It's been a little more than a year since Rule 506(c) of the U.S. Securities Act (implemented pursuant to Title II of the U.S. JOBS Act) became effective. Rule 506(c), which allows for the use of public solicitation in private securities offerings, is bringing about a groundbreaking change in the way small companies (such as my own) finance themselves.

Earlier this year a trend called “normcore” got a lot of press. Normcore is a fashion idea based on wearing boring, undistinguished clothing such as that from the Gap. Jerry Seinfeld is a normcore fashion icon.

While normcore was at least in part a joke, I think it illustrates why trend chasing by uncool cities will never make them cool. So you live in some place which isn’t on everyone’s list of the coolest cities. You read all about what’s happening in places like Brooklyn with micro-roasters, micro-breweries, cupcake shops, and artisanal pickles, and you’re like wow, my city has all that now, too. We’ve arrived.

Samsung may be known for wacky gimmicks—like its weird rap-music corporate video—pocket-busting smartphones and bizarre press conferences. But it’s incredibly serious when it comes to its future.

At the Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco this week, the Android maker and Tizen evangelist is laying out its path forward, and it has less to do with phones than pushing other emerging areas. That’s not exactly a shock. Samsung’s dismal earnings and newfound push in mid-level smartphones, with the A3 and A5, suggest the company doesn’t see its future in our pockets.

Let me start with the news that I’m excited to share with you. After years of trying to persuade Kara Nortman to become a partner at Upfront Ventures I can officially announce now that she’s joined us effective immediately.

I have known Kara for 7 years and knew almost immediately after meeting her that I wanted to work with her one day in some capacity.

If you have a startup company with limited resources, you are probably wondering how you can ever compete with the 800-pound gorillas in your industry? I know I was when we launched our business at the end of 2013.

My partner and I both had years of online marketing experience, but were limited with the capital we could use to get things up and running.

To understand who I am is pretty simple, really. There aren’t a whole lot of layers to this onion. In everything I do, I subscribe to a very simple idea—if you want something, go get it.

I wish I could come up with something more prophetic—that I am who I am because of a collection of incredibly varied life experiences. But, that wouldn’t be true. I’m sorely lacking in the “I’ve done a lot of cool sh!t” category.

If you’re a foreign entrepreneur looking to break into the U.S. market, the State of Maryland wants to help.

On the third floor of a nondescript office building perched on a busy commercial strip in College Park, Maryland, foreign-owned startups can get a boost at the Maryland International Incubator, a first-of-its-kind incubator focused exclusively on foreign companies settling in the United States.

When it comes to middle-skills jobs in the United States—those that require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree—there is a misalignment in the overall system that should move a potential employee smoothly from a relevant educational program to a good job.

Five companies from molecular diagnostics to smartphone virtual reality simulators to treat anxiety disorders, representing a few countries are vying for World Cup honors in an inaugural competition organized by HITLAB at Columbia University next month. The U.S. seems to have the homefield advantage, with three of the companies hailing from California. The decision to include so many American companies makes it look more like a friendly between the MLS and a couple national teams than the FIFA World Cup it more closely resembled in the earlier stages. At the competition in Brazil this year, Germany emerged victorious.

Image: http://medcitynews.com

The biggest reason startups get turned down by venture capital is they’ve got “crappy teams,” said Peter Thompson, a private equity partner at OrbiMed - one of the largest healthcare investment firms in the country.

Thompson spoke with some candor at a recent Q&A sponsored by J-Labs San Diego. Here’s what he said, edited for clarity:

Image: OrbiMed private equity partner Peter Thompson - http://www.medcitynews.com

Google has partnered with European business accelerator Startupbootcamp in a bid to get more of the continent’s fastest growing tech companies using its cloud products.

The Silicon Valley internet giant is giving current and future startups in Startupbootcamp’s nine sector-specific accelerators $100,000 (equivalent to £63,000) in credit for its Google Cloud Platform, allowing them to build, test and deploy applications on Google infrastructure. Startups will also receive workshops and mentoring from Google employees.

GAINESVILLE & BOCA RATON, Fla. - The Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research (the Institute) announced today results of a new study conducted by The Washington Economics Group, Inc.® (WEG), a boutique economic consulting firm led by nationally recognized business economist Dr. J. Antonio (Tony) Villamil. The study measured economic impacts of the Institute between 2011 and 2014, and concluded that the organization plays a catalytic and growing role in supporting Florida’s overall economic development strategy.

If you’re struggling to raise capital to fund your small business venture, it could be that you’re taking the wrong approach. It’s time to think people, not banks. The recession has seen the world of small business loans become increasingly restrictive – and that’s a big problem. There are very few businesses, no matter how insanely high your margins are, that can survive without a sizable initial investment. Costs such as labor, equipment, premises, permits and regulations mount up quickly and it’s all too easy to run short of cash at a vital moment.

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Have you ever tried to remember a password, but it just slips your mind. Or have you ever forgotten the name of a new acquaintance the next day, despite being able to remember their face? We’ve all been the victims of faulty memory, left grasping for information we know is there to no avail. Why is it that sometimes, when we need it most, we can’t recall something? According to Elizabeth Loftus, a renowned expert in human memory, there are four reasons we forget things.

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By connecting institutions with the earliest-stage startups, AngelList is upending the system.

One recent evening a group of institutional money managers was ushered into a backroom at San Francisco brasserie the Cavalier via an unmarked secret entrance that most customers would mistake for an emergency fire exit. Their host was Naval Ravikant, a wildly successful angel investor—Uber, Twitter, etc.—and serial entrepreneur who wanted to pitch them on his latest venture. Not by asking them to invest in it, but by asking them to invest through it. If enough of the money managers take him up on the offer, it could usher in an era of radical disruption in the world of angel investing.

Image: AngelList CEO Naval Ravikant, on a terrace at his company's New York office, has created a platform that could challenge the established VC powers of Sand Hill Road. Photo by Rebecca Greenfield for Fortune

The 1776 incubator, which is interested in helping startups break down geographic barriers and collaborating with other incubators and accelerators has announced a partnership with a major physician association — the American College of Cardiology, according to a company statement. The cardiology association will play a role not only in the incubator’s Challenge Cup, but also longer term.

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently released a special report to highlight broader impacts and examples of the diverse and wide-ranging ways NSF-supported science and engineering enriches society.

Each year, 50,000 proposals for research funding in all fields of science and engineering are received by NSF from all corners of the country. NSF proposals are judged by competitive review process built on two criteria: intellectual merit and broader impacts. The broader impacts criteria intends to show how the research advances knowledge and it will benefit society.

Why does India lack the digital innovation and invention ecosystem of the United States and, specifically, Silicon Valley?

An oft-repeated answer is that the brightest youngsters in the world are over there. And the smartest thrive in an environment that is designed to bring out the best. But what possibly could have led to this environment that attracted the brightest and smartest that, in turn, led to the birth of giants like Microsoft, Intel, Apple and Google?

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THIS fall, federal regulators made a controversial decision to back down from tough new underwriting standards for mortgages. Some affordable-housing advocates, allied with parts of the corporate housing industry, had successfully argued that the proposed standards would make it too hard for people to qualify, thereby reducing homeownership and hurting the housing market. Last summer, that same trump card stopped a bipartisan bill to reform the mortgage market, more than six years after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be taken over by the government.

Dane, you say that ideas are worthless. What does that even mean, of course they’re not worthless. -Red

Ideas aren’t worth anything unless you actually do something with them. I had a dream last night that I warehouse full of polar bears. When I woke up this morning, what is the value of that dream? $0. The same is true of any given idea that might imaginatively pop into your head.

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