What happens downstream?: Scott Mattoon's blog

On Saturday February 10 I attended a great event on the Web 2.0 phenomena known as social networking (or should I say the social networking phenom known as Web 2.0?): CommunityNext at Stanford. Great speakers, good schwag, and a large dose of optimism about the potential for networks of people to affect enormous positive change in the world. See my notes from the event posted over on downstream.org.

Two orgs represented at the event I found especially compelling:
Kiva.org and Cambrian House.

Kiva.org has enabled the infusion of capital into the 80% of the world's population that is not banked through an innovative microfinance model that has gained much praise and attention from the media, philanthropists and financiers. My friend Tracey Pettengill, Founder of MicroPlace has partnered with Kiva's founder, Premal Shah, to bolster microfinance in Silicon Valley hosting a periodic event with the Silicon Valley Microfinance Network. Their next event features guest speaker Bob Annibale, Citigroup's Global Director of Microfinance. Should be an interesting discussion.

Cambrian House has an innovative model for incubating and propelling new business. Leveraging Crowdsourcing, the model facilitates those with a great idea for a product or service to connect with funders, technical expertise, legal support, guidance and moral support to get the idea off the ground. I'll let you know how my idea for the next big thing flourishes on Cambrian House.

If ever there was a group of entrepreneurs who are invested in the neutrality of the net's telecom infrastructure, it's the participants at this event. Perhaps better than any other business demographic, they demonstrate just how precious net neutrality is. No word on the next CommunityNext event, but I'll track it and post here.