The patents that Kodak is auctioning off to pay its creditors—and those it is holding onto—provide some clue as to what kind of company might emerge from bankruptcy.

Kodak is a shell of the industrial icon that spent decades leading the analog film and camera business. Despite inventing the first digital camera in 1975, Kodak was late to enter that market and, even then, it didn't consider it a crucial business until the mid-2000s.

While institutional LPs know big changes are happening, most focus too much on 1) increasing/decreasing fund size or 2) marketing + branding as the major trends. Both are notable, but the more significant evolutions going on are: 1) a shift towards operators vs financiers as fund managers, along with growth of non-investment staff, 2) use of technology and scalability in how investments are made via tools, data, teams, and process, and 3) the emergence of branded guilds as dominant entities / communities that attract the lion’s share of new deals and talent.

It’s no coincidence we designed 500 Startups with these evolutions in mind, altho none of the required strategies have been easy to execute and we are still refining our approach. However, all three shifts are related and can be summed up simply as: Geeks are Taking Over Venture Capital. Or, as my friend Marc Andreessen might say, Software Eats the Private Equity World.

A late July Elance job report shows an upswing in the “creative economy” over technical positions globally in the second quarter of 2012 for the first time ever. Elance says that companies are looking for new ways to attract and engage customers. This is the explanation behind the 3% lead creative positions have taken over technical ones at 42% to 39%.

As for Canada? According to Martin and Millway’s book, "Canada: What it is, What It Can Be," Canadian businesses underpay creative people compared to their US counterparts. This is a trend that likely needs to change if Canada is going to keep their top creative talent. The book also outlines that Canada is behind the United States in the number of creative positions that comprise of the total workforce.

We understand that starting a business can be a pretty wild ride and that some business owners experience feelings of guilt when they do anything outside of work, not involved with running their businesses. Documentaries have a way of conveying profound ideas in an entertaining way that can lead to new thoughts, inspire action or simply shine a light on a stones unturned.

Many new business owners understand that incorporating or forming a Limited Liability Company (LLC) helps shield a business owner against being held personally responsible for their company’s liabilities and debts. This is known as the corporate shield or corporate veil as it separates your personal assets from those of the business.

However, did you know that even after incorporating or forming an LLC, you can still be personally liable?

Liability protection is not absolute and there are several instances where a business owner can be personally liable in business despite the fact he or she created a business entity.

Sanitation is a serious issue in many countries. The number one killer of children in the world is disease caused by contact with feces. Toilets, or lack of toilets, are a big part of the problem. Many third-world countries don't have them and current models are not efficient.

It has always surprised me that founders were so quick to fight over how many board members there were and so quick to agree to have as many board observers as people wanted.

I have always been vehemently against board observers and wrote some of the reasons in this previous post. But over the past couple of years I’ve slightly modified my views, which I’d like to explain:

The Case Against Board Observers Unless your company is really struggling or there is something very controversial going on at the company (i.e. removing the CEO, selling the company without consensus) then NOTHING ever comes up for a formal vote. Almost all decisions at private, startup, VC-backed tech companies is consensus driven.

Even though the world is getting smaller, due to easy global connectivity, people still feel alone if not well-connected locally. There is also more going on in every location, so this personal need and super sensitivity to the local community has spawned a new breed of Internet startups, called “hyperlocal.” The term first appeared at least five years ago, but the model is now very common.

At first this was limited to news sites that concentrated on a segment of a community, like West Seattle, but the concept is now being applied to advertising and promotion sites, blogging sites, and even legal services sites. These hyperlocal sites don’t have to compete with global sites, and always have unique content, community advertising, and local issues.

When David Petraeus visited the Harvard Kennedy School in 2009, one of the meetings he requested was with author Doris Kearns Goodwin. Petraeus, who holds a PhD in International Relations from Princeton, is a fan of Team of Rivals and wanted time to speak to the famed historian about her work. Apparently, the great general (and current CIA Director) is something of a bibliophile.

He's increasingly an outlier. Even as global literacy rates are high (84%), people are reading less and less deeply. The National Endowment for the Arts (PDF) has found that "reading has declined among every group of adult Americans," and for the first time in American history, "less than half of the U.S. adult American population is reading literature." Literacy has been improving in countries like India and China, but that literacy may not translate into more or deeper reading.

What’s the quickest way to startup success? One is to think of a great innovation. Another is to copy someone else’s great innovation. That's a lot easier than coming up with your own. And it’s often a shorter, surer path to your first million - or billion.

Just ask the Samwer brothers, Oliver, 39, Marc, 41 and Alexander, 37. The founders of Berlin-based imitator incubator Rocket Internet, they’ve cloned dozens of successful internet companies, from eBay to Facebook. And all three of them are billionaires.

Until recently, the Samwers kept a low profile. The press usually referred to them as secretive. But lately they’ve been getting more attention. After all, it’s hard not to draw attention when you’re raking in billions by copying almost every successful Internet company that comes along.

Sleek, fast and slim notebook computers are coming as early as this fall. But that might be the last hurrah of the laptop, as tablet computers are expected to overtake sales of notebook computers by the end of 2016. That’s the forecast for the changing computing landscape, according to Richard Shim, senior analyst for mobile devices at DisplaySearch.

The change reflects a shift in consumer preferences, Shim said at the Emerging Display Technologies on Tuesday in Santa Clara, Calif. Tablets have screen sizes ranging from 5 inches to 10 inches, while notebook computers range from 10 inches to 17 inches. Tablets are focused on convenience, while notebooks are built for performance. Tablets are selling strong in mature markets like the U.S., while notebooks are selling better in emerging markets. That’s because the notebooks are often the only computing devices in a household and they have to be used for high-performance tasks and productivity apps.

We all know that NIH has seen a large increase in applications over the past decade, but how much of this is due to scientists writing more applications and how much is a result of a larger number of scientists doing biomedical research? I decided to take a closer look at this question, particularly at competing applications for investigator-initiated research project grants (RPGs), i.e., those that are not submitted in response to a specific request for applications.

First, we can see in figure 1 that the amount of money (in direct costs) requested in such applications has increased from $4.4 billion in fiscal year 1998 to just over $13 billion in fiscal year 2011, while the amount of money awarded to competing applications during that time increased from $1 billion to around $2 billion.

On Aug. 8, the Greenland ice sheet shattered a seasonal record, with more cumulative melting since record-keeping began more than three decades ago, new research finds.

Greenland's melting season usually begins in June, when the first puddles of meltwater emerge, and lasts through early September, when temperatures begin to cool. This year, a full four weeks before the end of the melt season, the ice sheet had shed more water than the record reached during the full season in 2010.

The Florida Economic Gardening Institute (GrowFL) at the University of Central Florida is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 class of Florida Companies to Watch. In its 2nd year of existence, Florida Companies to Watch is presented by SunTrust Banks and the University of Central Florida in association with the Edward Lowe Foundation and with special support from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Created by the Edward Lowe Foundation, Companies to Watch is an exclusive program that honors second-stage growth companies. Fifty second-stage companies from across the state of Florida were selected as "Companies to Watch" for their impressive employment rates and revenue growth. Award winners were also selected for their entrepreneurial leadership, product innovation, social/community responsibility and competitive business practices.

Venture capitalists are finding the medical device industry less and less lucrative, according to a recent MoneyTree Report, published by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) in conjunction with the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

Report findings show venture capital (VC) for the Life Sciences sector, which includes biotechnolgy and the medical device industry, dipped 30 percent in VC funding dollars and 22 percent in deals for Q2 compared to the same quarter last year.

As I continue to engage with companies, universities, government leaders, investors and economic development practitioners in Ohio and across the country, I can’t help but notice the lack of diversity in high growth technology sectors.  How can the U.S. reach its full potential as a global leader in technology and innovation if all citizens do not have the opportunity to participate?

Most economists and experts agree that economic competitiveness is tied to innovative technology development and new product commercialization. Among the challenges inherent in this path is high growth entrepreneurship and access to talent. Creating companies and growing industries that generate jobs, demands exponentially more entrepreneurs and workers who have STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, high-level training and the corresponding skills to perform in a technology-driven world.

Those who have known me for years already know my Boston roots. Thanks to all of you, our E100 Network – with some new additions – will span 70+ countries…and growing. Again, thanks to many of you, I've had the privilege of visiting 38…and counting.  

The last two years, I have been toiling another land – revisiting the local innovation environment of Boston, our Commonwealth and nation. As whirlwind – and kaleidoscopic – as has been the travel of the last two decades, getting reacquainted with our local leadership has left me breathless - something to share!

We witness daily the impact of global knowledge exchange. Indeed, we have learned from the collective insights in our E100 Network…a symbiosis enabling us to build upon the practice of one another.  

Leadership is marked by deeds not words. Progress is measured by the courage to offer in writing one's insights and convictions. Proof of contributions of E100 is evident and seminal: just scan the E100 Author page on the website: http://www.entovation.com/books.htm. Individual publications have made a difference; but collectively, the etchings of some E100 leaders represent a visible, significant influence.

Daily life at a startup is inherently exciting. Since capital is limited, teams are small, allowing each employee to wear multiple hats and fulfill fluid job descriptions, all to reach unprecedented goals.

Brainstorming sessions are intimate, voices are heard, creativity is appreciated and innovation is implemented. It’s quite the contrast to corporate America, where endless cubicles often keep an employee’s task list monotonous.

For those of you who just want the punchline, First Round Capital is moving our headquarters from the suburbs of West Conshohocken to the City of Philadelphia  Here is why:

I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area for over 20 years – ever since I was a freshman at Penn.  I helped to found three startups in the Philly area.  I launched First Round Capital in the Philly area.   Yet, for most of my professional career I’ve been “bi-coastal”.   Recognizing that Silicon Valley is the center of the technology ecosystem, I’ve made countless trips out there.  I’m there so often that I know the flight attendants on the PHL-SFO flights by name.  It’s why this blog is called RedEyeVC – and why it has carried the subtitle “A view of the startup ecosystem from a coastally challenged VC”.