Last week was amazing. Two of the world’s riches families have bound themselves together to lead the world in a mission of goodness and humanity. It was astounding in its magnitude but to most of us, the more interesting message was the humility of Warren Buffet and his unbridled desire to leave the world a better place than the one he knows.
There is no comparison between Mr. Buffet, Mr. and Mrs. Gates and the people at GoodStorm. Their wealth surpasses our collective imaginations. However, we draw inspiration from the mission of their collective work: That no matter how high and mighty they are, they share a need to reach out and serve those who are in the lowest rungs of society. We admire their mission to enfranchise others.
We share the philanthropy of their mission. While Gates and Buffet are the titans of financial philanthropy, GoodStorm will work hard to define and build an era of technological philanthropy. We don’t think we invented the notion of technological philanthropy however we are seeking to define it so others can see the potential they can bring to others.
Nicholas Negroponte, the co-founder of the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, detailed specifications for a $100 windup-powered laptop targeted at children in developing nations. The $100.00 computer project is one such example of technological philanthropy. By building a computer that delivers personal computing, information and the internet to the developing world, founders of the project are helping to pave the way for a digitally enfranchised world perhaps to destroy the need for the descriptor ~ third world nation.
GoodStorm’s business model was founded on the belief that we will be the paragon of our tagline: Capitalism Done Right. We believe that access to technology, capital, inventories and fulfillment capabilities are huge barriers to today’s small Internet entrepreneurs. We will fill the void. We will fill the need.
Our technologies are unique, inventive and clever but they are not revolutionary. Our technologies were designed by our collective experience and observation of ecommerce trends. What we believe to be revolutionary is our decision to vertically integrate all the processes, technologies and SKUs needed to deliver a friction-free ecommerce opportunity to the world. We want organizations to focus on their missions not pick, pack and ship t-shirts. We want college kids who are deeply passionate about independent music to be able to share, enjoy and make enough profit to help them pay for the semester.
I read a blog that touched my heart and it was a young man (…or woman?) from Michigan who lamented the pending 11,000 person layoff at General Motors and how he intended to make a run at running his own blog and MeCommerce store. We opened an apparel store for a woman who is just getting out of homelessness and we hope that she can make it a small successful business. These are just two examples and we are committed to empowering everyone.
We will do whatever it takes within our collective power to build a GoodStorm for everyone.
We have launched MeCommerce already and it is a true beta program. It will be imperfect but everyone can be assured that we will listen to every feature request and fix every bug. We want GoodStorm MeCommerce itself to be the result of the collective goodness of people. We will listen to the wisdom of the crowds.
Once upon a time, we hacked computers and software. Today, we will hack capitalism itself for the collective good.
Stay tuned.
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