If you want a recently updated and complete reference guide covering the major issues startups face in today’s economic world, a book to consider is “Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible”. The book is available online at BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com.

The tools, information and tips within the book have impressed many people, including Professor Richard Mammone, PhD of Rutgers Business School. In fact, he has made “Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible” a required book for his course.

Said Mammone: “I examined many books on the market before selecting the two we use. I choose Shoestring Venture as a solid reference for forming Virtual companies and to show that there is much detailed decisions involved in setting up a virtual business, but fortunately most of the work can be outsourced.”

Professor Ben Sopranzetti, also of Rutgers Business School, is also impressed.

Said Sopranzetti: “I recommend it as a reference book for starting virtual companies, and that such companies can often be done quite inexpensively. It is well-written and provides a wealth of information.”

The Startup Bible (Image: Zuma Press)

Marc Andreessen is one of the most famous people in Silicon Valley. The 37-year-old is perhaps most well-known for co-authoring Netscape Navigator — the first widely used browser.

According to various reports, Andreessen is stepping into the world of venture capital. He has reportedly raised $300 million for his new venture capital fund. Andreessen and his partner, Ben Horowitz, supposedly could have gotten even more money but they decided to cap it at $300 million.

Considering the economy, that’s a lot of venture capital money to draw in. It’ll be interesting to see which companies the duo plans to invest in.

After Netscape was sold to AOL in 1999 for more than $4 billion, Andreessen kept up his entrepreneurial ways. He formed Loudcloud, which was eventually sold to Hewlett-Packard for more than $1.5 billion. His latest venture is Ning, which allows people to make their own social networks.

Andreessen already has invested in a number of companies including Twitter, Digg, Netvibes and Plazes. He’s also connected to other massive internet entities such as eBay and Facebook.

Marc Andreessen (Image: Flickr)

If you are starting an online startup company, there are a number of ways you can save money. Saving money early on in the startup process can mean the difference between your startup company making it big or your startup running out of money before it can hit its stride.

Here are some tips on how you can save money on an online startup:

1. Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
If there are software packages out there that can do the job you need, don’t try to reinvent the wheel right out of the gates. For example, don’t try build your own blogging software when there are a number of free blogging software packages on the market.

2. Be Smart with your Host
When buying web hosting, don’t overshoot your estimates of how much traffic you will get. The smart move is to start small and improve your web hosting capabilities as the traffic dictates.

3. Utilize Freelancers
Instead of hiring full time employees right away, go with freelancers. The great thing with freelancers is that you don’t run as much of a risk as paying someone when there is no work to be done.

4. Work from Home
Office space is rarely needed right away for an online startup. Wait until you are seeing definite signs of success before you guy purchase office space.

Work from Home (Image: Flickr)

Cool Energy has been named the top clean tech startup during the 2009 Transatlantic Green Platform. The official award title the company won is “Most Promising Clean Tech Start-up – Young Green Tech”.

(Image: CoolEnergyInc.com)

The SolarFlow System is Cool Energy’s main product. Combining a electricity generating system and solar thermal heating, the SolarFlow System can provide buildings and homes a renewable source of electrical power, space heat and water.

Said Sam Weaver, President and CEO of Cool Energy: “It is a real honor to have won this year’s Most Promising Clean Tech Start-up award. Our business and technical team has done world-class work in getting us to this point. It helps confirm the Cool Energy value proposition of combined heat and electricity from solar power for European customers, as well as the North American market.”

The 2009 Transatlantic Green Platform took place in La Baule, France. The conference brought together investors, entrepreneurs and large companies in an attempt to promote and learn more about green technologies.

Entrepreneurs know that they face long odds whenever they create a startup company. If you love numbers, you’ll enjoy this new Odds of Success Calculator that will calculate the exact odds of your startup succeeding.

The Odds of Success Calculator is available at StartupNation and it was created in partnership with EquityNet. Simply answer eight questions about your startup company and the calculator will spit out the odds.

The questions range from judging your business plan to evaluating your startup team. To create the odds, EquityNet claims to have studied more than 500,000 other startups.

Overall, I think it’s a neat little toy. However, if you want to keep your positive vibes and not stare directly at the daunting statistical challenge you face as the owner of a startup, it might be best to avoid the Odds of Success Calculator.

Odds of Success Calculator (Image: StartupNation.com Screen Cap)

Startup 2009 started with more than 150 entries from startup companies. The startups were then trimmed to a Top 10. Those final ten startup companies each gave their pitch at the conference in an effort to win the grand prize. When the smoke cleared, Article One Partners was named the grand prize winner of Startup 2009.

Article One Partners (ArticleOnPartners.com Screen Shot)

Article One Partners is a company that pays top dollar for finding and submitting prior art evidence for specific patents. On their website, Article One Partners says that their mission is “Adding a crucial level of review to the U.S. patent system that can strengthen legitimate patents and reduce unjust patent monopolies”.

