When we visited his office on the Warner Bros. lot for this year's 100 Most Creative People in Business package, Conan O'Brien opened up about how he works. He's an analytical guy. He thinks a lot about the creative process, how to turn a half-baked idea from a morning brainstorm into comedy gold (or a diamond--see below) by the 4:30 p.m. taping of his TBS late-night show.

In addition to our story, a running account of O'Brien putting together a show last month, here he is talking at more length. For all the preparation he does, the best material often comes from going off-script and reacting in the moment. Which is like surfing. We’ll let him explain.

Academe versus industry! What is it that keeps universities and industry from working together in a more connected manner to accelerate innovation? Is it really a war between cultures as some would have it, or a simple misalignment of cultures? Do feckless academics believe the world owes them a free ride paid for by tax dollars to pursue whatever research or scholarly activity they desire independent of the needs of society? Or do heartless and myopic business persons see the bottom line and the near term as the only discriminators for doing business – so-called efficient capitalism? Have “bashing” and “trash talk” about the cultural misalignment become an American sport to the detriment of all of us? Or is the perception of a disconnect mere urban myth?

Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. They run into difficulty when their business reaches the $1-2 million annual sales range, or their employee count exceeds 5-10. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial.

I’m convinced that management is a learnable skill. It can come from experience, or from training in a prior company, and it can even be self-taught from the Internet by smart entrepreneurs, just like they learned the skill of establishing a company, negotiating a contract, or filing a patent.

By Tom Still

MADISON – Here’s a quick geography quiz. Where is the “Valley of Death” located?

(a)   Some place faraway and biblical

(b)  Some place in southern California

(c)   Someplace in Wisconsin

If you’re a Wisconsin entrepreneur in search of venture capital, the “Valley of Death” is a bit too close to home. That forbidding term describes the funding gap for early stage companies caught between their initial rounds of investment – family, friends, founders and angel investors – and follow-up rounds from venture capitalists.

The gap falls someplace between $2 million and $5 million for many start-up companies in Wisconsin, and for those who fail to bridge the gap, the “Valley of Death” is a dry and dusty desert from which there is often no return. It kills young companies and the jobs they create.

Of course, the same predicament is true for most entrepreneurs in many states, not just Wisconsin. Start-up companies always find it much harder to obtain venture capital than any early money, if for no other reason than the competition is so stiff.

In Wisconsin, the existence of world-class technology, an emerging entrepreneurial culture and tax credits for early stage investors has helped to create a number of companies that are ready for venture capital. Those companies have shown commercial promise – but they lack the capital to get over the hump.

Daniel Newman posted a blog this week titled “You Can’t Teach Give a Sh*t”. Great title! Even a better read.

Dan (@danienewmanUV on Twitter) is a great mind and leader, and that blog got me thinking…

I’m blessed to be surrounded by people who DO give a sh*t… at YouTern, at home, my family, friends and business partners – and the young men and women I’ve coached in sports – I’m surrounded by people who care.

Then I realized: that’s probably not an accident. Or fate. Or circumstance. It’s entirely possible that because I’m passionate and vocal about what I care about – that attracts others who care, too.

Of course, not everyone cares about ALL I care about. A YouTern intern in Washington DC wouldn’t care at all about how I flip channels every three seconds when the San Jose Sharks and San Francisco Giants are on television at the same time. However, he might at least respect my passion – even as he shakes his head, “whatever” style.

Ames, Ia. - In about 18 months, Steve Carter expects Iowa State University's research park to be built out.

That's why the park's nonprofit group, celebrating its 25th anniversary, wants to add 100 more acres for its next round of growth.

The park's last 60 acres will go to WebFilings, the software company planning to add a couple hundred jobs over the next four years, and to an unnamed company, expected to announce its expansion in upcoming weeks.

