The number of startups getting seed funding in 2012 jumped by 65% over the previous year to a total of 1749, according to a recent report by CB Insights. Seed investments” are early stage financings (typically less than $1.5 This is great evidence that the recession drag on funding new startups is behind us. Stay alert. MORE >>

A few years ago, the trend of companies raising smaller seed rounds combined with the emergence of new seed funds caused many big VCs to create seed investment programs. This triggered a debate among entrepreneurs and investors about whether it was risky for seed-stage companies to take small investments from large VCs. MORE >>

Since they don’t know you (yet), their first integrity check on you as a person is whether your friends and family believe in you strongly enough to give you seed money for your new idea. If you set around quietly waiting for someone you know to offer you money to fund a startup, you will probably have a long wait. MORE >>

'For the past 5 years or so Google, Facebook and a handful of tech industry giants have been quietly buying scores of early-stage startups for their talent. I’m supposed to believe that my best innovation can only come from scores of startup founders who just made millions and have now become CVOs at my company? Go do a startup. MORE >>

Want to start a startup? You need three things to create a successful startup: to start withgood people, to make something customers actually want, and to spendas little money as possible. Most startups that fail do it becausethey fail at one of these. startup that does all three willprobably succeed. Well, no. MORE >>