Kevin F. Adler

Ask a Question for StartingBloc Interview with Acumen Fund CIO Brian Trelstad

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:59:00 -0700

Whatever the cause, wherever the concentration, StartingBloc Fellows seek to do “meaningful work” on a global scale: fight poverty, eradicate diseases, provide rural education, reshape international development, scale impact philanthropy.

The Acumen Fund was one of the most oft-mentioned organizations I heard during my 5-days in Boston. And rightly so: in its 11 years, Acumen has invested millions of dollars in social enterprises, agents of change, and ground-breaking ideas. The Fund has impacted 86 million lives around the world, and popularized the term “patient capital” to describe its model of uplifting investment in under-served communities.

The Acumen Fund would be an ideal partner for many StartingBloc Fellows. As such, I’ve asked Brian Trelstad, Chief Investment Officer of the Acumen Fund, to join me for a video conversation for the StartingBloc community (and social entrepreneurs everywhere) on June 22nd. He’s kindly accepted.

Instead of play the part of Edward R. Murrow, I thought I’d crowdsource questions from the StartingBloc community and other social entrepreneurs. Please submit your questions for Brian in the comments section below, andI will select some of the most intriguing and “liked” questions for our interview.

Thanks - for who you are, for what you do. Feel free to spread the word.

rightplacetime: Kate is a friend of Renee’s. Kate is also the...

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:32:36 -0700

[Flash 10 is required to watch video.]

rightplacetime:

Kate is a friend of Renee’s. Kate is also the founder of the organization where Renee volunteers. In her words, through their relationship, Renee has gained “a clearer direction for the type of work” she wants to do.

She has learned to combine her passion with her work.

And all through a chance encounter on an email listserv.

On Faith - How direct is God with us?

Wed, 30 May 2012 05:14:00 -0700

I am incredibly blessed, and daily feel the blessings of the Lord.

But I feel these blessings most through people. I see each person as a brother or sister. This is the root of my friendliness, a byproduct of my faith mixed with a small town upbringing and small, loving family.

When I look into the eyes of a friend or stranger, I imagine the recognition that would make our faces glow had we grown up together, played on the swings and run through the fields together as children. When I am at my best, I wear that recognition on my countenance, as I see our common humanity. And this brings me great joy.

We are created in His image. I see the love of Christ through the acts, deeds, personalities, and faces of others. I contemplate on His teachings in the Bible. I kneel in prayer to ask for His blessings and guidance and intervention. But I wonder how directly His answers manifest in our daily lives.

I believe in miracles. I believe in God’s ability to intervene on our behalf. But I also recognize that the world can be a cold, dark, harsh place, illuminated by the love we have within us and between us, a capacity for greatness gifted from our Father. The more we shine, the more He shines on this earth.

So shine on, stewards of this earth.

This is closest to the integration of Contacts and Mail that...

Fri, 18 May 2012 20:07:38 -0700

This is closest to the integration of Contacts and Mail that I’ve been waiting for in Gmail. Live as of 8pm PST. Yes!!

The Increasing Role of Parents in Mexico's Schools

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:01:00 -0700

The Increasing Role of Parents in Mexico's Schools

The mime is a terrible thing to bass. #itweet #therefore #ilamb

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:47:53 -0700

The mime is a terrible thing to bass.

#itweet #therefore #ilamb

When I see a homeless person sleeping in front of a church, I...

Thu, 03 May 2012 08:05:00 -0700

When I see a homeless person sleeping in front of a church, I ask myself a question silently. And the answer is always the same.

Yes, Christ would have opened the door.

Instagram, Not Instant Success

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 08:39:00 -0700

Like other tech entrepreneurs in San Francisco / Silicon Valley, when I heard the news this week of Instagram’s ginormous deal with Facebook and contemplated its meteoric rise from $0** to $1 billion in less than two years, I was in awe, excited, and curious to figure out: how did this happen?

As a newcomer to the tech scene and a relative outsider in the Valley (not sure how many of my fellow entrepreneurs also spent the last year serving as ambassadors of goodwill in developing countries), I’m still figuring out how the norms of this place work.

