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For Social Enterprises
Ashoka »Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Since 1981, we have elected over 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.
Dell Social Innovation Competition »
The RGK Center at The University of Texas and Dell are looking for college students worldwide with ingenious ideas to change the world. Dream up a plan that combines creativity and innovation to tackle a pressing social issue, and you can win $50,000 to put your plan into action!
Echoing Green »
To accelerate social change, Echoing Green invests in and supports outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions. Through a two-year fellowship program, we help our network of visionaries develop new solutions to society’s most difficult problems.
Global Giving »
Unlike a traditional foundation, GlobalGiving does not directly offer grants or support. GlobalGiving uses its website to connect individual and institutional donors directly to social, environmental and economic development projects around the world via our "public" website, www.globalgiving.com. Potential donors can browse and select from a wide offering of projects, organized by geography or by themes such as health care, the environment, and education. GlobalGiving markets these projects through a number of channels, including corporations, employee giving campaigns, and direct consumer marketing partnerships. When donors come to GlobalGiving, they can find and fund projects that meet their diverse interests.
Global Social Venture Competition »
The purpose of GSVC is to actively support and promote the creation and growth of successful social ventures around the world. We define a social venture as an enterprise that has both financial and social goals integral to its purpose. Grand Prize: $25,000 2nd Place Prize: $10,000 3rd Place Prize: $5,000
Knight News Challenge »
We’re giving away around $5 million in 2009 for the development and distribution of neighborhood and community-focused projects, services, and programs.
Skoll Awards »
The Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship support social entrepreneurs whose work has the potential for large-scale influence on critical challenges of our time: environmental sustainability, health, tolerance and human rights, institutional responsibility, economic and social equity, and peace and security. These issues are at the heart of the foundation’s vision of empowering people to create a peaceful, prosperous, sustainable world.
Stanford BASES Social E-Challenge »
The Social E-Challenge is a business plan competition for entrepreneurial ventures whose primary goal is to effect social and/or environmental change. Participants range from for-profit businesses with a strong sense of social responsibility to nonprofits with sustainable revenue-generation models. The common denominator is that these companies seek to have a positive impact on our society and/or the environment. Social E-Challenge provides participants with $50,000 in final round prizes, as well as the resources and training to launch their startups, which include workshops, mixers, speakers, a mentorship program, and individual feedback from renowned judges.
Whitney M. Young, Jr. Memorial New Venture Competition »
Whitney M. Young, Jr. Memorial Conference is focused on early-stage new ventures. The primary purpose of the New Venture Competition is to provide entrepreneurs of African descent the opportunity to present their ideas for growth companies to an illustrious panel of investors and venture capitalists. The top team will receive $10,000, while the 2nd and 3rd place teams will receive $5,000 and $2,500, respectively.
For Technology Start Ups
BootUp Labs »Bootup Labs is a startup accelerator in Vancouver, BC that helps founders and companies go "from zero to fundable." Bootup Labs recruits and supports promising entrepreneurs and provides mentorship, ongoing support and office space to help define their business and secure venture financing. Our nine-month mentoring and support program is designed to help you get to the next level with your company, and prepare you to receive your first round of funding. Read more about Bootup Labs, or contact us if you're ready to start talking to us about how we can help.
DreamIt Ventures »
The DreamIt Managing Partners have been investing in early stage companies since they sold the companies they started. In the last few years we have become enthusiastic about how quickly and inexpensively great companies can be launched. At the same time we have seen some very talented people with great ideas struggle to pull the pieces together and get over the startup hump. With the help and support of entrepreneurs, technologists, prominent law and accounting firms, angel investor groups and venture capital firms, DreamIt Ventures was born. Our goal at DreamIt is simple: Help great people with great ideas build great companies.
LaunchBox »
LaunchBox Digital is a place for cutting-edge ideas and cutting-edge talent. LaunchBox Digital helps entrepreneurs maximize their chance of success and get through the challenging early days of starting a new business.
Seedcamp »
At Seedcamp, we believe Europe has the talent, the role models, and the capital founders need to succeed. We want to provide a catalyst for the next generation of great entrepreneurs and help you take risks, think big, and succeed. Participating in Seedcamp will give you enormous validation and access to a world-class network of advisors to help you with every aspect of your business, plus a direct route to seed and venture capital.
