Let’s begin with a simple premise: Fantasy is bad. Reality is good.Entrepreneurs begin with a dream. But things go badly when they drink their own Kool-Aid. That’s when valuable advisers can force entrepreneurs to swallow the bitter pill that is reality. And only when aspiration collides with reality and makes the necessary adjustment does true, [...]

Biotech industry observer G. Steven Burrill says he will soon have $350 million to invest in a broad range of companies.Burrill late last week filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on his $500 million Burrill Capital Fund IV. Burrill, in an e-mail Monday, said he’ll close $350 million of that fund by month’s [...]

San Francisco financier and biotech observer Steve Burrill has made a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showing that he is looking to raise $500 million.Could Burrill’s Capital Fund IV be the long-awaited, repeatedly-promised, now-reduced-from-$1 billion fund for Elk Run, the mixed-use development in southeastern Minnesota?According to the filing made on Thursday, none of the $500 million has been raised, but then that doesn’t necessarily mean Burrill doesn’t have commitments for it. In fact a blog is reporting that Rusnano, the state-owned entity formally known as Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies, is investing $200 million in the fund.

One thing the interminably delayed Elk Run biotech/real estate development in southeastern Minnesota demands is patience.And that’s exactly what the Minnesota Department of Transportation has displayed in great abundance. Last week, even though no building stands on the proposed Elk Run bioscience park, MnDOT gave the green signal to a contractor to go ahead on [...]

Fund founder Jim O’Reilly says it was “fairly impossible” to raise money. For O’Reilly, explaining Upwind to potential investors proved to be a challenge in itself. For one thing, O’Reilly insisted Upwind was not a “fund” but rather a “new model” for developing startups.

When you’re the president and CEO of a major national real estate development firm, it’s best to develop a thick skin. It’s also probably not a good idea to post public comments to a news website when you’re pissed off at 1 o’clock in the morning. Yet that’s exactly what Steve Marks, CEO of Tower Investments in California did upon reading my story Tuesday on the troubled Elk Run BioBusiness Park his company is developing in Pine Island, Minnesota.

“There are two things that we know about the universe,” Abraham Algadi said. “We can only control the things we can control. The rest, we leave to a higher power.” Algadi is not a priest or philosopher, at least professionally. Algadi, the city administrator for Pine Island, Minnesota, was referring to the fate of the much maligned, often delayed Elk Run BioBusiness Park.

Dale Wahlstrom is an optimistic guy. But budget-cutting Republicans poised to control the House and Senate, and possibly the governor’s office next year may test the optimism of the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota CEO.

Burrill & Co. and the Infinity Group are joining forces to pursue investments in Chinese life science companies. San Francisco-based Burrill, a venture capital/private equity player that’s also trying to launch a $1 billion investment fund in Minnesota, and Israel- and China-based Infinity will co-invest in U.S. dollars and Chinese renminbi as equal partners, according to a press release.

Is it my imagination or does the Elk Run development project in Pine Island, Minnesota, seem a little… what’s the word I’m looking for?… oh, yeah… cursed? Don’t believe me? Well, let’s examine events from the past 12 months or so.