Entrepreneurs

Already months behind schedule, federal regulators charged with establishing the rules to implement new online crowdfunding portals still cannot say when they will issue those guidelines. On Monday, the frustration from entrepreneurs, investors and those trying to build those financing portals was on full display at a forum in Washington. During the event, David Blass, a chief counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission, said his team is working diligently to craft regulations required to give the go-ahead...

OMAHA, Neb. — Meeting Warren Buffett was exciting, but 10-year-old Matthew Meyer said winning $5,000 and 10 shares of stock in Buffett's company made Monday the best day of his life. Matthew said he never expected to make the finals in Omaha, much less win the entrepreneurial contest tied to "The Secret Millionaire's Club" cartoon that drew nearly 4,000 entries online. The Cincinnati boy said his winnings make him "rich-ish" because $5,000 is quite a lot. "I've wanted to be an...

In its opening bid for comprehensive immigration reform, the Senate's "Gang of Eight" has included a series of provisions meant to attract more highly educated and entrepreneurial foreigners to the United States. The group's proposal, formally filed Wednesday , features a new class of start-up visa for foreign entrepreneurs and would increase significantly the number of H1-B visas (those offered to highly skilled individuals) available to immigrants with advanced degrees, particularly...

BEIJING — A businesswoman in southern China has been sentenced to death on charges of defrauding investors as the government tightens controls on informal financing that is widely used by entrepreneurs. Lin Haiyan was convicted of "illegal fundraising" for collecting 640 million yuan ($100 million) from investors by promising high returns and low risk, according to a statement by the Intermediate People's Court of Wenzhou, a center for private sector business. It said the scheme collapsed in...

The globetrotting lifestyle is typically exclusive to jet-set, elite billionaires. But as offices go virtual and technology evolves, small-business owners are discovering they too can live out their globe-trekking dreams. Entrepreneurs already have the flexibility to conduct business when and where they want to. And as organizational psychologist Dr. Billie Blair points out, they also have the key components shared by adventurers across the globe. "For both entrepreneurs and travelers, the same spirit is there," she says.

"People under 35 are the people who make change happen," said venture capitalist Vinod Khosla , "People over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas. " Khosla, who believes that old entrepreneurs can't innovate because they keep "falling back on old habits," said this at the NASSCOM Product Enclave in Bangalore, on Nov. 9. He isn't alone in his views. Silicon Valley VCs talk openly about their bias toward young entrepreneurs. Some argue that Internet entrepreneurs peak at the age of 25. Khosla and...

The legends of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and other high-tech entrepreneurs have fed a stereotypical vision of innovation in America: Mix a brainy college dropout, a garage-incubated idea and a powerful venture capitalist, stir well, and you get the latest Silicon Valley powerhouse. That's Hollywood's version of technological innovation; unfortunately, it's also the one that venture capitalists try to fund and government planners seek to replicate. But these individuals are not America's typical entrepreneurs.

Silicon Valley investors often have a picture in their heads of the type of person who is worthy of funding: young, brash, stubborn, and arrogant. They believe that successful entrepreneurs come from entrepreneurial families and that they start their entrepreneurial journey by selling lemonade while in grade school. Angel investor and entrepreneur, Jason Calacanis said as much in his recent talk to Penn State students. And after meeting Wharton students, VC Fred Wilson expressed shock when a professor told him that you could teach...

The life of McLean resident Long Nguyen, 68, has come full circle. As a boy in Vietnam, Nguyen became inspired by U.S. ingenuity when he saw — for the first time — a Boeing 707 jet landing at the Saigon airport in the 1950s, he said. "A few friends and I went to the airport to watch it land," he said. "It was a big deal, and I was very impressed by it because it represented to me the unparalleled ingenuity of the American people. " Today, Nguyen is chief executive of the Reston-based...

Washington's expanding food culture has inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs to try their hand at the food business, often peddling treats they make themselves through food trucks, farmers markets, coffee shops and restaurants. One barrier to entry, at least in the District, can be finding a kitchen in which to cook. Currently, city law requires bakers and cooks to prepare food in commercial kitchens, with rates, often driven up by District real estate prices, that can be unaffordable to entrepreneurs...

ATLANTA — As a shrewd businesswoman with keen insight and endless aspirations, Ophelia DeVore worked for much of the 20th century to smash stereotypes and empower black women by teaching them poise, confidence and the courage to get ahead in a world deeply etched by racial discrimination. DeVore's eclectic career spanned more than six decades, beginning as a model at 16 and continuing into her 90s today as the owner of a newspaper in Georgia. Along the way, she opened one of the...

Sandra Tran and Gil Welsford might have attracted stares as they unloaded a sink from Tran's Toyota Forerunner, and placed it on the patio of Science Club, a bar and restaurant in Dupont. The sink was followed by a small fridge, a few standing mixers, two 80-pound jugs of liquid nitrogen, and an assortment of ingredients. The two entrepreneurs were setting up their fledgling ice cream business , the Nicecream Factory, which uses liquid nitrogen to quickly produce fresh ice cream.

Disputes over a controversial oil pipeline have seeped into the debate over immigration reform , weakening a once-united lobbying front by technology executives in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk, one of the nation's leading proponents of "green" technology and clean energy, has split off from the political action committee he helped build with the group's leader, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Launched in March, the group's mission is to pursue immigration...

RICHMOND, Va. — When Jonnie R. Williams believed he had discovered a way to make tobacco less harmful, the Virginia car salesman-turned-entrepreneur tried to sell his method to anyone who would listen. Persistent phone calls to the nation's top cigarette makers often started with the colorful venture capitalist, once dubbed a "super salesman" by a local newspaper, dropping names and promising the world. "He knew anybody and everybody and they were all endorsing his...

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced plans Wednesday to boost access to credit for small businesses, promising changes in banking aimed at bringing down the usurious lending rates that have long been viewed as an obstacle to growth and an impetus for illegal immigration to the United States. For generations, would-be Mexican entrepreneurs have gone north in search of the seed money needed to start a business back home, while others resort to informal lending networks...

Angela Cody-Rouget talks about Major Mom, her Denver, Colo.-based organizing business virtually every day, but it's rarely in front of a large group. Last week, the retired Air Force major put her nerves aside and pitched the business plan for her six-year-old company to a group of women veteran entrepreneurs and military spouses as part of a pitch contest, held at Capital One Financial Corporation's headquarters in McLean. For the most part, audience feedback for Cody-Rouget's two-minute pitch was positive.

The growing popularity of crowdfunding has created a new fundraising mechanism for women and minority entrepreneurs, groups that have at times felt ostracized by the more traditional ways of raising money to start or grow a business. Several initiatives are taking shape here in Washington. A crowdfunding Web site geared toward black entrepreneurs has come online, and minority economic development groups are educating their client base about the practice's potential. Crowdfunding requires an...

Google recently refreshed its small business marketing strategy when it unveiled a new Website — Google for Entrepreneurs — that gathers all its initiatives and services for start-ups into one place. The site features three layers. The first is a page linking entrepreneurs to apps, online ad services, and other subscription-based technologies. The second highlights programs encouraging entre­pre­neur­ship around the world — from partnerships with incubators in Bulgaria to opportunities to sponsor...

This is the third column in a series by SBA Administrator Karen Mills for On Small Business. Check back to the site each Monday for the latest entry. Entrepreneurship is America's secret sauce. It's what built the greatest economy in the world and the strongest middle class. It's what fuels American innovation, makes our industries more globally competitive and creates new jobs across our economy. Over the past two decades, new establishments have created an average of more...