The idea was sparked during one of the Foundation’s regular convenings, where a nonprofit partner shared a simple but powerful vision. “She just said, ‘Wouldn’t it be so cool if, when I’m out at a farm and they tell me they’ve got 20 pallets of zucchini, I could just go on an app and say I’ve got 20 pallets of zucchini — who needs it? Who can process it? Who can distribute it tomorrow?’”

This past weekend, I got “Toast”ed at Equilibrium Brewery, but it's not what you think. Toast POS is a cloud-based software that...