My name is James W. Sperman. Over the past decade I have been best known as the guy who invented the Pink Taco restaurant and bar concept (as a 21 year old college dropout) and owned/operated the original Pink Taco location in Manhattan. You can read about my Pink Taco adventures here.

I recently withdrew from the Philosophy PhD program at the University of Texas, Austin. It’s not that I don’t dig philosophy (I do), and it’s definitely not that they don’t have a superb department (they’re one of the Top 15 overall departments in the world, and even stronger in my combined specialties of Philosophy of Mind and Free Will).

I withdrew because I’m obsessed with launching a philanthropically-oriented company called Booyah! Inc which will in turn serve as a large-scale fundraising engine for Kansas State University.

I strongly disagree with the prevailing wisdom that you should first make your fortune, then decide what to do with it. I think that’s backwards. First of all, the purposes for making the money serve as my primary motivators. Second, it seems more genuine and honorable to make a commitment to a cause early on, when budgets are tight and dollars are stretched thin, and to then work hard over time to increase the amount of one’s donations as one simultaneously improves his or her lot in life. This way, your philanthropic work is sewn into the fabric of your life, as opposed to being an accoutrement picked up once wealth is attained.