Mr Ivanishvili talks of Georgia as if it were a venture-capital project he might run for a year or so, installing an independent judiciary, free media and good managers.

ECONOMIST: A plutocrat emerges to take on Mikheil Saakashvili

Atlas Venture, a leading international venture-capital firm, is the project's main backer.

ECONOMIST: The money show

After unsuccessfully shopping the project to 150 venture capital, debt and equity investors, the DOE may be Mr. Taylor's only way for retaining control over the landfill technology that he spent more than 15 years developing.

WSJ: Proposal Aims to Gut DOE Loan Program

Daily works on the Natural Capital Project, a joint venture of Stanford, the University of Minnesota, the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy to develop standard tools for the measurement of natural capital.

FORBES: Why A Piece Of Pristine Coral Is Like A $20 Bill

The Natural Capital Project, a non-profit venture led in part by scientists from Stanford University, has changed that.

FORBES: Names You Need To Know In 2011: Natural Capital Project

It is one of the largest capital investments for a Sino-foreign joint venture project to date in the People's Republic.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But Kickstarter takes only a 5% cut of every transaction, and thereby misses out on the chance to score venture-capital big, or to enrich its investors, who get only mind share in a project or a product for their investments.

FORBES: Cofounders, Kickstarter