With today's breathless enthusiasm for innovation, it's hard to remember when, as far as the management literature was concerned, innovation was something that guys in white coats who worked for companies like DuPont did in the R&D lab. Expanding an existing business into new corporate territory, or corporate venturing, was called "diversification," not innovation. It is also hard to remember that before the 1980s, very little in the way of empirical evidence existed as to what companies should expect when they ventured into new territory. We had little theory and even less evidence to guide us. Most decisions executives made were based on their own experience or intuition (to be charitable) or on the basis of their pet projects and personal biases (to be a little less charitable).

E. Ralph Biggadike's breakthrough research on the realities of corporate venturing, reported in his 1979 HBR article, "The Risky Business of Diversification," therefore broke new ground by collecting actual data about what companies could expect as they explored new markets or extended their reach to new product categories. It was in the mold of many classic HBR pieces of the day — using rigorous academic research to inform an interesting managerial question. Ralph used the then-new Profit Impact of Market Strategies (or PIMS) database and his own original research to create a sample of 68 ventures launched by 35 companies, mostly in industrial goods businesses. He examined the fates of these ventures (which had all survived for some time) to try to determine how long a company could expect to wait for them to be profitable, and how well they would ultimately do financially. One of his most significant conclusions was that "new ventures need, on the average, eight years before they reach profitability." Further, that it took another two to four years before the return on investment of the new businesses equated to returns from the existing businesses. At the time, interestingly, as now, executives often gave a fledgling business three years or so to prove themselves, after which they lost interest. It didn't make sense then, and makes even less sense now.

Startups offering everything from personalized nutrition and pregnancy apps to live online fitness instruction and a smart, souped-up toothbrush are among the members of Rock Health’s latest class of companies.

The San Francisco-based health tech accelerator on Thursday announced its fourth class of 14 startups, saying that it accepted less than 3 percent of the applicants.

The accelerator said this seasons’ applicant pool included more companies with hybrid hardware/software models, which is reflected in a couple of the startups selected to be part of the class.

It’s the golden age of the entrepreneur, but the people who fund them aren’t happy about it.  At yesterday’s Kauffman Foundation Fellows summit in New York, a trio of veteran limited partners who invest in venture capital firms spent an hour taking questions from a crowd of 125 budding VCs and entrepreneurs, tossing out buckets of cold water along with their encouragement. What they want for Christmas: fewer VC firms, smaller funds, and saner valuations.

During the past 15 years, LPs put $20 billion each year into VC, about four times the $500 million committed to venture in total during the decade 1985-1995. If venture is going to return to the cottage industry it once was, the LPs will have to scale back their investments. This year may go down as the year LPs finally blew the whistle on the venture capital model. Pretty much every one will say publicly or under their breath that the model is broken.

Most commercials either go for the funny bone or go for the heart. Every now and then, though, some of them go for the jugular.

These ads always emerge right around Halloween--as though re-animated by some Madison Avenue Dr. Frankenstein. While most seasonal advertising can be as cloying as a bag full of fun-size candy bars, the best ones test the limits of how unsettling you can get while still selling something, using a range of tools that stops just short of blood and gore. As it turns out, though, that creative limitation still leaves a lot of room for coming up with new ways to scare viewers into action.

In the past few years, New York City has become a tech hotspot. And while it hasn't had any LinkedIn or Facebook-size exits, it has produced a few IPOs and near-billion-dollar acquisitions. It's become the home to some of tech's most promising new companies, from Etsy to Makerbot to Kickstarter. Early stage investors like David Tisch, Joshua Kushner, First Round Capital, and Lerer Ventures are playing a large part in helping fuel the fire.

Yahoo has acquired the company behind one-year-old mobile recommendations app Stamped, its first since ex-Google exec Marissa Mayer became CEO of the company in July, Mashable has learned.

The acquisition was purely for talent: Stamped’s nine-person team — of which five are ex-Google employees — will be joining a large mobile product team Yahoo plans to establish in New York under the leadership of Stamped’s three co-founders, we’re told. Stamped’s iPhone and web app will both be discontinued by the end of the year.

