I don't have an MBA, but I have earned my SIlicon Valley MBA.  Let me explain. When I was a few years out of college, I considered going back to get an MBA.  I liked working in the valley and knew that I wanted to spend my career in tech and ultimately around startups - at that point I had only worked for Apple.  So I asked around to a lot of people I knew well and respected.  People who I thought had been successful in their careers and whose path I wanted to learn from.  Many of them had MBAs and some did not.  I wanted to hear their perspectives on the value of a traditional MBA.

Here at home, the angel community in New England is really starting to flex its muscles.  Thanks to Scott Kirsner's arbitrary declaration (and admirable leadership), June is Innovation Month in New England and there is a ridiculous amount of activity going on.It started off on June 1st with Angel Boot Camp, a confab that gathered over 200 angels, VCs and start-ups. Last night was Tech Stars Boston Investor Night, which continues to gain momentum heading into its second season, as well as the big annual the MITX Awards event.  Every night this month, there is something going on.  You can see the master schedule at www.neinnovation.com. Many of these venues didn't exist 3-4 years ago - Mobile Mondays, Web Inno, Open Coffee, etc.  New events are coming to Boston this month, including the Open Angel Forum, which is June 18th.

A cry for more VC bloggers is crazy, right? There are already 150 or so who are actively blogging - which I estimate means 15% of all active VCs serve as bloggers. Yet, we need more. We need the life science and cleantech VCs to start blogging.

I was leafing through the NVCA's 2010 Yearbook last week while on vacation (go ahead, call me a geek) and was really struck by the amount of dollars that go towards the life sciences and cleantech portion of our industry as compared to IT. Of the $17.7 billion of venture capital invested in 2009, only $8.3 billion - less than half - went into IT-related companies. $6.1 billion (35%) was invested in life sciences companies and $3.3 billion in other companies. Industrial/energy investments represent 13% of VC dollars.

Private equity and venture capital funds continued to show strength during the quarter ending December 31, 2009, with each asset class earning positive returns for the third consecutive quarter, one of the best since 2007. Overall, fourth quarter returns on private equity investments outpaced those in venture capital funds, though both continued to outperform the public markets over the long term, according to Cambridge Associates LLC, a provider of independent research and investment advice to institutional investors and private clients.

Ed Sullivan (Partner, KPMG) and Jeffrey McCormick (Managing General Partner, Saturn Partners) announced the results of 100 VC responses last week at Venture Summit East. Check out the video and results below.

Ninety-three percent of those surveyed noted that last year's credit crisis hurt the ability of venture capitalists to raise new capital. More than half feel that trend will last another year or longer.

It's with great excitement that we introduce the third annual AlwaysOn East Top 100 private companies. The AOE100 represent the top emerging companies from the East Coast that are demonstrating significant market traction and pursuing game-changing technologies in on-demand computing, digital media, and greentech.

The AlwaysOn editorial team, along with partners at the Blackstone Group, KPMG, Silicon Valley Bank, Sonnenschein, and industry experts across the globe, scoured the entrepreneurial community to identify the top 100 private companies that are taking old notions of doing things and forging solutions that will lead to industry shake-up and huge value-creation opportunities.

The first annual AlwaysOn Venture Capital East 50 highlights the 50 individuals based in the eastern U.S. who have backed the most profitable winners during the last four years. To compile the first VC East 50, our editorial team sourced data from our research partners Morgan Stanley, VentureDeal, and the 451 Group on more than 700 active venture capitalists, 1,400 VC investments, and 1,000 technology liquidity events during the last four years, from October 1, 2005, to September 30, 2009.

The news headlines are grim.  Oil spills, sovereign defaults, choppy stock markets, tepid employment.  It's no wonder that the global capital markets seem spooked.

Yet, here's the strange thing, many of us in the technology sector have never been more bullish about what lies ahead.

AlwaysOn could not be more pumped up about our third annual Venture Summit East, co-hosted by Harvard Business School and the Blackstone Group. Hot on the agenda is a keynote that will be given by Eric Ries on the timely subject of preserving ownership by running a lean and mean machine. Ries is the creator of the Lean Startup methodology and the author of the popular entrepreneurship blog Startup Lessons Learned.

It was good advice when you were in high school, and it's good advice when you're out raising a seed round for your startup.  Here's the scenario: You and a small team have been working on a great idea for a new business.  You start talking to a few of your friends who have been successful before to get their feedback and advice.