Business

Just about a month ago, Microsoft officially announced its Bing Fund angel fund and incubator program. Today, Bing Fund announced that it has enrolled its first two companies: app development service Buddy and Pinion, an advertising service with a focus on gaming communities. Both companies hail from Microsoft’s own home state of Washington and will, among other things, get subsidized use of Bing’s APIs, mentorship, funding and access to co-working space in Bellevue, WA where Microsoft’s Online Services Division is located. When Microsoft announced the Bing Fund, it said that it was looking for startups that focus on mobile and web experiences and which provide “both inspirational vision” and the “ability to execute.” According to Bing Fund’s general manager Rahul Sood, his team heard “from a large number of startups” after the fund was announced. He believes both Buddy and Pinion “an amazing couple of companies” that “can really change the landscape in their respective areas.” Buddy...

Editor’s note:  Dan Schawbel is the managing partner of Millennial Branding, a Gen Y research and management consulting firm. He is also the author of Me 2.0 and was named to the Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 list in 2010. Subscribe to his updates at Facebook.com/DanSchawbel. You probably believe that big companies are anti-entrepreneurial because you assume they are slow growth dinosaurs that resist change, but history teaches us otherwise. Corporations have been run entrepreneurship-type programs for many years, like the fabled Lockheed Martin “Skunk Works” – a small group of employees working on revolutionary products such as famous aircraft designs including the U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird. Even today, some companies still refer to these projects as “skunkworks projects.” Today, companies are starting new entrepreneurship initiatives because they need fuel for innovation, desire top talent and need to sustain a competitive advantage. Smart companies are catering to entrepreneurs, allowin...

Billy Gallagher is a writer for TechCrunch. He is also the president and editor in chief of The Stanford Daily. Billy previously worked at The Stanford Daily for two volumes as a managing editor of news. He has also worked in sports and staff development at The Daily. In March of 2012 the Friends of The Stanford Daily awarded him... ? Learn More Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham tweeted today that YC’s 380 companies (prior to the current batch) have raised $1,048,274,000. Y Combinator, which launched in 2005, takes on two classes of startups per year into their three month program, during which they mentor and connect the founders and invest in the companies. The total amount of funding raised by the 380 companies prior to the current YC batch is $1,048,274,000. — Paul Graham (@paulg) July 25, 2012 Even the simplest of mathematicians can look at the two numbers and divide the larger by the smaller and infer that, on average, Y Combinator companies raise more than $2,759,000. But no...