We're Going to Need a Bigger Plan

The universal 12-step business plan. Use something more convincing for the upcoming competition, please.

Four steps to being a good social entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship Day 2011

December 7th, we hosted three speakers who discussed unique applications of entrepreneurial management techniques.

Andrew Fernitz discussed his company, 312 Aquaponics, which develops aquaponics systems for specialty food production, research and educational purposes. The systems produce a 30% faster growth rate in most of the plant species tried, reduce the requirement for fertilizer, energy and water consumed, and allow simultaneous cultivation of farmed fish. Other advantages of aquaculture over traditional farming include shorter shipping distances from farm to table and avoidance of soil depletion.

April Yvonne Garrett, CEO of Civic Frame and host of Amplify Baltimore on TV25, discussed the importance of the social dimension in effective entrepreneurship:

"What you do has to come out of your own situation. And it has to be more than just giving people something--a turkey or toys at the holidays. Many of these people have never been asked their opinion like it matters before. We try to act as a bridge to connect them to the right resources."

Carl Kriss of Edge Productions discussed the production process for "Give and Take", his documentary about New York street musicians, and introduced the local premier of the film to close out the evening.

Left to right: Andrew Fernitz, April Yvonne Garrett, Carl Kriss

Three current students, Adrian Galbraith-Paul, Sean Grant and Reilly Brock presented a panel discussion on being an entrepreneur while still a student. Each had started a business after winning grant support as part of the Innovation Greenhouse / Burton Morgan Business Plan or Concept contests. Galbraith-Paul went on to intern with 312 aquaponics and to build his own aquaponics system. Grant and other members of the Entrepreneurship Club are currently selling panini, smoothies and other items in Gambier as Night Bites. Brock and his partner Jordan Rhyne just finished a season of operation at Last Call Food Cart, the 2011 competition champion.

Water.org

"It's all about how to leverage a dollar of investment to greatest effect." Matt Damon and water.org provide microloans and other support to provide water security in developing countries. Here's how they do it:

Entrepreneurship Day

Coming up December 7th: Entrepreneurship Day

Stanford Open Classes

Last quarter, Stanford University offered one of its most popular classes on machine learning to anyone who wanted to take it, for free. This quarter, they've expanded their offerings to include seven more computer science classes and two entrepreneurship classes. I'm signed up for the Lean Startup class--Steve Blank who teaches the class, is that good. Have a look and sign up for something; you're not that busy.

How to Build a School in Three Hours

When people ask me what I mean by social entrepreneurship, I point them to Taylor Conroy's website and TEDx Talk. Here's how to make lives better at Internet speed: see the need, find a fix, make it happen.

Top 50 Events for Young Entrepreneurs

Your schedule for the coming year, provided by Under30CEO.com: SXSW, Startup Weekend, and 48 others.

The Milkshake Test

In Slate this week, Dan and Chip Heath talk about Clayton Christensen, author of Innovator's Dilemma and Innovator's Solution, who came up with a simple way to reframe products--as "hires":

Christensen asks us to imagine a group of marketers at a fast-food restaurant who want to sell more shakes. As they comb the customer data for insight, they discover something interesting: Most milkshakes are sold to early-morning commuters who buy a single milkshake and nothing else. Why milkshakes?  

These commuters, according to Christensen, are “hiring” milkshakes to do a job for them: to supply a breakfast that is filling and nonmessy and cupholder-compatible. So to sell more milkshakes, the marketers don’t need to create a more delicious milkshake. Deliciousness isn’t really in the job description. Rather, the shakes need to be an ideal commute co-pilot. (If only having a milkshake in the car would let us use the HOV lane …)

So the restaurant’s marketers, inspired, create a self-serve milkshake lane to speed up the morning transaction. They add tiny, straw-suckable chunks of fruit to the shake, which make it last longer and add variety to the dreary commute. These tweaks made the milkshake a more useful “employee,” and sales improve.