Humans are accustomed to drawing in the air. We gesture with our hands when talking and will try to illustrate charade secrets by "drawing" objects in space. 3D-printing pens takes those gestures, makes them tangible and, in the hands of an artists, beautiful. Recent 3D-printing pens have been cool, but clunky affairs. LIX Pen, however, is something different. It's light, small and apparently needs no more power than you can draw from your run-of-the-mill laptop. Now it's coming to Kickstarter.

Image: http://mashable.com 

One of the interesting things about being a VC is that you often see companies in transition. If you’re an early investor like I am that often means writing the first $2-3 million check into a business that previously had either survived on fumes or on a $500,000 angel round. I also see companies as they move from having taken $1-5 million from me to their next round where they raise $8-15 million from Series B investors and sometimes I lead at this round (we’re stage agnostic but 80% of our deals are seed & A).

Image: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com 

A typical evening at my house includes at least four screens of various sizes scattered around the living room: a TV, a laptop, an iPad, and an iPhone, plus the occasional smart watch or any other gadget I might be testing. For the most part, each operates on its own, though they share a lot of the same apps and services.

Founding a successful startup is a task that can easily overwhelm—unless the entrepreneur has built an excellent support team.

Responsible Leadership Means Building a Solid Team

If you think you can go-it-alone, you are sadly mistaken. The founder has more irons in the fire than cowboys at a round-up. Unless you have the support of a competent and trustworthy team, the trajectory of your enterprise will quickly take a direction you won’t like. Founders have to deal with investors, vendors, clients, the press, subordinates and much, much more. Trying to accomplish what must be accomplished without a team will kill your business and very possibly you as well.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Trust your instincts. If you suspect that things are not going well at work, you’re probably right. Some clues are blatant, such as having a subordinate promoted above you or having your office — or your parking spot — taken away. When that happens, you know you’re in trouble. Other indications are harder to assess, because they may seem accidental, such as being excluded from meetings or denied essential information. But the clearest indication of all that you should look for another job is the situation identified by headhunter Jean Allen, a partner in the search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Climate change may accentuate seasonal differences in moisture availability

Climate change will reduce water availability during dry seasons and increase it during wet seasons around the globe, new research suggests. It also finds there will be large regional variations in water-related impacts. Some areas may see an increase in both droughts and floods by the later part of the 21st century.

Image: NASA - http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/711179main1_drought_ESI-2011-226x.JPG 

Some people are born orators, or at least have enough practice at it that public speaking is an unremarkable part of their week. And some are born salesmen, daring the world to say No so they can get closer to that Yes.

Zander Adell pitching at the Spring Startup Pitch event. I am neither of these people. I like building things, designing experiences, watching complexity in motion and messing with it. So I started a company called Doorman, which takes an Uber-like approach to package delivery, perfecting the last mile of e-commerce by letting people schedule home package delivery until midnight – the team and I get to design apps, optimize delivery operations, delight customers, and even take in revenue.

Image: http://beacon.wharton.upenn.edu - Zander Adell pitching at the Spring Startup Pitch event. 

Most family-owned businesses—approximately 70%—last just one generation. Because an estimated 80% of businesses across the globe are family-owned, the low survival rate has alarming consequences. Consider this: In the United States alone, family-owned businesses (FOBs) are responsible for 60% of total US employment and generate 78% of all new jobs. Further, some of the world’s biggest companies are family-owned—News Corp, Samsung, Tata Group, and Walmart to name but a few—and more than a third of Fortune 500 companies are family-owned.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Maynard Webb, chairman at Yahoo! And founder of Webb Investment Network, talks with Emily Chang about his favorite recent pitches from start-up companies, why it’s ok to say no to a venture capital pitch and what goes into a decision on backing a company on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg West.”

Image: http://www.bloomberg.com 

Take one look at the stock market and you might be tempted to scream "bubble!"After all, the S&P 500 has now blasted through levels we've seen during the dotcom bubble and the housing/credit bubble.

However, taking a brief glance at some indexes is no way sniff out a bubble.

In a recent note to clients, Javed Jussa and the quantitative strategy team at Deutsche Bank take a deep look into the various bubble indicators.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Today the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) released a report that outlines two potential growth trajectories for the U.S. biopharmaceutical sector and the top policy factors that enable the industry to innovate and, in turn, contribute to the U.S. economy.

Every office worker knows at least one bit of cliched business-speak that they would be happy to never hear again. These include "think outside the box" or "paradigm shift" which, one assumes, are terms meant to make the speaker appear visionary or inspirational.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Certain entrepreneurial skills can’t be taught in school. And, in my opinion, one of these is knowing how to negotiate your way to a “yes.” Sometimes it can be hard to get people to understand your vision. Without being able to comprehend what you’d ultimately like to accomplish, they automatically tell you “no.”

Business owners who work for themselves must learn fairly quickly the power of persuasion -- how to negotiate for optimal terms.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

This week the coastal crowd will get another opportunity to laugh at the zany practices of those living in the frozen reaches of the Great Plains. The new television series “Fargo,” based on the 1996 Coen brothers movie, will no doubt be filled with fearsome violence mixed with the proper amount of Scandinavian reserve and wry humor — the very formula that made the original such a hit.

Image: http://www.newgeography.com 

As more and more business owners turn to content marketing strategies, the demand for talented writers is rising. But finding the cream of the crop isn’t always easy. To find out where other businesses are sourcing their content writers and editors, we asked 15 entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Every workplace has its own unique cast of characters who drive the overall culture of the organization. Regardless of how harmonious this culture may appear, we must keep in mind that every cast member is different and has the ability to contribute to or detract from that harmony. The challenge is that when it comes to spotting what sets us apart, we tend to focus on superficial differences such as gender, race, and ethnicity. Although it’s natural to focus our attention on the obvious, it’s not always the right path, particularly when it comes to building relationships and fostering team cohesion.

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/59632563@N04/6235678871 

FAST COMPANY WEB PRODUCER CIA BERNALES MADE THE SWITCH TO A STANDING DESK A YEAR AGO. SHE SHARES WHY SHE'S NEVER GOING BACK TO A REGULAR OFFICE CHAIR AND HOW HER POSTURE GOT A NEW ANGLE.

It all started with a bet.

I came into the Fast Company office one April morning last year and crafted a makeshift platform for my laptop and secondary monitor from discarded Ikea side tables so I could try standing while I worked.

Image: http://www.fastcompany.com 

Even before Sequoia Capital made $3.5 billion on a $60 million investment in WhatsApp, the seed- and early-stage funding landscape had already changed significantly. Most major VC firms have significantly scaled back their seed-stage investment programs.

Furthermore, many Series A funds will openly admit that the traction needed to raise a Series A today as opposed to 18 months ago is comparable to Series B.

The nation’s top entrepreneurs don’t come from one place — not one Ivy, one city or one incubator. Sure, schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University have a reputation for churning out revolutionary ideas and battle-tested founders, but top-flight companies sprout from universities and entrepreneurship programs all across the country.

Case in point: Jan Koum, the co-founder of mobile messaging company WhatsApp, which recently sold to Facebook for $16 billion, isn't an Ivy League MBA. Instead, he got his bachelor's from San Jose State University.

Image: http://mashable.com - Eli Epstein

Health care is a misnomer for our medical system.  It should be called sick care. Doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies only make money when we are in bad health.  If we could instead prevent illness and disease, it would turn the entire medical system on its head and increase the quality of our lives.