Not surprisingly for a startup, the Good Empire journey so far is one of growth.
This theme of ‘growing’ has been more than just a measure of scale, and progress, but has anchored who we are as individuals, as a business and as a community.
We are constantly etching out our mark and are being guided by research, rigorous introspect and clarity, with ‘focus’ being the theme for our team’s collaborative fortnight. And trust me – focus is about the most important skill we have with so much going on!
Here is just a taste of what’s happened in the last six months:
Equity Crowdfund 001
We launched an equity crowdfunding campaign that attracted the most investors for a pre-product crowdfund in Australian history. Over 1000 investors came together to help us build our platform.
Product Design with Octalysis
We completed an immersive 3 month product design project with Octalysis, the world’s leading human behavior design and gamification agency to build out “the system”, a global impact loyalty program that can essentially become an impact rating for every human and organisation on the planet, and reward them for the impact they have.
World class development
We’ve been working with a team of world class developers from Appetiser, building the Good Empire app, the thing in your hand that inspires, and empowers you to take action, and capture it, share it out across your socials and challenge your friends to join you, and see, in real time, not only your impact, but the ripple, the collective impact of everyone you’ve inspired to take action with you.
App release
Our V0 Alpha app & platform is ready for release in the app stores in September.
Catalysts
8,500 pre-registered “Catalysts” so far from 34 countries around the world have reserved their usernames and are standing by to download the app and get started on our first challenges.
Pilot Program Launch
We’ve also launched a paid pilot program for our first 100 organisations, which is fast gaining traction, and thousands of employees and students from around the globe will be taking part from September – details of those companies can be revealed shortly!
New Branding
We worked with NY-based brand agency SantosDilone, whose clients include Apple, Nike, and Netflix, on developing the new Good Empire brand, to be a beacon that can gather and unite 100 million individuals and organisations to help save the f**king world (which you can read more about here)!
New Team Members
We’ve grown the team, bringing on two new incredibly talented and experienced members, Mal as our Chief Marketing Officer, and me, Ansam, looking after the content.
I put my investigative hat on and asked my colleagues what they are most excited for in our future.
David is part of our product and technology team, so he gets to the Good Empire seeds sprouting in a really unique way… ‘’I think we really have an opportunity to change the metrics people give a shit about on social media, so I’m also excited to see growth of each member of our community’s own personal ripple and their impact points – growth tied to metrics that actually make the world a better place’’.
Our COO Tash shares a similar sentiment in valuing how we add meaning to our metrics…’’We’ll grow and create a new kind of global culture where it’s cooler to show your impact than show you follower count…Our learning curve is massive and so is our growth’’.
Mal is our most recent hire as our Chief Marketing Officer, his merit is in communicating in an intentional way, for people, for good and for the bigger picture. He’s ‘’excited to grow a global community of people who give a f**k and are changing their behaviour to inspire action in others’’.
Nick is our CTO, plugged into all things development and tech. His role is directly informed by the future of the app, what it feels and looks like in your hands. He is excited to grow ‘‘people’s belief in the power that we hold as a group. Together, to have the power to change things that currently seem insurmountable’’. He also takes interest in ‘the belief that (your) little action does help.’
André has worked from the start to set down strong roots, you’ve probably seen him around by now. As a founder, you can imagine how profound the journey has been so far and perhaps how this informs his anticipation for the future.
André is ‘excited to see collectives of people connecting with impact projects and communities grow. These two thousand people connecting with and supporting this community out of hunger… these five thousand in that rainforest. Hundreds and hundreds and then thousands of these collective connections, at scale.
It’s these collective connections which excite me most. Being able to really see the app flourish and become a place where people are connected, and feel connected, truly.
Our story so far has been written by our community. We will always be looking for ways to ensure that it will continue to be, not just for you, but because of you.
In this process of growing, we value the investment of the community… an investment which we willcan nurture and cultivate through V0, V1 and beyond.
Stay tuned!