Given that today, August 2nd, was the day the government would have defaulted on its debts had a compromise not been reached, I thought it might be interesting to see how well we all understand the concepts of billions and trillions of dollars.

In my November 25, 2008 post, I noted that the pundits were predicting that the federal deficit was going to be $1 trillion in 2009. On February 9, 2010 I published a second post about the same subject and the deficit had made it to $1.8 trillion.

Now, about 18 months later the deficit is $14.3 trillion! Wall Street, the Wars, Healthcare, Republicans, Democrats,- pick your favorite scape goat. The point of this post is not why or who, but what.

Like most in the under-30 crowd, China's venture capital market is in a hurry. Since 1985, when the State Science and Technology Commission joined the Ministry of Finance to establish the country’s first venture capital firm -- called China New Technology Startup Investment Company -- some 2,500 private and state-run firms have sprouted up, according to Zero2IPO, a Chinese venture capital and private equity market research firm.

Since then, the industry has been crossing one milestone after another at a steady clip. It reached a new high in capital raised in 2010 and is on its way to another record in 2011. Venture funds in China, foreign and domestic, raised US$3.4 billion in the first quarter of this year, five times higher than the same period in 2009, says Zero2IPO. In comparison, fundraising in the U.S. rose to US$7 billion from US$4.9 billion over the same period, according to the National Venture Capital Association in Virginia. “Venture capital is booming in China,” notes Gary Liu, deputy director of the Lujiazui International Finance Research Center at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai.

Biotech industry observer G. Steven Burrill says he will soon have $350 million to invest in a broad range of companies.

Burrill late last week filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on his $500 million Burrill Capital Fund IV. Burrill, in an e-mail Monday, said he’ll close $350 million of that fund by month’s end.

The fund has a broad mandate and average investments will be between $10 to $15 million. Burrill explained that it will invest in “healthcare on the innovation side” that includes therapeutics, diagnostics, devices, tools and technology and bionanotech; “healthcare on the delivery side” such as digital health companies, healthcare informatics and services as well as in bioeneregy, biofuels, industrial biotech, agricultural biotech and animal health biotech.

Cynthia Ringo and Nancy Pfund are succeeding in a testosterone-filled world by committing to do more than just make money for their investments. Out of 462 venture capital firms in the US, only their company -- San Francisco-based DBL Investors -- is run just by women.

Ringo is a former managing director at Vantage Point Venture Capital and Pfund was previously an investment managing director at Hambrecht & Quist, a boutique acquired by JP Morgan.

Their name comes from "double bottom line" because they want social, as well as financial, returns on their investments

According to a profile in The Mercury News, that investment philosophy has won plaudits from their clients: [ http://bit.ly/p1siin ].

There may be few road maps when it comes to starting a small business, but there are certainly things to keep in mind. Here are some important tips to keep in mind when getting started and when running your business as well that can help you along the way. Enjoy!

The Basics

Keep your mind on funding. For example, special incentives in place right now may make it a perfect time to look for investors for certain kinds of domestic corporations. The incentives may not be right for your business but could help with startup or expansion in company’s meeting the prescribed profile. Always be on the lookout for opportunities for funding. WSJ

The debt ceiling proposal that passed the House of Representatives on Monday (August 1) will likely cause deep spending cuts for government scientific research if the Senate passes the bill this afternoon.

Though the details won’t be ironed out until at least November, the proposed bill will raise the debt ceiling and mandate at least $2.1 trillion dollars in deficit reduction over the next decade. After a protracted battle, the House passed the bill, with the Senate likely to follow.  “Neither side got what they wanted, but it is the essence of compromise,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a press conference yesterday.

The recent report by German venture capital firm Earlybird suggesting that European investors were punching harder than their American counterparts certainly spurred plenty of opinion. The story got picked up around the industry, and we had some great comments that came in.

