Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. Being very visible in the startup community, I still get an amazing number of badly written emails, rambling executive summaries, and business plans with one paragraph per chapter.

When it comes to the classic job-search duel between startup and corporate, you probably know the basics of each type of workplace: Large companies have set hours, but startups are more flexible. Large companies offer benefits; startups offer free food. (And free travel. And free concierge services. And office pets.)

But what’s not talked about quite as often is whether a startup or corporate job is better for your career in the long run. Think about it: A startup may provide more flexible hours now, but will it give you the ability to move up into a senior management position in the future? A corporate job may be the perfect place to get structured on-the-job training, but will it give you the creative thinking skills you need to open your own business in a few years?

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

A little-known analytics company in Silicon Valley with ties to one of the NSA’s favorite tech tools is using big data for an unlikely end: managing the personal finances of the world’s super-wealthy.

Addepar is a wealth management platform whose engineer base comes largely from companies Google and Facebook, and is headed by Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale and early-stage engineer Eric Poirier. The company’s selling point is simple--they feel the rich can become even richer by harnessing real-time analytics, and they can help.

Image: http://www.fastcolabs.com 

1. "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things." - Peter F. Drucker

2. "If you don't understand that you work for your mislabeled 'subordinates,' then you know nothing of leadership. You know only tyranny." - Dee Hock

3. "A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say 'we did it ourselves.'" - Lao Tzu

Connecting a new appliance to your home’s Wi-Fi network or broadband modem could increase the risk that data such as passwords will be taken from computers in your house. Such is the warning from antivirus company Kaspersky Lab in a forthcoming report on the side effects of more and more home devices being connected to the Internet.

A battle between pessimism and optimism is being waged about whether Europe is stuck in a quagmire or marching back to growth. Both sides have strong arguments but they also agree on what has to be done.

Euro area growth rates continue to be disappointing. Despite all the excitement that the launch of a new currency in 1999 brought to Europe, since 2007 we have witnessed a double-dip recession and a performance that is substantially lower than that of the United States.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

When I started my company 15 years ago, I didn’t really know — or care — what "company culture" meant.

I figured it was a concept that only mattered to MBAs and struggling companies. I was laser-focused on building quality products and services, not fluffy-sounding “company culture.”

In other words, my company’s culture developed pretty organically.

Image: FLICKR, GLEN WRIGH 

Would you give a penny to help a deserving stranger attend college?

A plethora of crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending services such as Kickstarter and Upstart have grown up in recent years to help you answer that Sally Struthers-esque question and to provide prospective college students with a host of options for soliciting donations and loans from friends, family members and … total strangers.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Earlier this year, I left a career in digital media to join the world of venture capital—an exciting and sometimes unpredictable place that, at present, is dominated by male investors. While I’m technically new to VC, I’ve met with hundreds of female founders over the years through my work as an angel investor and as an executive at Time Inc. And let me tell you—while just ten percent of today’s venture-backed startups are founded by women, there is certainly no shortage of savvy female entrepreneurs building awesome tech businesses.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Most companies live between 40 and 50 years. 

So there must be something about the businesses that have persisted for 300, 500, or 1,300 years.

When we dove into the data on the world's oldest companies, a few themes became clear — like that people have wanted to eat food, get drunk, learn things, and maybe kill each other once in a while for a really long time. 

What are the chances your internship will (literally) pay off? LinkedIn is putting some science behind the question.

The company’s data science team pulled information from the site’s 300 million members to determine which industries offer the best internships — and by “the best” we mean those internships that actually lead to paying, full-time jobs at the end of the semester.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Parents who spend a good chunk of the week shuttling kids to and from soccer practice or drama club might be comforted by new research that suggests this effort is not in vain – as long as their kids are good at math, too.

A recent paper from UCSB found that the return on being good at math has gone up over the last few decades, as has the return on having high social skills (some combination of leadership, communication, and other interpersonal skills). But, the paper argues, the return on the two skills together has risen even faster.

Student Entrepreneurship – Leverage Every Opportunity!

With the start of another academic school year fast approaching, you may be wondering how your post-secondary education will lead you to success. In reality, nothing will lead you to success but yourself. In 2014, the term “entrepreneurship” is no longer a stigma, it is a growing trend. In fact, entrepreneurs today are becoming increasingly younger in age and there are more female entrepreneurs today than ever before. If you are contemplating how to make the most out of your education, and perhaps you have a dream to be your own boss one day; this article will provide some important tips to mesh the worlds of academia and entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs will often have amazing business ideas, but they put them on hold due to a lack of capital. They assume that their idea will never get far off the ground unless they have major funding behind them. 

It seems that every day there is a new startup receiving millions of dollars from venture capital firms, but what you don’t hear about is the several startup failures that burn through millions of dollars only to fizzle out and shut their doors forever.

What makes you smile the more at the end of the day, a big sale or your child’s laugh when you toss him or her up in the air?

When my two children were born, I thought I could easily enjoy and succeed at being a dad and an entrepreneur. But I quickly realized a fact that most people don’t like to talk about: You have to make sacrifices, prioritizing each role over the other at different times.

There is an insatiable demand for innovation and entrepreneurship. These skills are required to help individuals and ventures thrive in a competitive and dynamic marketplace. However, many people don’t know where to start. There isn’t a well-charted course from inspiration to implementation.

Image: https://medium.com 

While smartwatches and bracelets are finding a foothold in the wearable-tech space, another device is also starting to heat up: smart rings.

Following up on its sleek smart bracelet released in 2013, MOTA has unveiled a smart ring that takes up less space on your body, but still promises the same kind of smartphone-notification interactivity.

Image: MOTA 

Wondering why your business revenue is going in the wrong direction? It all goes back to that foundation you first created for your company — or sometimes didn’t create — and how solid it was from the start. Everything since then should be built on top of that foundation, that plan.

Valuing a business is an expensive action. It can cost thousands of dollars. But it may be desirable or necessary in some situations.

Below are some good reasons you may need to get a business appraisal:

1.    Gifting Interests to Children You are permitted to annually give up to an exclusion amount ($14,000 in 2014) to each person you choose without any federal gift tax. Gifts in excess of this limit are taxable or reduce the amount you can transfer tax free at death.

1. Stake it to make it 

If the incubator doesn’t have a stake in the companies, they are just selling real estate.  That’s a fine model, and it is innovative as a real estate strategy- just not all that innovative as an incubator.

Innovative business incubators have a stake in the companies they incubate.   They live or die, in the long term, based on their incubated companies’ successes.  The stake can come in equity, royalty debt, convertible debt, or some combination. Usually the rent is lower and the selection process is tougher for these incubators.  The key is that the incubator’s life depends on your success; not just on collecting rent!

Image: http://tech.co