Reality Charity is a P2P giving platform that bills itself as an eBay for fundraising. People pitch their circumstances to donors through their profile page, and donors decide to whom they apportion their money. For $995, Reality Charity will help organizations fundraise by establishing a fundraising campaign. <b... More >>

Reality Charity is a P2P giving platform that bills itself as an eBay for fundraising. People pitch their circumstances to donors through their profile page, and donors decide to whom they apportion their money. For $995, Reality Charity will help organizations fundraise by establishing a fundraising campaign. <br /> <br /> Reality Charity operates under the premise that nonprofits hemorrhage a lot of money from administrative costs. Only a fraction of the original donation, therefore, reaches the recipient. Reality Charity wants donors to give to the beneficiary directly, and hopes to establish a connection between the donor and the recipient. Donors should expect nothing (maybe a hug) in return: donations made through Reality Charity are not tax-deductible according to the IRS.<br /> <br /> I think this is an idea that has potential but needs to be refined. There is a spectrum of needs on Reality Charity, from bankrupt people who need to pay for critical surgery to kids trying to raise money to fund their parents\' honeymoon. There is also a spectrum of requested amounts, and I have to wonder if there are more cost-effective ways to help people whose requests are big. While donors have the power choose their recipients, having recipients whose needs are not really needs discredits the validity of Reality Charity. I am also worried because several of the most recent donations went to suspended accounts. This is an indication that users are duping the system, which drives donors away.<br /> <br /> I am also concerned about the sustainability of a for-profit venture whose revenue is generated from its organization fundraising service and is supplemented (or hopes to be) by ad revenues. The organization fundraising service is a hard sell because the ensemble of services they provide can be easily replicated. And by using its own hosting service as the base for its fundraising platforms, Reality Charity hopes that acting as a central hub will translate to more donations to that organization. Their platform might streamline the donation process, but I am less convinced that it will increase the number of donations.<br /> <br /> For a start-up that has received so many media accolades, I was expecting a more comprehensive P2P giving system, not just a website that allows donations to recipients without further scrutiny. I think the idea is deserving of rewards, but not the implementation. << Less

With proprietary digital paper-and-pen automation software, Satori Labs hopes to eliminate the need for the scanning and transcription of medical records. Their technology, called FusionForm, provides physicians with a digital template that sends information to the computer as soon as the physician uses the digital pe... More >>

With proprietary digital paper-and-pen automation software, Satori Labs hopes to eliminate the need for the scanning and transcription of medical records. Their technology, called FusionForm, provides physicians with a digital template that sends information to the computer as soon as the physician uses the digital pen to fill out the form. Any written information is transcribed automatically through a character recognition algorithm that also uses contextual evidence to select the correct words - ensuring that even doctors, who are notorious for messy writing, cannot input misspelled or incorrect data into the system.<br /> <br /> With FusionForm, Emergency Medical Records (EMR) and other forms of medical documentation can be standardized and kept neatly in a medical system. There will no longer be lost paperwork, and doctors can still fill out paper forms like they always have.<br /> <br /> This is cool technology, but how long before it reaches obsolescence? Many healthcare systems are transitioning from hard copies to soft copies, and FusionForm presents itself as an intermediary product that will lose popularity as medical professionals become increasingly computer literate. Major health systems such as the University of Pennsylvania Health System already have their forms on the computer. During clinical visits, physicians fill the information into the digital form by simply typing in the entries. In doing so, they completely bypass the need for digital pen and paper.<br /> <br /> FusionForm also aims to reduce the frequency of form errors with their automation, but I am concerned that FusionForm would as likely fill in incorrect information. And while these errors can be changed, I don\'t think medical professionals will take a second look at those electronic forms any more than they would have on the paper forms.<br /> <br /> Digital paper has its applications, but because medical records are highly standardized, it is less cumbersome to type in the entries than write them down and have them transcribed into digital form. And I doubt medical systems are willing to risk the overhead costs to install a system that is likely to be replaced in the near future. I just don\'t see enough congruence between digital paper and medical records given the rapid transition to medical forms that can be entered into the computer directly. << Less

The Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED-mail) updates the world on infectious disease outbreaks. Subscribers also receive expert commentary by a staff of epidemiologists, who opine on whether the outbreak is serious or minor. ProMED-mail also reports on animal and agricultural epidemics due to their cons... More >>

The Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED-mail) updates the world on infectious disease outbreaks. Subscribers also receive expert commentary by a staff of epidemiologists, who opine on whether the outbreak is serious or minor. ProMED-mail also reports on animal and agricultural epidemics due to their consumptive link to humans. For the extremely paranoid, ProMED-mail also has a global epidemic map and can send you information by RSS feed. The services are all entirely free and are supported by donations.<br /> <br /> A system such as ProMED-mail requires a lot of time from the website\'s moderators, who must screen, verify, and comment on tips e-mailed to them daily. A balance must be struck between sending out accurate reports and sending them in a timely matter – which is difficult because first reports are typically full of errors – but ProMED-mail has remained both swift and truthful in its reports, only retracting 2% of them. Occasionally, there are false tips deliberately sent by messengers of misinformation (MOM) and disseminators of disinformation (DAD) (also, anyone else pause at those acronyms?), which must be filtered out by the ProMED-mail team. This is a lot of work for a team of epidemiologists who already work full-time jobs.<br /> <br /> I think ProMED-mail offers a valuable service by screening and selecting for the most important epidemic reports and offering their opinion about their severity. Information about outbreaks is too often overblown or misleading, and they provide stability to such information. Furthermore, as an independent observer ProMED-mail can provide urgent reports that government agencies might suppress for political reasons. ProMED-mail can deliver the news without causing hysteria.<br /> <br /> While this is a great service, I am concerned about its sustainability. ProMED-mail provides a public good in the same way Wikipedia does. It is free, without ads, and has no ulterior motives (Wikipedia <i>users</i> might, but I digress). But as we have seen, Wikipedia is currently struggling to stay afloat by donations alone. ProMED-mail gets support for the International Society for Infectious Diseases, but is that enough? <br /> <br /> For a society where incidents such as SARS have been the source of much discussion (and much concern), ProMED-mail suppresses the hysteria and misinformation surrounding outbreaks with its reports. Epidemiology and the Internet have never been better friends. << Less

Kickstarter is a Brooklyn- and Chicago-based start-up that wants to help creative minds raise money for their ventures by connecting them directly to their customers, the fans. The idea behind the platform is that fans will pay for access to and rewards from the people whom they are trying to raise funds for. \"... More >>

Kickstarter is a Brooklyn- and Chicago-based start-up that wants to help creative minds raise money for their ventures by connecting them directly to their customers, the fans. The idea behind the platform is that fans will pay for access to and rewards from the people whom they are trying to raise funds for. \"Creative minds\" include musicians, designers, bloggers .. more generally, Kickstarter is trying to target people whose work can be published (and attract fans).<br /> <br /> Kickstarter has yet to launch their platform – as a matter of fact, I am worried that they are still in the \"coming soon\" phase – but I am not enthusiastic about their business model. Their idea is still raw. A platform that helps fundraise and provides what I will characterize as \"fan club\" access for entrepreneurs of different backgrounds either has a lot of capital to do a lot of cool stuff or is pooling together services that already exist. Is either business profitable? And with its service, can Kickstarter really make the Internet more transparent than it is already?<br /> <br /> I am not saying that Kickstarter is selling a product that is free, but there must be tremendous value to their service for them to sell at a premium. And that value is highly variable: I don't see a band, for example, setting up on Kickstarter because there are other places on the Internet with more traffic that can distribute music. But I can see an amateur comic book artist set up shop here.<br /> <br /> Kickstarter\'s launch will reveal whether they sell something worth paying for, but I think they are casting too wide of a net trying to be a one-stop marketing shop for everyone. << Less

The British start-up quietrevolution has blended design with wind power to create wind turbines that blend with the urban environment. Their line of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT), in fact, look more like sleek street lamps. But the power is there: at an average wind speed of 5.9 m/s - typical for any urban envir... More >>

