kushal chakrabarti | blog

Lester is graduating. :) Next Saturday, exactly a week from...

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:44:00 -0700

Lester is graduating. :) Next Saturday, exactly a week from today. I haven’t gotten a chance to speak with his partner yet, but I’m sure they’re getting along like peanut butter and jelly. Lester always was quite the schmoozer.

My last picture of my boy, taken the morning before we drove him back to Oregon for advanced training. He looks all grown up, doesn’t he?

It’s all actually a little bittersweet for me. Next Saturday, I’ll be on the other side of the country, in Maine for Pop!Tech 2008, where I’ll be speaking and simultaneously launching my startup. I was actually trying to see if I could somehow fly back to Oregon for graduation, but there’s just no feasible way to make it work. On the one hand, it’s a huge honor to be invited to Pop!Tech and incredibly exciting to things taking off for Vittana, but I would’ve given my left kidney to see my old boy one more time.

One of these days, hopefully.

LA Times: In-state tuition for illegal immigrants

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:38:00 -0700

For a little over seven years, illegal immigrant students in California have been eligible for in-state tuition at the top-ranked public California universities and college. A couple weeks ago, appeals courts ruled that this violated federal law that bars illegal immigrants from receiving any benefit meant only for residents of a specific state.

It’s a big deal, I can say from personal experience.

Having attended UC Berkeley as a California resident, I paid something like $5000 in annual tuition. Friends from out-of-state paid this $5000 plus another $15-odd thousand in out-of-state fees. Looking at the fees for the current school year, resident students are paying $9,000 per year while non-residents are $30,000 — excluding books, food, and rent. And, let’s just say that rent isn’t cheap in Berkeley — with roommates, you’re paying $1000+. These days, if you’re out-of-state, you’re probably paying upwards of $45,000 a year to attend Berkeley.

But, honestly, a lot of people get financial aid — either grants, loans, work-study or some combination thereof. More than two-thirds of students received financial aid at the University of California during the 2008-09 school year. I don’t know the breakdown for out-of-state students specifically, but, my experience is that the University of California is very understanding and generous.

If you’re undocumented, however, you aren’t eligible for financial aid. FAFSA? Don’t even think about it.

So, where are you going to get $45,000 to pay for tuition? From your rich parents? If you’re undocumented, that’s not exactly likely. By working? Let’s say as a college student, you can earn $10 an hour. Working 50 weeks a year, you’d have to work 90 hours a week every week to make $45,000. School? What school? Oh right, the school you’re working 90 hours a week to pay for but don’t have hours in the week to attend.

The Los Angeles Times has something to say about all this. In an editorial published the last week of September:

By law, states must provide K-12 education to illegal immigrants, and it’s counterproductive to then erect roadblocks to further advancement for our best and brightest. Studies show that investing in education for immigrants pays off. Assuming they remain in California, their economic contributions more than make up for the cost of subsidized college tuition within a few years. Forcing them to wallow in permanent poverty, by contrast, is a drain on taxpayers — as well as being flat-out immoral.

I’m not going to comment on the very emotional, very complex issue of illegal immigration. It’s a complicated question, and it’s not the point of this blog. If you’re arguing this from a higher principle of immigration control, misaligned incentives or a misinterpreted statute, you can debate that at an immigration blog.

I can see the indignation of students who are from out-of-state, paying higher fees than students who aren’t even in the country legally. I really can. I just think the human problem of effectively locking out thousands and thousands of qualified, motivated students — condemning them to a “permanent underclass,” in the words of the Los Angeles Times — is bigger. It’s such a terrible waste of human potential.

Indignation vs. permanent underclass? Permanent underclass, I think.

I wonder if someone can come up with an idea to work around this? There’s still 13 more days.

Over at TED University, David S. Rose gives a great,...

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:20:00 -0700

Over at TED University, David S. Rose gives a great, semi-impromptu talk about how to pitch. Impromptu: Don’t knock the man’s hair like the first commenter.

You might be a social entrepreneur, working not for yourself but for the people. You might be in it for the good and not the money. You might not even be pitching a VC or raising money. At some point though, for whatever reason, you’re going to have to convince a group of people why they should care about what you’re doing. Working for the good and not the money is no excuse. You need to know how to pitch — how to get your point across efficiently, interestingly, meaningfully.

What’s the single most important thing you have to convey? Integrity. Because that’s the key thing. I would much rather invest in somebody — take a chance on somebody who I know is straight than someone where there is any possible question of, you know, who are they looking out for and what’s going on.

What’s the second most important thing after integrity? Passion. Entrepreneurs are, by definition, people who are leaving something else, starting a new world over here, creating and putting their lifeblood into this thing. You have to convey passion.

