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.

Download the PDF

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?

A growing institutionalization of angel investing is giving the City & County of San Francisco Employees' Retirement System the opportunity to invest in funds providing seed money for entrepreneurs trying to create the next Facebook.

The $15.1 billion San Francisco system's $20 million commitment might make it the first pension plan to invest in a fund of funds focusing solely on angel investing.

“It has been uncommon for public plans to access the micro (angel fund) market due to the size of the funds focusing on it and the relative newness of institutional funds,” said Brian P. Murphy, a managing director of Portfolio Advisors LLC, Darien, Conn., a consultant to the San Francisco fund. “Developing a portfolio of micro VC funds in this manner is a unique solution for a pension plan.”

Despite the hammering of the Golden State by a steep recession, San Diego has more than held its own.

The state’s jobless rate hovers around 12.5 percent. San Diego’s? Around 10 percent.

The secret? In a word, clusters.

The region benefits from a diverse economy based on critical concentrations of companies in so-called clusters, accounting for the current relatively healthy employment rate as well as a more optimistic outlook for future job growth.

Marney Cox, chief economist for the San Diego Association of Governments, or Sandag, says the importance of clusters was discovered after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.

That’s when more than 10,000 to 12,000 jobs were lost when General Dynamics, the region’s largest defense contractor, downsized and reorganized, abandoning manufacturing facilities.

“They literally disappeared,” said Cox, of the defense jobs.

The United Nations will call on Monday for 2% of worldwide income to be invested in the green economy, a move it says would boost jobs and economic growth.

The call is expected to be matched by statements of support for low-carbon investment from heads of state including President Barack Obama of the US and Hu Jintao of China, and several chiefs of multinational companies.

An investment of 2% of global GDP would more than pay for itself in the form of millions of new jobs, the development of new industries, health benefits from cleaner air, energy efficiency savings and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the UN is expected to say.

In business, there are no guarantees. There is simply no way to eliminate all the risks associated with starting a small business - but you can improve your chances of success with good planning, preparation, and insight.

Start by evaluating your strengths and weaknesses as a potential owner and manager of a small business. Carefully consider each of the following questions.

Are you a self-starter? It will be entirely up to you to develop projects, organize your time, and follow through on details.

How well do you get along with different personalities? Business owners need to develop working relationships with a variety of people including customers, vendors, staff, bankers, and professionals such as lawyers, accountants or consultants.

Entrepreneurs are often stereotyped as gregarious wheelers and dealers who network their way to fame and fortune. Some do. But many I know find entrepreneurship a lonely pursuit, one so isolating at times that business builders need to take steps to safeguard their wellbeing.

This feeling of isolation is a common theme in emails I receive from small business owners or entrepreneurs struggling to build a venture, or dealing with a horrific business failure that may be compounded by relationship loss or mental illness, such as depression.

This came from a reader after my recent blog on relationship problems: “I am a fledgling entrepreneur and my first venture has been besieged by all of the issues and challenges you spoke about in your blog on the human side of the business venture. I must admit it’s hard to keep going when you feel so alone and not sure what to do next, and it doesn't help that the venture is in a foreign country. Thank you for the insights, it just might help to rally me onward and upward.”

Web work — also known as telecommuting or remote work — has many benefits, not least of which is a reduction in commuting, and the resulting lower fuel consumption and better work/life balance. But not every remote worker or freelancer wants to work from their home office all of the time; many don’t have the space to build a properly equipped home office, and most people will need a meeting room from time to time. Meeting an important client over the dinner table just isn’t going to cut it.

Fortunately, there are now plenty of places where you can find a workspace outside the home office, ranging from coffees shops with Wi-Fi to dedicated coworking centers and office space sublets. However, it’s not always easy to know where to look for them, and having taken the long commute to the office out of the equation, you don’t want to find a workspace that’s miles from your home. In this post I’m going to round up a few of the most useful resources for finding local desk and meeting room space. All of the resources listed below are free to use unless otherwise indicated.

The perfect storm is well publicised. Our population is ageing. By 2032 over half the population in Scotland will be over 60. This generation is increasingly demanding better and more personalised services while putting considerable strain on our public services such as health and care services. And as these pressures increase, we are faced with decreasing public funds.

It all sounds pretty gloomy. Yet we believe that older people should not by default be seen as a burden to society, in fact quite the opposite. There is a wealth of local knowledge and expertise amongst older people - untapped potential which could be of huge benefit to society. What's more, if we provide ways to keep older people involved in society, they are less likely to be a burden on our health and services.

1. Failure to evolve.

Markets change over time. People’s needs change over time. One of the biggest problems that I see with entrepreneurs and small businesses is that they start the business based on a single solution, or set of solutions, products or services, that satisfy one particular need or pain point in a market, and they may be doing it very well at that point in time.

If you take a look at the Commerce Department's National Broadband Service map, you'll see that a lot of America still doesn't have a broadband Internet connection. It might look like sparsely populated areas, but in reality 28 percent of Americans don't use the Internet, according to the NY Times. A lot of times, as the article explains, it's not for lack of want: These people simply don't have access.

Only 68 percent of Americans have access to broadband, according to a survey of 54,000 completed by the Commerce Department. Some people in Thomasville, Ala. have had to resort to driving to their local library's parking lot to get a wireless signal. (The librarian took pity on them and now leaves the router on all night. If you need the password, it's posted on the library door.)

A reader asks: I have an employee who has gone onto Facebook and griped about my company. Can I institute company policies that prevent employees from doing this and terminate their employment them if they continue?

Answer: It’s a frustrating and embarrassing situation for a business to see its employees assailing it via social media platforms – but penalizing them for it is a tough, if not impossible, task.

The debate over the First Amendment rights of the employee to post their negative feelings about a company and the rights of the company to protect its private informa tion used to skew in the employer’s favor. That has changed, however, and today the federal government counsels against restricting employees’ Internet chatter, regardless of its nature, because it may violate their First Amendment rights.

It’s among the most-asked questions on startup forums, and an issue we’re dealing with right now at WPEngine as we bring on new employees:

How do you decide how much equity (shares) to give a new employee or partner? Especially when the company is young and according to typical financial assessment the shares are “worth nothing?”

As we start the new year, there will be many opportunities for those who are alert enough to recognize emerging trends, perceptive enough to realize their importance, and clever enough to take advantage of them. Here I suggest nine Minitrends—emerging trends that will become significantly important within 2-5 years, but are not yet generally recognized—that are well worth examining for possible action by those ambitious individuals who seek to start new ventures or keep existing businesses innovative and competitive.

Unlike megatrends, Minitrends are of a scope and importance to offer attractive opportunities to individual entrepreneurs, decision-makers in small and mid-size businesses, innovative thinkers in large companies, and adventuresome investors. In my new book, MINITRENDS: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs & Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends, I categorize the nine Minitrends below to those most applicable to different-sized groups. (In the book, I also discuss the background, current trends, and business opportunities of each of these Minitrends in more depth.) I do the same categorization below, but in reality, all provide opportunities to perceptive individuals in all-sized businesses.