Bikes have to be one of the most versatile inventions of all time. They’re transportation, entertainment, and exercise all in one. You can even rig one to turn human power into electricity if you really want. They may have been around for a long time, but they’re still a surprisingly good solution to many of our society’s problems. That’s why the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition was started to promote the bicycle for everyday use. They’re a San Jose, CA based non-profit that is working to “to create a healthy community, environment, and economy through bicycling for people who live, work, or play in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.”
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I spent yesterday morning teaching kids how to fly fish. It’s my favorite thing to do, so I am thrilled to share it with young people to ensure the future of the sport. Those who enjoy the outdoors need to do everything they can to share their passion with people from all backgrounds. That’s what Environmental Traveling Companions is about. They’re a San Francisco, CA based non-profit that “opens the beauty and challenge of the great outdoors to people with disabilities and disadvantaged youth.” They’ve been around since 1972, and in that time they’ve helped thousands of people enjoy activities like whitewater rafting and alpine skiing.
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I’m currently in Colorado on a vacation with my wife’s family. Few things make me happier than getting away from the city and enjoying the outdoors. Unfortunately, it seems as though more and more people prefer to stay inside. This seems nice at first because it means less traffic in all of our favorite places, it’s a really big problem on the conservation front. If there isn’t a critical mass of people who care about our natural resources, they’ll be very hard to protect. That’s why The Mountaineers exists. They’re a Seattle, WA based non-profit that has “been teaching skills, sharing adventures, creating volunteers, and conserving land” for more than a century. For The Mountaineers the focus is on the Pacific Northwest, but that’s only because it’s their backyard. They want to teach people how to “enjoy the lands and waters” there and beyond.
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The Yankees are in Chicago for a full week! I went to the game last night at Wrigley (and I’m going again today), but the Yankees lost, and we got soaked by a thunderstorm as we left the stadium. I was also annoyed because I tried to buy tickets off of StubHub a few hours before the game but couldn’t. They used to stop selling two hours before the game but have since changed that to six hours. I was still able to get tickets at well below face value, but I had to do it at the stadium at the last minute. The policy change was forced by Major League Baseball and its teams to try to prop up ticket resale values for season ticket holders, and it’s completely unfriendly to fans. That’s what happens when the “disrupter” gets co-opted by the big boys. Now it’s time to look for a new disrupter, and it might just be TiqIQ. They are based in New York, NY, and they aim “to make buying event tickets more transparent, efficient, and simpler.”
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I’ve always been able to hit balls a really hard. Baseball was my sport growing up, and power was a big part of my game. When I picked up golf, I brought the power over from my baseball swing. The problem was that my big swing often resulted in a lost ball because my accuracy wasn’t quite there. I needed help and didn’t want to spend a lot of time taking lessons, so I eventually gave up golf. It’s too bad that Zepp Labs wasn’t around then. They’re a Los Gatos, CA based company that “empowers athletes and coaches with meaningful performance information to help them immediately improve their game.” They’ve developed 3D motion capture technology that works with your smartphone to give you the kind of analysis that used to be reserved for professionals.
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I live to be outdoors. For me it’s mostly about fishing, but I enjoy hunting, hiking, kayaking, and pretty much anything else that gets me out in the wilderness. The tough thing is that I like to get away from civilization, but civilization is constantly encroaching on the wilderness. We need to find a balance, and that means getting more people involved in outdoor activities so that they’ll stand up to protect what needs to be protected. It’s better to share our special places with other enthusiasts then have them get turned into strip malls. The best way to get more people involved is to start them young, and that’s what Bay Area Wilderness Training is all about. They’re an Oakland, CA based non-profit that was “founded with the idea that California’s bountiful wilderness areas are a vast – yet untapped – resource for local youth-serving organizations.”
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Amy and I have spent 30+ hours in the car over the last week. We listened to the radio, we listened to Spotify, we listened to two Yankees games (one via the MLB At Bat App and one on the radio), we talked, and we listened to a book on tape. After a few hours of one, we’d get bored and switch it up. Maybe we should have “stitched it up.” Stitcher is a San Francisco, CA based company with an app of the same name that lets you access “over 20,000+ radio shows and podcasts on your iPhone, iPad, Android or PC–anytime, anywhere.” The focus is on news, sports, talk, and entertainment, so it’s kind of like Pandora for non-music audio.
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I used to like golf, but I quit playing about ten years ago. It started when I signed up for P.E. Golf during my Freshman year of college. To pass I had to play ten rounds of nine holes during the semester. I didn’t play my first round until October 1st. The course closed on October 31st, and it was a really cold fall. The last few rounds were played in a face mask and gloves. After that experience I started to realize that I’d rather catch the fish in the ponds on the course than hit a little white ball around. Then I broke the head off of my driver at a driving range and decided never to play again. It happened to be a Callaway Big Bertha. The Carlsbad, CA based company aims “to deliver the best performing products the game has ever known—products that perform so well, they literally put the joy of the game in your hands.” It didn’t quite work out for me, but it has definitely worked out for lots of other golfers.
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I feel sorry for anyone who has ever had to watch me play soccer. It’s a sport that I was not made to play. I never liked all the running, but it was at least fun for the first few years (because there was still hope that I would eventually score a goal). Hopefully my experience with the sport is an aberration, because Round Star Foundation is a New York, NY based non-profit “dedicated to extending the many benefits soccer can provide to every individual.” They do this by “providing access to high quality soccer activities, training and education” to help people with both physical and social development.
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Do any of you remember Flip cameras? They were all the rage for a few years, and then they got completely crushed by smartphones. Who would buy a standalone consumer level point and shoot or video camera when you already have something that offers comparable quality in your pocket? The only good reason that I can think of is that you’re worried you might destroy your phone. That’s where GoPro came in. They’re a San Mateo, CA based company that has built a huge business by offering “the world’s most versatile camera.” While other manufacturers were killing each other with battles over megapixels and size, GoPro was focusing on a niche market of users who wanted to be able to take their cameras on adventures. It turned out that it was a really big niche.
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Over the past year I’ve started to get really interested in upland bird hunting. It’s a sport with amazing tradition, but it’s an old man’s sport. It’s hard for a young guy to get started. That’s why I’m heading to Pheasant Fest in Milwaukee today. It’s the national convention of Pheasants Forever, a St. Paul, MN based non-profit that is “dedicated to the conservation of pheasants, quail and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public awareness, education and land management policies and programs.”
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I tolerate living in Chicago because my wife is from here, the summers are awesome, and the food is exceptional. Unfortunately, it’s not the best place for someone like me who loves spending time in the wilderness. That means I spend a lot of time in Northern Michigan, which is five hours away. It would be nice if I could discover some recreation options that are a little closer. That’s exactly what AllTrails offers. They’re a San Francisco, CA based startup that has built “the leading digital network focused on outdoor enthusiasts, providing 1 million people monthly with the information and tools to discover top destinations near them.”
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The health and wellness industry is massive, and it just seems to keep growing. There are a lot of really smart business people who are playing a big part in the growth, but there are also a ton of people in the industry who would rather not concern themselves with businessy stuff. The kind of people who open yoga studios, salons, and spas usually aren’t in it for the money–they just want to make a living pursuing their passions. Unfortunately, running a business usually requires… running a business. MINDBODY is a San Luis Obispo, CA based company that believes that “small business owners deserve the time to do what they love.” Pursuing that belief has made them “the largest cloud-based software provider in the health, wellness and beauty industries.”
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I’m not sure how we ended up here, but Black Friday shopping seems to be the latest extreme sports craze. I’ll spend a little time looking for deals online, but you won’t find me within a few miles of any major retail store. If I somehow got duped into going shopping, I’d totally wear a helmet. It’s better safe than sorry. Easton-Bell Sports, which is based in Van Nuys, CA, is one of the biggest sports helmet companies in the world. Their brands include Giro, Bell, Riddell, Easton, Easton Cycling, and Blackburn. They all come together to help Easton-Bell Sports pursue their goal of being “a leading designer, developer and marketer of sports equipment and accessories that enhance athletic performance and protection.”
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In 1961 John F. Kennedy initiated the Alliance for Progress, “a 10-year, multibillion-dollar aid program for Latin America.” The goal was to revitalize relations with our neighbors. In 1964 Partners of the Americas was founded “as the people-to-people component of the Alliance for Progress.” It’s a Washington, DC based non-profit that works to “build partnerships that create opportunity, foster understanding, and solve real-life problems.” This is done through a chapter model that encourages countries and states to build north-south partnerships.
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Over the past six months baby blue bikes have been popping up all over Chicago. As a driver, they’re a bit scary because many of the riders seem unsure of themselves on two wheels, but it’s an overall good thing for the city. The bikes are part of the Divvy Bikes bike sharing system. The program seems to be a huge success so far, and I’m hearing the same thing about similar programs in other cities. The company behind Divvy, CitiBike, Bay Area BikeShare, Capital Bikeshare, and quite a few others is Alta Bicycle Share. They are based in Portland, OR and have offices in San Francisco, Columbus, Chicago, Brooklyn, Chattanooga, Boston, Washington, DC, and Melbourne, Australia. They’ve been able to launch programs in such major cities because they ” provide solutions for all aspects of bike share, from location assessment and business modeling to system maintenance and expansion.”
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InvestmentNews is our sponsor this week, and they would like to tell you about their NextGen Virtual Career Fair on November 8th. It’s an awesome opportunity for students and interns to network and find finance jobs on the spot.
I haven’t seen snow yet, but I did experience some sort of frozen precipitation while I was in Michigan over the weekend. It’s hard enough to accept that summer is over and that the shorts need to be put away, but it’s really difficult to come to terms with the fact that winter is coming (especially when you live in Chicago). It’s even worse because almost everything that I love to do is better with good weather (fishing, playing beach volleyball, grilling, walking the dog). Yet for some people it’s almost the opposite. These are the type of people who buy gear from Black Diamond Equipment, a Salt Lake City, UT based company that is “all about climbing and skiing.” In fact, Black Diamond Equipment makes it possible for people to enjoy weather that might otherwise keep you stuck indoors with a bad case of the shack nasties.
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Two weeks ago it was my birthday. Amy wanted us to do something fun and new in Chicago, so she surprised me with trapeze lessons. Unfortunately, she forgot that I have an elbow injury that would make doing such things a bit painful. We called the place to see if they could give us a credit for future lessons, and they were able to. While I certainly didn’t want to mess up my elbow more, I have to admit that the idea of soaring through the air scares me a little bit. Maybe if I had been exposed to acrobatics at an early age through a program like AcroSports, I would have had a better attitude about trying trapeze lessons. They are a San Francisco, CA based “non-profit organization whose mission is to teach and develop the physical, performing, and circus arts.” They’ve been at it for two decades now serving their “community in a safe, positive environment, offering activities that encourage teamwork and build strengths and self-esteem, and enhancing life’s experience.”
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Garçon went on his first hunt yesterday (he still needs to grow into his tracking collar). A friend of mine took us along with his well-experienced dog to try to find some grouse and woodcock. The search was unsuccessful, but Garçon loved running through the woods and learning to use his nose. He’s more of an upland dog, but I hope at some point we’ll be able to hunt ducks together too–because I love ducks. Many of you are probably asking, “If you love ducks so much, why would you want to shoot them?” The simple answer is because they’re delicious, but the more complicated answer is that the people who utilize a resource are often the ones who care for it the most. Without an organization like Ducks Unlimited, our waterfowl population wouldn’t be close to what they are today. The Memphis, TN based non-profit has become “the world’s leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation” because a small group of hunters were worried about the loss of wetlands habitat and what it would do to the ducks.
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There are a few kids who I knew growing up that ended up playing professional sports. For one it was destiny. His dad was a pretty good MLB player whose cousins played in the NFL. Despite the pedigree and signing an NFL contract, I don’t think my friend ever got in a game. Another kid (with a crazy intense dad who got banned from coaching in at least one local league) played a few years of minor league baseball. However, the most successful pro athlete that I knew growing up was a kid who I never would have expected to make it. He never struck me as super athletic, but he ended up being extremely good at lacrosse. In fact, he has already won a Major League Lacrosse Championship and made an All Star Team. It may not be one of the four major sports leagues, but it’s a serious league with serious growth potential (lacrosse keeps getting more popular). While the league is headquartered in Brighton, MA, it has teams in Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Annapolis, MD; Denver, CO; Hamilton, ON; Hempstead, NY; Columbus, OH; and Rochester, NY.
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I like skiing (even if I’ve only done it twice), but I like fishing, volleyball, walking my dog, and staying out of the hospital more. I can’t get over the fear that I’ll injure myself skiing and keep myself from doing all of the things that I truly love to do. I’m sure for a lot of skiers, they have the opposite apprehension (like my buddy Jason who used a ski trip to describe Quality Events in our Job Search Prep course). The only other bad thing about skiing is that once you get over the fear of injury, you have to get over the price of lift tickets. Or you did. Liftopia is a San Francisco, CA based company that aims to “help skiers and snowboarders get out on the slopes more often, and help alpine resorts generate incremental revenue.”
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Whenever Amy and I enter volleyball tournaments, I end up pushing myself too far (it doesn’t help that the tournaments always end up being on 95 degree days). In past tournaments I have burned the arches of my feet on the sand, nearly thrown up in the middle of a match, and collapsed on to my bed convulsing as muscle cramps moved from muscle to muscle. Each of the three situations was preventable, and the latter two were all about hydration and nutrition. Water isn’t enough some days. I’m not a big fan of sugary sports drinks, and coconut water hasn’t seemed to do the trick. Maybe I’ll try Nuun. They’re a Seattle, WA based company that “was the first to separate electrolyte replacement from carbohydrates.” Their flagship product is a “simple, self-dissolving, sugar-free electrolyte tab” that you can pop in a bottle of water before, during, or after intense physical activity.
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Today is Opening Day of the NFL season! I’m probably less excited about that than the average American male (I’m a baseball guy), but it’s still a really big deal. Sports generate tons of economic activity. I know people who go to ridiculous lengths to get an edge for their fantasy teams, so you can just imagine how far actual teams and players will go (cough… PEDs). Some of the biggest advancements outside of biotechnology have come on the video side. Hudl is a Lincoln, NE based company behind many of those innovations. As they put it, they “help coaches and athletes win with video.” The technology must be working because Hudl just landed at #149 on the Inc. 5000 with 2,535% three-year growth to $14.1 million in revenue.
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Entering third grade was a big deal for me. It had nothing to do with school though. It was all about the fact that I was eligible to become a member of Wakeman Boys & Girls Club. That meant that a three minute walk from my house gave me access to bumper pool, ping pong, and basketball. I absolutely loved it. While it was mostly fun and games for me, I knew that there was more to the club than that. We were required to take our hats off when we entered the club, and all of the rules were enforced strictly, but fairly. It wasn’t a place to go and get into trouble. That’s exactly what Boys & Girls Clubs of America wants. They are an Atlanta, GA based national non-profit with clubs all across the country that aims to “promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.”
