Saying that we love the Unreasonable Institute may be an understatement. We’ve known them from the beginning. Lindsay, Managing Editor of Beyond Profit, is one of their mentors. So is Pawan, one of the Co-Founders of Intellecap, our parent company. We are a pipeline partner to help them attract some of the world’s most high-impact young social entrepeneurs. They were an early advertiser in Issue 2 of Beyond Profit. And finally, Teju Ravilochan, Co-Founder & Connections Extraordinaire of the Unreasonable Institute, contributed a fabulous article entitled “It Takes a Village: Testing the Village Capital Hypothesis” to Issue 3 of Beyond Profit. As you can see, saying that we love them is indeed an understatement.
And so, we’d like to take this opportunity to let you know that thirty-five young entrepreneurs will vie for twenty-five spots in the ten-week Unreasonable Institute, a Boulder-based incubator. These young entrepreneurs hail from 16 countries, and they target issues ranging from the rehabilitation of former child soldiers in Liberia to the use of agricultural waste to produce energy in Bangladesh. The mentor-intensive Institute has developed an unusual way to involve the world in selecting its twenty-five entrepreneurs while admitting them free of charge, testing their entrepreneurial ability, and covering its costs of operations. It’s an online platform called the Unreasonable Finalist Marketplace, where the 35 finalists in the Unreasonable Institute’s selection process can showcase their ventures. People from around the world then vote with their dollars on the most viable ventures for creating social and environmental impact. The first twenty-five ventures to raise $6,500 on this marketplace are the ones selected to attend the Unreasonable Institute.
Why this $6,500? Well, the program costs the Unreasonable Institute $6,500 per entrepreneur. Because $6,500 is not affordable to young entrepreneurs from all geographies, to ensure the programs affordability while recovering costs, the Unreasonable Institute team turned to the idea of “crowd-sourcing” as modeled by Kickstarter. Kickstarter is an online platform for enterprising artists to raise funds for their early-stage projects by soliciting small contributions from hundreds of sponsors – limiting how much a sponsor can give each week. Adopting this model enables the Unreasonable Institute to have its cake and eat it too. “We charge our entrepreneurs $6,500 without allowing them to pay it,” says Epstein. “We instead ask them to demonstrate their entrepreneurial ability by galvanizing the financial support of hundreds of people through the Marketplace.”
We think this is an unbelievable model, truly pathbreaking. In a sector that is constantly searching for the next best thing, this may be it. It equalizes the playing field. It allows young entrepreneurs to demonstrate their entrepreneurial prowess and dedication to their cause. It leverages social media. It is an excercise in both mobilizing the power of your idea and storytelling abilities as well as in galvanizing both your current supporters and those who you haven’t yet reached. In a society that is practically obsessed with micro-philanthropy, the potential is limitless. With the low price tag to participate, a low barrier to entry, if you may, it has the potential to attract many people to social enterprise. Get both your grandma and your gardener to give. And after that, they too will have heard of social enterprise. Talk about building the ecosystem.
Here’s a 1-minute YouTube video that gives you the low-down on the marketplace.
