Entrepreneur & Social Entrepreneur Meetup #18 is tonight (Thursday) starting at 8pm.

Presenters Include:
Mary Musacchia - Council for Entrepreneurial Development
John Glushnik - Intersouth Partners
Jinan Glasgow - Economic Development in Ghana

Please feel free to bring friends and colleagues.

PARKING
Plenty of parking is available along Park Bluff Road

DIRECTIONS FROM DOWNTOWN CHAPEL HILL
From HW54 (aka Raleigh Road) coming down the hill from Chapel Hill, take a left on a Meadowmont Lane, go to end of road (1.5 miles) then take left onto Park Bluff N. then first cul de sac on right into Millingport Court. House is #102.

FROM DURHAM/RALEIGH
Take I-40 East to exit 273 toward Chapel Hill. Take right at Meadowmont Lane. Go to end of road (1.5 miles) then take left onto Park Bluff N. then first cul de sac on right into Millingport Court. House is #102.

SCHEDULE FOR REST OF YEAR:
While the meetup will usually be once per month on a Thursday at 8pm, this may change from time to time due to travel. Here is the schedule for the next few months (all Thursdays unless otherwise noted):

June 26
July 24
August 26
September 25
October 23

You can RSVP at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19916001713

You can join the group at http://unc.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19139128576 for updates.

The winners will be going to Palm Springs, California in November for the Ernst & Young 2008 National Entrepreneur of the Year Awards to compete against the other regional winners.

We're really glad, and humbled, to have won. We are very appreciative of the support North Carolina and the Triangle community has given us the past six years and have to thank our family at iContact and our families at home. We have a lot lot lot more work still to do.

The full list of winners is below.

Ernst & Young Carolinas 2008 Entrepreneur of the Year Winners

Lifetime achievement. O. Temple Sloan. General Parts, Inc.

Financial Services
Robert Hatley
Paragon Commercial Bank

Health Services
Willam Cobb
JM Smith

Industrial Products
Christopher Kearney
SPX Corporation

Real Estate Hospitality Construction
Patricia Rodgers
Rodgers Builders

Retail and Consumer Products
Thomas Millner
Remington Arms

Emerging
Aaron Houghton
Ryan Allis
iContact

Software and IT
Matthew Szulik
Red Hat

Telecommunications
Eugene Johnson
FairPoint Communications

Last night iContact was honored by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development as the 2008 Technology Growth Company of the Year at Bay 7 at American Tobacco Campus.

Aaron and I accepted the award on behalf of the iContact team. You can watch a video of the award announcement.

Hey everyone. I was in New York today visiting with partners and customers and filming for The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch. I was glad to be on the show again for the first time since I was on last May 31. I'm told the episode will air tonight at 10pm on CNBC.

I think I'll be on for about 3-4 minutes about halfway through the show around 10:30pm. The topic of the show will be 'how to prepare your children to be driven, be passionate, and follow their dreams.'

They have an expert from NYU Dr. Harold Koplewicz and a guy named Troy with seven kids who debate the various methods of encouraging and supporting children and then bring on Kimberly Burleson Spinks co-author of the book 'Prepare to Be a Teen Millionaire', me, and 25-year old artist Amanda Dunbar.

Hey everyone. I was in New York today visiting with partners and customers and filming for The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch. I was glad to be on the show again for the first time since I was on last May 31. I'm told the episode will air tonight at 10pm on CNBC.

I think I'll be on for about 3-4 minutes about halfway through the show around 10:30pm. The topic of the show will be 'how to prepare your children to be driven, be passionate, and follow their dreams.'

They have an expert from NYU Dr. Harold Koplewicz and a guy named Troy with seven kids who debate the various methods of encouraging and supporting children and then bring on Kimberly Burleson Spinks co-author of the book 'Prepare to Be a Teen Millionaire', me, and 25-year old artist Amanda Dunbar.