By winning Startup 2009, Article One Partners will receive a cash investment worth $25,000 from General Catalyst Partners. Additionally, they will receive $50,000 in business services that include PR, financial and legal services. Additionally, they will receive free office space in New York City for up to six months.

We’ll attempt to contact Cheryl Milone, the CEO of Article One Partners, to get her reaction to winning Startup 2009.

Attracting Start-Ups, Growing an Innovation Ecosystem – No Major Metro Region Required
Guest Post by Laura Butcher, Executive Director, Hershey Center for Applied Research

It may sound like the toughest of propositions, but an innovation ecosystem can be built in mostly rural central Pennsylvania. It just takes diligence, patience and focus. At the Hershey Center for Applied Research, where I am the Executive Director, we are committed to keeping our eye on the advantages of the leaner times, staying the course and keeping to our strategy during this downturn. The good news is that healthcare is a sector that is projected to grow, and the life sciences – where much of our energy has been focused — will benefit from that growth. Between 2006 and 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook, the health care and social assistance market is expected to grow by 25.4 percent and add 4 million new jobs nationally.

Along those same lines, the most recent PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree report revealed that the life sciences and medical devices sector saw a 10 percent increase in venture funding during the third quarter of 2008, but the professional services firm also acknowledged that a dip in venture investing can be expected for the next several quarters.

While downturns are uncertain times for everyone, there is a silver lining for start-ups, as recently outlined in a BusinessWeek article by Harvard Law fellow Vivek Wadhwa, who points out that a few benefits come out of downturns:

• Less competition and an easier time striking licensing deals with universities
• Lower costs on every negotiation, from real estate, equipment, materials and staff
• Easier time recruiting and keeping talented employees
• Less pressure to expand and so a better chance of quality output

We can’t forget that during the 2001 downturn, as Forbes magazine recently reported, Proctor & Gamble launched Crest WhiteStrips, Apple launched the first iPod, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare rolled out its Pocket-Packs product and a dozen more disruptive developments occurred in the U.S. alone.

Those start-ups that can create the most promising opportunities through their groundbreaking research, while keeping good control over their capital, are the ones that will be most likely to succeed. This is true in any economy, which is why the cost-effective benefits of a research park will continue to be attractive to them.

Research parks are the meeting grounds for collaborations between academia, industry, and government. As such, HCAR is home to several Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine research departments that work side-by-side with start-up biotechnology and medical device companies.

The Proof Is In the Start-Ups

By way of example, HCAR has attracted several innovative companies, including Apeliotus Vision Science, Glycotek, Apogee Biotechnology Corp., and Better Bowls. Apeliotus Vision Science has recently secured $200,000 in Ben Franklin Technology Partners funding. This important investment will allow the company to build upon its momentum in developing a diagnostic for the early detection of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of adult blindness.

Better Bowls was a recent presenter at the 2009 Angel Venture Fair in Philadelphia on April 7th. Chosen from an initial pool of over 140 applicants, Better Bowls was one of 25 presenters at this meeting which typically attracts more than 100 angel investors from across the region. Launched by food innovation expert Malathy Nair, PhD, Better Bowls is focused on snack products products that use natural ingredients, healthier formulations and convenient packaging to help consumers prevent or manage health issues like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Glycotek, another promising tenant, is developing an alternative to heparin, a drug used in the treatment of deep vein thrombosis and other blood clot conditions, and also cancer. Currently, heparin must be administered through injection in a hospital setting; Glycotek is working on an oral alternative that can be purchased as a prescription from a pharmacy.

And Apogee, which was HCAR’s first non-academic tenant, is developing chemical compounds that will inhibit the activities of sphingosine kinase, an enzyme known to drive cell proliferation and inflammation. Sphingosine kinase is overactive in several diseases such as cancer, diabetic retinopathy, inflammatory bowel disease, arthritis and atherosclerosis.

Focus, With an Eye on Growth

Our next challenge is to attract companies in somewhat later stages than the start-up. In order to do that, we have been looking at what our strengths are, and promoting those to companies — things like the strengths of the Penn State College of Medicine, including their leadership in diabetic retinopathy treatment, their new cancer institute, and other advantages. Our being only an hour and a half away from Philadelphia, and an hour and a half from Baltimore, help provide a real value proposition for those later stage companies. We believe that attracting later stage companies to our research park will help our start-ups feel more grounded, helping them gain insights into the challenges that companies face as they grow.

Also to our benefit: Pennsylvania is quite competitive in the life sciences industry. In fact, Business Facilities magazine within the last six months named Pennsylvania the number-one state for the biosciences. It also is because of our commonwealth’s commitment to the life sciences industry, a $2.8 billion commitment, and new funding coming online through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Our proximity to Philadelphia together with our relationship to Penn State College of Medicine; our proximity to Washington, DC, the regulatory capital; New York City, the financial capital; access to international markets, proximity to big pharma: these are all adding up to a strong value proposition. And also, the cost is just a bit more attractive here than you’ll find in some of those metro markets.

