Innovators Network

IBM's "Liquid Metal" Solar Technology Sets Stage For Clean Energy Revolution

IBM is moving its technology focus to new and exciting areas, including solar panels that use liquid metal as a cooling mechanism allowing for a tremendous leap forward in energy density and efficiency. Nanotechnology Now reports "IBM scientists are using a large lens to concentrate the Sun's power, capturing a record 230 watts onto a centimeter square solar cell, in a technology known as concentrator photovoltaics, or CPV. That energy is then converted into 70 watts of usable electrical power, about five times the electrical power density generated by typical cells using CPV technology in solar farms." This increase in density generates immense heat that can melt stainless steel, so IBM scientists turned to computer chip cooling research and incorporated a rare alloy to cope with the extreme temperatures. "[The] IBM team used a very thin layer of a liquid metal made of a gallium and indium compound that they applied between the chip and a cooling block. Such layers, called thermal interface layers, transfer the heat from the chip to the cooling block so that the chip temperature can be kept low. The IBM liquid metal solution offers the best thermal performance available today, at low costs, and the technology was successfully developed by IBM to cool high power computer chips earlier." A great secondary application of an old technology and an innovative, green one at that! "Liquid Metal" at the Center of IBM Innovation to Significantly Reduce Cost of Concentrator Photovoltaic Cells for the win.

The Brazil Times writes on a potential problem that few small businesses address but one that should be preemptively acted on, nonetheless. Strategies for small-business owners explains the issue and offers a solution: "Protect your business against the loss of a key employee. If you have an employee with valuable management or sales skills, and this person were to die unexpectedly, your business could suffer. That's why you may want to write a "key-person" life insurance plan on this employee. In its simplest form, key-person coverage pays cash to your company, which is usually the policy beneficiary, when the designated employee dies or becomes disabled. Key-person insurance also can be structured to fund deferred-compensation arrangements or buyouts agreements between partners." While this might sound a bit morbid, in principle protecting your business against the unexpected departure of a "key person" is just smart and common sense.

UK-based Gordon Whyte explains the world of venture capitalism at his blog in The inside of a VC company or VC 101. Whyte's piece is a primer of sorts, but engaging and fairly thorough. A paragraph on compensation to whet your VC knowledge appetite: "In a typical venture capital fund, the general partners receive an annual management fee equal to 2% of the committed capital to the fund and 20% of the net profits (also known as "carried interest") of the fund; a so-called "two and 20" arrangement, comparable to the compensation arrangements for many hedge funds. Strong Limited Partner interest in top-tier venture firms has led to a general trend toward terms more favorable to the venture partnership, and many groups now have carried interest of 25-30% on their funds. Because a fund may run out of capital prior to the end of its life, larger VCs usually have several overlapping funds at the same time; this lets the larger firm keep specialists in all stages of the development of firms almost constantly engaged." The carried interest part is what caused such a kerfluffle in the US not so long ago, as Congress was hoping to change the tax laws a bit to scoop some dollars from venture capitalists' gains.

Watch a video featuring Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist and entrepreneur extraordinaire, at Christopher Duffel's my take on things blog and learn how Khosla, self-made man and very successful businessman, bootstrapped himself to fame and fortune. Also of note is Khosla's take on greentech investment and what he sees in the future for venture capital successes, and failures.

VentureBeat.com's Dan Kaplan reports on an excellent opportunity to compete for prizes worth $100K if entrepreneurship and cleantech are your thing. "The California Clean Tech Open (CCTO) stands out as one of the biggest business plan competitions around. Each year, researchers from some of the most prestigious labs in the country meet with entrepreneurs who can dream up ways to turn their work into gold. Out of 45-50 finalists in the CCTO start-up boot camp, five winners receive cash and professional services totaling around $100,000 each, but each finalist comes out with a fully fleshed out business plan and a lot of valuable connections. (You can enter this year’s competition here.)" Originally an alcohol-fueled MIT get-together, CCTO has evolved into a "real" event with sponsors, prizes and plenty of interest. There might even be a little boozin' it up involved, but you'll have to participate in the event to find out for yourself. Full details in DFJ’s Steve Jurveston on a clean tech business plan competition and playing god.

Friday Fun Fact: Germans love David Hasselhoff

Startup Rotoblock Touts Super-efficient Engine Technology

The internal combustion engine (ICE) has remained a mostly static technology for almost 100 years and appears doomed to be replaced by either electric motors or hybrid systems that use 4-stroke engines as a supplement to an electric motor. Startup company Rotoblock.com, however, believes they have an ICE design that could change the century-old engine from a dying dinosaur to ultra-efficient marathon racer. From an InvestorIdeas.com news release: "Rotoblock has patented what is called the Oscillating Piston Engine, which they believe can increase the power-to-weight ratio by up to four times that of today's ICE. What's more, they are researching other drive train and power delivery technologies that may increase the efficiency of thousands of today's consumer products exponentially. The Company has attracted an ambitious new management team led by a Chinese-American entrepreneur who is exploring new business opportunities in China that can bring the Oscillating Piston Engine and other technologies to world markets." Get inside the latest scoop on clean, mean engine machines in Rotoblock Inspires Innovation for the 100-Year-Old Internal Combustion Engine.

