What’s on my Mind: Musings about Work, Equality, Social Justice and Capitalism:
Volume 16: Conscious Venture Lab Cohort 11: Epilogue
This is for Baltimore.
Last night the Baltimore innovation ecosystem came together to see the results of 14-weeks of blood, sweat and tears. It was a celebration. An introduction. An exploration of new ideas. A chance to be inspired. An invitation to dream, to be better, to witness the emergence of a city that’s both coming into its own and one that deserves more.
At City Garage and with our partners at UpSurge and LaunchPort, we celebrated the 8 sets of founders who have spent the last 14-weeks going through the Conscious Venture Lab program at the Novella Center for Entrepreneurship. We challenged them and they proved to be brave, creative or inspired enough to dream of a better life and to explore new pathways to economic success and social impact.
All of us who doing this work, bear witness to a true renaissance. A rebirth — comprised of an exploration of talent, a commitment to impact and a fierce desire to leave no one behind — which, I believe, will result in an age of shared prosperity for this city that has heretofore never been seen.
It wasn’t just about those 8 great companies that presented last night:
JJ Innovative Materials
Hyperspec
NorthstarAI
Finio Pay
The Creative Representation Empire
Period.Dot
The BipocXchange
Edenic Energy
Although I’d keep an eye on them — it was also about how Baltimore has evolved over the past 11-years since we started here. For me, it feels like the last decade has seen us transformed from a disparate collection of assets and a defeatist “whoa is us” attitude, into powerful connected ecosystem that exudes a sense of hope with a “who says” it can’t be the way we want mantra.
Last night was about bringing that mantra to life. although many familiar faces were in attendance, we also exposed some of the major financial institutions in the city to the energy and excitement of our startup community. A community that for some has been hiding in plain sight.
It was a night that created new friendships. A night where new networks — from Boston to DC and beyond — saw the relevance and opportunity in what we’re all building in Baltimore. A city that is too often maligned and caricatured by a press that is more intent on selling the negative stories than supporting our amazing growth and potential.
On a recent episode of the Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, guest Brene Brown asked a question that is near and dear to me. The discussion had obviously been about financial markets and performance (IE stock indices) and, to paraphrase, Ms. Brown asked Prof. G: “what is the index where you don’t need to separate what you do for shareholder value from what you do for (society)”
If you attended our demo day event last night what you witnessed was the seeds of that index being planted — in Baltimore.
On display were the winning businesses of the future that understand specifically how creating value for society and for all a company’s stakeholders will help them outperform their competitors who continue to have a myopic concentration on shareholder value. Not because they are “woke” or any such thing. But because they understand that businesses focused on human flourishing and on creating societal value — with a keen eye towards the wellbeing of their employees, helping their suppliers succeed, the health and welfare of their local communities and who see customers as ends unto themselves as opposed to fodder for shareholder returns — present the clearest path to generating financial as well as a more just, joyous, equitable, sustainable and prosperous society for us all.
We are emerging as a city that will do things differently, that will think differently about the purpose and relationship between business and society.
My friend Doug Quinn — owner of Hudson Malone one of my favorite New York City saloons — has something he calls Quinn’s Laws and my favorite of those is:
Stand Tall. Choose Sides.
I invite you to do just that, and to join us in turning Baltimore into the next great American startup city.
