Entrepreneurs looking for investor funding often fail to realize that all money comes with strings. For example, if you have watched the Shark Tank TV series, you probably noticed that the Sharks always ask the entrepreneurs for their intended “use of funds.” Those who respond with one of the wrong answers, such as “I want to pay myself a salary,” usually go home empty-handed.

Even though it was three years ago, Lorry Wagner still shakes his head in amazement over the serendipity of the encounter. It was at a wind energy conference in the Canary Islands where Wagner found himself sitting at a table next to Fred Olsen, the 87-year-old Norwegian billionaire who’s heir to a business empire that includes cruise ships, North Sea oil drilling, and, strangely enough, Timex watches.

Image: Mono Buckets awaiting installation for the Dogger Bank wind farm in the North Sea off Yorkshire, England. (Photo: Universal Foundation)

Wearable devices are enabling patient-generated data for a U.S. cancer study, as connected technology is proving increasingly useful for medical research. As reported in an article by Mobile Health News, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has teamed up with cloud-based analytics startup Medidata to research multiple myeloma. This comes as wearbles are used increasingly in medical applications.

EAST LANSING – Federica Brandizzi is studying ways to increase the yields of soybeans and alfalfa.

Once the Michigan State University professor pinpoints the genetic traits that increase a plant’s biomass, the hope is to license her technology to businesses, which then can apply them to multiple crops and sell the seeds to farmers.

“By finding crops that have a bigger yield, you can not only save money, but you can make these crops more competitive on the market and make downstream products cheaper for the consumer,” Brandizzi said. “We want to make crops bigger and more productive.”

The spectacular valuations popping up in Silicon Valley are nothing new — everyone wants to be a unicorn, and will do almost anything to get that distinctive valuation. But the looming shadow of another dot-com bust has been just around the corner, as VC funding becomes more scarce and difficult to obtain for startups. Companies in the tech sector want to know what’s coming down the pipeline, and Professor Ilya Strebulaev is the man to tell you.

The winner of the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year won’t be announced until September 15th, so for now, feast your eyes upon 10 of the over 130 spectacular images deemed worthy enough to be placed on the competition’s shortlist.

This is the eighth year the Royal Observatory Greenwich has hosted the photography competition, which has received over 4,500 entries this year from both amateur and professional astronomical photographers from around the world. The observatory itself is a historic site, the home of Greenwich Mean Time and the Prime Meridian, first opened in 1675.

Image: http://time.com

Women in leadership positions are often instructed on how to act so they don't appear too aggressive or bitchy. Instead of placing the blame on sexist workplace culture or misogynistic employees, these articles tell ladies exactly what they're doing wrong and how to fix it.

In a recent article titled "9 Non-Threatening Leadership Strategies For Women," The Cooper Review pokes fun at this media trope, offering some helpful tips (with funny illustrations) to "alter your leadership style to account for the (sometimes) fragile male ego."

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com

Gaining perspective through travel can be really valuable for entrepreneurs.

Kunal Desai, CEO of online investing and trading education site Bulls on Wall Street, spends roughly half of the year traveling, and has found that some destinations can be a great source of inspiration for one's own business. 

We spoke to Desai, who recommended 10 destinations that boast innovation, networking opportunities, lower costs of living, or lower taxes — all of which are factors that can help entrepreneurs boost their own businesses. 

A common pain of startups after an exhilarating first surge of early adopters is a long and frustrating plateau of slow growth, where it seems like nothing you do will get your business to profitability. Too many entrepreneurs don’t know what to do at this point, largely accounting for that disappointing 50 percent of startups that fail in the first five years, according to Gallup.

Have you ever thought about doing your job in a completely different part of the world? Many of us have fantasized about adding global work experience to our LinkedIn profiles, but typically talk ourselves out of the idea with questions like “How can I afford to pick up and leave?” or “Will it have negative consequences on my career?” With more companies expanding their operations abroad, employment opportunities overseas are becoming increasingly prevalent. This means you now have more opportunities to pursue your globe-trotting dream while adding valuable experience to your professional toolkit.

