Good morning, All,

We’ve been seeing pieces on this so-called make money or serve humanity dilemma more and more lately and we’re frankly baffled, if not gobsmacked. Where’s the fire?

In case you missed it, Twitter ‘quietly’ announced their plans for an IPO. It’s twitter, and how long did it take before it was headline news and trending on you-know-what. There’s no doubt that twitter has disrupted the world, 140 characters at a time, since not too long after its inception, although it was hardly an overnight success. Still, soon enough, keeping messages short and to the point, it disrupted the way we share news – and break it. It also helped to change human history, from the global (Arab spring) to the local (US Airways Flight 1549’s emergency landing in the Hudson River was first reported on twitter and emergency rescue was quickly dispatched – no lives lost).

Just for the record, Jack Dorsey’s original vision for the service was for it to serve as a communications tool for EMS workers – but it also turned out to be the perfect tool for the ADD/ADHD set. So it was developed to serve humanity – yet the IPO reported has the company valued at $100 billion, and we don’t believe that the founders/team will find themselves in any sort of moral dilemma walking away as billionaires. Win-win, and they’re already busy disrupting news once again with, in case you’ve not yet checked out, medium.

Although we do find it amusing that twitter, of all companies, is being so secretive about the filing…

Social good is a noble concept, to be sure, and using its broadest definition, had it not been for Dorsey’s desire to help make first responders even more responsive, there’d be no twitter, and who knows the countless lives it has saved and/or changed. Dorsey’s had a purpose in mind, and he put his technology out there. His first tweet: just setting up my twttr. It wasn’t ‘Just setting up my twttr so that I can change/save the world,’ which he certainly had enough characters for. He didn’t need to. Build something truly useful, and the world will beat a path to your door. Onward and forward.

 Housekeeping:

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Deadlines:

New England Venture Summit, The 8th annual New England Venture Summit, presented by youngStartup Ventures, is the premier industry gathering connecting venture capitalists, corporate VCs, angel investors, technology transfer professionals, senior executives of early stage and emerging growth companies, university researchers, incubators and premier service providers. Whether you are an investor seeking access to new early stage deals, or a CEO or Founder of a new venture looking for funding, visibility and growth, the New England Venture Summit is one event you won’t want to miss. Early bird rate to attend is now available. Save 50%.

Queens Economic Development Corporation intensive 10 week business plan course for entrepreneurs. Program starts October 1^st, so apply now.

NEW  Shopify/HuffPo Build a Business Competition, deadline March 31^st – to build a business, so enter now! $50k cash prize (but read the fine print – it’s more like $500k), mentoring, and more. Get building!

SlideShare Contest: What’s Your Startup Story? Deadline September 30^th. Ok, so you win a SlideShare Pro account, but judges include Dave McClure and Guy Kawasaki – not a bad thing to be on their radar.

NEW  StartupChile, deadline October 1st. It’s a good one. Cash, which goes a lot farther in Chile; mentors; a demo day. Go for it!

Clinical Trial Visualization Redesign, deadline October 2^nd. Eli Lilly, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, invites designers and developers to re-imagine clinical trial information in a patient-centric way. As part of Lilly’s Clinical Open Innovation initiative, which calls on open innovation to help transform clinical research and development, challenge participants are now being asked to focus on the ideas and possibilities for envisioning clinical trial protocols from a patient’s point of view. Clinical trial information can often be dense and difficult to digest from a patient’s perspective. Patients may have questions surrounding the risks and benefits of their participation in the trial, logistics, the role of their personal doctor, and much more.  The goal for this challenge is to redesign that information in a way that highlights key aspects in a visually appealing and user-friendly way. $75,000 in prizes in all. Grand Prize: $35k.

R/GA (and TechStars) Connected Devices Accelerator, deadline October 11^th. Three months, ten companies, up to $120 in funding. This one is focused on any technology-powered startup from around the world with an innovative idea for a product or service in the connected devices space. Your product can be hardware or software, but it should help bring together the physical with digital. Go for it!

The New York Expo and Conference is back – the real one! Free Early Bird registration now available.
The largest business show on the East Coast is now open for FREE early bird registration. 40+ Seminars. 250+ Exhibitors. Unlimited networking. And yes, that is Brian Solis on the home page. He’ll be keynoting and that’s always worth the price of admission. Register here.
Date: October 17^th
Venue: Javits Center, NYC

Daily News Innovation Lab, deadline October 31^st (applications being accepted starting October 1^st). The Daily News Innovation Lab is powerfully positioned to help grow and launch early-stage companies targeting a known digital-media need by offering unique access to the Daily News in-house team, robust technical infrastructure (hosting, servers, storage) and a massive national audience. Through the Innovation Lab’s Program Service Partners, participating companies will have access to external professional services and receive post-graduation office space. A slate of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and professionals will offer advice, mentorship and support to the companies. The goal is for graduates to leave with a viable product that has been proven in the market, well positioned to launch a successful business

ER Accelerator Winter Session, deadline November 15^th.  $40k in funding and working with amazing mentors – including yours truly. Don’t wait till the last minute!

For you edification this week:

Speaking of build it and the world will save itself, making light from a soda bottle, no electricity required.

Speaking of onward and forward, Twitter Co-Founder Evan Williams Lays Out His Plan For The Future Of Media.

Why The Media Has Been Wrong About YouTube Networks. Says Mark Suster, “For those building networks on YouTube I encourage you to think about them as important distribution, not the end game. YouTube is the top end of your customer funnel.” And if you are building such a network, a must read.

Angry entrepreneur replies to patent troll with racketeering lawsuit. Patent trolls are legal. Can one be nailed for extortion? One man is betting yes. Let’s hear it for Kevin O’Connor, co-founder of DoubleClick.

In case you missed it, the day they fired Pax Dickinson for his sexist, racist remarks, BI published this: The Unofficial Goldman Sachs Guide To Being A Man.

How the Internet is killing innovation. “The Internet has taken startup culture, which used to be a collection of eccentric misfits, and homogenized it. And homogenization is anathema to innovation.”

Reading Jeff Bezos. The author compiled all of Bezos’s letters to his shareholders, from 1997-2011. Read together, it’s essentially a 15 year narrative of building long-term value in technology and also a history of the Internet and e-commerce.

How to Determine Your Revenue Model. Drat! That again!

10 Entrepreneur Risks Worth Taking in Every Startup. There are always risks. And only some are worth it…

Your Playbook to Starting Up On the Cheap: 10 Steps to Launch for Less Than $1,500 (Infographic). Think of this as a startup-cheat sheet.

21 Quotes From Henry Ford On Business, Leadership And Life

Google’s Eric Schmidt says government spying is ‘the nature of our society’. Wonder if that was before or after this hit.

Location, location? The 10 NYC Zip Codes Getting the Most VC Investment.

Lewis Black’s issues with his smartphones. Hilarious!

Elevator Pitch/Member News
Hint, hint: Feel free to tell us what you’re working on, or if you’ve been featured in the press…Share, and we will, too!

One of our members is doing a Freestyle Fashion Conference on September 28th and offering members a discount. Code: sos. While we’re on the subject, our SOS September networking event, as promised, will be on September 30th and of course we’ll bring our healthy truffles and samples of our new power bars, no worries. Hope to see you at both!

That’s it from us this week. Our September Happy Hour. It’ll be Monday, September 30^th at Pioneer’s Bar – conveniently located on West 29^th Street. Register now for the early bird rate and of course we’ll be on hand to do introduction. Just ask and hope to see you there!

And now, as always, help is on the way.