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Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#141

Post by jahewson »

songzme wrote: post #98

2016 - While working as an engineer at Google, I decided to start a free coding bootcamp on the side. I believed I could teach anyone how to become a software engineer so I made a public post asking if anyone is interested in learning how to code and about 30 people showed up at my house. While I was at work in Mountain View, 30 people strangers used my house as a coding bootcamp. 2017 - 30 students were hard to mana…

Please stop throwing good money after bad. You’ve proven that your approach doesn’t work, stop it!

Go find yourself a more business-minded partner in this undertaking so that it can be financially sustainable.

Noble intentions are great but in the end you will be left with nothing and unable to help anybody.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#142

Post by andrewnc »

TudorBirlea wrote: post #137

Consider the social impact of the way digital marketing works today: it is completely based on surveillance. This creates mistrust and it is the reason conversion rates are so small. Makes people feel used. Based on my research while doing my postgrad at Cambridge, I figured out a way to scale empathy: no need for personal data, no need for intrusive technologies, no need for excessive details. Today we work on this…

With the main goal of surveillance free advertising? Interesting

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#143

Post by slfnflctd »

User23 wrote: post #103
benrmatthews wrote: post #19

I’ve been working for, running and volunteering for social enterprises for 12 years now. I find that “social enterprise” as a term isn’t really known by anyone outside of the social enterprise bubble, e.g. those running, funding or volunteering for a social enterprise. The funding structures available to social enterprises seems to be an issue - you can be anything from a private limited company through to a register…

> I know a fully for-profit company who claims they are a social enterprise just because their main client base is registered charities. Cynical me thinks that for-profit companies primarily work to benefit their executives and shareholders. Non-profit companies primary work to benefit their executives alone. How is this better? My source is overhead conversations in bars in Seattle where I heard Gates Foundation exe…

> bragging about how they were getting paid $300,000 a year to do absolutely nothing

If I was doing this, I would feel guilty as hell and wouldn't tell a single soul. I'd probably also be looking for something else to do. The messed-up stuff some people boast about, it's sickening.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#144

Post by pbronez »

peridotoak wrote: post #12
AlexMuir wrote: post #10

I run a company that collects and delivers used furniture for charities in the UK ( https://boxmove.com ) It’s a social enterprise in the sense that we save charities a fortune on the way they currently operate, and we employ our staff on better salaries than they receive working in-house. The flip side is we expect a decent day’s work from our teams. We are profitable, sustainable and no reliant on grants, funding,…

Thank you for the share, Alex! I found your frustration to be quite curious: why would calling out the bullshit and incompetence be damaging to your business? I'd imagine that a huge part of your pitch is that you're MUCH more efficient and therefore you can save on costs if they outsource to your business.

OP runs a for-profit company with Non-profit customers. If they share a lot of stories about how inefficient the non-profits are, that could hurt those non-profits financially or just emotionally. Either of these would disincline the non-profit from continuing to be a customer of OP’s moving company.

Everyone loves accountability until it’s applied to them!

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#145

Post by O_H_E »

kfreds wrote: post #59

We started Mullvad VPN in 2009 for political reasons. My cofounder Daniel and I viewed it as direct political action through entrepreneurship. In particular we wanted to protest Swedish surveillance legislation (FRA), which is partly why we chose a Swedish name for the service. So far we have refused at least five serious offers of investment and acquisition, because we would rather retain control, even if that meant…

Worthy to note that Mozilla VPN is using Mullvad as a service.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#146

Post by pbronez »

TudorBirlea wrote: post #137

Consider the social impact of the way digital marketing works today: it is completely based on surveillance. This creates mistrust and it is the reason conversion rates are so small. Makes people feel used. Based on my research while doing my postgrad at Cambridge, I figured out a way to scale empathy: no need for personal data, no need for intrusive technologies, no need for excessive details. Today we work on this…

> my research while doing my postgrad at Cambridge, I figured out a way to scale empathy: no need for personal data, no need for intrusive technologies, no need for excessive details.