Not everyone is happy with the FCC's plan to allow portable white space devices to take advantage of bandwidth frequencies located between TV channels for a variety of applications, including Tennessee's Grand Ole Opry. Matthew Lasar at ArsTechnica.com reports on the hoedown showdown: "'We know all too well that there is no 'second chance' to redo a live performance,' five parties [Ed. including the Grand Ole Opry] warned the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. 'The white spaces proposals being considered by the FCC could turn 'Music City' into a silent city unless they get it right. As it stands, these proposals will not provide critical protection to the wireless microphone systems that are integral to every show.'" A few pro-white space companies, including Google.com, have suggested methods to ensure current wireless microphone technology will continue to function interference-free, but there are still concerns over the proposed solutions. For more on how Nashville stands to lose one of its biggest moneymakers if white space is opened up to a wireless free-for-all, read Grand Ole Opry raises ruckus over White Space broadband.

Check out the summary of a worthy piece of sleuthing that unveils what's happening in Third World countries and get your knowledge on. From Docuticker.com: "The 'Innovation in emerging markets: 2008 annual study' by Deloitte’s Global Manufacturing Industry Group explores how manufacturers from developed and developing countries view product safety, product quality and environmental standards in emerging markets and how they are managing their exposure to risk stemming from sourcing from these markets. Based on a global survey of more than 650 executives across various manufacturing sectors including: industrial equipment, process industries, automotive, consumer goods, medical equipment/pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and aerospace and defense, the report provides perspectives on how companies are:

Responding to risks in emerging market sourcing
Taking steps to upgrading standards
Selecting emerging market suppliers
Monitoring emerging market suppliers
Building a sustainable supply chain

If any of those areas are of interest, read the entire report (*.pdf warning)for yourself (free, but requires registration).

Everyone, and I mean everyone, loves a Stephen Covey-esque play on words title, so why not indulge in a little silliness and read Top 10 Habits of Successful Small Business Owners at WatchMeFranchise.com? From my own personal experience with small business owners (disclosure: I am not a small business person myself) I really like this habit: "9. Open to Suggestions
In addition to being able to communicate with others, you also need to be able to listen. No one is ever-right 100% of the time, and there are times that even the most successful business owner will need to heed the advice of others." I consider myself a knowledgeable and sometimes know-it-all kind of guy, but when you are in business, it behooves one to surround one's self with people who have areas of expertise that you might not, so you can free up your mind and time to focus on the things that you are an expert in and grow your business. No (wo)man is an island in the big sea of entrepreneurship, so take all the help you can get!

From DataGrant Venture Capital News comes an exciting report on a proposed program by the National Venture Capital Association to help kids smarten up: "In an effort to improve the education standards in the United States and to bring these standards to international levels, the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in collaboration with NewSchools Venture Funds have decided to create a multi-million dollar philanthropic venture fund. Primarily, the start-up organizations would be the ones benefiting the most from this K-12 Infrastructure Fund. These two associations will be investing in those start-up organizations that have aimed towards building high-performance public schools. These small organizations are planning to achieve their goals by developing innovative human capital solutions and performance tools. This massive project was unveiled in front of 700 eager venture capitalists at the NCVA Annual Meeting In Santa Clara, California." A great way to give back to the community and also a clever solution to answer the question of how to generate future startups to invest in and profit from handsomely.

Small Businesses Can And Should Outsource Non-critical Tasks

Lesley Spencer Pyle provides us with a guide to outsourcing routine business tasks that might be getting in the way of expanding your fledgling mini-empire in her article at Entrepreneur.com. Outsourcing to Grow Your Home Business lists a number of non-skilled things that can easily be handled by someone other than yourself so that you may better focus your limited energy on the things that make your business successful. Spencer Pyle writes, "The hardest part of outsourcing is giving up the reins on your "baby." The easiest way to start comfortably delegating to others is to make a list of all of the tasks you do on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Of those items, determine what you don't like to do and what's taking up the majority of your time." Then find a service or individual to take over the completion of those particular duties and "Viola!" you'll have more hours to devote to your particular specialty. Takeaway thought: "Getting over the do-it-yourself syndrome by delegating to others reveals a higher level of potential for you and your company."

Innovation can be found in unexpected industries and a simple change in the way contracting is performed, say, in the construction field, can have long-reaching positive implications and unexpected benefits. The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) in the UK takes a deeper look at collaborative framework agreements that replaced the industry-standard single tender agreements in Capturing innovation in the construction industry. Director of Constructing Excellence, Peter Cunningham, explains the previous (and inefficient) model: "a number of organisations come together in a supply chain, they work on a project, and then as soon as it's finished they walk away and all the knowledge is lost." Under the innovative changes in procurement and the lasting partnerships formed during a project, "you keep that knowledge from one project, enabling you to learn lessons and apply those lessons to the next." Institutional knowledge is maintained and carried to the next bid, increasing efficiency and speed. The relatively new method of fulfilling the work requirements for a project are already reaping benefits as evident in the very successful St. George's Wharf project in Vauxhall, London.

How can you begin to be innovative? Scott Berkun seeks to help reveal a few ways anyone can strive to become more inventive and creative in their business pursuits in How to innovate right now at his blog. "There is no substitute for firsthand experience when creating things. The unique aspects of who you are, including qualities you may not like about yourself, are an asset when it comes to creative thinking. No one can see the world exactly the way that you do. This means that if you can experience, watch, or make something yourself, you may discover lessons and make observations that other people failed to notice. Those observations are the seeds of innovation: You might see an old idea or tool in a way no one else in your family, business, or city has before, and if you follow it, an innovation might be yours." So it would seem careful watching is key to seeing things in a new way, which is wonderfully simple and evident, but not a method that many would single out as being key to disruptive innovation. Berkun lays out another profound thought on newness and why you must choose the path less taken to arrive at the destination less frequented: "the knowledge we have today about the universe did not come from magic books that have been sitting around waiting for us since the dawn of time. It came from curious people who not only asked questions, but followed them to places others weren’t willing to go."

