Social catalyst are special entrepreneurs that serve a distinct purpose. They engage influencers, quants, designers and business people in the pursuit of common goals for the betterment of human kind. Jerri Chou is such a person. After being selected by Forbes Magazine as one of the most creative people of 2012, she’s trying to change the world  with an exciting movement called “The Feast Worldwide Dinner Party”.  

“The Feast Worldwide Dinner Party is here to change lives. Hundreds of dinners will be taking place across the globe with the same goal: pick a challenge and by the end of your meal, kick-off a project to make the world better.  At 7 p.m. on October 5th, we’ll join forces and choose a challenge or project to make Earth a better place”.

- Extracted from the Feast Worldwide Dinner Party website

Indeed, The Feast Dinner Party will be a great change to network, come up with timelines and start working towards improving society. But more importantly, this will be a special slice of time during which inspiration can meet resolve and become a project with real outcomes. AlleyNYC is very proud to support this special movement that seeks to inspire us to better society in the best way we know how to (by being entrepreneurial!). 

We all want to change the world. Some of us talk about it, a few start doing thing but is only the most entrepreneurial of us that get to make significant contributions to society. Join Jerri and AlleyNYC in this effort, and remember that entrepreneurship is about changing lives.

Register and Feast!

http://feastxalleyxfiestah.eventbrite.com/

Some Links and Notes

Party Supplies and Food Curated by Fiestah.

Livestream: https://new.livestream.com/feastongood/

Read more about #TheFeast on Forbes Magazine. 

Online Resources: http://worldwide.feastongood.com/resources/

On Twitter: @feastongood Hashtag: #TheFeast

Let’s face it. Your phone’s power source sucks, it’s messy, unsexy and not-very-practical-at-all. A new company called Escargot’s got a solid solution. We ran into Escargot’s founder Paul Yun, who was kind enough to sit down with us for an exclusive interview.

Escargot is a New York City-based startup for mobile device accessories. Their first product Spixi is the world’s first jam-free retractable cable for smartphones, and it is currently Kickstarter’s most popular product design project. In 4 days, it has raised 40% of its funding. They have been featured in Venture Beat and Wall Street Journal. Alley has an exclusive-interview with the founder of Escargot, Paul Yun

 

 AlleyNYC: How did you came up with this cool idea?

Paul Yun: I used to travel a lot for business. Mexico every other week, that’s when I was working at American Standard back in ’07. The laptop, smartphones, and peripherals I needed to carry, made it difficult to travel light. I hated the clutter. That’s when ideas started coming to me. Looking at the market back then- the retractable cables I tested, left a lot to be desired. Fast-forward to CES 2011, I saw where the market was going with chargers, cases, and cables- and I wasn’t impressed. I thought the market leaders were guiding the market in the wrong direction. Over the past 18 months, I have been working on dozens and dozens of new product concepts, hopefully some of them will come into fruition in the near future.

AlleyNYC: Are you afraid of the competition?

Paul Yun:  ”If you know yourself and you know your competition, you need not worry the outcome of 100 battles.” Sun Tzu, Art of War. Outcome is important, but more important is what is done to make that outcome happen. If you know you did the absolute best you can, you really can’t ask for much more than that. The market will decide where you stand based on your efforts.

AlleyNYC: The device looks great. Is there any hope we could expect something similar for laptop computers ??

Paul Yun: This has been asked about by many people. If there is a demand, I can’t see why not. Escargot is a mobile device accessories maker. We consider laptops a mobile device, wouldn’t you?

AlleyNYC: So then… what’s next for your company?

Paul Yun:  We are looking to get into wireless charging. But of course it wouldn’t be Escargot if it was a knock-off design. Expect something you’ve never seen before.

AlleyNYC: It looks like your Kickstarter campaign is going to be succesful, any tips for other entrepreneurs that wish to explore Kickstarter?

Paul Yun: We feel we are on the right track, but if anything that means we need to continue working harder. The first instance you get too comfortable, there is a quick turn just around the corner. We did 40% of our funding in 4 days with 300+ backers. We got coverage from Venture Beat and Wall Street Journal on day one. And we are hungrier than ever.

The advice I give to Kickstarter entrepreneurs is, perception is everything. It doesn’t matter how cool or innovative your product is, if the pitch is weak. If you have an awesome product and an awesome pitch- that’s a home-run.