Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer, will be tranquil and dry across much of the United States; however, there will be some areas of where Mother Nature will create a fireworks show for the holiday in the form of thunderstorms.

Slow-moving storm systems will ignite showers and thunderstorms over portions of the Plains, threatening to hamper outdoor plans, at times, on Memorial Day. In fact, some of the storms could turn heavy or strong over the Central states.

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Crowe Horwath LLP and Governing Institute study finds gap between resources needed and tools available  

CHICAGO (May 20, 2014) – Most government leaders agree that the economic development of their state or municipality is increasing in importance, but 88 percent say their current economic development efforts are only somewhat effective or not effective at all, according to a recent survey. The study, published by Governing Institute and Crowe Horwath LLP, found that government leaders think their economic development processes could be improved by enhancing and updating business processes.

Crowe, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., sponsored the research study, “Powering the Engine of Economic Development,” in which 168 senior state and local government officials were polled to assess the utilization, strategy and tools governments are using for economic development and job growth. Key findings include:

Sometimes one of the important aspects to career success can be something intangible like how likeable you are.

That vague feeling of goodwill is often determined by how genuine you seem when interacting with others. One of the first steps to showing someone you sincerely care about what they’re saying is remembering what they say--especially their name.

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It’s cap and gown season, and colleges across the country are sending new graduates out into the workforce. The Class of 2014 was born into a world that has always been a digital, and among the newly degreed students might be the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Mark Zuckerberg--ironic because Gates, Jobs, and Zuckerberg never walked down the aisle to accept a diploma.

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A national investor group on Tuesday warned that federal regulators may adopt rules that would disqualify about 60 percent of current angel investors from funding startups.

The Angel Capital Association called on investors, economic development organizations and entrepreneurs to ask regulators to keep the current definition of a qualified angel investor in place.

Image: The Angel Capital Association, led by executive director Marianne Hudson, has launched a campaign to head off increased net worth standards for investors allowed to back startups.  

The U.S. is one of the few nations on earth where private, for-profit business formation is seen as a quasi-heroic act. The resulting entrepreneurial culture has captured the world’s imagination and driven the nation to great prosperity. Yet now it is clearly faltering.

In a new paper that’s already generated much discussion, economists Ian Hathaway of Ennsyte Economics and Robert Litan of the Brookings Institution document four decades of  “Declining Business Dynamism in the United States.” Looking at data from all fifty states and all metropolitan areas, Hathaway and Litan conclude there’s been a secular decline in business formation throughout the country, with a concurrent increase in business dissolution.

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Around the world, everyone is living longer, and some people are living a very long time indeed. A baby born in Liberia today will live, on average, 20 years longer than a baby born 25 years ago. Similarly, Ethiopians have seen a 19 year jump in life expectancy, from 45 to 64 years. Meanwhile, women in Japan can now expect to live to at least 87, the longest average lifetime of any people in any country.

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The second annual InvestMaryland Challenge, an early-stage business competition of the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development, came to an exciting close Monday evening at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, joined by DBED Secretary Dominick Murray, entrepreneurs and business leaders, applauded the winners of nearly $1 million in grants and prizes.

Image: http://mdbiznews.choosemaryland.org/ 

Ideas are rarely the Eureka moments we wish they were and they certainly don’t exist in a vacuum.  They are the result of a collection of knowledge, insights, observations, experience and passion.

For some of us coming up with ideas is easy, for others not at all.  Then there are those of us who fall in the middle.  We’ve got a flood of ideas (how many are good- questionable) followed by a drought and as in nature the cycle repeats.  However, there are several steps we can take to improve our flow of ideas.

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It’s hard to escape the news of the tech skills gap. Everywhere we look in the media we are being told of the number of jobs available in the tech industry and the shortage of workers with the right skills to fill them. For almost every type of company, tech is the one area that firms are hoping to expand further into: it is an area of growth, development and exciting technologies and the digital possibilities for growing businesses are infinite. 

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If there is a recurring, consistent question that pops up in all innovation conversations, it’s one that goes something like this:  “I am tasked with producing results against very specific measures.  At the same time, I’m being encouraged to innovate, to be a creative risk-taker.  Is it possible to do both, to have both a Rainforest  (innovation) world and a plantation (production) world, at the same time?”

Image: http://www.forbes.com/ - Henry Doss 

In “Proof of Concept,” Silicon Valley has set up the future of Pied Piper (and their terrible, forgettable logo) regarding the TechCrunch Disrupt competition, but it also had a lot to say about women and sexuality.  As it has done all season, Silicon Valley brought together great character moments with biting satire aimed at the tech world.  And who wouldn’t have wanted to be in the writers’ room when they were coming up with those fake apps?  Hit the jump, “I’m going to go network — don’t approach me.”

Image: http://collider.com/ 

Vinod Khosla, sassy VC and legendary co-founder of Sun Microsystems, has predicted the future of health.

In essence, he has said, our medical lives will become increasingly automated, with ultra-intelligent systems prescribing fine-grain recommendations to nurse us back to health. According to a newly released report, he predicts:

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The global innovation economy is booming across industries and geographies. Businesses large and small are capitalizing on opportunities in software, hardware, cleantech and healthcare. Yet looming challenges temper ambitious plans for growth, as entrepreneurs must overcome hurdles in scaling operations, finding talent and securing funding, according to Silicon Valley Bank.

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At LinkedIn, we have a unique view into how 300 million professionals are moving around the world to pursue career opportunities. This mobility of professional talent can tell us a great deal about the state of economic opportunity and the health of the global economy. So we’re seeking to better understand and map the dynamics of economic indicators as we continue to build the Economic Graph.

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For many students, graduation is the culmination of years of hard work, sacrifices and the promise of a future with great potential.

For the rest of us, it's an unwelcome introduction to the real world. And let's be honest — graduation is like a celebration and a memorial wrapped into one; the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end.

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Global Crowdfunding is already an established, multi-billion-dollar industry and is growing fast. Faster than any of us expected. It is already providing a new eFunding escalator independent of, yet interconnected with, traditional funding sources supporting startups and business growth and creating jobs.

As Dr. Joe Cox, the Principle Investigator of Crowdfunding at the University of Portsmouth UK, has put it “This report is truly the first of it’s kind and offers a hugely valuable insight into the emerging patterns and trends of global Crowdfunding activity”.

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There are many signs of why businesses are in distress; cash flow problems, bad relationships with creditors and declining profits. Business owners cannot put their heads in the sand when faced with the prospect of liquidation and the threat of going under, with early intervention and the appropriate advice the business can be turned around.

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What is an entrepreneur? I've claimed to be one for ten years, yet I haven't built and sold any businesses, no bricks and mortars and I'm currently employed, I've never raised investment capital, and I'm not rich. Sounds to me like I don't fit the mold of an entrepreneur.

Here's what I have done from 18 to 21, I maintained a modest income re-selling undervalued products on eBay; from 23 to 25 I owned and operated a marketing consultancy and from 25 to present day I've been building my personal brand.

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Almost all startups – whether they are in major hubs like Silicon Valley, Boston or New York or less metropolitan areas like Kansas City, Miss. – face the same problem.  Every Wednesday morning, I sit in 1 Million Cups Kansas City, an educational program where startups pitch their companies to other entrepreneurs and community members for feedback, listening to the 20 minutes of Q&A between startups and community. I hear a myriad of questions, but when asked about what obstacles entrepreneurs are facing or where they need help, there’s one universal challenge at the top of every startup founder’s list: funding.

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