The Social Entrepreneur’s Dilemma (and How to Solve It)

Reed Burkhart

January 14, 2005

The challenge of folks employing a tech innovation strategy (or any other busienss strategy) and applying it with increasing stewardship is the competition presented in the form of business competitors funded by traditional venture investment with minimal stewardship. If one wants to produce a low cost hearing aid and apply internal cross subsidy, and another wants to produce a low cost hearing aid without applying internal cross subsidy, who do you think wins? If the former approaches less entrepreneurial, less well-endowed, foundations for funding vs. the latter’s ability to raise substantial venture capital funding, then there is very low likelihood of success for the stewardship-targeting social entrepreneur who would enter markets in competition with well-funded stewardship-avoiding venture-funded companies.

This description of the problem reveals the solution implicitly: 1) the high tech social entrepreneur must employ intellectual property or other barriers to entry (becoming an Aikido entrepreneur), 2) the practice of venture funding social enterprises must grow, which requires advancing the vision of sweeping change in capitalist behavior through Aikido entrepreneurship, 3) policy must change to support 1) & 2).

Who is working on 1?

Who is working on 2?

Who is working on 3?

AikidoActivism.xwiki.com Web Home. Content subject to the Aikido Copyright.