010's rallies, the benchmark index could hit 10,000 in 10 years.

But investors have to get through next year to get to 2030, and to that end, Lee reports that three Fundstrat leaders examined the epicenter stocks to find the names that have the most potential in 2021.

The stocks listed below have  "Overweight" ratings from both Brian Rauscher, Fundstrat's head of global portfolio strategy and asset allocation, and Robert Sluymer, the head of technical strategy. They are also ranked in the top 20% of stocks by Ken Xuan, the firm's head of data science research.

All of the companies operate in one of the three epicenter fields that Lee is most optimistic about in 2021. Those are the consumer discretionary, industrial, and energy sectors. The stocks are sorted into groups based on their industries, and the 2020 performance statistics were calculated based on Tuesday's closing prices.

SEE ALSO: Kevin Landis' high-growth tech fund has doubled investors' money this year. He told us 3 ways he put together a winning portfolio of 'head-scratchers' — including an unusual bet on electric cars.

Discretionary stock #1: AutoNation

Ticker: AN

Industry: Auto retail

Market cap: $6.0 billion

2020 performance: +36.9%

Source: Fundstrat

Discretionary stock #2: Ford

Ticker: F

Industry: Auto manufacturers

Market cap: $35.5 billion

2020 performance: -6.7%

Source: Fundstrat

Durables stock #1: Garmin

Ticker: GRMN

Industry: Consumer electronics

Market cap: $22.6 billion

2020 performance: +22.1%

Source: Fundstrat

Durables stock #2: Leggett & Platt

Ticker: LEG

Industry: Home furnishings

Market cap: $5.4 billion

2020 performance: -18.8%

Source: Fundstrat

Durables stock #3: Newell Brands

Ticker: NWL

Industry: Housewares & supplies

Market cap: $8.8 billion

2020 performance: +9.7%

Source: Fundstrat

Durables stock #4: Mattel

Ticker: MAT

Industry: Leisure products

Market cap: $6.2 billion

2020 performance: +29.4%

Source: Fundstrat

Retail stock #1: Foot Locker

Ticker: FL

Industry: Apparel retail

Market cap: $4.2 billion

2020 performance: +0.6%

Source: Fundstrat

Retail stock #2: L Brands

Ticker: LB

Industry: Apparel retail

Market cap: $10.8 billion

2020 performance: +109.7%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #1: Owens Corning

Ticker: OC

Industry: Building products

Market cap: $8.4 billion

2020 performance: +18.9%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #2: Aecom Technology

Ticker: ACM

Industry: Construction & engineering

Market cap: $7.2 billion

2020 performance: +11.1%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #3: Westinghouse Air Brake

Ticker: WAB

Industry: Construction machinery

Market cap: $13.9 billion

2020 performance: -7.2%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #4: Generac

Ticker: GNRC

Industry: Electrical components & equipment

Market cap: $14.5 billion

2020 performance: +126.0%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #5: General Electric

Ticker: GE

Industry: Industrial conglomerates

Market cap: $94.3 billion

2020 performance: -4.9%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #6: Idex

Ticker: IEX

Sub industry: Industrial machinery

Market cap: $15.0 billion

2020 performance: +14.2%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #7: Pentair

Ticker: PNR

Industry: Industrial machinery

Market cap: $8.7 billion

2020 performance: +14.7%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #8: Colfax

Ticker: CFX

Industry: Industrial machinery

Market cap: $4.3 billion

2020 performance: -0.5%

Source: Fundstrat

Capital goods stock #9: Flowserve

Ticker: FLS

Industry: Industrial machinery

Market cap: $4.8 billion

2020 performance: -27.1%

Source: Fundstrat

Transportation stock #1: Macquarie Infrastructure

Ticker: MIC

Industry: Airport services

Market cap: $3.2 billion

2020 performance: -15.5%

Source: Fundstrat

Transportation stock #2: Kirby

Ticker: KEX

Industry: Marine

Market cap: $3 billion

2020 performance: -44.3%

Source: Fundstrat

Transportation stock #3: Union Pacific

Ticker: UNP

Industry: Railroads

Market cap: $136.4 billion

2020 performance:+11.5%

Source: Fundstrat

Transportation stock #4: JB Hunt

Ticker: JBHT

Industry: Trucking

Market cap: $14.9 billion

2020 performance: +19.8%

Source: Fundstrat

Transportation stock #5: Ryder System

Ticker: R

Industry: Trucking

Market cap: $3.4 billion

2020 performance: +17.5%

Source: Fundstrat

Transportation stock #6: Uber Technologies

Ticker: UBER

Industry: Trucking

Market cap: $95.7 billion

2020 performance: +80.8%

Source: Fundstrat

Transportation stock #7: Amerco

Ticker: UHAL

Industry: Trucking

Market cap: $8.7 billion

2020 performance: +20.5%

Source: Fundstrat

Energy stock #1: Helmerich & Payne

Ticker: HP

Industry: Oil & gas drilling

Market cap: $2.6 billion

2020 performance: -47.1%

Source: Fundstrat

Energy stock #2: National Oilwell Varco

Ticker: NOV

Industry: Oil & gas equipment & services

Market cap: $5.2 billion

2020 performance: -47.7%

Source: Fundstrat

Energy stock #3: Schlumberger

Ticker: SLB

Industry: Oil & gas equipment & services

Market cap: $30.3 billion

2020 performance: -46.9%

Source: Fundstrat

Energy stock #4: EOG Resources

Ticker: EOG

Industry: Oil & gas exploration & production

Market cap: $29.2 billion

2020 performance: -41.7%

Source: Fundstrat

Energy stock #5: Cimarex Energy

Ticker: XEC

Industry: Oil & gas exploration & production

Market cap: $3.9 billion

2020 performance: -29.1%

Source: Fundstrat

The first doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine left Kalamazoo, Michigan on December 13 and within days, even the most remote locales were able to begin inoculations thanks to the coordinated efforts of freight forwarders, shippers, airlines, and even law enforcement agencies. 

Cargo carriers UPS Airlines and FedEx Express had the honor of flying the first doses from Michigan but passenger airlines also proved to be an integral part of the aerial vaccine distribution network. United Airlines, for example, flew the first US doses in from Belgium shortly after Thanksgiving, weeks before the Food and Drug Administration gave the drug its OK. 

Read more: 6 cargo airlines and freight operators poised to win big as Moderna follows Pfizer toward FDA approval for its COVID-19 vaccine

Singapore Airlines and Alaska Airlines have also been tasked with flying the vaccine but both have a more unique mandate of delivering the pandemic-ending drugs to their homelands. Both Singapore and Alaska are about as far from Pfizer's plants in Brussels and Michigan as one can get, making air travel the only viable option. 

But geography notwithstanding, the two regions were able to receive their first doses of Pfizer's landmark vaccine within days of its emergency authorization thanks to their respective airlines.

Here's how they did it. 

SEE ALSO: Why airlines are so eager to get the Boeing 737 Max back in the air despite customer concerns

DON'T MISS: Alaska Airlines is buying another 23 Boeing 737 Max jets for a total of 68 and adding new routes to its namesake state

Singapore Airlines deployed its cargo freighters to Europe to bring back the vaccine.

The Boeing 747-400F, as the largest aircraft in Singapore's cargo fleet, was the aircraft of choice, with the shipment easily sliding through its unique nose door not found on many other freighters.

Read more: Boeing ending production of the 747 means cargo carriers will lose a key feature and be left scrambling when it's gone

The Jumbo Jet has served as a lifeline to Singapore during the pandemic, bringing food and supplies to the island-nation whose borders are largely closed to the outside world. Now, it's bringing home the COVID-19 vaccine.

Singapore is the first Asian country to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, making the arrival even more historic.

The shipment departed Brussels on December 20 and arrived in Singapore nearly 16 hours later after a quick fuel stop in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. No time was wasted as the shipment received priority treatment on both ends.

Source: FlightAware

In preparation for the flight, Singapore Airlines had performed a dry run on the Brussels-Singapore route to ensure a smooth flight but also monitor the dry ice onboard.

Copious amounts of dry ice are required to keep Pfizer's vaccine at the -94 degrees Fahrenheit temperature it requires.

Source: Inside the COVID-19 vaccine airlift: How cargo carriers plan to distribute the world's soon-to-be most valuable drugs to market

Each of these boxes is packed with at least 20 kilograms of dry ice to keep the vaccine at its required temperature.

If the temperature isn't maintained, the vaccine can spoil and become ineffective, a risk that Pfizer nor its customers can allow since every dose of the vaccine is vital to ending the pandemic.

The problem faced by airlines, however, is that dry ice sublimates to carbon dioxide, which can incapacitate the crew. It's why dry ice is considered a dangerous good in aviation.

But airlines have been turning to regulators and manufacturers to get revised dry ice limits to carry as much vaccine as possible. United Airlines, for example, was granted permission to fly up to five times more vaccine by the Federal Aviation Administration than what would've normally been allowed.

Read More: How United Airlines overcame one of the largest limitations to transporting Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to the US

Dry ice limitations are also the reason why this Boeing 747 wasn't filled to the brim with vaccine as regulations wouldn't allow it, making transport to remote regions like Southeast Asia all the more difficult.

Multiple flights will likely be required to inoculate the entire country of five million as two doses are required.

Once in Singapore, the vaccine was immediately moved to a cold storage facility to await transport to the country's hospitals and inoculation centers.

On the other side of the world in the US, Alaska Airlines was tasked with bringing the vaccines to rural communities across its namesake state.

Alaska has seen over 40,000 cases of COVID-19 with nearly 200 deaths, which the vaccine aims to prevent.

Source: Alaska Department of Health and Social Services

Alaska's harsh geography makes transporting the vaccine all the more difficult as not all cities are connected by road to Anchorage, the state's primary logistical hub.

"The state of Alaska is unique in that 80% of communities are only accessible by air or water and most vaccines must be distributed by plane," Alaska Airlines wrote in a blog post.

Source: Alaska Airlines

Alaska frequently operates multi-leg flights, known as the "milk run," which serves some of the state's smallest and most remote communities as a lifeline transporting food, supplies, and people.

The shortest flight is just 31 miles in duration between Petersburg and Wrangell. The route is also the shortest operated by a major airline in the US.

Nearly every city on Alaska's route map in the 49th state will receive the vaccine from the airline, a spokesperson told Business Insider, from Barrow to the Aleutian Islands.

And the box designed by Pfizer and Softbox can be loaded onto any of Alaska's passenger or cargo planes.

Some doses were transferred onto even smaller planes to be flown across the Alaskan Bush where residents drove up on jet skis to receive their dose.

Source: Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation

Despite the hurdles, remote cities like Kodiak were able to receive doses as early as December 15, just two days after the first trucks departed Pfizer's Kalamazoo facility.

Source: Alaska Airlines

Self-made millionaires didn't get to the two-comma club without doing things a little differently from the rest.

Various researchers who studied hundreds of self-made millionaires for several years have found that many tend to practice different habits or display heightened traits that help them build wealth. Many millionaires, for example, allocate their time differently — they spend more time focusing on personal growth, planning for investments, and working, and less time sleeping.

