A newly created venture capital fund from Pittsburgh may be coming to Northeast Ohio — if it can hit its fundraising goal.

Corridor Venture Partners is in the process of raising capital for its first fund, and is targeting Cleveland due to the city’s abundance of healthcare investment opportunities, from medical devices to diagnostics to health IT.

The fund is aiming for an initial closing of $20 million and would look to add an office in Cleveland if it’s able to hit $50 million, co-founder Gary Glausser told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Corridor is in discussions with BioEnterprise, a Cleveland nonprofit that helps biomedical firms with business development.

Klout is the new Groupon. Everybody’s asking about Klout scores. We hear about Klout swag, Klout Kribs, and Klout parties. Every major blogger – perhaps to beef up their Klout score – is doing a story on… Klout.

And earlier this week, I saw a job seeker claiming he was denied an interview for a social media internship because his “Klout score was too low.” Then he asked, “Is there a way to game my Klout score?”

I admit I was/am confused. This Twitter account has been open just 2 months, he’s tweeted a total of 32 times to just 118 followers. And he somehow blames his failure to get an interview on some ever-changing score based on some always-modified algorithm that even its founders admit is “far from perfect”? And then he wants to “game” his score?

The role (and value) of ideas vs. execution continues to be a frequent topic of conversation at a time when demonstrating utility, proof of concept and potential returns are increasingly demanded – and expected. From entrepreneurs to creative minds to anyone working in and with knowledge capital – we’re expected to demonstrate potential and produce earlier and more quickly than ever. Many argue that execution is more important and valuable than the idea itself.

An article in Inc. offers some constructive advice for entrepreneurs on how to execute their great ideas. While the full article is worth the read, we’ve pulled and surmised some of the key suggestions. While there are likely as many different potential paths to executing a good ideas as there are good ideas, we appreciate these ideas for their constructive nature – applying some discipline and loose structure to the process of creativity and ideation can only contribute to a more well-thought out idea – that is likelier to be ‘bought’.

* Write your ideas down. Sort them, organize them, prioritize them against what you’re trying to achieve. Pick one, apply the below.

The probability of Muammar al-Qaddafi losing power in the rebellion is 75% on inTrade.

Although the country is in a state of war, the 68-year-old leader has held onto power for 41 years -- that is about two thirds of his life and the entire lifespan of most Libyans.

But then again Hosni Mubarak just fell after 30 years.

We looked up the world's longest serving leaders who are not monarchs.

Want your work to feel more fulfilling? Just do a little soul searching, says Dan Buettner of Psychology Today.

Specifically, ask yourself ten questions. "Examining the answers will help you to maximize the aspects of your job which contribute to overall workplace satisfaction," Buettner writes.

Here's what to ask:

* How is this work important?

* What can I contribute?

* What excites me?

* How can this work challenge me in an ongoing way?

* Would I do this work even if I didn't get paid?

* How does this address my passions?

Maybe it takes a little bit of crazy to be a CEO. Or at the very least, maybe it helps. After all, would you consider Steve Jobs completely ‘normal’? Or might you say he’s a touch overconfident? How about Bill Gates? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg?

Timothy Simcoe, of Boston University’s School of Management, and Alberto Galasso, of the University of Toronto, set out to find out if there are any advantages to having an overconfident CEO. They found that firms with overconfident CEOs invested more in research and development, and were more innovative, than companies led by CEOs whose outlook was more realistic.

Every good technology company needs great people. The best companies invest time, money, and sweat equity into becoming world-class recruiting machines. But how far should you take your quest to build the world's greatest team? Is it fair game to hire employees from your friend's company? Will you still be friends?

First, what do I mean by "friends?" There are two relevant categories:

* Important business partners
* Friends

For this discussion, friends and important business partners are roughly the same.

02.21.2011– New York, NY (February 21) The Worldwide Investor Network (W.I.N.) -http://worldwidein.com, the only U.S-based investor network of accredited angel investors, venture capitalists, and corporate/institutional investors focused solely on helping international companies launch their businesses in the U.S., will host its first event on February 23rd in New York City. The event will feature a line-up of handpicked entrepreneurs presenting their companies’ strategic plans for expanding into the US market to a group of active investors.

Co-Founded by Larry Chaityn, the President of the New York Tri-State Chapters of The Keiretsu Forum (www.keiretsuforum.com), and Eyal Bino, CEO and Founder of BornGlobal (www.born-global.net), W.I.N ‘s monthly events will feature innovative international companies with a desire to expand to the U.S. market, becoming global players in their respective markets.

The Founder Institute has joined forces with StartupDigest and Udemy to offer "Startup and Go," an onine course on the initial steps in building a technology company.

"Startup and Go" is a collection of talks by Mint.com's Aaron Patzer, Evernote CEO Phil Libin, Friendster founder Jonathan Abrams, the Founder Institute's Adeo Ressi, and others.

The course covers three topics:

Lecture 1: Startup Ideation - Ideas, Vision, and Values
We all have many "great" ideas, but how do we best choose which one to pursue? What are the components of a good technology business idea? What is your key differentiator? What type of business will you build? How will you make money? Can you quickly articulate your idea?

Starting companies is hard. And it’s critical to make sure that your venture is pointing in the right direction from the moment it leaves the launch pad. Any misdirection or miscue on the basic organizational steps can be fatal.

It’s a lot like launching a rocket aimed at the moon—if the launch is only 2 degrees off target at blast-off, it will miss by hundreds of thousands of miles.

