Prism's goal is to build substantial businesses around disrupting the status quo. Prism VentureWorks has only been around since 1996 but has raised 5 funds and manages $1.25 billion currently. Each of the 10 partners focuses on different industry sectors within technology and life sciences. These industry sectors in technology include digital media and software & services In life sciences, Prism focuses on medical devices, therapeutics, and breakthrough diagnostics.

Don't miss part I of this interview with Woody on trends enabling start-ups right now, how these trends are affecting the VC market, and Woody's position on the angel market.

AlwaysOn: So what markets do you think are hot right now? 

Woody: Distressed European assets. No – that’s a good question. I think innovation markets are hot. Really innovative new ideas that take advantage of the consumer being in charge, time shifting, society trends, and that have a mobile element are hot. It’s really based on the ingenuity and creativity of the entrepreneurs.I think the things that are hot are bigger ideas. The thing to be careful about taking less capital to start something is that there are a lot of very thin ideas out there - too many small ideas that can actually get to the market place because of the lower capital requirements. The really innovative things happen when there’s a bigger idea at play.

I don't have an MBA, but I have earned my SIlicon Valley MBA.  Let me explain. When I was a few years out of college, I considered going back to get an MBA.  I liked working in the valley and knew that I wanted to spend my career in tech and ultimately around startups - at that point I had only worked for Apple.  So I asked around to a lot of people I knew well and respected.  People who I thought had been successful in their careers and whose path I wanted to learn from.  Many of them had MBAs and some did not.  I wanted to hear their perspectives on the value of a traditional MBA.

Here at home, the angel community in New England is really starting to flex its muscles.  Thanks to Scott Kirsner's arbitrary declaration (and admirable leadership), June is Innovation Month in New England and there is a ridiculous amount of activity going on.It started off on June 1st with Angel Boot Camp, a confab that gathered over 200 angels, VCs and start-ups. Last night was Tech Stars Boston Investor Night, which continues to gain momentum heading into its second season, as well as the big annual the MITX Awards event.  Every night this month, there is something going on.  You can see the master schedule at www.neinnovation.com. Many of these venues didn't exist 3-4 years ago - Mobile Mondays, Web Inno, Open Coffee, etc.  New events are coming to Boston this month, including the Open Angel Forum, which is June 18th.

If you missed part one, where Greg explains Sigma's unique approach to world class investing while maintaining a low profile, check it out here.

AlwaysOn: How did Sigma view this last recession?

It's with great excitement that we introduce the eighth annual AlwaysOn Global 250 top  private companies. The AlwaysOn Global 250 represent the top emerging companies in the Global Silicon Valley that are demonstrating significant market traction and pursuing game-changing technologies in on-demand computing, digital media, and greentech.

The AlwaysOn editorial team, along with partners at Manatt, Morgan Stanley, the Blackstone Group, KPMG, Silicon Valley Bank, Sonnenschein, and Bridge Bank, as well as industry experts across the globe, scoured the entrepreneurial community to identify the top 250 private companies that are taking old notions of doing things and forging solutions that will lead to industry shake-up and huge value-creation opportunities.

Key players have proven there's value in the cloud. But Cloud 2.0 is more about moving the fringe benefits of the cloud to the core of enterprise (and even consumer) applications. The discussions that potential cloud users are having is shifting from technical feasibility to business and economic discussions.

What's going on with the infamous cloud? Is it actually catching on or it held up for security reasons? We start this great panel off with a debate about how secure the cloud is and get to the other key issues that have slowed the projected adoption of the cloud. Are the barriers psychological or technical? Is Amazon's AWS dead?

uTest is the world's largest marketplace for software testing services. The company provides real-world testing services through its community of more than 25,000 professional testers from 163 countries around the world. More than 1,000 companies-from startups to global software enterprises-have joined the uTest marketplace to get their Web, desktop, and mobile applications tested. uTest lets customers launch higher-quality products, get their applications to market faster, and control the cost of testing.

salesELEMENT was founded in 2003 with a single-minded focus: to improve the painful proposal process. Today, the company's clients include large multi-national and publicly traded companies as well as small- to medium-sized businesses. salesELEMENT's SaaS product, seProposals, saves sales staff countless hours and lets anyone create great looking proposals in 65% less time than traditional methods-winning more sales and saving companies thousands.