Ambition Today: Avi Yashchin of Clean Edison Talks Having His Company Acquired, Data Science And Clean Energy

The sounds of science are ringing through episode 12 of Ambition Today when Avi Yashchin comes on the show. Avi is the founder of Clean Edison, the nation's largest sustainable energy education and training firm in the US. for those seeking to enter the Solar, Wind, and larger Energy space.

Avi had a fascinating front row seat to the great recession in 2008 while employed by Lehman Brothers and his story is quite incredible. The lessons and uncertainty created from being inside a failing company led Avi to afterword, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, found Clean Edison. In this episode we talk about his story growing and eventually having Clean Edison acquired by Kaplan. Also data science, the future of energy, and even more science: 

• How going to Rocket School as a kid impacted Avi.

• Starting a career in New York in late 2001.

• What the Great Recession looked like from the inside of Lehman Brothers.

• What to do if you have multiple ideas to start multiple different businesses.

• Having Clean Edison was acquired by Kaplan.

• Finding the right partners that compliment your business.

• The importance of building a business with recurring revenue.

• Why data science is cool.

• How the declining cost of data is going to impact the world.

• The future of clean energy.

• The future of the planet.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

Do you always have “an ask” ready everyday just in case you meet the right person to answer it?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

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Links from this episode: 

• Founder Institute

• Audible

• Avi Yashchin

• Lehman Brothers

• Clean Edison

• Kaplan

• Earth Carbon Dioxide Levels

• 23 & Me

Who should I interview next?  Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below.  It keeps me going…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

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Founder Institute New York

When Business Growth Creates New Challenges

The funny thing about growth is that it can be a double edged sword. As a founder it is your job to drive and create growth for your company. After all the hard work, eventual growth in your company is the result of over coming each early obstacle. But at the very same time growth can then immediately create new obstacles.

This happens because growth brings with it additional challenges that your company may not have experienced before. On one side you should be celebrating that recent growth has led demand to increase beyond your wildest dreams. At the very same moment though your company is reaching the maximum capacity of your existing processes and current team capabilities. 

This is one of the reasons entrepreneurship is a constant uphill battle. As an entrepreneur it is your job to keep problem solving new challenges over and over. Knowing this is one of the reasons we place such a high value on High Fluid Intelligence at the Founder Institute when evaluating new potential founders applying to the program. Can you quickly learn a rule set and apply it to solve a novel problem? With a constantly changing playing field, founders must recognize patterns and quickly adapt to survive.

The best founders have high fluid intelligence. They use it to quickly recognize the new obstacles growth has challenged them with, analyze, adapt and solve them. Ensuring that as the founder you are problem solving over and over is the path to increased growth and success for your business.

In order to prevent this repetitive cycle from becoming too daunting though it is important that throughout this process you make sure to remember to take a a brief moment to celebrate the wins as they come, or they may just quickly pass you by. 

Mise En Place Featured In Gilt City New York

This week is quickly turning into the week of startup companies on this blog and here comes another one. Starting today Founder Institute New York graduate company Mise En Place has launched an exclusive deal going on with Gilt City right now!

If you live in New York City and haven't tried a meal delivery service before (or even if you have tried Blue Apron and then realized its prep times take FOREVER) then Mise En Place is probably for you. I personally have tried both Blue Apron and Mise En Place and much prefer the simplicity and high quality meals Mise En Place provides. 

MEPnyc for short, Mise En Place is working to bring families back around the dinner table by providing fully prepped meals for two, that are available with same day delivery. There are a few options for you to give Mise En Place a try through Gilt City before February 19th. I suggest grabbing the "$25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" for $5 or at the very least make sure you grab the FREE "$15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" before the deal ends! 

• $15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - Free
• $25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - $5
• Two Meals for Two Membership - $44
• Three Meals for Two Membership - $66

Easy Aerial On "All-American Makers" This Wednesday

Last week I featured Easy Aerial as the Startup Of The Week. Today I am super-excited to announce that Easy Aerial will be featured this Wednesday at 8PM EST on Discovery's Science Channel during this weeks episode of "All-American Makers".

