With nearly 20 percent of the country out of a job, take the road less traveled: start a company. “Startup: The Complete Handbook for Launching a Company for Less,” is a new book that shows entrepreneurs how to start a business on a shoestring budget.

Edwards has written a modern textbook for entrepreneurship, covering all aspects of starting a business. In concise, plain English, “Startup” explains the finer points of branding, advertising, venture funding, grants, SBA loans, patents and business law.

Part manual, part manifesto, the nearly 400-page handbook is packed full of templates, do-it-yourself tools, and proven strategies for bootstrapping.

1. "It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." - Charles Darwin

2. "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." - Helen Keller

3. "If two men on the same job agree all the time, then one is useless. If they disagree all the time, both are useless." - Darryl F. Zanuck

4. "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." - Henry Ford

5. "Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

A “downer” is defined here as someone who seems to dwell on the negatives of every business challenge, and loves to highlight bad news or potential problems. No matter how smart or experienced this person may otherwise be, things must change or they will kill your startup.

I’m not talking about someone who has an occasional bad day, but rather people who when asked, “How are things?” will proceed to give you a 20-minute dissertation on their latest health symptoms, the latest company problem, and the sad state of the world in general.

The iPad is not a computer, and competitors who approach it like the PC market will fail, says Apple's Steve Jobs.

Like he did at last year's iPad introduction, Jobs closed today's iPad 2 event by talking about Apple's philosophy of marrying technology with liberal arts (always a nice moment for all the former English lit and philosophy majors following along at home).

Then he explained why he thinks Apple will continue to stay ahead in the tablet market:

Our competitors are looking at this like it's the next PC market. That is not the right approach to this. These are post-PC devices that need to be easier to use than a PC, more intuitive. The hardware and software need to intertwine more than they do on a PC. We think we're on the right path with this.

Would you like to surf, but live too far away from the ocean to take it up? According to SF Gate, a company in Spain has teamed up with surfer Kelly Slater to build surfable wave pools.

Even the greatest surfer ever Kelly Slater has ambitions of making wave pools a reality with his new business venture, Kelly Slater Wave Company. An innovative engineering company in Northern Spain called Instant is the latest to give it a try at creating machine-generated waves with a project called Wavegarden. After Instant published both photographic and video evidence of their mechanical wonder, Wavegarden offers the best hope at making wave pools an enjoyable reality.

Two weeks before he officially joins the White House's Startup America Partnership initiative as CEO, Priceline co-founder Scott Case is asking entrepreneurs how the newly minted business-assistance organization can best help them create jobs.

In opening remarks to the crowd attending the tech-industry's DEMO Conference in Palm Springs yesterday, Case said, "With enterprises less than five years old responsible for creating all net jobs in America over the past 30 years, the importance of promoting innovation is more paramount than ever. High-growth startups are vital to the future economic growth of the country, and the Startup America Partnership will work with the private sector to ensure that startups have every best chance to succeed."

Long Beach, Calif.—The leaders of the annual TED conference, known for featuring short, carefully prepared talks on big ideas about technology and society, hope to apply their approach to education.

This week they announced TED-Ed, which will provide a hand-picked set of free online educational talks (expected to be even shorter than the conference talks), many submitted by educators themselves but enhanced by TED officials. An online forum, the Ted-Ed Brain Trust, will encourage discussion of how to reform teaching using the videos and other technology.

PraxisUnico, the body representing UK university technology transfer offices welcomed the UK government’s move to extend the existing range of model research agreements to include agreements between companies, universities and the National Health Service (NHS), saying it will help in streamlining the setting up of collaborative research projects in health.

‘What is my business worth?’ is a question every entrepreneur and investor asks themselves all the time. Then when it comes to selling the company or raising money the question shifts subtly to ‘what value will the investor/acquirer place on my business?’. The answer to the second question is often lower than the answer to the first one.

If you are trying to answer the question ‘what value will an investor place on my business?’ I think there are three things you need to understand. The first is what I would describe as the right way for a VC to value a company, the second are the rules of thumb that we use to sense check and short cut the proper analysis, and the third is the impact of market forces on the numbers thrown out by the first two.

Last night I did my annual "fireside chat" with the InSITE Fellows followed by beers at a local bar. This has become a tradition and one that I enjoy very much. We ended up at Amity Hall where we drank beer, hung out, watched the Knicks do a late game fade against Orlando, and talked a bit of shop. Nishta asked me how to get to her email read. We had some fun with that and turned it into an experiment (yes, she automatically got into my priority inbox) and then a test. I'll let her tell the story:

I men­tioned some­thing and he said, “send me an email”. I instan­ta­neously and quite uncon­sciously replied, “oh come on, you don’t check your emails.” And he said, “I do”. After 2 mins of back and forth, he took out his (Android) and showed me his inbox — sorry, his pri­or­ity inbox. He said, “see that email, now thats a nice sub­ject, I will check it.” “But what if my email gets stuck in your reg­u­lar inbox?” was my imme­di­ate ques­tion? “Then, noth­ing can hap­pen. So you need to at least make it to my pri­or­ity inbox, can you?” “I will find a sub­ject inter­est­ing enough for you then” He smiled and said, “lets try”. I did and both of my emails even­tu­ally showed in his pri­oir­ity inbox few mins later!

What do you think most stresses you out during the day? A new type of wearable stress sensor, which constantly checks for signs of anxiety, could give you a precise answer. And it might not be what you think.