They also gravitate toward similar wealth-building strategies, like saving as much as they can and bringing in multiple income streams. And when it comes to investing, millionaires love low-cost index funds and real estate. Millionaires also tend to be frugal, conscientious, and resilient — all traits that help amplify their wealth-building actions.

While some of the behaviors above may also ring true for non-millionaires, millionaires often exhibit them at a stronger level and with more consistency.

Here's what sets millionaires apart from everyone else — besides a seven- to nine-figure net worth.

SEE ALSO: A woman who studied 600 millionaires discovered where you choose to live has 2 effects on your ability to build wealth

DON'T MISS: Inside the lives of surprisingly frugal millionaires and billionaires, from businessmen like Warren Buffett and Richard Branson to A-list celebs like Jay Leno and Jennifer Lawrence

They're frugal.

Frugality — a commitment to saving, spending less, and sticking to a budget — is one of the wealth factors that help millionaires build wealth, according to Sarah Stanley Fallaw, the director of research for the Affluent Market Institute and an author of "The Next Millionaire Next Door: Enduring Strategies for Building Wealth," for which she surveyed more than 600 millionaires in America.

Many of the millionaires Stanley Fallaw interviewed stressed the freedom that comes with spending below their means.

"Spending above your means, spending instead of saving for retirement, spending in anticipation of becoming wealthy makes you a slave to the paycheck, even with a stellar level of income," she wrote.

They keep their housing costs low.

A prime example of frugality is that millionaires typically live in a home and neighborhood they can easily afford, according to Stanley Fallaw.

She said that most of the millionaires she studied had never purchased a home that cost more than triple their annual income. The median home value for millionaires in her latest study was $850,000 (3.4 times their current income), with a median original purchase price of $465,000.

They save a lot of their income.

Being frugal and living in an affordable home enables millionaires to save. They recognize that income isn't enough — they have to save what they're making.

John, who runs the personal-finance blog ESI Money and retired at 52 with a $3 million net worth, has interviewed 100 millionaires over the past few years and found that the median millionaire spent $90,000 a year while earning $250,000 in income — a 64% savings rate. Saving it, he said, allows for investment.

While this savings rate might be slightly off because of things like not counting taxes as spending, the main takeaway, he said, is that millionaires "save a large portion of their income."

If you make $250,000 and spend $250,000, "you are no better off at the end of the year," he wrote.

They don't budget.

But millionaires are able to be frugal and save without budgeting. Many of the millionaires John spoke with said they didn't have a budget.

"While it was not expected, the reasons millionaires don't need a budget makes sense — they make a lot and have self-control,"he wrote in a blog post. "In other words, they make a ton, spend only a portion of it, and have plenty left over. Who needs a budget?"

He added: "A budget is great for the early phases of a financial plan, but if you can grow your income and develop self-discipline not to spend, it's not vital to your success later on."

They take on a side hustle.

Many millionaires favor moonlighting, or taking on a side hustle, according to Stanley Fallaw, who said it's a good way to explore options while remaining employed full time.

"Those who are able to create multiple opportunities to generate revenue, who can translate hobbies into income-producing activities, will be successful at becoming millionaires next door in the future," she added.

John also found that millionaires develop multiple streams of income, enabling them to grow their net worth exponentially, he said.

They invest in real estate.

One side hustle they're prone to taking on once they've built wealth is investing in real estate, according to John.

"Investing in real estate seems like a natural result once the basics are covered and excess cash is generated,"he wrote.

According to Dana Bull, a real-estate investor, the financial advantages of investing in real estate are plentiful: positive cash flow, appreciation in terms of housing values, leverage, and tax advantages.

They invest in low-cost index funds.

According to John, millionaires also tend to use the same simple investing strategy: investing in low-cost index funds.

"The high returns and low costs of stock index funds (I personally prefer Vanguard as do many millionaires) are the foundation that many a millionaire's wealth is built upon,"he wrote.

Experts agree that investing in index funds is a winning strategy when playing the stock market for two reasons: They're broadly diversified, eliminating the risk of picking individual stocks, and they're low-cost. Even Warren Buffett champions the strategy.

They spend more time studying and planning for investments.

Millionaires' preferred investing strategies might be fueled by their research. Millionaire investors spend more time — an average of 10.5 hours a month — planning for investments, according to Stanley Fallaw.

That's nearly two hours more than under-accumulators of wealth, defined as those with a net worth less than one-half of their expected net worth based on age and earnings, who spend 8.7 hours a month doing so.

"Their literacy in financial matters means that they are more tolerant of taking investment-related risks," Stanley Fallaw wrote. "Future outlook and financial knowledge typically relate to taking greater financial risk, so the time they spend in managing and researching investments helps in decision-making."

They put more energy toward personal-growth activities.

Millionaires also spend more time focusing on personal growth. They spend roughly 5 1/2 hours a week reading for pleasure and nearly six hours a week exercising, while the average American spends two hours and 2 1/2 hours on those activities, according to Stanley Fallaw's research.

"Successful individuals are keenly aware of how they spend their resources, including their emotional and cognitive resources," Stanley Fallaw wrote.

Similarly, Thomas C. Corley, the author of "Change Your Habits, Change Your Life," spent five years researching the daily habits of 177 self-made millionaires and found they devoted at least 30 minutes every day each to exercising and reading. Millionaires tend to read three types of books, he said: biographies of successful people, self-help or personal development, and history.

They sleep less and work more.

But millionaires make a few sacrifices to make the most of their time. They sleep nearly eight hours less a week and work six hours more a week than the average American, according to Stanley Fallaw.

That might be because many wake up at least three hours before their workday actually begins — a strategy to deal with inevitable daily disruptions, according to Corley's findings.

"Getting up at five in the morning to tackle the top three things you want to accomplish in your day allows you to regain control of your life," Corley wrote. "It gives you a sense of confidence that you, indeed, direct your life."

They think more.

Corley also found that self-made millionaires are thinkers. The rich tend to think in isolation, in the mornings, and for at least 15 minutes every day, he said.

"Thinking is key to their success," he wrote. "They spent time every day brainstorming with themselves about numerous things."

He said they asked questions such as "What can I do to make more money?""Does my job make me happy?""Am I exercising enough?" and "What other charities can I get involved in?"

They don't follow the crowd.

According to Corley, millionaires don't follow the crowd.

"We so desire to blend in, to acclimate to society, to be a part of the herd, that we will do almost anything to avoid standing out in a crowd," Corley wrote. Failure to separate yourself from the herd, he said, is why most people never achieve success.

Instead, successful people create their own new herd, he said.

"You want to separate yourself from the herd, create your own herd, and then get others to join it."

They ask for feedback.

Millionaires seek feedback to help improve themselves, according to Corley.

"Fear of criticism is the reason we do not seek feedback from others," he wrote. "But feedback is essential to learning what is working and what isn't working. Feedback helps you understand if you are on the right track. Feedback criticism, good or bad, is a crucial element for learning and growth."

It allows millionaires to change course and experiment with a new career or business, Corley said. "Feedback provides you with the information you will need in order to succeed in any venture."

They're resilient, and they persevere.

According to Stanley Fallaw, self-made millionaires use resiliency and perseverance — characteristics of early retirees and entrepreneurs — to build wealth.

"To build wealth, to build one's own business, to ignore critics and media and neighbors, you must have the resolve to keep pursuing your goals past rejection and pain," she wrote.

She added: "Millionaires and other economically successful Americans who pursue self-employment, decide to climb the corporate ladder, or strive to create a financial independence lifestyle early do so by perpetually pushing on."

They prioritize four relationships.

But millionaires can't build wealth without the help of others.

Chris Hogan, the author of "Everyday Millionaires: How Ordinary People Built Extraordinary Wealth — and How You Can Too," studied 10,000 American millionaires — defined as those with a net worth of at least $1 million — for seven months and found they achieved their seven-figure status with four key relationships: a coach, a mentor, a cheerleader, and a friend.

Corley emphasized the importance of having a mentor in particular.

"Finding a mentor puts you on the fast track to wealth accumulation," he wrote.

They practice consistency.

Millionaires take personal responsibility, practice intentionality, are goal-oriented, and work hard, according to Hogan. While those are qualities of many people, regardless of net worth, millionaires recognize that these traits can't work together without consistency, he said.

"You can take responsibility, you can be intentional, you can set goals, and you can work hard," he wrote. "But, if you don't do these things repeatedly — year after year, decade after decade — then you'll never get the results you want."

Millionaires, he added, "know from experience that wealth-building is a long-term frame, and they've seen that sticking to the plan over decades leads to millions at retirement."

They're more conscientious.

Most millionaires' traits and habits tie into conscientiousness, which has a strong correlation to net worth, according to Stanley Fallaw.

"Many of the behavioral components that impact net worth, regardless of how old we are or our income levels, including frugality, planning, and responsibility, tie into this personality characteristic, and help us understand why it is so critical in the creation and maintenance of wealth over time," she wrote.

Similarly, Jude Miller Burke studied 200 self-made millionaires for three years and found that they tended to be conscientious and displayed the trait at a higher level than less successful people.

The new year is almost here, which means VCs are peering into their crystal balls and posting their tech predictions.

In December, we asked about 20 partners at venture capital firms, as well as super angels who run their own outlets, to tell us the investment themes they're closely watching and a current trend that will fail to materialize in 2021. 

Spoiler alert: Silicon Valley is back. All-white, male boards are out. And SPACs? TBD.

VCs also had plenty of opinions on the future of work, as coronavirus vaccines make their way into the wider population and some companies reopen offices. The consensus is that employees will find a happy medium working from home and from the office in a "hybrid work" model, and offices will be reconfigured to meet their needs.

We will be updating this list as more investors tweet and blog their tech predictions.

Last year's list was surprisingly accurate. Nothing went according to plan, and still, the investors who told us that the trends to watch were remote work, celebrity startup investors, and an exodus from Silicon Valley were spot-on.

Here are the tech trends to watch in 2021.

SEE ALSO: Silicon Valley's elite are moving to Miami. But VCs told the mayor that a state law needs to change before more would relocate.

Investors scramble to back 'proptech.'

This year, lots of millennials saw their Instagram feeds turn into an endless stream of house porn, as friends shared their photos on closing day. Houses sold in record numbers in 2020 as more people escaped their shoebox apartments and took advantage of low mortgage rates.

The shift away from cities has been a catalyst for "proptech," or startups building technology for the real estate industry, said David Blumberg, founder of Blumberg Capital.

In 2021, tech investors will jump at the financial opportunity for businesses that use big data and artificial intelligence to simplify and speed up real-estate transactions, Blumberg said.

Construction is another category that will benefit from advances in robotics, software, and manufacturing techniques, said Evan Moore, a partner at Khosla Ventures.

"Remote work has sent prices of asset classes in opposing directions (offices down, suburban homes up), screwing with some startups' plans, but 2020 hasn't changed the facts that, one, we need more homes, built sustainably, to improve housing affordability, and, two, construction is in the early days of integrating software-enabled systems," said Moore, a proptech investor.

Lockdown-fueled growth in gaming will be a boon to VR.

The video game industry got a lift from lockdowns, as people trapped inside spent more of their time and budget on gaming software and devices that let them escape to other worlds.

"That effect is here to stay," said Gigi Levy-Weiss, a general partner at NFX.

