Some of you might get asked often what is your idea about in a nutshell. It's called sometime an "elevator pitch": you have few seconds to get the main message out until your guest leave the elevator to a different floor. Our idea profile page plays a similar role: a title and a couple of words (1000 characters actually) is all what you have. Plus a visual or a video, -- which is nowadays a very important support to get a good first impression. It is the same thing when it comes to explain the value of your idea. Even if you know everything is or will be described in the business document, you need to spare some time building an elevator [...]

As you may already know, Challenge Your World, in partnership with Motionographer, has launched a Video Challenge. In a nutshell, we want you to come up with an idea or invention that would make the world a better place. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be realistic, it can be as far-fetched as you imagination can conceive. Then, in the most creative and unique ways you can think of, bring your it to life in a 90 second (or less) video. To give you an idea of what this challenge is all about, check out our current submissions! Don’t wait too long, you only have until November 10, 2009 to submit your video. But it doesn’t stop there: even if you [...]

 The Happy Rock wrote a list of why they think it sucks to be a part time entrepreneur. Of course, something of that importance is usually a full-time business, but not everyone is able, or wants, to jump off the wagon and start something new, there is too much risk involved. The list is long, and while all points are valid, I collected what I think are the most interesting points made. Sacrifice. You can’t do it all.  Areas of your life will suffer and gather cobwebs.  If it is important to you, other things must take a backseat. No help. When you want go on vacation you can’t without major planning.  No breaks, you do everything. Yourself. [...]

 There are any number of actions a company can take to make them greener than they were but at what point should a company be considered green (or green enough)? This can be hard to decide, especially for small companies that don’t necessarily have enough resources to invest in long term solutions. People have wide ranging views on this point, some saying that any little bit ought to be encouraged, while the other side saying that unless they go all the way it isn’t good enough.  [...]

"Do you have a million things to do and unsure where to start?" Isn't how it feel when you have an idea and want to make it happen? Staying focused is clearly a must. This is how Steve Martile, a Life Direction Coach, started his blog post this week: " Being focused is more of an art than it is a science." It is definitively an art. Having an idea is the easiest part. To go beyond and acheiving it is the core issue. You have to stay focused all the way long and pick your fight. Here's Steve' 9 practical ways to Stay Focused (more details on his post) 1. Choose one or two objectives for the year. Too many objectives for scatters your focus, [...]

Trendwatching.com, an "independent and opinionated consumer trends firm" February 2009 trend briefing focuses on "Generation G" — G as in giving, generosity, gift.

Generation G captures the growing importance of 'generosity' as a leading societal and business mindset. As consumers are disgusted with greed and its current dire consequences for the economy — and while that same upheaval has them longing more than ever for institutions that care — the need for more generosity beautifully coincides with the ongoing (and pre-recession) emergence of an online-fueled culture of individuals who share, give, engage, create and collaborate in large

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Over the past year, Tim O'Reilly has been pushing people to "work on stuff that matters" — to focus on tackling our biggest problems. Stuff like health care, education, energy. O'Reilly acknowledges that nonprofits and government matters, but emphasizes that entrepreneurs need to get involved. This is everybody's business:

I want to make clear that "work on stuff that matters'' does not mean focusing on non-profit work, causes, or any other form of "do-goodism"... it's essential to get beyond that narrow box. I'm a strong believer in the social value of business done right. We need to build an economy in which the important things are paid for in

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So yesterday I posted about visiting the awesome majesty that is the MaRS Centre (still haven't figured out what MaRS stands for... perhaps a prize for anyone that can?) Well the next day I headed down to the Centre for Social Innovation on Spadina Avenue to visit a very different kind of centre for excellence in social entrepreneurship. CSI was founded just 5 years ago by Executive Director Tonya Surman, because she had just had her second child and (in her own words) was 'bored out of her f*%#ing mind!!!' A long time social activist/innovator/entrepreneur, Tonya dreamed up the idea with Margie Zeidler, owner of Urbanspace Property Group, which [...]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with Lisa Torjman, Associate in Social Entrepreneurship at MaRS, an incredible complex in downtown Toronto that brings together researchers, start-ups, legal experts, investors, medical professionals, technologists and student interns to advance innovation in science and technology, with a particular emphasis on bio-medical research. It was founded 11 years ago by Dr. John Evans, a prominent Toronto doctor, and former President of the University of Toronto. He realized there was an urgent need for a convergence centre at the cross-section of the University of Toronto, Queen’s Park (the Ontario provincial [...]

Today we had our first in-house, all-team sustainability discussion, which I had the honour of leading. We brainstormed keywords, reviewed the history of the development of the concept, and talk a closer look at some of the important leaders and ideas that have emerged in the field over the past half-century. A term that resonated with everyone strongly was balance. We've been joking around at the office a lot recently about the sustainability or 'unsustainability' of different personal activities and lifestyle choices, stemming from a response I made a few weeks ago when posed a question about how one makes choices in a world of complexity and [...]