Almost every time I teach the basic concepts of strategy — the five forces framework or the principles of competitive advantage — I get the same question. “These ideas are more than 30 years old,” managers complain. “Isn’t there anything more recent?”

Unfortunately, this question demonstrates a lack of understanding of the nature of knowledge. It the same as saying to a maths professor who is explaining the principles of calculus, “These ideas are more than 100 years old. What are the new ideas?”

Institutional Venture Partners said it raised a $1.4 billion fund, its largest ever, part of a boom that has seen investments in U.S. startups double in the past five years. It’s the 15th fund for Menlo Park, California-based IVP, a 35-year later-stage venture capital and growth equity firm. IVP has backed companies including Netflix Inc. and Snapchat Inc.

My husband says that if I ever write an autobiography, it should be called Always Selling. As a young girl, I remember going door to door in our small New England town, selling packets of seeds, greeting cards, and potholders I had made. Was I scared? Sure I was. But once the neighbor opened her door, somehow I knew it would be worth it.

I always walked away with something—not a sale every time, but with a heightened sense of self-worth. Everybody took me seriously when I was selling!

It is like Japan is trolling the whole world.

Moving further into the weird and wacky, is the new invention out of the intriguing nation — True Wetsuits. But these aren't any old wetsuits, these are actual suits. Because being literal has never been so cool.

Most surfers would agree there would be nothing better than getting to the ocean after a hard day's work, grabbing the surfboard and running straight in. The five minutes it takes to change are perhaps the most wasted in a young surfer's life.

Image: http://mashable.com

Google has long been cloaked in mystery, between its legendary Google X labs (home of the notorious driverless car project) and top-secret search algorithms. A position at Google is still a dream job for tech and engineering grads around the globe. In fact, the company has a reputation of almost mythic proportions for ingenuity, innovation, and amazing work-life benefits for staff. Once you’ve seen the swim-in-place pools and on-campus hair stylists, it’s easy to see why so many people dream of working for Google.

Earth Day can be rather depressing, given the slew of statistics showing that we've got major environmental problems, from endangered species to global warming. But there are plenty of reasons for optimism, too.

Image: http://mashable.com

K‐12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) plays a critical role in enabling the U.S. to remain the economic and technological leader of the global marketplace in the 21st century. In short, the United States must align its K‐12 core curriculum to the expectations of a modern workforce. Strong K‐12 STEM education is not just for those students wishing to pursue technical degrees in higher education, but all students. The Administration and Congress play a key role in helping to focus and strengthen the STEM education programs in its purview.

“Stupid is as stupid does.” The great irony of Forrest Gump was how insightful his simplistic sayings really were. Sort of the opposite of Peter Seller’s character in the classic movie, Being There. Everyone thought Chance the Gardener was brilliant but he really was a dolt, albeit (spoiler alert) a dolt who could walk on water.

In case you don’t know, Gump’s line means you are what you do. In other words, it doesn’t matter how intelligent you think you are or are supposed to be, if you consistently do dumb things, you’re still dumb.

Calling yourself a CEO is easy. All it takes is getting a stack of business cards made, and slapping your name and the CEO title on them. There is, however, a journey that a founder has to take to become a CEO. So to ask the question “Do founders make great CEOs?” is perhaps uninformed because, for a startup founder to become a good CEO, he needs to actually learn how to get there.

There’s an excellent post by venture capitalist, Ben Horowitz that highlights the importance of teaching founders to be CEOs. Because really, being a CEO is an entirely different ballgame from being a founder and it’s something that needs to be learnt.

We’ve been hearing for months now that the idea that the Innovation Act will devalue patents.

But there’s a big problem with this notion that no one seems to be discussing: a lot of companies that have large, valuable patent portfolios don’t believe it.

Pope Francis has made no secret of his intention to radically reform the administrative structures of the Catholic church, which he regards as insular, imperious, and bureaucratic. He understands that in a hyper-kinetic world, inward-looking and self-obsessed leaders are a liability.

