I’ve talked with hundreds of business owners, entrepreneurs and marketing managers prior to launching SEO campaigns for their business. From Fortune 500 brands to local dentists, doctors, plumbers and accountants, I’ve fielded questions from people in many different industries. I’ve been amazed at the common misconceptions that I continuously hear about search engine optimization.

Whether you work with chatbots, programmatic advertising, artificial intelligence, or any other emerging field, it's hard work being an innovator. That's part of why I launched Innovation Congress, a conference July 18th-19th in New York - for some of today's top innovators to get together and discuss innovation.

But, who inspires the inspirational among us? I wanted to get a sense of who today's top innovators look to when they want to get inspired, so I asked some Innovation Congress speakers. Some of the responses were expected; others surprised me. Here's what I found.

Swimming is fun and all, until a pod of killer whales decide they'd like to play along.

Photographer Robin Léveillé captured an incredible moment at Whytecliff Park in West Vancouver, Canada earlier this week. In the clip, a pod of orcas can be seen charging a bluff with some seriously impressive speed.

MALAYSIAN Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) continues to push Malaysia as a hub for startups and their investors after the success of its previous accelerator programmes’ participants in raising funds.

MaGIC chief executive officer Ashran Ghazi says its latest initiative, the Global Accelerator Programme (GAP), would further strengthen Malaysia’s position as the gateway for entrepreneurs looking to penetrate the Asean region. GAP also paves the way for MaGIC to be a global organisation.

Image: Going global: (from left) Ashran, Mohd Irwan and Lee are positive about MaGIC’s Global Accelerator Programme. - http://www.thestar.com.my

It started with a few women speaking up, reporting a suggestive text message, an invitation to a hotel room, an unwanted touch under a table.

Soon more women came forward.  Allegations of sexual harassment multiplied, sweeping through Silicon Valley like a powerful storm that in a few short weeks has cost multiple high-level tech investors and CEOs their jobs, and shaken the industry to its core.

When United Nations member states agreed on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) two years ago, they were setting down a consensus view on the future of nations. The SDGs represent humanity’s best aspirations for national improvement, from curbing hunger and disease to reducing inequality and responding to climate change. And, in their completeness and breadth, the SDGs suggest that countries find a more harmonious balance between industry and economy on one side of the ledger, and environment and social factors on the other.

Image: https://www.fastcompany.com

There’s a common thread running through Indeed’s latest list of the best places to work. The annual ranking, which nods to big name brands like Southwest Airlines and Starbucks, is chock-full of industry heavy hitters with ambitious growth goals — and working for a good company with benefits can lengthen one's career and help you save. More importantly: they’re all hiring like crazy.

Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF), which allows for true equity crowdfunding by small businesses and start-ups, has been in effect for over a year now. The amount of capital raised since Reg CF was launched last year has been steadily increasing as well as the number of portals through which issues can raise money. Senior Contributor to Crowdfund Insider, Georgia Quinn, previously highlighted several pitfalls that issuers conducting a Reg CF offering should be aware of, but I wanted to discuss an issue that is often overlooked and yet is probably the most relevant to issuers: advertising their offerings. Issuers obviously want to market their offerings to raise as much capital as possible, but if they do so in violation of SEC rules, they could end up blowing their entire offering which could lead to some dire consequences.

Image: https://www.crowdfundinsider.com

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas, first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008. It forces you to bridge the gap between idea and execution.

The canvas is a visual chart with elements describing your value proposition, structure, finances, and customers, to help companies identify and align business activities. Now I see in a new book, “Business Models for Teams,” by Tim Clark and Bruce Hazen, an extension of this process to down inside the venture, for teams and individuals. It shows you how everyone works in synergy.

Government's use of analytic technologies and employment of data-focused digital natives are already saving billions of dollars that would otherwise be wasted, defrauded or spent inefficiently.

But these teams are still relatively new across government, and for many bureaucratic organizations, getting started is the hardest part. Last week, Nextgov hosted a panel with three of the federal government’s foremost analytic practitioners and asked them to share best practices for building a successful analytics shop.

Backyard barbecues. Fireworks. A day off work. Among these traditions we look forward to on the Fourth of July, there is an even more patriotic rite of passage: the oath immigrants take to become American citizens.

The naturalization ceremony opens up a world of benefits for immigrants, but the advantages may be even bigger for cities and counties. Helping immigrants pursue naturalization is a boon for municipalities, allowing them to reap millions more in tax revenues from the higher economic gains that citizenship brings, and in turn put that tax revenue to use in improving public services.

Your choice of coffee mug can say a lot about you. Maybe it tells the office that you’re the "World’s Best Boss." Maybe it warns co-workers: “Don’t Talk to Me Until I’ve Had My Coffee.” Perhaps it displays your love of canines via a screen-printed portrait of your dog’s goofy grin. But if you want your daily beverage to show off your creative side, you need the Build-On Brick Mug. 

Image: BUILD-ON 

1."Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

2. "There are two mistakes one can make along the road to truth -- not going all the way, and not starting." - Buddha

3. "Be willing to be a beginner every single morning." - Meister Eckhart

4. "All great ideas and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning." - Albert Camus

The amount of conflicting advice there is on how to bring up happy and successful children can make your head spin.

Parents often find themselves questioning how strict they should be with youngsters and how much independence they should allow them.

Now a new book by psychologists says our approach is wrong – because we're training them to be computers, reports NPR.

Instead of focusing on 'success' at school, we should be teaching them how to be better at being social, navigate relationships and be good citizens in a community.

The rapid advancement of the internet has created unmistakable, significant changes to our everyday lives. The impact the Internet has on society is felt in almost everything we do — from ordering a pizza to starting a romantic relationship. It has affected how we communicate, how we learn about global events, and even how our brains function.

Start-ups in the life science sector are a source of invaluable innovation, entrepreneurial spirit and ultimately, important developments that could improve patient health. It is through new ideas that the sector can face current and future challenges, such as an ageing population, the need to invest in new-generation, digitalised technology, and a rise in patient demand of service and value for money. But data shows that 90% of all start-ups fail within the first year, a worrying statistic considering the wealth of advantages that innovation can bring to the life sciences industry.

Image: http://www.medicalplasticsnews.com

The last 10 minutes of your day can also be the most crucial. It’s a time where you can prep for the next day, organize your workspace, sign out of email and reflect on what you achieved in the past eight hours. In the end, you should feel confident and proud when you walk out of the office.

Starting and running a company is a team effort. Yes, it takes a leader (entrepreneur), but you can’t do it alone, without a team. Maybe only you and a co-founder comprise the team at first, to provide key skills, back you up, and test your ideas. As the startup grows, the team has to be able to really push you in making growth decisions, rather than you pulling them along.

Blair Garrou has been involved with nearly every big new initiative to help boost Houston's tech startup scene over the past two decades and now serves as managing partner for Mercury Fund, Houston's only local venture capital firm. In that post, he's working with the Greater Houston Partnership to bring more investment dollars to Houston companies, working from a report by Accenture on how to build a better tech industry.

A Minneapolis venture capital firm will see up to a $200 million injection from telecom giant AT&T.

The money will be used for Coral’s Communications Industry Platforms’ (CIP) efforts to invest in “connected services and platforms” businesses, the companies said in a news release. Coral will be seeking other investors for the fund as well.

The investment capital comes from the AT&T Labs and the AT&T Foundry innovation centers, which were launched in 2011 in part to work with start-ups.