{"id":43281,"date":"2023-10-20T15:27:27","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/startsomegoods-tom-dawkins-urges-social-enterprise-investors-to-not-fear-risk-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:27:27","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:27:27","slug":"startsomegoods-tom-dawkins-urges-social-enterprise-investors-to-not-fear-risk-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/startsomegoods-tom-dawkins-urges-social-enterprise-investors-to-not-fear-risk-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"StartSomeGood\u2019s Tom Dawkins urges social enterprise investors to not fear risk – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Social enterprise startups are launching more frequently but still lack support from investors, StartSomeGood CEO Tom Dawkins says.<\/p>\n

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Dawkins says his crowdfunding site is seeing more socially conscious ventures seeking financial backing than ever before.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m getting a kick out of seeing them pop up in every category you can imagine,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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But he says those who typically invest in social enterprise, including governments, are risk-averse, and for family-run funds like the Myer Foundation it’s also a risky proposition compared to if 1000 people collectively back a campaign.<\/p>\n

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He encourages them to think more like angel investors, and view startup investment like you would a portfolio.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNinety per cent will fail, but 10% will be successes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAll of them are long odds, but if one of them takes off, it makes it worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Crowdfunding sites like his mitigate some of that risk, Dawkins says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBecause it\u2019s distributed across all of us, we don\u2019t feel so responsible for failure.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn a way, crowdfunding balances out technocratic approaches to getting things done with a bias towards big ideas and ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dawkins will be speaking at the upcoming Purpose event in Sydney aiming to showcase socially conscious businesses.<\/p>\n

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Social enterprise campaigns currently on the StartSomeGood that have impressed Dawkins include a subscription box of socially conscious products, a plan to transform unwanted fruit into tasty condiments and a line of organic soaps used to fund water aid projects.<\/p>\n

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Dawkins says StartSomeGood\u2019s partnership with financial institution Social Enterprise Finance Australia (SEFA) is another creative way of reducing a startup\u2019s risk profile.<\/p>\n

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Under the agreement, if a startup is approved for the program and raises at least $50,000 through the StartSomeGood platform it’ll be offered a further $50,000 loan from SEFA.<\/p>\n

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But he says it is imperative social enterprise demonstrates a value proposition to potential investors if they want support.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt makes it easier for SEFA to support when someone has been able to raise $50k through our site,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt demonstrates there\u2019s a community who are willing to pay for the product.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He names the Food Justice Truck, the most backed campaign in StartSomeGood\u2019s history with $153,000 worth of pledges, as one project able to operate without compromising the finances of its overseer, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey had a mandate from their board when they approved the project who were worried about it cannibalising their core finances,\u201d Dawkins says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut people have figured out how to align ways you make your money with how you make your impact. Those things don\u2019t have to be in conflict anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

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There’s also a pay it forward aspect to it, with Dawkins saying that some social enterprise initiatives are even beginning to invest in other startup ideas.<\/p>\n

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Do you know more on this story or have a tip of your own? Raising capital or launching a startup? Let us know. Follow StartupSmart on<\/i> Facebook<\/i>,<\/i> Twitter<\/i>, and<\/i> LinkedIn<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Social enterprise startups are launching more frequently but still lack support from investors, StartSomeGood CEO Tom Dawkins says.   Dawkins<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}