Easy Aerial's latest product, Easy Drone XL Pro, was chosen to be featured in the second season and Ivan, founder and CEO of Easy Aerial, claims to have put it through some rough testing on the show! So set your DVR or tune in Wednesday night to join the Founder Institute New York family as we look into the unique design features of Easy Aerial's modular approach while exploring the future of drones as smart and helpful autonomous machines.

The Coronation of King Siskar

Just need to fix the URL of this post before we get going here. Click here to fix this now and then you can keep reading! - Much better now! 

By the time you are reading this the 1:39pm EST Coronation has most likely come and gone. I Kevin Siskar, am now a King. Of an actual kingdom and an actual Castle in Ireland. You might be thinking to yourself: "I had no idea you were descended from Royalty Kevin?". 

Well the truth is me either. And to the best of my knowledge I am still not descended from Royalty. I am however now and forever a King. And I have some decrees to make before I explain to you how I found myself having the crown thrust upon my head. 

King Siskar's Royal Decrees. 

1. You must listen to the "Ambition Today" Podcast. You can find it here: http://www.siskar.co/ambitiontoday
2. All people need to hence forth refer to me as King Siskar, Kevin Rex, or Your Royal Highness.
3. One day I will own another castle. Once a King, Always a King. See you then.

As you can see I am having a lot of fun with this. This all started last year when I paid $15 to Cards Against Humanity for their Holiday Bullshit giveaway. The final gift of the promotion in 2014 was 1 square foot land on a Private Island named Hawaii 2 located up in Maine. Along with rights of that 1 square foot also came rights to use of the entire island. Thanks to that campaign I now own part of a private island! (See isn't this fun!) 

Naturally happy with the amount of fun that Cards Against Humanity generated with the $15 I gave them the year before, when I saw the 2015 holiday promotion I jumped on it right away. The first two gifts I got were socks. The third gift was also socks. Soon after followed a social experiment with laser cutting an original Picasso. For the final gift of the 2015 Holiday promotion Cards Against Humanity used a portion of the $15 from the 250,000 people that signed up to buy a Castle in Ireland. Yes, an actual Castle! 

Then they built a program around that Castle. Coronating it's customers one by one as actual Kings and Queens of this actual castle. They built a website to see at all time who sits a top the rocky throne of Sensible Castle. They enabled the ability for each King or Queen to make 3 decrees during their time as rightful ruler that would be entered in to the Kingdom's laws. And lastly each King and Queen will have their name etched within the castle walls so that generations to come can remember the great rulers who righteously spent their 3 minutes as King.

So there you have it. You can now call me King Siskar whenever you want. I am having A LOT of fun with this with my friends and family. I love the history around Royalty ever since I lived in London. My younger brothers have jokingly threatened to steal the crown once or twice already. 

I actually think there is a startup lesson in here too though. I am spending a lot of time and energy talking about Cards Against Humanity. It is all because of this awesome experience I have had with them over and over again. It could possible be the best $15 I have ever spent. The amount of creativity in this company is unreal. The result of that creative culture is extremely satisfied customers and organic virality.  

The island last year only cost them $200k which is much smaller than most corporate marketing budgets. Next time you plan to go dump your marketing budget in Facebook or Google ads in hopes of "going viral" stop and think to your self, is there a better, scrappier, cooler way to get the return on that money you are truly looking for. A concept that is actually worthy of "going viral". I should note that since the 2014 promotion I have spent money to also become a customer of Cards Against Humanities normal product, it's card game. I have bought it for both friends and family as gifts. I have transcended from a customer to a brand evangelist. That is the lesson here. 

Most importantly getting back to fun of today, just remember:

Once a King, Always a King!!! 

Startup Of The Week: Easy Aerial

I am starting a new blog segment called the "Startup Of The Week", or S.O.T.W.™ for short, where I plan to highlight a great startup each week. There are several startups working to make the world a better place and I want to tell you a little bit more about some of them. The Startup Of The Week I have selected for the week of February 1st is Easy Aerial. 

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Easy Aerial

Founder: Ivan Stamatovski, Founder & CEO

Headquarters: Brooklyn, New York          Operating: Globally

One sentence pitch: The longest flying quadcopter on the market. 

In my words: I had a few words to say about Easy Aerial recently. You can check them out here. 

