Inc.com Daily | Entrepreneur News

How patents can hurt innovation, Google launches Offers, Greek islands for sale, Airbnb's soaring valuation, and more.

Do patents hurt entrepreneurship? Fred Wilson, the New York-based venture capitalist and blogger, calls patents a "tax on innovation." He's certainly not the first, either. Thomas Jefferson was one of the old school patent naysayers.

Google's 'me too' deal site. Shunned by Groupon, Google rolled out 'Offers' today, a daily deal site of its own. According to The New York Times, Offers' value-prop is that it's the only daily deals site to combine offers with mobile payments.

Like Greece? Buy it. The Journal reports that the government of Greece plans to auction off public property to raise capital for its debt-ridden country. No word yet whether you can write this off as a charitable expense.

The next billion-dollar start-up disrupts the hotel industry.  Earlier this week, Airbnb purportedly raised a round of funding that pushed its valuation above the billion dollar mark. The platinum status, however, has drawn plenty of ire from the hotel industry—TechCrunch gives a good overview of the challenges Airbnb will face. 

How to launch a Gen Y-friendly company... "If you want to succeed in development of new brands, products, and services, today you need to be following Gen Y. But how?" Fast Company tells you. (Hint: it has a lot to do with Lady Gaga.)

...When the kids don't know how to spell. Today marks the first day of the National Spelling Bee, a good reminder for young entrepreneurs that texting etiquette (textiquette?) still matters. Wired explains.

More from Inc. magazine:

Get this delivered to your inbox.

Follow us on Twitter.

Follow us on Tumblr.

Like us on Facebook.

 

Eric Markowitz reports on start-ups, entrepreneurs, and issues that affect small businesses. Previously, he worked at Vanity Fair. He lives in New York City. @EricMarkowitz