No Snivelling

We all receive the flyers advertising classes at local community colleges and universities, right? Well, I was leafing through the UW Experimental College brochure, and saw an inexpensive one-day introductory class covering socially responsible investing that sounded interesting. So, I signed myself up and enjoyed the quick 3-hour intro. Before attending, I had read a little bit about the topic, and was hoping that the day would be more than just a sales pitch for the two instructors :-)

It turned out to be quite informative. They didn't do any selling, which was extremely good... instead, they just talked through the history of SRI -- they first discussed the first level of SRI, which is generally the negative screens that many funds put in place (i.e. we won't invest in companies related to sin elements like alcohol, tobacco or gambling), but then extended the discussion to talk about the advocacy efforts that many SRI funds employe (i.e. using their purchasing/investing power to help shape company policies... examples being getting companies to change their board compositions, to end harmful environmental practices...) and then broadened the discussion even more to talk about local practices you can undertake to get more involved (i.e. investing in community banks that make loans to historically underrepresented groups).

All in all, it was a very interesting day -- if you'd like to learn more, either sign up for the class yourself, or contact one of the two instructures, Eric Smith or Justin Harris.

I have continued to be interested in microfinance since my first meeting with folks at Unitus -- so much, in fact, that I decided to attend their Partner Expedition to Mexico to visit their partner, Pro Mujer Mexico.



On April 20, I flew to Houston and then on to Mexico City. My first impression of Mexico City, from the air, was how massive it was -- I later learned that its population of 18 million is much larger than New York City!

I met the main group in the airport and we then hopped on our bus for the 1-2 hour drive in heavy traffic to Tula (an area north of Mexico City) -- the other travelers were several Unitus employees and 6-8 others like me who were interested in learning more about what Unitus does, and how microfinance impacts poor borrowers. We arrived at our hotel in Tula, the Hotel Real Del Bosque, which was quite nice, and then crashed. The next day, we went into Tula and visited the main Pro Mujer Mexico office -- the center's director, Armando Laborde, introduced us to his staff, showed us a map of their different loan offices, and talked of their growth plans -- it was really compelling to see how hard they were all working, and also how much they truly seemed to appreciate the relationship they have with the Unitus team.

I'll leave out a lot of detail, but the remainder of the day and the following day were amazing -- we were able to sit in on a loan repayment meeting, where women came to make their bi-weekly loan payments (remember that many of the loans start at levels as low as $100, and then have short 6-month repayments; when they repay their loan, they know that they're automatically eligible for a follow-on loan), contribute their required savings, and then watched their training class (the topic on this day was 'Communication').

After that, we went out to the markets to visit Pro Mujer borrowers at their businesses -- we met with shopkeepers selling produce, dresses, and more, and also visited a home where a woman used her loan to purchase cooking materials and supplies to make cheese, and then sell it door-to-door to friends -- she was quite proud of her operation... she showed us how she mixed all the ingredients and then shared some of her finished product... the cheese was delicious, and the proceeds have allowed her to support her family of 4 children and a husband who has been laid off for the last 6 months -- very impressive.

Cheese selling operation:


Produce seller:


We also got some touristing activities in... got to visit the pyramids... always amazing to see these tremendous feats of determination!



In the end, the personal introduction to microfinance was very powerful -- was inspirational to see the Pro Mujer Mexico staff, especially, as these people don't need to be doing this... management is staffed by professionals who could easily find higher-paying work in Mexico City; however, they believe in what they're doing is making a difference, and honestly, I agree with them.

If you'd like to hear more about the trip, contact me!

I'm not sure how it happened, but I've broken the sound on my laptop -- that is, I can't hear any sound at all -- I spent 4 agonizing hours on the phone with Gateway's tech support yesterday, and now I'm having to send it in to them so they can try to fix it -- what a nightmare.

My goal now is to just get it back to working condition so that I can sell it and upgrade to a newer model. And, I think I'm going to use someone local like Seattle Laptop, assuming I get local warranty and tech support with the purchase -- in fact, I'll pay a fair premium up front in order to have ready access to assistance/repairs when they arise.

So, podcasts will be few and far between for next 1-2 weeks, as it is close to impossible to get one done without having access to sound card assistance... ahh... my 5 subscribers will be so hurt!

The wives planned a ladies night out, so Jeff, Sam and I wasted no time in putting our own revelries in motion... namely, 3 hours of 4-8 limit hold'em poker at Club Hollywood Casino, followed by a quick stop at Brouwer's Cafe and Six Arms.

Regarding poker, I continue to be amazed at how poorly the majority of people play the game -- biggest faults of most people are playing poor starting hands, chasing draws, playing middle pairs, and betting passively -- when you combine all four, it makes for a costly evening (depending on which side of the coin you're playing).