In their words: "With three times more air time then any other quad. The newest modular drone from Easy Aerial deploys in one minute and flies for 45 minutes. That is double of the next competing quadcopter in the same class." 

Accomplishments: 

• Founder Institute New York
• 2015 Kickstarter - $38,500 raised
• 2014 Kickstarter - $45,627 raised

How it Works:  

If you want to learn more or let me know your thought on this week's Startup Of The Week you can contact me here.

Uber The Conglomerate

Google Logo 1997

Google Logo 2016

At one point in time Google was called BackRub back when Larry first met Sergey to show him around Stanford. Now it is called Alphabet and just yesterday over took Apple as the world's most valuable company at a $560 billion valuation. Throughout the years we have seen Google refine and even rename it's brand. It has come a long way from the small startup company that only operated a Search Engine using their initial $25 million dollar investment from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins.  

Brand refinements can allow a company to take on much, much more. The Google of 2016 is a much different company than it's original search engine business. At a even higher level the Alphabet rebrand has solidified the company's new reorganization as an official conglomerate. Alphabet now owns the individual companies of Google, Calico, GV, Google Capital, X, Google Fiber, Nest Labs, and Verily.

I think we just saw the first step in this direction from Uber. Meet Uber the conglomerate. The company has just released a new logo and brand direction. 

"We leave no bit or atom unturned to create industries that serve people"

- Uber

 

Uber Old Logo

Uber's New Bits and Atoms Logo

While Uber is still the same company and no reorganization has been announced the new high level branding of the "bits and atoms" logo from Uber feels very similar to the move Google made with rebranding as Alphabet. Uber no longer just focuses on being everyone's private driver. The new vision of Uber focuses on the much larger goal of combining bits and atoms to create industries that serve people. While the company has yet to IPO, it's $60 Billion dollar valuation certainly shows the company has reached a scale at which it can start exploring other business models. For example, Uber Eats, delivering kittens, and Uber Rush are early looks at some of these potential other business models.

For now this is just a simple rebrand. But as with all rebrands the goal is to change the way in which think about a company. As customers, and employees, become accustomed to the new way of thinking about Uber I am really excited about the potential possibilities the company seems destined to explore. 

Alphabet, meet Uber. Another future conglomerate.

Alphabet Inc.  2016

Uber's New 2016 Logo

Tim Ferriss And Daymond John On The Power Of Being Broke

I listen to a lot of podcasts. Every once in awhile I hear an episode of a show that is so good I feel compelled to share it. That happened last night when I listened to Daymond John of FUBU and Shark Tank interview Tim Ferriss on how to turn weaknesses into strengths. Daymond turned the tables on this episode of The Tim Ferriss Show and interviewed Tim about the power of being broke. How to capitalize on a lack of resources and turn that into success. 

The power of being broke forces people to be scrappy, which could possibly be the best single word to describe the best entrepreneurs. Some nuggets of wisdom to absorb from this episode include: 

• Using empathy to attract mentors.
• How Tim overcame 27 rejections on his first book before getting his book deal for 4 Hour Workweek. 
• Making sure you don't over burden potential mentors. 
• Who makes the best business partners. 
• How to separate yourself from the crowd.
• Why you should be nice to EVERYONE.
• Don't be afraid to admit what you don't know. 
• Importance of putting yourself close to the action. 
• Always keep your sleeves rolled up.
• Maintaining your Time, Health and Nutrition. 

The Death Of The Headphone Jack

iPhone 7 concept design without headphone jack. Image credit: Handy Abovergleich

In 2014, I for the third time returned my wired Beats by Dre Tour headphones to Best Buy. Yet again they had stopped working in the one ear due to the cord bending down at the plug. Over the years I had tried Beats, Skull Candy, and many other brands of headphones. As they all suffered the same fate I needed to make a bolder change than just trying another brand. So to change it up this time I exchanged my beaten up tour headphones with wires for some Beats By Dre Powerbeats2 Wireless headphones. I made the switch to bluetooth headphones and said goodbye to the headphone jack, for the most part. 

