The Phorecast Audio Podcast is honored to have with us entrepreneur and stand-up comedian Andi Smith. Besides being a very funny comic who has appeared on NBCs Last Comic Standing two seasons now, Andi Smith is one of the founders of the start-up RooftopComedy. Rooftop is an innovative company that uses the internet and mobile distributors to showcase new and established comedy talent, organizing big comedy events and making it accessible to a whole new audience.

Rooftop produces and distributes real comedy through the internet and promises that their clips are raw, uncensored, and not filtered through a bunch of uptight corporate suits. Rooftop is backed by one of the worlds leading venture capital firms Azure Capital Partners and have partnered with distributors such as Nokia, Mobilestreams, Itunes and Facebook. In 2006 Rooftop Comedy took the top honors of “Best Investment Idea” at the InvestorFest; TechCoire’s Investorfest in Sacramento CA brought together over 80 leading venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.

Andi Smith, who left a career as Creative Director at among other places Icon Media Lab to become a comic, has just released her comedy album, Home Perm and has received rave reviews.

Watch Andi Smith do stand-up comedy on RooftopComedy »

At Phorecast we specialize in finding and customizing multidisciplinary teams of innovators and experts into sessions working for your organizations future. We are always looking for the most interesting innovators and we wanted to share some of the people that have really inspired us with their ideas and creativity. The Phorecast podcast enables us do just that! Thanks for listening and we would love to hear your comments, questions and innovative ideas.

Phorecast is honored for the opportunity to interview Jessica Jackley Flannery. Jessica is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Kiva.org, the world’s first international person-to- person micro-lending site.

Kiva is the internet sensation that allows people from all over the world to finance entrepreneurs in developing countries through a simple web transaction. For as low as 25 dollars a lender can help finance a family owned clothing store in Uganda, a fruit stand in Bolivia or a brick maker in Kenya! In just a few short years Kiva has funded more than 30,000 loans. The organizations innovative method works by collaborations with micro-finance institutions around the world, called Field Partners. These MFIs find, supply the funds from the Kiva lenders around the world and work as support system for the entrepreneurs to grow and flourish.

Kiva.org, which has been featured on Oprah, the Today Show and in former president Clinton’s book Giving, is the perfect example of how an innovative idea and the power of internet really can change the world!

Watch PBS Frontline’s report on Kiva »

At Phorecast we specialize in finding and customizing multidisciplinary teams of innovators and experts into sessions working for your organizations future. We are always looking for the most interesting innovators and we wanted to share some of the people that have really inspired us with their ideas and creativity. The Phorecast podcast enables us do just that! Thanks for listening and we would love to hear your comments, questions and innovative ideas.