Founder and CEO William Marshall takes us inside how Planet Labs seeks to benefit humanity by leveraging continuous imaging to understand the challenges facing the planet. Marshall discusses founding ventures with purpose, the opportunities possible from open access to data, and the novel technologies that bring their "dove" satellites to life in space.

Mike Rothenberg, founder and CEO of Rothenberg Ventures, describes the entrepreneurial approach he took in starting his firm and how failures along the way were actually opportunities to reset. He also explains the business concept of red versus blue ocean, where the latter represents an uncharted market that entrepreneurs should swim toward at all costs.

Are you developing a new, innovative product, process, or software application? Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central & Northern PA has been investing in tech-startups and small manufacturers for more than 30 years. Don’t know much about Ben Franklin? Watch this quick video or check out our new website.

At our December 2015 Board of Director’s meeting, nine projects were approved to receive funding support from the Ben Franklin Program. These companies, who are listed below all took a big step forward in turning their business ideas into a reality by applying for an investment. Contact us at 814-898-6650 to see how your name could be on this list next year.

This week, Campaign US launches its Innovation channel, a section of the site dedicated to the latest technological, strategic and creative innovations. To commemorate the launch — and the dawn of a new year — we’ve asked some of the industry’s top thinkers to share their thoughts on the state of innovation in the advertising industry and beyond.

Eliminating tax incentives to attract businesses is like playing a game of Whack-A-Mole. Knock one down and another pops up.

Gov. Rick Snyder sought to end such incentives when he and the Legislature killed the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, which offered lucrative business-tax credits, in 2011.

Image: Switch, a Nevada company that specializes in operating large-scale data centers, announced it will convert the former Steelcase pyramid into SUPERNAP Michigan, a data center that will result in a $5 billion investment and 1,000 new jobs over the next 10 year — provided Michigan adopts a series of bills designed to provide data centers with tax breaks. (Neil Blake/MLive.com) 

250 square feet say the future of urban living is a tight squeeze.

578 SHARES ••• Stainless steel appliances, hardwood flooring, and only 250-350 square feet of living space. For some, the micro-apartment model is barely livable. Some are affordable by city mandate, but why are others willing to pay upwards of $3,000 a month to live in one? Fast Company's senior editors Amy Farley and Diana Budds talk about the newest New York living space, what its appeal could be, and how the future of apartment hunting in urban America may look in the near future.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com

Established companies often struggle to become more dynamic—but it’s not impossible. In these interviews, the leaders of organization design at McKinsey, principals Wouter Aghina and Aaron De Smet, explain what agility means and how organizations can evolve to thrive in an environment that demands constant change. Aghina was interviewed by Monica Murarka, a senior expert in organization design at McKinsey, while De Smet was interviewed by Luke Collins, an editor with McKinsey Publishing. An extended and edited transcript of Aghina’s and De Smet’s comments follows.

Three of seven regions in upstate New York were awarded $500 million dollars each in economic development money, in a contest by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that critics have called the “hunger games.”

The annual awards ceremony took on a game show atmosphere, with lots of slick videos, and an enthusiastic announcer.

Image: Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the regional economic development competition awards in Albany Thursday. GOVERNORANDREWCUOMO FLICKR

About 30 miles southeast of Las Vegas, the little town of Boulder City, Nevada has made a name for itself as the home of Nevada Solar One, a giant solar thermal energy power plant that produces enough power to take 20,000 cars off the roads a year.

But now, Boulder City is aiming to stake a new claim to fame: home to the Aerodrome, the world’s first droneport, a facility aimed primarily at education for commercial users of unmanned aerial systems, but also recreational users and even drone racers.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com

With the rise of Uber, Airbnb, and Taskrabbit, there's a sinking suspicion that the traditional 9-5 job is being replaced by flexible independent contract work or so-called “gigs." But, despite multiple billion dollar Silicon Valley startups based on independent contract workers, economists have had difficulty finding any evidence that Americans were more likely to be self-employed.

Image: http://readwrite.com

It’s a sore thumb that refuses to heal: Wisconsin ranks among the nation’s bottom-feeders when it comes to business startups.

