September 11, 2009

By Josh Cohen on September 11, 2009

Photo by Joseph Hoetzl

Eight years ago today, all of our lives changed forever. As we read the papers, listen to the news, and reflect, we can’t help but to revisit emotions and recall where we were, what we did, who we were with, and how we reacted. It was a different time, a different market, a different government and a different reality. In a strange way, it feels like it was both yesterday and several decades ago.

Seeing the front page of the AM paper this morning, we were immediately drawn to the blue memorial lights – those same lights that inspired our logo and helped accelerate and shape our firm. As we have just celebrated our 5 year anniversary and as we welcome new members into the City Light family, we wanted to share some of our reflections, learning and gratitude for helping us get to this point.

We are proud to have supported entrepreneurs and companies that have successfully reduced crime, enhanced education and increased conservation. Our companies impact millions of lives every day. We have been amazed and inspired by our companies and partners. We’ve added new team members, investors and advisors, all of whom we are incredibly appreciative of and honored to be surrounded by.

We believe that our opportunities are larger than we initially expected. New technologies keep exposing new problems. Urbanization is occurring at an increasing rate. Communication and broadband consistently increase velocity and shrink our planet. We are engaged in two wars. We are falling behind in innovation and education. We are warming the planet and depleting our limited fossil fuels while transferring wealth to countries that are not our allies.

There is hope. We still live in the greatest country in the world. We have seen more talented entrepreneurs building new businesses designed to solve these problems. We have seen the passion of nonprofit leaders spread to the for profit world, and the business acumen, technologies and business models in the for profit world migrate to causes. We have been speaking at several undergraduate and business schools and have been approached by hundreds of students looking to do what we do – proactively help solve these problems.

We will continue to find and cultivate these entrepreneurs and opportunities. In memory of those that died protecting our lives and our country, we should all figure out how to not only do our part to not only honor them, but preserve their passion and bravery by taking inspired actions using whatever tools we have our disposal.

Thank you for helping us to help them.