Elite American distance runners Ryan and Sara Hall started the Hall Steps Foundation in 2009 in order to help fight global poverty through better health.  The goal of the foundation is to build communities and provide members of those communities opportunities to take their own Steps toward relieving suffering and helping the poor rise up.

Ryan Hall is the fastest American marathoner and half-marathoner of all time.  He competed for the United States in the 2008 and 2012 Olympic games.  His wife Sara is a United States national road mile champion and a two time US World indoor track team member.  They are committed Christians and I had the pleasure of meeting them this summer at a running camp in California.

 The Hall Steps Foundation has invested $50,000 in micro loans in East Africa, built a well in Mozambique, and redone a maternity clinic in rural Senegal.  Ryan and Sara have noticed that there is a general lack of opportunity in those places and micro loans are most effective in bringing people out of poverty.

The Hall Steps Foundation has also donated $20,000 to the completion of the Kenya Hospital, $50,000 to Iris Ministries for construction of a health clinic in Pemba, Mozambique, $6,000 to build a well in Mozambique, and $2,500 to Girls on the Run Northern Arizona to encourage healthy lifestyles in young girls near where the Hall’s live and train in Flagstaff, Arizona in 2012. 

In 2011, gave grants to Kickstart and World Vision to contribute to innovative social enterprise in Kenya that supports long term sustainable growth and to provide immediate relief to the drought stricken Horn of Africa.

The Hall’s are using their image as professional runners to their advantage as they gather support for their philanthropy.  When the are done with professional running they will devote their full attention to the foundation and Christian mission work.

http://www.thestepsfoundation.org

LeBron James is one of the best players in the NBA and one of the most recognizable athletes in the world.  LeBron is also an accomplished millennial entrepreneur. 

LeBron represents himself in his business dealings.  He does not use an agent in the same way as most other professional athletes.  He was able to secure his own television show called “Survivors Remorse” on the Starz network with his friend and business partner Maverick Carter.  He and Carter along with Randy Simms and Rich Paul formed their own sports marketing firm called LRMR.  This allows LeBron to deal directly with the companies he does advertisements for and business with.  He is able to negotiate for a financial stake in the companies he deals with instead of the usual salary.  This has made LeBron James the fourth highest paid athlete in the world despite not having close to the highest salary in the NBA. 

When LeBron first entered the NBA, he was represented in business by his agent Aaron Goodwin. After two years with Goodwin, LeBron decided to take more personal control over his business dealings.  At twenty years old, LeBron James set up LRMR in 2006.  He didn’t just want to be the professional athlete that appeared in apparel and car advertisements for a paycheck, but an athlete that creates on his own.

LRMR is based in LeBron’s hometown of Akron, Ohio and owns stake in Beats by Dr. Dre, Springhill Productions, and Liverpool Football Club.  LRMR also does business with Dunkin Donuts, Champs Sports, Upper Deck, 2K Sports, Samsung, Miami Heat, and Fenway Sports Management.  LRMR added Cleveland Brown’s rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel to the team.  In the last year LeBron has led the NBA in jersey sales and Manziel has led the NFL.  They are certainly doing a good job of marketing in the North East Ohio area and around the country.

LeBron has also created The LeBron James Family Foundation which helps children and families in the Akron and Cleveland area.

LeBron also attaches his image to a number of consumer products.  He does advertisements for Kia,  Beats by Dr. Dre, Nike, Progressive, and  Audemars Piguet. 

http://www.lrmrmanagement.com

Nick Symmonds attended Willamette University between 2002 and 2005 where he studied biochemistry and won 7 NCAA DIII titles in cross country and track.  After college he has won 5 USATF titles in the 800 meter run and qualified for the Beijing and London Olympic games. Symmonds met Coach Sam Lapray at Willamette and the two have worked well ever since.  Earlier this month, they launched Run Gum.

Run Gum

Run Gum is caffeinated chewing gum for elite and recreational athletes.  Nick, with his biochemistry background, was always looking for non-banned substances that could aid in performance.  Nick and his coach knew what chemicals aided running performance, the problem was how to effectively and efficiently use them.  Caffeine is a non-banned stimulant that all sorts of people use every day.  The fact that caffeine boosts running performance has been known for a while.  What is the most effective way of doing it?

Most caffeine is ingested by drinking some sort of liquid such as coffee of energy drinks.  The problem with these is that they slowly absorb through the lining of your stomach and the excess water and acid in them will usually upset your stomach.  Even 5Hour Energy contains enough liquid and acid to upset one’s stomach.

