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Venture Capital Firms Plan New Funds, Survey Shows

Although the venture capital industry is having a hard time convincing endowments, pension funds and other limited partners to invest new capital in the asset class, the majority of venture firms still plan to raise a new fund in the next 12 months - if a new survey from Pepperdeine University is to be believed.

» WSJ [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Sour Loans Surge on Main Street

Records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act show the public is paying to offset bank losses on small business loans across the country, from a convenience story in the tiny Canadian border town of Houlton, Maine, to a graphic arts design company on the island of Hawaii, more than 5,000 miles away.

"This could be the first economic recovery we've seen in a long time that hits small business the hardest the longest," he said. The Small Business Administration purchased $2.1 billion in bad loans from lenders last year. Agency officials say it's likely that this year will see another high as the recession nears the two-year mark.

» CNBC [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Podcast: Cybercrime and Working From Home

The economic downturn has been very good for one sector - cybercrime. Stephen Pritchard reports. Plus - how far has homeworking progressed?

[ MP3 ] Cybercrime and working from home

How Knowledge Can Hurt Innovation

A meeting I had recently with some folks at Gillette highlighted an important issue facing the would-be innovator — the "curse of knowledge."

Chip and Dan Heath described the curse of knowledge nicely in their 2007 book Made to Stick (highly recommended to all innovators). The basic problem: people who have deep knowledge about a topic sometimes assume other people have that same knowledge. That can lead to major missteps.

» Harvard Business [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]