Entrepreneurs often ask me why investors expect financial projections for a new startup even before the product is built and while the market is still being defined. I tell them that the projection process and results are most important for you the founder, to evaluate if there really is a business that can be built from the idea. You shouldn’t invest in an undefined business.

Investors can’t really evaluate any new business, but they can assess the logic behind your numbers, and compare that logic to their experience and rational business norms. Most have developed their own financial “rules of thumb” that will help them decide if your startup is fundable, in conjunction with their assessments of your team and your basic business concept.

If you thought it is the quality of writing that makes or breaks a book, then you are living in a different era. In today’s world, authors create animated video trailers to accompany book launches like Amish Tripathi did with his new book, ‘Scion of Ikshvaku’.

Authors need to think of their book as a product and plan marketing, sales and figure out RoI. It sounds a lot like starting up, doesn’t it?

Image: http://yourstory.com

Toward the end of each summer lawmakers travel back to their home states and districts for the August recess. This time away from our nation’s capital allows elected officials to reconnect with constituents and hear which issues matter most to folks back home.

By the year 2019, there will be an average of five connected media devices per household around the globe. That’s according to new analysis from IHS Technology. That might seem like a lot, but think about the devices you’ve got at home right now. If you’ve got a smartphone, tablet, and laptop then you’re up to three without blinking. And if you’re part of a couple, getting past five is a cinch.

Exercising has many benefits other than losing weight. If you exercise regularly, it will help you with many aspects of your life including your work performance. Below you can find how exercising increases your performance at work. Reduces Stress: Regular exercising reduces stress and decreases tension. If you feel that you don’t have the time to go to the gym to work out, you can go for a short walk on your lunch or coffee break. If you don’t like exercising alone, you can try fitness classes.

Shaolin monk Shi Liliang knows that persistence is key when attempting a difficult task. Especially if that difficult task happens to be running on water.

Shi has been training to run on water for ten years, using nothing but thin, floating boards for support.

Image: http://mashable.com 

Bill Gates called for more funds to help the world’s poorest farmers deal with climate change on Tuesday (1 September), in an appeal that could help pry open the coffers of industrialised countries.

The call from the tech billionaire and world’s biggest philanthropist to focus on the poor could spur more finance from industrialised countries to small-scale farmers during negotiations for a global deal to fight climate change in Paris at the end of the year.

Farming in Burundi. Bitare, 2011. (PWRDF/Flickr)

Private equity and venture capital firms are going down to the farm, moving into the agribusiness and agriculture technology sectors in a big way.

The smallish sector is gaining steam as asset owners seek investments that provide current income as well as returns. While private equity firms previously have invested opportunistically in agriculture and agribusiness out of their main funds, a growing number now are raising funds dedicated to the sector.

The prevailing paradigm of people working as full-time employees for a single organization has outlived its usefulness. It produces excess volatility over the business cycle, resulting in measurable economic costs — both to people and to the companies they work for.

Our vision is straightforward: most people will become independent contractors who have the flexibility to work part-time for several organizations at the same time, or do a series of short full-time gigs with different companies over the course of a year.

Over the course of a typical workday, negative and positive things inevitably happen to you. If you’re like most people, you tend to focus mainly, or even exclusively, on negative experiences. They’re what you ruminate over, what you talk to your friend about as you’re driving home, what you discuss with your partner at night. It sometimes feels good to talk about the negatives — it feels therapeutic.

Momentum for Virtual Reality is impossible to stop and one day will be free, even if in its current form it is "a pretty expensive, relatively primitive proof of concept", Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey has said in an interview with GameSpot.

"In the long-run, it's impossible to stop (VR). At some point, technology will advance to the point where VR comes along for free," said Luckey.

Image: http://www.videogamer.com 

One of the common criticisms leveled at people who promote urban living goes something like this. “Cities are great for college kids, people starting off in their careers, bohemians, and maybe some older empty nesters with money who have a taste for theater and art. But most people have families and tight budgets. Suburbia is the only place that provides a high quality, safe, affordable life for regular folks with children.”

Image: http://www.newgeography.com 

Americans don't take real vacations, and it destroys their bodies. This is what 365 days without a vacation does to your health.

There’s a strong relationship between people who don’t vacay and the risk of heart disease. Data collected in 1991 from a renowned ongoing longitudinal project started in 1948, called the Framingham study, shows that female homemakers who took vacation once every six years or less had nearly twice the risk of developing heart attacks or having a fatal heart problem than those who took time off at least twice a year.

As tech company leaders, we work towards the day when the value of what we have created becomes tangible. One of the best outcomes is when a market leader makes a strategic acquisition of your company that is good for you, your employees, and your investors. In a perfect world, the deal lets you keep your team and your brand intact, and you can continue to build your business with the resources of a technology giant supporting your efforts.

It’s a thrilling prospect – turning your idea into a huge success! Creating a thriving company, finding financial success, earning respect, and joining the ranks of modern day superheros like Steve Jobs, Marissa Mayer, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk.

Being an entrepreneur is an exciting ride, but it is also an emotional roller coaster with drops, turns, and spins. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is not dealing with the emotional impact of the job. It’s much easier to focus on investors, analytics, and finances than your personal emotional and mental health.

American patent law should not be used to prevent consumers from reselling, altering or fixing technology products. A federal appeals court will soon hear a case that could clearly establish this principle.

Lexmark International v. Impression Products, which is before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, involves toner cartridges produced by Lexmark for use in its laser printers.

For most Americans, paychecks determine living standards. Unfortunately, wages in America have long stagnated or declined for most working people, including college graduates.

The disappointing employment report for August — in which wage growth showed no sign of accelerating — only drove home that reality.

When Northwestern University opened the Garage, an innovation incubator located in a parking garage on campus, the location and name evoked the bare bones Silicon Valley garages that produced tech companies such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Google.

ARM and Thundersoft are joining forces to establish the ARM Innovation Ecosystem Accelerator in propelling the Chinese IoT industry forward.

In a press release on Monday, the companies said the ARM Innovation Ecosystem Accelerator will act as a "one-stop shop" for Chinese startups and manufacturers producing Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The accelerator will provide hardware, expertise and resources based on the ARM ecosystem for Chinese companies and OEMs looking to break into the industry or adopt ARM architecture in their products.

I recently came across an interesting article in the Financial Times (FT) which covers the question Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, has been asking entrepreneurs: “What is your plan Z?”

We all have plan A’s in our business. Even those who purport not to plan have some idea of the overall vision, direction and immediate business model. We are all also prepared to make a significant change (“pivot” in lean startup jargon) to one or more elements of the business plan if new information guides us to do so. That is a plan B.