Kevin F. Adler

Women 2.0 PITCH: 99 word recap

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:22:05 -0800

Hundreds of women + dozens of men = Women 2.0 PITCH, V-Day.

Incredible speakers. Inspiring entrepreneurs. Lots of new friends.

On multiple occasions, I was asked by female attendees if I now understood what its like to be the gender minority at tech events.

“No clue,” I said by the fifth time.

“Why?” they asked.

“Because you asked me how I’m doing.

We rarely ask.

You opened your circle when I approached.

We rarely notice.

How could I know what its like to be outnumbered 9 to 1 everyday,” I thought, ”at the most welcoming tech event ever?”

Letter to a (civic) angel

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:04:06 -0800

On January 8, 2011, in the horrific Tucson shooting, we lost one of our finest citizens in Christina Taylor-Green, the nine-year-old who had just been elected to student council.

Last month, around the one-year anniversary of that fateful day, I wrote a letter to her family, sharing a few stories and experiences I had rarely shared with anyone.

After receiving a kind email in response from Christina’s mom, I have decided to share portions of that letter with others. For maybe if enough of us believe in the world as it could be, the world that Christina had imagined, and maybe if we remember our ability to shape it, we will see brighter days ahead.

Dear CTG Memorial Foundation,

Christina inspires me.

I believe there are few people who embody the community as so many of us wish it to be as Christina did.

Christina reminded me of my ideal citizen: informed, kind, thoughtful, gracious, and forever focused on her family and on others, and the ties that bind us together.

Sometimes, it seems the world forgets that we are all of one cloth.

I don’t think of people as labels like Democrat or Republican or black or white. I try to see people on a plane of common humanity.

I try to be my brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. I try to promote a greater understanding in my life. Sometimes, I succeed. Sometimes, I don’t.

And sometimes, I think I don’t, but later realize I did.

I was once asked in a scholarship interview what I would say if I was in Namibia and a local person asked me to explain the difference between a Democrat and a Republican.

I said I wouldn’t, at least at first.

I said that I would focus on what it means to be an American, and what it means to be a human being - American and Namibian, together. I think the common bonds of humanity are more important than the divisions we choose to create, and more can be accomplished if we focus on our ties.

The panel pressed me three times to change my response. “Is that what you would really say? You are this active in politics, and you can’t even offer one difference between the political parties?”

It’s not that I couldn’t. It’s that, in the context described, I wouldn’t.

Over the years, I’ve sometimes doubted that response.

When I read about Christina and her steadfast belief in the ties that bind us together, she reminded me that my instincts were right. She reminded me of an important part of myself, as I try to be, and of the world, as it should be.

Today and for many days to come, I remember Christina as a kindred spirit along the way.

With love,

Kevin

I saw Mitt Romney’s campaign logo for the first time...

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:16:00 -0800

I saw Mitt Romney’s campaign logo for the first time today. I knew it looked familiar.

Seems others have seen a resemblance while brushing their teeth.

Alumn.us Blog: Prep School Student - $373,841 = Public School Student: The Ugly Math of Per Pupil Spending in the US

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:39:13 -0800

Alumn.us Blog: Prep School Student - $373,841 = Public School Student: The Ugly Math of Per Pupil Spending in the US:

Originally published on the Alumn.us Blog:

Some of the deepest schisms in the U.S. between the haves and the haves-not stem from disparities in resources between schools and as a result of which schools our children attended.

These disparities are deeply rooted and seemingly intractable, and yet there is hope that they can be checked, reduced, or even eliminated - by us.

Keep reading…

How to Meet Anyone: 8 Lessons from DJ Turly

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 10:00:05 -0800

Let your perception of beauty and iridescence lead your way. Places and people who have answers for you will appear more luminous and attractive.

- Celestine Prophesy

Or, in the practical advice of DJ Turly, “Ask out people who are exceptionally beautiful to try to find out why you find them so beautiful.”

Lesson one of eight from my day with the DJ, aka Jenn Turliuk.

Jenn and I met at a Blackbox Mansion event about a month ago. She’s easy-going and even-tempered, but confident and direct. I liked her immediately.

I was impressed with the great people she’s been able to meet (Steve Blank, Dave McClure, Eric Ries, Reid Hoffman, and more). She just moved here in June. From Canada.

Assuming she did not just have some Canadian magic about her, I was curious to learn her approach for not only connecting with great people, but forming meaningful bonds.

After spending the better half of a day together last week in a type of “person shadow,” I thought I’d share key lessons from DJ Turly on engaging in the startup world. I haven’t tried all of these yet, so please share your experiences below.