There’s no end to the advice and opinions entrepreneurs will hear in a company’s early days, but three basic rules that every company founder should take into consideration:

Keep it simple – In setting up the capital structure and the first equity of the company, many founders either try to innovate or try to accommodate the wishes and desires of every co-founder and early stage employee. The result is too much complexity.

Metropolitan area results are beginning to trickle in from the 2010 census. They reveal that, at least for the major metropolitan areas so far, there is little evidence to support the often repeated claim by think tanks and the media that people are moving from suburbs to the historical core municipalities. This was effectively brought to light in a detailed analysis of Chicago metropolitan area results by New Geography’s Aaron Renn. This article analyzes data available for the eight metropolitan areas with more than 1 million population for which data had been released by February 20.

Are you tired of paying $80 or $100 per month to your local cable company for the three networks you watch, and for hundreds you don’t? You’re not alone: Hundreds of thousands of people canceled their cable or satellite TV subscriptions in 2010, and many use Netflix, Hulu & Co. as a cheaper and more convenient ways to get their TV fix.

Making that call to your cable company can admittedly be scary. However, there are plenty of options out there to get TV programming. Give them a try, and you might find that you’ll not only save money, but also watch TV on your own terms.

Anya Kamenetz: We're looking at a graph of your personal social network, with clusters from various jobs, investments you've made, companies where you're on the board--what are we seeing and why does it matter to you?

Reid Hoffman: I think about networks in three angles: outbound, inbound, and the atmosphere around you.

Outbound, when I go, all right, I need to learn more about this new kind of open source pattern, or what's going on with media online, or what are interesting new marketplaces or startup entrepreneurs or productivity software--when you need expertise, knowledge, or access to resources. How do you know who are the right people to reach, and how do you reach out to them, and get introduced through your network?

Global health experts have always felt that they are fighting a losing battle to galvanise funding to fight diseases of the poor.

Big pharmaceutical companies are understandably reluctant to invest in products for which there is no profitable market. And governments and universities cannot afford to gamble millions on developing a drug that may not even get approved.

This impasse seemed to be coming to an end with the advent of product development partnerships (PDPs), which combine academic know-how with pharmaceutical money.

Since I listed 10 great small business apps in 2010, the use of iPhones and iPads for SMB’s has exploded in areas from business travel to communication to productivity. The office has become truly mobile. Here are must-have apps for those running and operating businesses in 2011:

1. Travel for Business Like a True Road Warrior

Prepare for your trip and navigate like a true road warrior using your iPhone! Kayak PRO lets you find a flight or a hotel; TripIt – Travel Organizer keeps your travel itinerary always handy in your pocket,; FlightTrack Pro – Live Flight Status Tracker gives you real-time flight updates and helps you find alternate flights (and works seamlessly with TripIt); GateGuru will guide you to the nearest ATM, post office, or luggage store in the airport. Once you arrive, Taxi! makes it easy to find a cab 24/7 anywhere in the U.S. Don’t forget your Kindle app so you can read on the plane or in the taxi.

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs was the European Commission's attempt to mimic the success of its student exchange programme, which helps thousands to study abroad every year. But two years' after its launch, it is not clear whether the programme will be continued.

Since the launch of the programme in 2009, a total of 532 men and women have been matched with business owners in other countries. Most train for two to three months, and for up to a maximum of six months.

According to European Commission figures, about half of the applicants come from Spain and Italy, where high unemployment is forcing more job seekers to start their own business or look for work in another country.

Last fall, Winona State University opened a 90,000-square-foot Integrated Wellness Complex on the east side of the campus, just across the street from the university's performing-arts center. The complex houses classroom and administrative space along with aerobics facilities, weight rooms, a glass atrium, and a 200-meter indoor track. Massage therapy is available on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. It cost $19.5-million to build.

It might seem strange, or even cruel, to blame a perfectly benign building at a perfectly respectable university in Minnesota for the coming demise of higher education as we know it. To understand why it is nonetheless true, you have to consider where Winona State started and why it became what it is today.

The reluctance of UK banks to lend to small businesses means venture capital trusts (VCTs) are enjoying the run of the house in terms of where to invest their funds, negotiating ever better deals.

Not only this, but fiscal policies in austerity Britain are creating a perfect storm for these tax-efficient vehicles, and VCT groups believe the current tax year could prove to be one of the best since they were first created in 1995.

Stung by tougher limits on pension contributions and the new 50 per cent income tax band for higher earners, ever more investors are turning to this complex, niche product. The attractions of 30 per cent tax relief and tax-free dividends that VCTs offer has begun to outweigh concern about the risks of investing in such small companies and the sector’s wide disparity in performance.

Why Broadband Infrastructure?

Broadband infrastructure is essential for communities to thrive in today’s global envi- ronment and is vital to eco- nomic recovery and sustainable growth. Broadband provides entrepreneurs, small businesses and large corporations with the tools necessary to survive and compete in local, state and national markets. It also allows citizens more affordable and efficient access to basic amenities such as education, healthcare, public safety and government services.

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Over the last week, we've all learned some things.

Mostly, we've learned that when President Obama talks about his fondness for the small businesses that are the hope of the economy, he's not talking about us.

This week, President Obama has, on the one hand, proposed to decimate the only microbusiness specific programs he's got: Microloan. At the same time, President Obama is waltzing around the country marketing his latest initiative: Startup America.

This Startup America initiative is designed to support entrepreneurship, in the sense in which people like Scott Shane and the Kauffman Foundation use the word.

It's all starting to make sense now.

Back when President Obama first named Karen Mills to be his SBA Administrator, there were a lot of questions. Her background was in venture capital, we said. Will she run her agency for us all or will the focus change to those high growth gazelles?