All in all, a great evening -- and, for local players, Club Hollywood's poker tables are far superior to the Drift on Inn, assuming they have players. The smoke was 90% less (only because of improved ventilation, I think) and they've got the large tv's, etc. However, when we got there at 8:40pm or so, no one was playing -- it didn't take us long to attract a full table, but I'd bet that the Drift on Inn probably had 2-3 full tables the entire time.

We had our second Seattle Podcast Meetup at Six Arms this evening, and our attendance almost doubled (from 3 to 5 :-) ). I definitely need to do a better job as organizer, because when you don't have signs posted and you don't tell people where to meet (i.e. upstairs) it is very hard to get a group together when you don't know what people look like! We were able to get five grouped together, but we did miss one person who couldn't find us...

All in all, it was a very positive gathering, I think... discussed the different sites maintained by attendees (Crapmonkey, HOT Radio and Syndic8) -- and, talked about ideas for projects... primarily working on getting a Seattle Podcaster/ee site up and running on one of the generic domains that we own -- keep your eyes peeled for more.

Finally, I got an email from MeetUp this week, telling me that they're moving toward charing a monthly fee for their service -- now, I understand that they need to make $$$... I really do! But, I find it strange that they didn't maintain ANY free element to their service, such as first 3 months free... but, maybe I'll pay... we'll see how the group grows over the next few weeks/months.

Karen and I were perplexed by this jumble word today (MICOPY) -- I decided to google 'Jumble Solver' and lo and behold, I found my newest favorite cheat sheet :-) Enjoy...

Jumble and Crossword Solver.

I attended a breakfast meeting today for the Northwest Entrepreneur Network today -- the theme was Anatomy of a Venture Financing -- overall, it was a good event. One thing that surprised me was how little ownership founders generally maintain after several rounds of financing. To see what I mean, go to the site (linked above) and then download the presentation for this event, and check out Slide #7. Basically, in a very successful scenario, the founders end up with <8% of the company... amazing!

Here are some of my bullet point takeaways from the morning:
* Tie up IP early, when when/if you are still at your previous employer
* Document every penny you spend, to help justify your investment/ownership later
* Need succict business proposition early on
* Define market potential for your business
* Define minimum investment to get to exit
* Founders must have skin in the game ($) beyond lost wages
* Is company a feature, or a business?
* Realistic Cap Table, & right founder %'s (50/50 usually doesn't make sense)
* Resolve all shareholder agreements before looking for any $
* Valuation = 12 month forward revenue
* Due Diligence = auditing the business plan (what will you do, how soon, multiples)
* VC's prefer Corp's to LLC's (because existing law on the books)
- LLC & S-Corp pass on income & VC's can't have income
* 25 Page biz plan & powerpoint suffice (avoid tirekickers of your plans)
* Board members (a) must open doors and (b) act as mentor for CEO
* Insist on pro-rata investment rights for folks in each financing round

My only complaint about the session? Getting up before 6AM, or course!

Podcast #3 today, broadcast from Fuel (a new coffee shop on Capitol Hill... see my other blog entry for more details). I did some roving reporting today, and recorded two interviews -- sound quality is terrible (I really should invest in a microphone of some kind!), but my new iRiver IFP 795 allowed for much easier recording!

Topics:
* Interview with Dani, the owner of Fuel coffee house
* Conversation with Jon Staenberg at Rustic Canyon Partners
* Media Ownership article in Sunday Seattle Times (Opinion) "Why Media Ownership Matters" by Amy & David Goodman
* Homebrew Beer Making process
* Where I�m broadcasting from:
* This Saturday, attending Homebrew festival on Phinney Ridge � wanna join me?
Play the No Snivelling Podcast

New java stop opened on 19th (next to Kingfish, and across the street from Monsoon -- specific address is 610 19th Avenue East, 98112) last week, and I absolutely love it. Dani (an owner) is extremely friendly, the coffee is delicious, and they've got free wi-fi -- what more could an internet addict ask for? And, in the neighborhood, to boot!

Fuel 19th street view:

Fuel front door artwork:

I've wrestled with whether to post this or not, but since I posted on March 12 that we were pregnant, I figured this might be the easiest way to get the message out that our pregnancy prospects are no longer looking very good -- we had a follow-up ultrasound today, and they still haven't been able to detect a heartbeat, and the size is two weeks behind schedule.

Needless to say, we're very disappointed/sad/frustrated, but we knew going in that there were no guarantees with the IVF (In-vitro fertilization) process.

So, while this probably isn't something we'll want to chat about non-stop, we also don't want our friends feeling uncomfortable about the topic/around us. Hopefully, we'll see you soon.