The next day I went into the office, grabbed my shiny new headphones, and went to plug them into the headphone jack before a conference call; which I obviously couldn't. I had to take a moment, turn on my laptops bluetooth, and connect them wirelessly. Which then disconnected them from my phone as it also had it's bluetooth on. Also new for me was the concept that I now had to keep my headphones charged. Something I have never had to worry about before. I found myself from time to time gravitating toward my wired Apple headphones when using my laptop just to avoid having to reconnect back to my iPhone later. Needless to say, as a man whose headphones are so important they are always within arms reach, there were some behavior changes I had to make. 

Surprisingly though, I made those changes and I did not return my bluetooth wireless headphones. Two years later I still use my bluetooth headphones everyday. The sound is great! I am more handsfree with my devices when using them and my iPhone alway keeps me notified of the headphones battery level. As you can see the headphone jack is dying and rightfully so. The technology behind the modern headphone jack was actually invented in 1878. 

Earlier this month it leaked that the Apple iPhone 7 might not have the normal 3.5mm headphone port at all. Headphones will now have to connect to your iPhone either through bluetooth or by plugging into the existing lightning port where you charge your phone. A similar move to the one made by Apple last year when it removed all the ports on its Macbook and switched everything to a single USB-C port. I am confident that in 2016 we will witness the beginning of the end for the headphone jack as we know it for a few reasons. 

Image credit: Apple

First off, Apple now owns a headphone company. Apple is one of the few companies that could force the headphone standard to switch from 3.5mm to lighting ports across the industry using it's Beats by Dre brand. 

From the phone perspective this move immediately frees up more room inside the new device for other hardware, hopefully more battery. It also potentially removes the last hole on the iPhone that couldn't be properly waterproofed. Perhaps most importantly, switching audio from the current hundred year old headphone jack to using the digital Apple lightning port would enable higher definition audio. After all, every box of Beats by Dre headphones includes a quote from Dr. Dre in the studio telling you that you need these high quality headphones to be able to hear all the sound as it was intended to be heard by the artists. Lastly, a lighting connector enable's a whole new suite of digital software possibilities between your headphones and your iPhone 7. The rise of the smart headphones will likely be a result. 

Apple's growth has slowed and they will need to start finding new ways to keep increasing revenue. As shown by the new iPhone smart case, accessories seem to be one of their moves in addressing that gap. A lightning to 3.5mm headphone adapter would could be a major sell for the company if there is no other option to listen to certain devices without it. 

So just as in 2012 when TechCrunch declared Winter Was Coming due to Apple declaring the end of the 30 pin chargers that were in the iPhone 4, Spring will follow winter very quickly. We will all adapt. In the process we will finally update a 100 year old technology, have better sounding music, enjoy a smarter pair of headphones, and once again Apple will continue to lead innovation in the mobile space. 

Startup Of The Week: Fund That Flip

I am starting a new blog segment called the "Startup Of The Week", or S.O.T.W.™ for short, where I plan to highlight a great startup each week. There are several startups working to make the world a better place and I want to tell you a little bit more about some of them. The Startup Of The Week I have selected for the week of January 25th is Fund That Flip. 

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Fund That Flip

Founder: Matt Rodak, CEO

Headquarters: New York, New York          Operating: United States

One sentence pitch: The easiest way to fund your real estate investments.

In my words: Fund That Flip connects real estate investors, starting at only a $5,000 minimum, who are looking to invest money with house flippers that are looking to borrow money for an upcoming renovation.

In their words: "We are technology, real estate and financial service professionals on a mission to create new opportunities for Investors to take advantage of the positive returns real estate can provide. At the same time, we are helping re-developers access a new source of capital so they can focus on what they do best – finding and rehabilitating homes so they are again livable. Leveraging our team’s diverse expertise and new legislation passed as part of the JOBS Act, we are building the preferred real estate investment marketplace for investors and re-developers."

Accomplishments: 

• Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
• Founder Institute New York

How it Works:  

If you want to learn more or let me know your thought on this week's Startup Of The Week you can contact me here.

