SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Everybody knows Uber and Airbnb. The two startups are so big that their names have become not just noun, but verb. The riding-hailing service and the house-sharing service are two of today's best-known unicorn companies, privately held startups valued at more than $1 billion.  There was a time when the notion of a $1 billion tech startup seemed like a far-fetched, mythical creation. Today, though, there are loads of these companies out there. 

Editor’s Note: Liz Sara, chair of the Board of Advisors for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, is looking ahead to 2017. She offers these insights on the technology sector. By LIZ SARA

Editors Note: Liz Sara, chair of the Board of Advisors for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, is looking ahead as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. She offers these insights.  By LIZ SARA

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Just a few weeks ago, Twitter had a multitude of potential suitors, with Google, Disney and Salesforce all said to be considering bids to acquire the mainstay social media platform.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Startup founders looking for customers eventually run out of friends and relatives. "Once they get past that first handful of contacts, they don’t know how to get in front of the market in a bigger way," says Liz Sara, an angel investor and founder of consulting firm Best Marketing.