We are the Austin chapter of the national initiative founded by Mashable. The Social Good Summit unites a dynamic group of community and global leaders to discuss a big topic — the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our world’s...
As part of our mission to further Social Innovation, we are proud to announce that for the 3rd year in a row we will be able to offer our 6-Week Accelerator Program and Fast Pitch competition to the brilliant Social Innovators within the Austin Metro Area. Haven’t heard of our program? Here’s what you need to know …
We are looking for 5 Social Enterprise teams that are attempting to run a for-profit business that focuses on solving a Social Issue. We will take our finalists through a 6-week mentorship to hone the skills necessary to properly pitch your Enterprise to public investors … starting with our own Fast Pitch event held in October.
What will our 5 Social Enterprise teams walk away with?
Program Features
Personalized 1-on-1 Coaching & Mentoring from Top Austin Social Entrepreneurs
Deeper connections into Central Texas Social Entrepreneur Community
Expert Social Enterprise Industry Insight & Training
SWOT Analysis & Business Development Custom Plan
Investor Pitch Presentation Development
Lean Startup Modeling
Communication Skill Development
Community Engagement Development
Access to Business-Making Systems
Free Access to Crowdfunding Platform
Crowdfunding Training
PLUS:
Media Coverage during Austin Start Up Week & SXSW Eco
Opportunity to speak during SXSW Interactive (available to our Fast Pitch winners)
Free Membership to A+SG for 1 Year
What You Will Build with Us
Developed framework for effective messaging
Ability to tailor message to appropriate audience
Developed public speaking and communication skills
Visibility for your business/entrepreneur ideas
Knowledge on how to navigate through difficult questioning
Long-term relationships with socially conscious and practicing entrepreneurs
Better understanding on business insights and direction for your enterprise
Roadmap for where to lead your company
Stronger sense of direction as a social entrepreneur and innovator
Plan for working with the community on your initiative
Each month our team holds a meetup to bring the great Social Entrepreneur minds of Austin together for a discussion. This week our meetup took on a new format with an “Open Mic” session where we invited teams to present their Social Enterprise ideas to our audience and receive feedback on their presentation from our Fast Pitch mentors.
We had 35+ people show up with 7 teams presenting. The pitches ranged from ideation stage to companies that are operating and growing.
The coaches provided some really great feedback to the following participants,
Gridmates pitched by Cody Jarmon
Gridmates is operating in Austin, for now, and fulfilling its mission to end energy poverty by enabling crowdfunding of energy and energy sharing.
Mayfly by Bob Sherriff
Mayfly is an app to connect people who have a shared interest and want to act on it today. Whether you want to connect with a group for a pickup soccer game or want to join a group answering the call to local disaster, Mayfly is your way to get connected and act today.
IdealEthos by Christina Ceballos
In 2017 European companies are going to need to report on their global reporting initiatives (GRI) and to assist with that, IdealEthos is one of few globally certified GRI consultants.
Prepify by Rena Pacheco-Theard
Prepify is a free, gamified SAT prep that improves scores and connects colleges directly with talented, but disadvantaged students.
Recompute.org by Ataollah Etemadi
Recompute.org seeks to capture a portion of the 120,000 processors thrown away every day around the world in order to build and make available super computing clusters to the masses.
ThinkVoting by Jeff Cardenas
One of last years Austin+SocialGood’s Accelerator participant and Fast Pitch finalist who uses the latest technologies to completely transform the way we all participate in a modern democracy.
International Tea and Coffee Festival by Theodosia Shayo
Theo is working on bringing an International Tea and Coffee festival to Austin that would attract global entities to introduce to the local population while also bringing together industry leaders to discuss how they can be more socially conscious in their operations.
Be sure to check out the videos and pictures. Now for the take aways from the three coaches,
Joel Rojo - founder of TickerKarma.co and Entrepreneur in Residence at Capital Factory
Brad Bogus - founder of SpeakSocial and Austin+SocialGood
Chris Nieto - founder of Qobe Group and Austin+SocialGood
Now for the takeaways from our mentor feedback:
State your problem first - there are not many absolutes in structuring your pitch but stating the problem first is a great way to capture the audience’s attention.
Use a personal story in relation to the problem you are tackling and how the solution benefits you. By adding a personal touch to your pitch, the audience can relate more to the problem and the solution you are proposing. If you are unable to incorporate a personal story, you can share a use case for the same establishing that connection with the audience.
Be sure to clearly make the connection between the problem you are solving and the solution you are providing. No matter how obvious it may be, be sure to make the connection so that there is no confusion as to what you actually are offering.
