Just How Risky Is Entrepreneurship, Really?

"Entrepreneurship is a deviation, an occupation for heroes, heroic for the reasons it can't be recommended: it's just too unsafe. But the conventional position is nonsense; building new companies is far more sensible than the practical will admit." [From Harvard Business Review Blogs 2/2/2012]

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Wisconsin Workers Could Fill Belvidere Jobs

"Chrysler plans to add about 1,800 jobs at the plant 40 miles south of Janesville, and some of those jobs could be filled by dislocated Rock County residents."[From Janesville Gazette 2/8/12]

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Want to Start or Move a Business?

"One of the first things on the agenda for many communities is creating a community economic profile. A good profile gives potential businesses and entrepreneurs a sense of the community’s character and the advantages it can offer by providing information on local demographics, housing, the workforce, schools, transportation, major employers, recreational opportunities, health care providers, tax structure, and other important variables." [From WI In Business]

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WI Governor's Business Plan Contest

"The mission of the Governor’s Business Plan Contest is to encourage entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early-growth stages of high-tech businesses in Wisconsin. Finalists will share in $100,000 in seed capital and in-kind services that will help them launch their businesses. Since its inception in 2004, more than 1,500 entries have been received and $1 million in cash and in-kind prizes has been awarded." [From Wisconsin Technology Council 2011]

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SBIR Reauthorized For Six Years

"SBIR HAS NOW BEEN REAUTHORIZED for a period of 6 years, ending September 30, 2017, and that includes STTR, and what was the Commercialization Pilot Program (CPP), now to be known as the Commercialization Readiness Program (CRP)."--Rick Shindell [From SBIR Insider Newsletter Update 12/15/11]

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Friends of Whitewater Innovation on LinkedIn

Join and invite others to join the “Friends of Whitewater Innovation” on LinkedIn. This group targets those with a formal link to programs at the Innovation Center—such as the LaunchPad—and those who have an interest in the programs, projects, or mission of the Innovation Center.

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Podcast

Interview with UW-W LaunchPad students and Professors William Dougan and Jeff Vanevenhoven [the interview ends at 25:00 into the podcast]

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Venture Capital: Preliminary Questions

The Venture Capital industry has been a critical component of the high impact business scene in the United States for fifty years. It is hard to imagine a Silicon Valley anything like today’s without recognizing the critical role venture capital and venture capitalists have played in creating and sustaining it... [From WTN News 8/15/11, written by Paul A Jones]

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