It is no secret that venture capital firms are distancing themselves from early stage med-tech investments and are focusing more on later-stage opportunities. Interestingly, there is an emerging trend among the large, established players in the device space, whereby they are making strategic allocations to emerging device companies. What is especially interesting is that in certain indication areas, device companies are starting to see themselves as competitors to pharmaceutical products, meaning that we may be seeing the beginning of a new competitive landscape.

Even before the bestseller hit stores in 2007, entrepreneurs everywhere had been searching for author Tim Ferriss' elusive algorithm for the secret formula to a better, more productive life. Sadly, there's a reason it doesn't exist. For one, it's hard to get reliable Wi-Fi on the beach. And sand in your keyboard is another serious drawback.

I was running late. My wife Eleanor and I had agreed to meet at the restaurant at seven o'clock and it was already half past. I had a good excuse in the form of a client meeting that ran over and I wasted no time getting to the dinner as fast as possible.

When I arrived at the restaurant, I apologized and told her I didn't mean to be late.

She answered: "You never mean to be late." Uh oh, she was mad.

One-in-three business leaders are concerned over their ability to maintain a competitive edge in a faster paced, more global and resource-constrained environment. There is increasing anxiety over– what, how, when… to innovate as competition accelerates… Business executives continue to value innovation as a strategic priority; An emerging ‘innovation vertigo’– an uneasiness with the changing dynamics of today’s business landscape and uncertainty over the best path forward– is challenging leaders to think differently about how they can achieve growth. Many executives, however, seem to be embracing this complexity by exploring new and sometimes unexpected opportunities to innovate… According to Beth Comstock, General Electric (GE); business change has become constant and leaders are responding by betting big on more unconventional approaches to innovation to unlock growth… exploring different markets, partnership structures and business models – all in the pursuit of uncovering new ways to better serve customers…

Patagonia has launched an in-house venture fund to provide seed capital to eco-friendly businesses. The company's proven business model of charging a premium for green products gives it the confidence to achieve success with new like-minded startups following the same philosophy.

Patagonia gives away one percent of its profits to grassroots environmental nonprofits as a practice. With the new venture fund of more than $20 million, the company is looking to invest in for-profit sustainable businesses. This is an in-house venture that will identify and support startups involved with energy, food, water or waste.

North Carolina legislators are moving forward with a bill to allow small investments via crowdfunding, a measure they say would help local start-ups that are waiting on action from Washington. The federal “JOBS” act laid out a path for crowd-funded investments nationwide, but the necessary regulations haven't been written.

In the early days of a startup, you’re forced to do just about everything yourself, particularly if you’re bootstrapping. From wireframes to coding to marketing and customer support, when you’re just starting out, it all falls to you, the founder(s).

Hopefully, your startup will eventually gain traction and start to grow. If it does, you’ll run into new challenges that nearly every young startup faces: growing pains.

A bi-partisan group of legislators is one step closer to subsidizing risky startup businesses with taxpayer cash.

The venture capital bill narrowly passed out of committee Friday.

The measure would take what amounts to $4.35 from every man, woman and child in Wisconsin and give it to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., the embattled quasi-public agency in the hot seat over charges of mismanagement and accountability failings.

I’m always looking for evidence of early startup characteristics that might be predictors of long-term success. Every investor has his own list, usually based on his own very small sample, or simply his gut feeling. Of course, we would all like to have a magic list based on more definitive tracking of many real startups over time.

In that context, I came across an old study of 27 startups featured in Inc’s annual “Anatomies of a Start-up,” done for “The Journal of Business Venturing,” and published by George Gendron in Inc Magazine. As it turned out, 17 of the 27 companies were still in business seven years later, which is at least double that of other studies. The points all still ring true today.

About two-thirds of small businesses use mobile technologies to conduct business, according to a new Constant Contact survey released this week.  Of the small businesses using mobile, they report using a mobile device, including smart phones and tablets, or a solution, like mobile-optimized websites and text message marketing.

The condition of Italy in the last years cannot be described in triumphal terms. The economy slowed down and the recession hit the families. In this general context the actions of the government seemed at best incoherent. The media reinforced this image of an entire state in decline and Italians themselves started to perceive themselves as on the deathbed. The picture however is far more complex than this simplistic black and white account. In this article I want to bring the example of Trentino, a small region in the middle of the Italian alps who is trying to build an ecosystem to foster innovation, start ups and growth.

Does the state of Wisconsin have a long-term growth strategy… or an economic development death wish?   

As stark as that question might seem, it’s worth asking as the political feeding frenzy continues over the performance of the state’s largest economic development agency, the quasi-public Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.   

