The Story of Q3 2018
Written to recap Q3 FY2018 by Brett Hagler, CEO New Story. Addressed to New Story’s Builders, Advisors, and close friends. If you’re a New Story supporter, you help make big quarters like this happen!
In New Story’s first three and a half years, this was the best quarter we’ve ever had. We had record results in the number of homes built, revenue for new communities and the Builders program, and R&D breakthroughs. But when I reflect on the quarter, I’m most proud of how we were able to intentionally prioritize culture, our greatest organizational asset, and make it even better while growing the team by 30%.
As you can see from the flywheel image below, for us, everything starts with talent and culture. By getting it right, we can pioneer solutions and amplify impact for the broader sector.
To the private group of visionary donors, our Builders, who support this approach, these results are a return on your belief in us. Thank you for being willing to buy in to our model and for your understanding that it all starts with a humble pursuit of excellence.
Q3 Highlights
- 244 homes built — more than 1,000 people living in safe homes!
- Nearly $3,000,000 in total revenue (combined from homes and Builders)
- Shared Innovation Toolkit — we released new software products that took more than a year to build and we completed our Lean Participatory Design Course that other organizations will begin to use in Q4 2018
- We welcomed five new team members: Tim, Nathan, Gary, Sam and Katie
Innovation Toolkit Spotlight
Part of our shared innovation toolkit is a set of software tools created to increase efficiency in collecting, managing, and analyzing data from the field.
In Q3, after six months of resilience from the New Story Tech and Ops teams building this product, we released the tool to our partner in Mexico.
Below is a training session in Mexico led by Matthew Marshall, Emma Lalley, and Joanne Ng from New Story.
It was a joy to see the hard work pay off through the reactions of the on-ground leaders when the mobile app was in their hands. So many smiles when they understood the severe pains this tool solves, how much their impact will be amplified, and how much time* will be saved managing projects.
*Time decreased from 1–2 hours per survey to 20–30 minutes per survey.
Mexico!
Last month, 82 homes were completed in Morelos, Mexico for families who were victims of the 7.1 earthquake that happened in September 2017.
The homes were funded by Sotheby’s International Realty and families will be moving in during the next month. Vanessa, pictured doing her homework in the image on the left, is part of one of those families.
When you zoom out and think about rebuilding a community in less than one year, it’s an accomplishment all New Story supporters should be proud of.
We will begin building an additional 228 homes in Mexico by the the end of 2018.
Every piece of code we write, each donor touch point, and all innovations we invest in are for one reason: so more kids like Vanessa will have the opportunity, regardless where they’re born, to grow up in safe homes.
Brand Awareness
Alexandria Lafci, COO and Co-Founder, was a recipient of the 2018 Muhammed Ali Legacy Awards in Louisville, Kentucky. Go Allie!
New Story was featured on national CBS television show “Innovation Nation” to showcase 3D home printing.
3D Home Printing
We’ve been heads down in Q3 focused on product development for the next 3D home printing machine. There is now an R&D Lab in Austin, TX through our partner, ICON, where all of the improvements are happening. All is on track to start building the first ever 3D printed community in Q1 2019!
New Team Members
- Gary Carrier, Global Operations Manager
- Tim Whitacre, Senior Software Engineer
- Nathan Bach, Videographer
- Sam Ballmer, Strategic Partnerships Associate
- Katie Tynes, Jr. Brand Designer
Growing Our Team of Founders
Two of the core values we look for most in hiring are a Humble Pursuit of Excellence and Team of Founders. We will bring on three new team members in Q4 and I’d like to explain what we mean by team of founders.
At New Story, we never use the word, “employee.” People do not join New Story for a good job. Team members join New Story because they want to be part of creating a built-to-last organization that will impact tens of millions of people in need around the world. When we’re hiring, we don’t want employees — we’re looking for builders and owners with the mentality of a founder.
If that’s you or sounds like someone you know, see more details here.
The Last 90 Days of 2018
In Q4, we will aim to raise over $2.5M for communities and for our Builders program. We will build 175 homes in Titanyen, Haiti. We will onboard three new team members. We will establish pilot programs with significant government partnerships for 2019 and beyond.
And what’s most exciting for our long term strategy is that other organizations will begin using our Shared Innovation Toolkit. Specifically, other housing organizations will use:
- Survey and Data Mobile Tool
- Lean Participatory Design Course to create human-centered communities
By inviting other organizations to adopt our toolkit and put our breakthroughs to the test, we’ll be able to learn and iterate so we can head into 2019 ready to scale our impact.
Onwards we go,
-Brett and the New Story team