Is being "hyperconnected" the way to work efficiency and a fat raise, or is it a distracting and ineffectual nuisance that threatens to create an army of ADHD-worker drones without the ability to focus? ArsTechnica.com's David Chartier reviews a recent study conducted by the IDC of 2,400 men and women in 17 countries in a short, but revealing piece. "The IDC defines a hyperconnected individual as 'reasonably happy with their work/life balance, even though they use almost all devices and applications for both, and they are willing to communicate with work on vacation, in restaurants, from bed, and even in places of worship.'" These individuals are increasingly blurring the boundaries between work and play, home and office, and private and public spaces. Along with an heightened need for connectivity, IT infrastructures will need to be tweaked to handle the additional requirements of being available 24/7 including security controls and additional bandwidth to ensure continued functionality. No off switch: "Hyperconnectivity" on the rise for the rest of the story.

Also from ArsTechnica.com, Ryan Paul reports that things are heating up in the nasty legal battle between Craigslist.org and eBay.com: "The legal tussle between Craigslist and eBay escalated today with the revelation that Craigslist has filed a countersuit alleging that eBay engaged in unfair competition, false advertising, trademark infringement, and breach of fiduciary duty. The details of the case were made public in a legal filing published on the official Craiglist blog, and it condemns eBay's conduct as 'unlawful and unfair.'" Hints of boardroom intrigues and dirty dealings abound: "Craiglist allegedly held secret meetings, appointed a new board designee to eBay without informing the company, and instituted policies that would prevent eBay from selling shares of Craigslist to anyone other than the company's current shareholders." These policies were instituted after eBay launched a direct competitor to Craigslist.org, Kijiji.com (N.B. What kind of name is that?). Kijiji.com is referred to as the "Craigslist killer" in internal eBay documents, so not much chance that anyone would wonder why both sides are showing bared teeth and sharpening their cutlasses. Look for some world-class grappling and boarding in the near future...

Inside The Annual National Venture Capital Association Meeting

The annual National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) meeting draws plenty of interest from those on the receiving end of funding and Anthony Ha has some first-hand reporting at VentureBeat.com that should help slake your thirst for the lowdown on two of the industry's "titans," John Doerr (Kleiner Perkins) and Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital). Both men have an almost unassailable ability to pick entrepreneurial winners and currently are swapping the number one position on Forbes' Midas list as the richest of the top tech deal makers in the world. The two interviewed each other on the stage and "[w]hen Doerr asked Moritz what one thing he would change about the industry, Moritz responded, 'I think there’s a lot of hot air and arrogance in the business that we would all be better off without.'" When asked about the formula for becoming a wealthy entrepreneur, Doerr quipped "the founders of successful companies 'all seem to be white, male nerds who’ve dropped out of Stanford or Harvard and have no social life.'" For more interesting tidbits from the billionaire VC investor point-of-view, check out The ‘titans’ of venture capital: Entrepreneurs, we’re here to serve you.

Springwise.com features an idea whose time has come: the one-stop wellness shopping center. Based in South Africa, this particular feel-good "warehouse" hopes to attract spare cash from the pockets of the upwardly mobile and health-seeking middle class: "All Wellness Warehouse stores emphasize eco-friendly, organic, biodegradable and ethical products and services, with an experience that's inviting, inspiring and informative. Targeting affluent, eco-minded consumers, Wellness Warehouse aims to provide one-stop shopping for everything a healthy lifestyle requires." Although the idea of providing extra services and products aimed at assuaging guilty consumers' anguished sense of liberal enviro-protectionism isn't a new one, this particular venture is sure to be a hit with hippies from all walks of life. Read the complete piece for all the happy, patchouli-scented details.

Also from VentureBeat.com comes news of more Lightspeed Venture Partners fundraising activities courtesy of Chris Morrison. "The fresh Lightspeed fund is almost twice the size of its last raise, which topped out at $475 million two years ago. It seems like a lot to invest. But the firm is expanding its game. It will continue to invest in early-stage investment in the United States and Israel, but put more focus on later-stage investments in China and India." Lightspeed is not a solo operator in its interest in the East, it would seem. "That trend became most notable last year, when Sequoia Capital kicked its highly-respected LP Yale University to the curb for refusing to put money toward the firm’s risky-looking global investments, like its vegetable farm in China. Along with cleantech — the reason for Kleiner Perkins’ extra $500M — global investment is the top reason that many VCs have started raising funds sized more to private equity[,]" Morrison continues. The rest of the story can be found here.

"Does the Federal Circuit have authority to expand on the Supreme Court's limitations to patent-eligible subject matter? Does patent coverage require that the invention involve a physical transformation? And what does the Federal Circuit's own test for business method patentability -- that the method produce a “useful, concrete and tangible result” -- even mean?" For the answers to these, and other pertinent IP legal questions, be sure to check out Law.com's Judges Ask for More Concrete Patent Test piece that explains some of the difficulties being faced by patent lawyers and law-makers in light of weak protections and fluctuating legislation. Plus there are a few baseball references involved, which should at least provide a bit of comic relief if not also keep the reader interested in what some might call a bit of dry subject matter.

