Social Entrepreneurship: What it is & Setting Yourself Up for Success from the Start
Jill Kickul, NYU Stern Program in Social Entrepreneurship
Social Entrepreneurship is an emerging and rapidly changing business field that examines the practice of identifying, starting and growing successful mission-driven for profit and nonprofit ventures, that is, organizations that strive to advance social change through innovative solutions. This session is designed to help you gain in-depth insights into economic and social value creation and give you the opportunity to find and test new ideas and solutions to social problems, create sustainable business models (using lean startup principles), and learn how to measure social impact. The goal is to walk away with a toolkit and frameworks that can be used in a social venture or within an existing organization to influence social change and innovation.
Lean Startup for Social Innovation applies a scientific approach to becoming a better social entrepreneur and change maker, creating maximum value and impact for the people you are serving. Coined by Eric Ries, Lean Startup methodology is used by over 2,500 entrepreneurs and corporate intrapreneurs, driving some of the most successful companies in the world (e.g. Facebook, Google, Dropbox, Etsy, Skillshare). Be Social Change has adapted Lean Startup methodology to create Lean Startup for Social Innovation – a framework that helps social entrepreneurs and change makers apply Lean Startup methodology to the unique challenges faced by nonprofits and social good businesses today. Lean Startup for Social Innovation is designed to increase the success rate of building effective and sustainable projects, services, and organizations. In this paradigm-shifting introductory class, you’ll gain a foundational understanding of how minimize waste, maximize value creation, drive continual innovation, and ultimately make sure resources are not wasted building out products or services nobody wants. By blending lessons from both the startup space and social good sector, Lean Startup for Social Innovation teaches you how to go from problem to impact, faster and more effectively.
For those of us who are compelled to work on behalf of our fellow citizens and bravely go where few choose to, the tools we need to succeed are much greater than understanding Microsoft Office Suite and Twitter. As our world faces major challenges — social enterprises are going to be one of the key vehicles for change. In this workshop I will share some stories and tools that will help you (1) Identify and understand your leadership super powers (2) Recover from “mistakes” and (3) Lead your team even when you’re not the boss.
Exploring Platforms for Collective Narratives
Daniel Pinchback, Center for Planetary Culture
Business Revenue Models for Social Entrepreneurs
Hans Taparia, New York University Stern School of Business
Human-Centered Design in Foundations
Michael Hermann, Leslie Berman & Ruben Vellenga, United Nations Population Fund
What is community-centered design? Why does it matter? By definition, social entrepreneurship happens in the context of communities. As social and cultural entrepreneurs, how do we design products, services and experiences FOR and WITH communities?
In this talk and workshop, we will gain an understanding of the basic frameworks of community-centered design as an approach, an attitude, and as a value system. We will explore ways to design participation and strengthen community. We will also explore the role of storytelling for building identity and inspiring collective action.
Most startup founders spend a significant amount of their own money to finance their venture’s first year operating costs. Rare is the entrepreneur who plans ahead or receives venture capital in their first year. Startup funds end up being sourced from savings accounts, credit cards which carry high interest rates, or IOUs that if not paid back cause tension with friends and family.
In this course you will create a budget for both your company’s operational needs as well as your personal living expenses. Both are essential in order to lay down a strong foundation for your startup. You’ll learn about free resources, products and services which will save you money, how much you’ll need for essential living expenses (i.e. a monthly metro card at $112 x 12 months = $1344 per year). Having a roadmap of your expenses ahead will enable you to build and grow your company or organization without a fatal surprise that ends in “game over.”
You will learn about the costs involved in launching a business
You will put together a Year 1 budget for both your business and personal expenses
You will identify both essential and non-essential startup costs
You will understand why so many startups go into debt their first to second year
Solution Storming: Ideation & Rapid Prototyping
Sara Weinreb, PresenTense
Building to Scale: From 100,000 to 3 million members in 3 years
A look into how DoSomething.org built out a web platform that helps over 3 million young people across 9 countries make a tangible impact in their community on a wide range of causes. In this introspective discussion you’ll learn how to:
use quantitative and qualitative data to shape and refine your product vision
leverage iterative product development to shorten your feedback loop
set up processes to maximize efficiency and scale your operation
Using Data for Social Impact
Stefan Heeke,SumAll.org
Leave Your Cape at Home: The Importance of Cultural Sensitivity Panel
Moderated by Shana Dressler, Social Innovators Collective
What does it mean to be a culturally sensitive changemaker and why does it matter? What are the challenges social entrepreneurs, designers, students and professionals who work in international development face when trying to implement change in unfamiliar communities? How can we transform the outdated and often harmful image of the western “superhero” and find a new story. What do we have to do differently if we want real impact, not just great media stories?
With anecdotes and insight from academics, community organizers and social innovators, this panel will explore Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Growee’s sentiment that “If you go with the attitude that I’m the superman, I’m carrying the answers, you’ll fail miserably.”
Purposeful Adaptive Organizations
Sherry Hakimi, Cambridge Leadership Associates
Workshop
As a social entrepreneur, you are leading change and mobilizing others to have a lasting and positive impact on the world. Purpose is a key and necessary ingredient to inspiring others and creating a positive inclination for change. Your organization’s purpose can be equated to your organization’s soul – unseen, but incredibly powerful and magnetic. An organization without purpose manages human resources, whereas an organization with purpose mobilizes people towards consequential change.
In this session, we will discuss what it means to be a purposeful adaptive organization and what levers are available to engender greater purpose within your organization. Doing so will increase your organization’s capacity to lead change, do good, and do well.
Fostering Social Entrepreneurship through Cross-Sector Collaboration
Social entrepreneurship and cross sector collaboration is important to catalyze change. Rajiv Joshi will speak to his experiences as well as give advice to new voices in the space who are trying to disrupt current systems to make the world a better place.
