A little bit of PayPal founder Peter Thiel’s  wealth will help New Zealand technology businesses thanks to the launch of a new venture capital project.

The U.S. entrepreneur, who was one of Facebook’s first investors, is  to establish a new 40 million New Zealand dollar (US$32 million) Kiwi-focused venture capital fund jointly with the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund, or NZVIF, to support local technology developments.

The NZVIF has committed NZ$20 million, Mr. Thiel NZ$15 million through his Valar Ventures company to the new fund.  A further  NZ$5 million has come from other New Zealand investors.

Corporate venture-capital investors are again flocking to Silicon Valley, driven by the hope of finding innovative new technology and the fear of missing out on the next big thing.

Companies from Citigroup Inc. to Comcast Corp., American Express Co. and Dell Inc. are hiring local venture capitalists, opening new offices and, in some cases, committing more money. They are ramping up as the number of Silicon Valley start-ups is exploding and the pace at which deals happen quickens. To get in on the best deals, these companies say, they have to have people nearby.

Turns out that brainstorming--that go-to approach to generating new ideas since the 1940s--isn’t the golden ticket to innovation after all. Both Jonah Lehrer, in a recent article in The New Yorker, and Susan Cain, in her new book Quiet, have asserted as much. Science shows that brainstorms can activate a neurological fear of rejection and that groups are not necessarily more creative than individuals. Brainstorming can actually be detrimental to good ideas.

But the idea behind brainstorming is right. To innovate, we need environments that support imaginative thinking, where we can go through many crazy, tangential, and even bad ideas to come up with good ones. We need to work both collaboratively and individually. We also need a healthy amount of heated discussion, even arguing. We need places where someone can throw out a thought, have it critiqued, and not feel so judged that they become defensive and shut down. Yet this creative process is not necessarily supported by the traditional tenets of brainstorming: group collaboration, all ideas held equal, nothing judged.

One of the first things company founders with a great idea or product must do is raise growth capital. The so-called "elevator pitch" is a 3-minute summary aimed at convincing potential investors to open their wallets.

It's all about delivering the right information with panache. Science|Business organised a master class for the finalists of its annual Academic Enterprise Awards (ACES) and European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Awards to help new entrepreneurs learn what to do, and maybe more importantly; what not to do.

The ICF Summit is international gathering of mayors, chief adminstrative officers, chief information officers and economic development officers from cities, states and regions around the world.  Produced in partnership with the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, it is a unique opportunity to learn from the world's most dynamic communities how to use information and communications technology to build prosperous, inclusive and sustainable communities.

The centerpiece of the Summit is a series of conversations with the leaders of the Top Seven Intelligent Communities, and the Awards Luncheon where one of them is named Intelligent Community of the Year. The Summit also features keynote speeches, interactive discussions and community case studies.  ICF is pleased to extend Guest Registration to you as a supporter of our movement.  Register for free admission to the Plenary and Top Seven Reception in the Guest Registration area using the code 2012GUEST

In Chance and Intent, editors Dr. David L. Bodde and Dr. Caron H. St. John explore the enterprise hazards that reside outside the bell curve and the conventional domains of risk- uncertainty, ambiguity, and ignorance. This edited volume emphasizes practical strategies for understanding and managing the risks of a new venture in light of recent research.

“This book will help entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and investors employ a wider spectrum of risk management strategies than previously possible,” says Robert Strom, Kauffman Foundation director of research and policy.

You have an idea and you're quite sure it'll be successful. It might revolutionize the way people shop, eat, exercise, sleep, watch tv, you name it. What's next? Before you embark on writing that business plan or applying to business school, take some time to talk. To whom? Everyone.

Talk to your family: Your family, for better or worse, knows your flaws, strengths, weakness, and desires. For the most part, they also have carte blanche to be perfectly honest. Entrepreneurship isn't for everyone but the freedom, self-expression, and potential rewards are quite attractive. As you walk your family through your idea though, they will, and should, undoubtedly be more worried about your sanity than your concept's clarity. How will you make money, who will pay your bills, why would you quit your current job? These are all super relevant issues that you need to have a handle on or at least be able to wrestle with. Proving or pitching to your family that this is the right move is usually a good, safe environment in which to work on your convincing and salesmanship skills. Ultimately, familial support of your entrepreneurial endeavor will come around.

Score one for entrepreneurs: Legislation to make it easier for growth companies to raise capital cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate today.

The Senate voted 76-22 to limit debate on the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, easily clearing the 60-vote mark needed to move the bill forward. This vote came the day after the Senate blocked a Democratic alternative to this bill. The JOBS Act passed the House by a 390-32 margin March 8.

Do you dream of the day you can start your own business? Take control of the reins, set your own schedule and make your own decisions?

In these days of economic uncertainty when layoffs and unemployment rates dominate the news, the idea of starting a business no longer seems all that much riskier than the traditional nine-to-five office job.

Business Insider:

1. Be An Active Listener

2. Empty The Cup

3. Analysis Paralysis

5. Breakdowns And Breakthroughs

Visit the article for a full description of each tip for success.

