I often wish we could do business on a handshake.

I've been thinking about it more and more these days. We negotiate a sophisticated set of documents when we invest in a company and for the most part, those documents never come into play. Many times when things go badly, we rip up the documents and decide what to do based on an honest discussion among the interested parties. When things go well, all we need are the stock certificates.

I am not suggesting USV is going to start doing deals on a handshake. We have investors and we have a responsibility to them to act responsibly.

Rest assured, when the SEC publishes proposed rules to implement investment crowdfunding under Title III of the JOBS Act, we will be discussing them.

I'll be happy to eat crow, too, should the rules somehow take the unworkable legislation and make a truly useful exemption out of it. (See this post: Three things broken in investment crowdfunding that SEC regulations won't fix.)

But some folks, also not counting on the federal investment crowdfunding exemption to amount to anything, are resolving to take the concept to state legislatures.

The term "capitalism" is commonly used to refer to the U.S. economic system, with substantial state intervention ranging from subsidies for creative innovation to the "too-big-to-fail" government insurance policy for banks.

The system is highly monopolized, further limiting reliance on the market, and increasingly so: In the past 20 years the share of profits of the 200 largest enterprises has risen sharply, reports scholar Robert W. McChesney in his new book "Digital Disconnect."

Science and engineering (S&E) research space at the nation’s research-performing colleges and universities increased 3.5% from FY 2009 to FY 2011, according to the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Survey of Science and Engineering Research Facilities. The biological and biomedical sciences continued to account for the bulk of growth, increasing by 8.0% during this period (table 1). This follows a 12.3% increase for this field from FY 2007 to FY 2009. In 2011, the biological and biomedical sciences accounted for 26.8% of research space, measured as total net assignable square feet (NASF). This was three percentage points higher than the share from FY 2007.

Windshields and airbags are just two of the many safety features bicyclists don’t have, unlike their automobile driving comrades. And while there’s nothing designers can really do about those (other than design sexier velomobiles or install bicyclist-friendly airbags into the exterior of cars), a Hungarian designer has created a concept for a bicycle helmet with three safety features that no car would ever come without: a headlight, a taillight, and turn signals.

Balázs Filczer's Dora helmet would not only reduce the number of gadgets bikers have to worry about (since the lighting and helmet would be attached), it would potentially eliminate the need for sticking hands out at intersections to let drivers know which way they’re turning. In places where drivers aren’t that sensitive to cyclists, I imagine that actual turn signals would make a bigger impact on drivers than hand signals. If someone’s only used to cars, the grammar of a car will translate better.

At the start of an exam, a student openly wondered, "But Professor Einstein, this is the same exam question as last year!" To which the great man supposedly replied, "Correct, young man, but we need to find new answers."

When it comes to marketing, this is precisely the challenge. Managers are looking for answers to their problems that are both novel and relevant. Where do these answers come from?

According to the seminal work of psychologists Joy Paul Guildford and E. Paul Torrance in the latter half of the last century, people generally use two different approaches to problem solving: convergent thinking and divergent thinking. Convergent thinking refers to intelligence rated by IQ tests, or tests that measure rational, problem-solving abilities. Convergent thought is analytical, logical and controlled. It means one "right answer" for a given problem.

Ready for the paperless society? Perhaps not quite as ready as you might think.

Your iPad or Android tablet is really good at a lot of things, but for some things, paper just can’t be replaced, as one French company hilariously illustrates in this ad, which has gone viral:

A lot of very very smart, experienced investors have put several “must read” guides out there over the last few years on how to get their attention. If you’ve read these before, consider this a reminder. If you haven’t read these guides before, then consider this a starting point. This post should not be seen as a comprehensive list. It’s more of a response to various pitches I’ve been getting from multiple sources. “Understand the investor’s mandate, fund size, investment reqs. Pitch the right investors and build relationships with others” – TJ Sassani, Founder of Zozi.

Dear startups, I think it is time someone spelled out a few truths. There are many ideas floating about. Some are really good, others not so much. Not a every idea warrants a company and not everyone can run a good business. Before deciding to turn an idea into a business, approaching investors or squandering the family fortunes, it is important ask yourself some very serious questions about what you are about to build and the company you intend to start.

  AURP will present the 18th Annual Awards of Excellence at the 2013 International Conference on September 26th in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The awards honor parks, companies and individuals who have demonstrated excellence in innovation. 

