We’re in a startup culture right now. Any kid who can code has a potential five-year path to the land of billionaires, and it’s become dull and commonplace (but still impressive) to meet yet another entrepreneur at a social gathering. It used to be that artists and writers carried the most mystique; that’s not so anymore.

But living in a culture that celebrates startups and entrepreneurs is not the same as living in a world where their paths are paved before them. Despite their idyllic status, the biggest threat to great and innovative startups and talented entrepreneurs is a lack of funding, pure and simple. Capitalization is essential to taking truly groundbreaking ideas to market, but while we provide lip service to the entrepreneur, not enough of us are stepping up with the cold, hard cash that makes these startups fly.

While the key factor in winning is the ability to stick with your plan, it makes sense that you start with the best plan possible. Our experiences working with clients on strategic planning and execution indicate a direct correlation between the simplicity of a plan and the chances of adhering to it. A theme we hear over and over again is, “Give us three steps, and we will knock ’em out. Give us a three-ring binder, and it will sit on the shelf.”

It is important to start with a simple, clear, and well-thought-out plan, whether you are developing a corporate strategic plan or setting your department’s strategy. Why stack the odds against yourself with an overly complex or unclear plan? Our goal is to have clients articulate their plan in a just few pages. A sound plan and a simple plan are not mutually exclusive.  If you are going to work on a plan, your plan should work for you.

I came to Wharton with the objective of starting a business, so I was looking for opportunities from the outset.  As a dual-degree student with the Lauder International Studies Masters degree program, I began the journey that took me to Brazil three months before my MBA peers set foot on campus.  Though I didn’t know much about Brazil – my four years of work experience in Latin America were limited to Mexico, Colombia and El Salvador – it was immediately apparent that growing and emerging Brazilian companies needed highly skilled talent (and that the country was unable to produce all the talent it needed on its own).  Recently, an ABC News article stressed that Brazil needs to attract at least three million skilled immigrants to stay on track for growth.  When dozens of companies, large and small, expressed their urgent need for talent from abroad back in the summer of 2011, the opportunity was clear to me. 

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator took top honors worldwide this week when it was named the 2013 Incubator of the Year by the National Business Incubation Association. “It’s always special when the University of Florida can say one of its programs is the best in the world,” said David Day, director of the incubator and UF’s Office of Technology Licensing. “Today, we’re the best incubator in the world.”

In their passion to succeed, too many entrepreneurs treat friends and family investments as “low-hanging” fruit, only to find out later, after a stumble, that the pain of lost relationships is greater than the loss of their beloved startup. Other entrepreneurs never start their adventure, because they can’t face the prospect of even approaching friends and family for an investment kick-start.

The only way an entrepreneur can really dodge this issue is to totally fund the startup with personal funds (bootstrapping). Then you don’t have to worry about the fact that most Angel investors and venture capitalists won’t take a bet on you if none of your friends and family have given you a vote of confidence with money.

In order to lure startups and foreign investment, the Brazilian government is promoting visas and other incentives for foreign businesses to relocate to the country. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has announced a US$78-million investment in an attempt to spur growth of up to 100 domestic and foreign technology entrepreneurs. This is taking form in programmes such as Startup Brasil which is attempting to “aggregate groups of actors and institutions” in order to accelerate the startup’s process by involving the support of venture capitalists, researchers and mentors among other major incentives.

Crowdfunding can be an effective tool for accomplishing your startup goals. Whether you’re looking to jumpstart your marketing efforts, expand your customer base, or reach out to friends and family for funding, crowdfunding provides a platform to rally support around you and your company. Having worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs who have conducted successful fundraisers, we have distilled seven key strategies for launching a successful crowdfund:

The SEC has not yet released crowdfunding rules for public comment, but many folks aren’t waiting for that. At last count there were nearly 200 public comment letters and staff meetings about the subject on record with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s the highest of any provision of JOBS Act.

Meanwhile, the LinkedIn group “CrowdSourcing and CrowdFunding” has over 19,000 members and is brimming with minute-by-minute activity, eclipsing the roughly 1,400 members of the “IPO” group. It is impressive that a concept barely in the investor lexicon two years ago has captured the imagination and attention of so many.

So many healthcare entrepreneurs have a story to share about a sick grandparent and how their recent experiences alerted them to certain shortcomings in the healthcare system. And although these epiphanies frequently produce good ideas for so many digital innovations (everything from remote-monitoring devices to patient-engagement tools), the amount of time given over to how each person in retirement will use the device as designed seems to vary.

At the same time, everyone recognizes that the number of people in and approaching retirement is substantial. By 2015, people aged 50 and older will make up 45 percent of the population.

In conversations with entrepreneurs starting or running companies in the women’s health space, I’ve heard a few of the same major challenges echoed: there’s not enough research, not enough education/awareness and not enough funding.

