Crowdfunding is a trendy and cool buzzword. “Crowd” sounds sociable and “funding” is, of course, always good. But equity crowdfunding as contemplated by rules proposed by the SEC in late October is not promising.

Because it sounds good, the term “crowdfunding” is applied, sometimes confusingly, to vastly different funding models, including “donation funding,” (e.g. Kickstarter), in which no investment is involved and “backers” expect no return; “advertised” private offerings, which have only been legal since September and allow the general solicitation of investors directly by private companies seeking funding, known as “issuers”, or through intermediary sites like CircleUp, provided all investors are “accredited” (meaning wealthy); and “real” equity crowdfunding contemplated by the JOBS Act, which I describe here. This last model would allow non-public issuers to sell securities to anyone, regardless of their sophistication, net worth, or income, and no matter how risky, albeit in limited amounts and with many restrictions.

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Australian early stage venture capital firm Artesian plans to launch Australia’s first online equity based crowdfunding platform in February as a government review looking at relaxing laws for startup investment.

The platform to be known as VentureCrowd is slated to start doing business in February 2014, and will offer more advanced private equity investment options than existing crowdfunding services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo because investors can buy equity stakes in the startup businesses via the websites.

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Chile government run accelerator Startup Chile has inducted 100 startups into the ninth generation of its accelerator program. The accelerator noted that these startups were selected from more than 28 countries and India accounted for 9% of the startups in the current batch.

The program offers $40,000 equity free seed capital, a one-year resident visa for any three team members mentioned during the application process and shared office space. The program will run for 24 weeks (around four months).

If your New Year’s resolutions include quitting your job and starting a business, you’re not alone. What could be more fulfilling than calling the shots, setting your own hours, and making things happen?

However, going off on your own is no easy feat, and many would-be entrepreneurs quickly become unsettled by the hard work and uncertainty of the lifestyle.

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As 2013 comes to a close, we revisit our analysis of overused buzzwords in members’ profiles for the fourth year in a row. Does ‘creative’ once again dominate as it has for the past two years? Or will we see some surprising changes?

Since we last did this study, LinkedIn’s member base grew from 187 million to more than 259 million members worldwide. Drawing from English-language LinkedIn profiles around the globe, here’s what we found: this year, ‘responsible’ landed solidly at number one.  It was used more than twice as often as the number two buzzword, ‘strategic’.  In addition, of the top buzzwords from 2012 only four make the list in 2013: ‘creative’, ‘responsible’, ‘effective’, ‘analytical’. Some words from last year that didn’t make the cut this year are: ‘experimental’, ‘motivated’, ‘multinational’, ‘specialized’.

NYC Economic Development Corporation president Kyle Kimball on New York City working with large pharmaceutical companies and venture capital firms to ...

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Where is the coldest temperature ever measured on Earth?

"It's in Antarctica of course," Ted Scambos, lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo., said here today (Dec. 9) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Image: Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center. 

One supposed trend, much celebrated in the media, is that younger people are moving back to the city, and plan to stay there for the rest of their lives. Retirees are reportedly following suit.

Urban theorists such as Peter Katz have maintained that millennials (the generation born after 1983) show little interest in “returning to the cul-de-sacs of their teenage years.” Manhattanite Leigh Gallagher, author of the dismally predictable book The Death of Suburbs, asserts with certitude that “millennials hate the suburbs” and prefer more eco-friendly, singleton-dominated urban environments.

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One of the greatest masterpieces of Canaletto, L’entrata nel Canal Grande e La Basilica della Salute, is now on display back where it was not only conceived but also painted: the loggia of the ancient Abbazia di San Gregorio near La Salute church, Venice. ”Gero Qua” comes in fact from venetian dialect and means “I was here”.

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“Have a great idea for a mobile app? AppItUp!” That was the challenge from UPStart and the SBDC to Penn students this fall. Students from across the University submitted great ideas for mobile apps, and investors evaluated these ideas and chose the best to be featured at the AppItUP Fall Challenge Event on Friday, November 22. Ten semi-finalists, chosen out of nearly 200 submissions from members of the Penn community, pitched their ideas to a panel of “sharks,” five software development companies who planned to each choose one of these ideas to turn into reality. The twist: the ideas were so good that one company chose two, for a total of six winners!

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When are people the most creative? Is there an age where you "peak"? Or does discipline at any age determine how much you'll create?

As with most things, there are a few sides to the argument:

WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG When Orson Welles was the ripe old age of 26, he made a movie about the news business called Citizen Kane.

"What cool new products are you using?"

We all ask this question. It's a common conversation starter, especially in the startup community. I'm particularly fond of this topic--I enjoy geeking out about products, writing design deconstructions, and swapping discoveries with smart folks. But these conversations provide more than just entertainment value: They are also a great learning opportunity. Understanding the subtleties of good and bad products is critical for product builders. As Paul Buchheit says, you must "live in the future" to shape it. Playing with early, innovative products can provide a competitive advantage.

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Renee DiResta invests in connected hardware.

She's a venture capitalist with O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, which has helped fund companies including LittleBits and Misfit Wearables. She is also organizing a conference called “Solid” which is all about the future of manufacturing, with a focus on the industrial Internet of things. During a recent event at Smart Design, we asked DiResta to talk about what it takes to "win" in the connected device space. Here's what she said.

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As our Lean LaunchPad for Life Sciences class winds down, a good number of the 26 teams are trying to figure out whether they should go forward to turn their class project into a business.

Given that we’ve been emphasizing evidence-based entrepreneurship and the Investment Readiness Level, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when someone asked, “After we figure all this data out, should we pursue our idea based on the numbers?”

Many start-up medical device and diagnostic companies offer some of the most promising technologies in the industry. As a result, most large medical device companies have created significant business development and venture funding units to tap into this innovation. However, some promising technologies will never see the light of day – not due to the validity of technology, but because of significant commercial missteps.

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It is customary in higher education to dismiss rankings as misleading and arbitrary, quantifying things that don’t much matter about colleges and universities.

But one list of undisputed significance is compiled each year by the National Science Foundation: the top institutions ranked by total research spending. Such money supports laboratories, attracts top faculty and graduate students and gives many undergraduates a chance to learn through experimentation.

Most board meetings are “update meetings” where management downloads its status to a group of investors.  These outside board members spend most of the board meeting trying to reacquaint themselves with the company’s business and critical issues.

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Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued the rules that make equity crowd funding possible. Now that you can, you may be wondering if you should sell shares to the crowd of unaccredited investors. The answer depends on how well equity crowd funding fits your business opportunity.

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Dying to be the next Dropbox or Airbnb to emerge from a rock star startup accelerator? Get in line. The market for early stage funding for hot startup brainchildren is bursting at the seams.

If you hook up with the right accelerator, you could tap into a wealth of vital resources to get your business idea off the ground, including the capital to take your idea from concept to product to launch. Add to that top-notch mentoring, hands-on training, influential networking and press exposure, and -- fingers crossed -- you might make it big.

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Your boss asks you to take on a new project, and your first thought is: “There is just no way.” Maybe it’s because you’re already juggling three projects near deadline, or maybe you fundamentally disagree with his strategy.

Sure, you could try to just power through all of the projects or propose something you think a client wouldn’t be interested in, but you probably know that’s neither the best nor the most professional option.

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