Some took it as a rallying call for European entrepreneurs and investors to keep stepping up their game. “While European VCs are learning the game, the same can be said of entrepreneurs, who more often than not, have one or several start-ups under their belt now,” said Pamir Gelenbe of Dutch group Hummingbird Ventures. “These past experiences on both sides of the table are making the ecosystem more efficient and ultimately drive more value for all involved.”

This week, I've had several meetings with venture funds, incubators, corporate accelerators and other significant players in the startup eco-system. One theme seems to come up over and again, especially from geographies outside Silicon Valley: lack of a reliable pipeline of deals. On July 1, 2006, commenting on the Indian startup scenario, I had written a blog post called Too Much Money, Too Few Deals. Today, the Indian scenario has improved greatly, but still the issue of lack of a mature deal flow remains. The same applies to Malaysia, where our partner, the MAD Incubator, is in search of 10 good deals to put through the 1M/1M program. And it also applies to many different parts of the United States where startup activity is still a relatively small portion of economic development.

In many of these cases, the funds or the accelerators want to put in $100,000 to $500,000 in select ventures but are having a hard time finding mature entrepreneurs to support.

America is a mighty big country. It contains multitudes, and it can be hard to get a sense, sitting in, say, Montana, of what's happening thousands of miles away in Maine. The Real State of America Atlas by Cynthai Enloe and Joni Seager, released last week, is full of maps and graphics that can help quantify some of how we're doing as a country.

For instance, how is our driving? Driving is, as you can see, down from last year, as the recession and high gas prices pinch transportation plans. (Maybe everyone's taking their bikes and public transportation?) As you can see, states with major metropolitan areas tend to have less driving. In Oklahoma, the non-car options are presumably quite worse.

NAPLES — Tammie Nemecek has a new job in economic development, where she’ll focus on “gardening.”

The longtime CEO and president of Collier County’s Economic Development Council has been hired by the University of Central Florida in Orlando to help grow jobs through a statewide economic gardening program.

“It completely fit exactly what I wanted to do going forward,” said Nemecek, 42.

The gardening program is designed to help small businesses expand their market share and increase their revenues so they can grow.

Nemecek will work for the Florida Economic Gardening Institute, created by the Florida Legislature in 2009 to help boost Florida’s economy.

To: New Jersey Biotechnology Community

From: Debbie Hart, President

Re: Funding Available to Help Life Sciences and Tech Companies Leverage Angel and Venture Fund Investments

We are writing to advise of the following announcement issued today by Governor Christie.

* * *

TRENTON - Governor Chris Christie announced on August 2 that funding is now available for life sciences and tech companies through three programs offered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA). The products target emerging companies that have attracted capital through angel and venture capital investors.

"The success of New Jersey's life sciences companies is critical to growing the State's economy and essential to maintaining our role as a leader in the development of innovative technologies that enhance and save lives while creating high-paying jobs and attracting private investment," said Governor Christie. "These programs will strengthen New Jersey's entrepreneurial environment by providing businesses that have attracted matching investments from angel investors and venture funds with the additional resources they need to thrive."

The three programs, which are structured as subordinated convertible debt, will benefit early stage, emerging technology and life sciences companies by providing growth capital to directly fund uses such as hiring key staff, product marketing and sales:

I find it fascinating that they said, out loud, that they felt “older applicants…were less likely to succeed.” Sure, lots of people think that way, but surprising that they said it.  The reality is, once you reach 40, you are part of a “protected class” which means that you can’t be fired or not hired because of your age.  However, there are lots of reasons not to hire any one person, so it’s very difficult to win an age discrimination lawsuit on the hiring side.

In answer to what you should watch for, here’s an easy answer:  Nothing.  Why?  Because we tend to see what we’re looking for, and it will cause you to second guess yourself.  If the person opens the door for you, will you think, “Oh no!  He thinks I’m incapable of opening my own doors because I’m so darn old!” That would be utterly ridiculous, but it’s where thought patterns tend to go when you are looking for evidence that people are discriminating against you.

