The Arizona Commerce Authority and BioAccel are collaborating on a statewide accelerator program, dubbed AZ Furnace, that encourages entrepreneurs from across the country to commercialize innovations developed within Arizona’s universities and other research institutions.

ACA will commit up to $400,000 in seed funding, and BioAccel will match up to $150,000 for the program.

“AZ Furnace is a game-changer in tech transfer and acknowledges that intellectual property generated by our state’s research institutions represents enormous economic value,” said Sandra Watson, interim president and CEO of the Commerce Authority. “The ACA is thrilled to join this collaboration to further foster business creation.”

Young job seekers today would rather work for startups than big corporate companies, a new study suggests.

The study was conducted by software provider PayScale, Inc. and research management firm Millennial Branding. It found that millennials — also known as Gen Y, a group currently between the ages of 18 and 29 — are more drawn to smaller companies that offer flexibility, embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and don’t restrict social media use.

“This report confirms that Gen Y is an entrepreneurial group, highly versed in social media, and prefers freedom and flexibility over big corporate policies,” said Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding, in a statement.

Why has the billion dollar valuation become trivialized in startup investing? What started Facebook down a path where it would it reach a $150 billion valuation on secondary markets before going public at a $100 billion valuation, and then sinking to a $50 billion valuation within months? We were talking about these questions with the CEO of a startup that has itself raised more than $100 million in this environment.

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Even if you have an hour booked, the advice is the same.

I’ve published these points before, but based on interest, it’s time for an update. Remember the goal is an overview presentation that will pique investor interest enough to ask for the business plan and a follow-on meeting, not close the deal on the spot. If you can’t get the message across in ten minutes, more time and more charts won’t help.

This is a hot topic I’ve been asked a lot about recently.

• You’re on a first date with a VC – how much should you tell them? 
• You’re heading into a full partner meeting and you’ve been asked for a full data pack before – should you give it? 
• When is it appropriate for a VC to call your customers?

From the art of the pitch to a smooth sale and everything in between, these seven tenets come straight from the annals of successful startups. 

Last week, Vancouver's GROW 2012 conference convened some all-stars of the startup scene, stirring together corporate leads from Indiegogo, Eventbrite, Zite, Paypal, Cheezburger Inc. and more with infamous super angel Dave McClure and a smattering of high profile venture capitalists from firms like Bessemer and the Founders Fund. We crunched it all up into seven bits of bite-sized startup wisdom that bear repeating:

Universities in the United States derived modestly more income from research innovations they licensed in 2011 than they did in 2010, as the sputtering economy continued to constrain the market for startups and other investment, an annual survey by the Association of University Technology Managers has found. The survey, to which 157 colleges and universities responded (along with several dozen hospitals and other research entities), also showed that the number of patents issued to the institutions rose by 6.9 percent, to 4,296 from 4,018, and that the number of startup companies that emerged from their research products stayed roughly constant, at 617 compared to 2010's 613.

Senior Advisor for Innovation in the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Alec Ross offers advice to established entrepreneurs who already have some success behind them: Keep an open line of communication going with those up and coming in your field. While many successful people feel they have a lot to offer their juniors, few take advantage of the relationship working as a learning experience both ways. Don’t allow your success to become isolating. Remaining au courant is a great indicator of recurring prosperity.

THE State government recently announced a new team of commercialisation advisers for Western Australia’s peak innovation body, helping local entrepreneurs turn their ideas into sustainable businesses.

Not-for-profit organisation Business Foundations were recently selected to head the Innovation Centre WA (ICWA) at Technology Park, Bentley following almost 20 years of experience working in the field.

Business Foundations Director Phil Kemp says one of the main objectives for Business Foundations’ will be to contribute to WA’s innovation ecosystem.

One biotech startup wants to restore vision in blind patients with a gene therapy that gives light sensitivity to neurons that don't normally possess it.

The attempt, by Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Retrosense Therapeutics, will use so-called optogenetics. Scientists have used the technique over the last few years as a research tool to study brain circuits and the neural control of behavior by directing neuron activity with flashes of light. But Retrosense and others groups are pushing to bring the technique to patients in clinical trials.

TULLAHOMA, Tenn. August 23, 2012 – The Southern Middle Tennessee Entrepreneur Centers (SMTEC) is accepting applications for the September 25th TennesSeed Camp™ to be held in Tullahoma, TN. This will be an intense three day entrepreneurial boot camp for companies. Entrepreneurs with a high-growth business opportunity nearly ready for investment, or those close to launching a business but needing help getting on track should complete the application at www.SMTEC.com to be considered for an upcoming accelerator program. Deadline for submission is September 8, 2012.

