No matter what stage you're at in your career or where you're working, the startup world is one of extraordinary promise: getting in on the ground floor, making an impact, putting your stamp on the business, being free of corporate structure and politics, and just maybe getting a huge payday a few years down the road.

While this all sounds incredibly exciting and exhilarating, startup situations, by nature, have big risks attached to them. The statistics on success versus failure are pretty profound toward the latter.

In 1985, I returned to San Francisco after covering the horrific famine and conflict in Ethiopia for Newsweek and began looking for a more positive story for the human race. I noticed that in nearby Silicon Valley an explosion of innovation was fueling a digital revolution that might change all our lives. Although I was not interested in technology per se, the people inventing these new tools were an intriguing mystery.

Today, the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition (ISTC), a not-for-profit organization focused on growing the state’s innovation economy, is announcing the fourth class of corporate participants in its Corporate-Startup Challenge, an award-winning matchmaking program that connects global corporations with startups and emerging technology firms across the state. This group includes Illinois-based Fortune 500 companies Allstate Corporation (participating in the program for a second time), Caterpillar Inc. and Grainger.

Angel investors are those critical investors who invest at the very earliest stage in start-ups. Recently, Marianne Hudson, executive director of the Angel Capital Association (ACA), came to Oklahoma to share the ACA’s perspective on current trends in angel investing.

Welcome to the Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking. It has been almost three years since the last Startup Ecosystem Report was released in November 2012, and since then the startup sector has grown at a booming pace.

The centerpiece of the 2015 Startup Ecosystem Ranking is our updated and revamped component index, which ranks the top 20 startup ecosystems around the world. The index is produced by ranking ecosystems along five major components: Performance, Funding, Talent, Market Reach, and Startup Experience.

You’ve probably heard it a million times. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

But human nature being what it is, there is always someone trying to take advantage of another person who is not well informed. And ranking on Google is one of those areas where this happens — a lot.

Business owners across the U.S. have been plagued recently by calls from a company or companies offering to improve their search engine positioning.

You’ve made the leap and joined the growing ranks of companies with remote workforces. The benefits are myriad: You’ve vastly expanded your candidate pool, you don’t have to shell out for office space and you’ve got coverage across time zones. But managing remote workers can come with its own set of challenges as well. Let’s explore some keys to successfully manage remote teams.

A little more than a month ago, I found a way to drastically increase my productivity and happiness. Because of what I learned, I have become a much better person, and a much better entrepreneur. It has changed my life immensely. How did I do it? First, I’ll discuss the reasons why happiness and productivity can be so elusive. It’s something we can all relate to as entrepreneurs.

Many organizations are starting to implement new innovation management systems into their everyday workflow, which is great news! Even though implementing systems like these are a great thing, sometimes there are little snags and problems along the way that can make it difficult. That’s why we’ve put together these flowcharts comparing different ways of implementing an innovation management platform.

Image: http://be-novative.com

By now, we're used to technology moving at rapid speeds, but it hasn't always been that way, according to data analysis from Boston Consulting Group.

It took the telephone 75 years to reach 100 million users worldwide, a feat the popular game Candy Crush Saga accomplished in a little over a year. The chart below shows just how quickly emerging technologies have spread over the past century.

Image: http://www.businessinsider.com

Innovation is a word that’s been heard on the lips of more CEOs, read in more broadsheet papers, and detailed in more business magazines in the last ten months than ever before. It’s well regarded that those businesses that fail to innovate risk death; consider the sad fates of longstanding companies like Woolworths, Polaroid, Blockbuster, and Borders over the last ten years. But how, as an individual, can you incorporate innovation and creative thinking into your everyday working life, all while keeping up with the already manic pace of modern business?

Innovation is capturing a lot more than the imagination of IT, as a new global report reveals that "innovation centers" are rapidly replacing traditional research and development labs as the place where strategic initiatives are hatched.

According to new research from Capgemini Consulting and Altimeter, 38 percent of leading organizations they surveyed have established innovation centers in a global tech hub. Silicon Valley has quickly emerged as the mecca for these innovation centers, with 61 percent of U.S. companies polled saying they have established one or more innovation centers in the Valley.

Image: Brian Solis | Source: LinkedIn

Of all the marketing channels available to marketers, email is still the most effective. According to an article published by Mc Kinsey, email remains a significantly more effective way to acquire customers than social media—nearly 40 times that of Facebook and Twitter combined.

Over the years, you have probably gained some insight into how your brain works. You may have taken a course or read a book that promised to reveal the secret of maximizing your mental capacity—a common sales pitch of leadership coaches these days. In the process, you may have read that after a critical period in childhood there is no hope for significant learning, that half of your brain is inactive at any given time, or that you’re capable of learning properly only in your preferred style.

There’s a new global ranking of startup ecosystems, with the top three spots all from America—Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and New York, according to tech company benchmarking firm Compass Startup Genome. 

The company ranks global regions based on how well they foster top tech talent, host profitable businesses and expand into foreign markets. Tech startups looking for a place to call home may be deeply interested in its latest report—though perhaps they won't find it surprising. 

The key to happiness at your job isn't about the big stuff — it's all in the details.

Whether it's finding the perfect desk plant, eating a delicious snack or doling out a few well-deserved compliments, you'd be surprised how fast the little things can turn your day around. And who doesn't want a Monday that feels like a Friday?

Image: http://mashable.com

Developing lab research into the foundations of a profitable biotech company has always been a high-risk, high-reward business.

Deerfield Management, a New York-based healthcare investor with more than $5 billion under management and two decades of experience, has created a new $550 million fund that targets early stage science from academic medical centers and hospitals. The fund is specifically focused on innovative treatments for genetic disorders, cancer, and orphan diseases.

As the world of work continues to evolve at a rapid pace innovation continues to become both a top priority and a top challenge. For most companies, innovation is handled behind closed doors in a secluded part of the company that only a few have access to. This type of innovation is no longer practical, scalable or effective when thinking about the future of work. In order to succeed and thrive in this rapidly changing world, organizations must adapt by implementing five innovation models, all five of these are crucial. The five innovation models are:

Organisations that empower and give meaning to their members are not only more dignified but also more innovative.

Early in its history, Southwest Airlines was up against major carriers undercutting it on price and the company knew it had to take some radical steps. After selling one of its four planes just to make payroll, the leadership then asked how it could continue to transport the same number of passengers with fewer planes. The CEO knew he didn’t have all the solutions, so the whole company was put to work. Ideas were sourced from baggage handlers, ground crew, flight crew and even pilots. Based on all of their knowledge of what it takes to turn a plane around at airports, they invented a new way of organising themselves and cut airport turnaround time from 45-60 minutes down to 10.

“For better or worse, for richer or poorer,” take on a whole new meaning when you consider all you have to gain and lose by starting a business with your spouse.