That has been true in good times and bad, under Republican governors and Democratic governors. Almost no one can remember a time – unless you stretch back to the 1950s or ’60s – that Wisconsin was a leader in launching new companies.

Most venture capital is wasted. VCs lose money on about 80 percent of their investments, and need home runs like Facebook to earn an attractive return. Most of these home runs are in Silicon Valley. This is why Silicon Valley is the global leader in VC performance.

But even in Silicon Valley, entrepreneurs can make VC more productive by delaying getting it. Billion-dollar entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley who delayed getting venture capital stayed in control of their venture and kept more than double the wealth they created. So if you are in Silicon Valley, learn how to delay getting VC.

Industrialist Sudhir Menon and digital marketer Atul Hegde have come together to lend a helping hand to fledgling companies.

Their Rainmaker Ventures has kicked off with $50 million early-stage funding and aims to invest capital in and wholly-mentor new firms.

Sudhir is CMD of Dorf Ketal, a Rs 2,000-crore global corporation specialising in the development, commercialisation, marketing and application of specialty-engineered chemicals for the refining and petrochemical industries, while Atul was previously part of the Astro group of Malaysia-funded ToTHENEW ventures, running Ignitee Digital, a marketing firm.

An essential part of angel investing is setting and agreeing to the terms of the deal.  Many angels recognize the importance of deal terms, but often wonder which components of the term sheet to prioritize. I’ll reveal the answer, but first some background about term sheets.

A term sheet outlines everyone’s intent for a deal. It is typically provided by the angel with help from their attorney. For this article I worked with angel investor Katherine O’Neill and attorneys, Ben Straughan, Partner, and Jim Carroll, Counsel, for the Perkins Coie Emerging Companies & Venture Capital practice. They also shared their insights in a recent Angel Capital Association webinar, The Key Points of Term Sheets.

As if top-ranked basketball and football programs weren’t enough—forgive me, my blood runs green and white thanks to early indoctrination by my Michigan State University alumni parents—Spartans now have another cool thing to celebrate: the announcement of a new MSU-backed business accelerator.

It may not have been apparent five or six years ago, but crowdfunded campaigns today provide developers great and small with exciting new avenues for generating public interest in video game projects. Among their most powerful features are their ability to bring communities of like-minded gamers together to support a common cause, as well as the ability to give gamers a greater sense of being involved with a project’s development as they form close relationships with developers. However, some crowdfunding projects also fall short of their goals and end up disappointing fans. The University of Pennsylvania and Kickstarter collaborated on an independent study earlier this month – titled “The Kickstarter Fulfillment Report” – which delves some of the psychological underpinnings behind what makes backers satisfied on Kickstarter, and why backers feel that many projects fail to deliver what they promise.

With help from more than 250 friends and partners, UNC Pembroke cut the ribbon to open its Entrepreneurship Incubator (EI) on December 7. The incubator is officially open for business in southeastern North Carolina.

Located at 202 Main Street in downtown Pembroke, the 17,000 square-foot Entrepreneurship Incubator is expected to be an engine of economic growth for a region that needs jobs. The incubator, which was approximately five years in the making, was a product of multiple partnerships and much hard work.

Image: Entrepreneurship Incubator launched – Chancellor Robin Cummings does the honors with project leader Dr. Cammie Hunt and former Congressman Mike McIntypre giving an assist.. The completion of the incubator, like the ribbon cutting was a team effort. - http://www.uncp.edu

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, has said the current economic challenges in Nigeria and other economies across the world present opportunities for new discoveries and innovations. Wigwe, said this at the 2015 Access Conference held in Lagos on Thursday with the theme: “Leading in a transformational world – the imperative of innovation.” The Access Bank boss pointed out that there were significant opportunities, which everyone, especially the youths must grab to contribute positively to the development of the world.

While some technology startups are having a tougher time raising money, venture capitalists don't appear to be struggling to find investors. Foundation Capital, the venture firm that's backed such startups as Lending Club, On Deck Capital, and Chegg, has closed a $325 million fund. Meanwhile, Battery Ventures is raising as much as $950 million for two funds, and Index Ventures has set a $500 million target for what would be its biggest venture fund.