Tag Archives: Social Entrepreneur

The 140-Character Mission: Social Media & Social Entrepreneurship

Posted on April 15, 2009 | 1 comment

The TiE Boston Social Entrepreneurs Group put on a great interactive panel discussion on using Social Media for non profits. The panelists represented a spectrum of cutting edge users in the social media space. They included (with their Twitter ids)

  • Ken George, New Media Production Manager, WBUR Boston (@kengeorge)
  • Brian Halligan, CEO and Co-founder, HubSpot (@bhalligan)
  • Gradon Tripp, Founder, Social Media for Social Change (SM4SC) (@gradontripp)
  • Joe Waters, Director of Cause Marketing, Boston Medical Center (@joewaters)
  • Kate Brodock, Other Side Group (Moderator) (@just_kate)

After the introductory discussion two non-profits presented their current online challenges and asked the panel for direction/advice

  • Sam Vaghar, Managing Director, Millennium Campus Network (@samvaghar)
  • Julie Soforenko, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, ACCION USA

It was a terrific session with some great insights and ideas.  I have tried to capture some of the nuggets from the evening in no particular chronological or preconceived order. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Information Technology, non-profit, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cover the basics – what to do when raising capital

Posted on April 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

Following up on the level headed advice that Chuck Lacy gave prospective social entrepreneurs, I came across a recent post on one of VC blogs that is equally relevant. Here are some excerpts, you can see the entire article at

Cover the basics before you raise capital

… We all know that coming up with market sizing and revenue forecasts for a startup is as accurate as the weatherman predicting the weather.  That being said, VCs want to understand the logic behind the numbers as much as the numbers themselves. Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, Venture Capital, venture philanthropy

Tagged , , , ,

Chuck Lacy speaks about Raising Venture Capital for Socially Responsible Businesses

Posted on April 5, 2009 | 1 comment

Earlier last month, I was fortunate to attend a lecture by Chuck Lacy former President of Ben & Jerry’s and currently President of Barred Rock Fund. He was a guest of the Legatum Center at MIT and spoke about raising funds as a social business.  It was interesting hearing him speak since he really did not focus on the fund raising part as much as some basic precepts that most entrepreneurs should keep in mind – whether you are growing a socially responsible business or a plain old fashioned technology startup.

I thought I would try to distill the essence of what he said as I think it is very relevant especially in these tougher economic times.

  • Don’t raise money. Sounds counterintuitive but it makes sense. You should run as long as you can on your own money. You should think about working part time and keeping 100% of your company instead of working 100% and giving up 50% of the company to raise cash. Raising money means you are giving your company away. There are many ways to raise money without diluting your stake in the company – Grants, state funds, PRI funds. Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Investment, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, Venture Capital

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Interview on Social Entrepreneurship

Posted on April 3, 2009 | Leave a comment

I was recently interviewed by New England’s largest e-magazine for South Asians, lokvani.com about my views on social entrepreneurship. You can find the full interview at their site here.

“The passage of the Edward Kennedy Serve America Act this week marks the coming of age of Social Entrepreneurship (SE)” says Raj Melville, who is one of the co-founders of the TIE-SE SIG. He talked to Lokvani about this concept which combines for-profit and non-profit work by entrepreneurs to address a social issue in a sustainable and scalable manner. It has now become the new buzz word. (from Lokvani.com)

Leave a comment

Posted in Micro-enterprises, micro-finance, microfinance, Philanthropy, Social Business, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation, sustainable development, venture philanthropy

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A new era of service by Barack Obama

Posted on March 19, 2009 | Leave a comment

I am reproducing the entire text of an editorial by President Barack Obama that appeared on TIME Magazine’s website today.

It was a precursor to the news later in the day that one of the two pieces of Service based legislation – the GIVE Act – was passed with a strong bi-partisan majority of 321 to 105 in the House. The senate version of the bill – the Kennedy/Hatch Serve America Act – is awaiting final approval. If the two bills are finally reconciled and passed, they will, according to the New York Times, “be [the] largest expansion of government-sponsored service programs since President John F. Kennedy first called for the creation of a national community service corps in 1963.”

This is indeed a new era of Service

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in non-profit, Philanthropy, Politics, Service, Social Ecosystem, Social Entrepreneur, social Innovation

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,