In my current role as a business consultant, I still find that most companies, large and small, organize themselves wholly based on what goes on inside the company, rather than looking outside – at their networks, their partners, and the niche they wish to dominate. The result is a hierarchy and a static group of silos that doesn’t adapt to market changes and competitors.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

With more than three months to go, 2019 is already turning out to be an inspirational year for women entrepreneurs working toward closing the gender gap in VC. As of the end of August, companies founded solely by women have garnered around $2.4 billion of VC dollars in the US in 2019, on pace to surpass last year's decade-high of $3 billion, according to the latest update from PitchBook's VC Female Founders Dashboard.

Demographic change is a constant force. College campuses are often at the forefront of the shifting composition of each generation. For example, non-Hispanic whites are not projected to become a minority of the U.S. population until mid-century, but Wiliam Frey, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute, points out that among those 18 and younger, the transition will be as soon as 2020. The import of that milestone is already clearly evident on campuses across the country.

As President of Bank of Ann Arbor’s Technology Industry Group (BOAA TIG), I’ve had a front row seat for nearly two decades to the accelerated growth of Michigan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. More specifically, I’ve seen the development of Ann Arbor’s technology, life sciences and venture capital community into a nationally recognized center for innovation. During the 2000s, while the state of Michigan was still grappling with the fall-out of its dominant industry—automotive—falling into recession, Ann Arbor was leading a recovery through diversification and entrepreneurship. There were many contributing factors, importantly including a renewed sense of purpose at the University of Michigan in playing a leadership role in the state’s economic future.

Image: https://www.mlive.com

What does inclusive prosperity look like for Philadelphia? Urbanist Richard Florida has some ideas.

Florida, the city’s first Philadelphia Fellow, presented his research on inclusive prosperity at Venture Café Thursday evening at 3675 Market St. The fellowship was established last year by partnering organizations Drexel University, Thomas Jefferson University and University City Science Center, and Florida’s work focused on Philadelphia’s affordable housing and human capital gaps, and the role that large-scale local institutions play in identifying potential solutions.

Image: (Photo by Philly by Drone)

With an acceptance rate of just 5% and typical SAT scores between 1460 and 1590, Harvard University is the United States' hardest school to get into, according to a list from academic review site Niche.com.

The rankings are based on acceptance rates and SAT and ACT scores reported to the US Department of Education. College acceptance rates received a weighted average of 60% in the ranking computation, and SAT/ACT scores received a weighted average of 40% (with 20% coming from scores self-reported by Niche users).

A company could spend all the money it wants recruiting, interviewing, and hiring the best people around. But if the boss is a jerk, those people will leave the first chance they get.

In contrast, if you have great managers and team leads, not only will you get the best out of your people, but they'll also be more likely to stick around.

ANN ARBOR—U-M Tech Transfer, the unit responsible for commercializing University of Michigan research discoveries and innovations, will create the Accelerate Blue Fund to provide seed capital to nascent U-M startup companies.

Creation of the fund was approved Oct. 17 by the U-M Board of Regents.

“There are enormous benefits to the university and our region in accelerating the growth of U-M startup companies and maintaining a vibrant startup ecosystem,” said Kelly Sexton, U-M associate vice president for research-technology transfer and innovation partnerships.

Postmodern society thrives on individualism, tending to attribute both major achievements and dramatic failures to individuals, rather than institutions or societies. Thus, Steve Jobs is hailed as one of the greatest innovators of all time. But his run at Apple was the exception, not the rule.

Speculation about the on-and-off U.S.-Chinese trade talks centers on whether the two sides will eventually settle for a truce or push for a “complete deal,” which U.S. President Donald Trump remains adamant he will obtain. Any grand bargain will require progress on a key structural issue: intellectual property (IP) rights. According to some reports, Chinese IP theft has cost the United States $225 billion to $600 billion a year. No wonder, then, that getting China to better protect IP is a point of rare consensus among both the White House and the Democratic leadership.

The last few weeks have seen a whole generation protest to ask the adults to take responsibility and do something substantial about some of the manmade causes and catalysts of changing the climate. The world cannot afford a business as a general approach if we truly intend to address this. What does this mean for entrepreneurship?

Capturing the hidden, unfiltered world of the animal kingdom on camera isn't easy. But the winning images from the London Natural History Museum's annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition give rare glimpses of animals' resilience.

Image: This image was the winner in the 2019 wildlife photojournalism category. It depicts an image of a jaguar projected onto a section of the US-Mexico border fence under a star-studded Arizona sky. Alejandro Prieto/Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Ten years on from the global financial crisis, the world economy remains locked in a cycle of low or flat productivity growth despite the injection of more than $10 trillion by central banks. The latest Global Competitiveness Report paints a gloomy picture, yet it also shows that those countries with a holistic approach to socio-economic challenges, look set to get ahead in the race to the frontier.

As scientific projections of the effects of climate change become more robust, the threats posed by extreme storms, catastrophic flooding, heat waves, and droughts have gotten clearer and more frightening.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that global temperatures could rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels by 2040. By the turn of the century, temperatures could climb even higher, spelling disaster in some areas.

Money20/20 is the conference where the entire payments, fintech and financial services industry connect. Everyone is there. Thought leaders and disruptive innovators can meet with future partners and clients to explore the future of money and discover disruptive ways in which consumers and businesses manage, spend and borrow money. This is why we’re so excited to be leading the Atlantic Fintech Mission to Las Vegas and are grateful for the financial support of ACOA and the on-the-ground support of the four Atlantic Provinces and partner organizations. 

On September 18, 2019, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati was named the Venture Capital Firm of the Year at the 2019 LMG Life Sciences Awards, besting four other law firm nominees for the second year in a row. LMG's annual awards program honors the top firms and legal professionals in the life sciences market. Awards are based on interviews and surveys completed by participants who are active in the life sciences market. This year's awards program was held in New York City at Essex House.

The number of students from China who attend American colleges and universities more than quadrupled over a decade, fueled by an unprecedented boom in Chinese students going overseas for their undergraduate study. But now some colleges that had come to count on the steadily growing stream of full-tuition-paying students from China are seeing those numbers begin to contract.

Image: https://www.insidehighered.com

“I was afraid I would fail,” explained Sean Lafleur, a former Google executive who went on to found a consulting and coaching firm, during a presentation at a recent career conference organised by the INSEAD Alumni Association France. The two other panel members, Sandrine Limal, a consultant turned architect, and Marina Niforos, an economist now enjoying a multi-pronged career as an advisor, non-executive director and blockchain expert, echoed Lafleur’s sentiments with similarly strong terms: “stepping out into the cold”, “being afraid to jump”, “fear of being alone”.

Female entrepreneurs and female investors risk being boxed in if they seek only each other’s company.

“Don’t think of yourself as a woman in business,” Lori Greiner, a millionaire businesswoman on Shark Tank, a hit TV show in which contestants pitch their start-ups to a panel of investors, advised female entrepreneurs. “You are a person in business equal to anyone else.”

Astrophysics is not typically considered to be part of the humanities. Yet one class I took as a senior at university suggested otherwise. It left me in awe of the human mind.

With my own background rooted in the humanities, I found myself focusing on the way my professors described the cosmos. While the fantastical environments of black holes, white dwarfs and dark matter often took center stage, at the heart of each discovery was the human mind seeking to understand the unfamiliar.