"Part of the reason MIT is so awesome," Jonathan Seelig just wrote in a tweet, is that "we just voted for a team with a founder with a PhD in concrete as the winner" of the MIT $100K business plan competition.

(Seelig, now a venture capitalist, was part of a team in the very same competition a dozen years ago that didn't win, but was a runner up: Akamai Technologies, now part of the NASDAQ 100 Index.)

Law firm Cooley today released its latest report showing what it called a “solid start” for venture capital fundings during the first quarter of 2010.

The report is based on the 83 deals that Cooley was involved with, so it’s less comprehensive than the MoneyTree report or the data from VentureSource. But Cooley can compile details beyond the money raised and the round of funding.

For example, one of the most encouraging signs was a continued increase in the number of “up” rounds, where the valuation increased from the previous round. That number tumbled to 16 percent during the first quarter of last year, and now it’s up to 58 percent. And there were seven deals where the valuation was more than $100 million.

It’s a risky business, but still, somebody decided to do it. Venture capital is a sort of financing scheme that funds businesses that have been found to have some growth potential.

Venture capital is also called risk capital. For businesses that have very limited start-up capital, they could go find a venture capital investor. But for the venture capitalist, they still need to weigh the various risks involve.

A venture capital is an investment that is basically provided by third-party investors. This investment is usually used for enterprises that were deemed to be too risky that even the standard market investors or banks avoid putting a single cent on them.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is looking for help in setting up a new innovation center created under the health reform legislation.

Under the reform package, CMS is expected to develop new models for care reimbursements to allow for reduction of costs while also preserving quality of care. This may involve accommodating new practices such as telehealth.

The law required establishing a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation in CMS by January 2011. The center will serve as a research and development arm of CMS.

I read a lot of business books, not just because I want to know what the competition is up to but because I’m always hungry for new insights and understanding. Sadly, many are so packed with frameworks, matrices and checklists that the moment I put them down, I’ve forgotten them. They may be great advertisements for the author’s consulting practice, but often they’re badly written and packed with errors –instead of memorable sources of inspiration or action. So when a good one comes along, it makes a deep impression. A few can even change your game. Here are my top five, each of which changed how I work in some way:

Hidden Value by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Charles O’Reilly. I think this is my all-time favorite because it’s well written, well researched and contains a message that never ages. Pfeffer’s argument is that the people you hire contain more value than most companies ever tap. And he backs it up with great stories and data. Why does SAS Institute needs half the number of quality assurance people that Microsoft requires? Because they treat their people better. In a recession, this argument matters more than ever. This book gave me the evidence I needed to run things the way I wanted to.

Every small business loves the exposure, empathy and sense of community that having a website that's a daily destination for consumers can generate.

But getting people to visit on a regular basis can be a challenge, especially if updates are infrequent or all you have to offer is the occasional monotone press release or product announcement.

Thankfully, building a website that's “sticky” enough to keep users engaged and coming back doesn't have to require investing thousands or reinventing yourself as the next online media empire.

Ambitious European biotech firms still look to the US when they need large sums of venture capital, according to EU officials, who fear home-grown talent is crossing the Atlantic.

Not only is it easier for high-growth start-ups to access funding in the US – enticing young research-based companies to abandon Europe – but Europe's own venture capital industry continues to lose the expertise of talented fund managers.

This is a phenomenal article by Daniel J. Isenberg in the June 2010 Harvard Business Review. One of the best I've read in a long time on entrepreneurship. Well researched, good case study references, excellent country specific examples and terrific insight into the nine prescriptions for creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Isenberg is no stranger to entrepreneurship with international wings. He also authored, "The Global Entrepreneur," December 2008 for HBR.

On a good day, Michelle Charak might haul away 300 boxes of outmoded buttons from a factory that's all too happy to lose the clutter.

At her shop in New York City, she'll hand-stitch the buttons into chic necklaces and bracelets, then sell them on her company's website, Chelcnyc.com, for hundreds of dollars a pop.

Is that a "green job"? Charak says so.

