Weekend Briefing No. 34
Welcome to the weekend! I kicked off my book tour this week in Boston where I had a great time talking about Profit & Purpose at Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School and Northeastern University (Go Huskies!). Welcome to all the new subscribers from Boston. I hope you enjoy!
WEEKEND BRIEFING //
Entrepreneurs are raising capital before the bubble pops. With young start-ups receiving lofty valuations, this is oddly reminiscent of 1999, just before the dotcom bust. With conflicts around the globe stoking fears of a market correction, some entrepreneurs say worries about a possible downturn are why they are stocking up on financing, essentially taking out insurance on the risk of lean times ahead. Learn more in this New York Times article.
Get your daily good on! My friend Ben Stone, along with a co-founder of Kickstarter, Perry Chen, just launched a new platform called Dollar a Day--which allows it’s users to sign up to give (as the name implies) $1 every day toward an innovative (and often lesser known) nonprofit. This is a simple way for people to discover, learn and give. Check out this Fast Company article to find out more.
How to maximize your relationship with your advisors. Phin Barnes, Partner at First Round Capital, contends that founders can ensure they maximize the relationship with their advisors — they can deepen these relationships, use them to maximize their knowledge in certain areas, and drive more productivity. In this in depth post, he advises seven tactics that can help founders.
What’s working at the bottom of the pyramid? Many social enterprises are attempting to provide products or services to the poorest of the poor, known as the bottom of the pyramid (BoP), but it’s hard to tell what’s working and what’s failing. This report from Business Call to Action looks at nearly 49 businesses in the BoP that touch 200 million people. Read this Guardian article to see what trend emerge.
Paul Graham drops wisdom. Paul Graham, the founder of the most elite startup incubator in the world – Y Combinator, offers some amazing little nuggets of wisdom on issues ranging from finding the next big thing to finding the right co-founders. Discover Paul Graham’s nuggets of wisdom. My favorite is…
“The way to succeed in a startup is not to be an expert on startups, but to be an expert on your users.” (click to tweet).
A THING I LIKE //
Get motivated. Ok… it’s Saturday. Maybe you’re laying around the house in your pj’s but you know you should get your butt in gear and go for a run or hit the gym for a good workout. Watch this amazingly motivating video, then get off your butt and go make it happen.
You are super smart, so I’m interested in your thoughts. If you have any story ideas, questions or just want to say hi, feel free to email me. I’m looking forward to chatting with you. If you have friends that would like the Weekend Briefing, please forward it along. They can sign up for free here. Follow me on twitter for updates throughout the week.
Have a restful & thoughtful weekend.