Author: theseekins

Yes I know. I said I would write. I said I would call. I said so many things. And then I didn’t. But that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t thinking of you. Thinking of phrasing and appropriate articulations. Mulling over thoughts that might be worth sharing. Alas, I relapsed into old blog habits. So here for a quickie to ease my absense, a work update:

One of my current projects in Nicaragua is helping plan this gathering – Impact Investing in Action.

One aim of the conference is to connect the 25 entrepreneurs of Village Capital’s Atlanta cohort & Agora’s Accelerator program to investment opportunities. All will pitch to potential investors, and use the conference as a space to develop these relationships.

Our other central interest is to propel and expand the early stage impact investing space. To this end, we’d like to provide a platform for prospective early stage impact investors to learn about the field from their more seasoned counterparts, and for all investors to have the opportunity to build relationships around co-investment.

We are hoping to develop a curriculum around this educational component, an interactive workshop or ‘bootcamp’, that we can run (& improve upon) as long as it remains relevant. In recent years, we’ve observed both a gap in impact investment education around early stage investments, as well as a growing market for these early stage impact investments – and therefore a growing need for this sort of orientation. Additionally, we’d like to continue to explore, and stay abreast of, innovative financing methods for early stage ventures. The ultimate goal is to be – and become known as – the place for early stage impact investing education and exploration.

Its going to be a fun gathering of some really progressive minds. Now I have to go in order to ensure the accuracy of that statement.

For Semana Santa, 4 of us took off in the 1994 Kia that some of the Agora fellows recently purchased. Admittedly, it is the least car-like automobile I’ve ever ridden in. But it was quite an experience, and we covered lots of ground: from Managua, up to the NW corner in Mechapa, then across to the mountains of Matagalpa. Here are some highlights:

For Semana Santa, 4 of us took off in the 1994 Kia that some of the Agora fellows recently purchased. Admittedly, it is the least car-like automobile I’ve ever ridden in. But it was quite an experience, and we covered lots of ground: from Managua, up to the NW corner in Mechapa, then across to the mountains of Matagalpa. Here are some highlights:

horses on the beach in Mechapa

frinds

bungalow front porch

desayuno tipico – huevos revueltos, gallo pinto, tostones, y queso. con crema, claro.

Mike, the American owner of Redwoods Beach Resort in Mechapa, who let us take over his tiki bar every night, and Rich, his trusty Portuguese-Canadian chef/sidekick.

Selva Negra, coffee plantation, organic farm/restaurant & resort in the mountains above Matagalpa.

The idea of a job has turned from something I dread into something I’m excited about – and not just because I spent months unemployed recently. I think it is because it turned from something I have to do, into something I can’t wait to do. I didn’t know of any jobs before that I wanted, and the word ‘career’ made me shudder. Such strict and unforgiving imagery. Now I know that both of the following are true: a) There are jobs that I want. They exist. & b) If I can’t find one that fits the bill, I can make it happen (provided there is a market for it, of course.) [Huge shout out to the StartingBloc family for making me realize the truth of statement b.]

Both of these realizations have come as a result of finding a passion. Really what it felt like was discovering my passion – it was there all along, I just didn’t know what to call it, or how to engage with it. I’ve always had ‘passion’ for alleviating inequality, understanding power dynamics, learning about the human experience, and addressing issues at their root causes. (Mix that with a healthy distrust of institutions and the status quo, and you had one wandering, wondering young woman.)

The story of how I got from there to here isn’t the point. The point is that here is where its at – enriching, fulfilling, challenging. I look around and I see friends going through similar awakenings, and that is (almost) equally rewarding. I know that I, and they, have a long way to go – that really I’m just at the beginning of this awakening and a long journey of learning, but now I’m more exited for it to continue.

The point is also that it took a lot of work – lots of digging and lots of discomfort – to get here. Again, I thought I would share some of my learnings along the way.

1) The internet is a beautiful tool.

Learning about impact investing is the reason I started getting into twitter. Before I wanted to learn something about a specific industry without lots of infrastructure, I failed to see the applicability to my life. If you’re into these types of industry, check out who I follow. This is a great way to learn about the conversation & even insert yourself into it (I got pretty excited the fist time Cathy Clark retweeted me!). You can also learn about job openings specific to your industry (like @greenjobs).

Google until your eyes hurt. Until you find niche things like StartingBloc, or unusual fellowships, or experiences, or camps, or opportunities, or gatherings. Contact bloggers who have done cool shit.

You can also find tons of job boards (I still check the GIIN’s every week just to see whats out there. Next Billion too sometimes), and inspirational articles are always good for morale.

2) Networking tips I’ve picked up along the way:

• You have to do it. It will be miserable lots of the time, even if you’re excited about the subject matter. Deal with it. Make yourself uncomfortable. That’s what growing feels like.
• Don’t know where to network? Sign up for conferences, or skillshare classes you think are cool and talk to the other attendees. Write cold emails asking for a coffee date with people at any level of an organization. The first one was awkward? Keep it up. That’s what learning feels like.
• Introduce yourself by saying what you WANT to do. That’s how you’ll meet the people who can help you get there & leads to positive responses; people like helping people.
• Alternatively, learn about why people do what they do, not what they do.
• My favorite icebreaker question: origin of someone’s name. (It works better than you might think!)
• Do you have networking tips? I’m always looking for more.

3) Getting excited about something besides what you’re doing? Volunteer in the industry you want to work in. Internships & fellowships are how most people I know get jobs. Volunteer or intern until you can write yourself into a grant. A source for good fellowships here. Be sure to put your volunteer work on your resume.

4) Get out of your comfort zone. Shake things up. Not sure what conversation you’re looking to become a part of? Keep exploring.

Finally, I love love love the tagline for a growing & timely organization called ReWork, started by some inspiring lads (some of whom I know from aforementioned StartingBloc family). Its simple: Don’t Settle.

And to take it a step further, Skillshare: the future belongs to the curious.

Oh, and the title isn’t completely random – it is, in fact, quite apt in light of the following: All means prove but a blunt instrument, if they have not behind them a living spirit. - Albert Einstein

Yup, think about that (another shout out to any entrepreneur friends, what living spirits they be).

My dear Aunt Jill sent me this card recently – well, in the past year or so. I left it laying around on my dresser – then one day I looked down, and it just really resonated with me, and I felt relief and excitement. So maybe it will do the same for someone else. What a great reminder, probably at any age, don’t you think?

Things to remember in the process: vulnerability = courage & vulnerability = birthplace of innovation. (Don’t believe me? It’s science!)

in case you’re trying to stay up-to-date, here’s a continued impact investment reading list…

• The State & Future of Impact Investing, Forbes
• Overcoming the Shortcomings of Impact Investing, Stanford Social Innovation Review
• The Case for Impact Investing Today, Balentine
• Impact Investing target Midwest farmlands – interesting introduction to Working Farms Capital, who operates with a focus on sustainable agriculture (mostly organic & with awareness of ecological impact)
• UK developing infrastructure around their impact investing space

also, recently found this behavioral economics reading list, courtesy of the Russell Sage Foundation.

enjoy!

I don’t want to make a habit out of using this as a platform for promotion, but my friend shared this with me after reading my ‘by globalization, i mean localization‘ post where I mentioned the value of authenticity – and where it was clear that I might have some tangential thoughts about how this has become corporate strategy for both designing products and marketing to consumers (in fact, it might be closing the gap?).

Either way, these guys are pursing an investigation along similar lines, and I thought some might find it interesting too. Also, I have a bizarrely strong affinity for movie trailers, so I really couldn’t resist.

The Naked Brand Trailer from Questus on Vimeo.

I suppose I could have done a whole post on marketing & advertising, but I don’t really know that much about it. Oddly, I do have some background in branding & communications, and have actually enjoyed it very much, but since its all been in the nonprofit sector, we don’t think of it as ‘advertising’ really. But perhaps thats just wordplay.

After all, I do see this as all being increasingly relevant. Are we truly in the golden age of advertising? Is it really advertising? What do we call it when we attract customers by being ourselves? This guy talks about the “four market forces that will cause businesses to either stand for something or eventually shutter”. Purpose. Authenticity. So, we need to be genuine, and we need to be part of something larger than ourselves. What’s so wrong with encouraging that?

