End-of-year twitter digest, 2012

Thank you to all our readers for joining the conversation here in 2012.  We wish you all a happy and prosperous 2013!

Offered for your reading pleasure, in case you missed any:  a compendium of our twitter highlights from 2012.

• When it comes to green investing, political venture capital is a loser.  Or as we put it back in 2009:  “We’re concerned that the clean tech sector is over-invested, with too much capital chasing two few viable business models.  There’s no question that big companies will be built in the clean-tech sector, but the risk-reward ratio continues to worry us, particularly in light of the government’s increasing, but often fickle, involvement in the industry.  If the industry continues to grow, there should be a number of new opportunities for interested Southeastern investors.”
• Increasing taxes on investment is akin to building a pitcher-friendly park and keeping the infield grass long:  better plan on low-scoring games.  Our letter in the Wall Street Journal.
• Great cartoon about TX’s friendly biz climate vs. CA – who just became more hostile to entrepreneurs. Again.
• Why Angel Investors Don’t Make Money … And Advice For People Who Are Going To Become Angels Anyway
• History of iconic fast food & convenience stores. Some interesting stories of adaptability. McD’s started as BBQ?!
• Florida’s space, robotics, and biotech rank it 10th most entrepreneurial state
• If you can sing (and you can), can you innovate?
• Ideas for modernizing and streamlining FDA approval process.
• Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, Dallas all rank Top 5 in Best US Cities for Biz
• North Texas: w/capital scarce outside of energy & real estate, the gap is filled by venture capital firms like BPV.
• Why Some Startups Succeed And Others Fail: 10 Fascinating Harvard Findings
• The Economist: “Where angels will tread” – where start-ups will create the next billion-dollar companies.
• HBS Working Knowledge: Are creative people more dishonest?

• USF-led partnership awarded $1 million to launch new companies
• Watermark Medical can help: Half of women may have sleep apnea
• Dell & Intel bullish on South Florida start-up environment
• “If you want to be inventive, you have to be willing to fail.”
• Apple to expand in Austin, investing $304 million and creating 3600 jobs
• Southeast tops CEO ranking of states best for business. TX #1 for 8th straight yr; FL, NC, TN rank 2,3 & 4
• All-in-one diabetes testing combines lancet, glucose meter
• @BumperCrop takes home second place in the 2012 Startup Bus.
• House Cmte votes 2 ease IPO regs. BPV model not reliant on IPOs, but still: good news. Senate action to follow?
• Will innovation make the future dazzling, or merely bright? The future is dematerializing.
• Startup rates surge in US and abroad. In US it’s b2b, in LDCs it’s b2c.
• OECD report: Angels play crucial role. Their support tends to be more local, across a wider range of innovation.
• Dilbert wonders:  Be more like a start-up?
• Fmr portfolio company Matrix Medical adds 150 jobs to Tampa region
• Accel Facebook Bet Poised to Become Biggest Venture Profit
• Prof Stevenson still right: Entrepreneurship = pursuit of opportunity w/o regard to resources currently controlled.
• He’s seldom dull. Mark Cuban’s 12 Rules for Startups
• Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?
• Drew Graham &Tower Cloud CEO Ron Mudry featured on pg1 of Tampa Bay Business Journal – discussing Florida Growth Fund
• Some venture funds hit “pause” on big deals. Need valuation discipline and non-IPO exits.
• Buyout firms evolving. Great cartoon, but other types of PE doing just fine, tyvm.
• New book: “Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy”  Entrepreneurs in black&gray markets = 2nd largest GDP on the globe