Tech Town, NC

I’d missed the last few Social entrepreneur meetups with vacation and work, but I’m glad I attended this one. We were treated to four strong presentations and lots of new faces. The crowd continues to diversify in all respects, most notably in terms of age, attracting a larger share of more mature entrepreneurs to balance out all the youth.

First we got a high concept presentation from Jordan Qualls of Clean Aeronautics (not sure if the site’s up yet). Touting lighter-than-air transportation, Jordan made a pitch for the revitalization of the zepplin industry - you read that right, zepplins - that use Hydrogen to stay aloft. As the world economy tries to recalibrate to expensive gas, Jordan might have a shot with this. In fact, no less than Boeing is already exploring the use of zepplins for shipping - how’s that for proof of concept? Now they just need $400-500 million to “get this thing off the ground.”

We also heard from Scott Saxson of Durham Tech Shop, an idea that really captured people’s attention, mine included. Tech Shop is a “membership based DIY workshop” that has tons of cool tools that most of us could never afford on our own. Most of the equipment is probably beyond me, but they’ll have metalworking equipment, laser cutting tools, even a 3-d printer for prototyping (or for fooling around)

They are still raising some funding to purchase the rest of the pricey tools, but seem to be well on their way. Memberships start at $1000 for the year, or you can opt for monthly or even daily passes. However, they are hoping to get a steady flow of tinkerers and inventors to use the facility on a more long term basis. Basically, it sounds like it will serve as a mini-factory that keeps overhead to an absolute minimum for engineering startups. They’ll also be working with schools and teaching classes to the community. The Durham Tech Shop is patterned after a sister establishment in Menlo Park, CA.

Joel Thomas presented on his organization, Nourish International, and the work it’s doing to help poor communities abroad help themselves by building a sustainable future. Joel’s presentation was actually about two things, both the work that Nourish does to alleviate poverty, and Joel’s highs, lows, and lessons learned while starting his own non-profit. He detailed how chapters raise money, train and launch projects each year. But one lesson he mentioned about starting a company/non-profit really stuck out as a tough, but important one - Hiring the right people matters. Saying goodbye to the wrong ones can save your venture.

Finally, Ryan gave the first part of a summary of his trip to Uganda with Roey Rosenblit and his organization, Village Startup. Village Startup is a company devoted to connecting communities with the right technology to unlock their human and economic potential. In addition to working with inventors, suppliers, and buyers, the company also organizes trips to the communities it hopes to change. Ryan took one of these trips to see the work being done through his sponsorship of the organization. He shared some great pictures of students attending a school they are working with, showing how the school made due with second hand books and old computers, but still gave the students valuable instruction. Ryan also shared his thoughts and takeaways from the trip. Suffice to say, it only reinforced his explicit desire to change the world.