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The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University last week hosted the 2012 entrepreneur@nu Conference, featuring a keynote fireside chat with Northwestern graduate and Groupon founder Andrew Mason. The conference, now in its second year, drew students, alumni and entrepreneurs from Kellogg, the McCormick School of Engineering and the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation for a range of entrepreneurship-focused programs.

Addressing an audience of 200, Mason shared Groupon’s journey as part of an hour-long program called “The Groupon Effect on Northwestern, Chicago and the Midwest.” Together with another Northwestern alum, Peter Barris, managing general partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and one of Groupon’s earliest investors, Mason touched on issues ranging from competitive barriers to retaining culture to being a public company.

Groupon’s success, according to Mason, lies in the fact that it manages to solve a problem for both merchants and customers. Its focus on building a culture in which talented employees have the freedom to build is important. “People who do great things are persistent and surround themselves with good people,” he said.

Chicago, too, provided a critical entrepreneurial climate, Mason said. “Chicago was the perfect spot with its Midwestern pragmatism and its openness to using people to solve problems rather than technology,” he said. Together, he and Barris both expressed their commitment to advancing entrepreneurship among Northwestern’s students and alumni.

Additional programs as part of the entrepreneur@nu event sought to spotlight the evolving “entrepreneurial ecosystem” both at Northwestern and in Chicago. These included a range of panel discussions, including one on creating a startup based on university research and another on raising capital and growing in Chicago. The conference also featured 30-minute legal clinic sessions with Chicago area firms that assist startups, a demonstration area showcasing 14 local startups and VC and angel investors to provide entrepreneurs with feedback on their sales approach.

Finally, the conference also included the final round of the Northwestern Venture Challenge (NUVC), which awarded top honors and a grand prize of $15,000 to NuMat Technologies, a startup that computationally designs and synthesizes high-performing nanomaterials for gas storage and separation applications.

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Jim Paratore — the man who founded TMZ and created a slew of hit shows including “Ellen” and “Rosie” — died of an apparent heart attack Tuesday during a bike trip in France.Jim was President of Telepictures — a division of Warner Bros. – …

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Kat Von D foolishly set her own house ablaze in 2010, killing her cat in the process — this according to a new lawsuit — and now, she’s being sued for nearly a MILLION bucks in damages.State Farm Insurance filed the lawsuit against Kat today in…

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LOS ANGELES — A 16-year-old boy whose father abducted him and his brother and took them on a two-year, international odyssey with their uncle and cousin pleaded Tuesday with a federal judge for his father’s freedom. But it was to no avail.

U.S. District Judge Otis Wright ordered a 27-month prison sentence for George Silah, one of two brothers who abducted their sons and took them out of the United States without the consent of their ex-wives in 2008.

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More on Custody Battles

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PORTLAND, Ore. — Isaac Lamb acknowledges that his five-minute, block-long choreographed build-up to a marriage proposal has upped the stakes for everyone who follows.

“Guys, I’m sorry,” he said on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday. “That wasn’t my intention.”

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More on Video

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By Alex Shadunsky:

NYSE Euronext (NYX) has struggled as revenue and EPS are expected to fall this year and macro trends have been week. However, 2013 should be a different story and growth should resume with analysts expecting EPS growth of over 25% year/year to an EPS figure of $2.78, up from $2.20 in FY12. With it being undervalued on all metrics the stock makes a compelling buy here.

The company hasn’t been standing still and is making progress on all fronts. In its Q1 results, the company stated, “Despite the tough quarter, we are executing our earnings growth strategy. This quarter we made progress with the build-out of clearing, reduced our shares outstanding, unwound NYSE Blue and reported lower costs. These efforts will provide greater operating leverage when macro trends return to more historical norms.” Below is an in depth look at the valuation metrics and stock chart.

Valuation: NYSE Euronext’s trailing

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By Bear Fight:

American Capital Mortgage (MTGE) is an externally managed hybrid mortgage REIT. The managers of popular American Capital Agency (AGNC) formed MTGE to invest throughout the total mortgage market, including both agency and non-agency sectors. AGNC is focused on the agency sector. MTGE’s ability to move between agency and non-agency securities provides diversification and the ability for managers to allocate capital to the highest risk-adjusted return.

Click to enlarge.

AGNC’s managers have experienced lower prepay speeds due to unique security selection in HARP securities. AGNC management has accumulated Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) securities that carry low balances ($85,000 – $125,000) or high loan to values (105% to 125%).

MTGE Agency Portfolio

The vast majority of MTGE’s portfolio remains agency

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1. Last Friday, Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan reported that its consumer sentiment index increased in May for the ninth straight month.  That set a new record for the most consecutive monthly increases in the history of the index going back to 1978.  It was also the most upbeat American consumers have been in more than fours years, since October 2007 before the recession started.  Bloomberg reported that “A record number of households said they’d heard better news on the jobs outlook, which combined with cheaper gasoline and an improving housing market may help sustain consumer spending and shield the economy from Europe’s debt crisis.”

2.  This morning, Gallup reported that its Economic Confidence Index held at -16 last week, the highest index level in the four-plus years of Gallup Daily tracking in the United States.

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