Follow beauty, wherever it leads you. [summarized from above]
In general, the best way to start a conversation is to say “Hi, my name is ____.” And nothing more. Let the other person respond next. Just be confident.
You can enter into any group with the above remark, with the notable exception of trying to enter a group with a speaker after they just spoke at an event. Then, it’s rude and won’t work. Wait in line and let others have their day in the sun.
Be gracious in your emails. Respect their time and business. They have the option to help you, not the obligation.
Facebook is a relationship builder. “Friend” true friends + people you want to get to know more that you have actually hung out with once or twice. Facebook can help you know what you have in common with another person (see friendship), and start building a rapport. Just don’t be creepy or a stalker.
LinkedIn is for shared connections. You will benefit most by being able to name drop if you want to meet someone. Add people who are key influencers (again, who you have actually met).
Keep business cards and look through them regularly. Small tear in less-relevant ones, and put separately in circular recycling bin. Keep important business cards handy. Out of sight, out of mind.
Set goals for the next 3-6 months. Engage people who can help you reach those goals. And think about where you are at in life, and what you can do now that you won’t be able to do in 10-15 years time. Do it now, brave one. You are the best person you will ever be, so be you.

Building a company vs. solving a problem

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:05:06 -0700

This weekend, Mark Zuckerburg challenged attendees at YC’s Startup School to solve a problem.

As Mark indicated, what problem we select is less important than whether we are convinced that the problem needs solving and whether we are passionate enough to dedicate “at least the next five years” toward trying to solve it.

The idea of spending five years solving a problem is a refreshing departure from how most of us conceptualize our time. Even if we spent five years on one problem, we tend to think of our time as spent “working at X company” or “running Y startup” rather than addressing a real problem, much less actually solving a problem. [example]

Mark helped me realize that there is a difference between trying to build a company and trying to solve a problem.

If we are trying to solve a problem, we will make many mistakes and probably not succeed.

If we are trying to build a company, we will make many mistakes and probably not succeed, and even if we do “succeed” we probably will not really succeed, as we almost certainly did not solve an actual problem, unless our problem was how to build an entity to do donuts in the Wal-Mart parking lot, or whatever else it is that our company actually does.

Why not start by thinking about building a company as secondary and directly contingent on solving an actual problem? Could we start by solving a problem, and then build a company only if/when it makes sense for solving that problem even better?

This will be our approach for Alumn.us.

After 2.6 decades of experience, I have learned that it’s better to direct every ounce of our brain power toward figuring out how to solve a problem rather than how to build a company that may or may not actually solve a problem, but will almost undoubtedly create headaches and, if really ambitious, total busts (see Silicon Valley, cerca 2000).

Let’s say that we are focused on solving an actual problem. Awesome. After months of toiling, let’s say that cache of Einstein between our ears loads a 404 error message and we don’t know what to do next. Or maybe we know exactly what to do, but know we can’t do it ourselves.

So we bring another human being to our party as

an advisor (paid in thank you’s)
an employee (paid in peanuts, or if they have a nut allergy, another food)
a co-founder (paid in strips of paper with a % on it. But really, they pay us, because they are crazy enough to believe that we may actually be able to solve a problem and they want to help us do it).

Now we have our crazy sidekick(s)*, and we ask ourselves and this new person (if they are still around) what assumptions we have made about how we will solve a problem.

And we figure out how to test those assumptions.

BTW, go read The Lean Startup if you haven’t already. Don’t just buy it so Eric Ries can write “Kevin, Welcome to the Valley!” cause that would be a waste of $15.40 and $5,000 worth of deals on AppSumo.

Now that we know exactly how to test our assumptions, we set-up a few experiments and surveys. A master’s degree in Sociology from Cambridge can definitely come in handy here (trust me). We put forward our hypothesis, and we’re wrong.

We iterate, and we’re wrong again.

We become demotivated, waste a ridiculous amount of time tinkering with our Facebook fan page which has two fans (ourselves and the crazy sidekick mentioned above), and realize that those faulty tests were probably a better use of our time and society’s time.

So we experiment.

And experiment again.

And experiment some more.

At this point, we realize that setting up a few pilot cases might make sense. We take whatever lessons we learned from our experiments, and start doing.

Sustainability will be key someday, so we start thinking about how we might make a buck in the future directly or indirectly from the people whose problems are being solved by us. FYI, this will be especially challenging if we are running nonprofits.

Now we have an initial revenue model.

And maybe, just maybe, we are at the point where we start building a company to solve a problem that we cannot solve as effectively if we were “just” solving a problem.

I like to reflect on the fact that Mark Zuckerburg never intended to start Facebook the company. He intended to make online more social. He did this, and then built a company to make online even more social than before.

