Do good and do business well
I’m pretty excited about my next startup adventure. I’m not yet ready to talk about the specifics but one of the things I’m most excited about is the foundation of how we’re setting it up for the business long-term and the people that are involved.
I’m passionate about the idea for the business and the real long-term opportunity to make money and create something of lasting value — but I’m equally excited about the opportunity in the business to make a real and lasting social impact. I’m on a mission to create something that can both matter to shareholders but probably even more matter to society as a whole. I think we can build something that can both do business well and do good — at the same time.
I’m sick of business only mattering for the sake of maximum profit. I’d like to think I’m extremely capitalistic as the next startup capitalist. Greed doesn’t have to be the sole motivation in capitalism. I believe business can be FUN, MAKE MONEY and CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER. And that’s my mission.
The first way we’re organizing the startup is at the foundation level. We’ve decided to incorporate as a B-Corporation so that shareholders can know that they’re investing their time and money in an organization that will focus not solely in profit maximization but also in the maximization of our social mission and being the best caretaker of our other stakeholders (such as employees, partners, customers). We think we can both make money and do good, too.
If you’re not familiar with the B-Corporation movement, you should check it out. It’s a legal structure in the U.S. for for-profit companies to give them the ability to legally balance their pre-defined social mission along side the maximization of profit for shareholders.
Having a social mission ultimately doesn’t relieve your need to build a real business that solves real problems for the target market / customer. But maybe making a difference will give you that leg up you to need to persevere. B The Change.
Stay tuned. I hope to talk more about what we’re going to do soon.
