Jon Colgan

Note: originally published at The Breakery. I can see Google’s campus from my 12th-floor desk at 500 Startups. And it’s here. Project Fi is official. Google’s new wireless network has been officially launched with the name Google Fi. Major Turning Point Just as at other major turning points in human history, incredible business opportunity arises from beneath the weight of scarcity. Five thousand years ago, in response to rising population, and the resultant scarcity of huntable-gatherable food, humans began growing crops in a single location—the Agriculture Revolution—and this single change unlocked all-new waves of economic efficiency, as people were able to work together...

Note: originally published at Fredo Pareto. On Sunday, September 3, 1967, Sweden changed from driving on the left to driving on the right. This is what happened. My email to my team last Thursday: I landed in San Francisco tonight, checked into a hotel, and walked two blocks to dinner. I sat down, and I heard the table next to me discussing a topic largely unfamiliar to me as a Triangle founder: they were VCs talking about doing actual deals. I butted in and told them how spot on it was–as a Southeast founder with a certain idea of how...

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The New York Observer.    Stuart Scott taught me something profound on New Year’s Eve several years ago, a lesson that undergirds my penchant for building David-versus-Goliath startups like CellBreaker.com.    I was a scrawny teenager, and Stuart was in town visiting his brother Stephen. Stuart’s brother and I were two of about 15 guys that met regularly for a late-night pick-up game once per week at a concrete-floor warehouse in Raleigh (it had two basketball goals, and the concrete was refreshingly cool on impact).  New Year’s Eve just happened to fall on...

**Editor’s note: We advocate telling TRUE stories to journalists. We publish this story for the broader lesson that it provides. “Jon, this story is 100% amazing and fascinating! Are you OK with me adapting it for the article? Can I quote you by name?” And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get press. Want to get your startup national press? Let me tell you a story about the above response I received the other day from a reporter named Josh.  I saw a query from Josh hit my inbox: Did something funny happen to you at a tech startup...

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wants to improve Wi-Fi in schools, but the move would likely raise your cell phone bill. Why? And are you cool with that? First the “why.”  Years ago, the US Congress created the Federal Universal Service Agency to promote communications access to under-served areas, particularly poor and rural school districts. The agency was expected to meet a need that the private market ignored because those affected by the problem couldn’t afford to pay private-market rates. The way it works? The FUSA administers a federal fund called the federal universal service fund. The FCC mandates that all telecommunications...

In May 2014, Jon Colgan’s startup CellBreaker won the NC IDEA grant. This is the second of a multi-post series in which he recounts his experience applying and competing for, and winning the grant. NC IDEA announced 19 Fall 2014 grant cycle finalists on Tuesday, September 30. This is for them. Yea though I walk through the valley of death because… NC IDEA. It’s not Biblical. The “valley of death” reference comes from NC IDEA’s Andrea Cook:  “The NC IDEA grant is really designed to address that valley of death between idea/concept and your first round of funding.”  Take it from me....