Profit & Purpose
Wow, the Global Entrepreneurship Network Congress in Melbourne did not disappoint.
In his opening remarks, GEN President Jonathan Ortmans shared the big WHY: “It is more important than ever to demonstrate the transformational power of human endeavor that transcends borders and artificial divides...we are united by the uniquely human capacity to transform our curiosity into technologies that spread around the world and revolutionize the daily lives of all who occupy it.”
On the plane somewhere over the Pacific, I rewatched The New Breed, which talks about how younger generations are finding fulfillment in giving back. This has made way for a new breed of “social entrepreneurs” asking what it really means to be a global citizen and humanize enterprises that were built on making profit over anything else. What I have seen with working with startups through MassChallenge and running an incubator years ago, is that most budding companies really do start with an ethical core, and all baby CEOs grapple with their purpose-fueled "North Star" while also fighting for their company to become (and remain) profitable.
Kyle Westaway, author of Profit & Purpose, talks about blending business with the goals of philanthropy that puts people + planet in line with profit—where the metric for success is not short term profits and shareholder maximization but expanding human welfare…which was echoed in a session at GEN on fresh models of giving led by Philip Gaskin of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Steve King with Atlassian, Keren Swanson with Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies, and Michael Kennedy with Intuit.
MassChallenge (MC) was built as a not for profit around the simple idea that entrepreneurs need support along the continuum – not only if and when they have proven to be investable. The MC model takes no equity so that we can work with the highest impact venture regardless of their financing preferences, sector or category, personal networks, and a myriad of other limiting factors. By doing so, we have designed our process to work with startup founders who may be overlooked or underestimated by traditional equity accelerator or investment models.
Its exciting to see a larger conversation forming around exploring the unique relationship between philanthropy and entrepreneurship – “how new and innovative models of giving from an evolving private foundation community are opening channels to the entrepreneurial dream for more citizens and communities, regardless of where they are in the world.”
