Building a Story-driven Business
Monetize the Why
How do you fund projects that aren’t designed to be monetized?
Several months ago, I started working with a group called Can’t Stop Columbus. They formed in response to the pandemic and are a group of volunteers building things to help people locally with technology. Through this group, I discovered a project that called themselves Remote Hugs. They invited me to a meeting and asked for my thoughts regarding their current status.
They had developed an app called Hugs. Their initial goal was to help those working in homeless youth shelters find a way to reconnect with the kids they worked with. The people they tested with loved it. But there was a problem.
The app was made for a phone. This wasn’t something kids in a homeless shelter reliably had. So the team asked the question, “Who is this for?” They invited me to help them answer that question.
I helped the team come up with a social media strategy. We saw that there was National Hugging Day in January so we set that as a target. It seemed like a perfect fit.
Before I continue, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the team. I don’t think I have been part of such a wholesome team. They are all just amazing people. They are building this…
