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Get ready for an extended talk with David Good, son of an American anthropologist and Amazon Yanomami indian. Through his unlikely background, David was compelled to create a 501C3 non-profit to protect the Yanomami from outside society that would seek to exploit them. The first half of the interview gives a detailed account of how David's parents met and how his tribal mother Yarima adjusted to a new life in New Jersey. After having experienced both societies, Yarima decided that she would return to the Amazon and live apart from her husband and 3 children. When David grew up he realized he needed to find his mother. Despite a long trek through the Amazon he finally laid eyes on his mother for the first time in 20 years and decided to act as a bridge between the tribe and modern society. At the end of the interview we learn some valuable pieces of information in regards to setting up a non-profit with the IRS and effective fundraising.

Summary A new life saving revolution is about to unfold that will touch billions and there's still room for investors to jump onboard. With recent advances in the field of biomimicry, Aquaporin A/S can not only cheaply turn salt water into fresh water, they can purify sewage using the same method. For a clear explanation of this purification process please refer to the podcast above. It should be noted that the company's product is a combination of water filter and water pressure mechanism BASED ON THE NATURAL FILTRATION METHOD OF KIDNEYS. Background It's an unfortunate reality that 1.5 billion people today have no access to clean drinking water and by the year 2040, the world wide demand for water is projected to be 40% greater than the supply. These statistics aren't very comforting and I definitely am not looking forward to living in a world where water is more expensive than gasoline. Just ask anyone in Toledo, Ohio about their recent water emergency. No one could drink the tap water there because of a toxin and the mad dash for the stores sent the price of bottled water skyrocketing. Now I'm going to throw an unexpected twist into this picture. In today's episode I talk with a man who's privy to the key that's going to solve this problem for me, you and billions of people on planet earth. His name is Dr. Claus Helix-Nielsen and he's a vice president of Aquaporin A/S, a forward thinking biotech company that's based in Denmark. It was a great honor to talk with him from the heart of Copenhagen to help us understand what this key is all about. To give more background on the subject, until 20 years ago no one knew the real reason why water flushed so quickly through kidneys and intestines. And by mistake a researcher by the name of Peter Agre found that all cells have proteins called aquaporins which create pores in cell walls. These pores are so small that only water molecules are able to pass through. Through the entrepreneurship of CEO Peter Holme Jensen, Aquaporin A/S has been able to grow these proteins and apply them to a synthetic membrane. After which, the membrane is able to extract pure water in the same way our kidneys and intestines do. The casual observer may wonder what all the fuss is about. After all, there are lots of membranes that can filter water. The reason why there is so much attention given to this new invention is that anything outside of a water molecule is not able to get through. This includes bacteria, viruses, chemica

  During my time on the road, I had the privilege of interviewing Tom Szaki, founder and CEO of Terracycle. Most of what the interview centered on was how he uses free advertising to dominate in the recycling industry. Tom started out as a student at Princeton University when he and his friends realized they had a problem trying to make their plants grow. When they started feeding the plants worm poop, the plants did incredibly well. This discovery became the foundation for Tom's first product which was liquid worm poop in a used soda bottle. To get the bottles he started a plastic bottle collection drive using free advertising, Since the US is filled with people who are sympathetic to green initiatives, plastic bottles were sent to him from all over. Not everything was rosy in the beginning of Tom's venture because it was easier get the bottles and fill them than it was to sell the finished product. Things came down to the wire until he got his first big order from Walmart. That's when the Terracycle empire really was able to take off. Now Terracycle collects from two thirds of American schools and has a strong international presence. Schools and communities know of the company through his unusual free advertising ideas. For example, he partnered with Newsweek by having them make the magazine cover an envelope in disguise. Inside the magazine, people were instructed to shop at Target, stuff the envelope with their plastic shopping bag and then send it to Tom. From there, Tom's team of scientists created products from the plastic bags and then went to market.     Another refreshing advertising idea came in the form of a Facebook video game called Trash Tycoons. People can collect garbage, create recycling depots and get points by recycling. The faster you recycle the faster you get points. This is totally free to Terracycle because the app company, Gorilla Apps, saw value in supporting the Terracycle brand. Surprisingly, Terracycle has even made a deal with the company to share some of the income of the game. Fortunately, the business model of Terracycle is so unique that Tom was able to star in his own mini-series called Garbage Moguls. Each episode Tom would come in with garbage made from a specific raw material and then plan with his team what they could make with it. One episode they made ponchos and kites which they were able to bring to market. This was a big win because it was not just a form of free advertising, it actually earned the company