Podcast Description: When the economy is soft, we have to maximize sales opportunities with marketing campaigns that don't break our budget. Ryan Allis talks with Small Business Advocate Jim Blasingame about how to use email marketing to pull off maximizing sales while minimizing marketing expenses. Ryan also explains his company's capitalization strategy, including how he acquired venture capital.
Download/Listen Now (15.26, 7.1MB)

I'm out in Alta, Utah this weekend near Salt Lake City for the Under 30 CEO Summit being put on by Elliot Bisnow.

We've been skiing at Snowbird, heard from Ted Alemayhu from U.S. Doctors for Africa, chatted with Scott Fredrick from Valhalla Partners, and talked a lot about business, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, and how we can work together to make a difference in the world.

Blake from Tom's Shoes (which donates 1 pair of shoes to children in developing countries for every pair they sell) debuted his video "No Polo Window" announcing the launch of his leather boots campaign to reduce a foot disease called Podo in Ethiopia. Blake gave us each a pair and I'm quite happy to report they are awesome for breakdancing.

The people that are here include Dan Melinger (Socialight), Cristina Miller (Store Adore), Sean Belnick (Bizchairs.com), Ben Lerer (Thrillist), Blake Mycoskie (Tom's Shoes), Cameron Johnson (The Big Give), Ben Kauffman, (Kluster), Josh Abramson (CollegeHumor/BustedTees), Rob Jewell (Gratis Internet), Joel Holland (Footage Firm), Lin Miao (Tatto Media), Ricky Van Veen (CollegeHumor/BustedTees), Jud Bowman (Motricity), Sam Altman (Loopt), Anthony Adams (CreditCovers), Nathan Stevens (Yodle), and Jeff Fissel (KZO Networks).

Yesterday I skied for the second time and went from extreme beginner to beginner. It's been a great time so far and I'm looking forward to tonight.

Today I was in Los Angeles presenting at Derek Gehl's Internet Entrepreneurs Club seminar on email marketing. I had the chance to give a 90 minute presentation on the value of and best practices for opt-in email marketing to the more than 400 attendees. I mentioned I'd put the deck on the blog, so here are the slides.

Presentation: "The Insider Secrets to The Most Effective Form of Online Communication"
Date: April 12, 2008
Location: Internet Marketing Center Seminar, Hyatt Regency Orange County
Size: 12.4MB
Download: Download Here (uploading, should be available by 6pm ET)

Cheers,
Ryan

Who Are Your Role Models?

I've given some thought to the people I follow, read about, and try to learn from. While we all have faults, secrets, and imperfections, there are a good two dozen people that I consider today to be my role models in a few different fields.

The question I want to know is who are YOUR role models? Who should I consider starting to follow and learn more about that isn't on this list? Would you leave the names of your role models in the comments?

Here's to all the solemn souls who have cared for humanity that have come before and all those blessed brothers and sisters who come after. Here are my current role models.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR/ACTIVIST ROLE MODELS
Mahatma Gandhi (The non-violent revolutionary)
Mother Theresa (The lady who cared for the sick and poor)
Martin Luther King, Jr. (The Man with a Dream)
Susan B. Anthony (Civil rights and suffrage leader)
Paul Farmer (Doctor for the Poor, Mountains Beyond Mountains)
Mohammed Yunus (Banker to the Poor)
Dennis Whittle (Founder of Global Giving)
Bill Drayton (Founder of Ashoka)
Matt Flannery (Founder of Kiva)
Jessica Jackley Flannery (Founder of Kiva)
Dan West (Founder of Heifer International)
Bernard Kouchner (Co-Founder of Doctors Without Borders)
Kerry Kennedy (Human rights activist)
Laura Arrillaga (Venture philanthropist)

BUSINESS ROLE MODELS
Bill Gates (the innovator and hard-line businessman)
Jeffrey Skoll (the eBay founder and social entrepreneur innovator)
Warren Buffet (the smartest fundamentalist around)
Marc Benioff (the SaaS phenomenom-maker)
Marc Andreessen (keeps hitting home runs)
Steve Jobs (he comeback kid)
Larry Page (the technologist and business innovator)
Sergey Brin (the dynamic duo part deux)
Richard Branson (loses his virginity every day)
Thomas Edison (succeeded by failing 3,635 times)
Steve Jurvetson (the VC gadget-lover)
Andrew Carnegie (the library funder)
J.P. Morgan (the financial system saver)
John D. Rockefeller (the competitor)
John D. MacArthur (the PBS funder)
Sam Walton (the great retailer, scaler, and SIFE founder)
Henry Ford (his ability to scale, not him per say)
Larry Ellison (his ability to sell, not him per se)
Tom Perkins (his ability to put together venture deals, not him per se)
Jimmy Wales (the maker of ubiquitous information)

ECONOMIST ROLE MODELS
Jeffrey Sachs (End of Poverty, Common Wealth)
Hernando De Soto (The Mystery of Capital)
George Soros (Open Society)
Milton Friedman (Capitalism and Freedom)
John Maynard Keynes (The General Theory)

JOURNALIST/AUTHOR ROLE MODELS
Tom Friedman (Lexus and The Olive Tree)
John Perkins (Confessions of An Economic Hitman)
Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad Poor Dad)
Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich)
Jim Collins (Good to Great)

POLITICAL ROLE MODELS
Abraham Lincoln (The Uniter)
Benjamin Franklin (The Inventor)
John F. Kennedy (The Dreamer)
Benazir Bhutto (The Fighter)
John McCain (The Fighter)
Barack Obama (The Changer & Inspirer)
Al Gore (The Authentic)
Bill Clinton (The World Changer)
Jimmy Carter (The Carer)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (The Courageous)
Mario Cuomo (The Speaker)

...And anyone who worked or is currently working to increase human prosperity, ensure an economically prosperous and sustainable world, and reduce human suffering, poverty, disease, warfare, and genocide.

Who do I need to know about??? Who's doing amazing things??? Leave a comment...

His speech is titled The Path to $1 Billion as they are on track to hit $1B in sales this year as a private company that started in 1999, did $8.6 million in 2000 and $32 million in 2001. They have 1,600 employees today and a 500 person call center. Tony is emphasizing the importance of 'above and beyond' great customer service more or less regardless of cost. 75% of his orders are from repeat customers. He talks of 'surprise upgrades.'

Tony shared that they orient new team members with 4 weeks of customer loyalty training at their headquarters in Las Vegas plus week in Kentucky for warehouse training for every single employee. He tells the story of when a customer ordered pizza from their customer service line at 3am and the customer rep found the nearest pizza places in Santa Monica that were still open.

He encourages entrepreneurs to train great people if you want the company to scale as 'you can't do everything yourself.' He provides a culture book to their team members each year. Every single team member writes a couple employee on what the culture means to them.

Their core company values are:

1. Deliver WOW through service
2. Embrace and drive change
3. Create fun and little weirdness
4. Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded
5. Pursue growth and learning
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication
7. Build a positive team and family spirit
8. Do more with less
9. Be passionate and determined
10. Be humble

Dr. Alvin Jones Radio Interview with Ryan Allis - (9min 17sec, WMA file) - A March 26, 2008 radio interview on WCBQ-AM 1340 and WHNC-AM 890 with Dr. Alvin Jones from the Paradise Radio Network about:

• Starting in business
• Going to UNC
• Being the son of a priest
• What iContact does
• The quote about taking action by Scottish Mountaineer W.H. Murray
• Setting big goals
• Understanding the entrepreneurial system
• Evaluating business ideas
• The three questions to ask prospective buyers
• Accessing the world of equity capital

Start-up Spark Interview with Ryan Allis (17 min 38 sec) - A discussion with Shannon Cherry from Start-up Spark about:

• Growing up in Florida
• Advantages/disadvantages of young entrepreneurs
• The MAR system
• Bootstrapping and living in the office
• Doing whatever it takes to keep expenses low
• How we hired our first employee
• Using equity initially to reduce cash burn
• The importance of systems and building a team when scaling
• How to avoid creating a job for yourself
• Why hiring people smarter than you is critical
• The definition of an entrepreneur
• Figuring out the purpose of your life
• What will motivate you to get through the hard times
• The mission of The Humanity Campaign
  

Here are two recent podcast interviews on entrepreneurship done by Written Voices and Daxle. Enjoy!

Written Voices Podcast Interview With Ryan Allis (17min 38 sec) - A discussion with Allan Hunkin from Written Voices about:

• Building a team
• My personal motivation
• The importance of finding mentors
• An overview of Zero to One Million including opportunity evaluation, raising capital, marketing and creating sales, giving back, and setting goals
• Finding your core motivation
• Focusing on providing a great product
• Social responsibility
• The Entitlement Generation vs. The Enlightenment Generation
• The Enlightened Entrepreneur
• Finding Your BHALG - Your Big Hairy Audacious Lifetime Goal

Daxle Interview with Ryan Allis (17 min 02 sec) - A discussion with Brian Oates from Daxle about:

• The entrepreneurial itch
• Finding a partner
• Evaluating entrepreneurial opportunities
• Ensuring demand for your business idea
• The value of teamwork
• How internet sales are different from door-to-door sales
• Generating leads from the web
• Bootstrapping and doing what it takes to keep expenses low

Today in Berlin we met up at 3pm for a walking tour of the city, then ended up at 5pm at the British Council office at Alexanderplatz 1 in East Berlin next to the Fernsehturm television tower that was a major symbol of the GDR in the communist era.

We began at 5:30 with a brilliantly led introduction and 'The Great Transatlantic Debate.' We lined up in order of height, grouped into teams of 5, and then separated into planning rooms.

Each of the six teams (we were team 3) had a provided thesis they had to prepare to prove in the upcoming debate. Our team was tasked to prove that 'the relationship between America and the E.U is strong and getting stronger.'

In our five minutes, Peter Macleod from Canada played the American husband and Angela Brunete from Spain played the European wife. Peter allegorically referred to the EU/US relationship as a marriage in which there were ups and downs but at the end of the day we would always be together. Angela accused Peter of cheating on her with India, and Peter accused Angela of cheating on him with China. But they reconciled as Rabah Ghezali from France shared the cultural and historical ties including the core values of liberal democracies and the Marshall Plan, Dragos Pislaru from Romania shared the strategic and military ties including our recent learnings of what can happen when we don't truly work together in global conflict, and I shared the economic ties including trade and FDI growth. Team Four proceeded to present the other side of the argument for five minutes, followed by a one minute rebuttal.

Following the debates, we discussed issues including the identity challenge, citizen media, technology and mobility, E.U. enlargement, the relative stasis of the U.S., whether there were 4, 5, or 7 continents in the world (Europeans learn 5), red blue and purple America, the Stockholm consensus, lateral relationships between the U.S. and Eurozone countries, whether the West or East would most define the 21st century, demography, and our shared history.

After the group discussion we held a reception and dinner and followed on with about three hours of networking in the lounge of the British Council's office. Around 10, Jeff Johnson and I worked to persuade the group to go to 'Weekend' the dance club across the street in the Sharp Aquos building until we found out that GMF was not name of the Sunday night DJ but rather meant that Sunday night was Gay Night--so we headed to Bar Wave at the Novotel instead.

We're all building some tremendously valuable connections that will help our businesses, non-profits, and public service organizations for many decades to come while broadening our understanding of global challenges and global entrepreneurial opportunites.

I'm off to get back to work on my Sunday night email catchup.