Last year, just before Christmas, the Pope addressed the leaders of the Roman Curia — the Cardinals and other officials who are charged with running the church’s byzantine network of administrative bodies. The Pope’s message to his colleagues was blunt. Leaders are susceptible to an array of debilitating maladies, including arrogance, intolerance, myopia, and pettiness. When those diseases go untreated, the organization itself is enfeebled. To have a healthy church, we need healthy leaders.

Equity crowdfunding comes in two forms: Investor -led or Company-led. The former creates investor-led syndicates and has important financial benefits for investors whereas the latter benefits companies by providing cheaper money with less stringent due diligence. Investor-led platforms such as AngelList and SyndicateRoom create syndicates around lead investors who negotiate the investment terms with the company, invest their own money and then allow online investors to join the syndicate of investors. Company-led platforms such as Crowdcube and Seedrs are marketplaces for companies to raise finance on their own terms. Companies will naturally push to get the best possible valuation for themselves coupled with as limited rights as possible for investors. Depending on which side of the fence you are on (investing or raising finance), one model will be better than the other for you. This great article by Stephen Wilmot sums up the differences – ‘one model is for fun, the other for investment’.

New for 2015! BHI's Funding Newsletter provides a monthly snapshot of biohealth funding opportunities from federal, state, local government, and private sources that could be relevant to advance your small business. BHI's goal is to assist companies determine feasible non-dilutive funding pathways or government contract opportunities to enable biohealth businesses at multiple stages of development.

There is no secret trick to becoming more creative, but the good news is creativity is a skill you can build.

That means that you can become more creative with the right time and effort. Whenever you are picking up a new skill, though, it is good to find role models who have the abilities you want and to follow their lead.

If you listen to large tech companies, they will tell you they are in dire need of another bailout from scary “patent trolls” who burden them with frivolous lawsuits. This tech bailout will come in the form of a bill that would weaken 225 years of U.S. patent law to help big companies always win, and guarantee that small innovators and inventors will always lose.

The United States’ patent law system is at the foundation of American global success, found in breakthrough discoveries from Edison to the computer chip to recombinant DNA.

Why do we do all that we do?

Is it for the money? The recognition? Is work a part of life and life a part of work? Is it just the next rung in the ladder after we finish college and join the next grouping of people we’re tied to for a brief period in time?

These aren’t generally the thoughts of  20-year-olds. That is the age where you do more than think. “Of course I work!”

Introduction: AUTM Asia 2015 will serve as a global networking platform for technology transfer processionals in academic, research, government, legal and commercial settings. This year's conference carries the theme "Technology Transfer in a Globalised Economy'. Attendance is open to technology transfer professionals in academic, research and government sectors, technology entrepreneurs, private sector practitioners, policy makers, venture capitalists, legal firms, and other interested parties.

Frederick City and the County have agreed to partner with the state to help Medimmune expand. 

Last week, the County Council agreed to participate with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development's Maryland Economic Development Assistance and Authority Fund (MEDAAF) to  provide a $1.5-million loan to Medimmune.

I started with nothing. I had absolutely no experience with online business. All I knew was that there were a lot of people making good money through online businesses. I wanted to do the same. I had nobody I could ask for advice.

When the 2008 financial crisis hit Canada I was involved in building and selling real estate. Earlier that year a business partner and I managed to build five houses valued at $1m+ each.

Chief technology officers at high-growth tech startups typically have three completely different careers in the span of only a few years:

Engineer – The role of technical founders typically starts by defining and building the product. You’re in the code all day long.

Manager – One morning you wake up and realize your whole day is meetings. You find yourself managing 20 or 50 people, buried by one-on-ones and constantly recruiting.

Executive – You finally manage to bring on a fantastic VP of Engineering or technical leadership team. But now you’re confused. How do you continue to move the business forward with same momentum?