Rolfe Winkler wrote a piece in the WSJ about A16Z’s returns in which he says they “lag behind Sequoia, Benchmark and Founders Fund.” Scott Kupor of A16Z responded with a comprehensive overview of valuation methodology in a post that while accurate feels more targeted at sophisticated Limited Partners (LPs) who invest in funds.

Image: https://bothsidesofthetable.com

We now know more about American entrepreneurs than ever before, thanks to a major public-private partnership among the U.S. Census Bureau, the Kauffman Foundation and the Minority Business Development Agency. The Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs will supplement the Survey of Business Owners (SBO), conducted every five years.

The Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs provides a timely, more frequent socio-economic portrait of the nation’s employer businesses by gender, ethnicity, race and veteran status. It includes a relevant topic not found in the SBO: the number of years a firm has been in business. It also includes extensive geographical coverage, with data at the national level, all fifty states, and the fifty largest metropolitan areas in the country. 

UK universities need to take “distinctive” approaches and be “less preoccupied by comparisons” when judging how best to share their research with wider society, a review of their technology transfer activity has concluded.

The review, led by Keele University vice-chancellor Trevor McMillan, was established after the previous government asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England to develop a guiding framework for good knowledge exchange between universities and businesses.

As we shift from a resource-based economy to a market rooted in innovation, companies are increasingly looking to the startup ecosystem to remain competitive. It's no longer simply about trading on their cool factor; corporations want to gain a deep understanding of the culture of collaboration and partnership that drives startups' success.

It's no secret that incubators are leading this collaborative charge. Earlier this year, in my role as Executive Director of the DMZ at Ryerson University, I was invited to deliver a workshop in Sweden on corporate collaboration with incubators from around the world.

Younger businesses and startups are often key to fueling future economic growth, so considering the age of employers can provide valuable insight into a local economy.

A Governing analysis of data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau depicts sizable variation in the presence of employers that have been operating for no more than three years. In the largest metro areas, younger companies make up anywhere from 15 percent to 30 percent of employers. Nationally, they account for about 22 percent of businesses with paid employees.

Image: The Las Vegas Strip (David Kidd)

We naturally think an ecosystem should be positive or encouraging toward their end goal and naturally evolve to support their stated purpose. However, innovation tends to be different. If left unchecked or allowed to evolve on its own, innovation within an organization tends to become an innovation prevention program instead of a positive ecosystem to encourage or nurture innovation. Without proper guidance organizations naturally tend to evolve an innovation immune system with its own (often unstated) goals, logic, and objectives.

Image: http://innovationexcellence.com

Over the course of an hour, our career experts covered an array of questions ranging from how to craft a clever and clickable subject line, to images and how to optimize them to their fullest potential.

Several email experts joined in on the conversation including: AJ Ghergich, SEO & content marketing expert for Ghergich & Co.; Mari Smith, Facebook marketing expert, social media influencer & speaker; Matthew Vernhout, author, blogger & digital marketing expert; Natalie Zfat, writer, entrepreneur & social media influencer; and Paul Dunay, financial services and U.S. marketing leader for PwC.

The economy has been mired in a funk since late last year, but there's cause for optimism: Business startup activity has returned to near pre-recession levels.Eric Griffin and his partner, Dennis O’Donnell, are part of the shift.

In January, the duo launched a Philadelphia-based company called PAW5 that sells bowls and feeding mats to  make meals a healthier, more interactive experience for pets. They already owned a cell phone related company but struggled to convince their bank to increase their line of credit from $100,000 to $300,000 to fund the venture -- until this year.

Image: (Photo: Eric Griffin, Dennis O'Donnell)

People are not born entrepreneurs. They normally become one after a problem is presented to them. Some are trying to solve a common issue we face, while some are trying to change the world. Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, one of the most common catalysts I have found for entrepreneurship has been associated with job loss.

VPR Cloud Powered by Timeless Veterinary Systems

The recent introduction of VPR Cloud Powered by Timeless Veterinary Systems has propelled the ICT company to the forefront of global innovation with advanced point-of-care medical technologies created in P.E.I.

 “Our mandate is to raise the game in veterinary medicine with technology tools and world-class innovation,” says John Rowe, CEO of the Charlottetown-based company. The recent announcement that Timeless has been honoured with the 2016 Technology Award for Best Veterinary Medical Treatment Procurement Platform by globally distributed TMT News is indicative of the company’s role as a key player in a field it’s actually inventing. 

