Today in Small Business: Rainbow Loom's Patent Fight What's affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners today. Today's Best Read Erika Hall laments the lack of research done by entrepreneurs and venture capitalists before investing in a start-up: "Far from being the measure of disgrace it once was, failure now seems to be a sort of badge of honor. ... To be blunt: Many V.C.s don't care whether any one particular investment enjoys long-term success. They only care that a percentage of companies in their portfolio nets them a high return. Intellectual Property Finance Many larger companies are embracing low interest rates by selling bonds and raising billions. Ever wonder how the Walton family has maintained its fortune? Zachary R. Mider reports that "America's richest family, worth more than $100 billion, has exploited a variety of legal loopholes to avoid the estate tax, according to court records and Internal Revenue Service filings obtained through public-records requests." Employees Marketing Walter Dailey has a marketing lesson for small businesses: "Spend more time on how your marketing affects feelings rather than all of your time on selling points. From now on, the creative process for building an ad should start with these words, "What do I want my audience to feel?"" Here are some ideas from business owners and experts on setting the right price for products and services. Here's a small-business primer to paid search advertising. Online Start Up Even at 800 million users, Marissa Mayer says Yahoo is the world's largest start up. This is the story of Anastasia Leng, who had a great job at Google and then left to start her own company: "Leaving Google has felt like a reinvigoration to my career. My learning curve accelerated at a rate that I could barely keep up with, and I picked up both hard and soft skills in the span of a year that would have taken me nearly a decade to get within the framework of a bigger company. A Canadian business owner describes his journey from Dickie Dee to Pop Rocks to being a successful restaurateur. Around the Country Massachusetts's governor is considering repealing the state's controversial computer software tax. Washington is on track to be the only state in the nation that doesn't have a small-business health exchange. A Florida woman nets more than $100,000 in a toilet-fan scam (you've never heard of the "Pan Fan"?). Technology Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.