Pharmaceutical Business Review reports on a well-fought victory by medical device maker VNUS in a recent article. "Vnus Medical Technologies has announced that the US Patent & Trademark Office has decided to allow a second continuation patent application related to the patents in the Vnus patent infringement lawsuit against suppliers of endovenous laser products." The San Jose, California-based company has had its share of troubles in the not-too-distant past with IP theft and infringement so this decision is quite a windfall. "Vnus has sued several endovenous laser manufacturers (Diomed, Angiodynamics, and Vascular Solutions) for infringement of Vnus patents. That lawsuit is currently scheduled to begin trial against non-bankrupt defendants Angiodynamics and Vascular Solutions on June 23, 2008." VNUS stands to win award damages of a substantial nature if they are successful in their pursuit of this lawsuit. For more information on the technology in question, be sure to visit their website.

Idris Mootee: Modern Marketing Practices Miss The Mark

Idris Mootee writes on the sorry state of modern marketing guidelines in a recent post to his blog, innovation playground, and finds that the old school model of selling to the masses is terribly outdated and unfocused: "Advertising agencies need to move from a factory model back to the idea model, put down the 50 years legacy and collective egos (creative awards ) and look to the future. You are in the ideas business. We live in the age of the idea. “Service Design” is the new discipline for the manifestation of the idea business, not product design alone and "Social Networks" are where circle of trust will be formed. That's where the game is." Idris calls for no more dinner-time telemarketing phone calls, an end to "digital billboard"-style ad campaigns, and best of all, wants a new model for catching customers (and their dollars!). That idea is "to start a simple idea to engage, empower and energize customers" and use the 3 E method to drive success instead of No-call lists and angry non-customers.

Stowe Boyd quotes Hugh McLeod, of cartoon fame, and learns that creatives must continue to go where others fear to tread if they want to enjoy eventual success and fame. "A sense of purpose only comes your way usually because you've been working your ass off over a long period of time, intensely cultivating it. And yeah, sometimes that will appear to more mainstream people as 'Having no life'. To hell with them. They don't know or care about you. Successful people get that way by doing the stuff unsuccessful people aren't willing to do. Harsh but true." Often times, the truth is hard to swallow; a bitter pill, but once ingested, it can eliminate the sickness of doubt and risk-aversion. Boyd adds his own words of encouragement to the argument in favor of going it alone, come hell or high water: "[T]he time spent apart in pursuit of purpose and the outcome of that pursuit -- in cartoons, writing, music, or working software -- balance the costs, that the juice is worth the squeeze." Ready to drink in some fresh creativity? Check out The Costs Of Being A Creative at /Message.

How do VC funding dollars equate to startup financial needs? They don't! According to Dharmesh Shah, at OnStartups.com, "There's no correlation between the amount of money an entrepreneur actually needs and the money a venture capitalist puts into the business." How is this possible, you ask yourself? Shah clarifies his point: "I'm talking about software companies and I'm talking about the Series A investment (first institutional money). Also, if I had done the interview in writing, I likely would have said there's little correlation instead of no correlation. But, my larger point still stands. The way the system works, you often don't raise what you need, you raise what you can." Which means, obviously, that on the oft occasion, VCs throw more cash than is absolutely necessary at a pick and the entrepreneur, flush with extra green, tends to fritter away more valuable dollars than required for any given task. More thoughts on incremental funding in Shah's blog post, Scalable Funding: Can Venture Capital Be More Like Amazon EC2?

Can folding your arms provide perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity? According to a piece at Canada.com ("Where perspectives connect"), absolutely. "University students randomly assigned to sit with their arms crossed spent more time on an impossible-to-solve anagram, or word scramble, in one experiment, and came up with more correct solutions to solvable anagrams in another than those told to sit with their hands on their thighs. The study is the first to show that arm crossing affects people's thinking without them being consciously aware of it." This is in stark contrast to previous thoughts that connected a psychological state of mind to a physical manifestation of that feeling. People are often seen crossing their arms as an outward indication of inner stubbornness or an attitude of negativity, but little did researchers suspect that this very same posture could have the unintended benefit of creating additional perseverance in test subjects. Takeaway thought: having a hard time sticking to something? Cross your arms and enjoy a boost in your ability to finish any given task or project. Folding your arms can help your brain for complete coverage.

How did Tata arrive at the Nano, a car that will cost $2.5K and provide "safer" transportation for millions of upwardly-mobile Indian families? BusinessWeek.com presents Inside the Tata Nano Factory as a way to peer into the crucible that formed this upstart company's "people's car." Author Manjeet Kripilani writes "the story of the Nano is not confined to its impact on the auto industry. It's a tale that illuminates the India of today—an eager, ambitious nation with a combination of engineering talent, a desire for low costs and value, and the hunger of young managers looking to break from a hidebound corporate environment. Indeed, the team that worked on the Nano—on average aged between 25 and 30—has helped to flatten Tata Motors' stodgy, multilayered management structure, which has resulted in an unexpected side-benefit Wagh calls 'organizational innovation.'" Making money is the focus of any profit-based business venture, but is this the best thing to be building in times of growing concerns over global warming and record-high oil prices?

The "Luxury" version of the car features fog lamps, power windows and A/C.

