Island of the Lost by Joan Druett

If you’re struggling right now with your business or personal life, you should read this book: ISLAND OF THE LOST by Joan Druett. It will show you just how hard life can be when you’re shipwrecked on a deserted island. It’s the true, harrowing tale of five men who are marooned on an inhospitable, remote island near the Antarctica. Their perseverance and ingenuity to overcome every obstacle will inspire you. The book also provides a few good tips on how to survive if you ever happen to be lost on a deserted island.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Just read FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON. It’s about a man with a 60 IQ who has a brain operation turning him into a genius. What a beautifully tragic story. It’s inspired by another one of my favorite books: OF MICE AND MEN by John Stienbeck. Read both of these books!

Legal Basics for Start-ups Seminar on Jan 14, 2020


This special seminar to be held at Squire Patton Boggs‘ downtown San Francisco office aims to equip executive officers and founders of new start-ups, as well as those who help counsel them or finance their ventures, with the knowledge and tools needed to navigate the various legal aspects of launching and growing a new business. Designed as a highly interactive and engaging event, they will discuss a range of topics of interest to start-up companies.

Program Details:   Read more...

Planetary Robotics event on Jan 23, 2020


Join the event in Palo Alto where Planetary Robotics’ panel will discuss robotics, rovers for planetary and asteroid missions. This event starts at 6:00pm with the following panelists:

• Terry Fong (intelligent robotics group director, NASA Ames Research Center)
• Liam Pedersen (head of autonomous mobility, Nissan; former NASA Ames robotics researcher)
• Don Pickering (CEO, Olis Robotics)
• Michael Sims (founder & CEO, Ceres Robotics)
• Kris Zacny (VP & exploration technology group director, Honeybee Robotics)   Read more...

Brain Chips, Mind Hacking & Neural Interfaces

Silicon Valley & The Future of Hollywood

5G: The Hope, The Hype & The Future

Smart Nora Review

Smart Nora is a startup with an innovative product designed to stop people from snoring and waking up their partners.

I’ve been using my Smart Nora now for a couple weeks, and I have to say, it’s well designed and seems to work. I’ve felt more rested and haven’t heard any complaints from my partner.

The first thing that delighted me was the ease of setup. It’s literally braindead simple. I took it out of the box and in 5 minutes had it working. To me, that’s a must because I hate reading instructions.   Read more...

Apply For The S Factory Program by Dec 17, 2019


Our friends at Start-Up Chile is accepting application for The S Factory program. This is for female founders with startups younger than 12 months, that have an innovative and technological idea. Eligible female founders can apply through December 17, 2019.

Participants will experience a 4 month acceleration process to validate their business and make it global, this includes mentoring, pitch training and workshops, among other activities.   Read more...

Founders Space Launches in Hangzhou

Vegetarian Challenge


Photo by ja ma on Unsplash

While flying to Asia and lamenting how much meat is being consumed around the world, I had an idea… One way to promote vegetarianism is to make it a personal challenge. People love challenging themselves. The reward comes in the form of that feeling of accomplishment we all crave.

Personal Motivation:   Read more...

Free Legal Services for Startups – Apply by Dec 15, 2019


Every startup needs a solid legal foundation. The Startup Legal Garage at UC Hastings Law School is now accepting applications from early-stage companies to be part of its Spring 2020 cohort.

Their program matches select law students with attorneys from top-flight Bay Area law firms to provide free legal services to qualified startups, including incorporation, equity splits, terms of service, vendor, customer, and employment contracts, basic funding work, and more.   Read more...

Cynthia Seymour, Global Marketing, Business Development, New Market Analysis & Operations

Working with tech start-ups and visionaries (including Elon Musk), Cynthia is delighted to share her wisdom and expertise with entrepreneurs. She started her own company Care Navigate after the last economic meltdown and knows success takes execution, tenacity and reinvention, not just great ideas.

Most recently director of international implementation at eXp Worldwide Holdings, a global real estate company, Cynthia was chartered with launching new markets from scratch in under 6 months. She accomplished this rapid roll-out by collaborating with more than a dozen functional teams and coaching country leaders, building a repeatable, sustainable process for future countries.   Read more...

Google Hackathon, Nov-Dec 2019 & Jan 2020


Google is running a different type of Hackathon in mid Nov 2019 in San Francisco Bay Area. It’s a 3-day Hackathon, offering up to $11k per app for three days of participant’s time.

Google is also holding Remote Hackathonfor startups around the world in Dec/Jan.

They are accepting participants on a rolling basis for both 3-Day Hackathan and Remote Hackaton.

If you are interested, you can sign up here.

David S. Levin, Seasoned Investor

Mr. Levin is a seasoned dealmaker located in New York City. He was a co-founder and managing partner at investment group, New Bridge Partners, LLC and its affiliated companies and has enjoyed over 35 years in the investment banking and financial services business.

At New Bridge, Mr. Levin worked to originate and structure transactions for the company in a wide variety of sectors including renewable energy, consumer/retail, healthcare and manufacturing among others. An experienced leader with broad strategic vision, business development and investment experience in the U.S. and South Africa among other markets, he was responsible for guiding New Bridge’s strategic direction and positioning it for future growth.   Read more...

Professional Networking Event on Oct 16, 2019 in Silicon Valley

Join us on October 16th at 6:30pm for a Professional Networking Event full of talented entrepreneurs, innovative ideas and Steve Hoffman as Keynote!

Enjoy wine and finger food as you listen to Captain Hoff talk and network with other entrepreneurs & professionals. In his talk, he will reveal the secrets of Silicon Valley and how the top entrepreneurs overcome obstacles and change the world. How do you deliver what it takes to launch a successful startup? What type of team do you need? How do you prepare? What mistakes do startups make? To succeed, you must have all the right elements. Your startup must understand how to innovate, lead the market, and beat out competitors.   Read more...

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

If you read one book this year, let it be The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It’s the true story of building the Chicago World’s Fair at the turn of the century, and it is unbelievable what they went through. It’s not only an incredible story of genius, invention, courage and serial murders, but also a valuable lesson on management and leadership. Every entrepreneur should read this.

Founders Space Coming to Australia Oct 29, 2019

Together with Campsie RSL Group, Founders Space will develop a world-class Technology & Innovation Learning Hub in the Canterbury Bankstown Region of Sydney, Australia.

Join us at our launch event in Sydney, Australia on October 29.

You can find more information and register here.

The Bleeding Edge

“The Bleeding Edge” shows how medical device companies are treating human beings as guinea pigs when testing out their new devices. Not all innovation is good, especially when it’s being done at the cost of patient safety. This film has changed how I view the healthcare system and medical device startups. Something needs to be done about the lax regulation and cronyism before more lives are destroyed.

AI & the Future of Education

A group from South Korea came to Founders Space today. We talked about how AI is going to impact education. It’s my belief that teachers and even universities won’t be necessary in the future.

Right now, we use universities to filter people. If you went to MIT or Harvard, everyone assumes you’re brilliant and companies line up to hire you. But all it really means is that you are great at taking tests.   Read more...