TechStars »
TechStars only accepts about twenty companies each summer (about ten in Boulder, and about ten in Boston). In Boulder last year, 393 companies applied and ten were accepted. Getting in is hard, and it means something special. TechStars fills the startup funding gap by providing just enough capital to get your idea off the ground. Your new company receives up to $18,000 in seed funding.
Y Combinator »
Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm specializing in funding early stage startups. We help startups through what is for many the hardest step, from idea to company. We invest mostly in software and web services. And because we are ourselves technology people, we prefer groups with a lot of technical depth. We care more about how smart you are than how old you are, and more about the quality of your ideas than whether you have a formal business plan.
Good To Great Book Summary
The best business book I know of
Built To Last Book Summary
The second best business book I know of
Think And Grow Rich Full Book
Napoleon Hill's classic on spiritual, mental, physical, and financial wealth
Think And Grow Rich Workbook
A workbook based on Napoleon Hill's famous book
As A Man Thinketh Full Book
James Allen's book on the power of thoughts
Tribe Book Summary
Seth Godin's insights on building community
MBA Action Plan
(click to download)
I'm a huge proponent of business school because the experience is like no other. The diversity of people, classes, and opportunities is surreal. The possibilities in business school are infinite; MBAs are more likely to start companies, travel to multiple countries, and meet global thought leaders than I think any other grad programs allows.
The two greatest lessons I learned in business school weren't from classes; they came from my classmates challenging me to be my best and me challenging myself. My MBA taught me:
1. how to think bigger and
2. how to communicate complex ideas
For all those being admitted to B-school, congrats!!!
My MBA Action Plan is the tool I created and used to keep me focused on the reasons I chose to go to business school and what I wanted to get out of the two years. I hope this tool blesses you and helps you make the most out of your MBA experience in the same way it did for me.
Cufflinks Don't Mean I'm Cuffed
Dear Corporations,
On my flight to the west coast, I sat between two employees of the same health care company. If I was CEO, after the 5 hour flight, I would have known who to fire, who to promote, what divisions to grow, and which ones to eliminate. If I was CEO of one of your competitors, I would have known how to strategically bury your company within the next 3 years and who on your staff to hire to help me do it.
Your employees know everything!
1. They know who’s creating value and who’s not
2. They know why you’re hot and why you’re not
3. They know your customers and your customers know them
Why don’t you listen to them? The suggestion box in the janitor’s closet doesn’t count.
Where do you create space for employees to be entrepreneurial? Just because you’re in the black this year doesn’t mean that you exploited every opportunity available.
Why can’t you retain your best talent? There are cells of employees getting ready to leave because they feel as if you’re not open to their ideas.
Do you have the courage to facilitate the open honest conversations internally that only take place in the bathroom, at the water cooler, or at happy hour?
Do you want to own your employees or do you want them to own you?
You think the US divorce rates are high? Well...you haven't signed a contract with us. Just because we wear cuff links doesn't mean you've got us cuffed. It's not that we're noncommittal, we just value freedom and the ability to create, whether we're an entrepreneur or intrapreneur. We're nothing like our grandparents and our parents who sought the security of working for one company for their entire life.
It's time to explore new organizational models and accept the fact that the concept of life-time employment no longer exists and see corporations as talent development centers, kind of like colleges...but better. Corporations (and colleges) will no longer be valued for their financial packages. Instead, they will be valued for what their alumni achieve upon leaving. Look at PayPal's former employees that went on to found YouTube, Linked-In, and Yelp.
The answers to your success are within (your own company).
Sincerely,
Millennials
Inspired by Dee Hock, founder of VISA and author of One From Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaoridc Organizations
According to sources, in the early stages of the game, Bill Gates wrote a 3-page letter to Steve Jobs explaining how Apple could dominate the computer industry. Bill Gates was comfortable doing this because he was positioned to dominate the software industry. Bill Gates is worth $50B more than Steve Jobs.
Visionaries sometime overlook the challenges.
Strategists face the problems head on.
Steve Jobs of Apple is a visionary.
Bill Gates of Microsoft is a strategist.
It is easy to get caught up on vision and overlook the work that must be done to get there. It is just as easy to get caught up on strategy and forget the guiding vision. As we strive to change the world by changing ourselves, it is important to balance both strategy and vision.
Live purposefully!