Image: © Submitted photo Dr. Etienne Côté, left, UPEI associate professor of veterinary cardiology and Dr. Teresa Koogler, founder of Veterinary Pharmacy Reference, attend the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine conference in Denver, Colo., along with Eric Roberts, Timeless Veterinary Systems senior marketing co-ordinator and Norm Bryenton, Timeless director of sales and marketing. 

Most of us make bad decisions every day. We eat too much despite being full, we spend too much when we should be budgeting, we drive when we should walk, and we choose not to resign from jobs we hate.

There's probably no way to avoid making poor choices altogether, but we might be able to make better ones a bit more often—even with some unexpected methods. Here's a look at three scientific findings that suggest offbeat but potentially effective ways to improve your decision making.

Image: Flickr user Ted Kim

A research team from Florida State University, Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health discovered existing drug compounds able to stop the Zika virus from replicating in the body — as well as protect fetal brain cells that can lead to birth defects.

The team, comprising FSU Professor of Biological Science Hengli Tang, Johns Hopkins Professors Guo-Li Ming and Hongjun Song and National Institutes of Health scientist Wei Zheng, identified two compound groups that had the potential to be used as Zika treatments.

Image: http://www.healthcareitnews.com

In an exciting and bold move that could be a game changer for Peterborough on many levels, four innovative local entrepreneurs have partnered to transform the former Promenade Building (270 George St.) into a New Entrepreneurship & Business Hub in downtown Peterborough.

Image: http://www.ptbocanada.com - VIA VENTURENORTH

Nearly 200 A-list musicians have signed an open letter to Congress calling for better protections against copyright infringement and higher royalty rates from streaming sites. Current licensing laws, they say, are out of sync with the digital age and threaten the ability of artists and songwriters to make a living. It’s an oft-repeated critique that will sound familiar to anyone in a creative field: that the Internet and media consumption habits have strained the economics of producing art to the point that musicians, writers and filmmakers will be forced out of business. Yet the reality is more complicated. While it’s true that many of these professions increasingly favor the few, there’s little reason to worry about the creative class disappearing altogether.

Image: http://www.forbes.com

COMMENTS FINDING FUNDING PARDNERS

As much as we love the vibrant startup environment of our home base here in Austin, it’s always good to know where we can improve.

TOP 12 VC CITIES

Pitchbook recently released a study showcasing the ecosystem of the US venture capital market for the top 12 metropolitan cities in the country. The report looks at several key features of these economies, including total VC funds raised and invested; total number of VC rounds; and total exit values of companies who received VC funding and later solid their companies.

Image: https://theamericangenius.com

Hyde Park Venture Partners announced Tuesday that it has finished raising money for a new $65 million fund, effectively restocking the war chest that it uses to deploy venture capital in technology firms across the Midwest.

This is the second fund for the Chicago-based firm, which was founded in 2011 and established an outpost in Indianapolis in early 2015.

Hyde Park raised $25 million for its first fund. IBJ reported in January that it was raising $60 million for Fund II, but officials couldn't comment at the time.

The University of Missouri-St. Louis plans to launch an accelerator program this fall for foreign entrepreneurs.

Dan Lauer, executive director of UMSL Accelerate, said the program would bring between five and 10 companies to campus for 12 weeks of mentoring and business development.

One of the great scientific challenges is to understand the human brain. Research teams around the world are gathering data at breakneck speed on everything from the brain’s connectome and the way it computes to the nature of brain disease and how it can be better diagnosed and treated.

And yet bringing together this work in a way that produces achievable goals is still a problem. So later this month the international brain science community will sit down in New York to work out how to coordinate its work on important common goals.  

ACADEMICS from an Ivy League university are carrying out research in Yorkshire which could help to cut youth unemployment and halt the brain drain. The study by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, based in Massachusetts, is assessing the support available for innovation and entrepreneurs in Leeds and its surrounding areas.

Academics from the school, which has produced two Nobel prize winners, will write a report outlining how policymakers can set up an innovation “ecosystem” around Leeds which will support health and environmental start-up firms.

Image: Harvard University (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)  

We all know that money can’t buy happiness—we’ve heard it time and time again since we were kids. And, in fact, studies just show that after a certain point, money can not only not make a difference in your wellbeing, but become a hindrance. (Mo’ money, mo’ problems.)

So, if not by the zeroes in our bank accounts, how can we actually measure happiness? And which cities in the U.S. are the happiest?