SInce we’re somewhat unexpectedly on this marketing/communications track (Can you tell I’m writing this as I go, unlike some of the more thoughtful pieces?), allow me to share a social media breakdown that I enjoy:

[http://www.musefactoryinc.com/]

Awwww, thanks guys! (But really – thanks. Those are some nice things to say & I do appreciate them.)

I’m excited for my next adventures, but have been looking for an opportunity to reflect. If you’re thinking of applying to business school, here are some reflective & generalized thoughts I have to offer:

Benefits of the process: This is just one girl’s opinion, but the process of applying to business school was an incredibly valuable exercise. Arduous and a bitch, yes, but in the end, very useful. Essentially, it requires that you fully understand and articulate your authentic motivations, while succinctly sharing your narrative that have shaped and produced these motivations. I have run this by people who have fully agreed, and people who have faux-strangled me at the thought of reliving those desperate and stressful times. But as someone who highly values self-discovery, it was worth it. [Full disclosure: I was only semi-employed at the time of application.]

Research: The research phase is a little underestimated. I found that it really takes the bulk of the time, because there is a lot to learn about what resources are available, respected, and promoted at each school. And this is the only way to get to a ‘final list’ of schools. Make a final list.

Research methods:

• Website (duh) – but don’t stop there, become a mad googler. Check out student blogs, from those who chose to attend and not attend that school. Find faculty that you think are cool. And keep going.
• Talk to current students. Find them by reaching out to clubs you’re interested in joining, or simply searching via LinkedIn.
• Get coffee with previous students who live in your area. Seriously, it will help you tailor your essays to that particular school (!). But really, it’s useful.
• Gatherings like the Forte Foundation for women, and Reaching Out MBA for the lgbt community. Both host business school fairs and some will lead to waived application fees. (At $200 a pop, that’s a total score!)
• Oh yeah, you can visit too. But sometimes that’s not completely feasible.
• Look at the interview policy – some have open interviews before a certain date (like Duke, before mid-October), and some are always open, and you can interview without an invitation (I think Tuck at Dartmouth is like this.)

Looking for people who talk about business schools and their characteristics outside the average starting salary? Say, for instance, in terms of holistic preparation & social responsibility? Check out these:

• Aspen Institute’s Beyond Grey Pinstripes
• Net Impact’s Business as Unusual Guide
• The Economist’s MBA Forum
• Note that rankings can be deceptive for lots of reasons. For example: One major factor in rankings is commonly the average starting salary after school, but if the school is known for producing entrepreneurs, this is commendable, but punishable in this sort of ranking strategy.

Why MBA? This is specific to each person. But in general, I’ve noticed an increasing prominence of jobs like this, opportunities like this, and this general trend.

(One version of) the ultimate question: Do I need an MBA (including the networks, skills, internships, etc that come with it) to be as impactful as I plan to be? (& why?)

Overall: Be genuine & comprehensive. I read some advice on Stanford’s B-school site that was pretty useful to me – to paraphrase: “if a cover letter is a marketing exercise, b-school applications are an accounting exercise.” Meaning, don’t sell them on you. Tell them about the things you contain: your motivations, your passions, your experiences, your decisions, your inspirations, your natural talents, your developed skills, etc. And tell them what you don’t contain; acknowledging what you don’t have/know both demonstrates maturity and honesty, and inherently supports the need for your MBA.

These are some of the takeaways from my experience. I’ve heard a couple of friends express interest in applying for an MBA, so I thought I’d get this on paper in case it could be useful.

Don’t think I’m being dismissive – I know this is a great opportunity for me, and I have lots of thoughts regarding my own decision-making process, but I wanted to offer some thoughts on my application process, and I thought an acceptance might legitimize those tidbits (No, I didn’t photoshop the acceptance just to legitimize those tidbits). I’m also naturally a pretty private person, so I’m trying to open myself up a bit. And be more forthcoming. (Not my strong suit. For example, having my acceptance letter in this blog post makes me feel weird, for no real reason.)

Otherwise, the alternative is something I also welcome (‘zone of exploratory discomfort’ alert):

So I have until May 1 to decide. I welcome words of advice and sharing of experiences. But I’ve gotta say, it’s a pretty tempting offer.

In case you’re curious – Why Duke? (Well, turns out I wrote a whole essay on that for the application process, so if you want the long version, holler at me.) The short version: caseatduke.org (& this doesn’t hurt. I’m a Georgia girl after all. Sorta.)

some of my daily sights from around managua.

out the back window of the office conference room:

mango tree from the second floor balcony of ‘case de cafe’ which is, you guessed it, a coffee shop:

This is a half-baked concept that I’ve kicked around in my head for a bit, and just recently acknowledged out loud (and got a “yes! exactly!” response from someone who is clearly a new friend). Again, this is something that is difficult for me to encompass succinctly. One would have no idea from these blog posts that I am a big fan of the text message, and often write my emails in a bulleted list, able to condense most forms of communication into simple phrases. I guess we all need another outlet. So here it goes:

I think that when most of us think about ‘globalization’, we often think of the all-mighty internet, and especially the revolutionizing effects on communication and economic activity (and especially the ease & speed of transactions, and the cascading effects of these, etc). It seems to me that this access – this openness – after a couple decades, has allowed, encouraged and motivated a focus on things closer to home. I’m not quite sure what the relationship is, or how it works, but I’ve tried to explore it a bit:

By obscuring the concept of physical distance, we are exposed to the realities of humanity (not just perils of the human condition, but literally just the existence of human experience) in potentially far away places, which stimulates interest in the humanity that is just outside our everyday or immediate experience, that is, our community. Also, the concept of the ‘online community’ has caused us to rethink the idea of community, and what it means to be a part of one. (And has offered so many ways to address that omnipresent human desire: to belong. Oh the humanity.)

Access to information also brings a greater awareness of – or inability to ignore - things like the previously obscured realities of supply chains, heavily propagandized advertising & the values in corporate decision-making processes. The space between the manufacturer and the consumer is shrinking (see previous post on service design). This brings to mind the slow food movement – a movement with a strong emphasis on transparency and localization. Stemming from this is the idea of authenticity as a valuable commodity. Even if you can fake it, you probably can’t for long. (Though anyone marketing to hipsters will continue to try, I’m sure. Seriously though, if authenticity is what sells, it will be feigned. Which is why stuff like this and this makes me think twice. One thing at at time though.)

Since money talks, its interesting to note some localizing, or community based, movements around funding, from kickstarter to the crowdfunding law. (Which is about to pass?! For things already up and running, look at smallknot in Brooklyn, or the Local Investing Opportunities Network. The eventual goal being to float small-scale investments on an exchange, and the result being a very direct self-interest to buy, source, and hire local.) There are also examples from community philanthropy, to carpooling, and even the 2008 success of Obama’s community & online organizers to look at. Through greater connectivity, we become more locally focused.

The second part of this half-baked rant, is that this is nothing new. Its a cycle. This inward focus is a return to community awareness – a return to the concept that the community is a source of growth and identity, and a return to human-centered decision-making.

Did anyone happen to catch this article, ”Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs” a few days ago? I find it quite interesting because it I think it reveals some pretty significant value and cultural shifts that will be relevant for those in decision-making positions, and it also illustrates this idea that we’ve come full circle (not GS necessarily, but in the context of this topic). The author, Greg Smith, reminisces about a time when his pride in his job at GS stemmed from a culture that “revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients”. Now, however “the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money”. 

The way this article reads supports a sometimes-thought of mine that initially, globalization offered an indulgence, a corrupting influence even (information is power, after all; and power – mostly – corrupts). In fact, our first reaction was to use this as a tool towards whatever ends we were pursuing – growth, mostly. So I gotta say, I think we’re self-correcting here. I think that amid all this connectivity, our inclinations towards community are an inspired and appropriate use of our globalized minds. I think its a trend we can see in each of many distinct sectors, and even industries – which might be a much more interesting and/or compelling way to present this topic. Another tangent is how this plays out in the ‘online world’ vs. ‘the real world’ – are they really so separate? If so, will they continue to be? Will we find a balance?

