News

For decades we all announced products to strut our stuff and prove our advanced capabilities. We seem to be stuck in the age old chest thumping practice of press releases for ego. So what if our buyers (and our media) just don't care.[read more]

I read the announcement today that Canada has just launched a Start-Up Visa Program. By doing so, they are saying to the world “welcome immigrant entrepreneurs – please come start your business in Canada.” It’s brilliant, well executed, and modeled after the Startup Visa movement that a number of us have been trying to get started in the...[read more]

Here is a true story of a creatively disengaged employee. He was a software developer who was earning $250,000 a year and producing great quality work. Or so it seemed.[read more]

Like for many in the tech industry, and beyond, the case of Aaron Swartz touched a nerve with me. We live in an era where government has few boundaries and the threat of legal action carries as much consequence as successful prosecution. Tyranny is a strong word but it comes in many sanctioned forms, government regulation is perhaps the...[read more]

Condaleeza Rice gets involved with startups, 5 things VCs want in their CEOs, Android moving to enterprise, and more.[read more]

LinkedIn advertising guide, taking a good hard look at your startup, a new $100mm VC fund is born, and more.[read more]

Important entrepreneurial skills, how not to screw up your startup, Facebook's preferred marketing companies, and more.[read more]

LinkedIn's incubator, Angel Cofund reports on its first year, does freelancing today hold up to scrutiny, and more.[read more]

On that same day the White House announced A New Front Door for Immigrant Entrepreneurs President Obama said that he was not supportive of the STEM Jobs Act of 2012. Infuriating. I’ve been working on making it easy for foreign entrepreneurs to get a visa to start a company in the US since September 2009 when I wrote the post...[read more]

“Entrepreneurship can be learned.” This was the emphatic message told to the audience at last week’s TechStars Demo Day in Boston, a two and a half hour run of energetic pitches made by a select group of thirteen high potential startups to friends, family, and about 200 investors. TechStars is a startup accelerator with programs in...[read more]

Dave Morgan is one of my favorite entrepreneurs. We've backed him twice at USV and he is also a very good friend to my and my partners. Dave has been building businesses at the intersection of madison avenue and the internet since the mid 90s. So when he asked me to do a fireside chat at ad:tech with him, I said yes in a nanosecond. We...[read more]

In a speech, “Charting a Course for Trade in an Uncertain Future," given by Director-General of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy (pictured) at the Brookings Dialogue in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, he said: Trade as a share of global GDP has risen from roughly 40% in 1980 to around 60% today. In the United States, a...[read more]

While Philadelphia is the first city to post projects to the site, today we are giving citizens in all U.S. cities the ability to petition their local governments to initiate the projects they care about most.[read more]

Technology. It makes things easier. Simpler. Less hectic... Right?... Was it ever supposed to? I don’t remember. Because, I’m too darn busy-all the time.[read more]

What do we love most about Craigslist? Its used as a forum for well-written pranksters to give us a laugh. We’ve collected some of the most hilarious Craigslist ads out there. Take a look.[read more]

The Supreme Court surprised just about everyone with it's ruling on Obamacare. As a practical matter, then, nothing changes. All of the new taxes and penalties — oops, it’s all taxes now — will take effect as scheduled.[read more]

The purpose of this post is not to share with you our rain stories but to share some discoveries I made during the past 48 hours regarding social media and the businesses who are and are not part of the #Debby conversation.[read more]

Consumer confidence is also down seven points from three months ago but is still up seven points from this time last year.[read more]

Which health care provisions will survive U.S. Supreme Court scrutiny? That's a question a lot of folks are asking, including those at the Internal Revenue Service.[read more]

Each year, the federal government celebrates small business. There are awards, speeches, seminars, and luncheons for the men and women who risk it all to innovate, employ, and serve the U.S. economy. This year’s Small Business Week — May 20-26 — is more of the same. I think it’s great that we recognize the achievements of select...[read more]