Here we highlight selected innovation related articles from around the world on a daily basis. These articles related to innovation and funding for innovative companies, and best practices for innovation based economic development.
WASHINGTON, DC – The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) today issued the following statement after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 to reclassify Internet service providers (ISPs) as common carriers under Title II of the Telecommunications Act, prohibiting ISPs from blocking web traffic or charging websites for priority service.
This time of year always brings a lot of talk about dating, relationships, and meeting that special someone. But a relationship with the right business partner can be just as meaningful, if not more so.
If you have a good business idea, you may ask, do you really need a partner in the first place? Just like in dating and life, it all depends on your reasons.
This oft-paraphrased quote from Archimedes aptly describes the effect that ready access to capital and efficient advisory services can have on new company and job creation in Oklahoma. Leverage is truly the story of i2E. Leverage in terms of money, partnerships and people. We are a compact organization, yet in our 15-plus years of history we have served more than 600 Oklahoma companies and interfaced with more than 1,500 entrepreneurs or start-up businesses.
If you think that financial modeling for a new business is arcane magic, limited in value to financial wizards and professional investors, then you have been listening to the wrong advisors. In reality, a simple Excel spreadsheet model customized around your assumptions can save you hours and avoid a wasted expense in validating alternative vendor and marketing decisions.
The way to start is with a sample financial model, freely available from many sources on the Internet, such as this one from Entrepreneur. Another alternative is to build one yourself, starting with a few formulas to extrapolate early revenues and expenses into the five-year projections normally requested by banks and investors.
One of the most common complaints I hear from entrepreneurs is that they are overwhelmed by the workload and stress of starting their company. Then there are the additional challenges of balancing the demands of family and friends. Having too much on your plate can turn your dream into a nightmare.
Many have the impression that most angel investing happens in Silicon Valley, Boston and New York. I’m here to tell you that angel investing is thriving in many other places across the country. Case in point: angels in so called “flyover states” without a tradition of venture capital or cities with populations of 100,000. These locations are creative angel epicenters that are doing special things to be successful.
When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker traveled to England earlier this month, he did not want to talk about evolution. He was, however, happy to tout his belief in innovation—innovation in the art of cheese making.
After the potential Republican presidential candidate opted to “punt” rather than respond to a question about whether he subscribes to Darwin’s theory, he went on to praise the virtues of free trade and economic competition: “Colby cheese comes from Colby, Wisconsin. We believe we make it better than anyone in the world, but we do not begrudge anyone else trying to make a better cheese. In other words, we say, let the best cheese win. From my point of view, truly free trade rewards hard work and innovation.”
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here’s been a flurry of news related to telemedicine this week, with several notable developments in Mississippi and Silicon Valley.
One of the more interesting aspects of telemedicine is that much of the innovation and focus of late has come from startups and vendors, while health systems have shown a bit of reluctance to deploy it on their own.
To be fair, it’s a significant undertaking for big systems who can’t always pivot at a moment’s notice. But there are some notable exceptions.
Image: http://medcitynews.com
Until now, a common understanding, notably in Europe, has been that the public sector must be deeply involved in financing research. However, innovation is knowledge in action – every time knowledge is put in action it results in an evolution process that gives birth to innovative solutions and start-ups.
Newly opened Centre for Alternative Finance of University of Cambridge Judge Business School reports European Alternative Finance Benchmarking Survey study results.
The European market could top €7 billion in 2015
There are lots of perks to starting a company in Southern California, whether it's the warm weather, proximity to Hollywood, or reasonable distance from Silicon Valley.
A group of about 300 people working in tech, investing, media, and entertainment in Los Angeles are making the most of one perk in particular: the Pacific Ocean.
If you are like most entrepreneurs, you have a big idea you want to develop as quickly as possible. While you may wonder how you will raise funding for your startup, chances are that you have not had much exposure to accounting or finance and have no idea how you will keep track of the money flowing through your business. But your degree of financial literacy can make a huge difference in how much success you achieve. Here are three reasons why every entrepreneur needs to acquire at least some of the knowledge taught in an Accounting 101 course.
“In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice,” an aerospace engineer once said to me. “But in practice, I find that there often is.”
Those two short sentences sum up a lot of wisdom about the net neutrality debate.
In theory, there should be nothing wrong with allowing content providers like Netflix, YouTube and Yahoo to pay extra to broadband ISPs so that their content ends up in a “fast lane.” Online video is swallowing up an ever-rising percentage of the Internet’s total bandwidth. A fast lane should benefit users, and also the ISPs, which will invest that extra revenue in expanding services and increasing capacity. In theory, everybody wins.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved its Net neutrality policy by a vote of three to two on Thursday. This unsurprising outcome follows years of contentious debate over the best way to ensure that Internet service providers (ISPs) treat all online data and services equally, without favoring one type of content over another.
Rhetoric on both sides had been remarkably similar in recent months as the vote approached but was punctuated by mutual mistrust. By the end of Thursday’s debate—which is by no means the end of the matter—the parties agreed on the Net neutrality approach, although through different means. Expect the FCC’s decision to regulate the Internet as a utility to be challenged in the courts, through additional Congressional hearings and, ultimately, through legislation that would mitigate the agency’s authority to regulate broadband providers.
Image: THE AYES HAVE IT: The FCC has voted to regulate the Internet as a utility, despite much opposition. This is hardly the end of the Net neutrality story, so stay tuned. Courtesy of Camilo Sanchez, via Wikimedia Commons.
In 2014, $48.3 billion was invested by venture capitalists, a 61% increase in VC funding from 2013.
Software received the most VC funding, accounting for $19.8 billion and almost 1,800 deals, followed by biotech ($6 billion) and media/entertainment ($5.7 billion). The most money was invested in expansion-stage companies (over 3 years old), then early-stage companies, later-stage companies, and seed companies.
By now, your New Year’s resolution to join a gym has been derailed mainly because of your busy schedule. It’s understandable; it’s that time of the year where business starts to pick up. The only lifting you’ve done has been your laptop.
It’s not too late to get back on fitness track. The good news is that research has shown that you can get healthy by only exercising a few minutes a day. According t0 The New York Times, intervals of high intensity workouts is very effective. Find a few minutes on your schedule daily (we suggest before work or during lunch break), and do a few exercises that increases your heart-rate and strengthens your body.
As startup experts will tell you, choosing among VC firms should be as much about you liking them as them liking you. So how do you decide?
Many factors might cross your mind, including:
It’s obvious that business is moving faster and faster and that to keep up, leaders at all levels need to know how to pick up the pace.
That’s easy to say. But is it so? Is there a correlation between speed and perceived leadership effectiveness?
In a word, “yes.”
The Founder Institute, a startup training and launch program, has developed a test to identify entrepreneurial personality traits. Take the abbreviated quiz below for a quick evaluation of your entrepreneurial prowess.
PART 1: Each puzzle has three rows and three columns of designs. One pattern at left is missing and has been replaced by a question mark. Choose the missing pattern from the eight on the right.
Image: http://www.entrepreneur.com
Some people are destined to be entrepreneurs. From the time they get through school, or maybe even before that, they’re hungry to start a business and lead it to success, and they’ll stop at nothing to make that dream a reality.
Related: 3 Steps to Eliminating the Barriers to Becoming Self-Sufficient
For others, starting a business is a scary, intimidating notion. There are too many unknowns to take the plunge. But if you’re considering becoming an entrepreneur, don’t forget all the benefits that go along with it:
