“Who do you want as a mentor?”
That’s the one question that truly stood out today.
Corporate Australia is critical to addressing social and environmental issues and improving the lives of those less fortunate. Many large corporations are well positioned to enable incredibly valuable and essential services to be delivered. In fact many are already delivering positive outcomes under existing Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental programs.
Charities and Not-for-Profit organisations are facing challenging times, Government funding is being reduced, or is difficult to secure, philanthropic and public donations are costly to raise and time consuming to obtain, the average Cost To Raise a Dollar (CTRD) for Australian based organisations is between .19c – .41c, meaning less actually gets to where it is needed.
You’ve just heard about your friend’s new business venture. He’ll be selling simple canvas shoes for a reasonable price and using a portion of the profits to provide shoes to children who cannot afford them. He wants to know whether you’d like to get on board with his company – an impact investment ‘opportunity’ he says.
Most people have ideas. Some are good, most are not. For some, ideas have become their currency, as they develop, design and co-create solutions to problems they’ve identified (or invented). For those of us in the realm of digital development, communications, or dare I say it, the entrepreneurial space, we are judged on the strength and viability of our ideas.
More people are quitting their jobs and starting their own profit for purpose businesses. But competition for startup investment is tough! So we’ve narrowed down ten steps you can take to get a head start on your competitors.
Pick a theme, chuck in a few pics and your logo, and put your speech into dot points. That may have cut it in high school, but an investment worthy pitch deck has to be so much more than that!
Some ideas are better than others, I’ll give you that. Some ideas even have the potential to be amazing, impactful, and maybe even the next Uber. But even a great idea will fail if the person or team behind it cannot execute it, just as the best teams in the world cannot make a terrible idea work.
Crowdfunding. Everyone’s doing it – but how do you pull it off? James Grugeon, founder of the Good Beer Co., has just completed a 60 day long crowdfunding campaign to secure preorders and support for the first Australian social enterprise beer company’s first beer (Great Barrier Beer) to be made in, sold in and benefiting of Australia.
With so many success stories coming from Profit for Purpose enterprises, should NFPs be considering a new approach to generating the funds they need to achieve their missions? Are there lessons to be learned from the Profit for Purpose sector? And finally, will the Profit for Purpose movement change the face of the NFP sector?
“What is this Purpose?” I hear you say. It’s about reimagining the way we do business. Placing the social and environmental needs first and then building a business model around them. For example, Keep Cup’s Abigail Forsyth built a business around a desire to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill from disposable cups without sacrificing the taste of the morning brew Melbournians love.
How does one launch a social enterprise? What needs to happen for it to be considered a success? One10 has just hosted its launch party and we considered it to be a roaring success! So we thought we’d share how we put it together, as well as a big lesson we picked up along the way.
We knew that over the holiday season everyone had some time to wind down, step back from the daily busyness of work. So, we decided to dedicate some time to sharing the musings and inspiration this downtime gleaned
Every expert was once a beginner
Have you ever considered sharing that bank of knowledge you’ve been building up for years?
Mentoring is not a new concept. It is a tried and true way to share knowledge and expertise to help build the capacity of future leaders.
We are looking for mentors from a variety of occupations and industries who can help budding entrepreneurs hone their abilities and navigate new challenges. We want to pair leaders in social enterprise with people who can help them succeed by opening doors and by facilitating network connections.
As a mentor, you can have a huge impact. You enable your mentoree to test their ideas and discuss their points of view with an interested listener in a safe and confidential environment. The feedback and suggestions you provide will help to shape the direction of their business, and may prevent costly mistakes invisible to your less experienced mentoree. By not being directly involved in the day to day of the business, you can develop and share your perspective on how the business is generally tracking, and pitfalls it may be heading towards.
"If you ask any successful businessperson, they will always (say they) have had a great mentor at some point along the road." Richard Branson
As Richard Branson (founder of Virgin Group) highlights, mentors are a key aspects of successful business people. However, the exchange of benefits goes both ways. As a mentor, you will find yourself benefitting from your new relationship. You will be developing your skills as a leader, someone who teaches people not to follow, but to lead. You may receive new insight into the world of business today, learn about new technologies, be introduced to new operating processes, or be energised by the motivated and enthusiastic people we work with. You might even be a little bit inspired.
One10 has a growing community of business leaders and is now connecting mentors with a variety of expertise with social entrepreneurs. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please contact us and share your skills, experience and story.
If you have ever had a great mentor, or have been a mentor, we would love to hear your story. What impact did the mentor relationship have on you? What did you gain? What were the challenges?
Three… Two… One… TAKEOFF
Haven’t you heard yet? One10 has officially launched!
On Friday the 11th the team gathered together to celebrate and share the news with the Australian Community.
We received a visit from Philip Dalidakis, Victorian Minister for Small Business, Innovation & Trade, who candidly remarked,
Organisations like One10 have an important role in building the [startup] sector’s capacity and developing innovative and technology based solutions to these problems.
We couldn’t have put it better ourselves!
By getting behind local startups, social enterprises and not-for-profits, One10 is looking forward to working with incredible people who are inspired and driven to tackle societal issues of today.
The excitement of the day was further elevated by the announcement of our sponsorship by Ernst & Young, which has agreed to work with One10 to provide services, experience, and connections to promote and improve the skills of its community and create new relationships that will help the startups achieve their goals.
You can read more about the launch by heading to:
Here’s a program to help more Australian companies emulate Kickstarter – By Josh Nicholas
Geoff Gourley launches One10, Melbourne accelerator dedicated to social enterprise startups – By Gina Baldassarre
Social enterprise incubator was only a matter of time for Geoff Gourley – By Mark Kearney
More One10 updates
Workshopping your Business to Success
The term Workshop was originally used to describe a place where things were built and repaired, and brought to mind images of the mechanic, the woodworker and the artist.
As society has evolved, and occupations along with it, the concept of a workshop has developed. However, it still retains the original concepts of creating, building and repairing.
Workshops for the modern business are designed to foster collaboration, promote creativity, and build skills and knowledge. At One10, we have been putting together an awesome toolbox for business success, and we have decided to share this in two workshop series in February next year.
Workshops to kick-off your big ideas
One10’s 10X Foundations of Social Enterprise Workshops are for innovators, future makers, and game changers who have a social enterprise idea but are not sure how to move forward with it.
Perhaps you have had the idea that will solve a major problem – but you’re new to business and don’t know where to start. Or, you’ve started to develop your product, you know where you’d like your enterprise to go but you don’t know how to get there.
In the intensive three week program we’ll help to lay the foundation for next steps in making your idea come alive. You will learn about what it takes to build a business. At the end of the three weeks, you’ll have a better understanding of the social enterprise sector, what’s is involved in starting up, a clear pathway to establishing a successful social enterprise, and how to attract funding.
10X Foundations Workshops will run for 3 consecutive weeks from 6-9pm at Space&Co on Mondays, the 1st, 8th and 15th of February 2016. Click here to sign up for this program.
Workshops to bolster your business
One10’s 10X Scaling your Social Enterprise Workshops are for any enterprise that is creating positive social and environmental impact and would like some clarification over the steps involved in setting up properly and growing.
These workshops are for entrepreneurs with a business plan who need support with implementation and execution. If you have a product, but have not yet established traction, you wish to learn how to grow your network, customer base and investment potential, participate in the 10X Scaling Workshops.
The intensive three week program covers every requirement for a social enterprise to become investment ready. Your will receive a condensed version of One10’s 12Week Accelerator Program in three workshops over three weeks. They will cover a broad range of topics, including legal structures, financial models to sales and marketing.
10X Scaling Workshops will run for 3 consecutive weeks from 6-9pm at Space&Co on Tuesdays, the 2nd, 9th and 16th of February 2016. Click here to sign up for this program.
More Tips & Tricks
10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
It takes a special kind of person to have a business idea and to make it work. The following characteristics are common among successful entrepreneurs - do you possess them too?
1. Ability to identify fertile ground for market opportunities: You may have a great idea, your buddies think it’s awesome and everyone wants to get on board. While there is probably some serious merit in your idea, make sure that you have done your research. Identify which market segments you are after and narrow it down to small bite size chunks. Identify where your product or service is likely to get the highest / fastest uptake so that you can build a solid base. Ask questions, test your ideas with a broad base, and research your market.
2. Have a compelling value proposition: Understand what makes you different and what sets you apart as this is what will win you customers and investment. Understand what gap you fill in the market: Do you provide efficiency? Are you the first? Is it your social and environmental credentials? Or is that just an added bonus? Whatever the reason understand your value proposition, own it and communicate it.
3. Know your audience: Preparation is important. Make sure you understand who your stakeholders are, what they want, and how your offering benefits them. Engaging and understanding your audience is what will get you new customers, networks to promote your social enterprise, and your investment pitch over the line. By sympathising and truly understanding their pain points, your audience will feel a connection to your enterprise. Being open and honest with them will help your audience be your greatest advocates.
4. Successful navigation of unchartered territory New ventures require the ability to be adaptable and make your own path. Think of it as a ‘choose your own adventure’ rather than a ‘tried and tested fairy tale’. Evaluate the cross roads and do what feels right for you. Regardless of the outcome plough ahead without regrets and take the bumps along the road as useful learning experiences. Be comfortable in being uncomfortable.