Image: https://blog.linkedin.com

Yesterday, a little birdie told me about Nextt, an accelerator (probably more accurately referred to as an incubator) for early-idea-stage startups. The idea is to take a napkin-stage idea and turn it into an MVP of sorts in six weeks. Not a shabby idea, but the insidious thing here is that Nextt charges $100 per idea. Not to participate, mind you — to put in an application.

We have published several of these informational type matrices regarding the various iterations of investment crowdfunding as enacted under the JOBS Act of 2012. This most recent visualization is courtesy of VerifyInvestor (an accredited investor verification service) and it addresses Title II – Reg D 506c accredited crowdfunding, Title III – Reg CF retail crowdfunding and Reg A+ a scaled disclosure offering that some describe as a mini-IPO offering. Each of these securities exemptions has positives and negatives.  Elected officials and regulators have attempted to structure a capital ladder that provides access to capital at different stages for various types of entities. While it may seem a bit convoluted for the parts of the world that have a single  exemption, its what the US has to work with and so far we are seeing solid progress.

North Carolina just joined about 30 states that have passed laws allowing local businesses in the state to seek small investments from private parties using crowdfunding. 

The legislation, signed last week, takes advantage of federal guidelines that create a pathway for (usually) small-time investors who aren't accredited by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to support small businesses in their own state. Under the new law, local businesses can raise funds through privately created online portals or use a state-run portal that North Carolina would need to develop. 

Agencies that struggle to innovate and create a forward-thinking culture might take a few tips from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which attributes its success to longstanding agency values.

The brains behind the development of the internet, GPS technologies, unmanned aerial vehicles, stealth aircraft and the brain-computer interface for artificial limbs, DARPA credits its success to a culture where the urgency of the mission requires trust, autonomy and risk taking.

Image: https://gcn.com

Finding a good balance between work and the rest of your life is a constant challenge for the connected employee—even when they’re in a dream job and have an empathetic supervisor.

That’s due in part to fact that two to four extra hours have been added to the traditional workweek, and more of us work from home than ever before.

However, there are some companies taking measures to ensure their employees aren’t working at the expense of their personal time.

When the U.S. government made their R&D tax credit permanent in December 2015, it made a long-term commitment to using incentives to entice private firms to invest in research and development, joining many countries around the world. Although most studies find that R&D tax incentives promote R&D, there is little consensus on the extent of this effect. A recent firm-level analysis from the United Kingdom finds some of the strongest evidence to date on the effectiveness of R&D tax credits in incentivizing innovation. At the same time, however, other studies suggest other elements of a national economy such as education and infrastructure may be more important.

The data say Americans just aren’t taking the bold risks that lead to business creation, drive growth, and create jobs. Luckily, there have recently been a spate of Senate and House hearings during which the problems at the root of anemic entrepreneurship were addressed and policy solutions on how to rekindle entrepreneurship in the US were provided.

Image: REUTERS/Nir Elias/File Photo – RTX2JM5G

THUNDER BAY, ON JULY 28, 2016 - Northern Ontario Angels (NOA); a not for profit corporation that facilitates business deals between entrepreneurs and accredited angel investors, ranks 1st in Canada for the number of investments closed in 2015, it announced today. With 139 total deals completed, NOA has now achieved $50 million in investment capital flowed to Northern entrepreneurs.

The National Angel Capital Organization’s (NACO) 2015 Report on Angel Investing Activity in Canada looked at 32 angel investment organizations across the country and reveals that angels in Northern Ontario contributed more investment capital into regional entrepreneurs and businesses than any other similar network in Canada.

Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention tonight may not have been rated as highly as President Barack Obama’s address the night before, but there was at least one line that got the attention of the geekerati: “I believe in science.”

Image: Hillary Clinton declares her belief in science. (Credit: DNC / YouTube / Imgflip)

Over the course of an hour, our influencers covered an array of questions ranging from how to mend a relationship with a supervisor that you got off on the wrong foot with, to constructive ways to improve your work relationship with an incompetent coworker. 

Several experts took part in the conversation including:  Dr. Leah Klungness, Ph.D., psychologist and expert on relationship issues; Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D, psychologist, blogger and expert in cognitive-behavioral therapy for adults; Suzy Welch, business journalist, career advice contributor on the TODAY show and best-selling co-author of The Real Life MBA; and Sylvia Lafair, Ph.D., business leadership expert in optimizing workplace relationships.