Houston’s accelerating venture capital landscape has yet to reach its full potential, but—with some work—this will happen, leading investment and entrepreneurship experts said at the 2018 Houston Exponential Capital Summit held at the Texas Medical Center this week.

“People don’t know what’s going on here,” said renown Silicon Valley venture capitalist Jack Gill, Ph.D., founder of Vanguard Ventures, a technology venture capital fund based in Palo Alto, Calif., and a professor in the practice of entrepreneurship at Rice University. “What we have to do is create momentum and tell the success stories.”

Image: http://www.tmc.edu

Through my experience of working with engineering teams and throughout many other aspects of life, I’ve learned that more is actually less. It is even true when assessing engineering teams in tech startups.

When I see companies like Google and Facebook with their thousands of engineers, I can’t help but wonder: Is there really a need for such a huge engineering team? Is that the most efficient way to become a meaningful, large and successful software company? Don’t you lose contact with your product with so many engineers simultaneously working on it? And how fast can you really make changes with the bureaucracy of such a large organization?

As a teenager in 1976 attending the elite Toronto high school, Upper Canada College, Michael Evans knew he wanted something different than his peers: he wanted to leave the country.

That itch initially led him to Princeton University in New Jersey, and later to a banking career in New York, London and Asia.

Today, as president of Alibaba Group. — China’s answer to Amazon.com Inc. — Evans spends the majority of his time in China and other developing countries, helping build out online payment methods, a smart logistics system and digital innovations that will allow their economies to, technologically speaking, leapfrog the developed world.

Image: IHS Markit’s Lance Uggla, left, Andrew Arruda of ROSS Intelligence, centre, and president of Alibaba Group Michael Evans, right.Becky Guthrie/National Post

Pantone has announced that Living Coral is the 2019 color of the year. The color authority has bestowed the honorable title on a special hue every December for the past 20 years, taking into account fashion, decorating, design and cultural trends, as well as “how colors can embody our collective experience and reflect what is taking place in our global culture at a moment in time,” according to press release from Pantone.

Image: http://time.com

SALT LAKE CITY — While the long-term fate of the Utah Science, Technology and Research Initiative continues to hang in the balance, the agency is hosting a national conference this week for other innovation industry development groups from around the country.

The conference is an annual event organized by the State Science and Technology Institute, a national nonprofit based in Columbus, Ohio, that works in support of agencies like USTAR that are working to leverage economic development through the support of technology and innovation endeavors.

Image: Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News - FILE - President Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaks at the Utah Technology Innovation Summit in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, June 6, 2018 after receiving a lifetime achievement award for his accomplishments as a heart surgeon and researcher.

A tax credit approved by the Arizona Legislature to incentivize investment in early-stage bioscience and technology companies has proven to be a popular tool among local funders.

The impact of the Angel Investor Tax Credit program has been millions of dollars invested in Arizona startup companies, resulting in business and job growth and more than $1 billion in economic output.

To ensure these advancements in animal health innovation continue, resources and funding must be made available where innovations are housed – start-up companies.

Funding start-ups in the animal health world is a relatively new and complex mission. Many of the same pitfalls that surround human health investments mirror themselves in animal health start-ups. Whether it is timeline of product launch, proof-of-concept studies, regulatory approval pathway or the ever-looming rate of return, the animal health industry faces the same complications as human health, with less options to secure capital.

Australian scientists have developed a simple blood test that they claim can diagnose cancer in mere minutes by identifying a unique DNA signature present in all types of the disease.

A genetic pattern in all cancers, researchers said Tuesday, could help make diagnosing cancer more accessible and affordable. The blood test detected cancer with 90 percent accuracy in the University of Queensland’s tests of different human cancers and healthy cells and can be done in only 10 minutes.

You probably know that in the future, what you’ll need to be successful at work will be different than what it takes right at this moment. There will be new skills to learn, new tools and procedures to master, and new responsibilities to take on. It’s difficult to predict exactly what your job will look like in 10 years. When social media came along, not many people predicted that it would lead to a new career path.

Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ:ISRG) has been a Foolish favorite of ours for years.

The company's robotic approach to surgery improves surgical precision, which leads to better patient outcomes and lower rates of hospital readmission. Intuitive's recent 20% growth in procedures indicates that robotic surgery is gaining adoption in more operating rooms. In addition to patients, investors have also benefited greatly from the growing acceptance of the company. Intuitive's shares are up more than 40% during just the past 12 months.

There are four themes driving energy innovation in the developing world, according to the chief operating officer of Softbank Energy, a Delhi-based firm that develops solar energy on the global market.

Combined, these four themes put tremendous pressure on renewables innovation, Softbank COO Abhijeet Sathe said at Stanford University's Global Energy Forum.

Image: A man wearing a face mask cycles along a road in Delhi, India, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. Air pollution levels skyrocketed in New Delhi and left India's capital shrouded in toxic smog as millions of Indians set off firecrackers for Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Toxic air is estimated to kill more than 1 million Indians each year, according to the nonprofit Health Effects Institute. Photographer: Ruhani Kaur/Bloomberg© 2018 BLOOMBERG FINANCE LP

Eggs dominate the menus of all sorts of breakfast spots, from fast-food chains to organic cafes. But the humble egg comes with a lot of questions: Will eggs raise your cholesterol? Should you order an egg-white omelet or embrace the yolks? And what about organic eggs — are they really more nutritious?

You are a student and you have initiated a start-up with your million dollar idea. You are in a dilemma as to how you can fuel the growth of the student-led business. There is study performance pressure as well as a lot of initial investment done in the business. You want to maintain a proper balance as well as ignite the growth of the start-up. Now you need to analyze the strengths and demerits around you. Try and weigh the assets available as well as the key problem areas. Try to fix each roadblock one by one.

You’re looking to start a new business. You have a great idea, see an unmet opportunity, and know you can execute on it. You just need to get started, and capital would certainly help. So you need to go talk to angel investors and venture capitalists, right? It’s just how things are done.

At one time or another, every employee has experienced what it’s like to be in a difficult workplace. Perhaps a hyper-critical manager makes a habit of reprimanding workers in front of others. Or, a supervisor might insist that everyone do things his or her own way — or face consequences. A sick employee might be told that he or she needs to report to work regardless, or else pay will be docked. These and other tyrannical behaviors — even the smallest ones — can quickly add up to a toxic environment.

A few months ago, a former client — let’s call her Kacie— called me to check in. I had supported her through her transition when she had joined a prestigious global financial services firm several months prior. Given how deliberately and thoughtfully she’d gone through the process, I expected that our conversation would be about her early wins.

Wealthfront's former VP of Growth and current President Andy Johns outlines the three mandatory skills of a growth leader.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxNrMeRme0E&feature=youtu.be

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross today announced that 40 organizations — including nonprofits, institutions of higher education, and entrepreneurship-focused organizations — from 28 states and two territories will receive $21 million to create and expand cluster-focused entrepreneurship and technology transfer programs, and early-stage seed fund support under EDA’s 2018 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program competition.

The highest-earning YouTube star in the world is an elementary-school kid who makes millions reviewing toys.

Ryan, the 7-year-old "host" of Ryan ToysReview, a popular toy-review channel on YouTube, jumped from No. 8 to No. 1 on Forbes' annual list of YouTube stars who are making the most money.

 Image: Ryan, now 7, of Ryan ToysReview. YouTube/RyanToysreview

Sometimes the perfect job isn’t down the street, but rather thousands of miles — or perhaps even an ocean — away. If you’re offered a job in a different location, how do you know if it’s worth relocating? Who should help you make the decision? And, how do you weigh the potential upsides like money and opportunity against costs like the impact on your family or the loss of your existing network?