Favorite comment? From a David Shark, presumably a military man:

This should be mandatory viewing for military officers. PowerPoint has infiltrated every level and every service of the military, and 99% of briefers break all five of the “top five tips” for a successful presentation. 99% break ALL FIVE.

A great resource on pitching well — on presenting well, really — is Presentation Zen, a blog (and now a book too). I’ve been a devoted reader for a long time. If you haven’t ever been, go now.

Kiva at American Express Members Project

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:04:00 -0700

Kiva, the first (and now incredibly impactful) microfinance person-to-person lending site, and a huge inspiration and a wonderful mentor to the things we’ve been doing, has been selected as one of the top 25 nonprofits in the American Express Members Project. The top 5 will share a $2.5 million dollar prize to grow and expand their operations. You get to vote who makes it into the top 5. The deadline is September 30 — just 4 more days.

Kiva is an internet based platform that allows everyday people to become “social investors.” Imagine — with $25, a credit card, and an internet connection, anybody in the world can invest in the life of a deserving entrepreneur. The site allows for lenders to sort pre-screened businesses by region, culture, or business category, and see a photo / profile of the person they are supporting. With $1.5M, we hope to expand our selection of businesses to fund.

Go vote!

"Many a man never succeeds because he never tries."

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:04:00 -0700

“Many a man never succeeds because he never tries.”

- My corollary, in response to Norman MacEwan.

"Many a man never fails because he never tries."

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:02:00 -0700

“Many a man never fails because he never tries.”

- Normal MacEwan, taken off the Forbes ad page.

Sir Ken Robinson at TED. One of the best talks — funny,...

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:58:00 -0700

Sir Ken Robinson at TED. One of the best talks — funny, powerful, informative — I have ever seen:

Kids will take a chance. If they don’t know, they’ll have a go. Am I right? They’re not frightened of being wrong. Now, I’m not saying being wrong is the same thing as being creative. But, what we do know is that if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. […] By the time they are adults, they have lost that capacity. They are frightened of being wrong. […] We are educating people out of their creative capacities.

Every education system on Earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. Every one of them, doesn’t matter where you go, you think it’d be otherwise, but it isn’t. At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and at the bottom are the arts. Everywhere on Earth. […] Truthfully what happens is that as children grow older, we progressively start to educate them from the waist up. And then we focus on their heads. And slightly to one side.

If you think about it, the whole system of public education around the world is a protracted process of university education. And the consequence is that many highly talented, brilliant, creative people think they’re not — because the thing that they were good at at school wasn’t valued or was actually stigmatized. And I think we can’t afford to go on that way. In the next thirty years, according to UNESCO, more people worldwide will be graduating through education than the beginning of history.

I can’t possibly compete with Sir Ken Robinson or his British accent. Just go watch his talk. It’s one of the top 5 talks you’ll ever see. And, again, if you aren’t hooked by the 3:30-minute mark, I’ll eat my pants.

What drives you?

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:55:00 -0700

What keeps you going at mile 21 of a marathon? Or go for that one extra, “optional” hill repeat after having already finished five? When life deals you a bad hand, why do you do the right thing instead of taking the easy way out? What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Me? To create something from nothing.

I was originally supposed to be a doctor. In college, I started out as a bioengineering major, doing all the usual pre-med stuff — organic chemistry, preparing for the MCATs, etc. Some part through, being an engineering major and all, Berkeley not so gently reminded me that I needed to take a programming class. I’d always made fun of programmers — I mean, really, who spends 10 hours a day staring at a computer screen? (Oh, the irony.) I whined and complained, but, no, I still had to take the class.

Wow.

Not only was it easy for me, I was good at it and I loved it. Even more than that, something clicked: unlike almost anything else, with almost nothing except maybe a laptop, a couple friends and a whiteboard, I could build anything I could dream up. Unlike, say, designing a new car or a new airplane, I didn’t need to hire a thousand people, raise hundreds of millions of dollars or build huge hangar and assembly line — I didn’t need anything but a laptop and a brain. The rest is history. I’d changed my major by the end of the semester, started heavy-duty academic research within a year, consulting the year after and Amazon the year after that. That original spark still stands: from almost nothing, you can build anything you can dream up.

Whether it’s the wall at mile 21 or a bad day gone horrible, why keep going? What’s the point? Because, if you stop, you’re left with nothing. On the other hand, if you keep going, just keep going that little bit more, if you finish, if you do something meaningful, then — well, then you’ve made something meaningful and you’ve made it out of nothing.

Here’s to creating something meaningful.

What drives you? What keeps you going?

From Spokane Al.

Can you call it "philanthropy" when monkeys do it?