Thanks to Jesse Thomas of interactive design agency JESS3, we now have an updated look at the structure of the geosocial universe as it exists in anno domini 2011. It wasn’t so long ago that the International Astronomical Union booted Pluto out of the solar system or that MySpace was overtaking Yahoo! and Google as the most-visited site in the U.S. Well, a few rotations around the sun later, and the overall shape of the geosocial universe has changed dramatically. New stars have been born and others have been scattered out across the cold recesses of Internet space. Today, Myspace is sputtering, Skype is part of the Microsoft solar system, and LinkedIn is being traded publicly. The whacky flux continues.

As you’ll see, Thomas’ infographic shows the current size of major social networks as well as the other well-known online services we use on a daily basis relative to their peers. It also overlays the present size of each company’s mobile user base. You’ll see Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, MySpace, LinkedIn, and more. You can also check out the agency’s infographic from last year to see the relative changes. Notable differences include: The rise of Chinese Qzone and Twitter, the fall of Myspace, and the stasis of Friendster.

There is nothing more critically important than education to our nation’s future. Everything that is America today, our phenomenal advancement in technology and our high standard of living, has its powerful roots in our educational system and home-grown imagination, creativity and innovation.

Major developing issues facing America, including our deteriorating infrastructure and destructive impacts of world climate change, demand premier excellence in technical education to understand and resolve.

Our children are in very serious trouble. We must demand and require premier excellence in American education, to always be the very best on Earth, being second to no other country. We cannot and must not accept anything less. This will require the direct involvement and a major culture change by all Americans.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – To accelerate innovation-fueled job creation and global competitiveness, today the Obama Administration announced a $33 million Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge, an unprecedented initiative to spur economic growth through public-private partnerships in at least 20 regions around the country.

The Challenge leverages existing resources from 16 federal agencies and will award funds to regions that demonstrate the existence of high-growth industries that support a wide range of economic and workforce development activities.

The Obama Administration is committed to smarter use of existing federal resources to foster regional innovation in support of sustainable economic prosperity. Strong industry clusters –like the Research Triangle in North Carolina or Silicon Valley in California – promote robust economic ecosystems and the development of a skilled workforce, both of which are critical to long-term regional success.

“Regional innovation clusters bring together the knowledge and financial resources that America needs to compete in the global economy,” said National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling. “The Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge will help regional innovation clusters produce the next generation of innovative products and drive sustainable economic growth and job creation."

I’m sure many of you read the fascinating Boston Globe article entitled, “Collaboration: The Mother of Innovation,” about a study that examines the recipe for innovation in Boston’s medical research community. One of the reasons that the Boston area produces more scientific breakthroughs than cities double its size, according to the study, is because there are so many researchers working side-by-side and collaborating on a daily basis.

While the points in the story intrigued me and made me reflect on the various reasons that this area consistently outranks all others in innovation, I was disappointed that in all the mention of Boston’s innovation sectors, there wasn’t a word about clean energy.

While the national unemployment rate may be bouncing back and forth (now at 8.7%), some states are making clear progress in kickstarting their economies. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that some states are outpacing others, significantly.

Many of the country's weakest states are at the top of this list, like Nevada and Michigan, showing that either things are finally getting better there, or workers are just dropping out of the workforce.

London Business Angels (LBA) are delighted to announce that our new £420,000 HMRC Approved EIS RoundTable Syndicate Fund is open for business with all cash invested now held by the Fund's Registrars.

The Fund is the culmination of LBA’s 30 years’ experience of pioneering innovation in the UK Angel investment market. This FSA regulated HMRC Approved EIS Fund, raised exclusively from LBA’s investor membership, offers LBA Investors an innovative way to acquire a portfolio of the Network’s investments, while taking advantage of the increased 30% personal tax relief offered by the Enterprise Investment Scheme, as announced in the April budget .

Beer seems like a fixture of American culture. But it hasn't always been so, as William Bostwick, co-author of Beer Craft, points out.

Today's golden age of beer has been a long time coming. We haven't drank this much beer from this many breweries for a hundred years. Sure, most of the 204 million barrels of beer made in America last year came from two monstrous brewing conglomerates--Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors--but 97% of the breweries in operation are small, independently owned craft breweries. The big are at their biggest, but the underdogs are gaining steam.

