Brainstorming re: MTF

What will we write about?

  1. S2Gaming (Kalamazoo, MI) – Small gamaing company
  2. Mojhang, Inc. – Stockholm, Sweden
  3. Tom Shoes – Charity work + existing company (give shoes to kids who don’t have them when you buy a pair)
  4. [ Girl from Minnesota ] – Harm’s Way for Kids. Makes bracelets for troops… 1M bracelets… (18yrs old)
  5. Rob Dyrdek (pro skater) – crazy entrepreneur/investor, foster/grow sport in new areas
  6. Johnny Cupcakes – T-shirts, NY (?), bakery/apparel
  7. Life is Good(tm), started out of a van
  8. Matter of Trust – collect hair to make oil spill cleanup mats
  9. Post Secret
  10. Small business / individual entrepreneurship (eg. family member starting business)
  11. NFL Play 60 – children’s charity by NFL players
  12. [ Local charity ] Sell products made by the disabled, profit back into local community
  13. GMC Chevy – Why the buyout?
  14. Saturn – again, success/failure questions — why?
  15. Hummer… (all on the theme of “things that failed”)
  16. [ To Write Love on Her Arms ] – social org/business
  17. Facebook vs. MySpace?
  18. RED(tm) – Bono’s … project
  19. Firefox – originator was 15, doing well at this point
  20. Invisible Children
  21. Heifer International
  22. David Carr, Tumblr founder
  23. Gas price fluctuation/oil spills…
  24. Dawn – P&G – Corporate sponsorship/donation schemes/incentives/projects
  25. Tide – Loads of Hope
  26. Perez Hilton – Celeb blogger, now a celeb
  27. 5 Guys Burger & Fries
  28. McDonalds
  29. Wal-Mart
  30. Starbucks
  31. Google
  32. Keurig
  33. Monsanto – subsidized seed/corn
  34. Bing, Blackle – why smaller, energy, social angles…
  35. Krispy Kreeme?
  36. National Wildlife Foundation
  37. PETA
  38. Whole Foods
  39. Charles Schwab – Dyslexia foundation
  40. Apple
  41. Annheiser-Bush Budweiser (US)
  42. The microbrew industry
  43. Micro vs. mega (name industry)
  44. Special Olympics
  45. Purmanti’s (sandwich company)
  46. Gary Vanderchuck (sp) – wine guy/social media
  47. Walt Disney
  48. Bill Gates
  49. Steve Jobs
  50. Mike Sheldrake – env conscious surfboards
  51. Seth Godin – author/blogger, domino book project (Amazon partnership)
  52. Greg Mortenson – 3 Cups of Tea
  53. iTunes – music industry transformation (Napster, perhaps?)
  54. Hulu
  55. Netflix / RedBox – movie industry
  56. — (Demise of the video store?)
  57. Prof. chef store/food culture in CA
  58. Ben & Jerry’s
  59. Founder of Tesla – PayPal
  60. Boardwalk artists – the individual crafter/artist
  61. Richard Branson
  62. Tobacco pricing industry variation
  63. Locks of Love
  64. Pantene charity (related?) – Great Lengths
  65. Charity and Gender
  66. (are charities viewed as gendered?) – race, socioeconomic divisions/questions?
  67. Harlem educational initiative – … (need to google to find out more)
  68. Technology (a bit broad – Apple, Microsoft)
  69. Open Source movement (perhaps focus on one)
  70. Susan Kalman for the cure – NFL wearing pink, rise of social movement/branding
  71. TFA (Teach for America)
  72. Livestrong (DeepLocal, Chalkbot)
  73. Larry Lessig
  74. Exec producer of Greek. Allegheny alum?
  75. Paul Watson – eco terrorist/conservationist – Whale Wars
  76. Pres/VP of KDK (alumna?)
  77. Alumni stories
  78. Ruby on Rails team (language, environment for web programming)
  79. Boxtops for Education

What about businesses and things that failed? (Eg. all online pet stores from the 1990′s.)

History/Current/Future

Hotbeds of Innovation and Honeybee Networks

As a reminder, there are events all day long as part of the Year of Global Citizenship surrounding the theme Citizenship Today: Reflections on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Legacy. I would like to encourage you to take time out to attend at least one of these sessions—they promise to be powerful, enlightening experiences.

On that theme, after our first round of brainstorming, we will watch the 2009 video from TEDIndia titled Anil Gupta: India’s hidden hotbeds of invention.

Related is Anil’s work regarding the Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions and Honeybee Networks. Inspiring innovation.

Course website set up…

Now, to fill a few things in…