Forget for a moment about the $90 million-plus in incentives North Carolina has promised to MetLife Inc. (NYSE:MET) for its planned 2,600-job expansion in Charlotte and Cary, and let’s look at the state’s economic-development landscape from above. North Carolina’s total commitment to economic development hit $1.35 billion in fiscal 2011-12, according to a report from the Triangle Business Journal that is based on a newly released inventory prepared by fiscal researchers for the N.C. General Assembly.

I love listening to interviews with successful entrepreneurs.The nuggets and stories they share are like motivational crack. I can pop in a Mixergy or Mitch Joel interview on the way to a meeting and I’ll be bouncing off the walls once I get there!

What I really love is hearing about the habits these successful men and women developed out of necessity to reach their goals. Sure they innovated and adapted over time but it’s always the things they relentlessly stick to that always give credit to over any lucky break or chance encounter.

Chinese officials need to make better use of the nation's current patent inventory, said the nation's top intellectual property official.

Right now, officials tend to narrowly focus on increasing the number of patents and patent applications when they should be looking for ways to monetize the nation's current intellectual assets, said Tian Lipu, commissioner of the State Intellectual Property Office.

In an interview with China News Service during the ongoing annual Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Tian said that the task at hand is to make China into a powerhouse for the commercialization of technologies, laying the foundation for a new stage of IP development.

There are currently between 5-7.2 million people in the United States who are accepted as accredited investors. This group of people, which represents as little as 1% of the U.S. population, is made up of wealthy individuals that make $200,000 or more in base salary every year, or maintain a net worth of over $1,000,000.

A common investing trend where the rich commit part of their portfolio in startups is called angel investing. According to the recent Reynolds survey, there are currently 756,000 angel investors in the U.S. who have made an angel investment or participated in a friends and family round of financing.

More states are getting in on the venture capital act. But not everyone's a fan of the funds state governments are launching.

Colorado, Georgia and Illinois are all working on venture capital funds to help fill the gap in funding left by private sources, joining such states as Ohio and Michigan that have already established state-run VC funds.

In Georgia, the state senate has approved the creation of a $100 million venture capital fund. The sponsor of the bill, Senator Tim Golden of Valdosta, told the Atlanta Business Chronicle the state needed such a fund because Georgia lags behind in private venture backing, and because nearby states already have such funds.

We have an incentive system at work in the apps ecosystem. Angry Birds has been downloaded one billion times, and Temple Run more than 150 million. Other developers see the potential for great financial reward with their work, which encourages further development, risk taking, and invention. This benefits not only developers but also smartphone owners and our economy.

Ideally our patent system would be humming alongside this app freight train, rewarding original and unique ideas, conferring exclusivity on the truly novel. Unfortunately, it has been doing the opposite in many cases, creating undue burdens on this vibrant sector due to a few bad actors. Developers have grown fearful of receiving letters from patent trolls seeking nominal license fees for seemingly unrelated patents, written long ago in many cases.

No boss wants another Yes Man. But if you want to put in your two cents, it won't hurt to develop a strategy.

In the course of his three terms as New York City's mayor, the late Ed Koch was famous for asking "How’m I doing?” Whether the brash and combative Koch was genuinely interested in an answer is anyone’s guess, but the question is fairly rare for a leader--in politics or business.

When’s the last time your boss asked you that kind of question? If he or she did, how would you answer it?

About a year ago, Jen Graybeal, the managing director at Overit Media, received an email from her friend who was getting married. Her friend had asked Graybeal to be a bridesmaid, and though the wedding wouldn't be for several months, her friend had already selected bridesmaid dresses, including a link to J. Crew’s website. Graybeal hurried to buy the dress online, since it was on sale. But when the black silk taffeta dress came in the mail, Graybeal, who’d recently had a baby, found that she didn't quite fit in her old size.

That’s how it all began.

I came across a great phrase last week: “practicing at the top of your license.”  The words come from healthcare – they refer to practicing medicine as a licensed professional.  But they also open up a new way of thinking about the future of innovation and employment. 

Healthcare is one of the strangest corners of the working world, because it is just about the only one in which technology innovation has done nothing to make things cheaper.  Quite the reverse: each new innovation in diagnosis and treatment seems to trigger an arms race in which providers compete to plunk down more millions on shiny toys, with insurers, governments and ultimately patients picking up the tab.   

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