The former gaming executive predicts virtual reality will make a comeback as cheaper and better devices, like the Oculus Quest 2, become available. Games built for smartphones and smart speakers will also rise alongside the growth of traditional consoles, Levy-Weiss said.

People looking for new experiences might try new models, such as "skill games played with real money, social games with live video, and even physical games operated remotely," he said.

Startups will structure themselves around never having a physical office.

"Out of necessity, startups have been forced to move to a remote work structure this year like most companies around the world. But the difference with startups is that many of them are planning to always be remote first," said David Thacker, a partner at Greylock.

These startups will tool their processes and culture around a distributed workforce from the outset, which means they will never lease a physical office space for all of their employees, he said. They can hire the right job candidates from anywhere in the world, while their employees can take the job they want without having to make a trade-off on location or quality of life.

Other VCs agree. "The widespread acceptance of remote employees is the most significant evolution in the way we work that has occurred in the past 20 years,"Bucky Moore, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, said. "Looking ahead to next year, I believe this trend will persist, paving way for a world in which companies are remote-first by default for the foreseeable future."

Job candidates will turn down offers at companies that are not diverse.

Companies need to do more than pay lip service to diversity, equity, and inclusion if they want to hire and keep top talent, said Jeff Richards, managing partner at GGV Capital.

This year, diversity went from being a buzzword to a well-financed initiative inside companies, especially as the tech industry's preferred stock exchange, Nasdaq, pushes a proposal that companies will need to have "at least two diverse directors" on their board in order to list.

Startups that are behind on hiring women and people of color "will lose top candidates who are now aware they should be asking questions about diversity" within companies, their leadership teams, and their boards, Richards said. "Diverse companies are going to win," especially now.

Katelin Holloway, a partner at Seven Seven Six, expects to see a "major overhaul" of the recruiting process, with companies using anonymous applications to eliminate their biases.

A new category of startups are born to serve hybrid-office needs.

There are some people who will rush back to the office as soon as it's safe, but many others will opt for a flexible arrangement that lets them work from home some of the time.

The typical work day will bend in other ways, with many employees choosing the days of the week and the hours they work, said Sarah Cannon, a partner at Index Ventures.

That shift could create a new category of software, VCs say, that helps companies keep track of people's schedules and figure out their real estate needs in cities where their workers live.

"There will be a set of tools emerging that are a unique combination of global vision with a local touch that will provide distributed teams resources and allow management of employees from different countries and jurisdictions," said Shruti Gandhi, founder of Array VC.

"Everything from onboarding, collaboration, performance measurement and employee benefits will be areas where startups can look to build scalable, cost-effective solutions," she said.

Offices will look more like hotels.

In a post-pandemic world, the office will evolve from being a place where people go to work to a place where people gather, said Jai Das, managing director of Sapphire Ventures.

"They want a home base and the opportunity to meet in person for team events, off-sites, all-hands, and so on. And for strategic cases where there are teams that need to work in person, they'll be able to have a place to gather," Das wrote of the continued demand for offices. "The net-net is that offices will be more about collaboration and teamwork than working in a silo."

Future offices may even look more like hotels, said Pete Flint, a general partner at NFX.

He imagines offices with more communal spaces for small and large groups to safely gather, the same way hotels use ballrooms or conference rooms. Offices will also move away from open floorplans to individual rooms or pods, which can be booked in advance, for health reasons.

"The on-site will become the new off-site," Flint said.

Gen Z will get new businesses off the ground.

Entrepreneurship is dying, with the creation of companies on the decline for more than 30 years, research shows. But new products that take the hassle out of starting and scaling a small business could help reverse the trend, said Talia Goldberg, a partner at Bessemer. 

A younger generation of builders can access turnkey solutions like Shopify for setting up their online stores or Substack for creating a paid newsletter, Goldberg said. They can easily monetize their side hustle with services like Streamyard and Patreon, and people with more mature small businesses can hand off back-office functions to companies such as Gusto.

"From digital content to cloud kitchens to online storefronts, there are many emerging areas ripe with opportunity," said Goldberg, who was the firm's youngest partner in history.

San Francisco and Silicon Valley make a comeback.

The distribution of coronavirus vaccines is underway, and with it, the tech industry will see the return of millennials and Gen Z employees to startup hubs by summer, said Refactor Capital's Zal Bilimoria, who left Andreessen Horowitz to launch his own firm.

Some tech elites are making moves out of Silicon Valley, as they rethink the area's costs, political climate, safety, and more. But the supposed exodus will fail to materialize, Bilimoria said, as investors and founders remember why tech supercities like San Francisco, New York, Boston, and Los Angeles account for the majority of startups formed and capital raised. He cited a high concentration of highly educated talent and large potential business customers.

"Many companies will be able to grow to 100 people in Miami, Austin, etc., but will fail to scale their businesses as they fail to find team leaders and experienced execs," Bilimoria said.

The SPAC boom creates a frantic search for mergers.

There was a time not too long ago when a special purpose acquisition company was considered a four-letter word on Wall Street. That changed this year, as more specialized investors raised funds on the stock market with the express purpose of buying a private company to take public.

Now, those blank-check firms are searching frantically for businesses to acquire. (If they don't close within 24 months, they have to return funds to public investors.)

Companies that are well known to the public, like Opendoor, Clover Health, and Nikola, that agreed to go public by combining with a SPAC this year, could create a "snowball effect of more top companies choosing SPACs," said Lindsey Gray, a partner at Two Sigma Ventures.

Not everyone agrees. There are more blank-check firms on the hunt than ever and a limited number of private companies that would make such a deal. PitchBook, a private markets analytics firm, estimates that fewer than 30% of SPACs will complete an acquisition in 2021.

"SPACs will fail to materialize as a persistent, legitimate alternative for going public," said Tyler Sosin, a partner at Menlo Ventures. He predicts a few high-profile blank-check firms will "dramatically underperform in the public markets next year," hurting their appeal.

Edtech will remain a significant part of school, even when they reopen.

This year, edtech went from being a nice-to-have to being an absolute necessity as schools were forced to close mid-school year and adopt solutions to continue teaching from a distance.

The effects of the pandemic will reverberate long after kids go back to the classroom, according to Mercedes Bent, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners who focuses on edtech.

She's closely watching the surge of tools to enable homeschooling, social "experiences" for online college students, and subscription-based tutoring content, among other categories.

More software behaves like Slack.

There's software that helps you get work done and software that keeps your team connected. The downside of having so many tools is that workers lose time and patience switching back and forth between apps, said Jake Saper, a general partner at Emergence Capital.

He expects to see a rise in products that combine productivity and collaboration in one place — a category he calls "deep collaboration." These tools are designed to do a specific job, like designing a mobile app (Figma) or creating business contracts (Ironclad), and allow all the employees involved in getting a job done to work on it from the same piece of software. 

The marriage of Salesforce's sales productivity tools and Slack's chat app marks "the moment of arrival for deep collaboration," said Saper, whose firm was an early investor in Salesforce.

The most in-demand company role is head of people.

Founders and investors know that growing a team isn't about hiring lots of people so much as finding the right people. For that reason, employees who specialize in recruiting and retention have one of the most essential functions at any fast-growing company, now more than ever.

"Without a question, 'head of people' roles have picked up going into 2021," said Jordan Ormont, a talent partner at Menlo Ventures."Hiring is back in full swing and making sure distributed organizations are in lockstep is critical. We see founders leveraging heads of people as true business partners. If you don't have a rock star head of people in place, get one."

Katelin Holloway, a partner at Seven Seven Six, says the last decade brought human resources professionals "out from the back room" and into the executive suite. She was head of people at Reddit before becoming a startup investor alongside her old boss, Alexis Ohanian.

She expects others to make the leap. "In this new decade we'll see HR play key roles in venture, policy, and other critical industries in which having people and culture experts involved in important conversations from day zero will make a big difference in years to come," she said.

Climate tech will be something every business buys and many VCs fund.

The climate tech industry is roaring once more. Investors are pushing billions of dollars into the sector every year, according to data provider PitchBook, as major corporations and governments pledge to lower their emissions, and some turn to startups for green solutions.

The trend will accelerate, "driven by Gen Z and their guilty parents," said Katie Jacobs Stanton, founder of Moxxie Ventures.

"We'll see a surge of climate tech startups meet this moment and develop solutions to help us mitigate and adapt to our warming planet," she said. The increase will also multiply the number of new climate-focused funds and investors who will "increasingly see the financial opportunity — not to mention moral imperative — of funding these solutions," she added.

"Climate tech will no longer be branded a speculative niche, but a core part of the venture ecosystem," Jacobs Stanton said. "It's do or die."

Seed deals rebound into "avocado" and "mango" deals, and a new kind of early stage emerges.

There was a slowdown in seed deals closed this year, according to data provider PitchBook, as venture funds plunged money into existing investments at the pandemic's outbreak.

But insiders say they saw just as much deal flow at the seed stage as any year. Instead, the seed stage is in the process of being "rebranded" as the round gets bigger and bigger.

"I think what we're starting to see is that the definition of a seed deal is changing," said Max Gazor, a general partner at CRV.

He's tracking an increase in activity at the pre-seed and "jumbo seed" rounds (sometimes called "avocado seed" or "mango seed" rounds), as well as a rise in venture firms and single-partner funds focused on this stage, "which is why I may more readily attribute what's being perceived as a decline to such factors as re-classification of round names and stages, than I would to some sort of systemic indicator or slowdown," Gazor said.

Graham Brown, partner at Lerer Hippeau, has another explanation for the supposed decline. Deals picked back up in the third and fourth quarter, which haven't been reported.

"Given the amount of capital pursuing early-stage at the moment, I think we'll see an incredibly active seed environment in 2021," Brown said.

The next generation of angel investors emerges.

Airbnb, DoorDash, Snowflake, and plenty of other unicorn startups went public in 2020, which means soon their employees can cash out by selling their shares on the public markets. 

"2021 will create a lot of liquidity after the recent IPOs," said Shruti Gandhi, founder of Array VC. Flush with cash, some of those startup workers will try their hand at investing.

An angel investor is someone who writes checks with their own money, as opposed to an institutional investor, who pools outside funds to purchase shares of a private company.

Virtual events as we know them will cease to exist.

Even as some investors shovel money into technologies for hosting virtual events, others say virtual live events is a phenomenon that will fizzle as a growing population gets vaccinated.

"Virtually attending a major event, conference, or concert is a subpar substitute that will lose momentum once it is safe again to gather in person, said Graham Brown, a partner at Lerer Hippeau.

"I believe simply migrating large, in-person events online at the same scale fails to replicate their benefits,"Bucky Moore, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, said. "Rather, I see a future in which conferences are broken up into smaller, more intimate events that enable attendees to learn and connect in a more meaningful way. We invested in Welcome for this reason."

Welcome builds software for creating virtual events that feel like in-person gatherings, with stages, breakout rooms, and lounges for attendees to mix in, and other features.

Companies open their wallets for mental health coverage.

The pandemic was a boon for startups that sell mental health services like virtual therapy and meditation as an employee benefit, as more businesses signed up for services that help their workers deal with the chaos and confusion of today's world. The trend will continue in 2021.

"The events of 2020 have been a wakeup call for mental health awareness,"Katelin Holloway, a partner at Seven Seven Six, said.

