Selling the Unorthodox

I came across an interesting Ted Talk video called "My Journey into Movies that Matter" by Jeff Skoll, a co-founder of eBay and founder of the Skoll Foundation, that discusses his journey as a social entrepreneur some of the interesting opportunities he has to make an impact on the world. Originally Skoll thought that his "ticket to financial freedom" would be to make a few start up companies, but found that success comes after failure. Skoll was approached by Pierre Omidyar to help start eBay and was very skeptical only to find that it was a success.

After eBay had been launched and become utilized in hundreds of countries, Skoll met a man named John Gardner. Gardner served in many high level and presidential roles to public foundations and helped change the current state of the US - such as leading the launch of Medicare - before, during, and after his time as the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Johnson Administration. Skoll received this advice from Gardner to "Bet on good people doing good things," meaning to look for social entrepreneurs. Resonating with those words, Skoll began investing resources from the Skoll Foundation into companies ranging from educating females across Africa to non-profit pharmaceutical companies.

So how does this tie into class? As aspiring social entrepreneurs looking to change the world either through policy changes, the arts, or education, there are opportunities for us to achieve our missions. The topic we discussed in class this week consisted of elevator pitches for our new social venture and why they truly matter. We have come to tailor our pitches to address a need, provide it's reason for urgency, and persuade someone to buy into our venture. However, even with this newfound ability some of us still felt unsure leaving the classroom.

Although Skoll and Gardner are only two people that have decided to invest in "good people doing good things," there are still plenty of others willing to follow in pursuit. ZocDoc by TechCrunch 40 is an example of s company that addresses a need (access to local doctors and dentists), describes its urgency (finding appointments with doctors right away), and persuades you to listen by capturing your attention. It takes longer than 30 seconds for Cyrus Massoumi, CEO, to begin talking about about ZocDoc, but his story keeps you intrigued as you can relate to his own health problem and encounter with the dilemma of finding a doctor appointment. Not only does he address his own problem, he takes the initiative to help others in his process - a good person doing a good thing for others.

To summarize, some ideas may seem non-traditional like eBay's concept of having people use a platform to sell each other items, but there is still an opportunity someone will see value in that product or service. Taking ZocDoc's example that 30 second elevator speeches may not always happen, but someone out there took an opportunity to work with TechCrunch 40 to address a complex problem.

After reading and watching all of these examples, I am more inclined to work towards my goals of promoting education and well-being as Spiderman and finding ways to work with hospitals and communities to address a growing problem of health complications. In tying unorthodox ideas together with elevator pitches, how accepting are you of your social innovation idea? I know there are people out there who would be aghast to work with a person dressed as superhero, but as long as children and families find value in seeing a positive role model, I will not let that stop me from doing what I want to do as Spiderman.