Work The Problem: Advice From An Astronaut

Last year I read An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth by Chris Hadfield. In it he talks about the NASA strategy of working the problem. This very technique ended up aiding Commander Hadfield when he went blind in space. Here is an excerpt from Chris Hadfield's book that offers you a brief explanation of what exactly working the problem means is in his own words: 

“Working the problem” is NASA-speak for descending one decision tree after another, methodically looking for a solution until you run out of oxygen. We practice the “warn, gather, work” protocol for responding to fire alarms so frequently that it doesn’t just become second nature; it actually supplants our natural instincts. So when we heard the alarm on the Station, instead of rushing to don masks and arm ourselves with extinguishers, one astronaut calmly got on the intercom to warn that a fire alarm was going off – maybe the Russians couldn’t hear it in their module – while another went to the computer to see which smoke detector was going off. No one was moving in a leisurely fashion, but the response was one of focused curiosity; as though we were dealing with an abstract puzzle rather than an imminent threat to our survival. To an observer it might have looked a little bizarre, actually: no agitation, no barked commands, no haste."

Chris Hadfield - Excerpt from An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth

This work the problem NASA mentality of descending down one decision tree after another until you reach your solution is something I learned and practiced first hand during my time as a Fireman and EMT. The main reason I think the idea of working the problem has stuck with me so much over the years though is because it is so similar to entrepreneurship. With each problem you conquer there will be a new one that arises. And just like the the limited oxygen supply in space, with entrepreneurship you can be limited by the year, month, or week of runway you have left in your business.

Applying this work the problem mentality to problem solving in business can be extremely useful. I was solving a problem recently, but was not really making any progress toward a solution. I stopped, took a step back, and realized I found myself too fixated on the problem. I was analyzing the problem over and over again as if some magic answer was just waiting to reveal itself to me. It can be so easy to get caught up on the problem when problem solving. I wasn't working the problem toward a solution like I needed to be one decision at a time. While it is important to understand a problem you are facing, once you have extracted the main knowledge you need to move forward there is often very little value remaining.

During the New York City blizzard this weekend I watched The Martian with Matt Damon (I promise no spoilers). Being as it is a film about Mars filled with teams of astronauts the strategy of working the problem is a common theme throughout the movie. It reminded me of the lessons learned over the years. After the movie I revisited the problem I was stuck on and solved it. 

Work the problem is a good tool to keep around, whether you are an astronaut or not. Remember, no matter what the problem is you are facing, whether it be with your company or in your life, take the time to understand the problem and then be done with it. Take your new found knowledge and focus it, descending one decision tree after another until you reach you solution. Work the problem!

Get The Ambition Today Stickers

What's better than having Ambition Today with you on your iPhone or Android phone? Well plastering our incredible new logo where ever else you want, of course! Hopefully you have been following along during the last few episodes and noticed our great new logo. If not you can see what you missed out on and get caught up on each episode here.

You can grab the stickers in either "Black Gold" or "Transparent Gold". Check them out below. The stickers are just $1 so get them while there hot! If one dollar is still too rich for your ambitious blood then be sure to listen to upcoming episodes of Ambition Today and get the free promocode!  

Ambition Today Stickers

$1.00

It's your kingdom and now you can fly the Ambition Today flag over it. For your royal reign choose from either Black Gold or Transparent Gold. Either way it's gold, so you really can't go wrong. 

Style:

Select Style Black Gold Transparent Gold

Purchase

The Future Is Empathy

Merriam Webster simply defines Empathy as:

"the feeling that you understand and share another person's experiences and emotions : the ability to share someone else's feelings"

Empathy requires a deeper level of realism than sympathy. It requires the ability to look from another persons perspective, not to it from your own perspective. 

Monday of this week started with honoring Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. and his dream.  Dr King was able to lead during his lifetime because he had a deep empathy for the other people in this world going through similar struggles. The greatest leaders of our time use empathy to gain followers and with those followers collectively solve large problems.

Today Macklemore and Ryan Lewis released a new song about the role white privilege has played in their life. The song chronicles Macklemore's recent experiences marching in Black Lives Matter protests and being a part of the hip hop community. The song shows an understanding and empathy of both sides of the table. The greatest artists of our time use empathy to create great and relatable work. 

Steve Job's knew empathy in design was the path to creating groundbreaking new products. The best product designers know their customers because they are their customers. Empathy guides the creation of the product. The greatest products of our time were built by founders who had the ability to empathize with the customers they are helping.