As always, I have lots more thoughts about this (I mean, what does being human mean, anyways?) & would enjoy talking it out sometime; any takers? What are more examples of this, from anywhere in the world?

Purely informative, for those who have been asking about how Agora works & how I’m keeping busy:

Agora’s flagship program (there are others) is the Accelerator, self described as “a 6-month program designed to give outstanding small businesses poised for expansion access to the social, human, and financial capital needed to accelerate their growth.”

For this class (as most classes), the entrepreneurs are sourced from across Central America & Mexico (this is a list of the current entrepreneurs.) For the duration of their time in the Accelerator, the entrepreneurs are coached by the Portfolio Managers, who are Agora Fellows (& my office buddies), through the processes that will make them ‘investor-ready’. There are 2 main events int this process: the Entrepreneur Retreat, where they bond & learn, and the Investor Conference, where Agora connects them with investors.

The Entrepreneur Retreat was last week, in Granada. This was the first time all of the entrepreneurs met each other face-to-face, and the first time some of the PMs (thats Portfolio Manager, keep up) had met some of their entrepreneurs face-to-face!

This year, the Investor Conference is called Impact Investing in Action, and is being co-hosted by Village Capital (that’s me!). We’re holding it in Atlanta, GA, at the gracious Goizueta Business School of Emory University. Here, the entrepreneurs from the VilCap Atlanta cohort  – or as I call them, the ATLprenerus (that was supposed to be an ATLiens joke. I’m losing it, sorry guys. I should write these during the work hours, not after) – and the entrepreneurs from Agora’s Accelerator class will pitch their businesses for a group of investors that we are getting together. Among other things, we’re also using this opportunity to get together a bunch of investors who might not currently be operating in the early stage space, or in Latin America, but are considering expanding into either (or both!).

So that’s May 22-25, 2012. And some of what I’m working on. Along with some other stuff.

Finally, if anyone is curious as to my setting as i write this: back patio of my hostel (yes, still in a hotel – its an extended stay place, and its just delightful. I have my own large bedroom with closet & bathroom, a kitchen I can use, and this wonderful back patio where there is a light breeze, jungle-y atmosphere, plentiful tables & chairs, and a pretty good college band playing within 100 yards in some direction.)

Do observe:

Pretty nice, right?

Because I like taking pictures of places I travel, and pictures are for sharing, I’m going to randomly share some when I’m lacking the time (or inspiration) for a thoughtful piece. Hope you don’t mind looking at pretty things.

Perito Moreno Glaciar, Argentina. (Photo not retouched.)

So far, a central struggle of mine with this blog is organizing so many disparate yet related thoughts, ideas and interests into the coherent, communicable, and brief medium knows as the blog post. Likewise, I get excited about certain subjects and lack the discipline to stay within the parameters I set for myself. (Always working on that self-discipline thing.) But I’m working on it.

With that admission, I attempt another foray into a far-reaching and distractingly awesome field: service design & design research.This is an area that I find fascinating and relevant, and something that I might want to dive into headfirst before too long (ie Apprentice somewhere and then open my own firm? Who knows, just one option. But really, if you’re reading this and know people who do stuff like this, please hook me up.)

A brief wikipedia definition:

SERVICE DESIGN is the activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the interaction between service provider and customers. The purpose of service design methodologies is to design according to the needs of customers or participants, so that the service is user-friendly, competitive and relevant to the customers. The backbone of this process is to understand the behavior of the customers, their needs and motivations.

You can explore more about this field here, here and here.

I think that Google’s success has been indicative of their leadership in this field. Since inception, the users have always defined the direction and existence of Google’s products. Now, their wide user base allows them to constantly experiment with new ways to interact with the user, and the popular tactics define the business decisions. This is critical because it illustrates how the user is actually defining the product, or the service. (How freaking cool and relevant is that?!)

Examples of this in the tech world are pretty easy to imagine. But the functionality expands to more traditional products too, like Chobani (the yogurt guys who got the smarts), which is one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2012:

“We let customers define what Chobani was,” he says. “It sounds good because we didn’t create it–the consumer did.” ['he' is founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya, a Turkish immigrant who entered the food business when he bought an old Kraft dairy plant that was being shuttered.]