The British start-up quietrevolution has blended design with wind power to create wind turbines that blend with the urban environment. Their line of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT), in fact, look more like sleek street lamps. But the power is there: at an average wind speed of 5.9 m/s - typical for any urban environment – the quietrevolution QR5 turbine can generate 10,000 kWh per year. It isn\'t a whole lot, but it can power a twenty-man office.<br /> <br /> The market for decentralized clean energy production is small, but growing, and quietrevolution thinks there is a market for its turbines for the following reasons:<br /> <br /> <b>Urban Wind Power.</b> The quietrevolution turbines take up minimal volume, due to the vertical axis design and blades that wrap around the central axis. This allows the turbine to blend in with the urban environment. With the QR5 only 14 x 3 meters (the turbine is 5 meters), the turbine has similar dimensions to a street light. More importantly, urban environments generate lots of wind, but normally this wind cannot be converted into energy because it goes in all directions. The helical design quietrevolution turbine is designed to capture wind from all directions, without having to rotate its axis to the direction of the wind. The direction-indifferent design differentiates quietrevolution from other wind turbines.<br /> <br /> <b>Aesthetics.</b> The quietrevolution turbines are not your typical triaxial turbines, nor are they even your typical VAWTs. Equipped with LED lights on the blades, and the QR5 is now a trippy light show. Beyond their primary function, these just look cool. The hope is that developers will look at the quietrevolution not only for its renewable energy, but also its aesthetic value.<br /> <br /> <b>Noise.</b> Wind farms are noisy. One of the reasons wind turbines aren\'t installed in urban environments is because the noise pollution would be unbearable. The tapered blades of the quietrevolution turbine, however, allow for quiet power generation.<br /> <br /> The above reasons are reasonable sources of competitive advantage, and I think the quietrevolution turbine would sell great to universities, government departments, and companies – any public entity that could benefit from having a clean and elegant source of renewable energy. The more pressing issue for quietrevolution is how they plan to sell this product. There are a couple of installations in Britain, but at an installation cost of about $100K the power is a bit expensive, and not as cost effective. There needs to be a greater emphasis on the benefits of urban wind and the aesthetic value of quietrevolution\'s turbine to make its product more than just a luxury item for its green-conscious clients. << Less

PatientsLikeMe isn\'t the first Health 2.0 start-up; nor is it the largest; nor is it the most comprehensive. But it has leveraged the information generated by their patient communities into profits that benefit the website and data that benefits the users. Founded by three former students at MIT, PatientsLikeMe look... More >>

PatientsLikeMe isn\'t the first Health 2.0 start-up; nor is it the largest; nor is it the most comprehensive. But it has leveraged the information generated by their patient communities into profits that benefit the website and data that benefits the users. Founded by three former students at MIT, PatientsLikeMe looks beyond the benefits of online support groups and takes a hard look at the data, realizing that analyzing and quantifying health knowledge can lead to improved medical treatments, accelerated clinical trials, and more.<br /> <br /> A key element of PatientLikeMe\'s success is their ability to monetize the network. By having patients document their medical histories, symptoms, and treatments, PatientsLikeMe has aggregated demographic information about a disease. After removing any trace of the patient\'s identity, PatientsLikeMe can sell the data to pharmaceutical companies looking for candidates for its clinical trials, or to insurance companies looking to build a profile of an individual suffering from the disease. Instead of seeking out each patient individually, all the data comes in one neat little package.<br /> <br /> Patients benefit too: they not only get to share their experiences but also find out how other patients are progressing based on the treatments they are receiving. In doing so, they find out what is most effective. Patients can juxtapose their progress versus other patients in the community and check how they are faring against the disease; and if they are progressive worse than average, determine whether a more aggressive treatment is necessary.<br /> <br /> PatientsLikeMe has only a handful of communities, unlike other Health 2.0 networks which try to include all illnesses and health concerns. Right now, they focus on neurogenerative diseases such as ALS (Lou Gehrig\'s disease) - it is actually because of an ALS patient that the site's founders started PatientsLikeMe. While this limits the size of their community, PatientsLikeMe is probably not concerned because it is more interested in building data (and a support group) around one disease, rather than several weakly-connected support groups. And as they expand, new users will continue to flock to PatientsLikeMe because of its valuable content.<br /> <br /> PatientsLikeMe has illustrated that patients with similar health concerns bring more to each other than support; they bring knowledge about their illness from a first-person perspective. Comparing symptoms and treatments, along with pooling patient data, has never been easier. More important, PatientsLikeMe has found a way to sustain itself and provide a free, valuable service to people who are looking for answers to their health concerns. << Less

