The story behind E-180 in the Havard Ed. Magazine

Nobody teaches us how to be a great social entrepreneur. Just like many other things in life, one has to figure it out by herself, or to find the resources to make it happen. The know-how, the network and the cash, of course.

It’s been 2 years that I’m working on E-180, and we are just about to see the work coming into fruition. The pace has been slower in the last couple of months for one simple reason: I had to commit to a (great) full-time job in order to release some of the financial and emotional pressure that was created by the entrepreneurial lifestyle. My friend Peter Deitz wrote a great post on Social edge about personal debt and social entrepreneurship:

A perfect storm has formed around the failure of philanthropic capital to address the needs of social entrepreneurs, the ease with which personal debt can be accessed, and the stubborn enthusiasm that social innovators often bring to their projects.

There’s not a lot of room for mistake when each dollar is crucial. But after a year of funded knowledge-building (called J.O.B), I’m ready to jump full steam in the project that I’m wholeheartedly committed to.

The Harvard Ed. Magazine wrote an article on E-180 back in January 2010, and it’s my pleasure to share it with you as a reintroduction to our work, after almost a year of silence. It explains the why and how of it of this dream of mine. And in a couple of days, we’ll be able to make a great announcement, that could accelerate the course of the events… Stay tuned!

E-180 is invited to TechStars for a Day!

We are planning on launching our Beta by August and in order to do so, we are looking for the best developer, the best mentorship and some seed funding.

It happens to be exactly what TechStars is offering: the tools necessary to work faster, better and harder to get where you need to be at the end of the Summer. We applied, we got invited to go to TechStars for a Day in Boston next week, we’re ecstatic!! TS4AD is “an invitational one-day mini-camp for TechStars applicants.” It’s not a guaranty you’ll get in the program, but rather a day of networking and tips on how to succeed as an emerging tech entrepreneur.

We’ll keep you posted on the event, the great people we meet, and share some tips on how to take your incubator application to the next level.

Meanwhile:

- Apply to an incubator yourself!

- Know what they’re looking for!

- Learn about how to get into an incubator by being the underdog!

- Reflect on the trade off of “equity vs value added” of an incubator!

This Summer, fund your startup

At E-180, we believe that mentorship is the most powerful tool to further your education. We also believe that there’s no need to pay thousands of dollars to learn something. Actually, we even believe that you can be PAID to learn.

So, you have a startup idea/project/fantasy you’ve been thinking about for months. But you don’t have the money, the contacts, the skills to go from passion to action. Here are 4 programs that will not only provide a wide array of tools to get your idea off the ground, but that will also pay you to do so, wherever you are based in the world.

04/06/09 Update: We just came across GoodCompany Ventures. Check out our post about it.

Description

Their goal is to get you through the first phase. This usually means: get you to the point where you’ve built something impressive enough to raise money on a larger scale. Then they introduce you to later stage investors—or occasionally even acquirers.

How much

Rarely more than $20,000

When

From January through March and from June through August

Where

The Bay Area, United States

What else

• Once a week dinner with startup founders, venture capitalists, lawyers, accountants, journalists, investment bankers, and executives from big technology companies
• Mediation between founders
• Pitch coaching
• Lawyers on deferred payment plan

What you need to give

2 to 10% of your companies’ stakes.

Description

Get your startup funded and off the ground while learning from the best.

How much

Up to $18,000

When

From May through August

Where

Boulder, United States

What else

• Mentorship
• Office space
• Investors Demo Day

What you need to give

6% of your companies’ stakes.

Description

Help great people with great ideas build great companies.

How much

Between US$10,000 and $25,000.

When

From May through late August

Where

Philadelphia, United States

What else

• 3 different ways to get involved: as a hacker, a strategist or an innovator
• Does not need to be an IT, software or Web project
• Collaborative work space
• Mentors and Advisors who have “been there and done it” before
• Donated legal, accounting and administrative help to form your company properly
• Introductions to funding sources (including Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, private investors and public sources of funding)
• Hackers or strategists

What you need to give

4 to 8% of your companies’ stakes.

Description

Challenge Your World is an an investment agency with a conscience. They invest in people with ideas, and help bring those ideas to life. Their mission? Redefine value and generate a new concept of profit. They embrace triple bottom line accounting and social entrepreneurship.

Where

Montreal, Canada

What else

• It is based on a contest. It is a competition for funding for great new business ideas. It is open to anyone with a great business idea that meets the following criteria: it provides a positive impact on people, a positive net impact on the environment, and has strong financial potential.
• Coaching and mentorship

We’ll see you at one of these this Summer!

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