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Category: entrepreneurship

ChangeRoot

Erhardt Graeff

Co-founded a consulting company in September 2010 to help Kickstarter applicants apply to Kickstarter, set funding levels, and create videos.

This venture never went beyond the feasibility stage.

Details of Work

  • Co-developed business plan and tiers of service
  • Measured interest in the consulting service at tech startup events in the Boston area
  • Co-developed lead-generation strategy
  • Worked on a Kickstarter application for a test client
  • Retired venture in February 2011 due to lack of traction

The Awesome Foundation

Erhardt Graeff

Founding Trustee of The Awesome Foundation, started in July 2009 in Boston.

Details of Work

  • Responded (1 of 10) to Tim Hwang’s initial call for trustees
  • Designed Awesome Foundation drop cards
  • Represented Awesome Foundation at many events and in local media
  • Pushed for expansion of the Boston chapter in October 2011 to double the number of trustees and try offering two $1000 grants per monthOngoing
  • Participate in monthly deliberation meetings to choose grant winners
  • Contribute $100 to a $1000 grant given by our chapter each month
  • Help orient new chapters and trustees

Coverage

Web Ecology Project

Erhardt Graeff

Helped found the Web Ecology Project, an experimental community of social media researchers, in June 2009.

Website

webecologyproject.org

Details of Work

  • Member of core strategy team
  • Led business development trip in September 2009, presenting our research to a government agency and contractor in Washington, DC, and to a marketing agency in New York City
  • Co-organized Web Ecology mailing list, transitioning organization from a for-profit venture to a distributed network of like-minded researchers
  • Participated in all Web Ecology Camps: October 2009 (Boston), February 2010 (NYC), May 2010 (Boston), February 2011 (Boston & SF)
  • Co-authored four studies using Twitter data
  • Contributed to core Twitter scraping scripts and tweet database design
  • Co-developed Web Ecology Project website
  • Designed Adobe Illustrator template for all research reports and Apple Keynote template for all presentations

Related Publications and Presentations

BetterGrads

Erhardt Graeff

Co-founded a nonprofit online mentoring organization for college-bound high school students with Kevin Adler in May 2009.

Website

bettergrads.org

Details of Work

  • Co-authored the mission, vision, and values statement of the organzation
  • Co-authored the by-laws and business plan
  • Co-wrote applications to numerous funders and startup competitions, and even edited a video emphasizing the geographic distance between my co-founder and me (see below)
  • Co-developed multiple surveys for prospective mentees and mentors, and deployed surveys online: first using hand-coded html, second using Google Forms
  • Developed and manage BetterGrads.org website (WordPress), re-designed twice with modifications to html, css, and javascript in base templates
  • Authored most static content on the website and several blog entries, and edited all imagery
  • Developed social media strategy and oversaw BetterGrads’ social media team, curating 200+ blog posts including special series
  • Recruited mentors from across the country for our pilot program
  • Moderated dozens of national conference calls with mentors, mentees, and social media team members
  • Co-developed mentoring program curriculum to prepare high school students for the college experienceOngoing
  • Co-directing the nonprofit, which is based in the San Francisco Bay Area where my co-founder lives, while living in Boston
  • Personally mentoring a high school senior at Granada High School in Livermore, CA
  • Advising for-profit spin-off Alumn.us founded by my co-founder

SupportDem

Erhardt Graeff

Co-founded web platform in July 2008 to help progressive voters connect to candidates that match their personal politics and create opportunities for fundraising.

This venture never went beyond the idea stage.

Details of Work

  • Co-developed idea with Kevin Adler (BetterGrads co-founder) based on social capital theory and political campaign experience
  • Designed mockups for front-end and back-end features
  • Started to develop business plan, and while researching competition discovered ActBlue
  • Decided to retire the idea in May 2009 to work on second venture, BetterGrads