Thumbtack.com and the Kauffman Foundation surveyed 6,000 small business owners, and determined Arkansas is the second-easiest state in the country in which to start a business and the third-best for healthy small businesses.

Newly introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate could help Arkansas overcome its deficiencies in the STEM disciplines. Plus, BlueInGreen welcomes new engineers and some nice recognition from Discovery Channel for an Arkansas entrepreneur.

In case you missed it, Wednesday was a big day for Innovate Arkansas clients APEI, NextGen Illumination and Silicon Solar Solutions.

The Wall Street Journal asks an interesting question this week: Are startups “crowding” accelerators, limiting access to good mentors and investors?