US House of Representatives Passes Pro-IP Bill

Ryan Paul reports on the passage of the Pro-IP Bill in an article for ArsTechnica.com today. "MPAA chairman Dan Glickman applauded the House for passing the bill and expresses hope that it will move just as quickly through the Senate. 'We applaud the members of the House of Representatives for passing the PRO-IPA Act, H.R. 4279. It is a comprehensive, bipartisan measure that will strengthen our nation's economy and generate more jobs for American workers by bolstering protections for intellectual property,' Glickman said in a statement. 'Given the difficult economic times we face, the PRO-IPA Act is welcome by both the business and labor communities because it can improve our nation's economic outlook. I hope the Senate will move quickly to pass similar legislation.'" Recession or not, the Senate does not seem very hot to pick up its version of the bill and the White House appears to be in the mood for a pass should the Senate approve their part of the legislation.

Entrepreneur.com has a Daily column, and one of today's pieces features a program for U.S. military veterans that hopes to ease the transition from soldiering to civilian life. "At the Arizona Veterans' Small Business Conference, taking place on June 11 and 12, 2008, veterans will learn how to maximize contract procurement for their businesses. The conference, which will be held at the Fort McDowell Resort and Casino in Scottsdale, Arizona, will include discussions, workshops and seminars on networking, partnering and marketing your business. More details and registration information can be found on their website." If you are separated from the service and live in the greater Phoenix metro area, why not check out the conference and see if you can gain from this special get-together?

Lijit Network's CEO Todd Vernon pens a detailed and lengthy blog post on angel investing that is well worth the time it takes to read it. Vernon has been on both sides of VC funding and has a firm grasp on the complexities and varieties of different opportunities that one might encounter during the investment process. Vernon opens with this backgrounder: "I have been on both sides of the Angel Investment table. Lijit was Angel funded for the first year of its life. We raised approximately $900K from a combination of friends, family and seed professional investors. On the flip side I have made several Angel investments in other local companies – with varying success. Based on this sample set plus other random data I have collected along the way, I have established a basic way to look at Angel Financing." For a peek at his thoughts, check out Angel Financing at his falseprecision blog.

"When you perceive your business partner to demonstrate characteristics of ethics, your confidence that all parties will execute on the deal increases. Or to restate that, your risk that your partner will not execute is lowered. Business Entrepreneurship is driven by the the trust that you can execute." This is the key idea in a piece on business ethics at ISMFA the Blog. Without ethics and trust, the whole pyramid of business would rapidly disintegrate into a chaotic pile of economic rubble. Another thought from the post: "[E]thics is part of the risk equation that stakeholders in a deal utilize to evaluate whether the deal will be completed successfully and fairly to all parties. It is this trust component that provides a statistically significant competitive edge to the entrepreneur as they negotiate the rapidly changing landscape of launching a new business enterprise." Be sure to earn, and keep the trust of those you deal with in your business, as without it, you're destined to fail.

From Nanowerk News comes information on venture capital funding in the nanotechnology world: "Venture capital (VC) firms invested $702 million in nanotechnology start-ups last year across 61 deals, slightly down from $738 million across 73 deals in 2006. But this VC spending is sharply out of sync with investment returns. Although application-oriented life-sciences companies have delivered the majority of VC returns in nanotech, VC firms consistently devote most of their funding to companies in other areas, according to a new report from Lux Research entitled 'How Venture Capitalists Are Misplaying Nanotech.'" VCs should be focusing on these life-sciences companies if they want to continue to reap the benefits of technology advances in the nanotech sector. Dollars invested elsewhere are lost opportunities and a fool's errand.

Friday Fun Fact: Germans love David Hasselhoff.      

TechCrunch50 Conference To Feature Tech Luminaries

Michael Arrington, of TechCrunch.com renown, announces the latest panel members of the TechCrunch50 Conference 2008 and the list of luminaries is sure to impress even the most jaded of startup mavens. Arrington touts: "I’m proud to announce that Ning’s Marc Andreessen, Sequoia Capital’s Roelof Botha and Google’s Marissa Mayer will join us on September 8 - 10 in San Francisco for the TechCrunch50 conference Panel of Experts. The experts will judge the fifty startups launching at the event, and then discuss each of the demos on stage as a group." These are highly-desirable guests for any tech-related function and for the lucky 50 startups who are going to pitch at the conference, the allure of being raked over the hot coals of VC judgment should bring 'em in like bees to honey. More details on TechCrunch50 here and the complete piece can be found here for your anticipatory enjoyment.

A recent BusinessWeek.com piece blows apart the boogeyman myth of off-shoring America's jobs and innovation with backup figures and facts from the National Academy's Innovation in Global Industries report. From the Academy: "[I]n sectors from software and semiconductors to biotech and logistics, America's lead in creating new products and services has remained remarkably resilient over the past decade—even as more research and development by U.S. companies is done offshore." This doesn't mean that some segments of America's innovative might haven't been moved to other locations, rather, off-shoring allows the U.S. to focus on what it does best, and remain at the top of the game. "[G]iven all the debate over offshoring, the report's central findings are interesting. The authors marshal a wealth of evidence to show that, thanks to innovation, globalization hasn't eroded U.S. leadership even in some industries where there has been a substantial offshore shift in engineering and design." More coverage of the report and its implications in Is U.S. Innovation Headed Offshore? by Pete Engardio.