Last week I stood in the middle of a field in Africa while a plane flew overhead and dropped bags of food to the ground. Myself and others began to run, grab as much as we could, and carried home what we had picked up to feed our families. I experienced this shockingly first person perspective while wearing a $20 Google cardboard Virtual Reality headset in my living room. I was amazed at how real it felt. You should have seen the look on my Grandfather's face when I had him try it too. 

Technology enabled me and the others who tried it, to in that moment empathize immediately in a way that reading text simply never could do as powerfully or effectively. Empathy is an incredibly powerful ability. With constant new technology and the increasing free flow of information on the internet I expect empathy to grow to be a more naturally occurring and common part of society. The earliest test of this theory is and will be the attitude of Millennials as they have had the greatest exposure to new technologies and open information. In the next few years we will see if I am right, but I believe an open mind and empathy are the way of the future.  

Ambition Today: Justin Dombrowski Uncovers The Power Of Curiosity, History, Bitcoin, & Education In Life

Break out your pen and paper and get ready to take notes because you will be tested on this episode! Justin Dombrowski, Principal at Historiocity teaches some incredible lessons during Episode #11 of Ambition Today. 

One of my favorite quotes from this episode perfectly embodies Justin's strong curiosity from a young age: 

"I was trying to figure what kind of things best explained the world that I was interested in."

Justin has more degrees than you can count from institutions such as Columbia and Oxford. The real question though is why? Listen in to find out what Justin thinks of his personal experience with the formal education he has received and how he compares it to the world of entrepreneurship. 

Through all his education Justin has become an expert on world history. We talk about what the past can teach us and ask the question: does history repeat itself? In his post academic life Justin now applies his intellect as an expert in the world of Cryptography, Bitcoin, and Financial Technology. Episode 11 of Ambition Today is packed with the following: 

• The power of curiosity.

• How to manage curiosity.

• How the access to information is changing education.

• The value of formal education in the modern world.

• How to use history to understand today.

• Does history repeat itself?

• How core human behavior is the golden thread unifying history across centuries.

• Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?

• What is the future of Bitcoin.

• How will Bitcoin impact the world.

• The importance of living life.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

What kind of education is most valuable?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

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Links from this episode: 

• New York Startup Founder 101

• Audible

• Justin Dombrowski on Twitter

• Columbia

• Oxford

• Founder Institute

• Satoshi Nakamoto

• Coinbase Wallet for Bitcoin

Who should I interview next?  Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below.  It keeps me going…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Don't Forget To Look Up

The irony is that I am about to ask you to look at screen in order to tell you to "Look Up". You have 2 options as I see it. You can put your technology away right now and go experience the world. Or you can watch this video, and then go experience the world. Either way, get out there. This is your friendly reminder, do not forget to look up. 

Time Management For Entrepreneurs

I believe there is tremendous value in optimization. Increasing effectiveness even by a slight amount can have exponential effects as a result. Since taking a step back and thinking about planning my life in 2016 I have been working on ways to optimize life. One of those is time management, which I feel is something that can have a profound impact on most entrepreneurs. 

I value time as the most important asset in my life. It is finite. The fact is that there is no Department of Time to print more hours, days or years like there is a Department of Treasury to print more money when the supply runs low. 

There are 24 hours in a day. That is all you get. Make sure you spend each one of those hours wisely. We have been given the gift of time and it is our duty to make the most of it. Those 24 hours will be spent on either sleep, work, exercise, family, fun or free time.

I was originally going to elaborately detail my own day for this post but I have really liked the way Casey Neistat broke down his daily routine using the painted domino's visually in the below video. I have skipped ahead to the good part of the video (3:32) so you can jump right in. My routine in 2016 has been very similar to the image above. The major difference being that I swap vlog time with blog and podcast time. Also a night or two a week family time gets swapped for me with running event's in the evening around New York. 

I like the balance that routine brings to the day in order to allow for more productivity in the long run. It also helps reduce burn out, which can be a real issue for entrepreneurs if not addressed. I look forward to continuing to maximize each day to the fullest potential I can. Let me know if you have a routine or any suggestions on maximizing the day. Feel free to put them in the comments below. 

