article thumbnail

Small business Congress-watch: Three Pending Bills and Why They Matter

crowdSPRING Blog

I have written occasionally about legislation in Congress and how it impacts small businesses and startups, and three proposed laws have recently caught my attention. Congress makes a lot of noise about the importance of small businesses to our society, but their track record over the past few years has been abysmal, at best.

article thumbnail

Why Governments Don’t Get Startups

Steve Blank

There are six distinct organizational paths for entrepreneurs: lifestyle business , small business, scalable startup, buyable startup, large company, and social entrepreneur. Small Business Startups: Work to Feed the Family. million small businesses in the U.S. lesson of using SBIC funds.),

article thumbnail

The Secret History of Silicon Valley 12: The Rise of “Risk Capital.

Steve Blank

The Group is worth noting for: Investing their own private money, Reid Dennis would found Institutional Venture Partners in 1974 First group specifically investing in the valley’s electronics industry SBIC Act of 1958 During the cold war the launch of Sputnik-1 by the Soviet Union in 1957 both traumatized and galvanized the United States.