TechStars will be looking to hatch companies in Seattle for the next three years, thanks in part to cash from some of the region’s leading venture capital firms. TechStars Seattle, the branch of the popular startup incubation program, has raised $1.5 million in new funding that will support up to 30 new companies over the next three years.

Madrona Venture Group led the funding, supported by Ignition Partners, Trilogy, Founder’s Co-op, Maveron, Voyager Capital and others. The cash is separate from the larger $24 million round that TechStars raised last fall.

By its very nature, entrepreneurship involves a certain amount of throwing spaghetti against a wall.

Our “spaghetti” is called a minimal viable product, and we launch them because nobody really knows what’s going to stick. Eventually, with a little luck and learning, we’ll become better chefs, and our spaghetti will stay up more often than not.

But while watching a recent demo day for one of the countless incubators that have sprung up in the last 18 months, I was struck by a horrifying revelation. The incubators weren’t “training chefs” at all. The entrepreneurs were the spaghetti.

Chevy Chase-based New Enterprise Associates    , a venture capital firm that passed on investing in YouTube seven years ago, is getting a second chance to help fund the video site's founders Steven Chen and Chad Hurley's new venture, Avos Systems, Portfolio.com reported.

Its properties include social bookmarking and content curation site Delicious.com, which the duo bought from Yahoo Inc. last year; a Chinese version of Delicious called Mei.fm; and a coming-soon magazine creation and discovery service called Zeen.

Even though I have seen many business leaders succeed, and many that failed, I still struggle with what really makes the difference. It seems like some CEOs are just more tuned in to the market realities, customer dynamics, people interactions, and are better leaders. But what does that really mean?

A while back I found some great business leadership insights in “The Secrets of Tuned In Leaders”, by Craig Stull, Phil Myers & David Meerman Scott. They did a series of interviews with CEOs to understand how technology companies create success, and why most fail. They found many similarities between the companies that are winning in the marketplace and those that are struggling.

Often individuals and organizations tend to get stuck in the mode of talking about innovation and/or trying to understand innovation. The only way to really know innovation is to do innovation, and learn from your mistakes along the way. In this article Harun Asad suggests preparing an Innovation Mission Statement as an initial, action-oriented way to get out of the rhetoric trap.

With an abundance of innovation success stories circulating the net and popular business publications, when do we hear about the other side of the coin – when is innovation not the answer to our organization’s problems? Gijs van Wulfen provides 21 examples of when we should avoid innovating. What are your experiences?

Innovation is doing things drastically different or doing drastically different things. It is the main theme of popular management books and blogs, like this one. A lot is going on at the moment in innovation, like ‘Sustainable Innovation’, ‘Business Model Innovation’, ‘Service innovation’, ‘Collaborative Innovation’, ‘Participatory Innovation’, ‘Social Innovation’, ‘Employee Driven Innovation’, ‘Brand Driven Innovation’, ‘Agile Innovation’ and ‘Frugal Innovation’.

Do you often find yourself procrastinating on important, yet non-urgent matters in order to take care of the stuff that needs immediate attention? This all-too-common circumstance also takes place on a larger scale. Bengt Järrehult walks us though how to deal with the incremental and breakthrough projects at the same time

If you think of urgent matters (read short term incremental upgrades) versus important matters (read long term radical or breakthrough innovation) –  you and I both know that urgent matters are always taken care of first. Not to worry – there is a way out of this dilemma.

Six of the nation’s technology and entrepreneurial associations are joining forces to educate Congress on what they say is the secret to a thriving economy – innovation.

“The United States has the talent, the work force and the resources to innovate ourselves out of economic turmoil,” said Brian Darmody of the Innovation Coalition. “Startup companies are the backbone for driving economic growth and creating quality jobs.”

The Innovation Coalition, a national network of technology and entrepreneurial associations, will host the second annual Washington, D.C. Fly-In Day on May 23.

Initially known as Enterprise Detroit (until last November), the investment group called Detroit Development Fund DDF has provided over 140 loans to Detroit entrepreneurs and community development corporations, totaling more than $16 million -- at a time when few other lenders would risk Detroit developments. The DDF expects to lend around $7 million in 2012.

The DDF has been very important to districts like Midtown, but has been equally, if less visibly effective in helping restore residential housing in the city. In addition, the organization has provided technical support for 145 minority-owned companies in Detroit, with services ranging from accounting and marketing to project management.

Faced with disruptive innovation, you can be sure any possibility for innovation dies when a company forms a committee for an “overarching strategy.”

I was reminded how innovation dies when the email below arrived in my inbox. It was well written, thoughtful and had a clearly articulated sense of purpose. You may have seen one like it in your school or company.

Skim it and take a guess why I first thought it was a parody. It’s a classic mistake large organizations make in dealing with disruption.

Does it matter whether your fledgling company spends a stint in an incubator? Does it ever! Forbes‘ recent ranking of incubators around the country found that the average Y Combinator company is worth $45.2 million. Just try doing that on your own.

