Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
After weeks of being criticized for a proposal that would have divided the Internet into fast and slow lanes, the Federal Communications Commission put forward a new plan on Thursday. While more balanced than its earlier approach, the commission still seems to be leaning toward creating a two-tiered system that could discriminate against smaller companies and restrict consumer choice.
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It was a rare meeting of minds. Representatives from 13 commercial space companies gathered on May 1 at a place dedicated to going where few have gone before: the Explorers Club in New York.
Amid the mansions and high-end apartment buildings just off Central Park, executives from space-tourism companies, rocket-making startups, and even a business that hopes to make money by mining asteroids for useful materials showed off displays and gave presentations.
Image: http://www.technologyreview.com
In a recent HBR blog post, Babson College’s Dan Isenberg threw some much-needed cold water on many of the nostrums floating around about how to build entrepreneurship ecosystems. Isenberg’s list of true-false statements provides an opportunity to highlight what is still unknown about these ecosystems, demonstrate areas where communities are actively learning, and qualify some points of confusion.
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Having just written on this page last week about the alarming drop in entrepreneurship in the U.S., you can imagine my interest was piqued when I came across a New York Post article about the phenomenon of (and jealousy about) entrepreneurship in the millennial generation. Wow, I thought, maybe there’s hope! Maybe this next generation has the entrepreneurial fire in the belly!
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At one time it was thought that African entrepreneurship was timid and could not jump start economies in the way entrepreneurship had played transformational roles in Europe, United States of America and Asia.
But real developments in our economies especially in the last three decades have shown that Africa’s entrepreneurs have come of age.
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In 1998 an article was published in a Spanish newspaper about Mario Costeja González’s house being auctioned due to debts.
In 2010, Mr. González brought a case against both the newspaper and Google for linking to it, arguing that news was no longer relevant and breached his rights to privacy.
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Has there been optimal time of year to raise a seed round? The chart above shows the number of seed rounds by quarter of the year from 2009-2013. At first blush, it would seem that the first quarter of the year is the most attractive period to raise a seed round. But that's a faulty conclusion.
Image: http://tomtunguz.com
“Growing the team” is almost always one of the ways entrepreneurs utilize new investment dollars. Whether it’s adding capacity to an existing function (#MawrEngineers) or bringing new talents onboard (“we intend to make our first marketing hire”), glossing over these bullet points towards the back of the pitch deck would be a mistake. I’m interested in not just what these people will be doing but how and when they’ll be hired. So when Homebrew asks about your hiring plan, here’s what I’m often looking for:
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It was the morning after our failed launch, I had just dropped off my kid at preschool as a rush of emotion hit me like a sledgehammer to the nuts. At that moment, I thought it was because of my 4-year old’s struggle to leave my side, which never failed to draw a tear. As I bawled my way to the car, I quickly realized it was much greater this time. His tears were just the trigger that set me off. My “everything’s great” tough guy exterior was cracking. Everything was not ok. I wasn’t ok. The company wasn’t ok. I cried on and off for the next seven days. This was my first experience with company failure and it was devastating.
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Two years ago I started a fund. For the fund to be viable, it had to be at least $5 million, but somewhere in the neighborhood of $8-10 million would have been perfect. Thankfully, that's what I raised--$8.3 million.
So how does it work? How does one make money raising a venture fund of this size? Not easily, let me tell you. The benefit comes in the upside, and it's very back end weighted. If you're looking to make a lot of dough in the short term, microVC isn't for you.
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After about two years leading Kansas City's largest private foundation, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation CEO Tom McDonnell is planning to step down at the end of the year.
Formerly CEO of DST Systems Inc., McDonnell will step down as president and CEO on June 30 but will remain with the foundation to advise trustees and management, according to a release. Kauffman vice president of communications Wendy Guillies will become acting president and CEO on July 1.
Image: Dave Kaup | KCBJ - Tom McDonnell will step down as the CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on June 30.
Somerville-based e-commerce website The Grommet helps launch undiscovered products every day. The company's goal is to "level the playing field" so the companies with the best products can compete in the marketplace, though they might be startups with little name recognition.
Since launching in 2008, The Grommet has featured more than 2,000 companies on its website, including those that have skyrocketed in popularity such as IdeaPaint, FitBit and SodaStream
Image: Zootility Tools Company: Zootility Tools Product description: The company makes a product called "PocketMonkey" that fits in a wallet and acts as a ruler, screwdriver, letter opener and more. Price: Starting at $19.95
You might be scratching your head about this, especially since most of your workers seem to be happy working for your company. Well, we’re scratching our heads too, over here.
Salary.com surveyed of more than 1,200 people about their current jobs and whether they plan to search for a new job this year. They found that 83% of people surveyed said they will look for a new job in 2014, which is up 6% from last year.
Image: http://www.fastcompany.com
My first camera was a Polaroid. Like many in my generation, I vividly recall the excitement of waiting for a colorful image to crystalize on the black square film that flew out of the camera. The instant gratification was far superior to the three-to-five-day wait time I had to endure when taking a roll of film to the photo shop to be developed.
Image: http://www.fastcompany.com
Alibaba, the Chinese internet titan that filed for an IPO in the U.S. last week, could be the largest tech IPO in history. But Alibaba doesn’t look much like Facebook, Google, or even Amazon. Instead, it operates more like GE.
Spanning e-commerce, payments, messaging, business software, entertainment, and more, Alibaba looks a lot like a conglomerate. And it sets strategy like one, according to a Harvard Business School case study by professor Julie Wulf. Competition trumps cooperation, and distributed decision-making by individual business units trumps universal strategy.
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According to a new Gallup-Purdue University poll, your experiences at college matter more for your post-grad life than the type of institution you attended (unless you went to a for-profit college, which is bad news all around). So you can chill out about that Ivy League degree.
Image: Hahvahd. (AP/ELISE AMENDOLA)
In April, Case Western Reserve University visiting assistant professor Michael Goldberg launched a massive online open course (MOOC) focused on how entrepreneurship can transform communities. This course, “Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies,” uses the example of Northeast Ohio, its entrepreneurs, and its unique collaborations and partnerships as a way to illustrate how other regions can use entrepreneurship to leverage—and increase—innovation.
Image: http://www.jumpstartinc.org
During an interview last week, Maria Contreras-Sweet, the new head of the Small Business Administration, said she will urge her team to keep looking for new ways to help the agency stay current, despite criticism from lawmakers that the department should stick to its core programs and stop funding new initiatives.
Days later, it has become even more clear: She and the agency aren’t backing down.
As talk of a tech bubble spreads, a handful of tech stocks have pulled back in recent weeks. While signals are definitely mixed, the broader innovation economy remains on a roll, at least according to Silicon Valley Bank’s recently released Innovation Economy Outlook study.
Highlights of the survey of 1,200 global technology and life science executives (and entrepreneurs) include the following:
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The job market sure isn't what it used to be. Entry-level positions (read: internships) are usually grossly underpaid — if they're even paid at all — and likely involve menial, day-to-day tasks. Like it or not, it's the new career totem pole, and it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
But it isn't all bad. If you're a student or soon-to-be graduate looking for a more unique internship opportunity, check out our list of cool positions below.
Image Courtesy of imagerymajestic / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