"Surfers are so connected to nature, but they're divorced from the impact foam boards have on the environment," says Brad Anderson, cofounder of Grain Surfboards. To build a better board, he and partner Mike LaVecchia have turned to wood, which was a surfer's material of choice until lightweight (and low-cost) foam lured manufacturers away in the mid-20th century. "Our wooden boards are sustainable and strong, but have all the benefits of modern design," Anderson says.

Using local cedar, the York, Maine, studio constructs its hollow models around an internal mahogany frame. The method uses just one-third of the wood required for traditional chambered construction, in which boards are cut from a plank and then hollowed out. "All that wood just becomes dust," says LaVecchia. "But when we're done, the waste is barely enough for kindling."

Welcome to Déjà vu land as we once again engage our Continuing Resolution (CR) merry-go-round, but this time with a twist. It's complicated but hopefully you'll understand what is going on.

In brief – At 6:35pm today, May 19, the Senate passed (by unanimous consent) a continuing resolution that would keep the SBIR, STTR and CPP programs going "as is" for 12 months. The House is in recess (on their district work period) and won't attend to this until next week. This CR is significantly different from the previous ones and the House will have several options at their disposal. Let's not count our chickens before they hatch.

There's quite a bit of SBIR material to cover, some of which may be considered salacious, so keep some Dramamine handy in case of nausea.

I separately interviewed SBA Administrator Karen Mills and, on her recommendation, subsequently spoke with Ginger Lew from the National Economic Council on the topic of regional innovation cluster — past, present and future.

I’ve described Mills’ role in cluster development frequently for Mainebiz (see “Catalyzing Clusters,” Aug. 9, 2010) and got a chance to ask about her sense of progress and process. When I inquired about the unprecedented cross-agency alignment in relation to her co-authored Brookings report, she credited Ginger Lew.

Ginger Lew is senior counselor to the White House National Economic Council. She provides economic policy advice on a broad range of matters that impact small businesses. In addition, she co-chairs the White House Interagency Group on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Prior to joining the Obama administration, she was managing partner of a communications venture capital fund and an adviser to an early-stage venture fund.

The Kansas Bioscience Authority quietly marked the end of a decidedly unquiet 2011 Kansas legislative session by moving into a new home.

On May 14-15, the organization set up shop in the $12.3 million, 38,000-square-foot KBA Venture Accelerator in Olathe’s Kansas Bioscience Park near Kansas Highway 7, a three-mile drive from its previous location.

The transition marks a new era for the public-private entity charged with overseeing a $581 million pot of taxpayer dollars and using it to build up the state’s life sciences industry.

An angel investor used to be defined as someone with a high net worth. They typically have more than $1 million and privately invest money in startup businesses that are seeking capital. The SEC restricts investing in private deals to mostly accredited investors. I say mostly because there are some opportunities for non-accredited investors to participate on a limited basis. The definition of an accredited investor in the U.S. is a person who either has a net worth (excluding a primary residence) of $1 million, an income of $200,000 per year for the last two years, or $300,000 in household income per year for the last two years.

Angel investing has gained a lot of popularity despite anxieties over the bubble bursting. You need to understand what you are getting into before making that first investment. The general rule is that you shouldn’t invest more than 10% of your net worth, since startups can be risky. Investments typically range from $25K to $250K, but with startups needing less capital to launch these days, the amounts are shrinking.

Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has received a lot of attention lately. From the President’s visit a couple months ago to the launch of JumpStart America as part of the Startup America Partnership, the nation is learning from our area’s entrepreneurs and the organizations supporting the growth of their companies.

One of the regional organizations offering the nation a model is the Innovation Fund. This regional fund, founded by the Lorain County Community College Foundation, has invested $4.6 million in 68 Northeast Ohio companies and has a unique focus on providing college students real-life startup experience. It’s also a member of the Startup America Partnership. The recently-launched Innovation Fund America plans to give community colleges across the nation the tools they need to do what the Innovation Fund has been doing here since 2007. Watch the video to learn more about this innovative funding source for Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs.