The Optimist Company

2009-07-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

The Optimist Company helps growth companies, start-ups and small businesses build new audience markets through innovative channels using a bootstrapping approach. We can help:

Design your brand identity (name, logo, treatment) and website
Research the market you're entering
Write anything (web copy, press releases, email templates)
Reinvent your customer/user experience
Create powerful word-of-mouth programs
Measure success and developing metrics for decision-making
Harness free social media and interactive tools to cultivate an audience
Develop and execute an advertising, PR and promotional strategy

Write jeffrozic (at) gmail (dot) com to engage.

Portfolio

2009-06-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Companies We've Worked With
Great Lakes Publishing
Emergent BioSolutions
OleOle.com
MaMoCa
Google
SodaLixir
LivingHomes
LandArcWest
Fox Broadcasting Corp.

Industries We've Worked In
Digital advertising, media & publication, business services,
design services, biotechnology, apparel, start-ups

Stuff We've Helped Develop
Design Under Sky
FCearth
WeAreFCearth
IndispensablePeople

Follow us on Twitter

About The Optimist Company

2009-06-29T11:41:00.000-07:00

About

Grist's Top 15 Green Entrepreneurs

2007-09-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Today Grist.org listed their favorite 15 Green Business Founders. This inspiring leadership list included the likeliest suspects, like legendary Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Ray Anderson, whose modular commercial carpet company Interface may be the largest on this list ($1.07B in 2006 sales).

The Top 15 also includes some more under-the-radar innovators, like Pizza Fusion, a Florida company that delivers pies in hybrids, and YOLO Colorhouse, which makes contaminant-free house paint.

It's an inspiring list of entrepreneurs who had social impact in mind from the beginning of building their successful business fact, rather than adding it as a consideration after the fact (which is nonetheless a great alternative).

Interim Pundit: Seth Godin

2007-08-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Since there's not currently a permanent, high profile pundit for the "businesses that also do good" industry, as I ranted yesterday, I nominate Seth Godin as the pundit pro tempore.

Here's why. Today's post on what the Red Cross should do in the wake of a lawsuit by Johnson & Johnson- who tried to do some good over a century ago by giving their now-ubiquitous symbol to the Red Cross- is vintage Godin. Short and sharp commentary on a today issue, stylishly written, and smart. Even though he doesn't always state it as bluntly as he did today, his "What I would've done" moment usually boils down to what's right over what's wrong, or what's good over what's purely money-driven.

See also: SURVEY: 2o Questions About Considerate Consumers

The Business Case for Optimist Companies

2007-07-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

With full awareness that most of our recent posts have been about "Green," neglecting the rest of the Optimist World, here's more food for thought that, on the surface, is more green-centric: collected thoughts on the business case for doing well while doing good.

Here's Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy outlining the looming opportunity in clean, climate-friendly technology for ZD Net. Takeaway: Joy is not the first, but among the more luminary, celebrity-entrepreneurs to point out the financial stupidity of NOT seizing the opportunity: "...it has a negative cost and a competitive disadvantage if you DON'T do it..."

Next up is New York Times slugger Thomas Friedman (from an April issue of the Sunday magazine) on the global possibilities of the "Green" movement in the U.S. The "The World is Flat" author puts green into a patriotic context Takeaway: It's long and I see a book coming, but Friedman's energy-centric exploration of the Green Opportunity is optimistic that US government and industry can capitalize on the nascent green energy movement and innovate our way back into our "natural place in the global order."

Finally, if a journalists's opinion isn't financially convincing, here's an endorsement of green technology from perhaps the savviest investor of all time, legendary venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers. Doerr and KPCB, whose past hits include Amazon, Netscape and Google, are said to be earmarking $100M of their latest $600M fund in "greentech" (sometimes "cleantech") startups amid the continental shift of over $1.5B annually to such companies.

Also mentioned in that story is KPCB star Vinod Khosla, who last year launched Khosla Ventures to focus mostly on alternative fuels (although check out "The Things We Care About" on their site, which covers microfinance, education, Vinod's clean energy ballot initiatives, and other Optimist interests). Here's TheStreet.com's Chuck Marvin on one recent Khosla investment of Gevo Inc., a Pasadena-based biofuels startup.

The most accomplished investors and savviest start-up'ers out there are putting their money where many people's green mouths are. So, as entertaining as The Optimist may be, don't take our word for it that real business people consider it a serious opportunity to do good.

Godin on Bad

2007-06-14T12:14:00.001-07:00

With his typical marketing-wise view of the world (or worldview, as he would say), Seth Godin starts with the assertion that marketing works (people can be sold) and concludes that businesses have a responsibility to the right thing. Don't take my paraphrasing for it; it's always worth reading his dramatic interpretation of the business world's approach to marketing.

In between, Godin focuses more on the bad that a business can do before closing on an Optimistic high note (a link to Patagonia.) The part that struck me most, and a topic I'll definitely revisit frequently since I'm from the region and agree entirely with his readers' quote, is his example of "Detroit's" fatal approach to cramming SUVs into the marketplace.

Disclaimer: I drive a big piece of Detroit myself, and yet the environmental impact of our beloved gas guzzlers is only part of his message. It's really about one of Godin's favorite themes, and it's not just an indictment of the Big Three but also the powers that be in the automotive world: if as much time and energy and resources were spent aggressively innovating safer and more efficient vehicles as were instead spent on defending life span of the current production, the hole in the ozone would be a little smaller and a lot more people in the "Rust Belt" might still be employed.

