Is it just me...or is this a little over-the-top? This essay makes PG out to be the second coming of Christ. YCombinator is great...but it's not the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Keep building your product and pounding the pavement. As Coach K would say...next play.
I was going to do a similar site like this last summer but decided not to. I'm looking to ditch the domain CoFoundMe.com for cheap if you're interested.
Do we really need an app that helps spread gossip? I admit I haven't installed it and only took a tertiary glance at it...but if it does what it looks like, I think you should use your talents for Good and not for Evil :-)
MicroPlace.com just launched the other day and apparently actually allows you to charge a nominal interest rate so you can get a return on the loan. The point isn't to make oodles of money off of developing world entrepreneurs, but it is a slightly more attractive offer than Kiva's 0% interest loan. If you so decided, the interest you generate from MicroPlace could get then go back into another loan so the cycle continues again. Rinse, lather, repeat.
Shooter--if you're interested, check out Altruistiq (www.altruistiq.com). Our entire mission is to create products and services that cater to the double bottom-line of social impact and profitability. We're working on a NASDAQ for the non-profit world to help NGOs raise financing a lot easier. There are no real capital markets in the non-profit world--everything is basically hand-to-mouth donations. We think a non-profit "stock" exchange could really change the way the US funds innovation in the social sector.
If you, or anyone else is interested in Doing Good while Doing Well, feel free to email me:
neil dot abraham @ altruistiq dot com
Sorry for what may seem like a plug...but this thread is all about trying to create true impact with your work, and I really would love to get in touch with like minded people on this subject. As someone else mentioned, we've been creating products for the richest 1% for way too long. There are 4 billion people living on $2 a day that we can impact with our skills and talents.
Let's get together and see how we can create real change.
It's sad that we have to be reminded of it, but this just reaffirms that the little bubble world of YC, TechCrunch, and Web 2.Oh really don't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of life. This guy wouldn't trade some extra time with his family for all the startups and VC cash in the world. It just puts things into perspective.
Just a suggestion: I reinstalled my machine and didn't install Flash yet. The site just brings up the alert box telling me I should go to www.flash.com to download it. I expected the site to provide a direct link to the flash download, but instead all I got after the alert box was a blank page.
Granted, many users will have flash installed, but if my mom didn't and and she tried using your site with the current configuration, she wouldn't bother after getting just a blank page. (Granted, I don't think mom will be browsing YouTube and MySpace videos...at least I hope not).