As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I recognize that entrepreneurs tend to substitute vision and passion for formal processes, but no discipline or process in building something new is a sure way to spend money, rather than see any return and build a self-sustaining business.

Successful entrepreneurs come from all different industries and all different backgrounds. But while there isn’t necessarily one prototypical entrepreneur, there are some habits of successful entrepreneurs that can serve as a common link. The list below includes some common habits of successful entrepreneurs. Habits of Successful Entrepreneurs They Jump Right In There are millions of different reasons to not start a business. But entrepreneurs have to be able to quiet those doubting voices and just get started. Even if it seems like a bad idea or like they’re not fully ready, successful entrepreneurs know that it’s better to get started than to wait for perfection.

Just like tribes or nations, companies express a unique culture. Sometimes its culture is as subtle as a change in barometric pressure, but other times its effect is as evident as a pending storm.

Consider the contrasting experiences of IKEA versus Sears, Kroger versus Trader Joe’s or Under Armour versus Ralph Lauren. That experience is borne out of company culture. Culture permeates R&D departments, manufacturing centers and the corporation at large. Culture may be as tangible as gravity in well-established organizations or as light as mountain air in young startups.

Just as news stories exposed concerns about the inner workings of LendingClub, the U.S. government has been opening the door for Americans from virtually any income level to dabble in the speculative world of crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding, you may recall, was born out of the financial crisis. At a time when trust in banks was low, new Internet sites like LendingClub arose, allowing regular people to spot anyone who needed a loan or a small investment to get a new business off the ground.

Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs…

These names are synonymous with the word entrepreneur.

But who (or what) is an entrepreneur really? And how can you tell if you are one, or if you have what it takes to become one?

For starters, a moment of truth: If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably not reading a blog post wondering if you are because you’re too damn busy running your own business. On the up side, if you are reading this, you’re likely on your way to greater entrepreneurial glory because you’re eager to soak up every nugget of actionable info available to you.

Intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs, while similar, are quite different. But which one are you? Take our quiz to find out...

There is an old saying in the startup investor community, “Smart investors invest in the team, not the idea.” As an angel investor, I’ve learned to believe in this approach, since I have seen great ideas go astray, due to poor execution and I have seen apparently marginal ideas make millions, managed by a savvy entrepreneur. Giving the wrong people money doesn’t help at the idea level.

Who would have forecast that entrepreneur Gary Ross Dahl would make millions by starting a “pet rock” business way back in 1975? Some business successes can be attributed to luck, timing, or available funding, but in this case most agree that Gary was simply a marketing genius and he created his own market through creative advertising, emotional appeal and exclusivity.

Part of being an effective manager means understanding how to read people and making sure they are working to their strengths. But there is so much more. That’s why we asked 12 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question: “What management characteristic has served you best over the past year and why?” Here’s what YEC community members had to say:

After nearly a year of planning, EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas is moving toward building his European Innovation Council (EIC) around an existing funding programme for small companies, and creating a new business-only policy advisory group. 

According to Science|Business sources, EU officials presented a preliminary plan to a group of Commissioners at a breakfast meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. The EIC topic is also on the agenda at a meeting of member state research ministers Friday.

Image: http://www.sciencebusiness.net 

What is a mentor? Here’s the dictionary definition:

Noun: an experienced and trusted adviser.

Synonyms: adviser, guide, guru, counselor, consultant, trainer, teacher, tutor, instructor

Verb: Advise or train (someone, especially a younger, less experienced colleague).

In order to be a mentor, you need to be seen as experienced and successful at something. A mentor gives advice and guides someone who is less experienced and successful, i.e., a mentee or protégé.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a federal funding opportunity (FFO) to establish and sustain up to eight Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to Stimulate (RAMPS) Cybersecurity Education and Workforce Development. Through this announcement, NIST will commit up to $1.6 million for state or regional consortiums that identify cybersecurity workforce development pathways that address local workforce needs. Although lead organizations must be a nonprofit or institution of higher education, NIST encourages public-private partnerships with industry and local governments. Proposals are due July 12, 2016.

I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder, an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. During the Q&A I was asked about how I make investment decisions in early-stage businesses. I was asked again in an LP meeting later in the week and then again at a founder breakfast gathering we hosted yesterday. I answered in the same way I always do so I thought I’d just write it publicly.

The Mind the Gap: University Student Venture Fund Report is the first-ever, comprehensive look at student venture funding programs at leading universities. The report details seven leading funds and includes strategies and insights on:

Fund structures and management Fund process review Support programs to encourage learning and new ventures ROI and impact measures Selected success stories

Image: http://techtransfercentral.com

Knowledge@Wharton: Explain how you ended up going to work for HubSpot.

Dan Lyons: I was working at Newsweek and got laid off and looked around and saw that it wasn’t just my company that was struggling; the entire industry I was in was struggling. I thought I should start a new career, even though I was 51 at the time. I thought, I can start over. I thought marketing would make sense. A lot of companies, especially tech companies and VC firms, are now hiring journalists to come in and be their in-house blogger. So I decided to make that leap.

Image: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/

Going on a job interview can make you feel like you’re back in school taking an exam. Instead of the "test" having one clear and right answer, however, responding to questions feels like hopeful guesses mixed with uncomfortable posturing.

We talked to six hiring experts to find out which questions trip up most job candidates, and the better answers that could win you the job:

If you’ve ever started a sentence with, "If I were you . . . " or found yourself scratching your head at a colleague’s agony over a decision when the answer is crystal-clear, there’s a scientific reason behind it. Our own decision-making abilities can become depleted over the course of the day causing indecision or poor choices, but choosing on behalf of someone else is an enjoyable task that doesn’t suffer the same pitfalls, according to a study published in Social Psychology and Personality Science.

Long Beach, California-based WE Labs just opened its second coworking space in the historic Packard Building, a Spanish Baroque-styled car showroom from the 1920s. Behind it is an empty lot, next door is an auto body shop, down the street are swanky new apartments, and a block away is the light rail. It looks like a textbook gentrification setting, but WE Labs's clients differ from what you'd expect at mainstream, big-city coworking spaces like those in the WeWork empire. They include a bookkeeper, a mental health services nonprofit, painters, and a roller derby-themed fashion designer. Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. - 6p.m. access is $175 per month—on the low side for coworking space in the L.A. area.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com

G-J van Rooyen, chief executive officer (CEO) of South African startup Custos Media Technologies, knows a thing or two about how valuable the support of a university can be to a newly-founded startup.

Custos, which looks to combat digital piracy by embedding bitcoin bounties as watermarks within videos and movies, was not only founded by van Rooyen, an academic at Stellenbosch University, but was also incubated at the university’s LaunchLab incubator and received its first funding round from Innovus Technology Transfer, the university’s industry interaction and innovation company.

Image: By Dfmalan - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4297977

The world’s biggest chip maker won’t sell its Intel Capital strategic venture capital investments arm, as previously rumored. Intel was reportedly seeking $1 billion or more for its portfolio, but now it isn’t selling.

Wendell Brooks, the new president of Intel Capital, said in a blog post that the company will keep its portfolio, even as the rest of the company is proceeding with 12,000 job cuts.

Image: Above: Wendell Brooks, incoming president of Intel Capital. Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

When it comes to running a business, there are few things more important than funding. It helps you produce your product, it helps you manage your business, and it allows your to spread the word of your company far and wide. And while many think money grows on trees in the land of the free, startups have to jump through a lot of hoops to get the capital they need to succeed.

Image: http://tech.co