Homes in the US haven't been this valuable since before the financial crisis.

That's according to new data from Zillow, which finds the median US home value climbed 8.7% to $215,600 in April, the quickest year-over-year increase since June 2006.

While this is a bad sign for prospective buyers, it's positive for existing homeowners, because it opens up the possibility of a so-called cash-out refinance.

Image: http://www.businessinsider.com

While the number of active investors and funded ventures continued to shrink in 2017, an increase in dollars invested and deal sizes shows angel investors are bullish about their prospects, indicates an annual report by the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Venture Research.

Image: Jeffrey Sohl, director of the UNH Center for Venture Research COURTESY PHOTO

A finely crafted, tightly defined, highly detailed business plan seems like a perfectly rational tool for getting your entrepreneurial ideas off the ground. But Carl Schramm thinks you should burn it. Schramm, an economist, Syracuse University professor and former president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation — a non-profit that encourages entrepreneurship — says that crafting a business plan is one of the biggest misconceptions about how to start a company on the right footing. His new book, Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do, says the true blueprint for success requires innovative ideas, real-world experience and keen judgment. Schramm joined the Knowledge@Wharton show, which airs on SiriusXM channel 111, to explain why inventors and entrepreneurs should light a few matches and get on with it. (Listen to the full podcast using the player at the top of this page.)

Image: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

The 2018 hurricane season in the Atlantic, which officially kicks off June 1, is expected to be of average to above-average in intensity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization’s annual hurricane forecast released Thursday.

The NOAA scientists’ complex model predicts there will be 10 to 16 storms this year that reach wind speeds of at least 39 mph, earning them a climatological name. Of those storms, five to nine are predicted to mature into hurricanes, with winds reaching 74 mph, while one to four of those will graduate to “major” status of at least category 3 on the five-point severity scale, with wind speeds of at least 111 mph.

Contrary to former fears about the cholesterol in eggs and egg yolks, a new study’s results suggest that eggs could actually help protect your heart. Researchers in China discovered that those who ate at least one egg per day had a lower risk of heart disease and stroke than those who avoided eggs.

Andrew Gaule (pictured), CEO at Aimava, explores two different perspectives on tech transfer and university incubation.

In the following two interviews, ANdrew talks Tal Badt, director of business development at X-lab Tsinghua University, Beijing, and with Quentin Compton-Bishop, CEO at Warwick Ventures.

It's not just tech companies that can trace their roots back to a garage. According to co-founder Joel Marcus, Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE) -- a real estate investment trust specializing in life sciences laboratory and office space -- got its start in a garage, too. Since its founding in 1994, Alexandria Real Estate has grown into an $18 billion commercial real estate Goliath with $1.1 billion in annual revenue. Can this company's success continue? I recently spoke with Marcus to learn more about the company and its opportunities.

The ‘80s futurist John Naisbitt once called manufacturing a “a declining sport,” and to be sure the share of Americans working in factories has fallen far from the 1950 peak of 30% to roughly 8.5% last year.

Yet, manufacturing’s contributions to the economy are far out of proportion to its shrinking share of employment. In 2013, the manufacturing sector employed 12 million workers, but generated an additional 17.1 million indirect jobs.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com

The conventional wisdom sees tech concentrating in a handful of places, many dense urban cores that offer the best jobs and draw talented young people. These places are seen as so powerful that, as The New York Times recently put it, they have little need to relate to other, less fashionable cities.

The SBIR/STTR program, which dubs itself as “America’s Seed Fund,” is one of the broadest forms of early-stage capital available to small technology companies. During the five-year period from 2013 to 2017, the 11 federal agencies participating in the SBIR/STTR program distributed 25,524 awards. Using charts, maps, and a downloadable spreadsheet, this Digest article looks at trends in SBIR/STTR awards by state over the period, including the companies with the most awards and states where SBIR/STTR awards outnumber VC deals. A future article will look at awards by metropolitan area.

This spring is a special one for our family. My daughter, Jenn, graduates from college this June, and my son, Rory, graduates from high school a few days earlier.

Even when I’m not playing the role of proud mother, I tend to be a fan of commencement season — because I also tend to be a fan of commencement speeches. They’re a unique chance for America’s thinkers, doers and builders to offer a more personal reflection on the world as they see it and their hopes for the generation that will inherit it.

As an angel investor in early-stage startups, I’ve long noticed my peers apparent bias toward the strength and character of the founding entrepreneurs, often overriding a strong solution to a painful problem with a big opportunity. In other words, the entrepreneur quality is more important than the idea -- in investor jargon, people invest in the jockey, and not the horse.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Emilio Bruna and Bette Loiselle’s students shoot videos, create websites and design flyers, but they’re not communications majors — they’re graduate students in tropical conservation and development, and they’re learning how to fund their work.

The University of Florida class, which began in 2014, prepares future scientists and other professionals for a world where increasingly stiff competition for grants means they'll have to get creative to find support — financial or otherwise.

Image: http://news.ufl.edu

Top-tier venture capital firms are moving women into the upper ranks as general partners amid increased pressure to diversify as claims of widespread sexual harassment continue to resound through Silicon Valley.

New Enterprise Associates became the latest firm on Wednesday to add to the wave when it elevated Carmen Chang, a well-connected former lawyer who leads NEA’s China practice, to the general partner level.

Image: Carmen Chang, a new general partner at NEA NEA

Basic, Sensible Ideas

Those might sound like planks from the Bernie Sanders platform, but the people I’ve heard make those points are definitely not Bernie Bros. They are at a minimum “small-c” conservatives who are reluctant to look to any government for help—if they aren’t outright hostile to the idea. However, the recognition that the St. Louis region needs a better-educated workforce, more financial resources for startups, a well-funded university system, and (gasp!) more immigration seems to cut across party lines, at least in the civically engaged business community.

Walmart’s acquisition of Flipkart has created shockwaves in India, with the realization that the vast majority of its $16 billion price will go to foreign investors, namely Tiger Global, SoftBank, Naspers, and Accel Partners. Now Indian investors are kicking themselves for missing out on the largest e-commerce exit ever. And they have no one to blame but themselves: Flipkart tried very hard to raise money locally but was ridiculed and turned away, forcing it to turn to foreign giants.

Image: Flipkart -   Image Credit: Paul Sawers / VentureBeat

If money talks, then venture capitalists sure have a lot to say this year.

According to a research note from Goldman Sachs released Wednesday, May 23, CB Insights found total venture capital in private and emerging companies in the first quarter of 2018 totaled $22.1 billion. That's an increase of 21% sequentially and 49% annually, and it's the highest total funding amount Goldman has seen since it began tracking the data at the start of 2016.

An unwillingness to rest on its laurels lies behind the success of Indiana University Research and Technology Corp (IURTC) over the past 12 months – and is the key reason the organisation has been named Tech Transfer Unit of the Year in the 2018 Global University Venturing Awards.

For all of Pittsburgh’s growth in recent years, studies consistently show that the city’s economy has significant gaps. It doesn’t produce or grow startups as well as it should, it needs more venture capital and it needs to do a better job of commercializing research.

Image: Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Now that most Opportunity Zones have been designated, we thought it would be good to provide some insight on the basics of Opportunity Zones and how this tax incentive could be used to spur investment into low-income and underserved communities across the country. How should local communities with Opportunity Zones begin the important work of identifying potential investments and attracting investors? We review the basics in this post from the Council of Development Finance Agencies.

Image: https://smartincentives.org