Daily Strength was one of the first movers in the \"Health 2.0\" trend: a growth in start-ups dedicated to empowering patients with knowledge, piece of mind, and the ability to cope. An outgrowth of web 2.0 and the social network phenomenon, Health 2.0 can provide more than community – pharmaceutical compani... More >>

Daily Strength was one of the first movers in the \"Health 2.0\" trend: a growth in start-ups dedicated to empowering patients with knowledge, piece of mind, and the ability to cope. An outgrowth of web 2.0 and the social network phenomenon, Health 2.0 can provide more than community – pharmaceutical companies, for example, can assemble a group of candidates for clinical trials faster than ever before. Daily Strength's main function, however, is to provide an online community for patients who can share their experiences through support groups, expert commentary through wellness blogs, and a \"hug\" function similar to Facebook's Poke function.<br /> <br /> One of Daily Strength\'s key strengths is their comprehensive coverage of illnesses. They boast over 500 different communities dedicated to a different illness or health concern. Users looking for people to share the same medical experiences are likely to find willing listeners here. The user community is active, and they care, too.<br /> <br /> Detractors dismiss Daily Strength as YASN (Yet Another Social Network), but I am more optimistic. People on Daily Strength have more in common than a hobby or some random interest. There is a need for patients and patients\' families to support each other, and Daily Strength allows people to form the tight-knit communities they need.<br /> <br /> And while many Health 2.0 start-ups have surfaced on the Internet, Daily Strength has stood out by staying true to its original purpose: providing a sense of community through mutual support. Websites like patientslikeme package information from their patients and sell it to insurance companies; other websites attempt to be the categorical source for health knowledge. There may be wellness blogs and other sources of information, but Daily Strength is about the people.<br /> <br /> Daily Strength has helped many patients and their families cope with their medical experiences. It is an incredible website, but they need to find a way to monetize the network. They need to do so in a way that keeps the service free and doesn\'t change the open nature of the communities – the same communities that make this Health 2.0 start-up so valuable. << Less

On the surface, iMedix looks like a winning combination. By combining a legitimate health search with a social network, iMedix has created a platform where users can find out more about their health concerns and share these concerns with other users. Communities of people interested in a particular health concern can... More >>

On the surface, iMedix looks like a winning combination. By combining a legitimate health search with a social network, iMedix has created a platform where users can find out more about their health concerns and share these concerns with other users. Communities of people interested in a particular health concern can share their experiences and support each other in times of need. The Internet is saturated with ads and cut-and-paste information, dragging down the value of a healthcare search; but the \"social search\" concept can accumulate user opinions to allow the valuable information to rise to the top.<br /> <br /> iMedix was nominated for a Crunchie, TechCrunch\'s eponymous award given to start-ups, in 2007. They not only had created a fully-functional platform, but also had a large enough user base to brag about. iMedix threw in some bells and whistles, too, with their chat function and search widget. The extra functionality made the network more open and its members more transparent. iMedix thought about adding a blog function – in fact, originally they wanted to develop a network of blogs – but nixed it due to privacy issues.<br /> <br /> I was enthralled by iMedix, but what I found what a community of people interested in healthcare, but didn\'t talk about it too much. Doesn\'t that defeat the purpose? This isn't to say the entire user base has no interest in healthcare – iMedix has its fair share of concerned parents and patient advocates – but there are evidently too many users more interested in topics other than iMedix. (A blogger who tried iMedix noted that a user wanted to chat about crumping. Seriously?) iMedix might have, unfortunately, devolved into yet another social network.<br /> <br /> This is bad news for a healthcare social search platform that has great intentions and all the right implementations. iMedix is an example where the activity of the users, not the size of the user base, matters. Concerned health advocates who want to find a real healthcare social search platform should look to patientslikeme and DailyStrength, websites that not only were first movers in this niche market, but not grown any of the fat. << Less