Another myth is that of the ever-young entrepreneur and the idea that being older makes one unable to be a successful startup team member. However, this is not the case, according to a WSJ blog entry that David J. Miller comments on in a post at his Campus Entrepreneurship blog. From the WSJ story: "[T]he average tech entrepreneur was 39-years old when the company was founded, says a survey released Thursday by the Kauffman Foundation. The survey asked questions of 652 U.S.-born execs at tech companies started between 1995 and 2005 and with revenues of at least $1 million. Not only was the average founder pushing middle age, but also nearly five times as many founders were over 45 (24%) as were younger than 25 (5%) when their companies got off the ground. Only 8% of founders hadn’t completed a college degree, contrary to the image of the Bill-Gates-like college dropout. Forty percent had a masters degree or a PhD." Miller writes of this revelation and how it relates specifically to his particular brand of innovation: "For campus entrepreneurs that employ advanced technical skills and extensive campus resources (both human and physical) during the opportunity identification and firm development phase, we expect entrepreneurs to be older and hold or being working towards advanced degrees."

Some encouraging words about why America is one of the best places to be an entrepreneur, bar none, from Ben Casnocha: "In the United States, if you have the courage to start a business, you are celebrated and you are encouraged. You are seen as an innovator, a pioneer, a successful rebel. If you fail -- and there’s a good chance you will if you start your own business -- most Americans will shrug it off as a learning opportunity. There’s no shame in failing. Families, schools, and the media alike share this acceptance of failure." This is in stark contrast to the startup environment of some nations, say France, where failure is seen as a black mark that can never be erased and carries with it a social stigma that would forever slam the door on future attempts to do something risky and new.

In an interview with Deepak Shenoy, founder of Moneyoga.com, Kamla Bhatt learns a bit about entrepreneurship in India with some tidbits of wisdom that apply to any business and should help any innovative hopefuls make a good choice in taking the self-employment plunge. Shenoy says "I think people overrate entrepreneurship. It’s not the Holy Grail, and it definitely won’t make things happen any better than if you worked at big-name company. That disappointment tends to kill a lot of startups way early in the process." So what does self-employed entrepreneurship bring to the table in terms of positives? Check out the piece for yourself and see how one successful Indian entrepreneur navigated the way to the open seas of financial happiness.

Health Care Costs Stifle Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Professor Jeff Cornwall at Belmont University, reminds us that increasing health care costs are a growing liability to small businesses and the entrepreneurial spirit with his recent post.  Cornwall quotes the facts and figures: "According to the 2008 American Express OPEN Spring Monitor, small business owners have made the following changes since the 2007 American Express OPEN Fall Monitor, released in September.

- 34% do not offer health care coverage to employees; 29% didn’t offer coverage in September 2007

- 6% have reduced coverage in the last six months; 4% reduced coverage in the six months preceding September 2007

- 6% have eliminated coverage altogether in the last six months; 2% eliminated coverage in the six months preceding September 2007

- 9% have required employees to pay a larger share of health care costs over the last six months; 5% required employees to pay a larger share in the six months preceding September 2007

- 20% have been shopping for a new health care carrier in the last six months; 15% were shopping for a new carrier in the six months preceding September 2007

Those numbers all point to the same outcome. Fewer people will be willing to take the risk of being their own boss if that means being unable to have health care at an affordable price. We simply have to do something in this country to make it possible for all citizens to have some basic level of health care. I realize it's business, but we're not talking about widgets and iPods here, we're talking about people's lives and well-being. Maybe I should have been a doctor instead of a blogger?!

From the Cleantech Department at VentureBeat.com comes an energetic piece on the excitement surrounding a new and innovative method to produce fuel from cellulose by Chris Morrison. "Range, Mascoma, Coskata and others are all racing to raise huge amounts in an attempt to bring the world’s first full-scale cellulosic plant online. The stakes are high: If the process proves to be cheap enough, investors will be eager to pour money into new plants. On the other hand, waiting to see if competitors fail won’t be particularly helpful — each company has its own proprietary process." These are multi-million dollar deals with some big names in the venture capital world involved and hopes are running high for huge successes, despite the very real risks of spectacular failure. Cellulosic processing for fuel is a cutting-edge technology, but with oil at $120 a barrel and the possibility of it going much, much higher, any alternative source of fuel for engines is receiving scads of attention from investors hungry to capitalize on the race for a solution. Oh, that and greed.

Orson Scott Card, author of the popular novel "Ender's Game," does a post mortem on the J.K. Rowling Vs. Lexicon author Steven Vander Ark and really lets Rowling have it. "Rowling's hypocrisy is so thick I can hardly breathe: Prior to the publication of each novel, there were books about them that were no more intrusive than Lexicon. I contributed to one of them, and there was no complaint about it from Rowling or her publishers because they knew perfectly well that these fan/scholar ancillary publications were great publicity and actually boosted sales." Card also points out that Rowling's crocodile tears are nothing more than a failed attempt to mask her insecurity and greed, despite riches that would make Midas jealous: "Even though she made more money than the queen or Oprah Winfrey in some years, she had to see her books pushed off the bestseller lists and consigned to a special "children's book" list. Litterateurs sneer at her work as a kind of subliterature, not really worth discussing. It makes her insane. The money wasn't enough. She wants to be treated with respect." And every knows you can't buy respect. More fighting words in J.K. Rowling, Lexicon and Oz.

