This quarterly message usually addresses bright, big picture topics, but this time circumstances have brought it very close to home. I hope you won’t mind.   In the early evening of Sunday, August 30, after many years of declining health, my husband of 33 years went gentle into that good night.   Those who were close knew Barry as an incredibly loving person, but he was still quite able to rage against social inequalities and injustices – whether big (think slavery, 9/11, or Rwanda), or small.

One of the hottest topics in the past few years with the IRS is the treatment of employee vs. independent contractor.  There are major tax implications for your decision to pay your hired help as an independent contractor or an employee.

An "Elevator Pitch" is a well-known concept, especially among entrepreneurs. It's an opportunity to pitch a succinct yet persuasive idea, usually in 60 seconds or less — the average time you'd spend on an elevator ride.

However, a pitch rarely happens in an actual elevator.

Earlier this month, some 120 investors packed into a room at Inmarsat’s office on London’s Old Street roundabout to listen to a string of pitches from start-ups that six months ago were barely twinkles in their founders’ eyes. Hopefuls were ushered in and out of the room for their three-minute presentations via a revolving slab in the wall that would have made the perfect setting for a farce but felt more like a factory's conveyor belt.

Image: Entrepreneur First co-founders Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck met on their first day at McKinsey 

Coding has replaced history and geography in Australia's new digital technologies curriculum which was endorsed by education ministers on Friday.

As The Australian reports, it ensures that 21st century computer coding will be taught in primary schools from Year 5, and programming will be taught from Year 7.

Too many people, young and older, let their career and their lifestyle happen to them, rather than proactively making things happen based on their personal passions, skills, and interests. Others make decisions based on someone else’s interests, such as the father who wants his son to take over the family business, or dreams openly of having a doctor in the family. Neither of these approaches is likely to lead to a satisfying career or personal happiness for you.

One of the most important decisions a founder has to make when starting a business is whether to stand alone or work with a partner.

It’s no secret that getting a company off the ground isn’t an easy feat, particularly for first-time founders. Many advisors, investors and peers recommend sharing the responsibilities with a partner. While putting together a founding team with the right mixture of personalities, visions and work ethics is daunting, getting it right can not only mean the difference between success and failure, but can propel your company to the next level.

Israeli high tech has been breaking records in recent years, with venture capital funds raising huge sums and startups enjoying generous valuations. This is a worldwide trend, but investors have greater confidence in certain countries. Global firm Deloitte conducted a survey to find in which country venture capital investors prefer to invest their money.

The Maryland Board of Regents on Friday approved the University of Maryland University College’s request to create a for-profit business-intelligence company. The new company will offer data-analysis technology and services to universities across the country, and the revenue will go toward the university’s endowment.

The company, called HelioCampus, will provide two main services: the technology to combine and analyze a university’s data, as well as analysts to help administrators understand what the data mean.

By RON STARNER, Editor of TrustBelt

When Scottish brewmasters James Watt and Martin Dickie decided to expand their unconventional craft beer business to America, they searched for a location that could deliver the same ingredients they used back home to turn BrewDog into one of the hottest brands in the UK.

They needed to find a place that offered logistical advantages, proximity to markets of craft beer lovers, a skilled and experienced workforce, and access to capital from the public sector and private investors.

Image: BrewDog co-founders James Watt and Martin Dickie selected Canal Winchester in Central Ohio for a new $30.4-million brewing facility that will employ 125 people in a 100,000-sq.-ft. building. – Photo courtesy of BrewDog

Many smart people I know are going all in on an Internet Of Things. I’m going all in on the human side of innovation. It’s the only way to accomplish the kind of innovation that the people I respect and hang out with want. I suspect it’s the kind of innovation that most of you want too. I’m not talking about the tweaky kind of innovation that makes what we currently do incrementally a little better. I’m talking about the transformational kind of innovation that will rock our world and our lives, creating the new business models and social systems that we all want and need. You know, the kind of innovation that the 21st century screams for. The kind of innovation that rises to the level of the social challenges we face. The only way to realize the full potential of the 21st century is with transformational change that starts with the human side of innovation.

Every  day, 10,000 baby boomers — Americans born from 1946 to 1964 — leave the work force. Most of them have not saved enough for retirement; at least one-fifth have basically no retirement savings. Our economy has a shortage of skilled workers.

Keeping older Americans on the job therefore benefits everyone: It is crucial to maintaining economic growth, and it will help the boomers to preserve and increase their savings if longevity continues to rise.

Henry Ford would be astounded at what’s happened to the automotive industry he pioneered. No longer only a means of transportation, cars have entered an age where they’re thought of and purchased like a tech device. This shift comes with other major changes—from the way vehicles are made to the way they’re driven. 

Projects and programs are undertaken to enable an organisation to achieve part of its strategy, usually by creating new or better ways of working.  The fundamental reason any organisation chooses to undergo this type of change in its operations is to realise or create ‘value’ for some or all of its stakeholders.

Project managers are key people in this overall value chain; they create the ‘outputs’ that enable the organisation to change. If the project’s deliverables are used, the intended outcomes should be achieved and benefits realised.  Finally, if the benefits support the organisations strategy, value is created. But what is value and how can this be assessed and measured?

In a recent conversation, I remarked that I used to be a scientist.  Thinking about it afterwards, I realized that was wrong.  A more accurate description was that I used to practice as a scientist, first with basic science, then the discovery and development of science-based products.  But I am still a scientist, in other words I take a scientific approach to many aspects of my work; I think like a scientist.

Image: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/ 

This past week, something hit me while I was reading emails from my employees. They all seemed to have something in common: there was a bit of a nervous, overly deferential tone. It was only then that I realized that over the past month, I’d been in swept up in a whirlwind of operations tasks—new hires, terminating contracts, working with legal, sales, and accounting. I must have given off a harried, "don't poke the bear" impression.

Every entrepreneur must choose whether to bootstrap a company or use venture capital to fuel it. I’ve traveled these two drastically different paths. I spent more than a decade building a bootstrapped, profitable cash flow business, only to put all my chips back on the table with two venture-backed companies. My journey began with an interactive agency I founded in college called Cie Digital Labs, which then went on to incubate two successful venture-backed spin-outs. Last year, Cie Games was acquired by Glu Mobile for $100M, and my current venture Nativo recently raised a $20 million Series B round.

We’ve been having the “born or made” debate for decades in entrepreneurship circles, but it’s high time to move on. Too many people believe that a subjective selection of personality traits or innate core competencies are the most important building blocks of an entrepreneur.

Vulnerability is often seen as a weakness, but it can turn into one of the most powerful tools for change imaginable, says author Pratima Nagaraj in her new book "Vulnerability as the Road to Change" released today to instant bestseller status in "Hot New Releases" on Amazon. 

UPDATE Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, 1115a: IEI and our partners are pleased to announce that the five North Carolina communities selected as participants in InnovateNC are Asheville, Greensboro, Pembroke, Wilmington/Carolina Coast, and Wilson.

We were gratified to receive 18 very strong applications from across the state, each and every one distinguished by excellent ideas and vision.The following map graphic has been updated to indicate the selections among this very strong applicant group.

Image: http://iei.ncsu.edu/