So we must ask ourselves: do we intend to start a company or to solve a problem?

My bet is on the crazy ones solving problems.

*The “(s)” in sidekick(s) stands for heaven forbid.

We compartmentalize ourselves as “employees at X...

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 03:30:08 -0700

We compartmentalize ourselves as “employees at X company” or “founders of Y startup” rather than “awesome people trying to solve Z major problem.”

I think this is backwards. Companies should exist to solve problems. Otherwise they are probably creating more problems than they are solving.

For 20 to 30-somethings who didn’t start Facebook, I’d be more interested in hearing what problem you are trying to solve and your approach to solving it.

Here are two quick ideas for focusing on solving problems > companies immediately:

Update your resume to highlight the problem(s) you have tried to solve and your approach to solving the problem(s), rather than a list of companies where you worked.
Introduce yourself as a person solving A problem rather than the founder of B startup or employee of C company.

Planning Coca-Cola

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:03:56 -0700

Planning Coca-Cola:

Charlie Munger just taught me how a core understanding of the social sciences can turn $2M into a $2 trillion company.

Women entrepreneurs in Oaxaca (article for The Hoop Fund)

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 10:05:00 -0700

Women entrepreneurs in Oaxaca (article for The Hoop Fund):

The Hoop Fund published an article I wrote with Elizabeth M. Rojo during my time as a Rotary scholar in Oaxaca, Mexico. In the piece, we discuss some of the challenges facing the industrious women tapete-weavers I worked with as a co-organizer and teacher of business classes through Fundación En Vía, a micro-lending nonprofit based Oaxaca.

Check it out!

College Compass tool free till Friday

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:04:00 -0700

College Compass tool free till Friday:

The US News & World Report College Compass is free for those who register before 9/16 (provided by Google). This is a nice opportunity for high school students to gain access to a powerful tool.

BetterGrads’ co-founder Erhardt Graeff wrote a helpful blog post this morning offering a few tips on how to use the US News college guide effectively: http://bettergrads.org/blog/2011/09/13/u-s-news-releases-2012-college-rankings/.

21 Lessons Learned from SOCAP11

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 10:01:00 -0700

Goodwill Foundation is a value-recovery organization, of discarded products and people. They are the largest employer in Bayview / Hunter’s Point.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” - Henry Ford, from Jen Medbury during Kickboard’s pitch  
If you pitch, and a judge on the panel asks a question about something that was not covered in your talk, don’t say “oh that question comes up all the time” because you will sound like you weren’t prepared or are being slick. Integrate their feedback into your presentation. Or say, “oh that is a really good question.” And answer it.
Start w/ customer needs. (via Curtis @ Innosight, lessons from Clay Christensen for #4-7). Prototype by “jobs to be done.” Customers hire products/services to fulfill jobs. No one buys a drill for it’s own sake… you buy drill to make 1/4 cm hole. Jobs include social, emotional, and functional. Using example of iPhone, stay connected to wife and kids, feel cool, and make calls. Who are your stakeholders?
Next comes integrated business model. (ibid) What is customer value proposition? (tech platform) How can we capture value proposition? (earned income, crowd-funded) What resources are needed to capture value proposition? (brand, people)
Piloting and Testing follows. (ibid) What assumptions are embedded in this? (parents will love this app & pay for it). Prioritize assumptions according to risk. Design experiments to test assumptions cheaply and quickly. Fail fast & often.
Scaling model (ibid).
Each high school needs an active Center for Alumni Relations and Professional Networks. Especially under-served, low-income schools.
Let your users drive the design process.
Kalimah Priforce and Jason Young are education entrepreneurs I admire.
In the US, we have sick care, not health care. (Adam Dole, Mayo Clinic)
Alex Gilliam’s Public Workshop and Veronika Scott and her innovative design work on homelessness in Detroit rock.
If a college student has a tough time finding a job, imagine what it is like for a person who has been homeless for 20-years with a horrible record, addictions, and no support network? How do they get a job? (Scott)
Go from “I’m here to help you” to “I need your help” at homeless center with design. Eventually, if you are designing a product like a coat that will be used by someone sleeping on concrete in the cold, you better do the same. Offer drinks and food to your college-aged friends to join you in the experiment. (Scott)
Homeless people, like all people, want to provide for themselves, create something, not be reliant. Basic human motivations still apply. Build for an emotion (e.g., pride). (Scott)
In a break-out session on prototyping behaviors, one guy spilled water on the big white paper in the middle. Initial reaction was “uh oh.” But group jumped to action, took on roles, and solved problem. Our minor “disaster” brought people together quicker than anything else could have. Gilliam highlighted this well.
Put yourself out there.
Consider whether you should aim to achieve your goal slow or fast. Sometimes slow is better. If you walk into a bar in a Superman outfit with the goal of making friends, at first you will be laughed at. If you sit down, have a drink at the bar, and mind your own business, someone will eventually ask you about what you are doing. You will have the chance to change from “that crazy guy” to “that courageous guy” if you can establish a larger theme in common with the other patrons. In this case, the slow approach works.
Use Pathable 3-14 days before conferences to arrange meetings with people you want to meet. 0-2 days is last-minute. During the conference, everyone is too busy to check-it, and you are better off searching for the person or pinging them directly.
We must ask: what behaviors do we need to prototype to promote better networks?
Day 1 of SOCAP/conferences: feel like everyone knows everyone else (except you). Day 2: meet amazing people and feel like this is your community. Day 3: hone in on the people most directly tied to your work that you want to collaborate with after conference is over. Post-conference: be inspired… and work.