It makes sense that the startup was on Mayer’s radar. Mayer worked closely with Stamped co-founder Robby Stein while the pair were working at Google.

I hear many executives and professionals in large corporations talking about their dream of jumping ship, and starting their own company. What they don’t realize is that the longer they wait, the more big-company habits they are acquiring, which will make their eventual decision harder and entrepreneurial efforts less and less likely to succeed.

Certainly, the longer they wait, the greater the variety of excuses they will find for why now is not the time. Common examples include; need to work on my resume, broaden my experience, enhance my skills, save my income, and maintain a stable family life until my children are gone. Most will then NEVER make the step, and remain unsatisfied through much of their career.

There are some things I wish would just go away forever. Business cards are one of those things. I stopped carrying them several years ago and simply give people my email address (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) as my primary contact data. But at the end of every day I have a handful of cards to deal with. Sometimes it is one or two; often it is a big pile.

Yesterday I was at the Xconomy Big Data Conference in Boston. I was the lead off keynote speaker so I decided to spend my 30 minutes doing a rant on Big Data that I started off with the line “Big Data is Bullshit.” It was fun for me and I hope useful for the 500 people in the audience.

ON the sun-dappled October weekend when the cyclist Lance Armstrong’s world fell apart, Austin, the city he calls home and that until recently called him hero, went on with the simple pleasures of Longhorn football, live music, festivals and an amateur cyclist ride through the Hill Country.

But the midautumn bonhomie couldn’t hide a sudden anxiety around town. Stunned supporters of Mr. Armstrong arrived for his gala benefit defiant in their Livestrong logos, even as The Austin American Statesman sullenly detailed the charges of doping and cover-up, the fleeing of corporate sponsors and the stripping of Mr. Armstrong’s seven Tour de France victories.

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air’s salubrity,” Emerson once advised. It’s a path embraced by the wetsuit warriors in “Chasing Mavericks,” a surfing movie about men, water and waves, and how and why they sometimes come together beautifully and sometimes collide with terrifying force. The movie, directed by Curtis Hanson and Michael Apted, is based on the true story of a Santa Cruz-area surfer, Rick Hesson, entertainingly nicknamed Frosty — welcome to California, people! — who back in the day helped shape a legend-to-be: Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston), a boy with a dream and a battered board.

What Jay wanted to do was conquer the surf break known as Mavericks, home of killing, crushing, gorgeous monster waves that surge and crash near the coastal city of Half Moon Bay, 30 miles south of San Francisco. To judge from all the big-wave surfing movies, YouTube clips, books, blogs, competitions and dollars now in circulation, he was part of a vanguard. What entices these surfers and looky-loos to Mavericks are waves that become behemoths topping 50 feet, giants that owe their size to long swells, the continental shelf, fault lines, reef beds, storms and shallow water. According to lore, the surf break is named after a German shepherd, Maverick. He would follow the surfers who frequented the area in the early ’60s and, like them, didn’t tackle its biggest waves.

A new product from Reebok and MC10, a startup in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will provide a relatively easy way to measure impacts to the head. It uses an unobtrusive, form-fitting skullcap riddled with sensors and stretchable electronics that can be worn with or without helmets.

The product, announced yesterday, won’t be unveiled until early 2013. David Icke, CEO of MC10, says the product would include multiple kinds of sensors and offer red, yellow, or green LED readouts to advise coaches and parents on the severity of an impact.

Skyrocketing inflation, widespread corruption, a continent-wide economic crisis, and poor IT infrastructure are some of the problems for the 10 lowest ranked countries in Grant Thornton's Global Dynamism Index. Every country doesn't have all of those problems, but these 10 have had the poorest performance in the measures that business leaders consider most important over the last 12 months.

Chances are you’re reading this from the comfort of your office chair or possibly using a tablet and relaxing in a comforter. How much time do you spend sitting everyday? Think about it realistically and come up with an answer. If you’re an entrepreneur that works at home or even in an office, chair time adds up quickly. Add in a car commute and time on the couch, and you’re looking at over ten hours a day. Could you be healthier and more productive if you spent a little more time on your feet?

