On September 23rd, seven fledgling startups with the potential to improve the lives of billions, to strengthen all of our communities, to make it easier to share our time and our things, to help build the world we want to live in, will put their knowledge, their solutions and their futures “on the line,” at the “Demo Day” for Fledge, the “conscious company” incubator. Experience the excitement by marking Sunday, September 23rd, 6pm-9pm on your event calendar for the Playhouse/Intiman Theater at the Seattle Center, as part of the Next 50 celebration of commerce and innovation.
Director Michael “Luni” Libes filled us on the milestones leading up to the big day.
“First, we picked seven great teams. Dozens of others applied, and we selected the seven we not only thought would succeed, but also those that would complement each other, and which would benefit from eight week of intensive instruction, mentorship, and “polish”.
“Then for the last four weeks, we’ve been busy questioning assumptions, conducting market research, and looking for clarity and focus.”
“Witnessing this progress in-person on a daily basis, I’d say about a third of the progress is from peer-to-peer discussions, about a third from our wonderful mentors (thank you mentors!), and a third from the bi-weekly classes. The peer-to-peer efforts are a direct benefit from our co-working setup, with all the teams interacting multiple times per week in our stand-up, all-hands meetings, and before and after classes. In those classes, I’ve condensed by MBA Entrepreneurship class from 20 weeks into 4, covering: basic business planning, Business Model Canvas, startup marketing, sales force design, financial planning, and corporate culture.”
Meet the Fledglings
BURN — Clean burning cook stoves for people in developing nations
Learning-Lights
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Give away a solar lantern, and you light up a room for a few years, until it breaks. Teach the children how to build solar lanterns, and you light up the world forever.
http://www.learning-lights.com
Trash Backwards
Powering the reuse revolution, with a curated database of original content, and soon-to-come mobile app.
Personify
Volunteering made easy, building a community for a better world.
Local Tools
All the tools needed to create a neighborhood tool lending library, except the actual tools.
Community Sourced Capital
http://www.facebook.com/Squareholder
HERE – Re-create the world where you talk with your neighbors
The final step for Fledge is for the fledglings to get up on stage and tell the world of their plans. This event is Sunday, September 23rd, 6pm-9pm, at the Playhouse/Intiman Theater in the Seattle Center. Over 120 seats are taken already, but the theater holds over 400, so in addition to registering for yourself before, please spread the word via email, Twitter, and Facebook (visit the event page).
But wait… there’s more…
There are more than dozen other events scheduled in September as part of the Next 50 month of commerce and innovation. http://www.thenextfifty.org/
Plus in October, don’t miss these two inspirational events:
First is #SocEnt Weekend: Next 50, the 50 hour event that challenges creative minds to develop disruptive and impactful sustainable enterprises. If you would like to experience the life of a fledgling, this weekend will provide a taste of the excitement. And who knows, the team from Local Tools was invited into Fledge from their performance at the #SocEnt Weekend in February. http://www.socentweekend.org/
Second is Social Innovation Fast Pitch (SIFP), a fast-pitch investment forum highlighting New Ideas for Social Impact, presented by Social Venture Partners Seattle. Non-profits and for-profits compete for $150,000 in funding and the opportunity to present cutting-edge ideas to as many as 1,000 of the most engaged social impact leaders, philanthropists and investors around Seattle. http://sifp.net [24×7]