"In addition to an uptick in new policy rollouts to promote employee wellbeing, we expect companies to more generously extend budget for the purposes of supporting mental health in the form of wellness-oriented professional development programs, new internal support groups, and the recruiting of executives with HR backgrounds for top-level positions."

Startups wade into the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

Entrepreneurs will use the newly decriminalized status of psilocybin mushrooms in Oregon and Washington, DC, to create new businesses around the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

Masha Drokova, founder of Chapter One Ventures, hasn't made any investments in the space yet, but she sees "better and better teams" working on psychedelic therapies, she said.

"We see lots of startups appearing in the space and using the opportunity to help people due to the recent and upcoming changes in regulations," Drokova said. She added that the category could follow a similar trajectory as legal cannabis, an estimated $19 billion industry in the US.

Reports of a new and more contagious coronavirus strain have prompted panic in Europe and beyond.  

The new variant of the virus, which might be up to 70% more transmissible, was first detected in the UK in September but had since spread rapidly.

The new variant has brought some countries to close their borders and tighten their travel restrictions even further. 

From Japan to Sweden, scroll down to see a list of countries where the new coronavirus strain has already been identified.

SEE ALSO: AstraZeneca's vaccine is expected to work on new COVID-19 strains, says CEO

1. United Kingdom

The United Kingdom was the first country to report the new variant of the coronavirus back in September. 

Earlier this month, the country's health minister, Matt Hancock, said the new variant was "getting out of control," prompting the government to put millions of people under stricter lockdown measures for Christmas and a host of countries to block travel from the UK.

Source: Business Insider

2. Sweden

Swedish authorities detected the new strain after a traveler from the UK fell ill on arrival and tested positive, Sweden's health agency said on Saturday.

The infected individual has been kept isolated and no other cases have been reported so far.

Source: The Guardian

3. France

France detected its first case of a new variant on Christmas Day. The individual was a French national who returned from London.

Source: Al Jazeera

4. Spain

Four cases of the new coronavirus variant have been confirmed in Spain, health authorities said on Saturday. All involve people who recently arrived from the UK.

"The patients are not seriously ill. We know that this strain is more transmissible, but it does not cause more serious illness," said Madrid's regional government's deputy health chief, Antonio Zapatero, according to the Guardian. "There is no need for alarm."

Source: The Guardian

5. Switzerland

Three people tested positive for the new coronavirus strain in Switzerland, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) said on Saturday.

Two of the patients lived in the UK but had been visiting the country.

"All close contacts have been identified and quarantined," a FOPH spokeswoman said, Swiss Info reported.

Switzerland is the only European country keeping its ski slopes open to tourism over the Christmas and New Year period.

Source: Swiss Info

6. Denmark

Nine cases of a new variant were detected in Denmark, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported this week.

Source: Al Jazeera

7. The Netherlands

The Netherlands was one of the first European countries to announce that it found the new virus variant after the UK.

On December 22, Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said the new variant was found in two cases in the Amsterdam area.

Source: Al Jazeera

8. Germany

Germany recorded its first case of the mutant coronavirus variant after a woman who flew into Frankfurt from London Heathrow tested positive on December 20.

Source: The Local

9. Italy

Italian officials said this week they identified the strain in a couple who flew from the UK to Rome.

Source: Sky News

10. Canada

A couple in Ontario, Canada, tested positive for the new strain of the virus on December 26. They had no known travel history or high-risk contacts and are now in self-isolation, officials said.

Source: BBC

11. Japan

On Christmas Day, Japan reported its first five cases of the fast-spreading virus variant.

Japanese officials also ordered a travel suspension on Monday, which is expected to run through January and temporarily ban non-resident foreign nationals from entering the country.

Japanese citizens and foreign residents will be allowed to enter but must show proof of a negative coronavirus test 72 hours before departing for Japan and quarantine for two weeks.

Source: Business Insider

12. Lebanon

On Friday, Lebanon's health minister said that a case of the new variant was detected on a flight arriving from London on December 21.

Hamad Hassan urged all passengers on the flight to take precautionary measures.

Source: Al Jazeera

13. Singapore

Singapore's health ministry confirmed on December 24 that it too had one case of the new coronavirus variant. 

Source: Al Jazeera

14. Australia

Two cases of the new variant have been detected in New South Wales, Australia, after a flight arrived from the UK, the state's chief health officer Kerry Chant said this week.

Source: Sky News

15. South Africa

The UK detected two cases of another new variant of coronavirus in South Africa, British health secretary Matt Hancock said on Thursday.

Travel restrictions with South Africa have been imposed.

Source: BBC

16. Nigeria

Another new variant of the coronavirus was reported in Nigeria on December 24.

It is separate from the ones found in the UK and South Africa.

John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported on Thursday that health officials analyzed more samples and that little is so far known about the variant.

"Give us some time…it's still very early," Nkengasong said, according to Al Jazeera.

Source: Al Jazeera

Jeff Bezos appears to be compiling a massive Beverly Hills compound. 

Back in February, the Amazon CEO purchased the Warner estate, a piece of Hollywood history belonging to billionaire David Geffen. The $165 million sale broke a record for the most expensive home sale in California state history. 

Then, in July, Bezos appeared to make another purchase, this time right next door: a $10 million home that shares a hedge line with the Warner estate. According to property records viewed by both Variety and Daily Mail, Bezos is the new owner of the 1930s-era home on a side street in Beverly Hills' Benedict Canyon neighborhood. 

A spokesperson for Amazon did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the sale. 

While there are few photos of the estate and the adjacent home, Los Angeles County has plenty of aerial views of the property that give us our best look yet at Bezos' rumored purchases. 

SEE ALSO: The most unusual, extravagant ways tech executives like Larry Ellison and Elon Musk have spent their money

Jack Warner, the cofounder and onetime president of Warner Bros., built his estate in 1937.

Warner started constructing the property in 1926, beginning with three acres of what used to be farmland in Beverly Hills, California. Slowly but surely, Warner started adding parcels of adjacent land and building out the grounds of the estate, adding a golf course and two ponds. 

Source: Architectural Digest

Warner liked to throw extravagant parties that were attended by stars like Olivia de Havilland and Jimmy Stewart and moguls like Howard Hughes. An invitation to a party at the estate was apparently one of the most sought-after in Hollywood in the late 1930s and early '40s.

Warner filled the estate with expensive art, including a portrait of his wife, Ann, painted by Salvador Dali, according to Architectural Digest.

Source: Architectural Digest

Warner died in 1978, and Ann Warner owned the house until she died in 1990. That same year, the music and movie tycoon David Geffen bought the whole estate, including the art, for $47.5 million, according to Forbes. The sale set a record at the time.

Source: Forbes, The Wall Street Journal

Geffen, who is worth an estimated $9 billion, has a multimillion-dollar real-estate portfolio that includes homes in Malibu, California, and in New York's East Hampton, and Manhattan.

Source: Forbes, Forbes

Geffen is also the owner of a $590 million superyacht called the Rising Sun, where he frequently hosts fellow moguls and celebrities — including Jeff Bezos.

Source: Business Insider

Bezos has vacationed aboard the yacht near the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. Last year, he was pictured on the deck of the yacht alongside former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, model Karlie Kloss, and investor Josh Kushner.

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Geffen frequently hosts high-powered celebrities on the 400-foot-plus Rising Sun. Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bradley Cooper, and Barack and Michelle Obama have all been spotted on board. 

Source: Business Insider

In February, Bezos became the new owner of the Warner estate, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Journal reported that Bezos purchased the property for $165 million, making it the most expensive home sale in California history. No brokers were involved in the sale, according to The Journal.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Bezos and his girlfriend, Lauren Sanchez, had been house hunting in Los Angeles and touring mansions throughout the area in previous weeks, the New York Post reported.

Source: New York Post

The Warner estate spans eight acres and is situated in the Benedict Canyon neighborhood of Beverly Hills.

Source: Los Angeles County

The estate promises the utmost privacy. It's surrounded by tall hedges, blocked off by a large gate, and completely hidden from view from the street.

Source: Google Maps

The compound is home to multiple dwellings, including two guesthouses and a 13,600-square-foot mansion.

The Georgian-style home has eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms. It includes a floor that was once owned by Napoleon, according to The Journal.

Source: Los Angeles County, Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal

Photos shot of the interior of the estate by Architectural Digest in the early '90s show a screening room, an expansive bar, and a dining room that could easily fit 14 guests.

Source: Architectural Digest

The grounds also include a tennis court and manicured gardens. Geffen spent $45 million renovating the property, including $20 million on landscaping alone, The Journal reported.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

There's a large pool and what appears to be an adjacent hot tub outside one of the large guesthouses.

Source: Los Angeles County

At one point, the property also included a nine-hole golf course and a "motor court" with a garage and gas pumps, according to Architectural Digest, though it's not clear if those amenities are still on the property.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest

Bezos reportedly bought an adjacent property in July for $10 million. That property is on Tropical Avenue, which is perpendicular to the Warner estate. It shares a hedge with the compound, though it is currently accessed from a different street.

Source: Variety

That adjacent property was built in 1930 and was last sold for $5.45 million, according to Variety. It features three bedrooms and five bathrooms, six fireplaces, a rear patio, and rose and vegetable gardens.

Source: Variety,Zillow

It's not clear what Bezos would want with an adjacent property, but he has a history of snatching up homes near his larger estates. In 2017, he bought the house next door to his previous Beverly Hills mansion for $12.9 million. His ex-wife, McKenzie Scott, was granted both homes in the couple's divorce.

Source: Business Insider, Variety

Whether you were carefully outfitting a tropical island, exploring City 17 as Gordon Freeman, or something else entirely, there were a ton of great games to play in 2020.

And it was quite a year for gaming, with more people than ever turning to video games as the ongoing pandemic forced millions indoors. 

But what's the best of the best? Here's how critics ranked the top 10 games of 2020:

SEE ALSO: The 50 best video games of all time, according to critics

10. "F1 2020"

Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Google Stadia

9. "Crusader Kings III"

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux

8. "Microsoft Flight Simulator"

Platforms: PC (and coming to Xbox One and Xbox Series S|Series X)

7. "Demon's Souls"

Platforms: PlayStation 5

6. "Ori and the Will of the Wisps"

Platforms: Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch, PC

5. "Half-Life: Alyx"

Platforms: PC

4. "Hades"

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC

3. "Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition"

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC

2. "The Last of Us: Part II"

Platforms: PlayStation 4

1. "Persona 5 Royal"

Platforms: PlayStation 4

Check out the full list on Metacritic right here!

Got a tip? Contact Business Insider senior correspondent Ben Gilbert via email (bgilbert@businessinsider.com), or Twitter DM (@realbengilbert). We can keep sources anonymous. Use a non-work device to reach out. PR pitches by email only, please.

Self-driving taxis have taken longer to reach widespread adoption than experts predicted during the 2010s. That may be why venture capitalists see potential in autonomous-vehicle startups that are focused on applications, like trucking and mining, that present fewer technological challenges than ride-hailing.

Business Insider asked seven venture capitalists to pick the two autonomous-vehicle startups they believe have the most promise, with the caveat that only one could be a company their firm has invested in. Their selections reflected the industry's increasing focus on business models that present a quicker path to commercialization than robotaxis and consumer cars.