More specifically, I've recently adopted the mindset (not my own unique thinking) that Motor City business and government leadership missed a GIANT opportunity, not only to keep pace with the foreign brands but to more aggressively and more publicly and more enthusiastically pursue BETTER vehicles (better for consumers, for safety advocates, for fuel consumption, etc.) instead of trotting out tiny incremental improvements every year in addition to a slew of useless tradeshow novelties. Simple example: They could have thrown a tiny share of their lobbying budgets toward luring alternative fuel start-ups to the region.

But they didn't, so on the Optimistic side, there is still a GIANT opportunity out there for a company- and now it could be any sized or stage company, really, given the endless avenues for prototyping and production- to become the leader in better vehicles. And that means there's still opportunity for an entire region to become the home to one of the biggest industries in America (transportation), the way Henry Ford did with Detroit a century ago.

How To Be An Optimist Company

2007-05-31T21:39:00.001-07:00

The question has come up- what makes an Optimist Company? With a giant disclaimer that our goal is to be editors of good news about businesses doing more than making money and not any sort of arbiters of whether businesses are good or not, here is the way we see the world.

In our minds there are four echelons of business goodness:

unBad: This was the old standard. The least a business can do is NOT break the law, rip off customers, abuse employees, harm competitors, or support other bad businesses (like third-world sweat shops). My inner marketer reminds me that to be unBad, companies also can’t lie in their ads or practice shady customer service tactics (like not caring about the customer at all. Oops! This would seem to eliminate a bunch of companies. But I’m standing by it.) Finally, unBad companies can not have a bad business model- spam marketers, DVD piraters or companies whose business breaks the law. What about the “sin” industries or even file sharing businesses? We’re not here to make those calls; you be the judge. But at least be unBad.

New Standard: Sadly, as a response to the scandals of all kinds of Bad companies, from those that duped investors or employed sweat shops or other abusive labor practices to those who repackaged and resold moldy green beef, there is a New Standard that requires transparency and ethical management. In an era of hyper media coverage of everything, we have the business media to thank; by uncovering and reporting the crap out of these scandals, they raised the bar of public awareness and expectations and helped usher in new laws and customs in the business world. The public and stakeholders (employees, stockholders, customers) begin to expect a little more and a New Standard is born: Taking responsibility for bad products or services. Honestly reporting financials. Telling the truth in advertising, packaging and in the press. Choosing and disclosing ethical suppliers and vendors. Taking good care of employees. Obviously there’s much more to it, but that’s the New Standard.

Activist/Philanthropist: We definitely need a better name for this standard, but now we get to the fun part: doing good stuff with business success. The simplest is old-fashioned giving away money. Some companies make charitable donations while others set up foundations or non-profit arms, some of which undertake very entrepreneurial approaches to their philanthropy, like Google.org (whose varied projects are quite different than the parent business) or the ultimate philanthropist, Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation, whose world healthcare focus is far different from his company’s. There is also Activism, which can take many forms, from sanctioned/paid volunteer opportunities to spearheading entrepreneurial programs with social benefit. Two of my favorites are stunningly effective. Trader Joe’s is a pioneer among a growing crowd of retailers that encourage shoppers to buy a cheap, reusable grocery bag that cuts down paper and plastic waste- a traditional ecological bent. And Eurosport (with Major League Soccer and the USSF) runs a successful program very related to its core business model (selling soccer gear) called Passback, collecting used soccer gear and redistributing it to disadvantaged communities.

And finally...

Business Model Good: The ultimate Optimist Company has the attitude that an entire business can be built around a social need. The approach can be called Profit and Purpose, or the Triple Bottom Line, or whatever else describes the distinction between this type of business and a non-profit (namely, that the business is for profit.) Not only does this type of company embrace the elements of corporate citizenship mentioned above; its very product or service addresses some social issue- healthcare, nutrition or water, education, poverty, urban blight, waste, natural resources and conservation…the list goes on. While the trick to attaining this standard of Optimist enlightenment is to actually be sustainable- in cash flow, that is- the fun part is identifying an area of need and making an impact.

Much, much more to come on unBads (and occasionally, plain old Bads), New Standards, Activists/Philanthropists and Business Model Goods.

Welcome to The Good Business Optimist Company.

2007-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Optimist Company is about an increasingly prevalent approach to business that can be labeled many things: Doing Well By Doing Good. Profit and Purpose. The Triple Bottom Line. As much as we like how those sound, we like The Optimist, too. It suggests an attitude that businesses can contribute to their community, however they define it, while also making money.
Optimists are businesses that are ethical, innovative, socially entrepreneurial. Those that show how to be corporate citizens, activists, philanthropists, and humanitarians. Those that strive beyond short-term financial performance to actually drive change in their neighborhood, industry, country or world. Those whose very business models are entrepreneurial approaches to issues from global health to poverty to education to natural resources.

Since business is about people, Optimists are also people who are conscious of their impact on the world around them- from the environment to their neighbors. They tread lightly. They give back. The teach. They leave the environment as they found it, or better. They Go Green. They Seek Sustainable. They are LOHAS types; Considerate Consumers. A company's Optimists can be its employees, who work hard and often make some sacrifices to represent a company that shares their attitude; its customers, who often think a little more about what they're buying; its leaders, who ultimately determine what priority will go beyond profit.

There's plenty of bad news in business and life, and we can't avoid occasionally shining a little light on the ugly side of commerce. But mostly we're here to to tell the stories of Optimists: the companies, business leaders, start-ups, and entrepreneurs who are doing business in an inspiring new way. Our real goal is to get our hands dirty with several related Optimist projects- but more on that to come.

The Optimist Company believes that there is a big market for good businesses. That by doing good things for a community (however you define it) in addition to just making money, a business is better off. That not only can businesses do good; they should!