A recent report by the Legislative Audit Bureau covering the first year of WEDC’s existence disclosed a number of compliance, procedural and reporting issues, most of which the agency pledges to correct as it moves ahead. Formerly known as the Wisconsin Department of Commerce, WEDC was recast as a public-private entity in early 2011 in hopes the state could adopt a more nimble, market-oriented strategy for economic growth.   

Two years ago, I spoke to a gentlemen who had started and sold four companies. He was currently working on a new project that sounded very promising (for all I know, he has already sold that one too). We had just heard a talk in which the speaker told people that the whole key to business success in our time is patent ownership. Without it, no business can really succeed.

So I asked this gentleman what he thought of the talk. His response was quick (I paraphrase here):

“I’ve never once bothered with patents. They are expensive and pointless. They produce no revenue on their own. They sell no product or service. And they harm development by hemming in a company on a preset track. I need to be able to customize offerings and change what we do day to day. Patents bias a company toward old solutions even when they don’t work anymore.”

India needs to step up expenditure on innovation in a big way for the growth of the economy and lift the people out of the morass of poverty, President Pranab Mukherjee said Saturday and asked the private sector to increase their share of spending on research and development (R&D) to the levels prevalent in countries such as the US, Japan and South Korea.

"The future prosperity of India in the new knowledge economy will increasingly depend on its ability to generate new ideas, processes and solutions. The process of innovation shall convert knowledge into social good and economic wealth. In a globally competitive world, India has to unleash its innovation potential to increase capacity, productivity, efficiency and inclusive growth," Mukherjee said addressing a National Technology Day event here.

The Bay area gets a bad rap when it comes to names. No, I’m not talking about your friends’ babies, Namaste and Venture. I’m talking about brand names — especially the names of startups.

Here in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and the rest of the Bay area, we’re home to plenty of brand names that sound nonsensical at first, but have since become household names: Google, Yahoo, eBay, and Apple. But for every quirky company name we eventually learn to take seriously, there are a handful of local startups whose silly names never seem to reach escape velocity — names that we never warm up to.

A panel of top crowdfunding experts from around the country will lead a large forum on how innovation-focused companies can leverage new technology and upcoming regulatory changes to raise capital as part of ieCrowd’s inaugural Innovation Economy Expo at the Ontario Convention Center on May 9th, 2013, in Southern California.

The crowdfunding forum – part of a day-long expo with over 170 participating organizations from around the world focused on creating a new collaborative platform for innovation-centric business growth – will provide an opportunity for entrepreneurs, business leaders, educators, and government officials to hear the latest in regulatory changes, tools and trends that can help power new ventures and existing startups and companies nationally and regionally.

Through my development as a junior VC, I regularly find myself asking questions similar to those of my entrepreneur friends.

Without many ghosts of pitches past, I glean knowledge from others’ refined judgement and execution. Take it this way: venture capitalists are paid to act on a point of view, ideally one that proves profitable. But how do VCs identify what will return multiples on their money, many times years ahead of an outcome? What do they pay attention to when making such decisions?

Even the most basic of feedback can seem confusing.

A common question I get is “How do I get a bank loan to fund my startup?” The default answer is that it probably won’t happen, because most banks just don’t make bank loans to startups. The failure rate is just too high, and startups typically don’t have the assets or revenue stream to back up the loan. That’s why Angel investors are so sought after by entrepreneurs.

In my experience, some startup founders do overcome these odds, but you need to be realistic and do your homework. Here are some tips and rules of thumb to improve your odds and help you understand when a bank loan or line of credit is possible, and how to get it:

It’s true that, geographically speaking, Maryland is a small state. But as the old saying goes, “Good things come in small packages,” and that is especially true when it comes to the resources, advice and technical expertise that Maryland offers inventors and technology entrepreneurs.

From university laboratories and research centers (such as The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Maryland’s Office of Technology Commercialization or University of Maryland – Baltimore City’s ACTiVATE) to state organizations (Maryland Biotechnology Center or the Department of Business and Economic Development), a wide variety of entities are working to help entrepreneurs develop and market their inventions.

A bill whose main provision would place US$25 million in state money to fund start up companies in Wisconsin has passed the first reading in its state legislature. This passed despite the recent audit finding issues regarding the agency that would oversee the funds should the measure pass. The proposed bill comes from State Rep Mike Kuglitsch (R-New Berlin) would make available both state and private funds into a venture capital fund to Wisconsin based start up companies. The agency to manage the funds is the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp who in turn would hire a fund manager to oversee the investments made.