Crowd Capital Inc. signs Agreement with SeedUps (IRE) Ltd., a leading brand in crowd financing. Announces worldwide strategic partnership with Exempt Capital Network Inc.

Crowd Capital Inc. is pleased to announce that it has signed a Partnership Agreement withSeedUps(IRE) Ltd., is re-branding as SeedUps Canada and is getting ready to launch its crowdfund investing platform where ordinary investors can invest in great companies. Using "intelligent" equity crowdfunding technologies developed by SeedUps, and compliance functionality developed byECN - the Exempt Capital Network, SeedUps Canada will be a "first-mover" in the Canadian marketplace and move forward with its plan to present private placements to investors that have between $1K and $50K they wish to invest in Canadian entrepreneurs with early stage businesses. SeedUps Canada's issuers will offer their securities through current exemptions defined in National Instrument 45-106, Prospectus Exemptions and Regulations and its companion Blanket Order 45-512.

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A good entrepreneur is not necessarily born a good salesman. In fact, they are often the opposite, more focused on building things rather than selling them. Yet, in today’s world of information overload, marketing and selling skills are critical to the success of every startup.

The alternative “If we build it, they will come” approach has long been relegated to the field of dreams, after Kevin Costner’s movie by the same name. In my own effort to keep up with the times, I explored Julie Steelman’s book on selling, “The Effortless Yes: Demystifying the Selling Process.” Julie is known as the entrepreneur’s selling mentor, for both men and women.

If you believe the proponents of online education, universities are in the midst of a full-blown technological transformation—one that will shortly unseat traditional coursework and liberate higher learning from the shackles of those expensive, ivy-strewn halls of academia.

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The loss of so much manufacturing capacity from the United States over the past decade has had a negative impact on the country's ability to innovate, long considered to be the nation's greatest economic and sociological strength, according to a two-year study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The United States no longer has the industrial "ecosystem" necessary to bring new ideas to market. Finance, equipment, suppliers and manufacturers are not available in the United States to make prototypes and scale up commercial production of innovative ideas and products. This holds true for high-tech start-ups, the best small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies, and U.S.-based multinational corporations.

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A social network for flossers. Foursquare for farts. A 3-D printer for dirt.

Over the weekend, MIT Media Lab played host to Comedy Hack Day, a hackathon put on by Cultivated Wit that pairs up comedians with coders to turn hilarious ideas into apps.

After an initial brainstorming session in which a number of ideas are pitched, teams form and are given 24 hours to make their ideas into a reality, then show off their prototypes to a panel of judges. It’s a lot of fun, but is it more than that? The answer, perhaps, is maybe. Here are six lessons any startup can learn from Comedy Hack Day.

The National Institutes of Health has launched a major initiative to improve how basic science advances and discoveries are translated into commercially viable products that improve patient care and advance public health.

The NIH Centers for Accelerated Innovations (NCAIs), funded by the NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), will target technologies to improve the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders and diseases. 

In this episode of She Takes on the World TV, I’ll share with you my  secret technique for connecting with and gaining advice from the top  experts in your field! If you want to find out how to approach people  you want to get advice from, and get a YES, listen up to this empowering episode of She Takes on the World TV.

SAN FRANCISCO – At Rock Health, entrepreneurs are developing innovative products to keep us healthier, and lower medical care costs.

Ten health startups in Rock Health’s current accelerator class presented to a roomful of investors and the press today at Genentech‘s San Francisco headquarters. Rock Health is a startup accelerator that focuses on health care technology.

The current class of startups are tackling huge challenges in health care, such as cancer treatment or eating disorders.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Innovation Leadership Speaker Series

Hyatt at the Bellevue

5 pm Reception

5:30 to 7 pm Program

Register Online More Information: Lindsay Clark, Fox School of Business, 215-204-5331 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Did you Know: 75% of all US companies engaged in new product development use some form of Stage-Gate system with impressive results. Many firms have diversified the use of the Stage-Gate process to managing: process developments, fundamental research, capital projects, and new business model development.