That’s the average across 172 companies, mind you: The total value of all Y Combinator companies is $7.8 billion. “The data is of course skewed by certain large companies,” Forbes admits, among them Dropbox and Airbnb, although Mountain View, Calif.-based Y Combinator didn’t spell out how much each of its alumni are worth.

Fox baseball commentator Tim McCarver is a retired baseball catcher whose work as a TV analyst recently got him inducted into the announcers' wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He occupies the top TV perch in the sport, and fans either love him or hate him.

If McCarver truly wants to be loved and hated more, there's no better way to accomplish that than link climate change to America's pastime, on national TV, in the middle of a Cardinals-Brewers ballgame. Following two home runs that barely cleared the outfield wall Saturday afternoon, McCarver offered this:

The debate over whether we are in a technology bubble — and if so, what kind of bubble it might be — flared up again over the weekend, sparked by a piece in the New York Times that said venture-capital investors are encouraging startups to forego revenue so they can fetch higher valuations. Others immediately took issue with this idea, however, saying there is no bubble and repeated attempts to find one are just an attempt to stir up controversy. So which is it? That depends a lot on what you mean by the term “bubble.” Does it mean the kind of investment mania that resulted in a public-market bloodbath a decade ago, or just any sign of overvaluation?

At a press conference today announcing the Indiana Seed Fund II (ISFII), BioCrossroads also launched the inaugural BioCrossroads New Venture Competition presented by Krieg DeVault, an early stage business competition open to life sciences (biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic, ag-biotech) and health information technology companies holding a substantial nexus to Indiana and a high potential for attracting investment capital.

In addition to a cash prize of $25,000, the winner of the competition will have access to the Indiana Seed Fund II staff and the fund’s network of resources to provide business planning and early-stage strategic support. They will also have the opportunity to make a presentation to the ILSFII investment committee.

Soft or hard, have you ever wondered where the idea for a twisted pretzel was first born? Here is a little background on the first soft pretzel:

The most widespread story is that the first pretzels were invented by a monk in 610 A.D. During the season of Lent in northern Italy, the monk is said to have been baking unleavened bread, when he thought of a way to reward children for memorizing prayers. He twisted the dough, so it resembled arms crossed in prayer and named his creation “pretiola,” which means “little reward” in Latin. Other sources say that something similar occurred, but in a monastery in southern France.

Novotorium, a Philadelphia area business incubator that opened its doors in November 2011, has implemented a wide range of programs that are helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses, according to Mike Krupit, who heads up Novotorium. Programs range from full-time incubation, to monthly acceleration groups, to individual classes, co-working and sponsorship of programs focused on entrepreneurs - all without charging fees or requiring equity from entrepreneurs at the outset. "Our programs are designed to deliver value to entrepreneurs from day one, and on an ongoing basis to help them grow their businesses into long-term, sustainable operations," Krupit said. "Our full-time staff and partners are focused on helping entrepreneurs overcome the inevitable challenges that arise in every business so that they may be successful."

Crowdfunding—raising funds from “crowds” of individuals online via websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo—has been used to finance thousands of projects, inventions and businesses in the past few years. Now, a provision of the recently enacted JOBS Act, called the CROWDFUND Act, will greatly expand entrepreneurs’ ability to raise money by crowdfunding. Here are 10 steps to successful crowdfunding.

Consult a professional. The CROWDFUND Act seeks to lower the cost of raising capital by exempting companies raising $1 million or less from registering their offering with the SEC. But although you are exempt from registration, you’re not exempt from regulation. Always consult with a professional investment consultant or attorney versed in securities law before embarking on any crowdfunding venture.

Your pitch video is more like a short film

You know how you’re watching TV and countless ads come on? Even though it feels like they go on forever, they’re actually only 30-60 seconds long!  If we had a penny for the number of times we saw pitch videos that stretched to 8 minutes we’d buy a jet plane (and a Jacuzzi).  Think of your pitch video as a mini promotional video about what you’re trying to do.  Open with a quick personal testimonial, add a cool soundtrack, some graphics and presto, you’re good to go! Tip: Never go over 3 minutes.

Example: Box to the Fringe right away tells you what they’re raising for, presenting their project and telling you about their perks – in under 3 minutes!

Large wind farms in certain areas of the United States appear to affect local land surface temperature, according to a paper published April 29 in Nature Climate Change. The study, led by University at Albany Associate Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental SciencesLiming Zhou, provides critical insight about the possible impacts of wind farms and could be important for developing efficient adaptation and management strategies to ensure long-term sustainability of wind power.

Large wind farms in certain areas of the U.S. appear to affect local land surface temperature, according to a UAlbany-led research team. Considerable research has linked the carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels with rising global temperatures. Consequently, many nations are moving toward cleaner sources of renewable energy such as wind turbines, as generating wind power creates no emissions, uses no water, and is considered green.

Over the next several decades, immigrants and their children will account for much of the population growth in the United States. Community colleges have historically served as the gateway for immigrant and refugee populations by offering a variety of programs and services such as classes in English as a second language, civic education, and job-skills training.

But it is hard to provide and maintain programs that adequately meet the needs of immigrants, according to the Community