How??

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#147

Post by novok »

seibelj wrote: post #104
kfreds wrote: post #59

We started Mullvad VPN in 2009 for political reasons. My cofounder Daniel and I viewed it as direct political action through entrepreneurship. In particular we wanted to protest Swedish surveillance legislation (FRA), which is partly why we chose a Swedish name for the service. So far we have refused at least five serious offers of investment and acquisition, because we would rather retain control, even if that meant…

I see you take Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, any reason you don't take Monero? Monero is the most private cryptocurrency in existence, and if you want maximum privacy you could use this so customers don't need to mix their coins first.

It's a false security, and it can induce you to break opsec when they break monero privacy again.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#148

Post by gwenzek »

dvt wrote: post #118
Nextgrid wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just wondering, how do you vet the people that apply? I can imagine a lot of people would love to "earn" a free 2k a month and would happily play along doing the bare minimum amount of work required. I contemplated doing something similar in London (not paying money per-se, but providing a location & good hardware for the students to use) but was kind of worried about ending up with an office full of freeloaders that…

> Just wondering, how do you vet the people that apply? I can imagine a lot of people would love to "earn" a free 2k a month and would happily play along doing the bare minimum amount of work required. I think people that never worked in the public sector, particularly in something like social services, overestimate the goodness (for the lack of a better word) of average people. People that do this usually come from…

I think your wrong about the "all time high social mobility" my understanding is that the peak was reach 40 years ago. I'm currently reading Thomas Piketty on the subject

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#149

Post by O_H_E »

User23 wrote: post #103
benrmatthews wrote: post #19

I’ve been working for, running and volunteering for social enterprises for 12 years now. I find that “social enterprise” as a term isn’t really known by anyone outside of the social enterprise bubble, e.g. those running, funding or volunteering for a social enterprise. The funding structures available to social enterprises seems to be an issue - you can be anything from a private limited company through to a register…

> I know a fully for-profit company who claims they are a social enterprise just because their main client base is registered charities. Cynical me thinks that for-profit companies primarily work to benefit their executives and shareholders. Non-profit companies primary work to benefit their executives alone. How is this better? My source is overhead conversations in bars in Seattle where I heard Gates Foundation exe…

> where I heard Gates Foundation...

Oh, come on, that was one of the few places I semi-idealize as ethical and "clean".

Humans will be humans I guess...

Re: Ask HN: Anyone a social entrepreneur, i.e. placing social impact above profit?

#150

Post by minerjoe »

I gave up using Federal Reserve Notes, on principal, and have dedicated my life to improving a small ranching community. By limiting my use of money to less than $100 a month (hopefully soon $0), I've had to build connections with human beings that would have not been possible otherwise.

It was really eye opening to realize that the universe wants to play and it will help me in the strangest ways.

I've set up a community computer lab entirely based on e-waste collected for free that has a print-shop, network, big screens, projectors, electronics lab, etc and organized a few hackathons to see what services we can offer to the community.

I'm spearheading reopening the local community center and are setting up a tool-library with donated tools. You'd be amazed how many people have workshops filled with tools they never use and will give to you if you ask nicely and with a purpose.

I've begun to map all the trees in town, set up a gleening team, and building out solar dehydrators. Gonna stock the local shop with dried fruit right next to the candy isle. Give the kids a choice.

I've got hundreds (soon thousands) of baby trees in my back yard and have been setting up a gene bank for grafting many varieties of fruit and nut trees. Grafted a couple hundred apple, pear, plum, and cherry trees this last spring. Propogating out all the materials we will need to turn this town into a veritable food forest. With patience you can create orchards without spending a single dollar.

We live in the most wasteful society that has ever existed. I'm exploring the hack of seeing how much of this "waste" can be turning into things that people would have had to spend dollars, which to me is adding fuel to the flame that is rapidly destroying everything of true value on this planet.

Mother Earth.

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