These 10 startups could play a major role in that pivot.

SEE ALSO: Watch Lucid Motors' Tesla-challenging Air EV torch the famed Laguna Seca racetrack in a new testing video

Aurora Innovation

Picked by: Fontinalis Partners principal Dan Ratliff (not an investor), Fraser McCombs Capital managing partner Mark Norman (not an investor), Maniv Mobility partner Olaf Sakkers (not an investor), Lux Capital partner Shahin Farshchi (not an investor)

Total funding raised: $765.6 million

What the company does: Aurora is developing  software and hardware that will allow vehicles to drive without human assistance. The company is focusing first on heavy-duty trucks.

Why it was chosen: Aurora was chosen by four of the seven VCs Business Insider spoke to, more than any other company. The VCs highlighted the company's founders — who came from Tesla, Uber, and Google's autonomous-vehicle programs before founding Aurora in 2016 — with Sakkers calling them "the dream team of autonomy." They also praised Aurora's fundraising abilities and said they've gotten the sense that Aurora has developed promising technology.

"That looks to be one of the potential really big winners from a venture-investment standpoint," Ratliff said.

Gatik

Picked by: Fraser McCombs Capital managing partner Mark Norman (investor), Trucks Venture Capital partner Reilly Brennan (investor)

Total funding raised: $24.6 million

What the company does: Gatik is developing autonomous vehicles designed for short-haul, business-to-business deliveries.

Why it was chosen: Gatik has received a major endorsement from Walmart, which has formed a partnership with the startup. Brennan and Norman also lauded Gatik's decision to focus on an application that is less complex than ride-hailing and has an obvious appeal for the company's potential customers.

Gatik's business model is "an MVP idea," Norman said.

TuSimple

Picked by: Trucks Venture Capital partner Reilly Brennan (not an investor)

Total funding raised: $407.9 million

What the company does: TuSimple is developing automated-driving software and hardware for heavy-duty trucks.

Why it was chosen: TuSimple has landed a number of big-name partnerships with companies like the UPS, Navistar, and ZF Friedrichshafen.

"It appears, from a partnership perspective, that TuSimple is actually the leader in long-haul autonomous trucking," Brennan said.

Aeva

Picked by: Lux Capital partner Shahin Farshchi (investor)

Total funding raised: $108.5 million

What the company does: Aeva is developing lidar sensors.

Why it was chosen: Aeva's lidar sensors are inexpensive, perform well, and are easy to integrate into vehicles, Farshchi said. The sensors combine capabilities that would otherwise be spread across a variety of devices.

"They have truly outperformed and over-delivered," Farshchi said of Aeva.

Nuro

Picked by: Autotech Ventures partner Jeff Peters (not an investor)

Total funding raised: $1 billion

What the company does: Nuro is developing self-driving delivery robots focused on a variety of items, including groceries, prescription, and food deliveries.

Why it was chosen: Nuro appears to have a strong team and business model, Peters said.

Oxbotica

Picked by: New Enterprise Associates partner Aaron Jacobson (not an investor)

Total funding raised: $28.1 million

What the company does: Oxbotica is developing automated-driving software that could be used in a variety of environments, including mines, airports, and roads.

Why it was chosen: Jacobson said Oxbotica has a strong team, highlighting co-founder and CTO Paul Newman, who Jacobson said is one of the world's leading experts in autonomous vehicles.

Phantom Auto

Picked by: Maniv Mobility partner Olaf Sakkers (investor)

Total funding raised: $27.5 million

What the company does: Phantom makes a system that drives vehicles remotely.

Why it was chosen: Sakkers described Phantom as "Zoom for blue-collar labor," saying its remote-driving system will allow people to perform some vehicle-related tasks from their homes. Teleoperation can also help autonomous-vehicle companies test their technology on public roads without needing a safety driver in each vehicle, Sakkers said.

Luminar

Picked by: Maniv Mobility partner Olaf Sakkers (not an investor)

Total funding raised: $420 million

What the company does: Luminar makes lidar sensors and other kinds of automated-driving hardware and software.

Why it was chosen: Luminar's deal with Volvo to include its lidar sensors in the automaker's consumer vehicles suggests the startup is making headway on being able to produce the sensors, which were once too expensive for consumer cars, at a greater scale, Sakkers said. Sakkers also said that he's been impressed by the performance specs on Luminar's lidars.

Ike

Picked by: Fontinalis Partners principal Dan Ratliff (investor)

Total funding raised: $54.5 million

What the company does: Like TuSimple, Ike is developing automated-driving software and hardware for heavy-duty trucks.

Why it was chosen: Ike has made more progress than it has demonstrated publicly, Ratliff said. The company got a boost by licensing software from Nuro. By focusing on highway driving it faces fewer technological challenges than companies making self-driving vehicles for urban and residential roads.

"They're taking a very thoughtful approach in terms of how they're bringing all the different constituents across the marketplace together," Ratliff said.

SafeAI

Picked by: Autotech Ventures partner Jeff Peters (investor)

Total funding raised: $5 million

What the company does: SafeAI is developing autonomous-driving technology for mining and construction vehicles.

Why it was chosen: For mining and construction companies, the financial benefits of SafeAI's technology are significant, Peters said.

"The ROI is there. It's not something we're hypothesizing around," Peters said.

• Read more:
• 11 hot electric-vehicle startups that will revolutionize the car industry, according to VCs
• As the hype around robotaxis fades, Waymo, Aurora, and TuSimple are leading the autonomous-vehicle charge into trucking and deliveries
• Amazon buying Aurora could be the next big move in the self-driving-car industry's wave of consolidation, an expert says
• The 25-year-old CEO of the lidar startup that's about to go public copes with 100-hour weeks by walking up to 10 miles a day during phone calls

After more than five years and multiple price cuts, Michael Jackson's famed Neverland Ranch finally sold— for less than a quarter of its original asking price, Katherine Clarke reported for The Wall Street Journal.

The estate now belongs to Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle, the managing partner of private investment firm The Yucaipa Companies. Burkle, who's worth $2 billion and also owns members-only club Soho House, paid $22 million for the ranch, which he saw as a "land bank opportunity," his spokesperson told the Journal.

After hitting the market for $100 million in 2015 under the moniker Sycamore Valley Ranch, the California ranch was discounted to $67 million in 2017 and then relisted again in 2019 for $31 million. In February 2020, Compass confirmed to Business Insider that it had been pulled off the market. But according to the Journal, Burkle called the owner directly after seeing the ranch from the air.

Real-estate investment firm Colony Capital has co-owned the ranch since 2008, when Jackson defaulted on a loan after financial hardships and entered into an ownership agreement with the firm for $23 million. The late singer bought the ranch in 1987 for $19.5 million and lived there for more than 15 years.

The 2,700-acre property in Los Olivos includes a French-Normandy style main residence, two guest houses, a lake, a 50-seat movie theater, a 14-foot lagoon-style pool, a dance studio, barns, staff facilities, and a Disney-themed train station.

The ranch featured prominently in "Leaving Neverland," a 2019 documentary about multiple accusations of child sexual abuse by Jackson. 

Take a look inside the Sycamore Valley Ranch.

April Walloga and Alyson Penn contributed to an earlier version of this story.

SEE ALSO: Billionaire Ken Griffin — owner of America's most expensive home — is selling his Miami Beach penthouses for at least 20% less than he paid for them 5 years ago

DON'T MISS: A billionaire is auctioning off his $160 million Beverly Hills estate with no minimum price. Look inside the 13-bedroom mansion that he's been trying to sell for more than 2 years.

Welcome to Sycamore Valley Ranch, formerly Neverland Ranch, that once belonged to Michael Jackson.

After years of price cuts, the ranch finally sold to billionaire Ron Burkle in December 2020 for $22 million — a fraction of its original $100 million asking price, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Burkle, who advised the singer on financial matters in the mid-2000s, saw the property as an investment opportunity, per the Journal. While the ranch wasn't publicly listed for months, Burkle reportedly saw the property from the air and called the owner directly to ask if he would sell it.

Jackson purchased the ranch in 1987 for $19.5 million.

The 2,700-acre property was first put up for sale for $100 million in 2015, but it was taken off the market in early 2020 after almost five years of price cuts and renovations, Compass confirmed to Business Insider at the time.

The ranch was last publicly listed for $31 million in 2019 — a nearly 70% discount from its original asking price.

Kyle Forsyth of Compass, one of the former listing agents for the ranch, told Business Insider in February 2020 that the agents representing the ranch had found interested potential buyers. But no deal could be reached with Colony Capital, so the ranch was pulled off the market, Forsyth said. 

Colony Capital, the private investment firm that manages the ranch, did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment for this story.

The Sycamore Valley Ranch spans 2,700 acres in Los Olivos, California, about 130 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Under Jackson's ownership, Neverland Ranch was a Peter-Pan inspired fantasyland with an amusement park, exotic animals ...

Source: CBS News

... and a Disney-themed train station.

Jackson famously threw parties and held events at the ranch, including a 14th birthday party for Kim Kardashian, who called the ranch "the most magical place on earth."

But in 1993, Jackson and his home made headlines when child sexual abuse allegations were brought against him.

He would go on to defend himself against additional lawsuits over the next decade, which contributed to his mounting debt. By 2008, he faced foreclosure on Neverland Ranch.

After he defaulted on a loan, Jackson entered Neverland into an ownership agreement with private investment firm Colony Capital for $23 million in 2008.

Source: ABC News

Colony Capital spent millions restoring the ranch after Jackson's death in 2009.

Source: ABC News

Neverland Ranch was rebranded Sycamore Valley Ranch and put on the market for $100 million in 2015.

Source: ABC News

It was renamed Sycamore Valley Ranch for the rolling hills, majestic sycamore trees, magnificent oaks, and manicured grounds that the Santa Ynez Valley is known for.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

There are several possible reasons why Sycamore Valley Ranch had trouble selling.

Most obvious, of course, is the property's well-publicized connection with Jackson.

"It was priced where it was in the beginning to capture a celebrity trophy buyer, someone that was willing to pay the extra money because it was Michael Jackson's," real estate expert Michael Corbett, the host of Extra's "Mansions and Millionaires," told Yahoo Entertainment. "Unfortunately now, since there's been a lot of negative press, someone is probably not going to purchase it for that reason ... Now someone's going to buy it because it's an amazing piece of real estate."

The property's location could also be unappealing to some buyers. According to Zillow real estate expert Brendon DeSimone, the property sits about 130 miles northeast of Los Angeles and five miles from Los Olivos, which is outside of the majority of the area's highest-end homes.

Village Properties real-estate broker Wayne S. Natale told Bloomberg that it's typical for properties listed for more than $3 million in Santa Ynez Valley to be on the market for two to three years.

Priced well above $3 million, Jackson's former ranch sat on the market for more than five years.

