Idea Napkin No. 2

The five important elements of my business concept, SORIN (the SOcially Responsible INitiative) are presented here again with the aim of incorporating the feedback that was provided in Idea Napkin 1.  They are as follows:

1) You.

I am a seasoned financial services professional with 25 years of experience that includes a dozen years working with socially responsible financial services.  Professionally, I have been described as a jack of all trades because my experience is expansive comprising of entrepreneurship, technology, finance, marketing, management, business, and product development.  I see SORIN as the embodiment of my ideals and now consider it my life's work because it integrates all of my past experiences and future educational goals into a cohesive movement dedicated to proving that socially responsible financial services are the antidote to the potentially self-destructive tendencies of free market capitalism.

2) What are you offering to customers?

An alternative socially responsible platform for financial services that aims to balance the need for profit with the societal value of fairness and the collective obligation for social justice.  SORIN will accomplish this through three fundamental initiatives.  The short to mid-term goals of these initiatives are as follows:

• Awareness:  The first step is to engage in a transparent and honest dialogue so that, together, we can develop a consensus about what constitutes social responsibility within financial services.  SORIN will mediate this dialogue by highlighting important considerations and developing a mission statement around the achieved consensus.
• Gap Fund:  No matter how carefully we plan it, there will always remain some gaps in financial services even if built on agreed upon socially responsible principles.  For example, insurance policies will continue to have exclusions, credit considerations will leave some people unable to secure financing, and economic slowdowns will leave people with limited or no short term income to take care of their financial responsibilities.  The SORIN Gap Fund will be set up to assist people who find themselves stuck in a financial predicament through no fault of their own.  Ideally, interest free loans will be the primary form of assistance because proud working people are not looking for a handout.  SORIN will transparently seek feedback in setting up the GAP Fund including, who should qualify, what are the assistance criteria, how should risk be mitigated, etc.  However, it is vitally important to realize that the main purpose of the Gap Fund is to assist those in times of need so it must be set up with the goal of being sustainable NOT profitable.
• Products and Services:  Practical models for mortgages, investment funds, business financing, insurance, and other financial products and services already exist.  I have personally worked to proof of concept some of these.  Building on this work, SORIN will look to develop socially responsible financial products and services based on its mission.  The distribution of these solutions will be the responsibility of for-profit partners that are committed to the tenets of the SORIN mission.  These businesses will contribute to SORIN and its Gap Fund as a return for accessing a branded socially responsible financial services platform, an energized customer base with a pent up demand, and the credibility and advocacy SORIN will provide.  Through this hybrid ecosystem, SORIN will realize a sustainable revenue stream to fund operations and awareness programs along with research and development initiatives.  Think of it as a professional sports league where SORIN is like the league and its partners are like the teams participating in the league.

3) Who are you offering it to?

The SORIN platform will be available to everyone but it is specifically designed for the millions of people who comprise the working class and the ever shrinking middle class across the United States.  These are the people who do not have anyone to turn to in their time of need nor anyone who is expressly concerned with providing solutions for their unique financial limitations.

4) Why do they care?

The working and middle class will care because the SORIN hybrid ecosystem will be comprehensive and targeted for them specifically.  It will identify the pitfalls within the conventional financial system and will respond with solutions designed to overcome them without compromising the consensus understanding of social responsibility.  The middle class will also be assured that if someone slips through the financial gaps of life, there will be a safety net, the SORIN Gap Fund, ready to offer assistance without the competing goal of profit compromising socially responsible principles.

5) What are your core competencies?

The SORIN eco-system is envisioned to have a hybrid nature where SORIN, a non profit, is surrounded by a network of like minded for profit businesses all working together to meet the mandate for socially responsible financial services.  What will ultimately set SORIN apart is that it will be powered by those who truly believe in the mission and are dedicated to delivering on it through any, socially responsible, means necessary.  Additionally, having worked in the socially responsible financial services space for over a decade, I have first hand experience, including a proof of concept that directly relates to the SORIN mission.

I have been thinking about and fine tuning the SORIN concept for a few years.  My analysis along with the feedback from potential advocates and financial services practitioners has been encouraging.  The major hurdle in the beginning is managing expectations because the overall concept is very ambitious.  I have yet to determine if the three main initiatives of SORIN can be launched in unison or will they need to be staggered according to need, resource availability, and market expectations.

Feedback Memo

The feedback I received was empowering because the SORIN concept was very much appreciated but more importantly, each person pointed out deficiencies and expressed some level of confusion with how I communicated the concept in Idea Naptkin 1.

I took away the following points from the comments:  (1) make the mission statement clear and easier to understand because you have experience in socially responsible financial services but your audience may not; (2) explain what you mean by the Gap Fund?; (3) how will the mechanism of interest free loans you spoke of work?; (4) how will you deal with the default risk associated with the interest free loans?; and (5)  how will SORIN earn profit?

I have made a concerted effort to incorporate this feedback above.