Startups

Smith explains that fundraising is very hard in the non-profit sector. New Ventures typically co-invests in A rounds with other venture capital firms, typically newer groups that have an openness to thinking about new solutions and understand the power of entrepreneurs. Generally, deals are in multi-millions with clearly defined milestones over several years.

New Schools is non-profit fund with only a social return; any earnings are reinvested into the fund, says Smith. Ventures are chosen for their social impact.

Smith talks about how the VC model allows for larger investments over a longer period of time. Also, the investment tends to be in organizational infrastructure rather than a service. VCs are more focused on growth than bottom-line success, she says. An entrepreneur must be disciplined and willing to walk away from people who do not share the same values.

Smith believes that extracurricular activities are essential. Funds are being cut currently because, in trying to achieve funding equity, everyone's funding was reduced instead of simply increasing funding to those who needed it. Fixing this is a matter of political will, she adds.

Musk talks about how PayPal is a perfect case of viral marketing where one customer acts as a sales person by sending money to a friend and hence recruiting another customer. By the end of the second year, PayPal had a million customers with no sales force and no advertising budget, he says.

The essence of viral marketing is making one customer sell to the other, says Musk. Instances of this include Friendster, hotmail, PayPal. The customer must love the product experience to recommend it, he notes.

Jerry Kaplan, serial entrepreneur, executive, technical innovator, and author, elaborates on the five biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make: 1) Having unclear goals and an unclear mission. 2) Trying to prove that they are smart. 3) Greed - doing it for money. 4) Hiring people that they like rather than people that they need. 5) Not knowing when to let go.

Thompson talks about customers being the main driving force behind the business and business model. He gives examples from Symantec about the need to be close to customers. He also focuses on the need to concentrate on the business needs over the business model.

Estrin explains how it is important not to confuse marketing with reality. Know when you are marketing and know what is real. Make sure you listen to real customer input, she cautions.

Estrin talks about how the last cycle is about connecting embedded devices, as opposed to connecting computers. The real win in this is when we can build a completely new architecture for networks that are self-configuring, she says. Interesting work in academia is targeting this area. She talks about technology enablers in this cycle and the focus on low power, and not performance.

Estrin explains the reasons the consumer market is hard for startups is: 1) The amount of marketing dollars to reach the consumer directly is larger than startups can afford 2) It takes a lot of alliances to be successful and this is hard for a startup to do

Neeleman believes the success of JetBlue to this point is the company's price points. I pray for the day our competitors can match our fares, he says. Currently, competitors are desperate to gain back market share and have been undercutting prices. The success of JetBlue is because of loyal customers. We have somehow been able to levitate above a commodity business, as Dell or WalMart have done well during bad industries, he adds.

How does IT differentiate Jet Blue? Neeleman on things they are doing well: We decided to roll out a frequent flyer program, but held on long enough to make sure it was completely implemented and managed online--we don't send anything out via mail. JetBlue has 10 or 15 people available via telephone to deal with problems, and 700,000 members online. Neeleman on things JetBlue should improve: checking people in using technology, increasing functionality on the web.

Ramdas considered work in grass roots versus at the philanthropic level. One of the things that pushed her to reflect on that decision, was where she could best use her skills and how they would lead to the best results.

Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of The Global Fund for Women (GFW) understands the importance of sustainability for its grantees because it must also be a sustainable organization. GFW helps grantees by discussing up front ways for strengthening and expanding funding in local communities. She stresses that sustainability is not to be confused with creating a profit-making venture. GFW also perceives that funding should continue over longer periods of time and groups should be encouraged to diversify funding base, build more capacity, engage with others in the community.

In social entrepreneurship, many issues are blended and need to be addressed together. Ramdas shares two examples of social entrepreneurs very close to her heart. She talks about entrepreneurship being the willingness to work and assume risks at the same time for implementing changes in the society.

Ramdas reveals that she was attracted to the work of the Global Fund because women were doing things to both change their own circumstances, and also to transform what existed in their own communities. She was amazed that there was an organization that was willing to put the resources directly into the hands of women.

The Global Fund for Women (GFW) is overwhelmed with requests for grants-3,000 every year, in many languages, says Ramdas. International advisors give feedback on priorities for social areas in their communities. GFW also have a basic set of criteria -- is it a group of women instead of an individual, do they have a clear articulation of how they will challenge women's positions within that society? GFW doesn't give a grant until they have an endorsement from the ground, she says.

How do philanthropies measure success? The Global Fund for Women makes general support grants, not project support grants. This is a huge issue in philanthropy, because general support grants are much harder to measure.

Global Fund for Women CEO Kavita Ramdas talks about financial contributions for the greater good both locally and internationally - and that here in the US we give a very small percentage of our income to remedy the world's concerns. Ramdas cites the gap that exists between how much people think our government should be giving to global relief - 15-20 percent of our national income - but that less than 1% actually makes its way outside the United States.

Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women stresses that the United States is presently in a secure position and stable than most other parts of the world. She believes that it is right time to build the true spirit of entrepreneurship. She stresses that civilizations from other countries are all a part of the global community.

The Global Fund for Women was not started by wealthy women. It was started by three working women who were deeply committed, passionately immersed, in a notion that you could promote social change by investing in women. It does not require a lot of money to invest in philanthropy for social change.

Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women talks about the organization as a classic Silicon Valley story taking birth in a kitchen in 1987. The organization provides seed and strengthening capital for social entrepreneurs who are working for change.

Entrepreneurs don't just pick one issue to work on. Ramdas addresses the fact that there is no singularity in women's issues. Issues related to women are across all segments. She quotes the same by giving examples of HIV AIDS, war and economic development.