The ranch is secured by a gate, and a long, scenic road weaves through the property's grounds.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

The property boasts a 12,598-square-foot French-Normandy style residence with five bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

The mansion is crafted with exposed timber beams, brick and stonework, five fireplaces, and 18th-century French oak parquet flooring from two chateaus in France.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Entering through the front doors brings you inside to the spacious main foyer. The door to the right connects to the kitchen.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Large golden chandeliers hang over the lofted main entryway.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Down a few sets of stairs from the foyer is the main living room with two fireplaces.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Walking back through the main foyer under an arched doorway brings you to the newly renovated kitchen.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Though the main house is unoccupied, a full-time staff keeps the kitchen pristine.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Sycamore Valley Ranch has a guest house about 150 feet from the main house.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Walking through the kitchen to the main dining room, you'll find more wall-length windows that offer a view of the backyard.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

A hallway lined with windows connects you from the dining room to other rooms on the first floor.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

There are eight bathrooms in the main residence. This one features a copper bathtub.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Down the hallway is the first-floor master bedroom where the King of Pop slept. The master includes a private loft and two baths, two walk-in cedar-lined closets, and a private outdoor garden.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

A massive walk-in closet connects you to the master bedroom and bathroom. Jackson stored valuables in a "secret room" hidden around the corner in his closet, according to the Associated Press.

Source: Associated Press

The master bathroom sports a sunken bathtub and is surrounded by large windows.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Exiting the master bedroom will bring you back to the hallway. Continue down the hallway back to the foyer and you'll find a staircase.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Moving up the stairs to the second floor, you'll find four bedrooms. Here is an upstairs bedroom with polished oak flooring.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Walking down a hallway will lead you to another bedroom with white carpeting and walls lined with shelves.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Coming back down the stairs to the first floor, you'll see doors across the main entryway that lead out to the ranch grounds.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

The property's grounds include two guest houses, a lake, a 50-seat movie theater, a tennis court, a lagoon-style pool, a pool house, barns, and separate staff facilities.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Next to the pool house is a sunken, lighted tennis court with a viewing area.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

The grounds of the property are extensively manicured ...

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

... full of stonework and colorful flower beds.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

The property features a four-acre lake with two fountains, swans, boat stops, and a private beach.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Whimsical statues can be seen around the grounds.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

A gazebo complete with lighting and a grill offers a space for outdoor entertaining.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Although Sycamore Valley Ranch no longer has exotic animals like elephants, you can still find pigs, lambs, and a llama on the property.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

The ranch's large red barn was built originally for Clydesdales.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Neverland Ranch used to include an amusement park. But Colony Capital removed the rides and turned the area into a "zen garden" when it purchased the ranch in 2008.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

The owners did decide to keep Jackson's famous Neverland train station during renovations.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Train tracks weave all around the property ...

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

... along with train stops.

Source: Sycamore Valley Ranch

Children and adults both used to ride in the train when Jackson threw parties, like during this holiday celebration in 2004.

Jackson lived on the ranch for more than 15 years.

2020 will be remembered as the year of extremes.

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, investors endured the highest highs and the lowest lows: the fastest decline into a bear market in history, followed by the swiftest recovery — all within six months.

Amid all its misery, the year produced outstanding gains for an elite group of fund managers, thanks to well-placed bets that outstripped the broader market and competitors. Business Insider interviewed eight of the top-performing US equity fund managers as assessed by Morningstar to understand how they successfully navigated the year, and to learn of their biggest bets for 2021.

Several challenges could have kept them off the list. US equity funds suffered seven straight months of outflows through October — including a record $52 billion exodus in August — as more investors flocked to cheaper exchange-traded funds, Morningstar data shows. And fee wars among online brokers, combined with unprecedented volatility, spurred an army of DIY traders that even outperformed the pros at one point.

Still, these investors demonstrated that old-fashioned, bottom-up stock picking can yield outstanding returns. Just ask Morgan Stanley's Dennis Lynch, a recurring top performer, whose top holding of little-known 10X Genomics more than doubled this year. Or ask Cathie Wood, a breakout star manager, whose holdings of
Tesla, Square, and Roku now seem like obvious winners in hindsight. 

The full list of managers is ranked below in decreasing order of their year-to-date returns through November 6.

SEE ALSO: Goldman Sachs says buy these 19 beaten-down stocks on its 'holiday shopping list' that are poised to break out in the 1st quarter of 2021

1. Dennis Lynch, lead portfolio manager, Morgan Stanley Discovery Portfolio

Many traders and fund managers swooped into action when markets started crashing early this year. Dennis Lynch mostly let his previous investments go to work and watch them outperform what others were buying. He was rewarded with bigger returns than almost everyone who took a more frantic approach.

Lynch has been one of the world's top stock pickers for years, and when others were remaking their portfolios so they could profit from the ways the pandemic remade business and technology, Lynch had already done it as a result of his approach.

Lynch, who also runs the Counterpoint Global stock-picking business at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, says he makes a point of not over-relying on profitability and metrics.

"Companies that aren't as short-term profitable, people get concerned because they can't use conventional metrics in the short term to value them," he said in June. "People are much more focused on free cash flow and return on invested capital as metrics for analysis (than in the past)."

The result is that he doesn't mind investing in an unprofitable tech company if it's building something that has great potential. And while having cash on hand is important, what really matters is that a company has enough money to achieve its goals.

"They have scale advantages that they're developing because they're leaders in their categories," he said, citing Carvana and Wayfair as promising investments. "There tends to be a bias against companies earlier in their life cycle that are intelligently going through that process of investment today."

He also wants to see companies with strong equity ownership incentives and a positive culture.

"It's not easily measurable, but the culture of a company is also crucial because it can help companies seize their moments, build goodwill, and instill values that will help them in the future," he said.

Year-to-date return: 149.79%

Biggest holdings (as of Sept 30): 10x Genomics (5.3%), Fastly (4.9%), Twilio (4.9%), Veeva Systems (4.8%), MongoDB (4.7%)

What worked in 2020: While his ahead-of-the-curve investments in areas like technology, payments, e-commerce might look like an ideal post-pandemic portfolio, Lynch essentially created one in 2018 and 2019.

Zoom Video? Lynch added to several of his portfolios in 2019, and watched it skyrocket almost 500% in the last 12 months.

Other investments that have returned more than 200% for the Discovery portfolio include The Trade Desk, Square, Wayfair, Peloton, and Pinterest, and he's received a return of 100% or better from stocks including Carvana, Coupa Software, and Snap. 

As a result, the Discovery fund returned roughly four times as much as its benchmark or the typical fund in its category this year. Other funds he co-manages were right on its heels.

What's ahead in 2021: Lynch spoke to Business Insider in June and said Coupa Software, Uber, and Shopify were some of his favorites. He said they have more potential than Big Tech at this stage.

"It's likely that their upside potential is somewhat capped in relation to some of the other ideas that are now larger positions in the portfolio," he said of large-cap tech stocks.

2. Brooke de Boutray, co-portfolio manager of the Zevenbergen Genea Fund

The modus operandi at Zevenbergen Capital Investments is that they're forward-thinking. 

They were founded on that very principle in 1987, after Nancy Zevenbergen decided her colleagues in banking weren't willing to look to the future like she was, costing them investment opportunities. 

Naturally, then, ZCI's funds are filled with technology firms providing products and services for tomorrow's world. 

In other words, 2020 couldn't have been better for their holdings. 

Their Zevenbergen Genea Fund— managed by Brooke de Boutray, Joseph Dennison, and Leslie Tubbs — reaped the benefits of the stay-at-home environment with holdings like Zoom Video Communications, Amazon, and Zillow. 

Year-to-date return: 114%

Biggest Holdings (as of 9/30): Tesla (8.3%); Zoom Video Communications (6.2%); Amazon (6.1%).

What worked in 2020

"It's really a continuation of the themes we've invested in for over a decade. So we're very much interested in companies that are tech-enabled, and many of the trends that we were excited about, and continue to be, have to do with the digital transformation.

"And it's very common now because the outperformers tend to be those that had positions in those trends — ecommerce, and the digitization of payments, and medicine. And COVID really just accelerated all those trends and really changed the way we live and forced companies to digitize.

What's ahead in 2021

"We're very much a bottom-up research company, so we take a really long-term approach, and we look for companies that are disruptive, that have significant growth, and are operating in very large total adjustable markets. So we still have strong convictions, and the names that will make up our top holdings will be the names that made up our top holdings in 2020.

"For instance, I think that Tesla will continue to be a significant holding for us in 2021, and  I say that because it meets all that criteria. It has multiple areas of growth, very large total addressable markets — transportation, energy, insurance — and it's profitable and growing very rapidly. And it's got an amazing entrepreneur at the helm: Elon Musk."

3. Cathie Wood, portfolio manager of the American Beacon ARK Transformational Innovation Fund

In a tumultuous coronavirus-ravaged year, Cathie Wood, CEO and founder of ARK Invest, was firing on all cylinders. 

"I've never worked harder but I've never enjoyed it more," Wood said. "The days go so fast. My time is videos and calls, half an hour at a time."

"It used to be an hour at a time and it used to involve travel, so my productivity has probably gone up three- to four-fold," she added. 

Wood's efforts have paid off. Not only is she managing five outperforming active ETFs, she is also at the helm of the $821.8 million American Beacon ARK Transformational Innovation fund, which had returned a whopping 113% this year as of November 25.

Wood seeks to discover and invest in disruptive companies engaged in five innovation platforms: DNA sequencing, robotics, energy storage, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology, which have all "hit escape velocity" coming out of the COVID-19 crisis.

"There's no turning back," she said. "Innovation is all about making activities cheaper, faster, better, and more creative. Once the momentum starts, it's hard to stop."

Year-to-date return: 103.3%

Biggest holdings (as of 9/30): Tesla (11.07%), Square (6.72%), Invitae (6.34%), Roku (5.12%), Zillow (4.18%)

What worked in 2020: 

"The COVID crisis highlighted how important innovation is to solving the world's problems, and the world had a lot of problems before COVID and we still do. So many trends that were well in place before the COVID crisis have gained so much more traction. Because of that, our companies have outperformed significantly.

"What I love about our portfolios is that while Tesla has been a very nice contributor this year, we have had Square, Roku, and Invitae. Those are very different kinds of stocks: Square is a digital wallet, Roku is really the streaming TV operating system, and Invitae is a molecular diagnostic testing company.

What's ahead in 2021:

"I am stunned at how big gaming as entertainment is becoming and how social networks are starting to form around gaming. I have a feeling that the gaming world is going to provide a lot of upside surprises.

"I think Republicans will win the Senate runoff in Georgia and I think that's what the markets still say. If it turns out that that assumption is wrong, then I do believe we would probably be facing capital-gains tax increases, which would be negative for the market and negative for innovation.

"I'm not worried about the short term even if there were a capital-gains tax hike, because I think corporations would have to move even faster towards innovation because they'll be trying to offset the tax increases with cost cuts elsewhere. But I would be fearful that innovation would start to leave our shores in the United States and migrate elsewhere in terms of launching pads."

4. Gary Robinson, portfolio manager of the Baillie Gifford US Equity Growth Fund

Gary Robinson, with co-managers Tom Slater, Kirsty Gibson, and Dave Bujnowski, is looking for stocks that will become the outliers. 

"What we're looking to identify are, let's say a small number of exceptional growth companies in America," he said. "And then, when we find these companies, we want to hold onto them for long periods of time to capture the upside that's inherent in their business models."

Robinson credits the fund's success to a staunch adherence to a few key principles:

1. A long-term time horizon

When Robinson is sizing up a potential purchase, he and his fellow managers try to envision what the next 5-10 years look like. The focus on the long-term translates into low portfolio turnover. Since the fund launched in August of 1997, Robinson says that turnover has averaged "into teens." 