5. High performing teams As a founder of a social enterprise it’s important to employ people that can help you achieve your vision. Look for people that are results driven, self motivated and lateral thinkers. Make sure to do skill gaps analysis before deciding what type of employee you need next. Don’t be afraid of hiring people who are smarter than you to drive your enterprise’s growth. Ensure that all employees are aligned with your organisation’s purpose and its values.
6. Self belief and drive to succeed Starting your own business is far from smooth sailing. Be hungry for success and persist to obtain the results that you deserve. Many successful entrepreneurs have had to push through tough times. Elon Musk almost sold Tesla to Google, but his persistence and drive helped him realise the dream of having an electric supercar on the road. His story is not as unique as you may think repeated by entrepreneurs in many other industries. Believe in yourself and keep striving towards success. It doesn’t happen overnight.
7. Be persistent Keep striving towards your goal. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day and there will be some stumbling blocks along the way. Solutions may not come easily, but if you keep trying there will be a way around the problems. The Wright Brothers (who successfully flew the first aircraft) had worked for six years with three versions of human-controlled gliders before finally getting a flight off the ground. So keep trying because the next attempt could be the one that catches on.
8. Always be closing Don’t miss an opportunity to pitch what you do, engage a new customer or just talk about what you do to engaged audiences. If you see an opportunity seize it and don’t be afraid to push the boundaries. If this doesn’t come naturally don’t worry, engage someone who can help you refine your skills. Remember the old adage “practice makes perfect” so just keep promoting and discussing because you never know who could be the person that helps you take your business to the next level.
9. Build a support network Look for people you can turn to for guidance. These may be technical experts to bounce ideas off of, successful business owners who’ve already done the hard yards, and family and friends for some much needed emotional support along the way. Look towards where you want to go and find people that can help you get there.
10. Establish a winning culture A can do attitude and celebrating success are essential to creating and maintaining a winning culture. It is the kind of environment where employees are inspired to go above and beyond because they are motivated by the purpose of the business and want to drive results.
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The Often Overlooked Ingredients
For many social enterprises sales can be a function of the business that is under nurtured and for some it is completely forgotten. There can be a misconception that just because you are doing something good everyone will want to get on board and purchase your product or use your service. There is also a misconception that selling and sales is pushing products on consumers and employing forceful tactics. We want to tell you that sales is not a dirty word, but in fact it is the lifeblood of growing your business! And growing your business means growing your impact.
When you break it down sales is about promotion and connecting the dots between your product or service and what the customer’s needs are. The reality is that it doesn’t matter what sector you are in you have to promote your offering, reach your target audience and convince them that they need what you have. There are many ways to sell your product in an open, honest and ethical manner.
One of the great things about social businesses is that they often have a great story to tell. It’s about giving back to society and filling a particular need. Don’t be afraid to tell your story. It’s one of the easiest ways to get people engaged with you and your business. Your purpose and your motivation to do what you do is a unique differentiator. People want to know why you’re different and why you do what you do, so share it around.
Nail your elevator pitch. Time is precious so you need to be able to succinctly communicate your ideas to grab people’s attention. You need to be able to convey your message in 30 seconds. A successful elevator pitch will buy you another 3 minutes to keep engaging and develop your story. A solid elevator pitch will get you ready for an opportunity whether it be a new client, partner or investor.
If the idea of going out and pitching your business or product makes you squirm find someone that can help you sell. This could be a mentor to give you some coaching or a business partner who can complement your technical or business strategy skills. Many great entrepreneurs are introverts including Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Steve Wozniak. Steve’s business partner, Steve Jobs brought energy and creativity and coupled with Wozniak’s technical genius they founded Apple.If you aren’t comfortable promoting your business keep practicing but also make sure there is someone on your team that can run with the promotional activities and bring your business to life.
Telling your story and promoting the business should not only be the role of the business’ founder. Everyone can sell. It is important that opportunities to build connections and promote your product are maximised, especially during the startup phase. Ensure there is someone who can lead by example whether it’s the founder or dynamic partner who can encourage and support other staff. When meeting new people, whether it’s at a networking event or a family bbq, don’t be afraid to talk about what you do and start to build a following.
As a social business you have a great story to tell, which is an added feature of your offering. Keep the message simple and easy to communicate what you will find is that word of mouth will help to spread your message and it is the best endorsement. Don’t be afraid to collect testimonials and use it for your promotional activities. Don’t forget to get out there and always be closing.
More Tips & Tricks
Here at One10, we embrace the social enterprise continuum. We even encourage social enterprises to embrace a for-profit model so that it can find investors to help scale up the operations to have an even greater impact. This is tough to do on a not-for-profit model, but there are ways to finance this type of model.