Several years ago, while sitting on the board of an internal combustion engine startup, I had to nix a proposal to seek a cleantech earmark.

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The team over at app search engine startup Quixey took an unconventional approach and hired set designers from local theater company Guggenheim Entertainment to outfit their office.

FORBES: Startup Hires Set Designers to Trick Out Office on a Dime

Coalitions of entrepreneurs are mobilizing to show their support, including Engine Advocacy, a startup and technology advocacy group in San Francisco that counts Mr. Beckers as a member.

WSJ: A New Push for Entrepreneur Visas

Connors, who has invested in companies such as search engine Blekko and cloud security startup CloudPassage, is particularly interested in helping companies move from an early product or idea to a solid business model and strategy.

FORBES: Tim Connors Launches PivotNorth Fund To Get Back to Basics

At Hattery and Engine, we celebrate the power of the startup community and work to educate government on how important we are to the U.S. economy to ensure that future legislation does get it right.

FORBES: Why Investors Must Care About Public Policy

These acquisitions include Jambool (a social gaming site), Metaweb (a semantic search engine), and Angstro (a social networking startup that pulls data from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc).

FORBES: Google To Grab Social Search Share But Stock Is Too Dear

The shift will create openings for new competitors such as CoverHound, a well-funded San Francisco startup that has built a multiple-carrier comparison engine.

FORBES: Will Auto Insurers Survive Their Collision with Driverless Cars? (Part 6)

But New England recently partnered with SessionM, a tech startup that helps increase user engagement, to turn that app into an engine of fan involvement and interaction.

FORBES: NFL Teams Turn To Social Media To Connect With Fans

Startup America and new firms are an even greater -- of even greater importance to the job engine.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing