Here at Crunchbase News, we cover the intersection of technology and money, paying particular attention to venture capital.

Exciting? Not to everyone. Important? Yes. For better and worse, a huge amount of money is controlled by a relatively small number of folks who make decisions about what the future might look like based on the businesses they back. It’s rarified air, to be sure, but air all the same.

Every day there are news stories about the so-called gig economy where workers contribute part or full-time labor — not as employees with benefits, but as independent contractors. Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, the ride-sharing giant, proudly declared on September 10 that “very few brands become verbs”. The same week Upwork, a platform for hiring freelancers, filed for an IPO, as did Fiverr, which boasts that it offers a “freelance services marketplace for the lean entrepreneur.” Indeed, the gig economy has not only turned millions of Americans into contractors, but it’s given the more successful entrepreneurs the tools to grow even faster. A fast-moving startup can secure talent as it needs it, outsource more quotidian tasks like payroll, and stay lean and mean; indeed, I see entrepreneurs employ this approach through my work at EY supporting creative, successful startups.

A bowl of Halloween candy is enough to frighten any healthy eater. After just one piece, it can feel impossible to stop—until you get a stomachache.

You might assume that sugar is the sole reason that Halloween candy is so hard to resist. After all, it can activate reward circuits in the brain that also light up in response to drugs like cocaine, and it is possible to build up a tolerance to and dependence on sugar.

The Bill K. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has created a $500,000 Innovation Fund for the development of new university businesses and early-stage findings.

The Innovation Fund, which will begin January 1, will support two phases of commercialization: the bridge funding phase of applications development inside the research institution and the seed stage phase of company establishment, according to a UAB press release.

Image: Dr. Kathy Nugent  

Late Friday afternoon, Chicago-based ARCH Venture Partners filed paperwork with the SEC indicating its intent to raise a targeted $600 million for “ARCH Venture Fund X, L.P.”

At this point, no capital has yet been raised for the new fund, and the capital target is subject to change.

According to Crunchbase data, verified where possible with media reports and prior SEC filings, Fund X would be ARCH’s largest fund to date.

The Michigan Strategic Fund steered additional money into two capital funds that support high-tech startups and growing small businesses in the state.

The Invest Michigan Pre-Seed Fund II received $3 million to invest in startups through loans or equity. Grow Michigan LLC will receive $9.6 million for a second mezzanine-style fund that will provide loans to growing small businesses.

Image: Fred Molnar COURTESY PHOTO

Emotional stories help innovative ideas attract attention—and get funded. Here are the narratives that help good ideas break through.

Image: https://www.mckinsey.com

Whether it’s taking action to boost scores on employee satisfaction surveys or working to build a more candid culture, most founders strive to infuse transparency into the DNA of their startups. But when the more specific topic of compensation transparency comes up, some start to shift uncomfortably in their seats, perhaps out of a fear that they’ll be pressured to share everyone’s salary in a spreadsheet for all to see.

A project team from Stanley Black & Decker, a US$12.7 billion diversified manufacturing firm, noticed something problematic when observing customers using the company’s products at construction sites. Tools such as miter saws and table saws needed higher voltage than the 20-volt systems commonly used for hand tools such as drills and circular saws. As a result, contractors were using extension cords or gasoline generators. But the former were inconvenient and created hazards, and the latter brought noise and pollution.

Joel Marcus, chairman at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, discusses the risk of rising interest rates, how government action on drug pricing could impact the firm's pharmaceutical tenants, and exploring opportunities in the agriculture technology sector. He speaks with Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker from the Robin Hood Investors Conference on "Bloomberg Markets." (Source: Bloomberg)

On January 17 1803, a young man named George Forster was hanged for murder at Newgate prison in London. After his execution, as often happened, his body was carried ceremoniously across the city to the Royal College of Surgeons, where it would be publicly dissected. What actually happened was rather more shocking than simple dissection though. Forster was going to be electrified.

Image: "Frankenstein" was inspired by real scientific debates. Universal

Ambitious dreams have now become a reality as the Ocean Cleanup deploys its $20 million system designed to clean up the 1.8 trillion pieces of trash floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Check out another Forbes piece on how Ocean Cleanup aims to reuse and recycle the ocean plastic.

Image: A floater from The Ocean Cleanup.THE OCEAN CLEANUP

Starting your venture is like having a baby that requires all your attention, affection, passion, time and investment. It’s not just about bringing a new life but also how you plan to introduce them to the word.

Just like having a child, opening your own startup is a noteworthy experience. You are going to struggle, things are going to get tough, there will be regrets, you might question yourself, you are going to have dreadful nights......but in the end, everything will be worth it.

Powerful teachers typically have four qualities in common: personality, presence, preparation, and passion. Want to cultivate and fine-tune those traits and become a better teacher? Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz tells you how in this Two-Minute Tips video.

Image: https://www.chronicle.com - Image from video

Although it’s long been seen as forbidden to discuss paychecks around the water cooler, an increasing number of startups and tech firms are embracing salary transparency, hoping to establish a sense of fairness and competition. This also fits in with generational trends: A 2017 survey found that 30 percent of U.S. workers between 18 and 36 discussed their salary with coworkers, which is a proportion four times as great as among people 53 to 71.

Guy Kawasaki, founder and Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, believes that those companies who set out to make a positive change in the world are the companies that will ultimately be the most successful. He gives examples of the best way to make meaning: increase quality of life, right a wrong, and prevent the end of something good.

Heidi Roizen, operating partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, stresses the importance of ethical behavior in business, sharing a moment from her startup days when an unethical decision proved tempting. She explains how ethical behavior permeates a company's culture.

Image: https://ecorner.stanford.edu

“While the critics argue that Cohen-Boyer would have had the same impact without patent protection, there are other more likely scenarios… It took a lot of work from Reimers before U.S. companies recognized its potential. That effort would not have been made to promote a scientific paper.”

It’s hard to believe that social media has emerged as such an expansive ecosystem in just the last 10 years.

The incredible growth of this social media universe can be largely attributed to the success of Facebook, which has recently hit two billion active users globally. But, of course, there are many other platforms that have helped to build the foundation as well – names like YouTube, Messenger, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Reddit, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram all create a powerful base for new apps and add-ons to plug into.

Image: http://www.visualcapitalist.com

College Park, MD, Oct. 25, 2018 – The Association of University Research Parks (AURP) today announced this year’s Awards of Excellence recipients during a luncheon at the 2018 International Conference hosted by the University of Maryland’s Discovery District in College Park, MD. Throughout the conference, the association announced other award recipients and this morning, AURP announced the newest members of its 2019 Board of Directors and the organization’s elected officials.