What took Branson so long?

This week’s news that Sir Richard Branson has invested in US start-up Square made headlines because, well, it’s Sir Richard Branson.

But another question quickly followed – why doesn’t Branson usually invest in start-ups? Sure, he has his Virgin empire, comprising of more than 400 businesses, but he’s rarely seen scouring Silicon Valley for the latest upstarts.

This insightful piece argues that Branson has always been a “start-up guy” but uncovers several reasons why he hasn’t personally backed new ventures.

PayPal founder Peter Thiel has never been afraid to plough money into start-ups and it looks like his Founders Fund is set to be $600 million richer.

The week’s other big news story was the launch of Google+’s business pages. So how can small businesses make good use of the service? Here are some good tips.

Want nine top tips on how to raise money via US start-up network Angel List? Here you go.

Conversely, do you want to be inspired by entrepreneurs who turned down hundreds of millions of dollars for their start-ups? Then check out these 10 fortunate, if arguably foolhardy, individuals.

What do young people want? They want to start a business, according to this new, youth-focused incubator.

What they don’t want is an employer that bans them from using social media. New research shows that 56% of young people will turn down your offer of employment if you bar Facebook and Twitter.

Not that they would view these sites via Internet Explorer anyway, of course. The Microsoft browser’s share of web traffic has dropped below 50% for the first time.

What’s stranger than suing your parents for $1 million for being bad bosses?

Well, a new service that wants to turn you into a “robot-supervised army” and rent you out at $5 a pop probably tops it.