Care Van: Final Reflection

Reflecting back over the semester, I have three key take-a-ways that I have learned about launching my own social venture. These three concepts are 1) you only need enough capital to get to the next milestone 2) making things happen at the right time is essential to success and 3) your management team can make or break your venture.

You only need enough capital to get to the next milestone

Within Heinz College, many of my professors have stated “no money, no mission.” This statement holds especially true within the healthcare industry.  The Social Innovations Incubator class has given this statement a different prospective by showing that all you need is enough capital to get to your next milestone. Within each milestone, you are trying to do as much as possible with as little capital as possible. After completing all the milestones, you will have successfully reached the mission of your social venture.

Making things happen at the right time is essential to success

Making things happen at the right time is an important concept in terms of making sure that the market is ripe for your social venture. You could have the greatest invention in the world but if you enter the market at the wrong time, it will not be successful. Additionally, leveraging policy, regulations and laws to gain an advantage over your competitors will also help you to be successful in your venture.

Your management team can make or break your venture

Having a diverse and talented management team is crucial to the sustainability of the social venture. As the CEO/idea generator of the venture, it is your job to properly put together a team that is pretty much better than you. Additionally, creating an open culture in the team will allow for hard topics to be discussed.  As stated by the CEO of Thread, Ian Rosenberger, your team has to healthily be able to argue in order to gain all perspectives of a problem

In conclusion, launching a social venture will take a lot of time, more time then you think. Ensuring that you have the proper support system will get you through hard times, financially and mentally, and will get you to the finish line!