New Florence. New Renaissance.

2009 Young Innovators Under 35

MIT Technology Review's annual list of young innovators in medicine, computing, communications, electronics, nanotechnology, and more.

First generation to grow up with entrepreneurial celebrities

“This is a generation raised to believe they can do anything, and the first to grow up with entrepreneurial celebrities like Steve Jobs of Apple and Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google,” said Donna Fenn, who interviewed 150 young entrepreneurs for her forthcoming book, “Upstarts: How Gen Y Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit From Their Success.”

Many teenagers have also seen the turmoil in the auto industry and layoffs of parents or other adults. They no longer associate financial security with big corporations, Ms. Fenn said.

In a survey conducted by the Kauffman Foundation for Entrepreneurship in December 2007, 4 out of 10 people from the ages of 8 to 21 said they would like to start their own business in the future.”

New York Times

We’re celebrating the recession by expanding!

“(the company) is a hybrid venture capital fund and business school that invests in, advises, and, literally, feeds 40 or so early-stage businesses a year. Investments are small -- less than $25,000 per company -- but Graham supplements the money with smart advice, introductions to later-stage investors, technical help, and a sense of community. The model has produced many promising companies, a few sizable acquisitions, and copycat funds in cities across the country and around the world.”

Inc Magazine

“Super Angels”

“For Kopelman and other super angels, the answer is to get small. Over the past five years they have launched funds with $100 million or less and financed hundreds of companies, including Facebook, Digg, and Twitter. Ten years ago, when it cost $5 million to launch a startup, firms such as First Round couldn't exist. But thanks to plummeting technology costs, Kopelman & Co. can help companies launch products today for less than $1 million. "Five hundred thousand is the new $5 million," says Mike Maples Jr., who founded Maples Investments three years ago.”

BusinessWeek

Coolest College Start Ups

Inc Magazine lists 16 startups from college entrepreneurs (not all in tech) aspiring to be the next Michael Dell

The Crunchies

Om Maik reports on what has become an annual celebration of Silicon Valley's Web 2.0, mobile, SaaS and cloud startups...oh and a few old companies like Microsoft and amazon.

Columbus Day

Few people have been rejoiced and reviled as much as Christoper Columbus. This U. of Virginia website article summarizes it well

"By the Quincentenary of 1992, Columbus had been virtually stripped of all positive symbolic meaning. The pendulum has swung, and now he "is the post-colonial and demythologized Columbus. He has been stripped of the symbolic cloak of optimism and exposed as a human being whose flaws were many and of reverberating consequence."

But today we celebrate his role as entrepreneur and the role he played in shaping the American pioneering spirit

"Randolph Roger's massive bronze Columbus Doors (at the Rotunda in the US Capitol building in Washington, DC) express this vision of Columbus, the ultimate visual expression of America's self-identity as embodied in the explorer."

"$ 20,000 VC Investments"

No, I am not missing a couple of zeroes. Guy Kawasaki writes about YCombinator and some of the portfolio companies it is incubating.

"A business of one"

 "A lot of new venture flowers are about to bloom and Google and Amazon are liberally applying the watering can. No government initiative or five-year strategic plan could have hoped to have achieved anything so profound - Google and Amazon are literally pushing the frontiers of global capitalism right down to the teenager’s bedroom. Forget cutting lawns or waiting tables to earn some money, the next generation of college kids are more likely to pay for tuition by showing the world how to play the riff in Weezer’s Sweater song by Rivers Cuomo..."

via Larry Dignan at ZDNet

Under the Radar

Jeff Nolan reports from the conference.

What recession? Entrepreneurial juices continue to flow.