SMTEC is part of Governor Haslam’s Jobs4TN plan and a foundational component of the region’s economic development strategy while creating a network of partnerships and mentors within the local business community, the statewide investor base, higher education, non-profits and government.

(Nastas note to readers:  From 6-22 August I was in Silicon Valley, mentoring 80 entrepreneurs from 36 countries on selecting, developing and shaping their business models to investors’ behavior to risk as I discuss in this blog series.  I was one of approximately 15-16 team project advisors selected from around the world to serve in this capacity at Singularity University, created by x-Prize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis and futurist Ray Kurzweil.  In early September, I will write on this experience, and share the talk I presented to the group, see icon below.

Subjects in this Part IV post include:

1.)   Clonentrepreneurship or Alternative Paths to the Startup of Start-up Communities?

2.)   Change the Culture & Amazing Things Happen

In Part III, the Power of Clones, subjects presented:

1.)   Drive Growth and Innovation in the Supply Chain

2.)   Sidestep the Obstacles that Impede Scaling Up

3.)   Controversy of Clonentrepreneurship: Cloning the Idea or Hatching a Start-Up?

4.)   The Spread of Clonentrepreneurship

Below are the top 25 biotechnology companies based on market capitalization at the end of the second quarter 2012, and Q2 2011, calculated by multiplying the number of outstanding shares by the share price. U.S. companies generally report their numbers of outstanding shares in their 10-Q quarterly earnings filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Companies based outside the U.S. either disclose market cap directly, or their numbers of shares “in issue” or “in free issue” in half-year and full-year results disclosures.

For all companies, closing share prices as of the dates of their outstanding-shares figures can be found through any of several free stock information websites. Figures of non-U.S. companies were converted to U.S. dollars from various currencies. 2012 market cap for companies reporting numbers of outstanding shares as of June 30 was calculated using share prices as of June 29, since markets were closed on June 30.

“Brainiac-rich” Boston has been named the second best city for technology startups, according to USA Today.

The national newspaper asked the National Venture Capital Association to rank the top 10 cities for startups, based on dollars invested in young tech companies in 2011. San Francisco claimed top honors, while “capital-rich” New York City, “entertainment-meets-tech” Los Angeles, and “business-to-business” Washington, ranked third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Boston has 700 startups, with $2.77 billion invested in 2011 for 285 companies, according to NVCA.

QUESTION How do you get a VC you don't know to mentor you?

PROFESSOR Rob Hayes, Managing Partner, First Round Capital+

TOPIC SXSW

With a top speed of 211 mph, the 2013 $330,000 Ferrari F12 Berlinetta is the fastest car Ferrari has ever produced. Most jet planes are slower on take off. With its 730hp V12 engine, which will give you 0-124 mph in 8.5 seconds, I guess you might say it’s got real pick-up-and-go. The Week magazine, talks about “touch-of-sky performance,” and says it “has transcended the limits of what seemed possible in a road-going two-seater.” Still, it has nothing on Carl Dietrich’s latest design called the Terrafugia Transition®.

Entrepreneur, angel investor, elevator pitch. Often used in start-up circles, these terms have their roots in Hollywood, Broadway and 18th century France. Can you guess which one came from which place?

Entrepreneur

These days, it seems everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, but what exactly does that mean? Derived from the French word “entreprendre,” meaning “to undertake” or “to begin,” the term refers to someone who owns, manages and assumes the risks of a business or some other enterprise. French economist Richard Cantillon is often credited with defining the term in the early 18th century, using “entrepreneur” to refer to any individual who purchased various “means of production” in order to combine t

Entrepreneurs need to listen to constructive criticism, but ignore negative vibes and complainers at all costs. If you are a complainer, and you are thinking of becoming an entrepreneur, think again. The world of an entrepreneur is tough, unpredictable, and fraught with risk. Most importantly, the buck stops with you, so there is no room for excuses and negativity.

Even listening often to negative team members and partners will reinforce negative thinking and behavior, and turn your normally positive perspective toxic. I’ve seen it too often in real life, and it was reinforced to me recently when I read a new book by Trevor Blake, “Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life.”

When markets heat up, entrepreneurs suffer criticism for launching “me-too” start-ups in a dense crowd of competitors. Bloggers, investors and analysts dismiss some as “dime-a-dozen” apps or services.

People marvel (or roll their eyes, enviously) at the funding that comparable businesses–like these ride sharing and mobile-payment start-ups–raise from venture capitalists.