2. Active management

"If you want to beat the index, you have to be willing to be different from it," he said.

3. Growth is at forefront

Robinson and co. are trying to identify what they call "exceptional growth companies." He notes that throughout history, only a small number of companies have contributed the lion's share of stock market returns. 

The notion of an "exceptional growth" company rings through every facet of Robinson's analysis. If he and his fellow managers don't think they can make 2.5 times their initial investment within 5 years time, it's likely they'll look elsewhere. 

But what makes a company exceptional?

Interestingly enough, Robinson says they all share common characteristics.  Although each company clearly has its idiosyncrasies, Robinson's identified three characteristics that seem to be common threads: large market opportunities, the potential to maintain competitive advantages, and bold, founder-CEO-led cultures.

Year-to-date return: 94.52%

Biggest Holdings (as of 9/30): Tesla (10.63%), Amazon (9.49%), Shopify (8.64%), Wayfair (6.37%), The Trade Desk (4.23%)

What worked in 2020:

"What we've seen in 2020 is, in some ways, it's a continuation of your structural trends that have been playing out for years. So, we had the shift from offline to online shopping, the shift to more remote work, the shift from people seeing the doctor in person to telemedicine. So these were trends that were already underway. But they accelerated them on the back of the pandemic."

What's ahead in 2021: 

"Even in the more mature sectors, over the last decade, you've had huge disruption and sectors of the economy like retail and advertising, where you had the emergence of these mega platforms. And you've seen the value creation opportunities for companies on the right side of that change. And you've seen the dislocation for companies that have been on the wrong side of that change.

"I think what's interesting is that even in those more mature sectors, it's still relatively early and still a lot of growth to go for."

5. Ron Baron, portfolio manager, Baron Partners Fund

Ron Baron and the fund managers at his firm are known for a detailed and high-conviction process. The Partners Fund, for example, held only 29 companies at the end of the third quarter of 2020 and had just 8% annual turnover.

Baron and his firm's managers make a point of getting to know businesses extremely well before investing. The hardest part of that, he said in an email, is "obtaining conviction in a businesses' prospects based upon meeting with and speaking regularly with executives of businesses in which we have investments."

That got harder in 2020 as Baron and his managers had to interview new executives through Zoom calls. But this year it doesn't seem to have affected their results because almost all of those recent and long-time investments worked.

Baron says he's always trying to invest in change and disruptive businesses, and the "best opportunities are available during turbulent times."

Year-to-date return: 84.88% 

Biggest holdings (as of Sept 30): Tesla (45.2%), CoStar Group (13.3%), Idexx Laboratories (6.6%), Zillow Group (5.83%), FactSet Research (4.89%)

What worked in 2020:

In a word, Tesla, which occupies a dominant position in the fund at 45% thanks to a combination of Baron's belief in the company and its explosive gain over the last year.

The automaker might be the ultimate momentum stock for better and worse, but in 2019 and 2020, investors have gained a new measure of confidence in its future sales and profitability. That's brought big rewards for Baron, who has been investing in the company since 2014. 

The fund also logged strong returns from a handful of post-pandemic investments including Dutch payments company Adyen and e-commerce platform company Shopify, while a 2014 investment in online real estate listing company Zillow more than doubled in value over the last year.

What's ahead in 2021:

The Partners Fund and other Baron funds maintained their investments in economically sensitive companies like ski resort operator Vail and the Marriott and Hyatt during the downturn on the expectation that things will turn around for them.

Baron has championed Tesla for years and says people are seeing him as "the Tesla guy" because of his advocacy for the company. He has no problem with it.

"My goal next ten years is for people to also call me the 'SpaceX guy' when they see me," he said. "Expect to make more than 30x our investment in that business over next ten years in that privately owned Elon Musk company."

6. Garvin Jabusch and Jeremy Deems, co-managers of the Shelton Green Alpha Fund

Speak with Colorado-based Garvin Jabusch and Jeremy Deems, and you'll realize they're not your standard fund managers.

You might discover, for example, that they're big fans of Taylor Swift. Or that, according to Deems, Jabusch used to bench press several reps of 405lbs during what Jabusch describes as his "meathead" phase.

Good friends working together now since 2001, they're a compatible pair.

And this year has been proven to be eminently compatible with the holdings of their Shelton Green Alpha Fund.

Their investing philosophy is framed around buying into companies working to come up with innovative solutions to society's biggest problems, such as climate change. 

But their exposure to these types of firms ranges across a variety of market sectors — including the biopharmaceutical industry. 

That paid off big for them in 2020 — with Moderna as one of their biggest holdings — as the COVID-19 outbreak wreaked havoc on the world and companies and governments raced to find a vaccine. 

Year-to-date return: 74.66%

Biggest Holdings (as of 9/30): Vestas (7.14%), Tesla (6.83%), Brookfield (5.75%), Moderna (5.41%)

What worked in 2020

Jabusch:

"What are the big system-level that we're looking to solve with our companies. Well, of course the climate crisis is the granddaddy of them, but there's also resource degradation, there's worsening inequality, and there is of course the terrible human disease burden. And I don't just mean pandemics, although that clearly is a thing.

"And so the things that are addressing those risks that have been the most innovative have been our best contributors this year. So if you look at year-to-date, you can see that our second-highest contributing holding, not even our second-highest weight, has been Moderna."

What's ahead in 2021

Deems:

"So honestly the only thing that's going to change is we might find something that's disrupting an innovation that we already hold today, and we may change our mind on what we think is going to be the winner in that particular area. That's really what the point of our research is, to do two things: to find companies we haven't looked at yet, in spaces that we already expect important disruption; and then two, we want to make sure the holdings we do have are still the leaders."

Jabusch: 

"You're going to continue to see the solutions to problems just gobbling up market share from the causes of the problems. Wind is just going to keep stealing away the market share from coal, and that's not only because it's economically superior in terms of being cheaper to make electricity, but also because it's helping to mitigate the climate crisis."

7. Alex Ely, portfolio manager of the Delaware Small Cap Growth Fund

Ely got into the mutual fund business right out of college and joined Macquarie Investment Management in February 2016 as part of the firm's acquisition of Bennett Lawrence Management. 

"They brought us over due to the performance of our Small Cap Growth Fund; that fund has beaten the index by over 200% over the last 10 years," Ely recalled. "So while we've added value this year, we've been doing it for years and years."

While experience counts when it comes to finding and investing in disruptive companies ahead of the competition, Ely reveals that being a parent who's open to listening to his kids has paid off even more. 

"I have kids that range from teenagers to low 20s and it's been a fantastic experience learning from them," he said. "Whether it's the way they bank or the way they meet people, or the way they communicate, or the products that they like, we've had lots of ideas that have been sourced over time from what our kids have done."

One example is Boston Beer (SAM), whose popularity of Truly Hard Seltzer among young people was noticed by Ely while on a parent's weekend at his son's college. 

"He was saying that more and more people were drinking it because they liked the taste better than beer," he said. "So that was one of the reasons that we started looking more and more at Boston Beer, and it's been a terrific holding for the team."

With $114.3 million in assets, the small fund has notched big gains by investing in companies whose sustainable growth translates into better fundamentals and stronger earnings, Ely said.

Year-to-date return: 70.72%

Biggest holdings (as of 9/30): iRhythm Technologies (4.24%), TopBuild (4.21%), Invitae (4.10%), Pacira BioSciences (4.03%), Bill.com (3.96%)

What worked in 2020: 

"An easy way to summate it is that what we've been experiencing for years is the digitalization of almost all consumer and business activities. We've been invested in these areas for a long period of time, but many of these disruptions had been brought forward by the pandemic.

What's ahead in 2021:

"We've expected value to outperform with the announcement of a vaccine. Many of those businesses are involved with crowds like cruise lines, airlines, theme parks, of course, that relates to the energy market, basic industry, and the financial world. So seeing those things bounce hasn't been a surprise.

"But longer term, we think growth is the best place to be. What we're seeing here is an acceleration of technological adoption rates throughout our economy and this digitalization of business and consumer activity has just begun, it just started in earnest within the US."

8. Gerald Sparrow, lead manager of the Sparrow Growth fund

Gerald Sparrow is no stranger to the list of top-performing fund managers, as his eponymous growth fund outperformed its way into the ranks in 2018. 

The fund manager attributes his success to a disciplined approach that focuses on proven financial models for stock selection while ignoring the market's daily noise. For example, he does not buy or sell stocks in between quarterly earnings announcements, no matter the volatility in price. 

If there ever was a noisy year for the stock market, it was 2020. But Sparrow successfully navigated the year by focusing, in part, on the accelerated migration from brick-and-mortar-only businesses to e-commerce. 

That explains why the biggest holding in his fund is Shopify, which rocketed 177% this year through Dec. 8. 

When hunting for such ideas, Sparrow susses out stocks with positive earnings and revenue growth, improving fundamentals, strong balance sheets, and management teams that are shareholder-friendly. 

Year-to-date return: 43%

Biggest holdings (as of 9/30): Shopify (3.36%), Carvana (3.22%), eXp World Holdings (2.76%), Coupa Software (2.48%), Netflix (2.39%)

What worked in 2020: 

"The exciting explanation is that we're picking growth stocks that are doing well and are stealing market share from the competitors. For example, if you look at a company like Square, ... the US economy is growing at 3% and Square's growth rate is 40%. So it's more than 10 times the average growth rate.

What's ahead in 2021:

"I can tell you that based on what we're seeing and what's coming into our model ... gaming companies, betting companies, gambling companies, that space. Also solar and electronic vehicle technology, those types of companies, and natural gas companies."

It's hard to stand out from the crowd when you're applying for a management consulting job, but a well-drafted cover letter might increase your chances of getting an offer. 

Top-notch consultancies are notoriously tough to break into, and they're some of the most selective employers worldwide. McKinsey & Company, for example, hires only 8,000 people out of 800,000 applications each year. An office at Bain & Co. might receive around 3,000 applications and recruiters only select 3% of the applicants that pool for an initial interview, according to Management Consulted.

Having a stand out cover letter is one way you can differentiate yourself from other applicants. It shouldn't replicate what you already mentioned in your résumé, but instead highlight the reasons you are the best person for the job and how you'd benefit the firm.

Business Insider spoke with Davis Nguyen, a former Bain consultant and founder of career resource company My Consulting Offer, Rebecca Smith-Allen, former McKinsey manager and career coach at My Consulting Offer, and Namaan Mian, director of strategy and operations at careers resource site Management Consulted, on how job candidates can improve their applications for a top firm. 

My Consulting Offer is a more than $10 million consulting recruitment company and works with over 600 job-seeking clients. Management Consulted works with more than 5,000 job seekers at over 75 universities each year.

These experts provided cover letter templates for undergraduates, business school students, and senior-level applicants who want to land consulting jobs at companies like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Accenture. 

Here's how to best structure your cover letters, and common mistakes to avoid. 

SEE ALSO: The hiring policy at McKinsey, one of the world's most elite management consultancies, is defined by one thing: Harvard

SEE ALSO: 23 books management consultants from firms like McKinsey and Bain recommend for anyone who wants to make smarter business decisions

Tailor your cover letter to align with the core values for the firm.

