Posted on August - 15 - 2010

What Exactly Is a Social Entrepreneur?

I understand social. I understand entrepreneur. But when you put the two words together, I have to pause.

I pause because I wonder whether social entrepreneur is really entrepreneurship the way I understand it — where a business owner takes risk in the hope of making money. I guess my question is this: If it’s mostly about the social good, what makes it entrepreneurship? And if it’s mostly about the entrepreneurship, what makes it social? Isn’t the phrase an oxymoron?

I understand that there’s nothing new about social entrepreneurship. I guess I

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Posted on August - 14 - 2010

WinWeb Pitch of the Week – Virtual Studio TV

The winner of WinWeb’s Pitch of the Week competition this week is Simon Malone, co-founder of VirtualStudio.TV, a company who stumbled across technology that allows them to place a presenter in any virtual environment using green screen technology. VirtualStudio.TV saw this as an ideal product for training videos, webinars and instructive videos.

Posted on August - 13 - 2010

Investing $100,000 with Lending Club PRIME

Why so much money?

Well, it was just sitting in a savings account earning less than 2%, and I need to diversify my investments a little, but I’m not ready to go back into the stock market yet. I realize there is risk involved with holding a personal loan portfolio, but I’ve met the Lending Club team, and I feel confident in their tactics and processes to minimize that risk.

I’m looking now for investments that generate cash, and Lending Club fits that bill.

Setting up my Lending Club PRIME account

I didn’t want to choose dozens of loans on my own, and since Lending Club was waiving the normal .8% PRIME loading fee, I decided to enroll in their PRIME program.

The PRIME program allows Lending Club to invest on my behalf, which is exactly what I’m looking for. I want a

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Posted on August - 12 - 2010

Dow Sinks 3.3% on Week (Market Update)

Stocks limped to a small loss, capping a rough week that has seen the major indexes back into the red for the year on renewed signs of slowing economic growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 16.80 points, or 0.16%, to 10303.15, extending a four-day slide that’s seen the blue-chip index fall 3.3% this week.

The slump came as weak economic data and a gloomy Federal Reserve statement lent more credibility to fears that the flagging economic recovery could turn into a double-dip recession.

Investors “got a big jolt from the Fed this week that just shifted positions dramatically from just two weeks ago when they felt that the economy was gaining some traction,” said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W.

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Posted on August - 11 - 2010

A profound sign on the 101

I’m out on vacation this week, driving through Oregon down the 101 with my father.

We stopped in a small town called Reedsport to look around in a few shops along the way, and as I entered one establishment noticed a peculiar sign on the door.

The sign itself was not pequliar. The typical “Welcome, Kindly Step In” message at the top was as American as apple pie, which isn’t nearly as good as the blueberry sour cream pie I had in the same town for lunch. What ma

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