One of the big questions that every entrepreneur struggles with is how much funding they should request from investors in the first round. They know from forums such as Shark Tank on TV that asking for either too much or too little will derail credibility in the eyes of the investor, and leave the entrepreneur with no money and a struggling startup.

With policymakers looking for hard evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of federal programs, a new study of federal patent output by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice (TPP) provides some new insight into certain federal research programs and their substantial role in generating growth-enhancing innovations.

Image: This chart is based upon federal government interest data set with 63,699 distinct patents.It includes the specific 14 NIH ICs with at least 400 patents from the NIH government interest/adjusted data set. Credit: Battelle TPP Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-03-fueling-economy-impacts-federal.html#jCp

HUB at Gogarburn is a global first and will boost Scotland’s already flourishing ecosystem, finds Martin Hannan.

THE announcement last Wednesday that The Royal Bank of Scotland was placing part of its headquarters outside Edinburgh at the heart of Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem may have intrigued many members of the public.

Image: http://www.scotsman.com

Venture capitalist David McClure, with investments in more than 500 companies, never bets on a startup unless it already has customers paying good money for its products.

On Monday, McClure told an audience at Google Campus in London that he gets approached all the time with new ideas. People have tried to pitch to him on the dance floor, and even while at a urinal.

Image: ©Pat Brans

Shutter and shuffle silenced as John Doerr humbly took center stage last week as a speaker for the Fung Institute and Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology’s Richard Newton Lecture Series. Doerr was a clear choice as the series’ mission is to bring distinguished speakers within the entrepreneurial world to UC Berkeley for an hour and a half every Tuesday. Known as an early investor in Google, Amazon, Zynga and Square, Doerr transcended his 3.4 billion dollar net worth and spoke to the undergraduate students’ needs as he conducted a hybrid presentation mixing Q&A and a shorter presentation about his philosophy about the Venture Capital world.

Image: KPCB/COURTESY

I recently posted an analysis at the Harvard Business Review that demonstrates an increasing geographic dispersion of early-stage venture capital (VC) in the United States. VC is critical because it seeds high-potential companies and spurs growth in the local economy,  so my findings were encouraging because they showed that more regions are getting in on the action. 

In a speech presented at the Stanford Law School, SEC Commissioner Kara Stein delivered a lecture clearly designed to cater to the audience. Entitled “Supporting Innovation Through the Commission’s Mission to Facilitate Capital Formation” the presentation noted that the SEC’s mission is not defined as supporting innovation but, according to Stein, the Commission does support innovation by facilitating capital formation. Silicon Valley and the surrounding Bay Area is the epicenter of all things tech with creative entrepreneurs developing incredible services and devices to change the world. None of this would be possible without access to capital.  The Angels, the VC’s and the risk taking enterpreneurs create a dynamic ecosystem that has engendered some of the most dynamic companies in the world such as Apple, Google and many more.

Image: http://www.crowdfundinsider.com

Every startup founder rightfully starts out as the single leader of the startup, but as the business grows, many entrepreneurs struggle with relinquishing any control, or fail to recognize and allow other leaders to emerge. The result is that the business becomes dysfunctional as growth stagnates, and entrepreneur health and happiness decline.

Kickstarter isn’t just for funding anymore. In recent years, creative entrepreneurs have found other crowdfunding benefits when using the platform. For instance, some have found it to be a great way to get their name out to the public before launching.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com

As a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs, the most common question I get is, “I want to be an entrepreneur -- how do I start?” The obvious answer is that you need an idea first, but I’ve come to realize that the process is really much more complex than that. Many people with great ideas never make it as entrepreneurs, and true entrepreneurs can make a business out of anything.

What an incredible time to be a tech startup! The opportunities out there are just tremendous. Digital payments,wearable technology, mobile healthcare, virtual reality and gamification, predictive analytics, and green tech—these are just a few of the startup areas that are expected to be big this year, according to venture capitalists and industry experts.

One invented the telegraph, another created the first revolver, still a third was the father of the American sewing machine. One invented the mechanical reaper, another a machine for the mass production of horseshoes. One discovered vulcanization and transformed rubber into a consumer product. Two of them changed how we use stoves, both industrial and domestic. One of them invented the rotary press, which made the early….

E arlier this week billionaire investor Mark Cuban wrote on his personal blog that we are in the midst of a tech bubble larger than we were during the dot-com crash, in large part due to a glut of amateur investors jumping into the crowdfunding scene.

Today, Cuban's fellow tech billionaire, Steve Case, who has become a champion of investment opportunities outside of the major tech hubs, took aim directly at Cuban in a talk on Fox News, which we discovered thanks to Crowdfund Insider.

Image: Case has been criss-crossing the country on his quest to power "The Rise of the Rest". Washington Business Journal

BERLIN, March 6 (Reuters) - A German draft law to supervise crowdfunding and protect small investors against heavy losses risks choking off support for fledgeling businesses, an lobby group said in a paper for a March 16 parliamentary hearing on the proposed legislation.

Worried that German companies are falling behind in the digital age, Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing coalition is keen to promote innovation and start-ups, but industry group Bitkom said the proposed law would undermine that goal.

How do you protect your business from potential legal issues or conflicts? Jeff Bell offers tips on documents every entrepreneur needs.

Bell is CEO of Dallas-based LegalShield, which provides legal services.

Form a limited liability business entity

Businesses face internal and external risks. Without a formal business entity filed with the Texas secretary of state’s office, a business owner’s personal assets could be at risk. Limited liability companies are easy and inexpensive to form in most states and provide you the needed protection.

Sunday marks the 106th celebration of International Women’s Day. Since New Yorkers first celebrated it in 1909, American women have made great strides toward equality in the workplace, politics and at home. Long gone are the days when women couldn’t vote or sex discrimination was blatant and legal. But a quick glance at the gender composition of society’s most influential leaders suggests that there is still a lot of work to do. For instance, women still comprise only 19.4% of the US congress and just 4.8% of chief executives in the Standard & Poor’s 500.

One of the most difficult things a leader has to do is identify and develop other leaders in their midst.

Too often, organizations promote people based on competency, not on leadership potential—the so-called Peter Principle (the theory that employees get promoted to a level where they are incompetent), says leadership expert Tom Rath, author of the best-selling leadership book StrengthsFinder 2.0. While someone may be a very good salesperson or accountant, that person should also be a good leader before you put him or her in charge of others, Rath says.

2014 was the year that mobile stopped being the next big thing and became THE BIG THING. Investors poured money into any app that showed the slightest signs of traction, new service providers popped up like mushrooms and most importantly, app developers started seeing some serious profits.

Just thinking back to two years ago, everyone and their neighbor had an idea for a new app. Today, these apps have funding, development teams, and slick demos. The success stories like Flappy Bird and 2048 alone were an inspiration to this generation of app developers showing them how far an original idea can take you.

Image: Image Credit: ejbSF, Flickr

Venture capital provider 500 Startups is looking to make deeper inroads in Asia with a new micro- investment fund targeting hot and emerging companies in Thailand.

The US-based firm's "500 TukTuks" fund, named after the iconic motorised rickshaws that ply their trade on Bangkok's busy roads, will target startups in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, where only a few VC firms operate, TechCruch reported.

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites, and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which actually funds more startups then all other venture sources combined (over $25 billion annually).