You should have a thorough understanding of the firm's values before applying. 

Nearly all consultancies look for candidates with impeccable problem-solving skills, good sportsmanship, and a strong acumen when building work relationships. But each firm has it's own set of core values, or employee qualities that recruiters look out for. 

McKinsey, for example, shared that they look for people with entrepreneurial drive. BCG is known for its emphasis on social impact projects and EY encourages applicants to highlight their intercultural experiences. 

Business Insider previously spoke with Keith Bevans, global head of consultant recruitment at Bain & Co., who shared that one effective way to stand out during the application process is to have clarity on why you want to work at the firm. 

"For me, understanding the journey you're on for your career and how Bain fits into that journey is step one,"he said. "Step two is understanding the value proposition of Bain and how it's different than other consulting options that you consider."

Smith-Allen, former McKinsey manager and a career coach at My Consulting Offer, recommended that you tailor the cover letter for each firm to the characteristics they list on their career page. Start with the characteristics that are valued most by the firm, and give examples of you align with them, she wrote.

Quantify your achievements and show, don't tell.

When you're talking about a specific strength or skill, explain exactly how it will benefit the firm. Provide data to quantify your skills whenever possible.

For example, you might want to show that you helped increase revenue by 3% during a short time span. You can also include anecdotes about how you developed a fixed or reduced costs for your employer in your cover letter, Smith-Allen added.

The cover letter gives you an opportunity to share your most impressive achievements and expand the bullet points on your résumé. The one-pager should be packed with 2-3 stories detailing how you are an impactful leader, problem-solver, and so forth, Mian wrote in a post on Management Consulted.

Nguyen, founder of My Consulting Offer and a former Bain consultant, advised that providing bulleted anecdotes in your cover letter can be an effective way to show recruiters why you'd be a good fit. 

While McKinsey is looking for candidate qualities like entrepreneurial drive, problem-solving, and collaboration abilities, candidates can dedicate each bullet to examples of those three core values.

A bulleted paragraph on entrepreneurship can focus on a time when you tested out a side hustle idea. On the other hand, a collaborative story should emphasize your ability to work well with others and how you've navigated through workplace politics in the past, Nguyen added.

Proofread your letter and avoid common mistakes.

Always customize your cover letter. 

Much like letters for other companies, experts advised that you proofread your application for grammatical and errors that might hurt your chances (such as listing the wrong firm or position that you applied for). 

Smith-Allen mentioned that some red flags that can negatively impact your application including a low GPA, a gap in your work history, and an unexplained office location choice. A cover letter is an opportunity for you to address these issues and explain why.

If you have a low GPA or a work gap due to a family or health-related problem, you should share that with the hiring manager in the letter, she wrote.

Fast-food releases during a year dominated by the coronavirus pandemic and an attention-grabbing election have admittedly been hit or miss.

While some new menu items barely registered with customers, others sent fans scrambling to their nearest McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Shake Shack, and more.

Travis Scott's meal collaboration with McDonald's caused burger shortages as customers tried to get their hands on the limited-time offer, while the chain's spicy nuggets quickly sold out just two weeks after being released.

McDonald's also decided to bring back the polarizing McRib, much to customers' delight. However, one Insider reporter was a little let down by the nostalgic menu item's return. Jack in the Box and Shake Shack also answered fans' requests to bring back popular menu items.

Here are all the fast-food releases customers have loved in 2020, so far.

SEE ALSO: Before-and-after photos show how much fast-food restaurants have changed over the years

Jack in the Box brought back its fan-favorite Tiny Tacos in January.

Arguably one of the chain's most famous menu items, Jack in the Box delighted fans when it announced Tiny Tacos would make their return to menus nationwide in January. QSR Magazine called the Tiny Taco's return "highly-anticipated" and referred to the item as a "fan-favorite."

A miniature version of the chain's regular tacos, Tiny Tacos can be ordered plain or "loaded" with cheese sauce, shredded lettuce, and Jack in the Box's taco sauce.

In February, KFC launched its polarizing fried chicken and donuts sandwich nationwide.

After testing out the calorie-packed creation in select cities back in 2019, KFC launched its donut fried chicken sandwich nationwide earlier this year. Though only available for a limited time, the sandwiches quickly captured the attention of fast-food lovers nationwide. 

Described as "viral" and "controversial" by Business Insider, the overall consensus of our team of taste testers was that "although the chicken-and-doughnuts combo tasted like sweet, artery-clogging death, it was also the most delicious new item that KFC has come out with in a long time."

Taco Bell released a new Grilled Cheese Burrito in July.

While Taco Bell has a stacked lineup of burritos, the grilled cheese burrito stands above the rest as a fan-favorite — one of Insider's food reporters even called the new menu item "the chain's best dish in years."

Reactions on Twitter to the menu item are also overwhelmingly positive, with one user calling it"the best burrito ever," while another said, "I have an insatiable hunger that can only be satisfied by Taco Bell grilled cheese burrito."

It's easy to see why the new menu item has become a fan favorite — the cheesy burrito only costs $2.99.

McDonald's brought out a spicy version of its iconic chicken McNuggets in September, to much fanfare.

The new limited-time-only menu item was thought to be in response to the flourishing market for fast-food chicken products, as well as the smash success of Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets.

And, while Business Insider's fast-food taste-tester Irene Jiang found that the spicy nuggets fell short of her expectations, customers seemed to disagree — the menu item and the spicy hot sauce they came paired with quickly sold out just two weeks after being released.

"We're thrilled with the positive response to these limited-time offerings," McDonald's said in a statement. "If our customers truly can't get enough, there's always a chance we'll bring limited-time menu items back in the future."

McDonald's and Travis Scott's "Cactus Jack" meal collaboration broke the internet after its release in early September.

The "Cactus Jack" meal includes a Quarter Pounder with cheese, bacon, and lettuce, plus a medium fry with barbecue sauce, and a Sprite with extra ice for $6. Fans went wild for the meal, as well as the musician's line of McDonald's-themed merchandise. 

As a result of the massive popularity of the meal, McDonald's told Business Insider that the chain was even experiencing burger shortages. 

"It's been so lit, some of our restaurants have temporarily sold out of some of the ingredients in the meal," McDonald's said. "We're working closely with our suppliers, distributors, and franchisees to resupply impacted restaurants as quickly as possible."

Shake Shack's Hot Chick'n sandwich was released in September.

Following the smash success of Popeyes' chicken sandwich last year, many chains released new iterations of their own this year.

After three years of Shake Shack fans asking the chain to bring back its Hot Chick'n sandwich, the New York-based chain finally delivered. On September 1, 2020, Shake Shack announced it would be bringing back its spicy sandwich in either hot, extra hot, or fire, plus hot chicken bites and hot and spicy cheese fries.

"Like with the Shack burger, a major factor is the potato bun. There may be breads on this earth just as good, but there are few that are better. The sandwich comes with a slaw that neither subtracts nor adds too much for me," wrote TC Fleming of the Dallas Observer. "The full picture does add up to an enticing item we should all be glad to welcome back."

Grubstreet and the Washington Post both reviewed the hot chicken sandwich favorably, although both outlets said the spice level could have been kicked up a notch to truly live up to its name.

Also in September, Whataburger released a limited-time-only spicy chicken sandwich.

After its release on September 29, 2020, fans of regional chain Whataburger were quick to shout out the new limited-time-only spicy chicken sandwich.

Shelby Stuart, a writer for Chron, wrote, "Because of its impeccable spice and heat, I think the sandwich can compete for the top spot among fast spicy chicken sandwiches, right up there next to Popeyes' famed offering. All other food chains and their spicy sandwiches are sub-par — and maybe this is the Texan in me, but what Whataburger has done puts everyone else to shame."

People on Twitter also praised the new menu item, with one user calling it"a better spicy chicken sandwich than @PopeyesChicken" and another saying, "Now this is a GREAT Spicy Chicken Sandwich. Others need to take note how this thing taste! Spicy, flavorful wonderful. Hope they make it permanent."

Chick-fil-A began testing a brand new chicken sandwich — the Honey Pepper Pimento Chicken Sandwich — in September, as well.

Chick-fil-A, which only offers a regular chicken sandwich, a deluxe version, and a spicy version, delighted fans with the release of its Honey Pepper Pimento Chicken Sandwich in select markets in South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina.

While the menu item has yet to be expanded to other states, some online reviewers managed to get their hands on the new offering. 

YouTube reviewer PapiEats was a big fan of the new sandwich and said the pimento was perfectly spicy and that the sandwich had "tasty jalapenos."

"Hopefully they'll bring this nationwide because it's amazing," he said in a YouTube review of the sandwich.

The following month, Wendy's dropped its own spicy chicken sandwich.

In an age where seemingly every chain is dropping a new fried chicken sandwich, Wendy's also threw its hat into the ring this year. A different variation on the chain's original spicy chicken sandwich, the spicy crispy chicken nixed the tomatoes and added a layer of mayonnaise to a crispy chicken patty.

While the sandwich didn't make as many waves as the Popeyes chicken sandwich last year or even the multiple new sandwiches this year, Wendy's still held its own among a lengthy list of new releases this year that simply went unnoticed.

According to data from Google Trends, searches for Wendy's spicy chicken sandwiches increased after the new version was released.

Following the huge success of McDonald's Travis Scott meal in September, the chain launched another celebrity collaboration with J Balvin in October.

Available through November 1, J Balvin's McDonald's meal included a few classic favorites — a Big Mac with no pickles, a medium fry, an Oreo McFlurry, and ketchup. For customers who ordered the J Balvin meal through the McDonald's app, they would get the Oreo McFlurry for free.

While some fans were left puzzled by the meal's simplicity and the choice to remove pickles from the chain's iconic Big Mac, it created quite a buzz online regardless, with hundreds of tweets talking about it.

In October, everyone was talking about Dunkin's Spicy Ghost Pepper donut.

However, while the internet was buzzing about the donut — Dunkin's tweet announcing the new item got over 800 likes and 500 quote tweets — actual reactions were mixed. Some were initially scared by the donut's spicy appearance, yet in reality, many found the donut mostly sweet with a slight kick, rather than a hot, eye-watering experience. 

"The frosting is where the ghost pepper really comes into play. I thought it was mild and still more sweet than hot,"one of Insider's reporters said.

McDonald's shocked and delighted fans when the chain revealed it would bring back the McRib in December.

McDonald's tweet announcing the return of the McRib on December 2 received more than 28,000 likes and 2,000 retweets. Fans nationwide haven't been able to get their hands on the item since 2012, and many have been begging for its return for years.

"I can't believe it's happening," Matt, who runs McRibGate, a website dedicated to McRib lovers with the aim of getting McDonald's to bring the item back, told Business Insider.

Customers on social media immediately went to social media to share photos of them in line to get their McRibs. However, Insider found that the McRib we tried, though still tasty, was a little under-sauced.

• Read more:
• 24 fast-food and restaurant chains you might see less of in 2021
• 10 fast-food menu changes that outraged customers
• These were the biggest menu flops in fast food
• From McDonald's Szechuan Sauce to the Popeyes' sandwich: 6 out-of-control fast-food menu launches that shook America to its core