Founders at Work, by Jessica Livingston. 2007.

Last weekend I sat down at Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica with my friend Justin Brandon for input on my idea for Vverdant. I wanted to meet with him, because I greatly respect his opinion on web related projects. He worked at Google and has developed several great websites, including The Road to Fondwa site for a film he directed and produced. Justin thought the concept for Vverdant seemed pretty solid and told me to go for it. He also turned me on to several great websites including the Four Hour Workweek Blog, and Venture Hacks.

Additionally, he let me borrow a copy of Founders at Work, by Jessica Livingston. So far I’ve read write-ups on: Apple, Gmail, Craigslist, and Flickr. It’s one of those perfectly timed reads and I can’t put it down. It’s amazing to read these narratives of people who succeeded at doing exactly what I’m trying to do: follow their passion, build a company, and create value for people.

I’ve been going to TED for regular doses of inspiration.

Here you can watch videos of short talks from people who are changing the world: Al Gore, Bill Gates, Cameron Sinclair, Bill Clinton, Frank Gehry, William McDonough, and hundreds of others. TED stands for, “Technology, Entertainment, Design,” but has gotten bigger. It now brings together, “The world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives.”

If Vverdant becomes what I want it to, I’ll be at TED soon.

I saw Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. in The Soloist last month and was really inspired….Here is a true story of how one person can make an incredible impact in another’s life, simply by investing their time. This resonated with me, in my desire to positively affect people through green building. I think it’s important to invest our limited time in causes that we think will make the world a better place.

Success to me is defined as positively impacting others, or positively impacting as many people as possible. Financial success is a secondary result of this primary goal. But as I noticed with Facebook in a previous post, there appears to be a corollary effect between these definitions of success. The more you dominate on positively impacting people, the more loot you’re likely to rake in. Yet, it’s important to be focused on the order of operations of this philosophy to achieve the win-win.

It’s so easy to grow accustomed to turning away from problems: ignoring the homeless guy asking you for change, or continuing the status quo in our woefully inefficient building industry. And so important to remember that an individual can change the world.