Wired.com gets into the game of ex parte lawsuit reportage with the recent Ryan Singel piece Universities Baffled By Massive Surge In RIAA Copyright Notices. Singel writes of the increase: "In the last 10 days, universities around the country have seen more than a 20-fold increase in the number of filesharing takedown notices from the recording industry, in an unexplained spike that seems focused on colleges in the Midwest. The spike is not matched by an increase in actual file sharing." That seems a bit odd, don't you think, constant reader? What could be the cause of all this RIAA activity if not for an increase in piracy on campuses? Maybe they're afraid that some prescient judge with smack them down and put a stop to all this anonymous threatening and force the RIAA to buck it up and start smelling the P2P file-sharing reality. Smells like a rotten, sinking ship to me. Critics of the increase point out that watchdogs like the MPAA and RIAA "radically overestimated how much movie piracy was attributable to college students. For more than two years, the industry claimed that more than 40 percent of illegal movie downloads came from college students -- costing the industry billions of dollars. Then in January of this year, the estimate was reduced to 15% for college-aged students, and only 3% occurring on campus networks." College students must be much easier to squeeze than Chinese nationals...

Check out Dell's Small Business Excellence Award program for the latest news of finalist selection and learn how you might cash in to the tune of $50K. From the site: "If you are an owner, president, or chief executive of a company with 100 employees or less that has driven a significant change and/or developed a competitive advantage in delivering superior customer value and experience, we want to hear your story. In addition, we want you to share customer testimonials to show how technology has helped you improve customer relationships." You can also see the 2007 winners and learn other business-helpful tips to help your company grow while making best use of technology. Official rules can be found here.

IP From Failed Startups Often Underutilized

Over at the TechCrunch.com blog, media maven Michael Arrington asks a pertinent question today: What To Do With Failed Startup IP? The intro paints the picture: "The large majority of most startups fail, and a lot of them have software, patents and other intellectual property that may be of value to the community. This IP could help those startups avoid wasting time reinventing the wheel, find creative ways to solve problems, etc. In a perfect world, the best of this property would be made available via a clearing house, or turned open source. Many founders would love to see their work live on in other projects and would be open to this." How to recoup the costs of and investments in IP after the founders give up on their dream to build a better mousetrap 2.0? "Creditors and investors could agree up front, via a standard clause added to agreements, that any IP that isn’t obviously valuable on its face would be turned over to a third party for a quick analysis and determination of its value (financial and otherwise). That third party could decide to sell anything of value, keeping a percentage of the sale (and giving them an incentive to find value when it’s there), and simply release the code for anything that may be interesting but has little immediate commercial value." Arrington also suggests that there might be a way to get the open-source-y Creative Commons set of principles involved.

In a somewhat related piece, Mike Masnick at TechDirt.com tackles the practice of leaving the patent mark on products which are no longer protected after the expiration of the rights period. "While there may be practical reasons (the marking process was already in place) for continuing to announce the patent, it's troublesome because it's claiming monopoly rights that the holder does not have and may scare off others from making use of a public domain concept. In this age where so many patent holders view patents as important property, it's no surprise that they have trouble letting go once the patent expires and the concept is moved into the public domain." In the comment section, a few contributors suggest that businesses are actually doing a favor by listing the patents that used to cover a given product so that the clever business person can look them up, and if expired, not pay royalties on the IP. Is It Illegal To Announce A Patent On Something After That Patent Has Expired? for more details.

Business owners should be aware of what tightening bank credit by the Feds means for cash flow and loan availability, so by all means check out a piece covering exactly that topic by Professor Jeff Cornwall at Belmont University. Cornwall explains why businesses should be extra careful to manage their valuable credit dollars very diligently if they want to keep enjoying access to the bank's reserves: "[A] common condition is to maintain a certain debt coverage ratio, which measures how comfortably your cash flow covers your loan obligations. If you dip below the agreed upon ratio, the bank may step in and require you to improve your performance. If you don't, the bank can call your loan even if you never missed or were late with a payment." This means that you'll have to take your loan to another bank under decidedly less favorable terms and your profits and business could suffer as a consequence. Even though it might be harder than ever, now is the time to pay down debts and consolidate assets to help weather out the economic storm.

"Get rich quick" has a familiar, if somewhat unpromising ring to it, and any entrepreneur hoping to bring their killer product to market right away with dreams of cashing in need to temper their enthusiasm with a bit of common sense, which, fortunately can be found in a recent piece by Tamara Monosoff, Entrepreneur.com's "Inventions" columnist and successful author of books on how to be successful in business. Putting Time Into Your Product walks the pie-in-the-sky visionary in all of us through the process of keeping our feet firmly on terra firma while pursuing the prudent and necessary path to security and profits." Monosoff advises: "I'd like to provide a better picture of what's real so you know what to expect and how you can plan your business realistically and successfully. In other words, it may not be wise to quit your day job just yet, or to empty your bank account of every last penny, because you probably won't make the money back soon enough to compensate. That's because bringing a product to market and becoming an entrepreneur isn't a short-term solution. It can, however, be an amazing way to build long-term wealth, as well as provide other rewards like creativity and flexibility. If you go into it with your eyes open, the better your eventual chances to make those millions you're dreaming about." Sound like your ball of wax? Be sure to read the complete piece and get on the road to wealth in a slow-and-steady kind of way.