What is Rotary? A Response to a Craigslist Ad

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:01:00 -0700

I lucked out with my current room. Mission Dolores. Great housemates. Spacious apartment. Beautiful room. Rooftop deck. Unbeatable price.

But before I found such a good deal, I scanned through hundreds of craigslist ads on rooms for rent. I probably sent about a hundred emails. In each email, I’d express my interest in the room, and tell a little about myself.

Most people didn’t respond (70%). Another 20% said the room had been filled, or they were looking for a female, or something of that sort. The last 10% followed-up, usually with a few questions and times for coming by.

I was in Mexico at the time on a Rotary scholarship, so it was particularly tough to find someone willing to go the extra mile to chat with me on the phone or via Skype.

One of those people who did respond was Angel. She seemed pretty nice in her quick response, though it was clear she was “overwhelmed” by the many responses to her ad - most people reported at least 70 responses to their ads! - and was looking for a way to narrow down the applicant pool. She asked me about Rotary, and why I had mentioned it:

Can you tell me what exactly the fact of the Rotary scholarship should tell me? That you’re really smart or conservative or what? angel

I think her question reflects a common perception of Rotary, unfortunately. I decided to respond with a few words on my own experience with Rotary. My response is below; I hope it offers readers an insight into the Rotary I know: one of the largest and most important service organizations in the world.

I’ve cut out some of the niceties and house-related comments on both ends, FYI.

Hi Angel,

The below picture is what many people probably think of when they think of Rotary:

As one of the oldest service organizations in the world, Rotary started in a more conservative era, even though it’s motto and work - “Service Above Self” and focus on eliminating polio, poverty, and empowering communities locally and globally - was well ahead of its time.

Today, after meeting hundreds of Rotarians from around the world throughout the US and Mexico, I can attest that Rotary is more like this:

There are 1.2 million members worldwide, with 33,000 clubs dispersed in large cities (Mexico City has at least 7) and small towns (Huajuapan has one).

The scholarship I received is the oldest scholarship offered by the Rotary Foundation. Each year, Rotary invests $16.2 million to send 700 scholars from around the world into other communities to learn languages and cultures, help out and learn from local service projects, and give presentations about their experiences and home communities as a goodwill exchange between countries.

With well-over 1 million Oaxacans in the US and the vast majority in California (statewide, 1 our of every 4 field laborers is from Oaxaca), I decided to serve in Mexico’s second poorest state to better understand the people and cultures of my own community. If you are unfamiliar with the vibrancy of Oaxacan cultures, food, people (70% indigenous), and natural resources, I’d encourage you to visit soon. I’d be happy to connect you to the wonderful Rotarians I know there.

My experiences with Rotary in Mexico include the following:

Teaching business classes to women artisans in a small pueblo;

Volunteering for a Rotary-backed organization that offers worms to pepinadores (people who make their living by scavenging through trash at waste sites) to compost organic waste materials into fertile soil that can be resold or used to grow plants.

Helping out with the first-ever international project festival in Oaxaca, which brought together 100 clubs from southern Mexico and connected them to resources in the US and internationally to help them continue their work with burn victims, children with cleft-lip palettes, clean water projects, clean wood-burning stove projects, women’s health and sexuality clinics, orphanages, and health and nutrition.

Previously, through my participation in Rotary-sponsored events since I was 14, I have gone to New Orleans for a week to gut houses and serve at a volunteer center after Hurricane Katrina, teaching kids the perils of drunk driving through Every 15 Minutes, and helped fund an education nonprofit. Neither my parents nor grandparents were Rotarians: in fact, the scholarship I received is only available for people who would be first-in-their-family to be Rotarian. The organization has done a lot of good in the world.