I Dream That Society Comes Together To Solve Global Problems

I have a dream that before I die I am able to give back to this world and society in a way that it is as much a better place as I can make it during my lifetime. Knowing that about myself I find social entrepreneurship a very attractive ideal and nobel venture. The ability to help others improve the world through manifesting there own visions is also one of the core reasons I am involved with the Founder Institute New York.

As mentioned before, remembering to be thinking 10X and the idea of investing in Moonshoots can be a tough mindset to stay locked into. Sometimes you have to think bigger than what you think big is. I have been making sure to remind myself to think exponentially as best I can for the past few months. One of the biggest problems I see is how can we get society to work together to solve problems. Giant problems. Global problems. Hell, maybe even within our solar system problems (I see you Mars).

January 18th, 2015 celebrates the day that a man named Martin Luther King Jr. saw a problem so large it divided a country and defined other nations. He then attempted to solve it and along the way brought the world closer to a one day resolution. He had a dream to make the world a better place and pursued that dream. I am motivated by that greatness.

There is still more work to be done to resolve racial inequality. There is more work to done to cure cancer. And to turn back climate change, help drug addiction, find clean water, and aid in poverty. The list goes on. All important issues that all need to be solved. Ideally in our lifetime.

The simple fact is that someone or some group of people has to solve them. Nature won't resolve these issues on it's own. I believe that we have the power in 2016 to build tools using technology to help advance progress in each of these specific areas. We as a society have a duty to put the Netflix down and work toward that brighter future. That is why I have started to collect the largest problems we need to improve as a society. Visit here to see the first problems I have collected and also propose any existing solutions you know of for those global problems we face. Feel free to submit anything you feel as missing is as well. Comment below if you have any other ideas on how to tackle such a large endeavor. After all, the world has problems, somebody has to solve them. 

Yahoo's Katie Couric Features Buffalo In "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America"

Katie Couric recently paid a visit to Buffalo New York for her new series "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America". Since visiting the region she now states that "Buffalo Is Back!" with part 1 of her new series. The goal of this six part series is to highlight key cities in America that were once thriving, then fell on hard times during the last 100 years, and are now being rebuilt into the 21st century.

I am really proud of all the great people in the Buffalo region working hard to improve the local startup ecosystem. Some of the people in the Buffalo startup community that I been working to make an impact in the last year include:

• Steve Poland
  • Managing Director of Z80 Labs
• Michael Serotte
  • Immigration Legal Partner at Unshackled Fund
  • Founding Partner at Serotte Law
• Dan Gigante
  • Digital Director, Partner at 19 IDEAS,
  • Founder & President at You and Who
  • Director of Founder Institute Buffalo
• Jon Spitz
  • Director of Development at 43 North
  • Director of Founder Institute Buffalo
• Peter Burkowski
  • Director of Marketing at 43 North
• Oscar Pedrosa and David Brenner
  • Thimble
• And Many More

I know I have written about the surge of entrepreneurship in Buffalo before as well as its incredible past history, but I really am excited for the future of my hometown Buffalo, NY. I am proud to say I am from Buffalo. Be sure to watch part 1 on Buffalo in Katie Couric's series "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America" above.

Build Online Websites Like Offline Real Estate

The real estate industry is a much older industry then the current technology industry most of us interact with everyday via our phones and computers. Tonight I heard an interesting perspective from David Karp, the Founder of Tumblr, connecting the two industries in regards to how we should think when building digital real estate (online platforms & communities) within the technology industry.

Tumblr as you know was acquired by Yahoo for $1.1 Billion and the community at that time was reported around 300 million monthly unique visitors. That is a pretty big chunk of virtual land. The analogy David made was comparing the similar way an online community of people hang out on their favorite website to the way an offline community of people hang out at their favorite bar.

Let's play this analogy out and throw in a main character here. We can call the main character in this analogy Ted. Now say Ted goes to MacLaren's Pub every week to meet up with his friends. For the sake of adding a bit more realism to this story, let's give Ted's friends names too. We can call them Marshall, Robin, Barney, and Lily. I just came up with those on the fly, pretty good right? Now, each time this group of friends comes to MacLaren's Pub they sit in their favorite booth. They get drinks, order food, and good times are had whenever visiting MacLaren's Pub. This is their bar. This is their community. 

Then one day the owner of the bar decides it's time to move some furniture around. He bought some fancy new tables and chairs which will increase the revenue per square foot of the pub. In comes the new tables and chairs and out goes the booth. It gets thrown out. 

The next day Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lilly, and Barney all come back to visit their favorite booth at MacLaren's Pub to find that it is now gone! The food is as good as it was before, the drinks are the same temperature, the walls are the same color, but now their favorite booth is gone. And the first thought that crosses the mind of Ted, Robin, Marshall, Lilly, and Barney is the thought: "They can't do this to us, this is our bar! This is our community!"

Now re-read the above HIMYM metaphor and replace MacLaren's Pub with a website and the friends with that website's users. I really like this analogy. It makes you always remember that there are humans making up the loyal online community of most websites. It can be easy to forget this at times when just viewing click maps, analyzing Google Analytics, checking cost per user acquisition models, and judging conversion data. Just like re-arranging the furniture in your house, you need to always be thinking about how that change will affect the people who spend the most time in that space. So next time you are thinking about pushing a big release to your website or product that could alter the way your community uses it, make sure you think carefully about how you do so or your visitors might just go to another bar.

Learning How To Learn

Prior to getting my degree from the University at Buffalo in Cognitive neuroscience. which if you don't know is the analytical combination of Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics, and Artificial Intelligence, I was pursuing a degree in Nursing. I had heard from friends and family that anesthesiologist made a decent amount of money and also helped people. 

At the same time I was a Fireman and EMT with the Swormville Fire Company. I had spent my fair share of time in the back of ambulance's responding to emergency calls and delivering people to the Emergency Room. A degree in nursing seemed like a natural progression for the path I was on. 

But something about it didn't seem right. I was too curious. I wanted to know more about the world than a degree in nursing was telling me. I began to search for another option. I remember asking around to see if any Universities offered a degree in "life". I wanted to know and understand all there was about the world and the people in it. Then I remember seeing the description for the Cognitive Science degree at UB. It was: 

Cognitive Science is the study of how the mind works. It investigates thought and consciousness, the senses and emotions, the structure of language, cultural patterns, neural organization, and the computational analogs of mental processes. It examines how these areas interact, how they develop in the growing human, and how they appear in other animals.

It sounded perfect. While the range of knowledge Cognitive Science pulled together was awesome I especially loved the classes that focused on Neurology. I enjoyed them so much I actually made Neuro the core focus for the major. Finally I had found something that provided a deeper understanding of how people think which scientifically complemented my minor in Philosophy perfectly. I was beginning to form an understanding holistically of how the world worked. 

Through my degree in Cognitive Neuroscience I learned how to scientifically form and ask the right questions. I learned how to apply the philosophy of logic to understand the answers I got to those questions I was asking. I learned how people think. I learned which of the neurons drives different instinctual human characteristics. From my minor I learned to appreciate the philosophical differences those characteristics can take across numerous cultures and ideologies.

While I didn't pursue a career in the Cognitive Science field after graduation the biggest take away I got out of my time at University was that I learned how to learn. I think this is one of the most important investments a person can make in themselves. The earlier you make this investment the more compound interest you will get as a result across your lifetime.

I did this before the time that I started taking an interest in learning about startups. Again, as a way to satisfy my intense curiosity for understanding the world and how new ideas manifest themselves into reality. Being armed with the tools to learn thanks to my degree was a massive help in learning and understanding the world of startups over the next several years. 

The key take away here is that I think there are two types of learning. One, you can learn how to learn. This is a skill and ability that everyone can nourish and grow. If done first it sets a solid foundation for you to then go learn and have a complete understanding around a specialized field much better than skipping ahead to only learning a specialized field. It is a small distinction but an important one in my mind. Tim Ferris is a great example of this. He is a man who has perfected the art of learning how to learn and because of that he can pick up new things almost overnight and quickly understand them. His new series in the iTunes store, The Tim Ferris Experiment along with his books, are a testament to this. So next time you are struggling to learn and understand something new. Take a moment and think if there is some foundational work you can teach yourself first, that will help you with achieving your current goals. Learn how to learn.