#pigeon.ly

[venetiglio]

Pigeon.ly, A Startup Focused On Serving The U.S. Prison Population, Joins Y Combinator

A startup de um ex-presidiário, entrando em uma das maiores aceleradoras do mundo pra fazer as ligações entre presos e quem está do lado de fora mais baratas. Um raro exemplo nesse mundo que prefere evitar os problemas sociais a trabalhar para resolve-los. 

E ainda tem esse ponto aqui sobre legalização das drogas:

“I feel like I was ahead of my time,” he said, referring to the marijuana legalization wave sweeping across the U.S. and the resulting startups and ‘potrepreneurs.’ “I went to jail for this. For me, it’s a little ironic.”

[mostlyfintech]

From inmate to entrepreneur - the story of Pigeon.ly

Great story from CNN Money about the Frederick Hutson and the rise of Pigeon.ly.

In 2007, Frederick Hutson was sentenced to 51 months in prison for distributing marijuana. The operation had been netting him $500,000 annually -- and once he got to prison, he put his business acumen to use.

He filled his days with business planning, even hand-drawing spreadsheets on plain paper from the law library. Upon release, he'd sketched out what would become Pigeon.ly, a venture that connects inmates with their loved ones through phone calls and photos.

Pigeon.ly is doing a good thing, and good things get noticed. With $1mm in existing VC funding, Kapor Capital's syndicate is now investing in Pigeonly through angel.co looking to raise a total of $2 million.