Friday, December 11, 2009
Online Trading
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Debt as a tool for community development
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Debrief of local investing creative session
The Briefing Document:
Below is the invitation that I sent out to the participants.
Must Criteria:
- The investor and entrepreneur are in the same city/region
- Maintains an attractive level of risk
- Provides some financial return / has a payback mechanism
Desirable Criteria:
- Inspires/encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to take action
- Creates new aspiring entrepreneurs
- Remains within the bounds of the current SEC regulations
The staffing
I was disappointed to receive two cancellations the day before the session and was not able to get new people on such short notice. This left the session at three participants plus me. Although this is not the optimal number, I feel strongly that those that showed up were exactly the people that needed to be there. The participants were as follows:
Rob Salvino: President, Terra Preta Sales, LLC.
Rob has worked in variety of fields but has recently established himself as a successful food broker in Seattle. His company works with producers on their sales and marketing efforts as well as filling a more general business consulting role as needed.
Ryan Jones-Casey: Financial Services Specialist, Goodfunds Wealth Management
Ryan has a background in the banking industry which has led him to now be at Goodfunds where he helps people manage sustainable and responsible investment portfolios. Ryan is also a large social justice advocate which informs his sharp critical thinking ability.
Alex Moore: Program Manager, Cascade Harvest Coalition
Alex is now coordinating CHC’s Eat Local for Thanksgiving campaign. He has previously been Director of Operations for eCycle Group, Manager of Southern California operations for a farm-to-school distributor. His passions revolve around green energy, agriculture, and private equity.
Summary of Processes Used
Welcome and introductions (10 mins)
Since we were such a small group I allowed for about 15 minutes of unstructured dialogue to get everyone comfortable in the room.
Creative orientation (10mins)
Once I took over control of the conversation I gave the participants a brief roadmap for the session and talked about the groundrules. The rules that I used were to suspend judgment of ideas that were coming out, wacky ideas were encouraged, and I told them that they were to write down their ideas on the cards.
Silent, rapid idea generation (5 mins)
On the suggestion of my roommate Caitlin I had some background music going as the participants entered the room up through the dump. I think this served to both relax the participants and to help them feel like it was an artful or creative space. During this portion I wrote down some of my own ideas, but I was carefully watching the rate at which ideas were being written down and I encouraged quantity and silly ideas rather than great solutions.
Round robin of favorite ideas (10 mins)
When it came time to share our ideas I turned the music down very low so that the focus would be on the speaker. I noticed quickly that Alex had a lot that he wanted to say and that I would have to work to keep the idea sharing near equal in the group. I did this through some “forceful acknowledgment,” but in a group of this size I found it easier to just directly ask the introverts for their thoughts.
Open brainstorming (25 mins)
I do believe that I employed both of the methods for spurring creativity from my session plan in the actual session.
The escape method : At a certain point it seemed that we were getting bogged down in the reality of the legal regulations on securities so I asked them first where they would invest their money (assuming they had some) if returns didn’t matter. This got the participants to discuss some of their values and things they care about, ultimately leading to a more creative conversation about what could be, regardless of the constraints that currently exist.
The stepping-stone method: At one point the idea was shared that we could create trading cards for local businesses. This got a little chuckle from everyone and seemed to have some energy behind it so I asked the question, “what is it that we like about that idea?” This led us into a conversation about communication with and engagement of the public in investing locally, which was where I thought the ideas were the most exciting.
Debrief and Adjourning (10 mins)
We ran for just under 2 hours and the time flew by, but I was able to cut off the new idea generation and ask the participants to tell us which idea excited them the most from the evening and why. I then thanked them for coming and we adjourned.
Best Ideas
1. Create an equity bank (or some other institution)
Best part about the idea: quarterly mock exchange to determine businesses that get capital:
- Get an amount proportional to your percentage ownership
- Or you could have voting classes
- Or you could give everyone an equal amount (it could even roll over and you’d get more next time if you picked winners
- Have an actual exchange floor
- Let the good businesses float to the top
2. Create a Seattle mutual fund
- Structure like the equity bank
3. Due diligence firm, clearinghouse
- Publish risk factors for local businesses
4. Credit card where when you buy you’re investing (spending = equity)
- “Keep the change” type debit or credit card that bought into your investment fund
5. Bring business “playing cards” to venture capital and angel investor meetings
6. Publication focused on new/exciting businesses in WA state – with profiles
- Local investment opportunities newsletter
Reflection on experience/Lessons Learned
This was a really fun process! I had really high hopes for the session when I got some initial RSVPs from my bell cows, but was then disappointed when they both cancelled the day before the session. No matter, we got some great ideas anyway! I have combined many of the similar ideas and color-coded them by broad category below. I decided to leave them in the order in which they came out in the session because it allows me to see where a shift happened near the end to a discussion that was more about possibilities and less about barriers. I think there were things I did well and things I should work on for next time (yes I plan on doing this again very soon!)
Things I did well | Areas for improvement |
I was able to use my creativity prompts effectively | I should frame my question and the introduction to the session to really highlight the need for expansive but focused ideas |
The music set the tone nicely, I chose a good, creatively shaped room at the library | I could have been better at infusing the room with energy (or not chosen a weeknight) |
I feel that I managed the dynamics in the room well (introverts vs. extroverts) | I really need an assistant to take notes for me next time |
Friday, November 20, 2009
Creative Session Plan
Statement of focus
In what ways might we further connect local investors with local entrepreneurs?
Must Criteria:
• The investor and entrepreneur are in the same city/region
• Maintains an attractive level of risk
• Provides some financial return / has a payback mechanism
• Inspires/encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to take action
• Creates new aspiring entrepreneurs
• Remains within the bounds of the current SEC regulations
Brainstorming Questions
o Where do our community’s investment dollars go?
o How would you define local investment?
o What are the pros and cons of local investing?
o What are the barriers to accessing capital for entrepreneurs in our community?
o What are the criteria that private investors use to identify investment opportunities?
o How might we effectively communicate the potential benefits and tradeoffs of local investing to our community?
Welcome and introductions (10 mins)
I will welcome everyone, introduce myself and ask them to give a brief description of their background
I will reiterate the creative idea and read the brainstorm questions from the briefing document. This is also where I will establish the rules of the creative session, especially encouraging the use of the note cards for ideas at any point.
The participants will write down on a sheet of paper as many ideas as they can think of.
I will then ask each participant in turn to share their favorite idea and write them down on note cards to model the behavior. I will ask for no comments or judgment during this phase, just ideas. We may have to go around a few times.
This section will hopefully flow nicely from the round robin, however if the session stalls then I will employ one of the following techniques for spurring creativity:
• The escape method : I will make the statement that, ‘no one is concerned about getting any return on their investment.’
• The stepping-stone method: I will ask someone to read one of their ideas from their dump and ask everyone to answer the question, ‘what is good about that idea?’
Here I will thank everyone for their participation and ask them to each say what worked and what didn’t about the session
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Co-operative model for employee and community investment
These are two videos about co-operative business models that are having some success. Evergreen Cooperatives is in Cleveland, OH and they've got some really cool businesses as part of the coop including a large-scale solar installer and a huge greenhouse producing tons of lettuce and herbs for the community. Their model was based on the Mondragon Corporation from Spain which is incredibly successful with 2008 revenues of 16.77 billion Euros.