Innovative Ventures Inc. – Page 5

The Valley of Death. Market Failure? Or Rational Behavior of Investors to Risk?

Governments, development banks and investors poured billions of dollars to finance entrepreneurs in the ‘Valley of Death.’ Add in the millions of hours of human energy and thought devoted to creating solutions too, and the investment is truly staggering. Yet the Valley of Death still exists. Conventional thought defines the ‘Valley of Death’ as a market failure. But is it? Or is the Valley simply the rational behavior of investors to risk? If the Valley is a reaction to risk,…

‘Path to Commercialization:’ An IVI Master Class in Mentoring

I created this program as Part II in my Master Class series of ‘Scaling Up’ at the request of John Hoxmeier, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies at Colorado State University (CSU). John is managing CSU’s executive MBA program in Kazan, Russia with students holding senior positions in state owned enterprises, Ministries of ICT, Industry, Trade & Development, the Tatarstan Presidential Administration and Tatarstan’s sovereign wealth fund. This Master Class was conducted 3-5 November 2011 in Kazan, Russia. CSU earned the personal attention and congratulations from the President…

‘Scaling Up Entrepreneurship:’ A Master Class in Mentoring

The seed for this Master Class came about from a request of the US Embassy Moscow to me in May 2010. The Embassy was asked by the the Governor of Novosibirsk, Russia to organize a conference on solutions the region could implement to stimulate more innovation, venture capital and entrepreneurship. My 60 minute presentation generated numerous questions that demonstrated the audience’s lack of understanding of what entrepreneurship is, how it and venture capital works, and actions government can implement to spur more innovation, technology creation and investment. John Hoxmeier,…