Earlier this morning, I got a pretty good lesson from a front page article in the NY Times:

Summary:

Networks matter. A lot.

Extended summary:

Kevin Systrom, the founder of Instagram, has a network - and an ability to tap into it - that made serendipity commonplace…

He went to Stanford, where he met Adam D’Angelo (key contact) .

He worked at Twitter, where he met Jack Dorsey (key contact).

He worked at Google, where a colleague introduced him to Marc Andreessen (investor).

He was a Mayfield Fellow, where he met a “stud engineer” named Mike Krieger (co-founder).

He went to an elite private academy in Massachusetts.

He went to startup events where influencers mingled, like the one sponsored by Hunch where he met the founder of Baseline Ventures, Steve Anderson (investor).

He grew up in an area of Massachusetts where a chance meeting with Dennis Crowley, one of Foursquare’s founders, was possible at a local pub.

He is smart, talented, young, and a he.

Silicon Valley, if indeed a meritocracy, relies on key influencers and vaunted names to evaluate merit.

The more ties you have to these institutions that convey merit (Stanford, Google, Jack Dorsey), the more likely you are to be perceived as merited, or at least given the shot to show what you are really worth.

Instagram feels like an instant success. But the social network of its founder Kevin Systrom positioned Instagram to have as good a shot as any to be a blockbuster hit, long before it was first released.

**Instagram, or its precursor, Burbn, was worth $0 from the moment the idea first occurred to Kevin Systrom until exactly 1 millisecond before he shared his idea for the first time with his network. Success was far from assured, but from that moment onward, Burbn (and its founder) were worth much more than $0 in the eyes of people who mattered, people like Steve Anderson and Marc Andreessen, who were members of Kevin’s network and invested $500,000 within weeks of hearing about the idea.

"The person who thinks he can and the person who thinks he cannot are both right."

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 23:53:04 -0700

““The person who thinks he can and the person who thinks he cannot are both right.””

- Henry Ford, via Theodore Agranat

"Stress stinks, but state of crazy is better than being in a crazy state (North Korea). Self-induced..."

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:47:17 -0700

“Stress stinks, but state of crazy is better than being in a crazy state (North Korea). Self-induced trauma is always the best kind.”

- Me.

"No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy."

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:07:53 -0700

“No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.”

- Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Evidence that Alumn.us empowers entire communities to support students at local schools

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 01:13:47 -0700

Alumn.us: Next week, we will launch our first student-led fundraising campaign.
Students: Sweet.
Alumni: Rad.
Teachers: Excellent.
Parents: Bravo.
Admin: Tubular.
Businesses: Nifty.

Knight News Challenge: Alumn.us: awesome alumni networks for all schools

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:22:10 -0700

Knight News Challenge: Alumn.us: awesome alumni networks for all schools:

newschallenge:

1. What do you propose to do? [20 words]

Alumn.us will bring high-powered alumni networks to all 30,000 public high schools and community colleges in the U.S. by 2015.

2. Is anyone doing something like this now and how is your project different? [30 words]

SNS, fundraising platforms, and…

Honored to be one of the three honorary members of the Rotary...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:57:00 -0800

Honored to be one of the three honorary members of the Rotary Club of Livermore Valley (alongside “Mr. Rotary” Bob Tucknot and Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty).

Bob and I were in attendance yesterday to hear Supervisor Haggerty discuss the latest transportation and economic news from Alameda County.

I forgot my tie in the car.

December 2011 panel on “How Educators and Entrepreneurs...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:46:00 -0800

December 2011 panel on “How Educators and Entrepreneurs Can Collaborate.” From Educators & Entrepreneurs Summit: The Future of Education Technology at Microsoft NERD in Cambridge, MA.

I had a great time.

Great memories with fellow panelists / keynote...

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:18:00 -0800

Great memories with fellow panelists / keynote speakers @jenmedbery @JeremyJ @marissalowman from @edtechup - just saw the photos #edtech

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…