Too Much Sitting is Bad for Your Health

Recent studies suggest that excessive sitting is detrimental to your health and is even correlated with a shortened lifespan. Modern workers suffer from more back pain and body aches than workers in the past who performed physical, manual labor. Our bodies are made to be active, so it only makes sense that they would not be in optimal condition by sitting a life away. At the same time, remaining stationary for too long can dull even the sharpest mind and diminish productivity. Try getting out of the chair to improve your health and even increase your efficiency.

Conventional venture capitalists are writing smaller checks and funding fewer deals these days, but the U.S. Small Business Administration’s venture capital program is growing. 

The program—officially called the Small Business Investment Company debenture program—forked over a record $2.95 billion to 1,094 small businesses in fiscal year 2012, which ended Sept. 30. That’s a 14 percent increase over last year’s $2.59 billion, and an 85 percent increase from 2010, which was also a record year for the program.

Kaiser Permanente is joining Mayo Clinic, KPCB, Genentech, UnitedHealth and others as a partner of digital health accelerator Rock Health, which revealed a new class of fresh-faced startups today.

The 14 companies selected for Rock’s fourth class get access to mentorship, office space, operational support and the option of $100,000 in investment. Not surprisingly, they represent some of the latest trends we’re seeing in the digital health space.

Safeguard Scientifics’ (NYSE: SFE) third quarter earnings call this week highlighted areas where the investment firm sees compelling opportunities, particularly in healthcare and life science companies.

There was also a changing of the guard. Peter Boni, the CEO, announced his retirement next year with CFO Stephen Zarrilli taking over the role next month. Boni said he would act as a senior advisor to the company through next year.

The Wayne, Pennsylvania investment firm noted that it’s scaling back its cash deployments next year to $65 million to $85 million from $100 million to $150 million. That’s partly because of the increasing complexities of valuation.

Destination Europe

• is a forum for leading European research organisations, funders and industry to present the opportunities they offer to researchers and innovators from anywhere in the world 
• showcases Europe's vibrant and exciting research and innovation culture 
• events enable you to learn about opportunities, ask questions, network and discuss with people who have chosen to work in Europe 
• is a joint initiative of the European Union and its Member States.

This summer, Under30CEO launched a nationwide campaign to discover the most promising young entrepreneurs from all across the United States. The goal of the Under30CEO Awards is to highlight the next big innovators, leaders, and world changers from our Top 10 Cities for Young Entrepreneurs.

In order to qualify, the entrepreneurs had to meet revenue requirements of between $50,000 and $10,000,000 (OR) over 10,000 users, (OR) have between $50,000 and $10,000,000 in funding, under the age of 30.

The following are the 2012 Under30CEO Award Winners from Kansas City. Kansas City’s young entrepreneurs had over $12,000,000 in revenues, $1,200,000 in funding and employed over 60 people. Congratulations to all of the winners!

Grandma and Grandpa would love a little robotic help around the house, a new study has found.

In a survey, a team of psychologists and engineers found that adults over age 65 felt generally positive toward the idea of having a robot help them with chores, although they preferred humans help for tasks such as getting dressed or eating. The study was designed to help robot-makers design appealing bots for seniors in the future, especially older people who want help so they are able to live in their own homes instead of moving to an assisted living facility or a relative's house.

"There are many misconceptions about older adults having negative attitudes toward robots," Cory-Ann Smarr, a doctoral student in psychology who worked on the survey, said in a statement. "The people we interviewed were very enthusiastic and optimistic about robots in their daily lives."

The amount of total money spent on biomedical and health research fell by $4 billion, or 3 percent, between 2010 and 2011, mostly due to large budget cuts from federal sources, with a total budget of around $136 billion, according to the 2011 U.S. Investment in Health Research report, released by Research!America yesterday (October 25). Pending budget cuts as a result of sequestration threaten to knockdown research spending by up to another 10 percent—or $13.6 billion dollars—in 2013.

“Insufficient funding, coupled with deep budget cuts under sequestration, could be devastating for research,” Research!America’s chair John E. Porter said in a press release. “Our global competitiveness hinges on a robust investment that will support bright scientific minds, create high-quality jobs and provide a catalyst for private sector innovation.”