There's an adage that says your first job as a startup CEO is to make sure your company never runs out of cash. But when financing a growing company, venture debt can be a great supplement to venture capital and in some cases may be a necessity. Much has been written to help founders think through venture capital, but venture debt remains a bit of a black box. That's why we partnered with our friends at Columbia Lake Partners, a leading European venture debt fund, to put together a white paper that helps startups approach venture debt in a thoughtful way.

Many people may be adding "find a new job" to their list of resolutions in 2016, and the good news is that it’s a job-seekers' market. The national unemployment rate dropped to 5% last month, the lowest it’s been since 2008. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 271,000 new jobs were created, many of which were in technology, health care, and retail, building on a trend that’s been gaining steam this year, as twice as many employers are looking to fill jobs as there are candidates who are applying.

On a recent Monday morning, I was preparing for my weekly staff meeting. Item #1 on the agenda was a discussion about an upcoming review cycle, where everybody at Upstart would receive a performance score based on feedback from their peers and manager. Though I had yet to begin the process of reviewing my leadership team, I had an intuitive sense of how things would fall. Without being consciously aware of it, I had developed a model for how I measure and evaluate the performance of my lieutenants.

Entrepreneurship is not just for startups. It’s a lens through which all organisations should view strategy and leadership in the 21st century to address societal problems.

Management theories come about in response to particular problems. At the turn of the 20th century, the most notable organisations were large and industrialised and carried out routine tasks to manufacture a variety of products. This led Frederick Taylor to develop the scientific management theory, which advocated optimising tasks by breaking big complex jobs into small ones, measuring what workers did and linking pay to performance.

People analytics, a business intelligence-based approach to assessing and managing talent, presents a groundbreaking opportunity for HR organizations. People analytics is in its early days, but following are 10 lessons we’ve already gleaned about this burgeoning discipline.

Image: http://deloitte.wsj.com

Jeff Carroll inherited the DNA mutation that causes Huntington’s disease. It means that in a decade or two, he’ll lose control over his body and slowly go mad, just like his mother.

That’s the reason Carroll, 38, says he’d be in favor of gene editing embryos. He says the idea of correcting DNA errors in the next generation has no “ick factor” for him at all. “I have no compunctions about it,” says Carroll, who is a neuroscientist at Western Washington University, in Bellingham. “I am saying, please, please do mess with our DNA.”

Image: Jeff Carroll and his wife, Megan. Carroll has a genetic mutation that means he will develop Huntington’s disease.  

Over two years after proposing rules, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently adopted rules to implement Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) and legalize the offer and sale of securities through crowdfunding (i.e., an evolving form of Internet-based fundraising through small investments from a large number of individuals). The rules, titled Regulation Crowdfunding, will be effective May 16, 2016, although certain forms enabling funding portals to register with the SEC will take effect January 29, 2016. The SEC’s adopting release for these rules can be found here.

Universities are under pressure to maximise the impact of their research, prompting an increasing focus on technology transfer.

Last month at its 2015 Innovating for Growth conference in Barcelona, Science|Buisness convened a panel of experts in the field to talk about the state of play and provide advice to institutions which are just starting out on the path to commercialising their research.

Image: Paul Van Dun, speaking at the Innovating for Growth conference in Barcelona

There is a case to be made that good illustration is good business magazine content. And strategy+business is the case study.

Take, for example, the illustration, by Richard Mia, for “The Social Life of Brands” in the Autumn 2012 issue. It contains a multilayered commentary that suggests through symbolism that brands are not simply packages and labels but integrated communications between public and industry. The art — a depiction of a blossoming flower whose buildings blocks are the text bubbles that populate a smart phone screen — helps announce the story without explicitly spelling out its thesis. There are no icons of McDonald’s golden arches or pictures of brains.

Image: Steven Heller is co-chair of the MFA Design/Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program at the School of Visual Arts NYC and author or editor of more than 170 books on design and culture, including 100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design (Laurence King, 2012).

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - December 01, 2015) - Innovation is crucial for the creation of high-quality jobs and strong economic growth, and in the global race for innovation, California enjoys advantages that others envy. But to maintain its leadership, California must provide a competitive business environment that encourages companies to conduct innovation-creating research. In a report released today, "California's Innovation-Based Economy: Policies to Maintain and Enhance It," Milken Institute researchers conducted one of the most thorough analyses of the landscape of research and development (R&D) spending in California (see link below). The report demonstrates the key role of R&D in the state's economy, and proposes ideas for spurring businesses to continue and intensify their research activity.

Far from being a frivolous activity fit for retirees or wide-eyed college grads, travel can play an important role in the development of entrepreneurs and the businesses they lead. In fact, one study found that up to 94 percent of American business leaders believe that travel experiences improve the competitive advantage of both individual employees and companies as a whole. That's because travel instills lessons and strengthens skills that directly translate to effectiveness in the workplace.

My mentor taught me to be hard on the issues and soft on the people. Even after 15 years, I am still learning to do so. It is easier said than done. The first time I understood the advice was in 2001. My first company, started after college, underwent a face-saving acquisition after the dot-com bubble burst. During that time, I was brash and arrogant with my co-founders and colleagues. I was mean and harsh with people who bet some of the best years of their lives on me and my startup. I damaged relationships with my team and lost credibility with the acquiring company. It has taken me over a decade to partially repair both. 

Image: http://yourstory.com

Entrepreneurs often get a lot of flack when it comes to the topic of intimate relationships. I've seen countless articles claiming they are the worst partners. Even in media, entrepreneurs are often portrayed as cold, uncaring and shallow.

But I disagree.

In my experience, entrepreneurs are some of the most sensitive, intelligent, emotive and intentional people in the world. After all, it takes a lot of fortitude to try and start a business -- or multiple businesses -- from scratch. I've also witnessed many relationships and marriages where both of the partners are entrepreneurs, and I have to say, I've rarely seen more loving, emotionally stable partnerships.

I recently sat next to the founder of two successful startups as he spoke to his 11-year-old daughter about her class fundraising project. He asked her two friendly yet pointed questions: Would kids outside her own grade be interested in her offer? And could it be easily duplicated? The dad then suggested that she start by making a list of people who might be able to help her get her project under way quickly and effectively.

As an ongoing observer of the bipartisan War on College, I read a recent column on cost containment in higher education by The Washington Post’s Steven Pearlstein with great interest. Pearlstein is a smart guy, and he stresses four “tough things” that universities must do to contain costs. Some of the recommendations he makes based on what he “observed during four years as a professor at George Mason University” are worth considering.

The freelance economy is on the rise. But while contract work or entrepreneurship can be incredibly lucrative, offer more flexibility, and allow for more creativity, there are some drawbacks to working for yourself that most people don't consider before leaving their steady paycheck.

While you probably know how long it takes you to get ready in the morning and how long it takes you to get to work, do you know how long it takes you to get into your best frame of mind to focus? Figuring out what time you should wake up is important, not only to optimize performance, but also to maintain good work-life balance, says sleep expert Teofilo Lee-Chiong, professor of medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver and the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

What does it mean to be a startup entrepreneur in 2015? And how can sharing this experience help everyone? These are the questions we seek to answer every week on the First Round Review and through the many events, online forums and other programs we run internally.

Now we want to leverage this approach to provide an even more in-depth snapshot of what founders across the entire ecosystem are thinking and doing, what they're excited about and worried about, and how they're seeing the market — things that could very well change dramatically over the next several years. We surveyed venture-backed founders from everywhere — less than 25% from the First Round community — and received over 500 responses, volunteering their experience and opinions.

Focusing is no small feat. It seems that every minute there's a new Tweet to read or co-worker to chat with. But all those distractions can make us incredibly unproductive.

But you don't have to go to extremes to get focused. Here are some science-backed ways to help you stay focused throughout your day:

As the caliber of entrepreneurs and their companies appearing on "Shark Tank" has gone up with each new season, the investors have gotten more eager to fiercely compete for a deal.

Sometimes, though, the prospect of getting in on a potentially huge company is so appealing that the Sharks decide to split an investment.

Image: "Shark Tank"/ABC