Good Entrepreneur can create a strong economy. Entrepreneurship is an important facet of industrial growth and development of a nation. It is the backbone of a nation that sets its eyes on maximizing its performance in every field. The spirit of entrepreneurship brings about enthusiasm, persistence and the ability to seek entrepreneurial opportunities that lead to success. A nation’s ability to generate a steady stream of business opportunities can only come about when its people take to entrepreneurial activities. Entrepreneurs are essentially the engines of growth for a nation. There are several factors that go into making a successful entrepreneur, and he or she need not necessarily possess a strong business and financial background. On the contrary, well-conceived and well directed training can always produce an outstanding entrepreneur. In addition, today’s world with its burgeoning population offers limited avenues of employment.

One of the most impressive parts of her talk was the description of the SBA’s mission for small businesses — she called it the “3 Cs.”

Now, if you’re an Internet entrepreneur, you may be thinking you know the 3 Cs. Back in 1999, Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computer, defined the 3 Cs of e-commerce as: “content, community and commerce.”

The Pew Trust has done the math and it turns out the the economic crash of 2008 incurred about $108,000 per US household in costs and stock and house-price losses:

U.S. households lost on average nearly $5,800 in income due to reduced economic growth during the acute stage of the financial crisis from September 2008 through the end of 2009.[1] Costs to the federal government due to its interventions to mitigate the financial crisis amounted to $2,050, on average, for each U.S. household. Also, the combined peak loss from declining stock and home values totaled nearly $100,000, on average per U.S. household, during the July 2008 to March 2009 period. This analysis highlights the importance of reducing the onset and severity of future financial crises, and the value of market reforms to achieve this goal.

“Tech Transfer” is the deceptively mild title of a mordant satire about scientists and universities and how they do business.

The best scene in this hilarious first novel is a meeting of the trustees of Kershaw University, an elite research university only 200 years younger than Harvard. The trustees have to select a new president. They listen with mounting dismay as the professional headhunter in charge of the search reads out the polished résumés of each candidate, but notes in each case the fatal flaws revealed by background checks, ranging from spousal abuse to bestiality and, even more fatal, plagiarism.

The Kansas Bioscience Authority plans $36.9 million in new financing commitments for bioscience researchers and businesses during fiscal 2011.

The KBA ratified the plan, which goes into effect July 1, on Monday. The estimated investments include $21.4 million in research and development and $15.5 million in commercialization projects, which will make for $263 million in total KBA investments since its creation by Kansas legislation in 2004.

Two pieces of legislation of particular interest to the startup community continue to wind their way through Congress: Senator Lugar and Kerry's Startup Visa Act and Senator Dodd's Financial Reform bill.

We've written about both here before.

In an article this past Sunday titled Hungry for cash, start-ups seek better angels for their ventures, Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe quotes a variety of commentators from around New England regarding their common aspiration to build up the regional Angel investment community, and increase the number and quality of their investments.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is now the adviser to a Silicon Valley venture capital firm Khosla Ventures. The company is into the promotion of environmentally friendly technology.

The California-based firm is run by Vinod Khosla from India. Khosla is one of the founders of Sun Microsystems. He recently raised $1 billion from investors to be used in promoting technologies that would reduce carbon emissions such as ethanol fuel.

How many times have you heard something like the following in response to the state's job decline and overall economic implosion?

"But California is the venture capital of the country."

"But we have so much cleantech investment, we're going to lead the country."Venture capitol is good. Cleantech venture capitol is good. High wage job creation is imperative.

In working with creative individuals I have found that it is hard for many of them to define what success means. “I want to be a successful artist working in my studio” seems to be about as far as many of them can go in defining their success.

When you ask other entrepreneurs what success means they will describe their success in terms of being a market leader, capturing market share, developing new and innovative products, their distribution chain, market capitalization and the financial rewards. Thinking in these terms is not so easy for many creative types.

Success for many creatives is simply being able to pursue their passion – not a bad measure of success for any business. In some respects many businesses have to work hard to instill and keep passion thriving with their owners and employees. Passion for one’s work will get you a long way but it is not a guarantee of success.

Google's Larry Page addresses a high powered audience who came out this past weekend for the X Prize Foundation fundraiser in San Francisco.