I recently invested in 6 more Kiva-Entrepreneurs. Now I’m focusing on Loans with repayment terms of less than 12 months to accelerate the reinvestment cycle.
Since February 2007 I have invested in 17 Kiva-Entrepreneurs, and already 6 Loans have been fully repaid. I still believe that Kiva is one of the most-valueble services the web has to offer today and I plan to keep increasing the number of my investments over time.
Recently I listened to this very interesting MBA-Talk with Warren Buffett (there are 10 parts):
Conclusion:
I will definitely read and listen to more stuff of and about Warren! There are some very important lessons to learn!
PS: The article What Warren thinks… is also quite interesting! (via Morten)
Thomas (CEO of Spirofrog) has launched a Startup-Special (worth 1590 EUR):
Alle Unternehmen in der Startup-Phase ( Dauer 2 Jahre ) , erhalten die Möglichkeit, auf Anfrage, kostenlos Stellenanzeigen auf Spirofrog zu schalten, sowie sich mit einem Unternehmensprofil zu präsentieren.
Kontakt: startup@spirofrog.de
If you’re looking for new employees, go for it!
Recently I read this article about Alibaba.com‘s European Market entry. It summarized the very interesting Alibaba.com case:
Finally I’ve been able to check out Hulu (see company profile) while I’ve been in the US. I have two words for you: It rocks!
(My roommate Roberto from Bashiba)
(4 day Entrepreneurship Executive course at Babson College)
(Case Study Starbucks vs. Dunkin Donuts: Coffee at Dunkin stays warm for 2 hours; Coffee at Starbucks only 15-30 min. Learning: An apparantly tiny thing such as a different cup material can have huge implications. The coffee doesn’t matter, its the cup!)
(Jessica Livingston – Author of the fantastic book ‘Founders at Work‘ – her next book will be published next year. And oh btw: I did get my copy signed ;-)
(At Y Combinator – one of the most famous startup incubators in the US)
(Very cool Airport Vending Machine at Logan Airport. There was a Sony-Machine and an Apple-Machine for iPods and Stuff. I almost bought a Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones for $199 but then backed off as I’m planning to buy Bose Headphones ;-)
The trip was very inspiring. If you are a Swiss Startup I highly recommend to apply for this unique opportunity next year.
Tomorrow (ehm… today) I’m flying to Boston for the 10-day Venture Leaders trip (see also news.ch). I’m very happy to have this opportunity representing Trigami during this unique journey.
We will be 20 Swiss Entrepreneurs exploring the East Coast “Silicon Valley” (e.g. Paul from Doodle, Vincent from Prediggo, Chris from Dybuster etc.).
The schedule will be pretty tight:
- A 4-day “micro-MBA” at Babson College
- Several pitching sessions/competitions
- Countless networking events
- Company visits (e.g. Y Combinator –> I’m looking VERY forward meeting Jessica Livingston, the author of the awsome book Founders at Work in person – probably I’ll also get my beloved copy signed ;-)
Boston, here we come!
Exsila has just launched their German version. Congrats to Rouven & Reto to this move! I think it’s very smart and I’m looking forward to the battle with Hitflip ;-).
In the meantime 2 of my 7 remaining open loans have been repaid 100%. I reinvested the money to two groups in Tanzania.
My Kiva-Status (since February 2007):
# 11 loans
# 4 fully repaid
# 7 open loans
# 0% default rate
# Feeling: I love it
Here is the status of some of my Kiva-Friends:
# Kolja (coverage 1 & coverage 2)
# Exsila
# Alfonso Rodriguez (coverage)
# Stefan (coverage)
If you’re also a Kiva-Friend, please leave a comment with your status :-).
I’ve just checked out what my favourite idea-factory Brainstore (my previous coverage) was up to in the last couple of months.
News:
# They opened a Blog
# They opened an office in Germany
Some cool Brain-pics:
Brainbag:
