July 27, 2011

A shortish day in the office because I needed to get a haircut and because Kemi was coming in from out of town in the early afternoon, so I didn't really get to the office until 3.  Sigh.

The day was consumed primarily by two tasks:

1)  Finishing the blogpost about Soaking up the Annoying, which went up last night.
2)  Trying to write up some of the back-end requirements for the website, which I sent to Mark.

Nothing great.  Yesterday, Tuesday, was far more productive when I drafted up the entire fee structure issue and took care of that.  

July 25, 2011

Today started out a little weak.  I woke up at 10 am, rather than at 8 am when I planned to be up and I just didn't feel great.  I think I need to stop eating spicy foods -- even though I have no issues with the actual eating or the spiciness, it throws my digestion into disarray for a couple days at a time and I have learned that when my digestion is a little bit off, my entire sense of well-being goes off-kilter.  Plus, we are coming off of like 5 days of wretched heat-wave heat, where we are subjected to a barrage of sweating, followed by sluggish lounging to avoid any sort of re-heating effect.

We spent the entire day yesterday lying on the couch and watching The Office on Netflix for like 4 hours, and a couple of documentaries (Beer Wars, eh, not bad not good), Modern Family and Jackass.  It was a good day, but it was extremely sluggish.  We also left the house exactly one time to go to Ben's place to watch Breaking Bad (the episode felt like filler) and came back home drained.

Anyway, today was not such a bad day.

First, I wrote a nice email to Alie Shaper at Brooklyn Oenology in hopes of having a meeting with her to learn about her business finances and seeing if they would be interested in the Villager platform.  After, I went over to Continuum Cycles, where I had a 30 minute talk with Jeff, the owner, about his finances and the Villager platform.  I love the store and I love what they do and I would love if they would raise through Villager.  They are good people and it seems like their business model is perfect for Villager.  I also met a young teacher named Frank who works with the CB3 to try and change the business makeup of the east village.  He pointed out that the neighborhood has like 24 bars in a 500 foot radius and that it means no one visits the area during the daytime so more sustainable daytime businesses can't stay alive.  Their goal (12th Street Block Association) is to bring more daytime non-entertainment businesses to the area.  Very interesting stuff. I reached out to the head of the association, Jill Ackerman, to see if she'd be willing to meet.

P.S.  Alie Shaper just emailed me back.  Awesome.  

July 18

Been struggling quite seriously over the past couple of days to finish up an entirely too academic issue of identifying the correct scale for social investments.  The concept hit me like a bolt of lightning during a discussion with Slow Money NYC, but getting it into digestible and interesting text is a bit of a challenge.

Today has been so-so.  I feel terrible today.  Sore kidneys or something and dullness in my stomach.  I have a feeling this relates to the massive amounts of alcohol consumed over the weekend.  I take responsibility, but ugh.  Plus, it doesn't help that it's upwards of 95 degrees and muggy as fucking hell in New York right now.

As far Villager goes, today was first contact with a business!  I met with the owner/head chef of Egg Williamsburg and his number 2, who runs operations at the business.  Egg is a gorgeous little restaurant that serves straightforward, super high quality southern influenced foods.  Very charming, loved the space and the atmosphere.  The main issue is that they are seeking funding in the 500K range which is outside of Villager's ability to manage and probably isn't a good start case.  We did discuss financing alternatives for the restaurant and I tried to walk them through some of the alternatives, but it's abundantly clear to everyone in the small business world that the securities laws are unholy minefield entirely focused on stifling capital formation and only aiding those who can access high powered lawyers.  They offered to feed me and I reluctantly declined, having just consumed a large green juice down the street and we had a productive and quite pleasant conversation.  I hope to re-visit them in a later phase.  I liked them a lot.

I spent the rest of the day reviewing financial statements and business plans of various presenters at the Slow Money entrepreneur's showcase.  The amount of cash flowing in and out of these companies is interesting to see on paper.  I'm not sure how much money I expected a small business to make or how much profit they would see, but in many ways it is lower than I expected.  Margins are also quite tight.

I also spent the rest of the day feeling lethargic and generally crappy.  My bike sprung a flat after my meeting with the Brooklyn Torch (local currency) ladies and someone stole Kristen's front tire in the course of the evening.  Bunch of fucking savages in this town.

July 12 and July 13, 2011

I don't think I really remember much of July 12.  Not for any particular reason, but just cuz.

So....the big event of July 12 was the "Find a Co-Founder" event that took place on a private terrace, a 4,000 square foot private terrace to be precise, where 400+ entrepreneurial types gathered for free drinks and ostensibly a chance to meet a co-founder.  As could be expected, almost everyone that showed up was some person with a business idea seeking help in executing that idea.  This is pretty much the prevailing theme in NYC startup culture.  I certainly was not looking for a Co-Founder, I was just forcing myself to go to a networking event of this nature (which I totally hate) and just getting used to the friction of having to cold-introduce myself to dozens of people.  Among the people I met included the founder of Rent-Hackr, who wants to bring transparency to rents but has no clear strategy on how to get thousands of people to sign up when you need thousands to have a starting point, a video conference consultant and a reporter who started writing down everything I said, even though I spent most of that time talking about Villager and how frothy and ridiculous the tech scene is.  I drank beer.  It was just fine.  I am a natural relationship builder -- I am not a natural networker.  I also found a woman who wants to build a "social gifting" sight, but refused to reveal her "twist" her "secret" her "special little design" which really wasn't that secret.  (As you can tell, I got the secret out of her.  I kept a straight face.)   Afterwards, I made my over to Williamsburg for the Gastronauts event and add tongue tacos, congealed blood, gorgeous Van Leeuwen ice creams, pork chop over rice and paired it all with...Rolling Rock.  Mmmm.  (New york is fucking hot these days and sitting outside in my suit was a no no).

Other than that, I spent quite a bit of time refreshing myself on securities laws in preparation for a Slow Money NYC small working group meeting the next day and also studied up on the models they were considering.  It should be interesting.   I also chose some more samples I received from my web designer.  That guy is the tits.

Today, July 13 has been better.  I just had lunch with Amy Cortese, author of Locavesting, at Rucola, a beautiful little restaurant in Boerum Hill that serves all local, organic foods.  Delicious food, great conversation and really got along well.  Hopefully this relationship continues on and that we have a long fruitful partnership in working on local projects.  At 4 pm today, I will be attending the Slow Money Investors meeting to explore options of how to invest in farms and organic food in NYC.  I hope that my years of organic farming, Pollan-fever and securities law background are a good fit for what they need.

ALSO, I received an email back from Egg in Williamsburg who are trying to raise money for a farm in upstate New York.  They are excited to talk about Villager and I really hope they are a good first target for our pilot. First business contact!  Whoo hoo!!

Update:

The meeting with Slow Money NYC (Investors Inspired by Slow Money) at Faber Daeufer & Rosenberg was quite productive, not least because I was gathered in a room with many people with similar food and investment philosophies as well as a mix of accredited investors and, of course, Amy.  From my memory, I met a dude named Michael, who worked at an investment fund, Derek Denckla (the chairman and serial social entrepreneur), Amy Cortese, Steve Godeke (an investment manager and business prof at NYU), Holly Howard (on steering committee and works at Egg Williamsburg, who we are going to be speaking to next week), Nicole Reed (steering committee, need to follow up), Brian Kaminer (Steering committee, need to follow up), Sam Kressler (a finance guy who didn't survive the cataclysm who went into food systems and is now trying hard to get back into a big bank...) and Evan Wagner, who is in Green construction.  

The thrust of the discussion was finding ways to foster an actual investment platform for agriculture and slow food.  The discussion was slightly discursive at times and the chairman of Slow Money NYC was quite good at explaining a lot of the possibilities. We had a hard time finding focus, but I think it was a relatively productive session, not least because people began to develop a baseline familiarity with each other (at least us new ones) and I was able to make some of my views heard.  

In particular, it was entirely unclear whether the point was to democratize slow money financing for the public or whether it was merely to channel capital to preserving the foodshed.  I think the issues faced are entirely different on both sides.  If you are trying to channel capital, then you are targeting accredited investors.  Among accredited investors, you are probably shit out of luck targeting institutional investors or funds, who do not invest in "high risk, low return."  That leaves you with rich folks.  Ultimately, as I said during the meeting, what we are pricing into these investments is a positive externality.  You are never going to be able to get a single individual to "invest" in high risk, low reward investments if you expect to provide a return, social or economic.  They, investing 1 million dollars, will never reap enough social reward to give up that giant chunk of money unless it is a form of philanthropy.  I argued that on a small scale, of 100 dollars or 200 dollars, people are able to reap the social return on investment and externality because their contribution was small.  Thus our focus should be on expanding opportunities to the retail level.  Otherwise, it was charity.  

I think I need a more fulsome post about this on the Villager blog.  To the top of the list!

July 7, 2011

Day 3 of the raw food / only plants day was in some ways better and in some ways worse.  I certainly feel a little less ill than I normally do, when I eat myself into a stomachache and coma three times a day, but I find it difficult to cope with the gnawing hunger.  It is amazing how much food I don't have to eat, but nevertheless cram myself full of.  After waking up to a crazy green juice Kristen made out of lettuce, chard, kale, apple and some other fruit or other, I went to the office by bike, sweating the whole way over the bridge and sweating another 30 minutes in the office.  I LOVE new york in the summer, but sometimes it can be a little bit brutal.

Today I did a full re-write of the Villager Questionnaire for individuals to get a sense of lender demand.  I decided to eschew the corporate voice and just write in my own voice.  It is still slightly sanitized, but hopefully it's not all that different from how I used to write on this blog.  I'm sick of corporate voices and corporate language and the jargon that glazes over communication with a slick veneer of vagueness.  Maybe it will land with a pitiful thud, but might as well give it a go.  I don't want to become what annoys me.

I also spent a significant amount of time researching methods of credit analysis and re-examined the Five C's of credit analysis: Capacity, Conditions, Collateral, Character and Capital.  After going through each prong, I realized that Villager fulfilled each of these issues in innovative new ways and was excited to go through and write it up.  As usual, my first run was extremely subpar and my final was only slightly better.  I need to spend a little more time with this, but I think it is important and useful.

There was also a torrential downpour that appeared from nowhere and disappeared as quickly.  Not before the Manhattan Bridge spawned dozens of beautiful little waterfalls and the sewage line in the office parking lot began spewing sewage, flooding the cars up to their bumpers.  Gross, but still kinda interesting.

July 6, 2011

Sent out an email to Jessica  at Greenlight Bookstore, who had capitalized their business with community funding.  She's out of town until the 10th, but hopefully I will hear back from her soon after.  Got her information from Amy Cortese, the author of Locavesting.  Hoping I can learn a lot here. 

Scheduled a lunch with Amy Cortese at Rucola for next Wednesday.  Also very excited to see what she can tell me about the brooklyn local finance scene. 

Spent some time reviewing securities offering exemptions and options for small businesses.  Made a small business securities grid to prepare for meeting with BedStuy organic. Met with Darell Brown and Evelyn Oliver of Organic BedStuy to discuss their financing options.  They are a startup, but are trying to create an organic grocery in BedStuy, which is a virtual food desert, so hopefully that works out.  Fortunately and unfortunately, they are seeking a relatively small slug of capital ($85,000), so they may have some difficulty getting any investment.  Very interesting to meet them and hope they do well. 

Discussion with Mark O. today about the possibility of coding the back-end of the platform, which he says shouldn't be too complicated.  Am interested to see what type of product he can put together and see if it can form the foundation of the site.

Swapped some emails with James G. about setting up the servers and the PayPal sandbox.  Hope to pull the trigger on those arrangements as soon as I get the incorporation documents back from the NYSOS.   Hurry up!

The biggest issue is to just get out there and start talking to businesses.  I need to figure out a game plan for this, I am stalling and I don't have any good reason for it other than just being nervous about the process.  I'm hoping to spark that process by creating a few more organic relationships that get my foot in the door rather than blindly soliciting, so we shall see how that goes for a couple more weeks, otherwise I will need to just suck it up and get going.

***

This is also the third day after we watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead", which is a documentary about an aussie who decided he was too fat and too sick and went on a 60 day juice fast across the United States.  Pretty remarkable stuff.  I was entirely skeptical and definitely had the "oh here we go again" thought once I saw him making juice in the back of his SUV...but after the first 30 minutes I was hooked.  It was fascinating to see the changes he underwent.  Even more fascinating is his encounter with a morbidly obese truck driver who he happened to encounter at a truck stop and the unbelievable transformation the truck driver underwent after attempting his own juice fast.  Pathos galore.  I didn't pull this hard for Rudy.  (well maybe)

In any case, Kristen and I were so enthralled we decided to go on a 3-day mini fast:


Cooked food once a day.
No alcohol.
No meat.
No eggs.
No dairy.
No fish.
No flour.
No refined sugar.
No simple carbohydrates.
Lots of green smoothies and fresh juices.

I have to admit -- this shit is difficult.  I find myself hungry ALL of the time.  Even after eating a barrel of vegetables, my stomach feels oddly hollow.  I am grumpy.  I am just sorta uncomfortable and not really in the mood to eat another raw piece of vegetable. 

That being said, I do feel strangely better that I am just filling my body entirely with plants, lots and lots of greens, lots of water, nutrients and nothing refined. Also, even though the first day was kinda shitty, the second day feels normal.  Lets see how the third day goes. 

(Why only three days?  Visiting Kristen's family down at the shore this weekend and it's unlikely that we are going to be eating only vegetables and not drinking anything.  And we don't want to have a conversation about it.  I, myself, find myself very easily annoyed by dietary zealots and raw foodists and juice people and fasters, etc.  I just am curious and already fully subscribe to "Eat Food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants."  Why not see how it goes?)

July 1, 2011

So the Digital Dumbo event (sponsored by Big Fuel) basically exemplified all of the things I don't really like about networking:  Lots and lots of fashionable young people crowded into a giant sweaty room, the twitter stream for the event writ large on a screen, "Like" stickers that you are supposed to stick on each other's customized T-shirts to demonstrate how much people like you for some sort of contest and just a pervasive sense of "awesome awesome awesome!" in a way that's not awesome.  I will continue to go to these events and hopefully meet some interesting people, but it's just not all that fun.

Today was not a very productive day, I suppose.  We woke up at 11, went to lunch with Jeff M. at B&H (good dude, good food) and then we arrived at the office around 3:30 pm with all sorts of gear in tow: a new television, some cables, a twelve pack of old school Rolling Rock.

I had a long productive talk with James G. about his web development contract and we talked through the ins and outs of print and digital design so that he could get to work in earnest on the development.  And then drank beer.

Now Kristen is going to help me develop my forecasts so I can determine how many accounts I need in order to make my first dollar and then my first billion and a half.  Oh yeah.