That's what I found when I tested the Q Sensor, a device made by Affectiva, a company based in Waltham, Massachusetts. It looks like a large digital watch with no readout. A button on its surface lights up in different colors to convey the level of battery charge. Two small silver electrodes on the underside of the device continually send out a low electric current to measure skin conductance. Skin conductance rises along with physiological levels of stress, including both excitement and fear.

Columbia, Md., - Since its inception more than a decade ago, The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) has garnered national recognition for its early-stage investment track record and support of emerging innovations. Today, the organization is gaining international attention for its successful technology transfer programs and business models. Henry Ahn, program manager for technology funding programs and Stephen Auvil, vice president of technology transfer and commercialization, presented information on TEDCO to foreign economic panels from China and technology transfer professionals from Russian universities.

"We are proud of our unique funding programs and are honored to gain international exposure and recognition through these speaking engagements," said Rob Rosenbaum, president and executive director of TEDCO. "The TEDCO business model is solid and effective and we take great pride in it being emulated across the U.S. and abroad."

For the past two years, I’ve been spreading the message that people of color are missing out on the technology start-up revolution. In an era where young companies can surpass the market-caps of companies that have been in existence for decades and can go on to raise millions in funding — creating jobs and opportunities for others, we are notably absent. It’s a topic that almost no one wants to touch. Technology conferences brush over the concept by focusing their “lack of diversity” panels on low numbers of women leading startups rather than tackle the almost complete absence of African Americans and Hispanics founders. Instead they highlight minority celebrities that have taken an interest in the space to make a passive attempt to show “look, they are here.”

Comedy, especially stand-up, is widely regarded as the most difficult gig in show business. Similarly, successful product innovation is so difficult, it could be regarded as the stand-up comedy of the business world.

E.B. White once said that analyzing comedy is like dissecting a frog: Few people are interested and the frog dies of it. However, a sacrifice must be made to help more great ideas see the light of day, and studying how good comedians work can reveal insights into how innovation can benefit from the same advice.

RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The 2011 Virginia General Assembly is being hailed as one of the most productive legislative sessions for the bioscience industry in the last decade. After months of preparation, outreach and dogged advocacy, volunteers and representatives from the Virginia Biotechnology Association scored victories for emerging bioscience companies on every item on its ambitious legislative agenda.

“Governor Bob McDonnell, Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, Speaker of the House Bill Howell and a bipartisan team of leaders from both chambers of the General Assembly deserve our sincere thanks for passing new job-creating new programs such as the R&D Tax Credit,” said Thomas Thorpe, chairman of the Virginia Biotechnology Association and President of Afton Scientific, a Charlottesville-based bioscience company. “Investments in high-growth, high-wage, 21^st Century industries, such as the biomedical sciences, are key to Virginia’s future as a reliable destination for innovators, entrepreneurs and skilled workers.”

The basis of this contract is found in Science: The Endless Frontier, a 1945 report to U.S. President Harry Truman by visionary Vannevar Bush that outlined a U.S. post-war science and technology policy that would ultimately result in the creation of the National Science Foundation. In the years that followed, military-funded unclassified R&D in the private sector, driven by the pressures of the Cold War and the space race, laid the foundation for Silicon Valley and made Bush’s vision a reality.

The story of Silicon Valley’s evolution, which is obviously far beyond the confines of this series, continues to support the misconception that the U.S. is somehow better at producing successful entrepreneurs and multinational technology enterprises than other countries. As if the "right stuff" is somehow genetically encoded as result of being born on American soil.

  Companies that make everything from solar panels to renewable-crude oil continue to be big draws for funding from the venture-capital community.

But a company that rewards consumers for recycling led The Wall Street Journal's second-annual ranking of venture-backed clean-tech companies.

Recyclebank, which provides recycling-rewards programs in 29 states and the U.K., has had a growth spurt since its 2004 launch. In October, the New York-based company brought on Jonathan Hsu, former head of onliine ad firm 24/7 Real Media, as its chief executive.

Two solar-power firms, Suniva Inc. of Norcross, Ga., and eSolar Inc. of Burbank, Calif., came in second and third, respectively.

If you know me personally, or even digitally , then you know that I am a physical fitness and athletic enthusiast. I find that there is a certain level of determination that is built up by being physically fit and sticking to a regimen.

Athletics and exercise are the purest physical expression of true mental discipline that one can find.

This week I am preparing for a presentation to the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York, titled "The Five Habits of Great Innovators." The event is open to the public, but you must register to join. (Watch my blogcast on this topic.)

For more than a decade I've studied history's most creative strategists--from Napoleon Bonaparte to John Boyd--and compared their thinking habits with those of their modern peers--Grameen Bank founder Mohammad Yunus or Tesla CEO Elon Musk. I have found five thinking habits that stand out:

1. Mental time travel
2. Seeing the interconnected system
3. Frame-shifting
4. Disruptive mindset
5. Influence

As business leaders we are bombarded with challenges that need to be addressed, situations that need to be improved, and problems that need to be solved.

Of course, each challenge, situation or problem is different. Nevertheless, there are some fundamentals of problem solving.

1. Define the Real Problem
This is the biggie. Ensure that you are solving the right problem. And ensure that you are solving the root cause of the problem and are not just treating the symptoms. There are numerous methods to determine root causes – cause mapping, fishbone diagrams, etc. For me, the easiest is to use the Five Whys. Ask a question and to each answer ask Why? again. Doing this for five times should get you to the root cause of the problem, which may be very different from what appeared to initially be the problem.