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. These changes are critical to small business and startups, and it is time for the politicians to make it happen. Small business Congress-watch: new laws and your company.

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.

article thumbnail

The Secret History of Silicon Valley Part IX: Entrepreneurship in.

Steve Blank

Funded by military contracts, these 1950′s microwave tube startups would help build Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial culture and environment. Stanley Kaisel, a research associate at the Stanford ERL tube laboratory, left to join Litton’s startup. Why Electronics Intelligence? He sold the company to Teledyne in 1965.