Whenever I try to conjure up what innovation looks like, the same slideshow of images clicks across my mind: that photo of Einstein with his tongue sticking out, Edison with his light bulb, Steve Jobs onstage in his black turtleneck, introducing the latest iThing. Unoriginal and overdone, to be sure. And not all that accurate.

Because it’s not just about that romantic “ah ha!” moment in front of a chalkboard or a cocktail napkin, it’s about the nitty-gritty work that comes after the idea:  getting it accepted and implemented. Who are these faces? And, most importantly, as I’m sure you’re all asking yourselves: where do I fit in?

The Wall Street Journal recently ran a timely debate, “Can Entrepreneurship be taught?”

On the pro side, Noam Wasserman of Harvard asserts that classrooms can (1) teach skills necessary for success in entrepreneurial ventures and (2) present cases of success and failure for students to study. On the con side, Victor Hwang of T2 Venture Capital states that real-life is the best teacher; nothing in the controlled environment of the classrom can simulate it.

This week, Startup Canada’s national tour began in Nova Scotia and will make stops in every province across the country from now until September. Startup Canada is an entrepreneur-led, national movement with the objective of enhancing “the nation’s competitiveness and prosperity by supporting and celebrating Canadian entrepreneurship.”

Though entrepreneurship survived the Great Recession and is currently near a 16-year-high level, it hasn’t caused much of a bump in actual job creation in the U.S., a new study shows. That’s because startup founders remained more likely to fly solo than employ others.

The latest Kauffman index of entrepreneurial activity, a leading indicator of new business creation in the U.S., shows that 0.32 percent of American adults created a business per month last year — a 5.9 percent drop from 2010, but still among the highest levels of entrepreneurship over the last 16 years.

The startup rate for new businesses declined in 2011 and new entrepreneurs were more likely to go it alone than hire employees, new data from the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity show. The annual survey, released this week by the private, nonpartisan Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, showed a 5.9 percent drop from 2010 to 2011, with approximately 543,000 new businesses created in the U.S. each month last year. Even with the drop, the level of entrepreneurship in 2011 is among the highest during the past 16 years. I spoke recently with Kauffman researcher E.J. Reedy, who worked on the study. Edited excerpts of our conversation follow.

Creative Santa Fe, a nonprofit organization, has launched a new initiative called Imagined Futures. A series of workshops and events kicking off in May 2012 will culminate in an annual and international conference to be held in the City Different, tackling issues surrounding the importance of culture on economic growth in cities around th

e world. A series of workshops and events beginning in May 2012 will culminate in an annual international conference and festival taking place each fall in the City Different starting 2013. ShareThis Email PDF

Creative Santa Fe, a nonprofit organization in Santa Fe, New Mexico, announces the launch of its newest initiative, IF: Imagined Futures (IF), a series of events and workshops culminating in an international annual conference that will explore the important role of culture in city economies worldwide.

Distracted driving kills an estimated 3,000 people yearly in the United States, triggering calls for bans on one of the causes, mobile phone use in vehicles. In response, the wireless industry is ramping up its anti-distraction efforts. Now, AT&T Labs is contributing with a vibrating steering wheel that promises to deliver navigation information to drivers more safely than on-screen instructions or turn-by-turn GPS commands.

In the prototype, a clockwise pattern of vibrations on the steering wheel means "turn right"; counterclockwise means "turn left." The wheel's 20 actuators can fire off in any pattern. And while the initial focus has been on improving delivery of GPS navigation instructions, other applications are under development, such as notifying drivers if cars are in their blind spots. The technology underlying these tactile cues is known as haptics.

I’m a big fan of mentoring in business, and have been at different times on both the contributing and receiving end of the process. These days, I seem to often hear from entrepreneurs who are struggling to find a mentor, or complaining about their lack of effectiveness. Like any other relationship, it takes work on both sides to make mentoring work.

Most entrepreneurs view a mentor as someone older and more experienced who takes the time to personally give guidance, advice, and takes an emotional investment in your success. They don’t think about this process requiring an investment on their part, both in nurturing the relationship, and really listening, without being defensive, to advice given.

Throughout my career I have encountered stellar salespeople and snake oil salesmen. The difference between them is like night and day. Snake oil salesmen are the salespeople who are in your face, pushing you to buy. They cajole, convince, persuade, and strong arm their way into a sale. They are pushy and loud, not only in their voice but in their behavior.

They are selling hard because they are always selling. They don’t build relationships so they have to be hunting all the time. They are on the extreme end of the extrovert continuum.

Are you worried about keeping employees in your workplace happy and engaged as the economy picks up and competitors start to hire? Are you concerned about maintaining your competitive edge in terms of innovation and industry leadership? One way to accomplish both of these challenging goals is to encourage entrepreneurship in your workplace.

At first glance, fostering entrepreneurial employees might seem like shooting yourself in the foot:

“Why should I encourage employees who are just going to start their own businesses and leave?  They might even work on their own businesses on my time—and dime. No, thanks.”