It was like a quarter-life crisis, but without the John Mayer theme song. I'd done everything I was supposed to do, and now, there were whole new questions. I realized I couldn't answer all these questions on my own; I needed a mentor (or two).

I was wrestling with new questions regarding direction, business planning, and management of Knowledge As Power. KAP is a small non-profit I founded nearly two years ago with a mission of including citizens in the legislative process by providing legislative information online. In the last two years, with a small board, a lot of boot-strapping, volunteers, and a lot of determination, we now have an alpha, were a 2006 Echoing Green Finalist, got 501 (c) 3 status (it only took the IRS 11 months to approve us!), interns, contractors, a few donations, and some press. But when you're a nonprofit-social-entrepreneurship-internet-startup (I'm coining it a scalable non-profit), your questions about what to do/where to go aren't easily answered by the brick and mortar non-profit establishment. Your questions get complicated. Like, "How do I project revenue for advanced services while the vast majority of services are free?"

I need the advisement of a person (or people) who've been on the business end of an internet company, or gotten into the non-profit or foundation world. If there's someone out there who's familiar with social entrepreneurship, I would love to talk to them, too. Leaders who are scrappy, have integrity, and think creatively would be really good. Being my mentor would probably mean a half hour conversation every week or so, over coffee or by phone. I'd buy coffee, and you'd have the satisfaction of seeing an active citizenry developed in Washington State and beyond.

What I'm asking from all of you smart, techie people is to think through your contacts and point a few appropriate folks towards this blog post. (Perhaps you'd like to be my mentor, too?) I'm happy to answer questions about Knowledge As Power, and speak more in detail about the mentorship.

Thanks for helping out, Net Squared folks! I'll let you know how the search goes!