Shatterbox was kind enough to share a few photos from the evening.

The Shatterbox blog is also a spectacular resource for the young and up-and-coming business professional. Right now, they’re collecting the most challenging, tough interview questions and the answers to them.

We are a video-based social community for students and young professionals to find inspiration and share ideas about innovative careers. Our films are 100% original, HD-quality, and free of charge to individuals all over the world who are hungry to make their mark.

We’ve found the most passionate, cutting edge young trailblazers we can get our camera on and asked them, simply, to share their stories. Our archive of fascinating shatterbox stories will grow as we seek new characters to feature across limitless industries. And we want you to join the conversation. Leave your comments, share your ideas and your stories, connect with other users, and find yourself a little closer to making your mark.

To bring Shatterbox’s mission of empowerment to the world, they’ll be hosting the first Shatterbox Salon, this Monday, July 19, at The Tank artspace in Manhattan. It’s a must-attend event for those looking for a little direction or a lot of inspiration in their careers.

Be sure to also check out our insightful and inspiring Q&A with Brightmap/Ultra Light startups head Graham Lawlor here.

We at Sunshine have been excited about the launch of Brightmap for a while, as it serves an exciting and needed purpose in the landscape of social tools–to network businesses to one another. Launched by Ultra Light Startups’ Graham Lawlor, Brightmap is, company by company, connecting businesses, services and vendors in important and revolutionary ways.

On Tuesday June 8th, during Internet Week, Ultra Light Startups and Brightmap are hosting a discussion on “Social Networking Your Business”. Featuring Sunshine’s own Cheni Yerushalmi and one of our resident Shiners Sabir Semerkant, this event is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to learn how to unleash the power social tools like Brightmap truly hold for their businesses. We asked event coordinator and Brightmap/Ultra Light Startups’ own Graham Lawlor a few questions about his history in business, his work as an entrepreneur and the future of social media for small businesses.

Sunshine: What’s your history in business and interest in small businesses?

Graham Lawlor: I think my first business started when I was 3 years old.  I took kindling wood my father had chopped for the fireplace and offered it to our next door neighbor for ten dollars a bundle.  They offered ten cents and I immediately accepted.  It’s much easier to move down in price than to move up, I always say!
After various lemonaid stands, paper routes, and car washes, my first profitable business after college was in real estate.  I was living in Chicago, moving apartments, and met a real estate broker.  He kept showing me apartments in all these identical 3-unit buildings in a rough area of town.  In places they were literally building for of these right next to each other on one side of the street and another four on the other side simultaneously.  I inquired about the economics of the building and the broker offered to sell me one on the spot.  I bought it with a partner, my live savings, and lots of leverage.  It turned out to be a good idea, as I lived in it free and it’s been profitable from day one.  I still own it and my equity has multiplied many times, even after the current real estate bust.  Later I invested in several other real estate developments, all with good returns, until I moved to New York and sold everything except the first building, which is still going strong with my partner managing it.

Sunshine: As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

GL: I recall wanting to be an underwater welder at one time.  I took a welding class in high school and made the strongest weld in the history of the school (they kept track).  I heard welding underwater sounded crazy yet fun.

Sunshine: How did the project that began as Techo ecosystems and is now Brightmap come to be?

GL: I call it a spinoff of my other project, Ultra Light Startups.  Ultra Light Startups is a networking group for technology entrepreneurs that has been going for almost two years.  In that time I know dozens of business deals that have taken place there.  Mainly between startups and professional service providers – lawyers, accountants, web developers, designers, PR firms, media firms, etc.  The ’social directory of companies’ concept was initially a feature of a new Ultra Light Startups website that I was designing.  It was a way for members of Ultra Light Startups to connect and collaborate online.  After many rounds of design, usability testing, and redesign, I came to realize the directory was its own product, that would live separately, outside of Ultra Light Startups.  In many ways, BrightMap and Ultra Light Startups are the same business just done in different ways.  They both connect businesses, but one does it at in-person events while the other does it online.  There are many synergies between the two and I uncover more every day.

Sunshine: how do you envision Brightmap helping small businesses, specifically?

