Social Startup

Social Startup Workshops, Starting 7th Feb, 5 sessions.

I am attending the Social Startup workshops organised by Nest. I wasn't 100% sure what this would be about but I am interested in starting up something of my own, I've had a few ideas for some time, and I am also interested in social issues. I was sure that I could learn something from these sessions. 

Workshop 1, 7th Feb

Turns out a Social Startup is a business that trades in order to achieve a social objective, reinvesting profit in the business to achieve a social mission. 

It's not quite a charity but not quite a business, it's somewhere in between. 

One of the most interesting parts of this session was actually meeting the other people attending and finding out about their ideas. We all the the unusual introductory thing and explained a little about what we wanted to do. There were two main starting points/ ideas that caught my attention. One lady was thinking about doing something around Alzheimer's disease which is interesting to me as I my Nana recently passed because of dementia. Another was a lady who had  more focused plan, she wants to make a plastic free supermarket in Portsmouth. I would shop there! This goes along with one of my ideas of making art practice more sustainable, I had recently been looking into alternatives to using plastic when warping and protecting art prints ( I need to put this on this blog!). A good idea what we were introduced to was the idea of working with or collaborating with others with similar ideas and ideals. This could work.  

Some members of the group had already started their social startups including the creator of Foggy:

Another great part of this session was having people come in who had started and been successful is some way with their ideas. These were Pete Hunt from Feed Hot Dogs (who will soon be changing the name to Need Hot Dogs) and Gav from The Makers Guild in Guild Hall. Both of these where extremely inspiring and amazing ideas. Both very different from begging to finish and both still developing and learning. 

I started this sessions with a few ideas and managed to narrow them down. When I left I developed these two ideas a little further, bring on next week. 

Workshop 2, 14th Feb

Before this workshop I've been thinking that the realistically I don't think I will have the time to go through with what ever plans I have after these sessions end with all the other things I have going on. However I decided not to cancel as I think these will be useful in other areas or if I want to follow these ideas at a later date. 

I began this session narrowing my ideas down to one, I don't want to explain the full idea of this yet but very loosely it's about making art practice more sustainable. We got given some examples of how to make out missions statements simple and punchy. 

Some big things to think about:

Is the problem being tackled by anyone else? 

Who will be the "customers"? Does anyone care? 

We also had guest speakers: Pavin and Mel from Canvas Coffee (the best coffee I've had in Portsmouth, located at Portsmouth & Southsea train station) and Toucan Diversity. 

The main focus of these sessions was to think about the buyer/ customer/ who will be giving you money? I will be looking further into my idea to see if it is a problem people think about, it is something people would buy?

Workshop 3, 21 Feb

This has probably been the least useful workshop apart from the guest speaker. This was Jinx from Music Fusion, see here. 

He was a very inspiring speaker and told us his backstory and how it led into the project. This is a project that helps vulnerable children get together through music and become more confident or give them something else to do and to learn. They work with vulnerable young people from different ends of the spectrum from young people who are living in an abusive situation, to those who are committing crime. "Challenging life circumstances".

He also told us that he is registered as a Charity as a Social Enterprise would not be able to get money from some of the other Charities that currently sponsor him. Something to think about.  

He also shared with us Music Fusion's 'Social Capital'. This was that the program had prevented 4027 within two years (I think it was two) which according to the Tax Office, saved the tax payer £27,171,198. This meant that for every £1 spent by Music Fusion, the tax payer would be saving £47.57. 

Other notes from this session would be to think about branding, marketing and sales. With marketing it is best to talk about the benefits rather than the features when advertising to the consumer. 

Who might be potential supporters? 

What is my unique selling point?

Will it be on flyers? website? social media? articles in papers/mags? 

Workshop 4 ABSENT

Unfortunately I was ill on this day so couldn't attend. I have however decided that I will not be pitching my idea. I have found that not only is there not much of gap in the market for it but I also don't have enough time at the moment to make it a priority. 

Workshop 5, 07 March

This was pitch day for all those who where pitching. A panel of professionals with various backgrounds where there to give feedback. Although I didn't pitch, I found that their advice was very useful, they were harsh but constructive. 

I think these where great sessions to attend and they have helped me think about the way I will approach my own work in regards to the business side of things.