If you’ve ever thought about raising venture capital for your startup, then you must pay a visit to Ask The VC.  The Blog is managed by venture capitalists Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld and acts as a knowledgebase for everything VC.

Fred Wilson,  Managing Director of Union Square Ventures, has  published a post titled “Thoughts On Choosing Board Members” on his blog. It offers some great insights into how to go about selecting board members for your company.

Some of his thoughts include:

• Avoid “big names”  For the most part, they are useless.
• Select people who will attend each and every meeting, who will pay close attention to the business
• Select people who have an affinity for your business, who understand your challenges and your opportunities

Be sure to check out his post for more good ideas…

Blogs aren’t just for tech companies. Today, every company can use a blog…here’s why:

• They are a great way to share ideas about your company’s research, products or industry
• They help build online awareness about your company
• They can act as a “less formal” extension to your press releases
• They provide an outlet for customers and investors to interact with your company
• They can help influence the media (see Blogs are Key to Influencing News Coverage)

Recently, I helped a biotech client, Nutra Pharma, launch its blog. We’re starting off slowly with one post each week on a different subject relating to its research, clinical trials or the life science industry. Just two days after we launched, we had 35 subscribers and a renewed excitement from investors.

Here are seven steps to jumpstarting your corporate blog:

1. Brainstorm a list of categories and topics you’ll cover on your blog
2. Sign up for a free WordPress account or download and install WordPress on your corporate site
3. Sign up for a free Technorati account and claim your blog
4. Install the FeedBurner plug-in and setup the email signup form
5. Post your first three blog posts (separate each by one business day)
6. After posting each blog post, submit the link on digg
7. Once you have several posts online, email your customers, vendors, and local media and let them know about your new blog