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:41:00 -0700

Apparently, monkeys give. Instead of money, they give treats. Does that count as philanthropy?

Technically? Going off the linguistic deep end, nope. “Philo” = Love. “Anthro” = Man. “Philanthropy” = Love of man. So, monkey giving to monkey? Not philanthropy. But monkey to human? Hm. Maybe. If they were to give me, say, half of that banana? Definitely. Yes, apparently, I can be bribed by a half a banana.

All kidding aside, what is truly remarkable is that the monkeys give just to give. For the joy of giving, really. They aren’t punished if they don’t give and they get the same thing (the treat) whether they give or not. Next, the scientists will try to find out if the monkeys share “because they can eat together or if the monkeys simply like to see the other monkey enjoying food.”

Basically, monkeys care.

Via the Donor Power Blog.

This is the story about a new type of company which uses the...

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:55:00 -0700

This is the story about a new type of company which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems.

I fundamentally believe that what makes a successful business — how you measure that — is changing the 21st century.

There is a critical mass of entrepreneurs, including investors, who do believe business can be a positive force for social change.

The folks over at B Corporation are doing some very impressive stuff. Kudos to them.

Meet Dusky. :) It’s his first day of work. He’s my...

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:00:00 -0700

Meet Dusky. :) It’s his first day of work.

He’s my new little boy.

Phase 10. :) Just one more to go. For good effect, here’s...

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Phase 10. :) Just one more to go.

For good effect, here’s Lester on his first day of work, more than a year and a half ago.

Are you following what’s happening here? Girl → School →...

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:08:00 -0700

Are you following what’s happening here?

Girl → School → Cows → $ → Business → Clean H2O → Social Change → Stronger Economy → Better World

It’s called the girl effect.

Multiply that by 600 million girls in the developing world,

And you’ve just changed the course of history.

Beautiful video. Give it 30 seconds. If you’re not hooked, I’ll eat my pants.

Hauntingly simple. Hauntingly beautiful. Lifehouse —...

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Hauntingly simple. Hauntingly beautiful.

Lifehouse — Storm

So let’s go there, Let’s go there, come on,...

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:24:00 -0700

So let’s go there,
Let’s go there, come on,
Let’s go there,
Let’s ask can we stay?

Up high I feel like I’m alive for the very first time,
Still up high I’m strong enough to take these dreams,
And make them mine.

Can you take me higher?
To a place where blind men see,
Can you take me higher?
To a place with golden streets.

Creed — Higher

Lester is in phase 9! Phase 9! Just two more evaluations to go...

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:39:00 -0700

Lester is in phase 9! Phase 9! Just two more evaluations to go before Lester — the happy little, mischievous puppy that was Lester — becomes a full-blown guide dog. Heart bursting with pride. :)

Fingers crossed.

"I have one life and one chance to make it count for something … I’m free to choose what..."

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:26:00 -0700

“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something … I’m free to choose what that something is, and the something I’ve chosen is my faith. My faith demands that I do whatever I can, whenever I can, wherever I can, for as long as I can.”

- President Jimmy Carter

Done. (For this year.)

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:00:00 -0700

Done. (For this year.)

It hurts either way

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:00:00 -0700

Nailed swim and bike splits: actual 1:19 vs. projected 1:15 for swim, actual 6:34 vs. projected 6:30 for bike. Especially satisfying because, in the swim, I held back a lot due to it being my first iron-level race and came out of the water hardly tired or even breathing hard and, with the bike, I wasn’t too confident as it’s my weakest my leg and the Ironman Canada course is particularly challenging. I’ve focused exclusively on endurance basework this year, so I’m really looking forward to next season when I start putting in some heavy-duty speedwork. Nailed it. Ecstatic.

The run, however, was pretty awful. I was running low on fuel at the end of the bike and was expecting to take down a few gels and bars early in the marathon, but I ran into GI trouble and just couldn’t get in or keep down any food. I was aiming for 4 hours but that goal pretty quickly went out the window, as did the fallback goal of running 10 minutes + walking 1, and even the next one of running 5 + walking 1. I ran what I could and walked the rest. One thing and one thing only saved the marathon, a conversation with a guy named Dean at around mile 17. Dean made one very important, very insightful observation: “It hurts either way.” That observation, 4 words, provided all the clarity I needed to try and run the remainder. I didn’t make it in terribly good shape or time — dizzy and nauseous, 1.5 hours off my projected time — but I made it and I made it running. From the looks of it, Dean finished about 40 minutes after me.

It hurts either way. Thanks, Dean.

Maximum speed yesterday? 48.2mph. :)

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:00:00 -0700

Maximum speed yesterday?

48.2mph.