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When I was growing up, I was anything but a youth against establishment. My school had a dress code, and I’m not sure that I ever violated it (ok, I may have forgotten to wear a belt once or twice). Even outside of school, I wore the same khaki pants that I had to wear at school (but with sneakers and a t-shirt of course)–I think I outgrew my last pair of jeans in 7th grade. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I’ve never owned anything from Volcom. In case you’re not familiar with the brand, they’re a San Clemente, CA based “designer, marketer and distributor of premium quality young men’s and young women’s clothing, accessories and related products.” The company was founded in 1991, and came out of Orange County boardsports culture.
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One of the best parts about having a significant other is discovering embarrassing moments from his or her past. While my greatest find is the Cosmo cover with my wife’s 4 year old, lipstick smeared face and the headline “How to Attract Men Like Crazy,” a close runner up is the recruiting video that she sent to college volleyball coaches. Her mom shot it with the family camcorder, and it starts with a cheesy opening like “Hi, my name is Amy Gordon, and I want to play volleyball for your team (thumbs up).” It’s priceless, though I shouldn’t make fun considering that this video helped her get recruited to Cornell’s volleyball team–and that’s how we met. College sports recruiting has come a long way, and now most of it happens online. National Collegiate Scouting Association is a Chicago, IL based company that “was founded in 2000 to help student athletes and their families navigate the cutthroat, competitive, and often confusing world of college recruiting.” While they may sound like a non-profit, NCSA is a for-profit business that has seen tremendous growth over the last decade.
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I never pictured myself doing yoga, but one day my back started hurting. My mom told me to see her trainer and do a yoga session with her. It wasn’t some magical cure-all like some people might claim, but it definitely helped. I ended up really liking the physical part (stretching and bodyweight exercise), but the rest just isn’t for me; however, it is for a lot of people. Yoga has exploded in popularity, and now pretty much anyone who wants to can claim to be a yoga instructor. Yoga Alliance is an Arlington, VA non-profit that exists “to sustain and support the field of yoga.” They do this by “by providing the public with a registry of teachers and schools whose training meets our standards, and by supporting yoga teachers, schools and studios in their work as yoga professionals.”
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I was the kid who couldn’t finish the mile run in elementary school. I had a semi-legitimate excuse in that I had asthma, but even now that my lungs are healthy, I still hate running. But I know for many people running makes them feel more alive. It’s an empowering sport that is accessible to almost everyone, and it’s pretty much cost free. Chicago Run is a non-profit that uses running to achieve its mission of promoting “the health and wellness of Chicago children through innovative, engaging, and sustainable youth programs.” Chicago Run already reaches more than 16,000 children in Chicago public schools, and that’s in less than 6 years of operation.
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Last night we celebrated my fiancée’s cousin’s ninth birthday. I found out that his latest interest is professional wrestling, so I spent most of the night body slamming him into a beanbag chair. I’m no wrestling connoisseur, but I know a few moves–it was just about the best birthday present I could have given him. When I was growing up, it was a semi-open secret that professional wrestling was stage. Now it’s fully acknowledged. If you want the real stuff, you go to Ultimate Fighting Championship, a company that “revolutionized the fight business, and today stands as the world’s leading MMA promoter.” UFC is based in Las Vegas, NV, and has developed from a fringe sport that got its start in the early 90s to a mainstream sport that gets coverage on ESPN. The story of how UFC went from being outlawed in most states to being widely accepted is fascinating, which is why I highly recommend that you read the Wikipedia article on UFC. It’s a long story, but it will give you insight into both politics and business.
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If there’s a time to get out and enjoy your city’s parks, it’s right now. The weather is beautiful, everything is in bloom, and most people will be in a good mood as they enjoy the first few weeks of great weather. While a nice park is great on its own, it can be even better with some top notch programming to bring the community together. City Parks Foundation is a New York, NY based non-profit that creates “programs in parks throughout all five boroughs of New York City.” They got their start in 1989, and since then they’ve been enriching and connecting “New Yorkers through free and accessible arts, sports, education and community-building initiatives.”
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