Author Archives: Jeff B.

Everyone has ideas. Why do some fail, while others become a huge success? Urban legends, conspiracy theories, and crazy public health scares circulate virally, while business people, politicians, policy makers, educators and others struggle to be heard.

Chip Heath, a professor of mine at Stanford Graduate School of Business, joined his brother in authoring Made to Stick. The book addresses the question of why some ideas “stick” and others disappear into oblivion. Heath provides readers with methods on how to communicate so that other people remember you and your ideas. I’ve applied many of these principles into my own life and…

I recently returned from my first trip to Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), in Ghana, invited by Meltwater CEO Jorn Lyseggen, who invited me because of my background in venture capital. I was asked to contribute to the trainees’ (known in MEST as Entrepreneurs-in-Training or “EITs”) knowledge based on my venture capital experience as well as my experience in working with people in developing countries. Since I recently joined the company, it was also an opportunity to learn about MEST. I will post on this blog in two parts: the first is my thoughts on development work in Africa,…

Seven years ago you would have found me surrounded by children living in extreme poverty in Tibet. Five years ago you would have found me rebuilding a community in rural Mongolia. Three weeks ago, you would have found me working with Tibetan Refugees, a pickaxe in hand, and knee deep in the rubble of a 300 year-old Buddhist Monastery located in a village called Chairro tucked away in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal. Today, I’m on the 2nd floor of a San Francisco high-rise working on investments for Meltwater Group. What’s the connection, the common link, the motivation? The answer…