Projects

Current Projects

I am always in the process of advising and helping direct strategy for certain brands. These relationships often involve at least some aspect of confidentiality so, while I really wish I could because these are very cool relationships, I’m just never at liberty to discuss every project I’m working on. That said, here are some ventures and relationships that are ongoing and that I actually can talk about:

I’m the Vision Holder and co-Founder of SVbstance, a program that imparts the attributes, values and techniques of the world’s most successful business culture, Silicon Valley. This is really very cool stuff that we’re doing. Please do keep an eye on us at www.SVbstance.is

I’m the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at i.c.stars*. It has been my immense good fortune to work with i.c.stars* for several years and to say that I’m excited about my new role as EiR would be a huge understatement. We are a Chicago-based community service organization dedicated to providing education and training to the community leaders of today and tomorrow.

I am an Advisor to The Glint, a ridiculously cool project that is (ready for this??) the world’s first “Hero Accelerator.” You NEED to read about this, here: http://www.theglint.com

I’m an advisor and Board Member at LawGives, an amazing Silicon Valley-based organization that is going to be a very positive and very disruptive force on the US legal scene. Law gives is “Quora meets LegalMatch meets LegalZoom meets Law School.”

UnCollege is a social movement changing the notion that going to college is the only path to success.

I am am advisor and investor in ambadoo. Based in Sweden, ambadoo is an amazing startup that has invented the world’s first self-updating address book.”

University+ is an global nonprofit organization which advocates passion-based learning to expand human capacities. We support the development of, and access to, new educational practices that enable everyone to enjoy better minds better lives. In other words, we want to make the world a better place by helping people thrive.

I counsel an amazing new startup called MeetCute. It’s based in Stockholm and Chicago at the moment and is semi-stealth. You’ll hear about MeetCute very soon, I’m sure.

I’m advising a new EDU startup, currently in stealth. Let it suffice to say that what reeled me in was not only their vision, but just a ridiculous amount of hustle. Which, given that they don’t have a name yet, should probably be considered. This thing could be huge in the EDU space.

RadMatter is a social talent game for college students to tackle real challenges they are passionate about, “level up” and win awesome opportunities in the marketplace – things like branded recognition in the media, exclusive access to coveted employer events – even getting their name on a patent. Companies love RadMatter because it is the only true talent engagement platform. Reinventing the internship as a social game, RadMatter enables companies to engage thousands of top students in exciting work, understand their capabilities, style and passion, and scout their best future workforce.

Future Projects

I honestly change the content of this section all the time.

I know that I always want to be involved in around 10 things that make a positive difference in the world. Some in the EDU space, some not. I’ve been really lucky in my career and I recognize this. I’m as committed as ever to being a global agent of change.

That said, my challenge is the same challenge faced by many of my colleagues who live as I do in that we need to balance our revenue streams with projects we do that are purely fun and won’t (or aren’t intended) to generate revenue. I advise on this issue a fair amount and find myself increasingly frequently needing my own advice here, just as an aside.