If you are an e-lancer and work for yourself in the world of the Internet, one of the most frustrating obstacles you face when soliciting new work is the question of quoting a price for your work. Fret no more, gentle reader! WebWorkerDaily, a GigaOm affiliate website, comes to the rescue with a topical piece sure to lead you to more profitable and fair contracts. Why You Shouldn’t Just Give a Quote to Potential Clients explains the pitfalls of poorly conceived and executed contracts/bidding and then gives you some expert tips on how to overcome them. "A quote is simple and straightforward, and it works on an equally simple and straightforward request. This includes scenarios like a request to write a 700-word movie review, resizing a banner you made for a previous project, or installing a widget on your client’s blog. A quote can also work as part of a response to an ad - provided that all the necessary project specifications are already listed and outline by those doing the hiring." The piece also covers the vagaries of a proposal instead of a quote to round out the offerings.

Wallace And Gromit Inspire Youth With Cracking Ideas Programme

OK. I freely admit it. I like Wallace and Gromit, the wacky cheese-loving claymation characters from Aaardman Animations, and I like them even more now that I found out they have a program called Cracking Ideas to inspire young people to invent and patent their ideas! From PR-USA.net comes this nugget: "Little Sam Houghton's idea to help his Dad sweep up leaves has resulted in him becoming the youngest known holder of a patent for his invention. Sam Houghton was just three when he saw his Dad swapping between one brush to clear up the larger leaves and twigs and another to pick up the finer debris in their backyard. Inspired by his favourite inventors - film stars Wallace & Gromit, who front Cracking Ideas a campaign to get young people inventing, and Archie The Inventor from children's TV series Balamory - Sam thought there must be an easier way to get the job done." Sam is now 5 years old and is being touted as the "YOUNGEST EVER TO BE GRANTED OFFICIAL PATENT FOR INVENTION." Find out what Sam invented by reading the whole kit and kaboodle for yourself.

Chris Yeh, proud possessor of a Harvard MBA and general question answerer, takes on the ponderance of global economic balance in a recent post to his blog, Ask the Harvard MBA, and learns that the big picture is a bit mixed with both winners and losers. Of course, every business person worth their salt is interested in what our recent recession means in terms of us/them and the fiscal future, which is why Yeh's piece is a worthy topic. "The key question is not whether the government should try to turn back the clock and block globalization–doing so harms the country as a whole (even though most politicians and voters are apparently too thick-headed to realize this).  The question is, how do we take some of the value that globalization creates and use it to ease the transition for the losers, even though their losses are outweighed by the gains of the winners." Join Yeh for a cautionary tale of cavemen and UAW workers for more on how we're all in this game together.

What's happening with our friend, the Patent Reform Act (S1145), you ask? The news that the bill is totally stalled out should come as no surprise, given the tortured path it's traveled up to this point, but it is quite sad that "just a handful of words have stalled the Senate’s debate on this important patent legislation," as Patrick Leahy, chair of the Judiciary Committee puts it. As the act languishes on the back burner, important reforms to damages and the re-evaluation of patents are still looming large in the minds of tech industry members. ArsTechnica.com's John Timmer provides a short narrative piece detailing the issues behind the issue and says "Legislators are undoubtedly getting many mixed messages from a horde of lobbyists, meaning they are likely to tread slowly and cautiously into patent reform, if at all. For now, it appears that this means the bill will be need longer in the Judiciary Committee before it can be considered by the full Senate."

BusinessWeek.com features a fantastic engineering effort to create an innovative, hand-held EKG device for the growing Indian health care market. Article author Jena McGregor reports: "GE Healthcare engineer Davy Hwang's marching orders were straightforward. Take a 15-lb. electrocardiograph machine that cost $5.4 million and took three and a half years to develop. Squeeze the same technology into a portable device that weighs less than three pounds and can be held with one hand. Oh, and develop it in 18 months for just 60% of its wholesale cost. 'He thought I was crazy,' says Hwang's boss, Omar Ishrak, CEO of GE Healthcare's clinical systems unit, based in Wauwatosa, Wis." Crazy like a fox, it seems! Hwang and his team managed to deliver the device only a few months past the estimated time and at a price of $1.5K per, using a mix of off-the-shelf parts and custom plastic pieces that ensure the MAC 400 will continue to function in dusty environments and rural environments.

The wildly successful Guitar Hero video game is only one of the great products from Harmonix, writes Don Dodge in his latest post at his blog, The Next Big Thing. "Most new video games don't make a profit. The game business is very much like the music business, or even the venture capital business, in that it is a "hits" driven business. One big hit pays for lots of losers. Guitar Hero was the 9th video game produced by Harmonix, 10 years after founding the company, and it put them on the map with more than $1 Billion in sales. They recently sold the company to MTV Networks, a division of Viacom for $175M." Along with Harmonix, Dodge covers another company that struggled to find a profitable product but through rapid prototyping and sheer will power ended up winning a very lucrative government contract. After receiving 200K for a proposal, iRobot's Colin Angle decided to do something wildly different and unexpectedly successful: "[R]ather than use the money to write a proposal they just built the robot. What a concept!! DARPA had a big meeting to review all the proposals from various defense contractors. iRobot showed up with their robot and a tiny written proposal. They won the business and DARPA awarded them a $4M contract to build robots for use in Afghanistan. They have since sold over $150M of robots to the military. Colin said that iRobot entered and exited 18 different businesses over their 12 year existence before finally landing on the military robot idea. They have since entered the consumer market with robot vacuum cleaners and swimming pool cleaners." Persistence, ability to adapt to difficult situations, and seeing what others don't are all part of the reason both Harmonix and iRobot were able to grow into the huge hits they are today.