A new report from research firm Frost & Sullivan proposes that collaboration between public and private sectors is a critical factor in spurring investment and bringing new innovations in menstruation, contraception, maternal health, child birth, menopause and breast cancer to market.

WASHINGTON, April 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) published the "Business Tax Index 2013: Best to Worst State Tax Systems for Entrepreneurship and Small Business." The Index ranks the 50 states according to the costs of their tax systems for starting and growing a small business. (To view the online interactive map with state highlights, please click here.)

Venerable retailer J.C. Penney opened its doors more than a century ago and boasts annual revenues of nearly $13 billion from its 1,100 stores. Yet a three-year-old website with an untested business model and little discernible revenue is closing in on the department store chain's $3 billion market cap: Pinterest.

The online scrapbooking site recently raised $200 million in venture capital funds to bring its implied valuation to $2.5 billion, according to a February 20 story in The Wall Street Journal. Founded by three young entrepreneurs in March 2010, the tech start-up has 48 million users as of December 2012, up from nine million in the prior year, the article noted.

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.” ~ Zig Ziglar

One of my all time favorite quotes that changes me every time I read it. This quote resonates with me because I’ve gone through my own cycles over the past few years.  I work daily with professionals who are stuck and stalled. The mindset makeover and attitude adjustment always begins between the ears.

As a small business owner, free time is probably not something you have a whole lot of. What you do have a lot of are tasks to accomplish and deadlines to meet. So how can you better accomplish these tasks in a shorter amount of time?

Below are 50 time saving tips to help you save time throughout your workday.

50 Time Saving Tips for Small Businesses

1. Set Goals

Each morning, write out a detailed to-do list of the things you want to accomplish that day.

2. Create a Plan

Figure out when and how you’ll accomplish each item on your daily list – will you need help, supplies, etc.?

Perhaps no choice is as vital to marketing success as the colors you use. Whether selecting the color for a specific product or for a email marketing campaign, there is no doubt that color has significant effect on all as subconsciously, we associate different colors with different things.

For example, did you know that restaurants use red to stimulate appetite and that blue creates a sense of trust and security in a brand?

Sequestration has only highlighted the financial stranglehold that many federal IT executives are forced to address, yet some agency leaders are using these budget-strapped times to jump-start innovation.

In December, MeriTalk surveyed 200 federal managers for its Innovators Anonymous study, released this month (registration required). Sixty-two percent of the respondents said that they had already personally experienced tighter budgets, and 73 percent said their budgets will be lower in 2015, including 19 percent who said their budgets that year will be "much lower." Twelve percent said cuts have been "devastating" to their agency's mission performance, while 58 percent said the cuts have been "significant." Only 4 percent claimed to see no impact on their missions.

HOUSTON - Verizon Wireless is now accepting entries for its Powerful Answers Award, which was created to spark innovative thinking and problem solving across three major industries: healthcare, education and sustainability. Innovators, entrepreneurs, academics and other individuals are encouraged to enter the contest and compete for $10 million in prize money. Entries must use Verizon networks and technology (wireless, cloud, broadband, etc.) to help deliver solutions that address societal challenges, deliver social benefit and grow markets. Winners will be chosen in each category, with the top prize being $1 million and additional prizes of $850,000, $700,000, $500,000 and $285,000 also awarded.

There was a buzz in The Hive yesterday.

That’s what TEDMED, a health care and medical technology summit, calls the chic tent of 50 health care innovators who gave hands-on tours of their mobile apps and medical technology.  Some of the 1,800 conference attendees lined up Tuesday for a Smartphone Physical, or to add their ideas about health care on one of the brainstorming wall-sized blackboards.

The annual conference, part of the media and innovation company TED (of new-media favorite TED Talks) is being held this week at Washington’s John F. Kennedy Center For Performing Arts, and it features a range of speakers meant to stir imaginative solutions and conversations around health care. There are also TEDMED live events happening in 81 countries, with broadcasts reaching an estimated 200,000 people.

Global university rankings are proliferating, as are the methodologies and indicators they use. Meanwhile, their influence on policy makers is growing. Universities need to be aware of the potential uses and misuses of these league tables says a new report from the EUA

As the number of global university rankings continues to increase, methodologies are evolving and universities are being offered numerous new ways in which to assess their performance vis a vis national peers and peers around the globe.

After ten years of policy initiatives - and despite female graduates outnumbering males – the EU is far from gender equality in R&D. "This is regretful for women researchers and bad for Europe," says Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn

Women remain stubbornly under-represented in EU research and science despite numerous attempts to address the imbalance, according to the European Union’s latest analysis, ‘She Figures: Gender in Research and Innovation 2012’. One particularly stark statistic shows that despite the fact more woman than men are graduating, woman comprise only 20 per cent of senior academics in Europe’s universities.