I’m currently reading a book called The Beak of the Finch. I’m quite enjoying it, even though it deals with a subject I don’t normally read about (evolutionary biology). It also came out in 1994, meaning few book stores would display it near the front. So how did I come to have a copy?

I found it in my local library.

I had a few minutes to kill the other day, and was perusing the stacks when I came across this tale of Peter and Rosemary Grant’s epic adventures in the Galapagos tracking Darwin’s finches. I’ve now spent several pleasant late night hours reading the book on my back porch while listening to the insects and birds all around me. This is the definition of serendipity — happy results that happen by chance.

The Province of Ontario, Canada is helping MaRS expand to more than double its size, making it the largest urban innovation hub in the world.

MaRS is a convergence centre in the heart of Toronto's discovery district that brings together researchers, financiers, entrepreneurs and industry leaders to accelerate innovation and the commercialization of new discoveries.

Artist's rendering of Phase 2 at night. Phase 2 of the MaRS Discovery District, a new advanced medical laboratory and technology building, will be located in the heart of Toronto. Near globally recognized universities, hospitals and research institutes, the new 20-storey building will house research organizations and businesses in the science, technology and social innovation sectors.

The European Union's research budget has hit a record high, including a major increase for funding for blue-skies research.

The latest round of annual funding from the European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme will see overall spending increase by more than 9 per cent to €7 billion (£6.2 billion).

Funding for the highly regarded European Research Council, which finances "frontier" research, will rise by 23 per cent to €1.6 billion.

Jerzy Langer, professor of physics at the Polish Academy of Sciences, said that in terms of money received versus investment, UK researchers were the "true financial winners".

Commenting on the considerable increase in funding for the ERC, he said it was "a triple miracle".

A new survey of 2,000 kids between 11 -18 shows that 77% of them want to start a business when they grow up. Nearly half of the kids mentioned that they have always had an interest in being their own boss.

TV programmes such as The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den and the high profile of entrepreneurs, particularly those creating successful online businesses such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Skype, are having a profound effect on the dreams of Britain’s children. Online or digital businesses and IT are among the most popular areas of business interest for young Brits, with more than one in five (22 per cent) saying this is where they intend to pursue their ambitions.

The Internet and social media are capturing the public’s attention , but some of the most significant advances today are happening in medicine. Technology and medicine are converging in new ways to make possible the types of innovations that could be seen on “Star Trek.” Consider this: We spend the majority of our health-care dollars on treating chronic diseases. Technological advances will enable us to shift those investments into improving our health and preventing disease.

My colleague Daniel Kraft is a physician who chairs the medicine track and heads the FutureMed Program for Singularity University . The Silicon Valley-based university teaches business executives, technologists and government leaders about “exponential technologies.” These are inventions in fields that experience faster growth than average — such as robotics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. Singularity University’s founders believe that these technologies, when combined in new ways, could solve some of the world’s major problems, such as poverty, hunger, energy shortages and disease.

Where do the ideas in your organisation come from? And from whom? If you’re not taking advantage of new sources of inspiration - sources outside your organisation, outside the management suite - to facilitate growth and change, you could be in trouble.

Herminia Ibarra “Organisations that have been pioneers have found that their lunch is eaten by competitors that didn’t even exist a few years back,” says Herminia Ibarra, INSEAD Professor of Organisational Behaviour and Cora Chaired Professor of Leadership and Learning. “Change is always from the outside… if you want to innovate, if you want to be at the forefront of the trends, the only thing you can do is talk to people, to groups, to constituencies, to stakeholders outside your organisation.”

Remember studying for the GMATs? Or AP Biology? Or even English 101 your freshman year? How about poring through those old textbooks and every now and then wishing you had a buddy close by you could ask for help on the parts that befuddled you?

BenchPrep is making that happen. The Chicago-based startup, backed by Lightbank (whose founders bankrolled Groupon), has been digitizing test prep materials for the last two years. But it’s not just making your SAT or MCAT textbooks more portable. It’s also adding social features that act as a real-time virtual study groups to get you the help you need when you need it.