The answer is caffeinated chewing gum.  It contains no liquid or acid that will upset your stomach and is absorbed through the mouth 5 times faster than liquids.  Run Gum also contains no sugar and leaves your breath fresh unlike coffee or energy drinks.

This is a great idea because it solves a problem that is so important to runners both elite and recreational.  Many runners use caffeine in order to prepare for important workouts and races.  Run Gum makes it quicker and easier.

Nick is clearly a driven individual.  One does not make multiple Olympic teams without some sort of motivation.  He is driven by self promotion and entertainment.  Nick considers himself an entertainer before athlete or entrepreneur.

Track and field as you may know is not the most popular spectator sport in this country.  Many athletes and fans would like to in some way change the American people into track and field enthusiasts.  Nick however, would rather change track and field so that it fits into mainstream American popular culture.

Nick Symmonds has a history of entrepreneurial activity.  During the 2013 track season, he sold advertising space on his shoulder in the form of a temporary tattoo.  He has also published a book and registered his name as a LLC.

http://getrungum.com/

Mark Zuckerberg is a co-founder and CEO of Facebook.  Zuckerberg attended Harvard University in the early 2000s.  While still at Harvard, he and his roommates and friends launched Facebook.  He became a billionaire in 2007 at 23 years old and in 2012 Facebook reached one billion users.

The Beginning

Zuckerberg began writing software in middle school.  His father began teaching him BASIC programing in the early 1990s on an Atari 2600.  Soon, it was evident that Zuckerberg was a natural and his father pushed him in programming.  In high school, Zuckerberg took a graduate programming course at Mercy College near his home in Dobbs Ferry, New York.  He also created a messaging network between the computers at his house and at his father’s dental office.

Harvard

In his sophomore year at Harvard, Zuckerberg wrote programs called CourseMatch and Facemash.  CourseMatch allowed students to better make class choice decisions by showing what other students had decided.  Facemash allowed students to choose the most attractive person out of a group of several photos.  Facemash was quickly blocked on Harvard’s network due to its overwhelming popularity and complaints about use of photos without consent.

The next semester, Zuckerberg wrote another program.  This time it really paid off.  In February of 2004 he launched The Facebook, only about a month after starting the script.  Shortly after the launch Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to devote his time to Facebook.

Facebook

Facebook began as a Harvard social network.  Before long, Zuckerberg and his colleagues spread the network to other colleges and moved to Palo Alto.  In California they leased a house they used as an office, took on investors, and turned down many buyout offers from large corporations.

Facebook is obviously a great idea due to is mass popularity with over a billion users.  The website allows users to connect with and keep track of family, friends, casual acquaintances, and strangers all over the world.  What Facebook is needs know more explanation since 71% of online adults use Facebook according to a recent Pew Research poll.

 https://www.facebook.com/

Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington attended college together at Furman College in South Carolina.  When the graduated in 2013 they decided they wanted to to make an app.  The first thing they made was a social poll product named Dicho.  It didn’t go over to well.  There next idea materialized into the popular social application called Yik Yak.

The App

Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington launched Yik Yak in November 2013.  Yik Yak is a local anonymous bulletin style application that was designed with college campuses in mind.  When users download the app they are asked only for their phone number.  There is no email, name, or birth date questions asked.  Users can immediately post anything they want anonymously and see what other local users have posted.  Yik Yak posts are limited to 200 characters and can be seen by people within a physical 1.5 mile radius of the poster.

For Good or for Evil?

Yik Yak has been widely criticized for being a hotspot for cyber bullying.  Potential investors have even turned Yik Yak down for that reason.  This should be a concern but its unique design allows other users to remove potentially distasteful or insignificant Yaks.  When a Yak gets five down votes or is reported twice,  it is removed from sight.  Its unlikely that malicious Yaks will remain visible for longer than a few minutes because of the police action of the other users.

Significance

I think Yik Yak is a very interesting idea.  Right now it is gaining popularity extremely quickly and is at most colleges in America.  At some small schools, up to eighty percent of students use the app.  Buffington compared his app’s position with Snap Chat when it was first spreading.  Many people figured Snap Chat was just a sexting app but it has become a much more positive thing.  There is hope that Yik Yak will not be just a place for gossip and bullying.  We shall see.

Article from businessinsider.com

http://www.businessinsider.com/yik-yak-raises-10-million-2014-6

Yik Yak home

http://www.yikyakapp.com/