WRAL Tech Wire

 Why older entrepreneurs are crucial, even in Silicon Valley

Opinion: It wasn't long ago that age was equated with knowledge. The apprentice learned from the master and the disciple from the guru. Older workers earned higher salaries because of their experience. Even today, we feel more comfortable with doctors, airline pilots, and Presidents who have grey hair. Yet older workers in many industries can't even get interviews. Whether it is in computer programming or entrepreneurship, older workers have many advantages - they still are the experts.

Experience matters

 The tech industry's darkest secret: It's all about age

Opinion: The harsh reality is that if you are middle-aged, write computer code for a living, and earn a six-figure salary, you're headed for the unemployment lines. Your market value declines as you age and it becomes harder and harder to get a job.

Aging an enemy for tech workers so keep skills current

 Attention, entrepreneurs: Look before you leap into that MBA

Opinion: My Wall Street Journal article about why I discourage students who want to become entrepreneurs from doing an MBA provoked a far stronger reaction than I expected. The vast majority of the emails and comments were in agreement -- including from business-school professors. What shocked me were the angry online comments, Tweets, and emails from a few MBA students--because of their lack of professionalism. So it is clear that this issue is highly contentious.

Are MBAs really for entrepreneurs?

 Women in tech face many challenges - but there is hope

Opinion: I used to call Silicon Valley the world's greatest meritocracy. I was wrong. There is no meritocracy when it comes to the inclusion of women. But that could change.

Women in business

 Does China own the future? Don't count on it

Dispatches from the Valley: Former Triangle tech entrepreneur and now Duke professor Vivek Wadhwa says the future doesn't belong to China, offers advice to startups, and says immigration debate has been reduced to "ugly politics."

China business

 Immigration reform destined to be another Obamacare

Opinion: Until recently, I was optimistic that our President and the Democratic Party would do what they were promising and fix the immigration problem. At best, we will get another badly needed, but flawed and unpopular bill like Obamacare.

 U.S. economy needs more immigrants, former RTP exec writes

In "The Immigrant Exodus: Why America Is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent," former Triangle tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa staunchly defends immigrants and what they mean to America's future.

Vivek Wadhwa's book

 iPhone maps warn Apple could become 'another Microsoft'

Opinion: Former Triangle tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa, now an academic, joins the debate over Apple's own maps vs. Google Maps and whether the new iPhone is truly disruptive innovation.

 Why Apple needs to lose Samsung patent appeal

Analysis: Apple's victory could be its curse - doom it to go the way of Microsoft and RIM. Competition is the best catalyst for innovation, after all, writes former Triangle tech entrepreneur Vivek Wadhwa.

 Defending older entrepreneurs: VCs wrong in preferring the young

STATE OF VENTURE: In a story written for MIT's Technology Review, former Triangle entrepreneur and current Duke academic says innovation is limited by age. "Young stars dominate the technology headlines," he writes. "But outside the Internet, research shows, innovators are actually getting older as complexity rises."

Defending older entrepreneurs in MIT Technology Review

 BusinessWeek: How Software is Harming Science, Engineering

Marc Andreesen's recent contention that the software industry is ready to "take over broad swathes of the economy" is delusion because software is slower to develop than other aspects of technology.

 Word wars: Columnists debate what makes an entrepreneur

Former Triangle tech executive Vivek Wadhwa's column in The Washington Post "Five myths about entrepreneurs" ignites a pointed response from a venture capitalist - the "worst analysis of entrepreneurship and VCs ever."

 A new Information Age is upon us; opportunity beckons

"This period of history has been called the Information Age because it makes available instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously. I would argue that we are way beyond this; we're at the beginning of a new era: the New Information Age," writes Triangle entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa.

 How to fix oversize executive compensation

A new study recommends a tweak to the tax code: Let companies deduct bonuses only if they give all their workers the same incentive packages

 NCAA trash talk- with facts from StatSheet's 'StatSmack'

Want to smack down a rival? The Durham startup mines data to launch a new service that compares teams, their histories and their schools.

 Startup Visa bill changes could spark surge in entrepreneurship

Analysis from Vivek Wadhwa: This new legislation is even better than I had hoped for. If it gets through both houses--and doesn't have bureaucratic constraints--I expect it to unleash a flood of entrepreneurship.

StartUp Visa website calls for action

 Why high-tech entrepreneurs return home: Visa woes

Commentary from Vivek Wadhwa: At a time when our economy is stagnating, some American political leaders are working to keep the world's best and brightest out. They mistakenly believe that skilled immigrants take American jobs away. The opposite is true: skilled immigrants start the majority of Silicon Valley startups; they create jobs.

Immigration

 America no longer has a monopoly on the American Dream

Analysis from Vivek Wadhwa: A new book by Sarah Lacy argues that the U.S. should heed entrepreneurs pushing "Big Ideas" in developing countries, from China to Brazil.

Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky

 Small companies are the big job generators

Policy help for giant corporations will not rev up the job-creation engine enough. Small businesses are where the power is.

 Venture or angel capital isn't the end - It's the means

With the attention that new investments receive and the fanfare for business-plan contests, it is easy to believe that once you've raised capital, you've made it. The reality is far different.