Andy Hadfield

It's XMAS season and I've been thinking a bit about the "donation" industry. I suppose off the back of investigating the NGO space.

If you think about the average South African’s “giving” behavior, you’ll probably find it’s very similar. At least that’s my theory.

Take something as simple as a black bag of clothes, something generated out of middle-upper class households every few years as we “refresh” our wardrobes. Typically, I’d guess this black bag would go one of three places.

To your domestic helper (if you’re lucky enough to have one).To your church (if you’re religious)To a charity you’ve always supported - some organization with which you have some form of light relationship (and one within a reasonable driving distance). 
In my case, it’s always through my domestic helper to any Cause she deems worthy in her local community. And that’s fine. More than fine in fact - at least these clothes are going somewhere where they’re needed.

But what if you could more? …

That sounds melodramatic. But I mean it to be. Startup (http://gimletmedia.com/show/startup/) is probably the best produced, most emotive and most story packed Podcast I've ever listened to.

Billed as the "behind the scenes story you never get to hear, the one often consigned after the fact to a garage success story". It's the story of a guy coming out of NPR (public radio in the US) and doing a startup, while recording it every step of the way.

It's impossible that you won't find something to identify with in this story. The difficulty of naming a company (it's the only horrid result, Gimlet Media, ouch). The emotional drain on your spouse. The brilliant ideas that hit you 3am only to be turfed the next day for being patently ridiculous. The enormous amount of practice it requires to "pitch" (the episode where the protagonist pitches to Chris Sacca is probably one of the most real entrepreneurial moments you'll ever hear recorded). The lis…