In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. That’s why investors say they invest in people (bet on the jockey, not the horse), rather than the idea. Yet every entrepreneur I meet wants to talk about the idea, and rarely mentions the team.

Planning to fund your new invention on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Go Fund Me or another crowdfunding platform? 

Just because you made it with your own two hands and your friends and family love it, doesn't mean strangers will want to give you money for it. 

We talked to a couple of experts for an insider's view of some make-or-break dos and don'ts. 

Over the past few years, WeWork has constantly been a source of news across the world. The coworking giant has grown exponentially, boasting today 212 locations in over 66 cities; it has also raised an astounding amount of money, taken its valuation to over US$20bn, acquired several companies including MeetUp, Flatiron School, and Wavegarden; launched a coliving business, launched a workplace management service, and entered the fitness industry.

Image: https://allwork.space

The amount of venture funding that goes to startups led by women remains quite small, with PitchBook Data reporting they got just 2.2 percent of the $85 billion invested by venture capitalists in 2017.

The good news is that's up from 1.9 percent in 2016 and the most since PitchBook began keeping track of the numbers.

Three firms — 500 Startups, New Enterprise Associates and Golden Seeds — each closed more than 100 deals backing female-founded companies in the U.S. between 2006 and 2017.

Image: https://www.bizjournals.com/

Seventy-five years ago, Silicon Valley was fruit orchids and Detroit was dominating the most exciting industry in the nation. "Things can change," Steve Case said of the tidal shifts of the U.S. innovation economy.

The famed entrepreneur and venture capitalist—who co-founded AOL before anyone believed in the Internet, and now heads the venture capital firm Revolution—visited Johns Hopkins on Thursday night to kick off a new speaker series.

Image: https://hub.jhu.edu

Software developers got a hearty slap on the back at the beginning of the year when US News & World Report named the tech role the “best job” of 2018.

Not that they needed the ego boost. Last year, PayScale and CNNMoney put software developers at the top of their own “best jobs in America” list. LinkedIn’s “skills companies need most in 2018” is stuffed with tools that any budding developer would salivate over, and the job site’s recent spread on the “most popular entry-level jobs” gave software engineers, an in-demand role that crosses into the software development world, the number one spot.

When thinking about the future of technology, it's tempting to look to Silicon Valley companies like Netflix and Tesla. But, Silicon Valley isn't the only tech city in the market anymore. In fact, a report by Palo Alto Online highlighted that more workers are leaving the valley than coming in.

Over the course of 2017, I sought perspective on what the future of technology looks like across the nation, and these are the three cities that taught me what tech looks like outside of Silicon Valley.

In my experience, there are plenty of innovation and startup teams that feel stuck. Despite using lean startup tools they feel as though they are running around in circles and making no progress. It feels as though they have forgotten why they started using lean startup methods in the first place. They have run a few experiments and they have learned a lot. But somehow, all these lessons learned are not really helping them make decisions. They struggle to articulate clear answers to questions like: where are they are right now and what do they need to do next?

Scientists at the University of Maryland reported last week that they’ve discovered a way to treat wood to make it 12 times stronger than natural wood and 10 times tougher. According to Liangbing Hu, one the lead researchers in the paper published in Nature, their wood is so strong and durable that it can compete with steel, titanium alloys, and even carbon fiber–but at an infinitely much lower price point.

Image: courtesy University of Maryland

While the rise of the internet has been the backbone of many exciting entrepreneurial endeavours, it does beg the question: has it distracted us from coming up with original ideas and products by simply providing a way to streamline what has already been done?

The announcement by Elon Musk in 2017 that his Tesla business had come up with a new lithium-ion battery to power homes and businesses got me thinking about the inspiring investors that dreamed up the products and devices that we would now find it hard to live without. The result? I was left with a feeling that these kind of zany ideas men and women might be on their way out.

Image: https://realbusiness.co.uk

The duck-in-the-water metaphor is often used by industry leaders to describe life as an entrepreneur. Ducks appear calm and collected at first glance, but they are actually paddling hard below the surface of the water to get to their final destination. Like the duck, entrepreneurs must remain calm in order to effectively lead their employees and grow their business, no matter how hectic it may be below the water’s surface.

Venture capital activity in Ireland may have declined in 2017 versus the previous year but it was still the second strongest performance in more than a decade, according to new figures compiled by PitchBook.

Moreover, PitchBook, whose cloud-based subscription-only database is regularly consulted by top venture capital firms across the globe, has forecast another good year for VC activity with the likelihood of stronger funding rounds here than in the past.

Image: https://www.irishtimes.com

The last State of European Tech Report ( by Atomico) offers an unrelenting warning on Italy. Despite its $1.85T GDP, the country has not yet been able to generate a venture ecosystem compared to its true potential. It has invested only $3/capita (vs. $123 in Sweden and $45/capita in France).

Image: http://www.rudebaguette.com

Sometimes entrepreneurs are so focused on making change happen for customers that they forget that continually changing themselves and their company is equally important. Some get stuck in a rut and get run over by competitors with new technology, like Eastman Kodak, and others get pushed into a crisis, like Apple did, before they reinvent themselves into a new market.

Image: http://blog.startupprofessionals.com

United Way is engaged in nearly 1,800 communities  across  more than 40  countries and territories worldwide. As the largest privately-funded nonprofit in the world, United Way creates solutions that build stronger communities. United Ways are improving education, strengthening financial stability and making communities healthier. But they don’t do it alone. Nearly 2.6 million volunteers and 9.6 million donors are engaged with United Ways across the world to advance  community-based and community-led solutions.

In his book Change by Design, Tim Brown lays out his Ways to Grow Matrix, which maps innovation along a vertical axis representing existing to new offerings and a horizontal axis representing existing to new users. This is a simple and brilliant way for companies to gauge the balance of their innovation efforts by plotting their many innovation initiatives on this axis.

Missing code and data make it tough to compare AI work. That may hurt progress. The problem: Science reports that of a sample of 400 papers from AI conferences in recent years, only 6 percent of presenters shared code. Just a third shared data. Why it matters: Without access to that information it’s hard to reproduce a study’s findings, making it impossible to benchmark tools that could push the field forward. How to solve it: There’s a clear culture of keeping such details under wraps. Some meetings and journals are now encouraging sharing. Perhaps more ought follow.

Image: https://mailchi.mp

Today, Reza Moridi, Minister of Research, Innovation and Science, and Steven Del Duca, Minister of Economic Development and Growth, issued the following statement:

"This morning, the federal government announced that Ontario's Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, led by Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGM Canada), has qualified for up to $230 million under the Government of Canada's Innovation Superclusters Initiative. This is a truly exciting day for our province and we would like to thank the federal government for choosing southern Ontario to anchor the industry-led Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster. 

Welcome to Teaching, a newsletter from The Chronicle of Higher Education. This week a recent article on improving student wellness has Beckie thinking about the promise and peril of the teenage brain. Then we share some insights on preparing students for life after college from the American Society for Engineering Education and point to a couple of recent articles and a report you might want to peruse.