If we want more entrepreneurship in America, the fastest way to get there is via the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) that’s currently being held hostage in Washington.

I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire adult life, apart from breaks for sleeping. I’ve worked with other entrepreneurs, and would-be entrepreneurs, and should-be entrepreneurs, in organizations of varied sizes.

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Last week, The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine announced the results of their annual survey of the top entrepreneurship programs in the nation. These are the programs that offer a broad range of courses in entrepreneurship, as well as  significant opportunities for networking with established entrepreneurs, launching start-ups, and developing the skills needed to start successful businesses.

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Entrepreneur Magazine and the Princeton Review have released the 2013 edition of their top 25 graduate colleges for entrepreneurship ranking.

The list ostensibly ranks US-based MBA programs based on their strengths in and focus on entrepreneurship. The top school this year is the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, whose Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies provides a range of electives in entrepreneurship, a venture fund, and other forms of assistance to entrepreneurial-minded MBA candidates.

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New SEC Regulations democratize access to information about investment opportunities in private companies

New York, N.Y. – Sept. 23, 2013 – Poliwogg announced today that it has launched its online marketplace to give accredited investors* access to emerging growth healthcare and life sciences companies. According to CEO Greg Simon, “Investors reviewing the companies we are presenting on Poliwogg will agree with us that The Best Is Yet to Fund.  We let investors put their money where their passions are in a way that has never been possible before.”
 
Poliwogg’s investment model is made possible by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS Act, which was signed into law in April of 2012.  The law and new SEC regulations that take effect today permit the use of general solicitation, meaning that Poliwogg may now advertise that it is seeking financing for its portfolio of private companies.
 

The SelectUSA 2013 Investment Summit is a first-of-its-kind, national-level engagement intended to connect businesses and investors from around the world with U.S. economic development organizations at the state, regional, and local levels. The SelectUSA 2013 Investment Summit is being hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, and SelectUSA, as part of a U.S. government-wide initiative to promote direct investment in the United States.

Five percent of Americans have resisted the siren song of cat listicles and hashtags. Specifically, they think the Internet is “irrelevant,” to use words of Pew, which just released a report on the demographic of Americans without Internet.

Graphic: Pew Research Center

SAN FRANCISCO – At Rock Health, entrepreneurs are developing innovative products to keep us healthier, and lower medical care costs.

Ten health startups in Rock Health’s current accelerator class presented to a roomful of investors and the press today. Rock Health is a startup accelerator that focuses on health care technology.

When patients check into a hospital, they expect doctors there to fix what ails them, but one in 20 patients seeking care at hospitals contract a health care–based infection. Those infections escalate care costs to the tune of billions of dollars. And many of them–one in five–are part of the scary alphabet soup of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics. The problem is not a new one, top health officials say, but as more patients receive minor surgeries and care at clinics and doctor’s offices instead of pricier hospital settings, that shift could fuel the growth of infections outside of hospitals.

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China is becoming a true global innovation hub for multinational corporations from developed markets, a survey has found.

Two-thirds of MNCs reported that they are conducting research and development activity in China for foreign markets, and more plan to follow suit, according to consultancy Booz & Co.

Booz conducted the research in conjunction with the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China, the 21st Century Business Review and the China Europe International Business School.

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The U.S. economy retains myriad sources of innovative capacity—but not enough of the innovations occurring in America today reach the marketplace, according to a major two-year Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study.

The report, by MIT’s commission on Production in the Innovation Economy (PIE), found that potentially valuable innovations occur throughout the advanced manufacturing sector—from academic laboratories to shop floors—and in companies of all sizes, from multinational conglomerates to specialized “Main Street” firms.

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With Twitter Inc. moving closer to an initial public offering, Venture Capital Dispatch took a look at what is shaping up to be a strong year for venture-backed IPOs in the U.S.

There were 47 of them through the end of last week, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. That’s almost as many as the 50 IPOs in all of 2012 and more than the 46 in 2011.

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