Regardless of the house situation, I’d invite you to join me at a SF club meeting soon.

Interview #1 _ SOCAP11

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:33:31 -0700

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

Interview #1 _ SOCAP11

"In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned find themselves..."

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 11:10:00 -0700

“In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.
The learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”

- Eric Hoffer, writer and philosopher

(retrieved from http://www.newschools.org/files/innovation-in-education.pdf, a paper by NewSchools’ co-founder Kim Smith)

"People should not be defined by their networks but be defining their networks."

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 01:38:52 -0700

“People should not be defined by their networks but be defining their networks.”

- Erhardt Graeff, September 1, 2011

Day 1 of Learning HTML.

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 10:02:29 -0700

Day 1 of Learning HTML

Intro, Get Started, Basics, Elements = done.

Go get ‘em, tiger. Thank you, W3 Schools!

Day 1 of Learning HTML

Intro, Get Started, Basics, Elements = done.

Go get ‘em, tiger. Thank you, W3 Schools!

Pictorial evidence that not everyone went to sleep during my...

Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:21:00 -0700

Google these amazing organizations.

Who's this guy?

Pictorial evidence that not everyone went to sleep during my presentation to the Rotary Club of Pleasanton North last Friday. I’ll upload the slides later.

Mtg with Andy Kaplan, CFO of DonorsChoose

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:20:00 -0700

On Friday, I had a phone call with Andy Kaplan, CFO of DonorsChoose. We connected to discuss innovative business models to sustain web-focused social ventures like his organization and BetterGrads.

I was put in touch with DonorsChoose via a mutual connection. I greatly admire their leadership in the world of citizen philanthropy. Their numbers speak volumes: through their fundraising platform since 2000, they have empowered 539,807 supporters to make 1,171,755 contributions totaling $86,064,735 to fund 210,351 projects and help 5,115,194 students.

Andy and I connected to discuss innovative business models to sustain web-focused social ventures. I was fascinated to learn about the bootstrapped, do-what-it-takes-to-make-it-happen start to DC.

Andy relayed one story of how the DC team would send teachers disposable cameras to take pictures of their students and the funded projects. The teachers would mail the cameras back. Upon receipt, the DC team would walk across the street to the local camera store, develop the pictures, and upload them on their website. Everything is digital now, but I like to think that Andy still receives the occasional disposable camera, filled with smiling students and their funded projects. What a business it would be now to be that camera store across from DonorsChoose!

As a seasoned CFO, Andy offered many bits of wisdom. One simple piece of advice for nonprofits: what do you think a large company will be more likely to fund - $1M for programs with 20% overheads, or $200K for overheads only?

Two days of meetings with amazing people and groups began on...

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 15:24:00 -0700

Two days of meetings with amazing people and groups began on Thursday morning in Oakland with Farhana Huq, Founder and President of C.E.O. Women and an Ashoka Fellow. We had planned to meet the week prior, but Farhana received some unexpected visitors via canoe. I understood.

My favorite aspect of C.E.O. Women is their focus on giving immigrants the tools and training they need to “further their own economic empowerment.” This focus requires empowering people, not cynically assuming their incapacity and offering “hand-outs.” This focus requires a fundamental belief in the potential of an under-served group to achieve greatness if connected to fundamental education and network resources (human capital and social capital). I could not agree more.

Four quick takeaways from my bagel and tea with Farhana:

Partner with like-minded organizations in the early stages of growing a venture, especially when trying to establish a proof of concept.
Entrepreneurs want to change the world. That’s great. But start by changing one community. Or better yet, try to make a meaningful difference in the life of one person or for one group. Then its time to learn, iterate, and build from there.
Be acutely aware of the pros and cons of various funding options (VCs, angels, foundations, grants, small donations).
Consult on the side if you can.

When working on a project, sometimes the essential elements of who you are and what you do can get lost amid the noise. Farhana summarized what we do that in as succinct and straightforward a manner as I have heard from anyone: bring the college alumni network model to high schools to engage disadvantaged youth.

Textbooks: Rent 'em or Buy 'em?

Tue, 09 Aug 2011 09:58:00 -0700

Textbooks: Rent 'em or Buy 'em?:

The Great Debate of 2011 - should I rent or buy my college textbooks - has begun. No room for compromise or nuance in this one (actually, hopefully there is). Read Part 1 now on the benefits of renting textbooks. @BetterGrads @BookRenter

UPDATE: Part 2 now available: http://bettergrads.org/blog/2011/08/10/college-textbook-rentals-con/.