The functionality of this strategy relies on access to oodles and oodles of data. The more data, the better designed the service (or product) is. To me, this is why efficient, reliable data collection is the future of products and services. Furthermore, the potential application of this stuff to products and services for base of the pyramid populations is massive! So clearly, if it relies on data, the research, or data collection phase is crucial.

[Read more here on why 'the future of service is data'.]

DATA COLLECTION: DESIGN RESEARCH (ie ETHNOGRAPHY) vs traditional methods

(source: www.thereboot.org)

This stuff gets my anthropology-phile brain working overtime with its overlap with ethnographic methods, and a shift towards the inquiry side of the inquiry-advocacy spectrum.

ROLE OF DESIGN

Data & infographics go hand-in-hand, especially in this blink-and-you’re-over-it age of internet. Also, this stuff is hand-in-hand with design-y fields like branding, communications, storytelling, & marketing (I love this stuff too!). Actually, can you even separate these industries anymore? Can you separate them from the user experience? Elle Luna, former IDEO designer, doesn’t think so:

When I think about the role of design, and the overarching role of user experience, it starts from the moment you become aware of something and ends the moment you finish using the product. Until the minute that experience ends and from the moment it begins, that’s the entire user experience. To think of one as being design and one as being marketing feels totally disjoined. The minute you saw one of those iPod ads, with the iconic dancers rocking out with the fluorescent colors and nothing except for the logo and the white signature headphones–the minute you see that, it begins to suggest an identity, an aspiration; it begins to tell a story. And people see themselves in that story, and over time, they go and buy the iPod and they continue to be the touch points of this story. It should be entirely holistic, entirely seamless.

[http://www.fastcompany.com/1823204/fast-talk-elle-lunas-holistic-vision-of-design]

This is also why I’m currently teaching myself InDesign & Illustrator. (If that self-discipline ever kicks in, that is.)

There’s a lot of overlap here with another multidisciplinary field that I’m excited to delve into – behavioral economics. I think that is for another post, but if you’re into that stuff, the folks I follow include the following: I’m a little obsessed with ideas42, & for fun I follow these guys on twitter.

People I know of doing work like this include Fairbourne Consulting (specifically market research for base of the pyramid populations – hire me!), Reboot, & ELab.

A charming colonial city, and the site of Agora’s 2012 Entrepreneur Retreat (more on that soon). Granada was once the capital of Nicaragua (but the dispute with Leon was so intense that they compromised by splitting the difference and moving it to Managua. Oops.), and is the real tourist draw in Nicaragua. (For those of you familiar with Guatemala, or with a proclivity for analogies, in my opinion – Managua:Granada as Guatemala City:Antigua).

After a couple of days of working (& playing) hard, a few of us stuck around an extra day & night to see some of the city. This was across from our hotel:

Granada is on a lake (the 7th largest in the world?!), and when the nearby (active) volcano, Volcan Mombacho, blew its lid way back when, the eruption resulted in the formation of ‘las isletas’, a series of tiny islands that have been occupied for generations. Many are also privately owned with large mansions as weekend getaways, and more are for sale. So we took a boat tour:

There is also a shipyard. This is now one of many possible sites of my future bar, called “el puerto secreto”.

Then we made chocolate! We roasted, peeled, ground & mixed the cacao, then poured it into trays to be refrigerated overnight, and made chocolate bars. Delicious.

L to R, me, Karina (an Agora Fellow, working as a Portfolio Manager for 3 of the entrepreneurs in the Accelerator), Carolyn & Maital (2 NYU students from Wagner who are doing a project for Agora as their Masters capstone class, and were therefore down to conduct interviews & research during the Entrepreneur Retreat).

I mixed my 70% dark chocolate with some almond slivers, and just enjoyed it very much. Now if you’ll excuse me, its a recovery Sunday back in Managua, and the second best Jean-Claude Van Damme cinematic classic just came on TV (and there’s nothing like dubbed action movies set in Thailand).