TED Community » Daniel Epstein

About Me

There is a famous quote that asserts, "Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” I think that there is a more beautiful reality when what makes you come alive is what the world needs. This is an intersection I am relentlessly pursuing: www.unreasonableinstitute.org is this dream realized.

Full Bio:
Daniel fundamentally believes that entrepreneurship is the answer to nearly all the issues we face today and has dedicated his life accordingly. By the time he received his BA in philosophy he had already started three companies. Today, Daniel is the Founder and CEO of unreasonableadventures.com (focused on leveraging eco-tourism markets as an international tool for development) and the Founder of the Unreasonable Institute.

The Unreasonable Institute is an international accelerator and seed stage investor in entrepreneurs who are working to create scalable solutions to social and environmental issues. Each year, the Institute unites 25 of the world's most promising entrepreneurs (deemed Unreasonable Fellows) from around the globe in Boulder, CO for six weeks and matches them with 60 leading serial entrepreneurs, 30 global impact investment funds, and hundreds of additional investors and innovators. Through world class mentorship, access to seed capital, involved consulting, intensive skill training, a global network of support, and international exposure, the ultimate goal of Unreasonable is to enable the world’s most promising entrepreneurs to launch ventures future generations will remember as having defined progress in our time.

For Daniel, business is not business, business is people. He believes in militant transparency and truthfulness in the projects he is a part of and in his everyday life. He also struggles to take himself too seriously.