GL: Think of two categories of companies that might use BrightMap – B2B companies and B2C companies.  B2B companies are lawyers, accountants, web designers, PR firms, recruiters, office space providers, etc.  They all sell to businesses.  Then B2C companies buy products and services from the B2B companies (and B2B companies also buy from other B2B companies).  BrightMap will make it easier for consumers of B2B services to find the right providers and it will make it easier to vet these providers through references and personal connections.  And it will make it easier for B2B service providers to market themselves and demonstrate their skills, client lists, and references.  Finding the right providers is critical to any business’s success, and BrightMap will make that much easier.

Tickets are on sale now for “Social Networking Your Small Business”.

You can check out the rest of the pictures here. Also, make sure to read the summaries of previous softball games here and here, they’re great.

To check out some more pictures you can view the photo album here.

Your intrepid Sunshine softball team reporter was a little worried about the team’s prospects for last Friday’s game 2 after running into powerhouse hitter Jenny Alcebo in the NoHo office an hour before game-time and finding out she wouldn’t be suiting up due to what can only be deemed a brain fart. “I have to babysit tonight,” Alcebo said unapologetically. “I totally forgot there was a softball game.” If this dedication to the team was contagious, the Shiners would surely be in trouble. I hopped in a cab with Adrian the phone man, slick fielding shortstop Tony and Sarah the self-proclaimed “PocketAsian’ (so says the back of her jersey) making it to the field on 28th and 10 with 20 minutes to spare before first pitch.

The Shiners fell behind 7-0 in the first inning behind a TERRIBLE performance by Bill Mailler who found it hard to concentrate on pitching because he was fixated with trying to hit home runs over the short fences in the outfield. Not to worry, though, he left that up to the batters of the opposing team who treated his pitches like the meatballs they were and sent many of them sailing over the fence and to the soup kitchen on the next block where grateful patrons enjoyed them with their spaghetti dinner.
Shners made out after out without getting on base until yours truly reached on a mighty swing that led to a ball that rolled about 12 feet, good enough for a single and an error that allowed me to take second. This did give team Shiner momentum and led to 3 runs, cutting the score to 7-3. Our evil opponents continued to feast on our pitching, however, stretching the lead to 11-3. Things would have been really bad if team captain Caitlin McConnell hadn’t shown up with a case of Coors Light to ease the pain. McConnell- whose skills on the field would never be confused with those of Jenny Alcebo’s unathletic cat, was MVP by simply deciding to not take the weekend roadtrip upstate that had been on her agenda. Said McConnell, “I had this trip planned for months but realized no one else on the team was capable of buying and carrying beer like me so I cancelled it.” McConnell, who was stationed at catcher for a few innings, received tips on how to squat from the umpire during the game, but inexplicably seemed to get worse at is as the game went on.
Wild-eyed reliever Rob came in focused to relieve Mailler in the third and mowed down a bunch of the scared opponents to give the Shiners at least a chance to come back. Things looked bleak in the 3rd inning, though, when Shiner 3rd Basemen Ricky made an amazing play on a grounder to keep the runners on base and then threw to first to try to get the runner. What happened next is still a mystery. “I threw to what I thought was our first basemen, that Smith character, but he was actually standing in the outfield,” a confused Ricky said. “I threw kind of near him but not quite because when I threw he wasn’t looking at me but instead I think he was talking to a butterfly he had captured.” The ball rolled slick-fielding Jade in right field who scooped it up and threw it in to keep the runner from advancing past second.

As the light quickly disappeared and seeing the ball became impossible, Smith and Tony feigned injuries so they wouldn’t become Shiners with shiners, and spent their time on the bench pounding Coors Light and making bets as to which teammate would get hit in the head first with the softball. Comical plays included Larry’s dive and miss for a ball in the outfield, Mailler’s drop of an easy pop-up and amazing catch by Brianna in which her cheering cost the team a potential double play but was a great play nonetheless. Other great plays included game-saving catches by Troy in the outfield and steady glove work by Brianna, Jade and Tony.
As the beer continued to go down in rapid fashion the Shiners kept getting closer. An amazing double play in the sixth inning in which Mailler threw to first basemen Nick who stuck his glove up as high as he could in the dark to keep the score tight and end a rally by the Evil doers Sunshine faced. Said Nick, “I was annoyed at some other players on the team who bailed playing the field because THEY didn’t want to get hit in the face and left me out there in the dark to get hit in the face. Luckily I didn’t get hit in the face and caught the ball.”

