In 2012, my business partner and friend, John Stowman, and I
came across an idea that captured our imaginations. At the time it was pretty
conventional knowledge in our field that nonprofits needed to create more a
business-like infra-structure if they were to keep their doors open.
Additionally, businesses designed to address the civic needs of a community is
not a new idea either and had challenges of their own.
John’s back ground is finances/accounting, my own is program and
proposal development, and we often wondered what resource, set of skills, or redesign
of existing systems would allow the organizations we often worked with to thrive.
What set of circumstances would allow for the development and implementation of
proactive services and resources vs. predominately reactive. Economically
sustainable, purpose driven businesses and organizations redefining success,
raising the standards by which business is done, and thriving as a result.
This idea, this possibility has informed the direction of our business,
and in many ways changed, continues to change, our lives.
It’s difficult, there are risks and often putting a system in
place that allows you to “do it right the first time” is so long and
problematic that the time required alone is enough to absorb a small business’s
resources or close a nonprofits doors.
We began researching business models, searching for methods
designed to both, lower the risk and accelerate the process of creating earned
income. We took Stanford’s Udacity
distance ed course with Steve Blank (part businesses guru, part entrepreneur,
part social scientist). We read everything we could get our hands on between
work deadlines, and began searching for a StartUP Weekend to attend so we
could see firsthand the business practices we were discovering.
Discovery, it not quite right. It is not that these are new
ideas so much as ideas that benefit a great deal from both, progress and
hindsight. Just the same, few nonprofits or small businesses are in a position
to "try out" new and/or improved business models while supporting
their programs or keeping the lights on. We decided we needed a case study (a
fun one) we could use to evaluate the methods we were learning. Bicycles
are fun. This is it - the whole reason for choosing a bike share as our
project.
What I had not appreciated when we chose bike sharing was the
absolute elegance of this idea. Here was a way, a simple and fun way to make
significant and measurable impact on so many of the issues facing our
communities nationwide.
Obesity and health
issues – reducing carbon output – increasing local commerce – increasing
mobility
When we began this project, about a year ago, there were perhaps
350 bike shares world-wide. Today there are nearly 600, we were not alone in
our realization of the far reaching impact bicycle sharing can have. John and I
remain committed to learning as many ways as we can to support non-profits and
small businesses. Finding ways for all of us to “do well & good.” Not just
to survive but to thrive. But what started as a case study has become an
opportunity in itself.
Bike sharing has the capacity to make a significant difference
in our community and yours. With FAIRBKES we focused on smart locks rather that
smart bike racks, significantly reducing bike share start-up cost. We were a
nuisance, we spoke to every expert, friend of an expert, or second cousin 2x
removed looking for reliable sources of information as well as new perspectives
and we were everywhere. We attended 24+ events over the summer and personally
spoke with every local and visitors who was too slow to outrun us about bike
sharing.
The result is we have tremendous momentum. FAIRBIKES has gone
from a fun idea to launching in just a little over a year. Already, we have
sold over 450 bulk memberships, a number of businesses have committed to
branding bicycles, and several business have approached us about advertising. Tonight
I am writing to ask you to help me keep this momentum going.
Please take a moment to visit our Indiegogo page and share
it with your friends.
All the tools are there to make it easy, there are perks at
every level of contribution, or you can simply follow updates. If
enough of us get behind this project we can make FAIRBIKES happen. One of our tag lines is “Fun You Can Feel Good About' this is a project you can feel good about.
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