I recently invested in two companies whose founders either had little interest in school as students or who dropped out of grad school: MixRank and Influitive. Both management teams are driven, hard working and well prepared for the difficult road of creating a business from scratch.

It’s Friday. Time to catch up on stories you might have missed during a busy week. Following are the peHUB posts that garnered the most unique pageviews from our regular readers between Nov. 28 and Dec. 2.

ONE: The Uniforms of Silicon Valley, a Slideshow – by Connie Loizos
TWO: Quien Es Mas Macho? A Slideshow of the Top 5 U.S. PE Funds this Year – by Luisa Beltran
THREE: Four Ways to Finesse Your Way into the Top Quartile – by Joanna Glasner
FOUR: Most Active VC firms in October: Slideshow – by Alastair Goldfisher
FIVE: Slideshow: Maine Reveals Bite Taken By Fees, Expenses – by David Toll
SIX: Venture Backed IPOs Feel The Pain, But Some Stay Above Water – by Mark Boslet
SEVEN: Court Backs Subpoenas Of Castle Harlan Over Quick Flip – by Bernard Vaughan
EIGHT: Slideshow: European PE Performance First Half 2011 – by Angela Sormani
NINE: Parish Capital Hands Keys to StepStone – by Gregory Roth
TEN: When the Majority Is Wrong – by Larry Cheng

Black Friday, Cyber Monday: the U.S. has once again kicked its consumption into high gear. But if Silicon Valley’s elite spends lavishly on clothing, you can bet it bet it will be understated. It’s the Silicon Valley way. And why? Because fashion takes time and effort, people, and no one wants to be accused of [...]

When gambling on high-risk startups, the more bets you place the better, right? Maybe not. There is an unspoken discussion going on in Silicon Valley now about the value of “Portfolio” versus “Persistence,” especially among people who have never started a company. The claim is that you can improve the odds of a Facebook-like outcome [...]

I never met a great entrepreneur who was afraid of failure. Or who didn’t take over-sized risks to win big. This is why many get fired. I spent the first 10 years of my career at A.T. Kearney, a long way from the risk taking that is Silicon Valley. Kearney, at 85, is one of [...]

In 1998 I was asked to speak at Mac World. It marked the first time Steve Jobs had returned to his company and would speak at the famous Mac World event.

What I didn’t know when invited was that I was scheduled to speak immediately after Mr. Jobs. I, like everyone else in the audience, sat mesmerized as he stepped comfortably back into his old shoes and articulated a simple plan for reforming Apple Computer. Things were so bad at the company at that moment Michael Dell famously quipped ‘Steve should shut down the company and give the money back to stock holders.’ Michael later regretted the statement when Apple’s market value sky rocketed past his own company’s.

Nobody really believed Apple could be saved, and even though I was speaking at Mac World I was not so sure myself.

Decked out in black jeans, a purple shirt, black jacket and orange Puma tennis shoes, Box.net co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie lived up to his billing as a rising star in the tech world at today’s Venture Alpha conference in San Francisco. Interviewed by Alastair Goldfisher, acting editor of Thomson Reuters’ Venture Capital Journal, Levie [...]

Steve Jobs’ death last Wednesday has spurred an astonishing outpouring of emotion. Beyond the countless makeshift memorials to him, a coming authorized biography of Jobs now sits atop Amazon’s best-seller list. More than 8,500 tributes to the Apple co-founder have been published by major media companies alone. Even the unsurprising details of Jobs’ death certificate became headline news when released to the public earlier this week.

Yet the question of why we’re so preoccupied with Jobs’ passing is as complicated as was Jobs himself.

Certainly, timing is a factor. At 56, Jobs died at the height of his powers, with his company now among the most valuable in the world.

“Like Marilyn Monroe or Kurt Cobain, we’ll never see

A Broader Account of how Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, and why

Dealing! Is Warburg Pincus eyeing Europris?

There’s Whitey! Former ice queen helps cops nab crook on the lam

Subscribe! To peHUB.

TIP! Your server. More importantly, send your favorite editor tips.

Movin’ On Up! Occupy Wall St. now a mobile occupation movement

Time to catch up on your reading. Here are the 10 most popular posts among peHUB’s regular readers for Oct. 3 to Oct. 7.

One: Slideshow: UTIMCO in 17 Active Funds with IRRs > 25% – by Lawrence Aragon
Two: Union Square, Other Early Stage Tech VCs Kick Ass for UTIMCO (slideshow) – by Lawrence Aragon
Three: Slideshow: European Fund-of-Funds Build Up U.S. Offices – by Angela Sormani
Four: Slideshow: PE-Backed M&A Jumps in Q3 and Here’s the Top 5 Deals – by Luisa Beltran
Five: Slideshow: More LBO Targets in the CRO Market – by Bernard Vaughan
Six: Promising Portfolios: Asset Values Top Contributed Capital In Recent Cal Regents Venture Funds (Slideshow) – by Mark Boslet
Seven: Infographic: PE vs. VC in Battle of Compensation – by David Toll
Eight: How Will You Remember Steve Jobs? – by Lawrence Aragon
Nine: Comvest Group Lands $580M Fund – by staff
Ten: A Pension Fund Does Away with the Middleman: the VC – by Connie Loizos