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.