I’m not proud of this list of entrepreneurial frustrations, but that does not make them any less real. No matter the size of an organization, there are ample opportunities for things to not go as planned – whether that is unintentional or intentional on the part of someone else.

If you're looking to lose weight, or just want to be more conscious what you're drinking, here's a new option: an intelligent cup called Vessyl. It claims to tell you exactly what's in your cup, measures the number of calories it contains, and helps you track your daily and weekly consumption with an accompanying app.

Vessyl is only the latest attempt we've seen at creating an accurate, portable food diagnosis technology (see other examples here and here), but perhaps the most elegant. Designed by Swiss wunderkind Yves Behar, it's sleek and smooth, and meant to be carried in the open.

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Like most people I spend much of the day digitally connected, gazing at screens that make my life and work more interesting and productive. Yet for all the positives that connectivity provides us there’s also a downside lurking in those glowing pixels. They’re just not real. So as we extend our Internet time, we risk getting sucked into an isolated virtual reality that lacks the richness, emotional relevance and real experiences engendered by the analog world.

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Young entrepreneurs often are so excited by new technology or their latest invention that they forget to translate it into a value proposition that their customers or potential investors can understand. They can become frustrated with investors, senior executives and even customers who don’t seem to “get it,” with the result that everyone loses.

Crowdfunding is a growing phenomenon that encompasses several different models of financing for business or other ventures. Despite the hype, equity crowdfunding is still the smallest part of the crowdfunding market. Because of its legal framework, Europe has been at the forefront of equity crowdfunding market development.

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For the first time in more than a decade, venture capital is experiencing a resurgence. During the second quarter of 2014, venture funds invested nearly $13 billion in more than 1,100 deals, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers — the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2000. But there has been a noticeable change in the industry’s investment behavior, notes Mark McCaffrey, a partner at PwC’s technology practice in San Jose, California.

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Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. WTF? There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. What is a founder to do?

“Study the past if you would redefine the future.” Sage words from Confucius, and ones that Mary Walshok, UCSD associate vice chancellor for public programs and dean of extension, puts great stake in. Walshok, who was what she calls a “participant observer in a changing economy and changing society” in San Diego over the past few decades, recently came out with a book on the history of the region’s innovation economy, and shared her perspectives on what made San Diego the city it is today, and what’s needed to keep its business environment ahead of the curve, at a North San Diego Business Chamber presentation Wednesday.

In 2012 the Pebble smartwatch became the most backed product in Kickstarter history, gaining $10.3 million during its fundraising period.

That record stood until yesterday, when another product smashed Pebble’s pledges--earning an astonishing $11,045,769 (and counting) for a Kickstarter project that still has around 24 hours on the clock.

New research shows weight loss surgery can reverse the negative effects body fat may have on the brain

Too much fat weighs down not just your body, but also your brain.

Obesity harms most organs in the body, and new research suggests the brain is no exception. What’s more, the researchers found that getting rid of excess fat actually improves brain function, reversing the ill effects of the extra weight.

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Which crowdfunding site is best for you?

If you’re currently searching for funding, a good place to start is to briefly understanding the rapidly growing crowdfunding industry, and then become familiar with the top crowdfunding sites listed below.

The Crowdfunding Industry

The crowdfunding industry has grown exponentially over the last five years, helping people raise billions in funding for everything from donations for personal art projects to equity financing for businesses.

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Many cities aspire to be a Silicon-something. We started with Silicon Valley, and in NYC we now have Silicon Alley; in LA we have Silicon Beach. I live in Arizona where we have a growing eco-system that has been dubbed Silicon Desert.

I was recently asked to moderate a panel at a statewide Phoenix event in August (and if you’ve ever been to Arizona in August, you can appreciate that, as temperatures hover in the triple digits, Silicon Desert is an appropriate name!) where five CEOs, from companies ranging in size from a recent startup to a 20-year-old private company generating a hundred million dollars in annual revenue, shared their journeys.

As CEO of JumpStart Inc., a non-profit organization founded to address the lack of entrepreneurial growth in Northeast Ohio, I am sometimes called upon to address the 30-year trend of shrinking entrepreneurship in the U.S.

These numbers are frustrating to many because, from a technological perspective, it should be easier than ever to start a business. Tech costs are falling while access is rising; IT assistance is plentiful, affordable and e-commerce continues to make it easier to compete in almost every dimension.

Accelerators are an amazing way for entrepreneurs to learn the ropes of launching (and running) a business while also gaining valuable connections. That is if founders select the right one for their needs.

Participating in the TechStars Boston accelerator program has had a profound effect on the success of my company Codeship, a developer-tool company. I made vital connections, expanded my local network, received excellent advice and increased my work ethic due to long hours of training sessions, demonstration preparations and mentorship meetings.

A lot of people ask me what it takes to be successful as a VC. I hear it from peers and from candidates interviewing to work at OpenView. People want to know the secret “pro tip” for aspiring or newly-minted VCs that will guarantee their success.

In today’s lifehack-glorifying world, it’s not surprising to me that people are looking a career Game Genie. Do I need an MBA? Do I need to be an “operator” first, by working at or founding a startup? Or do I need to be an investment banker first?

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. In fact, businesses need to adapt just as completely to the changes in the buying and social behavior of consumers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business.

Today’s customer buying dynamics are all about “user experience,” according to Brian Solis, in his recent book “What’s the Future of Business?.”

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The hardest part about being an entrepreneur isn’t coming up with the next genius idea (although it does help), as many people might assume. Don’t get me wrong, creativity is important, but once your product hits the market you need a strategy to keep that good idea spreading and sustaining its net worth.

The make-it-great-and-they-will-come approach doesn’t always work (in fact, it rarely does) for the simple fact that people don’t know what they don’t know.

How are science and technology used outside research, and how can research foster innovation in Europe? These questions are particularly relevant in the light of the Europe 2020 strategy seeking to bring Europe out of the economic crisis, which aims to increase the proportion of Europe’s GDP spent on research and development from 2% to 3%. In addition, with Horizon 2020, the new European Research Framework Programme, using public funding for research and innovation, it is ever more important to make sure research money is well spent.

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When top-tier universities fail to embrace Meritocratic values, their very reason for existence comes into question. And it's happening right now.

It's become a frequent phenomenon the past few years, accelerating since the Great Crash of 2008-09 focused the sharpest of sharp spotlights on the gaping economic chasm between the very, very few who are very, very rich and everybody else everywhere on earth.

The Introduction to Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation by Linda A. Hill, Greg Brandeau, Emily Truelove and Kent Lineback (Boston: Harvard BusinessReview Press, 2014) calls for a different kind of leader who creates organizations both willing and able to innovate. From that innocuous opening, this new study quickly moves to engage the challenges and complexities confronting those wanting to enable innovation. Much of the complexity is captured in six paradoxes – from “support” and “confrontation” to “bottom up” and “top down” – that create ongoing tension. These are then summarized in a “fundamental paradox” between “unleashing” and “harnessing” the talents in an organization. Through the dozen case studies that follow, these paradoxes demonstrate not only the potential of different kinds of leaders but the value of different kinds of thinking about leadership in fostering and driving innovation.

Image: 1998-2005 Volkswagen New Beetle photographed in USA. Category:Volkswagen New Beetle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)