    This interview is for the sensible person who understands that life is short and so our energies have to be focused on projects that will work. It's a shame how a lot of people end up feeling content with failed projects as "good learning experiences" when the best option is to learn and succeed at the same time. In this goldmine of an interview, I talk with a prominent innovation and design consultant named Brett Newman... a man who has a lot to bring to the table. I believe the most essential part of his message is how his San Francisco based firm, Daylight Design, can consistently create commercially successful products using a special process called "design thinking". He shows that by closely adhering to this process, he's able to help companies initiate successful product launches, even before the products are conceived. To learn about this specialized approach for making any product a commercial success, be sure to check out the video below.     Whether you're an inventor, an author or a school curriculum planner, your continued success really relies on how well you adhere to the concept of design thinking. It's a way of being able to forecast what the weather of industry will be in the future so you can fit the climate with the right product. The more fine tuned your method of design thinking is, the more chance you have of success. To understand how diverse the application of design thinking can be, it would be helpful to know that it even works with improving communities. In one municipal project, Daylight Design had a very central role in helping a city improve the "well-being factor" of its residents.     During the second part of the interview we switch gears to talk about a subject that I've always been intrigued with which is plastic manufacturing. Plastic products are a central part of our culture, but it's rare to meet someone who's actually designed one because of the lack of knowledge and resources. With the advent of new prototyping technology, plastic manufacturing is available to anyone with a dream.     Below you can see the team of Daylight Design discussing my newest hybrid product, a Pez candy dispenser / cigarette lighter. No, just kidding... They're really discussing the design details of the Logitech TV Cam, a project that helped them win a much coveted international award for sleek and innovative design.     Excerpt of interview on design thinking Dan: Today we're talking with Brett Newman, cofounder of a

  All too often we get that amazing business idea that could open the door to a life of provision and influence but most of the time we just dismiss it as a passing thought. What we don't realize is that there is a burgeoning list of successful entrepreneurs who have taken their sudden thoughts seriously and are REALLY happy they did. Nikhil Arora is one of them who I recently had the privilege of interviewing. He and his friend Alex Velez are the co-founders of Back To The Roots, a company that is bent on connecting children with the science of food cycles. Their first business idea came one day during a class at university when they heard that mushrooms can be grown in used coffee grounds. Let's fast forward 5 years to the present and they both are now overseeing a multi-million dollar operation which was built on this original idea.     When Nikhil and Alex started their business, there were some cafes that were actually paying them to take away their used coffee grounds. Back at their shop they'd refine the process of preparing the coffee grains, seeding and then incubating them to be packaged later. Unbelievably, their mushroom growing kits are now gracing the shelves of the some of the largest retailers in the US.     Not content with urban mushroom farming, Nikhil and Alex went to work on their next idea which is based on the science of hydroponics. After much planning and market research they created the AquaFarm, but not without some apprehension. During their market research phase there were a number of naysayers in the retail industry that didn't share Nikhil and Alex's vision. Still, the idea seemed like a win if they did things right from the beginning. One of their foundational decisions to reduce the probability of any negative anomalies was to work with an experienced design firm called Daylight Design based in San Francisco. After having learned from their ordeal with designing their mushroom kits, they knew that bringing professional designers on board would yield quicker results and make the product more accessible.     Designing a plastic product is no easy task and is usually prohibitively expensive. So Nikhil and Alex took to a popular crowd funding website called Kickstarter. The AquaFarm campaign began with a goal of raising $100,000. But after 30 days they were able to raise almost $250,000 based on people's excitement and positive outlook for the product. Be sure to listen to this part in the interview because I believe

  Lately, a lot of attention has been given to the exodus of businesses out of New York and into New Jersey. To the casual onlooker, it seems so counter intuitive that the preferred place of doing business is now outside of the Big Apple. But when looking at real estate prices, energy costs and corporate tax rates, the decision to move to New Jersey just becomes common sense. Even BNY Mellon has seen the light and is now deciding which area in New Jersey to plant its roots. (Consider how significant this fact is by realizing that BNY stands for Bank of New York.) To facilitate the bank's transition, New Jersey governor Chris Christie has offered over $100,000,000 worth of tax breaks. You can believe that there are other companies on the governor's welcoming list who will be receiving similar offers. So the big question now is where should these companies settle? After having done my research on northeast business development, I believe that the clear cut answer is the tax haven of Mahwah. Not only is the property and municipal tax extremely low, it serves as a strategic hub for doing business up and down the northeast corridor. The business friendly climate of Mahwah was so compelling that I reached out to the city's mayor, Bill LaForet, and he graciously consented to the interview which is posted above this article. During the course of our interview we spoke about Mahwah's low business costs and one fact stood out that the vast majority of other municipalities can't attest to. That is the good financial stewardship which allows them to receive AAA bond ratings from Standard & Poors as well as Moody's. Stellar bond ratings provide Mahwah with low interest rates on their small debt burden, which in turn allows the township to pass the benefit to its residents and local businesses in the form of low tax rates. The emphasis on good stewardship seems to have flowed into other areas as well, the two most important being the school system and overall safety. It's refreshing to know that Mahwah's students perform in the top tier of state academic rankings. And surprisingly, the township has been listed in Safewise statistics as the safest place to live in New Jersey. So when CEOs decide to bring their workers to the Mahwah, the decision is really socio-economic rather than just economic. Transplants to Mahwah and their families can benefit from the overall standard of living. Plus, living within a 25 mile radius of New York can be convenient should there be a