Talima Therapeutics specializes in site-specific drug therapy, specifically dermatological therapy, where local application is an important aspect of effective treatment. Using microerodible micro depot systems, Talima\'s drug candidates aim to deliver a sustained treatment to the target tissue without systemic releas... More >>

Talima Therapeutics specializes in site-specific drug therapy, specifically dermatological therapy, where local application is an important aspect of effective treatment. Using microerodible micro depot systems, Talima\'s drug candidates aim to deliver a sustained treatment to the target tissue without systemic release to the body. With site-specific drug therapy, Talima can improve the drug's efficacy and reduce side effects by localizing the treatment, resulting in smaller levels of the drug in the blood.<br /> <br /> Talima completed $19M in Series B funding in 2007 from investors such as De Novo Ventures and US Venture Partners. Their CEO is a former Genentech executive and their management team has extensive experience working with start-ups and drug delivery systems. The market demand for their product is solid: of the patients with dermatological treatments, few seek systemic treatments because the side effects are too severe. This all sounds good, but why am I still skeptical?<br /> <br /> Talima\'s technology is shrouded in secrecy such that it is difficult to boldly predict success. Talima has raised enough money to continue the development of its drugs to clinical trials, but the start-up has not released further details on the mechanisms of their drug candidates. There are a lot of reasons why they would do this but I am under the impression that the technology may be too early-stage for commercialization. I may be wrong, but I will have to withhold praise until I see the how their candidates fare in clinical tests. << Less

Matt and Jessica Flannery had intentions to register Kiva has a SEC broker/lender but chose not to because the process was legally cumbersome. Instead, they registered as a nonprofit organization. This might have been the right choice, however. There are several reasons why Kiva\'s nonprofit status contributed to it... More >>

Matt and Jessica Flannery had intentions to register Kiva has a SEC broker/lender but chose not to because the process was legally cumbersome. Instead, they registered as a nonprofit organization. This might have been the right choice, however. There are several reasons why Kiva\'s nonprofit status contributed to its overwhelming success as a P2P lending platform: <br /> <br /> <b>Risk and Financial Return.</b> In the United States, P2P lending websites that were for-profit were ceased by the U.S. government because loans from unsecured lenders were too risky to be issued as promissory notes, which had been the process at the time. Consequently, these P2P lending websites had to stall their operations at a pivotal time in their growth, when their future success depends on the expansion of user base of borrowers and lenders. Kiva dodged this legal obstacle and, its growth uninhibited, was able to build a stable user base.<br /> <br /> <b>Partnerships with MFIs.</b> Microfinance institutions are typically nonprofit organizations themselves. Because Kiva is also a nonprofit, it is more open to MFIs, who are more willing to partner with Kiva. MFIs would not be interested in charging additional interest on loans to their entrepreneurs, especially if the purpose is to generate a return for the lenders. Moreover, it would be more difficult to underwrite the loan with these additional provisions. Kiva kept it simple: a loan is issued and it is repaid. MFIs do not have to worry about additional risk and are more likely to partner with Kiva.<br /> <br /> <b>Market Interest.</b> When people are interested in making microloans, are they interested in giving for the greater good, or diversifying their portfolios in a new asset class to reduce risk? It could be one; it could be both. But it most likely is the former. The charitable aspects of a nonprofit organization are much more apparent compared to for-profit organizations, which have to explain why the social impact of their loans supersedes the financial return. And don\'t forget competitors: Prosper and Lending Club are for-profit organizations. As a nonprofit, Kiva can stand on its own.<br /> <br /> Kiva is an incredible nonprofit organization which has leveraged the power of peer-to-peer interaction with microlending. Their business model works, more so because it has nonprofit status. Kiva has connected the industrialized world with the developing world through microloans, and I hope they continue to thrive. << Less