The push for free college is a recognition that the most well-traveled economic path to good jobs and the middle class requires at least some college for the vast majority of young Americans. It is also a response to the reality that many students and their families are taking on large amounts of debt to finance increasingly pricey postsecondary educations. In the past decade, tuition and fees have increased 35 percent at public four-year institutions and 23 percent at public two-year institutions. More than 43 million borrowers in the United States hold almost $1.5 trillion in student loan debt.

Some of the nation’s top healthcare-focused venture capital firms are banding together to form an advisory council with the technology security certification provider HITRUST  to create best practices for data security for startups developing digital health technologies.

The conversations, spearheaded by the Nashville-based, healthcare-focused investment fund Frist Cressey, were designed to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies throughout the healthcare industry by creating best-practices around data security that large healthcare organizations demand before adopting a new service.

"It's like the junior-high dance — they all want to dance together, but they don't know how to start."

Image: MBC Biolabs' Doug Crawford (left) and Robert Blazej (center) with Dewey Land Co.'s director of real estate, Ryan Guibara, in 2017. TODD JOHNSON | SAN FRANCISCO BUSINESS TIMES

The best Google managers empower their teams and do not micromanage.

This idea came in at No. 2 on Google's top 10 list of effective manager traits. If you haven't heard the story, Google in an effort to prove that bosses weren't necessary, ended up finding the exact opposite — managers not only matter, but they can significantly influence the performance of their teams. But they didn't stop there. After realizing that managers were important, they embarked on a quest to uncover all the behaviors that made some more effective than others. The initiative became known as Project Oxygen. 

Many entrepreneurs speak as if they were born to be entrepreneurs. They often say things like “it is the only thing I could see myself doing” and they are quick to point out that their entrepreneurial spirit is not something that can be turned off.

But what does the research say? Is there a set of personality traits that define the prototypical entrepreneur? And, if so, can these traits be used to predict entrepreneurial intentions before entrepreneurs are aware of these intentions themselves?

Image: UNCLIMATECHANGE / FLICKR

Last year was the country’s best for entrepreneurship yet, according to a new report produced by Babson College.

The year 2018 saw early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rates of 17.7 percent for men and 13.6 percent for women. What’s more, those numbers also represent a narrowing of the gender gap between male and female entrepreneurs—their respective TEA rates are closer than ever before.

For over 10 years, InnovationDaily has come to your inbox.  Each year we reflect on how far we’ve come and all of the stories we’ve covered.  For this year, we’d love some help deciding our future.

We’ve created a survey and we’d love it if you guys would take a couple of minutes and answer a few questions.  

Thanks in advance for your participation.

Click here to take the survey.

Since leaving his post as Credit Karma’s Chief Product Officer this past summer, Nikhyl Singhal has kept busy. Apart from time spent weighing options for his next adventure (and a much-needed Alaskan cruise vacation with his family), he’s been advising folks at every end of the startup spectrum, from scrappy early-stage founders to heads of product at some of the biggest unicorns.

December 09, 2019 - Healthcare venture capital investments continue to drive mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the industry despite a shortage of common ground between CEOs and investors, a new survey finds.  

The US healthcare market saw a 14.4 percent increase in mergers and acquisition activity from 2017 to 2018, data from PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed. In total, there were 1,182 M&A deals in 2018, and M&A activity has remained firm in 2019, with deal volume exceeding 250 deals in the first three quarters.

The Pyramids of Giza, the only wonder of the ancient world to remain standing, is intrinsic to the Egyptian psyche. It is not only a source of pride and revenue thanks to the millions of tourists who flock to the site every year, but a symbol of Egypt’s historical ingenuity and innovative capability.

Now, the country’s startup ecosystem is looking to reposition this wonder to serve as a backdrop for future innovation, and it began with Pitch by the Pyramids, a multi-stage pitching event that saw 15 startups from across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) hoping to secure investment.

Image: Image courtesy of RiseUp

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. I think it’s great to have more options, but I still see each one having a place, so don’t be too quick to limit your alternatives.

Dr. Zoe Szajnfarber talks about how crowdsourcing challenges can bring value and how to identify that value based on the type of problem you want to solve.

It's no news that Chicago (and Illinois) are losing population. But what doesn't get much attention is who is being lost:

The nation’s top high-tech talent.

That makes Chicago's population loss all that more significant. Because these high-tech innovators are job creator.

The bad news was found in a Brookings  study as reported in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. The study hailed the five biggest gainers, but then threw in the five biggest losers, of  which Chicago was the worst.

It's been nearly a decade since Bill Gates launched his personal blog, a place to share his thoughts on health, education and, above all, his favorite books. In leaving 2019 behind and welcoming in the new decade, the Microsoft co-founder released his annual roundup of what to read and gift at year-end. Gates deemed five books "solid choices to help wrap up your 2019 or start 2020 on a good note, and they span from a deep-dive into the human sleep cycle to a one-volume history of the United States. 

Image: Image credit: Gates Notes LLC

For the past few decades, agility in the technology sector has largely meant moving faster and faster down a predetermined path; innovation has largely been driven by our ability to cram more transistors onto a silicon wafer. With every new generation of chips came new possibilities and new applications. The firms that developed those applications the fastest won.

Tech companies are known for offering lavish perks, like free food, onsite gyms and doctors, and long periods of time off for parental leave. So it may come as no surprise that tech companies accounted for a significant portion of Glassdoor's annual list of the 100 best places to work in the year ahead.

Image: HubSpot employees Courtesy of HubSpot

Chuck Morton, Partner, Venable, LLP, joins BioTalk host Rich Bendis to discuss the local entrepreneurial and business ecosystem, regionalism, and the BioHealth Capital Region

Chuck Morton is co-chair of Venable's Corporate Group. Chuck is recognized for his abilities in guiding financing, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and other transactions involving middle-market companies. Chuck assists lenders, investors, and entrepreneurs as they create, build, and buy or sell businesses, primarily in the healthcare, technology, and consumer products industries. He regularly acts on behalf of private equity groups and banks. Chuck currently serves as the Secretary on the BioHealth Innovation Board of Directors.

In the heart of Montgomery County, Maryland’s premier biotech district there is a 42,000 SF facility with 17,000 SF vacant lab/office suite located at 9900 Medical Center Drive. The newly delivered and available lab space was designed to foster collaboration and learning with an open layout, a welcoming courtyard and an inside common area that is shared with other local tenants. 

Collaboration and learning are exactly what was happening on a Wednesday evening in December as nearly 100 biotech professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders from across the BioHealth Capital Region’s (BHCR) gathered for a ‘CEO Talks’ panel to hear from four CxO’s who are leading the regions most exciting biotech companies.

Hosted by Alexandria Real Estate (ARE) and CBRE, the event was moderated by BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) Founder, President, and CEO, Rich Bendis. As a renowned innovator, investor and regional ecosystem builder, Bendis has played a part in the success stories for many founders and knows what it takes for a biotech startup to become successful.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

Shoppers who ventured into stores on Black Friday, November 29, may have noticed significantly less frenzy than in previous years, when the traditional start of the holiday retail season made headlines for stampeding crowds racing in for doorbusters and desperate parents fighting over the last Tickle Me Elmo toy.

Attracting venture capital has rarely been easier for well-connected tech guys in hoodies, but it’s still a long shot for everyone else.

The kind of investment that has created great fortunes for billionaire founders like Mark Zuckerberg and investors such as Marc Andreesen is far from a perfect system. Only 2.2% of venture capital funding goes to female-founded teams, according to PitchBook. And black and Hispanic entrepreneurs get just 1% of startup financing, according to the Kauffman Foundation.