As we mentioned in a recent column, 2009 wasn’t as bad as advertised for the venture capital industry. The first half of the year was rocky; however, growth stormed back in the latter half of 2009. The 2010 IPO and M&A markets are shaping up to be the strongest in years and early- and mid-stage venture capital firms with cash have good reason to be optimistic.

Normal consolidation occurred in our industry this year. A number of prominent firms went quiet or declined to raise new funds. As the capital markets thaw a bit more in the coming months, we expect the strongest of these firms to reemerge, though probably in scaled-down fashions. Others will manage their current investments to fruition and new funds and models will be born.

Two years ago, as the world flirted with a second Great Depression, Gregg Easterbrook was in the midst of writing a book about the coming economic boom. A less confident writer might have abandoned the project in despair. But Mr. Easterbrook, a graduate of the New Republic's school of contrarian journalism, forged on regardless. The result is a book that is both a pleasure to read and a valuable corrective to the gloom that currently envelops us.

The big idea behind "Sonic Boom" is that globalization—celebrated, reviled and analyzed for at least a decade now—has hardly begun. The world, Mr. Easterbrook believes, is on the verge of a period of pell-mell integration that will dwarf anything before now, and a good thing too: The coming age of global integration, he argues, will produce riches that none of us can imagine and scatter them more widely than ever before. But it is a good thing that comes wrapped in a paradox: Growing prosperity will also produce growing anxiety. If the besetting malady of the 19th century was "quiet desperation," as Henry Thoreau wrote in "Walden," then the besetting malady of the 21st will be noxious nervousness—a pervasive sense of anxiety about job security and impending disasters.

Short answer: enough to get your startup to an accretive milestone plus some fudge factor.

“Accretive milestone” is a fancy way of saying getting your company to a point at which you can raise money at a higher valuation. As a rule of thumb, I would say a successful Series A is one where good VCs invest at a pre-money that is at least twice the post-money of the seed round. So if for your seed round you raised $1M at $2M pre ($3M post-money valuation), for the Series A you should be shooting for a minimum of $6M pre (but hopefully you’ll get significantly higher).

Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube all have ridiculously young founders. These and other social media wunderkinds took the world by storm and reshaped friendship, media, and publicity, bringing interdependence's warm glow (and a nice serving of attention deficit disorder) to the world. On facebook alone, I have 2400 friends, and I even know some of them! :) In terms of social media, this was definitely not the decade from hell. This was the decade where google became a bona fide verb. You and I were brought closer together, no matter who you and I are (as long as we live in the first world and can afford high speed internet, that is). We also became even more scatterbrained and unable to pay attention to the people right in front of us. Ah, the irony of social media.

Like the rest of the world this year has been rather interesting for small business in Australia. By all accounts our economy has weathered the economic crisis quite well with the economy forecast to grow in 2010.

The latest MYOB Business Monitor revealed that business confidence is growing; especially amongst younger business owners with 65% expecting improvements in the next year.

Whilst there will still be challenges to overcome by small businesses, a key to their success in Australia as in most countries will be to meet the challenges head on and act on opportunities to grow their business.

I was asked recently what the Large Hadron Collider, the giant particle accelerator outside Geneva, is good for. After $10 billion and 15 years, the machine is ready to begin operations early next year, banging together protons in an effort to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang. Sure, there are new particles and abstract symmetries in the offing for those few who speak the language of quantum field theory. But what about the rest of us?

The classic answer was allegedly given long ago by Michael Faraday, who, when asked what good was electricity, told a government minister that he didn’t know but that “one day you will tax it.”

Philadelphia's cultural community: Peggy Amsterdam, president of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance for the past 10 years, died of cancer on Saturday, Dec. 26. She was 60.

Says GPCA chief operating officer Tom Kaiden in a press release, “Peggy’s energy, connection, and courage inspired everyone she touched. I am at a loss for words to describe our sorrow at her passing. She was a great leader, and we will humbly carry on her mission of ensuring that arts and culture remain at the core of what defines Greater Philadelphia as a region and what binds us together as a community.”

I had the privilege of working with Peggy on several Creative Economy projects in Philadelphia and looked at her as a professional and dedicated leader for our Region. It is unfortunate she left us so early, but we are all better off as a result of her personal commitment to the Creative and Cultural expansion of Philadelphia. - Rich Bendis

Last week I [Stephen Shapiro] was with a group of extremely successful entrepreneurs in Las Vegas. I was a bit of an outlier as my background is mainly with large, multi-billion dollar businesses. Everyone else in the room came from the start-up world. Also, nearly everyone in the room worked exclusively with speakers and authors. Although I too am a speaker and an author, it was clear that my perspectives were a bit different than everyone else in the room. Or as one entrepreneur said, "Steve, you have distinctions in innovation that we don't."

So they asked me to share my point of view. What I shared were three simple distinctions on innovation.

1. Challenges not Ideas

2. Process not Events

3. Diversity not Homogeneity

As student journalists master the different ways social media can be used to report news and strengthen a publication, tools such as Twitter, Facebook and personal blogging can play an important role in nabbing a job or internship.

Think of it this way -- it's a bit more complicated than just sending out a resume and hard-copy portfolio.

New media guru David Spinks says college journalists on a job search must develop a social media strategy to help separate themselves from droves of others on the prowl for a particular position. Spinks serves as the community manager for Scribnia.com, an online platform for both bloggers and readers, as well as the co-moderator of young professionals Twitter chat #u30pro.

The Chicago-based Intellectual Property Exchange International — the first financial exchange to sell patent licensing rights — is poised to launch early next year. In return for a share of the revenues, the exchange will promote the patent and sell the license rights in individual units issued like stocks. The exchange also will enforce its protections with litigation, when necessary, and publish sales and price data online. “It’s like an initial public offering for a patent,” explains Jim Malackowski, chief executive of Ocean Tomo, the Chicago-based merchant bank backing the exchange. The exchange has soft commitments from four or five companies and expects to have 10 to 15 “industry leaders” pledged by February, according to Gerard Pannekoek, CEO of the patent exchange and former president of the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Fulton Innovation (Fulton), the creator and exclusive licensor of eCoupled™ intelligent wireless power, has released their second white paper to continue providing education on wireless power. The initial white paper, “Making Wireless Truly Wireless: The Need for a Universal Wireless Power Solution,” demonstrated why a universal wireless power standard is so crucial to mass adoption and ease of use for consumers. The most recent white paper, “Understanding Wireless Power” explains the different forms of wireless power and reviews important considerations with the various features including efficiency and safety. Due to the strong consumer demand for wireless power and movement in the industry, this white paper aims to enhance the knowledge of consumers and product developers that would utilize wireless power technology and clear many of the common misconceptions about the viability and safety of using wireless power.

This morning’s roundup of the latest venture capital news and analysis across the Web:

Business Is “Sonic Boom”-ing - The Wall Street Journal reviews Gregg Easterbrook’s “Sonic Boom,” which postulates that the global economy is not facing years of famine, but rather years of plenty, as globalization fully takes hold. Easterbrook cites the rebirth of industrial cities including Waltham, Mass., which has benefitted greatly from its proximity to high tech and venture capital hub Boston, and Erie, Pa., which is recovering largely due to updates of its locomotive plant. He also argues that innovation and VC cash will be the catalyst for continued advancement of global growth.

[Editor's Note: More on the original article.]