While we stick closely to our life sciences focus, we are open to branching out to other areas, like green technologies, to help drive innovation. A real ecosystem has diversity of types of companies. This kind of environment is beneficial to a range of innovators, from start-up to later stage companies.

We have had success in attracting start-ups. We look forward to attracting others, while diversifying our environment. We know it can be done. And who doesn’t appreciate a challenge?

Hershey Center for Applied Research

When you think of Mark Cuban, you probably think of him as the hands-on owner of the Dallas Mavericks. When Cuban is on the sidelines of an NBA game, he’s either really into the game or really annoying — depending on your point of view.

Mark Cuban (Image: Flickr)

However, no matter what you think of Cuban, he’s one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the last few decades. He’s owned several startup companies and initially made millions and then made billions.

He’s also a very smart guy who has a great blog at BlogMaverick.com. One of his best blog entries is called Success & Motivation. In this entry, he tells his entrepreneurial stories. Reading the whole thing, you couldn’t help but get motivated.

Along the way, he offers a number of tips for entrepreneurs and startup companies. Read it and let me know what you think.

A few days ago, we highlighted StartUpHire.com, a website where you can find a job with a venture capital backed startup company. If you want to enter the startup world, this is a fantastic resource.

For venture capital backed startups, StartUpHire.com makes posting a job easy. By posting the jobs to such a niche job search website, the results are sure to be better than a traditional option.

To learn more about StartUpHire.com, I interviewed co-founder Steve Fredrick, who is also a General Partner at Grotech Ventures.

Stephen Kersey: Can you tell us a little bit about StartUpHire.com? What types of jobs are available for those who want to enter the startup world?

Steve Fredrick: The StartUpHire mission is to connect talented individuals to exciting career opportunities at venture backed companies and to accelerate the team building process for these companies and their investors. These are tremendously exciting opportunities, but they historically have been difficult to identify. Professionals can now leverage StartUpHire to search thousands of opportunities at thousands of venture backed companies and can elect to be notified by email of new jobs matching a user-defined criteria. The underlying job descriptions indicate that skill levels for these new jobs span the entire spectrum from machinist to nursing to sales to engineering to cancer research, etc. It is really quite impressive.

SK: What would you tell someone who is worried about joining a startup? What are the pros and cons compared to a non-startup job?

SF: Startup companies are often demanding in terms of time and work required, but now might be the best time to consider one – as any startup that can survive and thrive in recessionary times has a good chance of success once the economy recovers. And startups, more than established companies, offer opportunities for employees to make serious money in the long term through stock options. Employment at a venture backed startups is every bit as stable as that of large companies in this climate. They don’t all make it, but you at least see it coming…

SK: StartUpHire.com launched the search engine a few months ago. Are you happy with this addition to the website?

SF: The reception and response has been tremendous. StartUpHire has clearly filled a long standing void, and we look forward to serving the entrepreneurial community.

SK: For a startup company that wants to post a job listing on StartUpHire.com, can you explain the process? What are the requirements?

SF: Posting jobs on StartUpHire is currently restricted to venture capital backed companies. Companies sign-up at StartUpHire.com. We verify their venture backed status, and they then receive access to a set of Employer tabs. Posting a job is quick and simple, perhaps 2-3 minutes. Companies can also deploy a free StartUpHire widget on their own website to display these same jobs in that setting if they do not already.

SK: Going forward, what are the long-term goals for StartUpHire.com?

SF: This initiative was established to serve a defined community of emerging growth companies, the investors who fund them, and the professionals who seek them out for employment. We’ll look to continue enhancing the platform to serve this constituency and will ultimately measure our success by how well we do so.

Find a Job (Image: StartUpHire.com)

In an attempt to help startups and entrepreneurs in and around the University of Maryland, school officials have unveiled a startup laboratory called TERP (Tech Entrepreneur Research and Prototyping)

The TERP startup lab will aid entrepreneurs complete the startup process in addition to helping in more advanced facets, such as prototype development.

Said Dean Chang, a school director: “TERP Startup Lab provides entrepreneurs with a real business address, access to prototyping tools and equipment to get a proof-of-concept working, shared meeting rooms and other business office necessities, and perhaps most importantly, an opportunity to connect with and bounce ideas off of other startup lab entrepreneurs at similar early stages for their new ventures.”

The 700 square foot lab was partially funded by Science Applications International Corporation, a company that provided $35K towards the project.

To apply for the TERP startup lab or to simply learn more, visit startuplab.umd.edu.

TERP Startup Lab (Image: umd.edu screen shot)