On September 28, 2011, the city of Lisbon hosted the first international crowdfunding event in Portugal. To the 400 attendees and webcast viewers, the event introduced the concept of crowdfunding in its various forms, its potential, requirements and risks, focusing on two of the most successful cases in Europe, Symbid and Crowdcube.

Pedro Oliveira of PPL (Crowdfunding Portugal) kicked things off with a general intro to crowdfunding, followed by Korstiaan Zandvliet’s presentation of Symbid, a reference equity crowdfunding case from Holland. Symbid is an equity-based online investment platform that enables individuals to directly invest in start-ups or existing ventures in exchange for an equity stake in the company. With investments ranging from as little as €20 to as much as €2,500,000, just about anyone can invest through Symbid.

The first of my course touches on the definition on entrepreneurship, the different forms of entrepreneurship, how countries measure growth of entrepreneurship activity, and the first toolkit: how to identify ideas and business opportunities. We also provide some interesting case studies for example, Aravind Eye Centre for social entrepreneurship. This is a series based on a course “MPS 812: Entrepreneurship” I have been teaching in School of Physical & Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University.

Something exceptional is happening here in Finland. However I think that the foundation for that has existed a long time, only to wait its time to come. And it seems that the time is here and now. Let me explain.

I am a startup entrepreneur and I am considering myself very lucky that I have had the opportunity to follow somewhat amazing chain of events happening in the startup scene of Finland. The young crew from the Aalto University, so-called Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, has worked hard for two and half years, and finally this week they publicly proved that their vision and the actions taken truly are a very powerful force.

I’m not aware of VCs using classic financial hedging strategies. In many cases, they are prohibited from doing this by their LP agreements and/or investment documents in the companies when they make an investment. While I’m sure there are some folks that do this, I don’t believe it’s prevalent.

The primary ways VCs mitigate risk are (1) time diversification, (2) stage diversification, (3), sector diversification, (4) pro-rata or over pro-rata investing over time, and (5) number of investments in the portfolio.

1. Time diversification: Most VC funds are committed over a three to five year period. The commitment period for most funds is five years – by spreading out the commitments over a three to five year period, a fund gets time diversity and theoretically smooths out some of the macro cycles. Most VCs who have been investing since the mid-1990′s understand this well as many funds raised in 1999 and 2000 were fully committed in one year. As a result, the funds were invested during the rapid rise and peak of the Internet bubble, resulting in horrible performance for 1999 vintage funds due to their lack of time diversity. The firms that committed their 1999 over a three year period vs. a one year period ended up making a number of investments as the bubble burst, including many that ultimately ended up being successful.

The PreFabricated Building Parts Production Enterprise in Addis Ababa is a state-owned company that makes concrete walls and other structures, mainly for the Ethiopian government’s low-cost housing program.  Public-sector construction companies in the third world are not generally known for energy, flexibility, risk-taking or creative thinking.   PreFabricated, in other words, does not seem like the kind of business that would or could do astonishing things in a hurry.

Like many companies in AIDS-wracked Ethiopia, PreFabricated had an AIDS policy, which included extra pay for its H.I.V. positive workers so they could buy more food.  In March, 2008, the company decided to do more.  It set a goal of persuading 70 percent of its employees — 700 people — to get tested for H.I.V. in 100 days.

he US market is big. But the size and pace of market growth outside the US is so dramatic that all businesses, from startups to public companies, are taking notice, and wanting to go global.

Accessing these new markets is not trivial. But by understanding the landscape and taking the right approach, it’s easier than ever before.

China is the biggest opportunity, and yet so few people understand the market. Internet giants like Groupon and Facebook take the region very seriously, because they see the upside. But most midsize and growth-stage companies wait too long make a market entry into Asia.

The EDA-funded “Crossing the Next Regional Frontier” research project, in collaboration with Purdue and Indiana Universities, received national awards of excellence from the Council on Community and Economic Research in 2010 and from the Association for University Business and Economic Research in 2009. Its tool, Innovation in American Regions, provides detailed, county-level data and a resource for economic development practitioners to assess their regions' industry clusters, human capital and capacity to innovate.  Please join us for a webinar discussion with the tool's designers to learn more about the tool and how you can use it create economic development opportunities in your region.  Click here to check out the tool.

These are hard times at universities in America. State support is dwindling, tuition is booming, and federal research dollars are in jeopardy. Morale has taken a beating.

But U.S. academic research centers are still the driving force for innovative new medicines, like always. And anyone who cares about U.S. universities should pay attention to what’s happening at UC San Francisco under the leadership of chancellor Susan Desmond-Hellmann.

Desmond-Hellmann, a biotech industry star from her days running drug development at Genentech, has her work cut out in her third year as UCSF’s chancellor. Like any executive arriving on campus, she’s had to learn a lot in a hurry. UCSF is a complex, 23,000-employee enterprise that does everything from studying the basic functions of stem cells to helping discover new drugs to treating patients. Starting in August 2009, she’s had the unpleasant job of overseeing furloughs, layoffs, and multi-million-dollar budget cuts. She’s said no, repeatedly, to promising new scientific initiatives.

I walked down the hall on the sixth floor of the Medical Science Building at NYU Medical Center holding a cup of coffee in one hand, the other comfortably resting in my lab coat pocket. There was a spring to my step. The week before I had defended my Ph.D. thesis and that long period of self-doubt, also known as graduate school, had come to an end.

My stroll brought me to the tissue culture lab where I was planning to engage in a series of meaningless exchanges with colleagues. But no one was pipetting that day. Even that unmistakable odor of bacterial colonies thriving at 37°C was not evident in the room, almost as if no one had opened the incubator door for a long time.

It was a disappointing summer on the liquidity front for U.S. venture capital firms, with the IPO market, which held promise earlier this year, swooning in August and September.

While 10 U.S. venture-backed companies staged public offerings in the third quarter--the most for the period since 2007 when 12 debuted--six of them were in July, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, before market volatility took its toll. The two that went public in September did so overseas. Venture capitalists historically make their best returns through IPOs.

"The fundamental problem in the U.S. is that the companies that need to go public cannot and the ones that can go public don't want to," said Paul Maeder, a general partner at Highland Capital Partners and chairman of the National Venture Capital Association.

From his lab in Lake Nona's Medical City, cancer researcher Philip Arlen is strategizing ways to take his new technique for studying DNA to market. And he is going entrepreneurial in hopes of making that happen.

"Everyone we have talked to for advice has been very receptive to what we are working on," said Arlen, an oncology scientist at M.D. Anderson Cancer Institute. "Whoever it is — angel investors, private-equity firms, venture capitalists — they all tell us, 'Get back in touch with us when you are further along.' "

Today’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine honors work in immunology that provides new avenues for prevention and therapy against infections, cancer, and inflammatory disease.

The Prize is shared by three researchers who have “revolutionized our understanding of the immune system” by discovering the “gatekeepers” of this integral defense mechanism, according to the Nobel Assembly’s press release.

Jules Hoffmann, a Luxembourgian based at the University of Strasbourg in France, and Bruce Beutler, an American at Scripps Research Institute in California, share half of the award for discovering receptor proteins that recognize microbes and activate innate immunity. Ralph Steinman, a Canadian cell biologist at Rockefeller University, took the other half of the award for first describing the immune system’s dendritic cells and their role in activating and regulating adaptive immunity, the later stage of immune response responsible for clearing microorganisms from the body. Sadly, Steinman passed away last Friday (September 30), before he got word of his crowning achievement.

It is true that governments cannot be ignored by entrepreneurs—they set the rules and incentives. But it should not be surprising that vibrant entrepreneurs typically show, at best, nonchalance toward government. Most government agencies across the globe remain inefficient and cumbersome—especially when you compare even a well-funded government program to a collection of bootstrapping startups.

My favorite news last week was the announcement about Startup Foundation just launching in various places like Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Des Moines, and Sao Paulo to grow ecosystems for startup creation and growth. With funding from the Kauffman Foundation, Startup Foundation co-founders in each city are mapping their local entrepreneurial ecosystems. They are doing this by identifying influential leaders, programs and gaps in community resources, and supporting local initiatives that drive the creation of more entrepreneurs, startups, and jobs. They will also raise funds for local entrepreneurship support initiatives, amplifying effective efforts.

Several programs of the state's Talent and Innovation Initiative have taken effect, including the Business Innovation Act, Nebraska Economic Gardening Program and Site and Building Development Fund.

"Our vision for Nebraska's economic future is for our graduates and young professionals to have access to high-quality, high-skill careers with dynamic companies doing business in Nebraska,"  Gov. Dave Heineman said at a news conference.

The Business Innovation Act authorizes the distribution of up to $7 million in competitive grants for research, prototype development and product commercialization studies for small businesses with fewer than 25, according to a news release from the governor's office.

The pioneering technology accelerator TechStars did something for its own business rather than the fledgling companies in its program last week, raising $24 million in venture funding (bringing their total to $34 million) from some 75 venture funds and angel investors. Of course, TechStars plans to use that money to give $100,000 of additional seed finance to every single startup admitted to one of its programs in 2012 and beyond.

The funding could make the accelerator even more competitive than it is today from an admissions perspective. The pool of entrepreneurs vying for one of 60 spots in this prestigious franchise--currently operating in Boulder, Boston, New York, and Seattle--faces a 99% likelihood of rejection, reports David Cohen, CEO and founder of TechStars (in image above, left with David Tisch, right).

Raise your hand if you love data.

Now raise your hand if data presented like this makes you want to stick a fork in your eye:

It’s colorful. It’s brimming with data. But HOLY HORSESHOE is it confusing!

Having data is awesome. Using it to persuade others is powerful. Presenting it in a way that inspires eye-forking is criminal.

Sales.

It’s the lifeblood of any organization and yet most startups don’t have any sales DNA on their teams. It’s important enough that I dedicate a tab on my blog to startup sales & marketing

This week I had the chance to have an hour-long discussion with Vince Thompson (ran West Coast sales for AOL for 7 years – back in the day when AOL was what Facebook is today) and Mo Ali, who has the awesome Twitter handle @BornToCall – runs sales at This Week In.

KANSAS CITY, MO, Sep 30, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Entrepreneurs heading some of America's fastest growing privately held companies have told the Kauffman Foundation that they plan to continue to grow in the United States provided they are able to find qualified people to add to their firms.

The poll was conducted during the Inc. 500|5000 Conference & Awards Ceremony held Sept. 22-24, 2011, in National Harbor, Md. Entrepreneurs attending the event shared their views on the prospects for continued growth, their plans for expansion and the barriers that could stand in the way. Among the key results:

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, saying “make me an offer,” or quoting an exorbitant number.

I’ve written about this before, but it’s a mysterious subject, and I’m always learning more. This time I’ll use a hypothetical health-care web site company named NewCo as an example to illustrate the points.

Two founders have spent $200K of personal and family funds over a one year period to start the company, get a prototype site up and running, and have already generated some “buzz” in the Internet community. The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary.