Startups

Congressman Joe Kennedy III (MA 4th District) joined SVB CEO Greg Becker for a client dinner in Boston with about 30 local and discussed variety of issues, all in the general category of how the Federal Government can help entrepreneurs succeed. The topics included immigration reform, education (esp. education in science, technology, engineering and math, or “STEM”), what’s going on with patent litigation, the business environment in MA, hiring, and federal funding for R&D. More information is available on our blog page.

Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker had a chance to interview Biz Stone, CEO of Jelly and Co-Founder of Twitter, at a recent event for SVB clients in Napa Valley. In this video from the event, Biz and Greg discuss the importance of manufacturing your own opportunity, why authenticity and listening is key to success in social media and Biz’s new company, Jelly.

Every time I meet with a group of tech company CEOs they say the same thing: hiring world-class talent is one of their biggest challenges. They struggle to find, attract and retain the engineering, scientific and technical talent they need to grow their businesses.

So when I saw the results of our annual Startup Outlook survey this year, I was not surprised. While nine in ten startup executives said they were hiring, an equal number said it is challenging - or extremely challenging - to find workers with the skills they need.

You'll need some entertainment to get you geared up for LeWeb on your plane or train to Paris this weekend. We can help. We are always thrilled and amazed at the creativity of the submissions to LeWeb's " Adopt and Entrepreneur" program hosted this year by yours truly (@SVB_Financial) and Rackspace (@Rackspace).