The Shiners came up in the bottom half of the 6th and the hits and runs kept coming until a funny thing happened- we took the lead 14-13! The bench erupted and Shiners could almost taste another victory.
Rob continued to mow down batters but in the 7th he gave up the tying run and then loaded the bases with two outs and faced the toughest batter on the other team. To give you an idea of how good this guy was, one of the balls he hit off Mailler earlier in the game is still traveling and NASA has given it a name and is following it’s orbit. Rob worked the count full and with Shiners holding their collective breath, struck out the Babe Ruth of casual corporate league softball!

In the bottom of the 7th, Mailler and Rob led off with singles before always consistent Kondo (who left his glove at the last game FYI in case anyone happens to find it) smashed a double that brought in Rob and gave the team an amazing 15-14 comeback win! A pile-up at homeplate ensued and the Shiners headed straight to the bar (after a celebratory shot of Patron of course) for a night of revelry and the occasional pizza slice. Will the Shiners ever lose? Probably, but if you don’t read the weekly review, you will never know. Stay tuned for this Thursday’s game 3’s match-up in hipster hotbed Williamsburg!

The sun wasn’t shining at the start of the Sunshine Suites softball team’s first game of the 2010 season in Queens, but that didn’t dampen the spirits or bats of the 15 players that braved the weather and showed up anyway. Things started out rough as rookie Sunshine pitcher Bill Mailler got rocked in the first inning, giving up 4 runs. The laid back Sunshine team was actually content to take a beating as long the two cases of Bud Light on the bench were there to ease the pain. But when the opposing team’s manager complained to the ump about the drinking, Shiner’s took offense and punished the opposition with an onslaught of hits and some great defense plays by Kondo, Tony and Brianna. Meanwhile, Shiners weren’t deterred by the no Bud Light rule either, using their gloves to hide their cans and surreptitiously sip the brew. “Drinking while playing was awesome,” Shiner first baseman Tim Smith said, “Until my third at bat after my fourth beer when I actually saw two balls come out of the pitcher’s hand. I just guessed which one was real and took a cut.”

Mailler was solid after that shaky first inning by limiting the other team to only 2 more runs while striking out an impressive 7 batters. A three run homer by Kondo that eluded 3 fielders who seemed to have holes in their gloves gave the Shiners all the runs they would need and the margin for a 12-6 victory. Adrian- the Shiner phone-man- cracked open a bottle of Patron after the game so the buzz wasn’t lost on the F train ride to the Blue Room Bar in Manhattan, where Shiners celebrated their victory into the wee hours of the night. Team Captain Caitlin McConnel was asked to describe her feelings after the team pulled off its first of what will be many wins, but she was too busy trying to give teammate Jenny Alcebo’s cat away to anyone who promised not to cook it.

From the New York Entrepreneur Week website, a little about the events, panels, discussions and opportunities, and the modus operandi behind the whole operation:

Entrepreneurs are the catalysts for overcoming today’s economic odds, and we’re setting the stage in New York for this groundbreaking event to catapult entrepreneurs to even greater success.

Our goal is to make connections across diverse industries, from young idea-stage innovators to hundred million dollar revenue generators, and join them together in a unifying movement that propels inspired business, facilitates lasting connections, and generates opportunities for more successful entrepreneurial ventures.

New York Entrepreneur Week (NYEW) is the first movement of its kind, providing a framework for unifying the state’s most important entrepreneurial groups with the vastly diverse entrepreneurial community. NYEW is New York State’s premier forum where entrepreneurs can learn, grow, connect and leverage opportunities to do what they do best: drive economic change in exponential ways.

Obviously, our core goals at Sunshine as a community focused on networking small businesses and startups are perfectly matched by Entrepreneur Week, and so we’re very proud to offer an exclusive Sunshine NY discount of 75% off of registration.

To claim your discount, use the code sunshine2010 at checkout. To learn more about NY Entrepreneur Week’s events and happenings, visit the NYEW site here .

Also, the evening of Feb 4, join us at Tribeca West at 630 PM for a roundtable talk about social media and small business with VaynerMedia, Yipit and Britemap.com, moderated by me!