Going For Profit

Yunus is the father of non profit microfinance. When the white people in the Arctic Zone of Scandinavia awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize, he made a little over a million dollars.

My FoodSpotting Day Hangover

Image via CrunchBaseFoodSpotting Day was January 15, and granted I celebrated it in two different cities, the celebrations have to stop at some point. But looks like my FoodSpotting Day hangover goes on. It is not like I have a new idea to share, but I do feel the urge to flesh out a few things I have suggested before.

The Most Popular Dish In New York: Shake Shack Burger, Madison Square Park
World FoodSpotting Day 2011: January 15: Photos

I am not the best person to talk about the food recommendations business, but I don't get the impression FoodSpotting is lacking for direction on that front. It is moving full speed ahead there.

Catchafire

My two tech partners and me were at this event earlier in the evening. I got to meet and get to know the entire Catchafire team, it felt like. And this entire time I have been thinking of them as a non profit. They are a for profit like my outfit. And they cater not only to non profits. It felt to me like I could find some part time consultants through them.

Intrepid Woman Rachel Cook

Last night I was at Gizzi's Coffee for a screening of the MicroLending Film by my colleague Rachel Cook. Later we went to a birthday party of a friend to our tech partners Sunil Madhu and Marty Monaco. That was at Draft Bar in Brooklyn. Sunil was at the screening too. He left for the party early.

The Glass Hammer: Intrepid Woman: From Futures Trader to Microfinance Film Maker: I was working as a Futures Trader on the European shift – in the middle of the night, Chicago time – in September 2009 when I first came across an op-ed in The New York Times written by Nick Kristof the month before, “The Women’s Crusade.” I was completely floored by the article – it told the stories of women in the developing world, facing terrifying, seemingly insurmountable odds. And some of these women were able to overcome these odds using a development tool I’d heard little about – microfinance. I was intrigued. Microlending seemed to help women, and it seemed to be a high-return financial investment – both topics of high interest to me...... While maintaining my trading job, the crew and I traveled to South America and filmed in Paraguay in 2010, and we’re only getting started – we’ll continue filming throughout this year...... I love trading. I wasn’t a superstar, but I was profitable over the course of my career when trading a variety of products, including during the financial collapse in 2008. I made more money than I had expected to see at 25 ..... But over the course of my trading career it became increasingly evident that much of the criticism about the trading world was all too true – particularly in its attitude toward women. ...... During my tenure at this first shop, the 2008 presidential elections were happening, and I’d hear these macho frat guy-types yelling at the TV, telling Palin to “go back in the kitchen” after Senator McCain first announced her as his VP pick. ...... we’re planning to shoot in Bangladesh and India in late February, and will also film in Kenya and in New York, in the interest of making this a truly comprehensive project about microfinance and how it impacts women

Rachel's Microlending Film was the best of the three movies shown for the evening. The other clips had too much forced violence. It was like, okay, time to end the 15 minute movie, let's kill a character.

The Most Popular Dish In New York: Shake Shack Burger, Madison Square Park

You have to wonder, how does Charlie O'Donnell figure these things out?

Go Easy On Charlie Now

Happy FoodSpotting Day Soraya Darabi

Image by lizstless via Flickr

Okay, so FoodSpotting Day was yesterday, but I just noticed my Soraya Darabi blog post for the first time has become a top five blog post for the week at this blog. Most of that traffic is, I believe, coming from Google. Looks like a lot of people are doing searches on her name.

Union Square Ventures: A Real Choice

Image by Meetup via CrunchBase

Union Square Ventures: The Opportunity Fund: For entrepreneurs, this means that if you are leveraging the economics of Internet-based networks to transform some aspect of the global economy, Union Square Ventures can be a partner, whether you are just launching your service, funding rapid growth, or spinning your business out of a larger entity. We can work with you if you need $250,000 or $25,000,000. We can invest in New York, San Francisco, London, or Berlin, and most places in between. We hope you'll think of USV as stage-agnostic, highly-focused investors who can add value to your company.

Fred Wilson is my favorite solo blogger. I drop by his blog most days. The days I can't, I drop by the following day and catch up on the missed posts. When I drop by, I leave a short comment. I was here!

FoodSpotting Day: Thoughts

Image via CrunchBaseI have been fascinated by FoodSpotting. I am not exactly a meat and potatoes kind of guy, but I am only slightly above steamed broccoli. I would not describe me a foodie. I come from a country of subsistence farmers. I am sufficiently into food, don't get me wrong. But my fascination with FoodSpotting has been what it has meant as a tech startup, best caputured by a phrase I coined, that FoodSpotting is the next FourSquare. It is the leader in the what after check in space. It inhabits the royal vertical in that space.

World FoodSpotting Day 2011: January 15: Photos

So when I celebrated FoodSpotting Day yesterday - in two separate cities, Philly and NYC - I was on a mental hyper drive of sorts. I kept thinking, what next, what next? What next for FoodSpotting?

World FoodSpotting Day 2011: January 15: Photos

The Gotham Gal

I like Fred Wilson plenty as is, and I have been profuse in my praise for him at my blog and in the comments sections of his blog. But then I got to meet the Gotham Gal, and that is what cemented it for me. That is when I realized I really, really want this guy on my Board. He is a big shot. I might or might not get him. But I am going to leave no stone unturned to get him. I decided.

MLK Day Brunch With Jack In Philly