Avoid industry jargon because the audience most likely is not familiar with what ABC means in relation to the industry you are operating in.
Don’t forget to include your ask within the pitch. The ask should be tailored for the audience you are pitching. When working on your pitch, think of who you are pitching to and what you want to ask from them to help with your venture. Be very clear and confident in delivering your ask.
If you have more than one person up there, be sure to introduce each other, what you both do and share the pitch time as best as you can.
Revenue model with a focus on revenue needs to be well thought out in your pitch. Your audience is going to want to know how your venture is going to make money. Never ever ever respond to a question that you are not focused on revenue because that is almost certain to send investors running.
For actual pitch delivery, use more pauses so that the audience can grasp what you are saying. Couple that tweak with the use of varying your tone, you can really enhance your connection with the audience. If you do not do any of those, you absolutely must avoid using passive voice in your pitch, such as essentially, we plan to or we will and etc. Be more definite in your pitch and less passive.
From events on storytelling to fashion blogging, SXSW has certainly come a long way since its humble beginnings as a local music festival in 1987. At the first SXSW there were just a few bands playing in a downtown parking lot to a group of Austin music lovers; this year the festival included the likes of Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, and Ryan Gosling, with thousands of attendees from all over the world. The mix is so eclectic that after several days, listening to a micro-biologist discuss social media trends with a skateboarding champion or the sight of people in giant squirrel costumes reading novels on a park bench seem almost mundane.
Despite criticism that the festival is outgrowing itself or becoming too corporate, a recent SXSW trend is how attendees and the festival can support positive change around the world. This year more than ever before, governments, NGOs, citizen groups, artivists and aid agencies were represented in Austin- speaking about ideas, sharing lessons and building networks. Austin +Social Good kicked off three days of SXGood programming with a series of panels focusing on building ecosystems for impact within communities. Their incredible evening session included everything from spoken word poetry with Yashi Brown and Brooke Axtell to story-telling through film with SJ.
The UN Foundation also partnered with +Social Good among other organizations to host a two day program with sessions on everything from women’s rights to impact investing to urban renewal.
The Accountability Lab brought people together through a workshop on arts for social change; and we think the idea of tapping into the arts- and the festivals that celebrate them- to build support around important causes is a great one.
Why? First, because music has always been a space for truth and a way to expand social and political understandings. It a medium through which authentic, trusted voices can be heard on the issues that matter, and around which support can be built for change. Notable this year at SXSW was Tef Poe, the Ferguson-based hip hop artist turned activist who used his platform to bring attention to the on-going state of police violence in the United States.
Second, the arts enable a strength-based approach to social change. For too long, supporting good causes has been seen as charity, which has only bred a reliance that has deepened the problems our largesse hopes to solve. The arts allow a focus not on perceived weaknesses, like poverty, but on the incredible cultural strengths that bring people together and build collective understanding. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the discourse around Africa, where mainstream media still tends to push a narrative that revolves around crisis, violence and the need for aid. The Sounds from Africa panel at SXSW for example- featuring Ghanaian and Nigerian superstars Samini, Ice Prince, Sarkodie, and R2Bees- suggested a very different Africa where power dynamics are reversed. In talking about building their industry; selling out stadiums in the Africa that American artists are unable to fill; and the role of collaboration in moving African entertainment forward, these artists are creating a new narrative based on agency, not dependency.
Finally, the arts allow for positive culture shifts. Combining film and music with workshops on world-changing ideas consolidates the important relationship between the two. An intelligent focus at festivals on issues of social good mainstreams these ideas into popular culture and provides the platform for larger shifts in thinking and behaviors. SXSW has taken note- and has now used its brand to build a broader base of support for critical issues like education (SXSWEdu) and climate change (SXSWEco). There are plenty of other arts spin-off sub-festivals that could deal with important global issues- from healthcare to women’s rights to corruption.0
Music and film are in and of themselves essential to our sense of collective understanding. SXSW has to make sure it maintains authenticity as a venue where artists can express themselves and connect through their work with each other and their audiences. But if it can be done well, these festivals can be used to build support for positive social change too.
@BlairGlencorse is Executive Director and @NoraRahimian is the Arts for Change Strategist at the Accountability Lab. Follow the Lab on Twitter @accountlab.
Once we end our Innovators+SocialGood Summit the really party begins. Here’s the line-up for our Art+SocialGood After-Party! Join us tonight at 6 pm at Austin City Hall!
