The bursting of the Internet bubble, several years of unfriendly public markets, and changes in Wall Street and financial regulations have been hard on venture capital over the past decade. But not all the pressures facing the industry are external, especially in Silicon Valley. The venture community there is showing signs of middle age -- moving more slowly and cautiously than before, and hitting fewer home runs than it did in younger, leaner days. As a result, experts say, the sector is having trouble producing the robust performance long associated with it. This means investors need to look at venture capital, and its impact on their portfolios, in a new way.

For context, consider that back in 1995, Fortune magazine published a story questioning whether venture capital was getting too big and institutionalized to do what it did best: Generate big returns for investors by finding an entrepreneur in a garage with a good idea, and giving him the money and support needed to grow. One sign of this unhealthy bigness, according to the article, was that the industry had raised an unprecedented $5 billion in 1994. By comparison, VC firms raised $7.5 billion in the first half of 2010, according to Dow Jones LP Source.

To observers, the 2010 number represents both a comeback (firms raised nearly $1 billion less in the same period last year) and a rightsizing (the companies raised more than $14 billion in the first half of 2008, which is startling given the downward slide on Wall Street and in the economy as a whole later that year.)

Finding a remote worker online is fairly easy these days. Finding a great remote contractor online can be a whole different challenge. The interview process becomes extremely important in pinpointing that remote worker who is a perfect fit for you and your business. So, as you screen freelancers for your next project, be especially sensitive to the following warning signs that you’re looking at the wrong person for the job.

Flag #1: Poor communication skills.

Mastery of a certain language may or may not be relevant to the work you need performed, however, being able to communicate clearly with your remote worker is vital. Pay attention to the emails you exchange with each candidate. Are the candidates understanding your questions? Are you understanding theirs? Watch for signs of sloppiness, such as texting lingo or spelling errors. Whenever possible, speak to your top applicant by phone or Skype before making your final decision. Communication is crucial for successful remote work, so make sure that you and your candidate have laid the groundwork for a good relationship early on.

After reading TIME’s top blog picks, the Waggener Edstrom team created our own list of top Social Innovation blogs. The following websites are all great sources for information and opinions on a wide variety of SI topics, ranging from CSR and sustainability to global health and economic development.

We would love to hear your feedback about other good online resources and thinkers we might be missing!

• 3BL: A social network and information aggregator focused on corporate citizenship and social innovation. http://3blmedia.com/blog. Check out the particularly informative “CSR Minute” daily video while you’re there: http://3blmedia.com/theCSRminute

• Africa Works: Former Wall Street Journal writer and author Gregg Zachary covers African affairs with a focus on what works in the sub-Saharan, and what doesn’t. http://www.africaworksgpz.com/

• Autoblog Green: Sebastian Blanco leads a team of reporters covering today’s transportation industry revolution. Everything from electric vehicles to biofuels is discussed in a consumer friendly context: http://green.autoblog.com/

I love e-mail. I love its efficiency, its clarity and the fact that it creates a detailed, searchable record.

E-mail also makes me a little nuts. If I'm away from it for a couple of hours, messages pile up. When I confront more than 50, I feel a combination of depression, weariness and low-grade panic, until I make that "unread" number disappear.

My method: Scan the pile for urgent notes from bosses, sources, friends or family, attending to the most important first. Then I go through the rest quickly, starting from the bottom. I delete junk. When I need to answer, I do so right away. If my response requires time, I make a note on my to-do list for later.

We hate to admit it, but so much of what makes a good picture doesn't involve a whole lot of human input--that's one reason why digital cameras have made superb snapshots so simple. But consider this: Much of what makes a picture artistic could actually be programmed into a camera. Diagonal compositions, color contrasts, foreground/background? All of these are pretty simple things for a computer to vet.

Is the Fed out of bullets?

Nah. As Mike O'Rourke of BTIG pointed out in his Thursday-night note, the only limit to the number of bullets is Bernanke's imagination.

So to help him, we're going to suggest various ways the Fed could stimulate the economy right now.

If we combine the parallel transaction with the series transaction we have what now looks like a   neural network. In practice, we know that strong networks of people freely exchanging ideas make organizations better, smarter, and more efficient. Networks are where knowledge and   wisdom is literally stored. A network is   fault tolerant, if one person leaves, the network survives. For a relatively small input into a network, we can produce a large output of new knowledge – we have a   learning organization.

Crowdflower, a startup that helps other companies outsource tasks to crowdsourced labor services like Gambit and Amazon Mechanical Turk, announced today that it released its application programming interface (API) to allow third-party developers to build on top of this framework. It also says it has partnered with TrialPay, an online payment platform that offers unique fee options known as offers, which are special ads.

TrialPay is unique because it allows people to pay for one thing while they are buying another. For example, you could get a free trial for an application if you take advantage of a discount at another retailer. More relevant to Crowdflower, the TrialPay deal might allow crowdsourced workers to earn Facebook Credits for their work instead of cash. The company says this option might appeal to younger social gamers who would prefer to work for credits. Yes, that’s right. People are willing to be paid virtual money for real work.

Several major major women’s business organizations have announced a comprehensive action plan to achieve exponential revenue growth and job creation among women’s businesses over the next decade.

Dubbed “The Roadmap to 2020,” the plan was released by nonprofit organization Quantum Leaps, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the National Association of Women’s Business Owners (NAWBO) at WBENC’s 11th Annual Women in Business National Conference and Business Fair.

Yesterday, the Social Innovation Fund announced their inaugural grantees–eleven in total–that received grants between two and ten million dollars to be distributed over the next one to two years. While the Social Innovation Fund has received mixed reviews in terms of it’s scope and veritable innovativeness, this collaborative among the federal government, private funders, the intermediary beneficiaries, and subgrantees offers a great deal of excitement for those interested in philanthropy and providing solutions to some of the nation’s most pressing social problems. 

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So, back to my original question: does geography matter? A brief look at that map will show you a couple of interesting things:

Go ahead, you can ask: what do I know about this? I’m an old white guy, so take what I have to say here with some healthy skepticism. But I like to think my eyes were opened up to gender inequality by my pre-hippy question-authority mother back in the early 1960s, and kept open by 40 years of marriage to a smart, strong woman and 38 years of fatherhood to four now-grown-up, well-educated, and successful daughters (and one son).

So here’s what I know about this:

1. The statistics are confusing at best.

Statistics on entrepreneurship, startups, and the like are hard to decipher. It looks like women start more companies than men, but it also looks like those companies get less capital and financing. Some will argue that women-owned businesses perform differently, tend to grow slower, or stay smaller. The truth, however, is that we really don’t know. There are lots of different studies with different results. I can find statistics or studies to justify just about any conclusion I want on this.

Lurid brain-buckets protect your noggin in style

Last fall, President Barack Obama announced a national innovation strategy that would help drive entrepreneurial businesses and hopefully lead to the creation of new jobs. Also aiding the national innovation effort were the inclusion of $100 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support groundbreaking innovations, and the budget doubling of many agencies, including the National Science Foundation, that help support U.S. universities.

And, on July 14, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the members of a National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which hopes to help develop policies that foster entrepreneurship and create jobs.

So where does Iowa stand amid the sudden national focus on innovation?

The online instructions are clear enough, but for an entrepreneur who has put a lot of sweat, a little blood and some of his own money into an unproven idea, the words sound somewhat bureaucratic.

"Entrepreneurs interested in accessing the services and members of the Nashville Capital Network must first complete this short online questionnaire, in which they provide a brief overview of the company. Ventures that are judged appropriate … will be asked to submit an executive summary and business plan. You can then expect a call to discuss your plan."

We're all accustomed to sending important letters or e-mails to nameless, faceless recipients who sit in judgment of our resumes, loan requests, credit scores or college entrance applications. So, perhaps it's no surprise that entrepreneurs in search of investors have to begin the same way — by filling out a form to be reviewed by an unseen expert.

50 cities and 10 lifestyles energizing businesses of all shapes and sizes

Whatever your entrepreneurial aspirations, there's a city to match your needs, accelerate your company's growth and improve your quality of life. Which is the one for you? Entrepreneur identifies 50 cities and 10 lifestyles energizing businesses of all shapes and sizes.
 
Even in harsh economic times, America is still the land of opportunity, especially for entrepreneurs with the vision, ambition and flexibility to follow that opportunity wherever it may lead. In an increasingly connected world, no longer are businesses or their owners tethered to one spot on the map: Whether you're sizing up a regional opportunity, looking for a change of scenery or simply desiring a certain lifestyle, there's a location and culture that's perfect for you.

When we think of sexy technologies, enterprise software usually ranks somewhere between the fax machine and a Zune. With prohibitive pricing, long product cycles and user interfaces only a mother could love, the enterprise offerings of Microsoft, SAP, Oracle and other big vendors are about as appealing as Steve Ballmer in a bikini. Not surprisingly, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have been turned off by these unappealing traits, the near-monopolies held by big players, and the suspicion that problems being solved for the enterprise are less exciting. After all, if you want to rapidly develop and release technology to millions of users, build an agile and innovative company culture, and perhaps break a few rules along the way, you certainly don’t build software for the enterprise. You build Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter, YouTube or Blippy.

According to a recent “Newsweek” article titled “The Creativity Crisis,” research shows that American creativity is declining for the first time. If this trend continues, the nation’s economic and national security will be at risk.

The research is based on results of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, which has been used to test American creativity for half a century. Dr. Kyung Hee Kim, assistant professor of education at the College of William & Mary, analyzed the data and found that American creativity scores began to fall in 1990 after having risen steadily for decades. And they have been falling significantly ever since. The reasons why are not clear.

For centuries, the U.S. has been the world’s creativity leader. It’s critical that it maintains that position.

Need funding for a new Web-based company? Michael Levinson is all ears. In 2007 Levinson, now 50, with partners Steven Welch (33) and David Bookspan (52), launched DreamIt Ventures, a startup "accelerator" in Philadelphia that aims to help entrepreneurs get out of their garages. Those who make the cut receive up to $25,000 in cash; three months of office space; $75,000 worth of legal, accounting and p.r. help; weekly access to a roster of 20 seasoned entrepreneurs; and a crack at wooing professional investors. In exchange DreamIt takes a 6% equity stake in the venture. In some cases DreamIt plays matchmaker, too--pairing entrepreneurs with business strategists and software developers looking to sign on with a young firm.

Back in 1999 when I first raised venture capital I had zero knowledge of what a fair term sheet looked like or how to value my company. Due to competitive markets we ended up with a pretty good term sheet until we needed to raise money in April 2001 and then we got completely screwed. It was accept the terms or go into bankruptcy so we took the money. Those were the dog days of entrepreneurship.