We need new investment models to help build a more resilient and regenerative economy where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. As Einstein famously said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
There is a growing realization that existing financial and investment structures are inadequate for building strong, businesses that are more resilient, sustainable and regenerative for people and the environment.
- The financial and investment industry is very structured and much of the legal, regulatory and financial structures are relatively fixed and “institutionalized.”
- Companies and entrepreneurs will often adapt and plan their strategies to try to fit these fixed structures even if making those changes means that the probability of truly addressing the full extent of the defined problem is limited.
- Investors also routinely screen their investments depending on which ones best fit their structure, often meaning that many brilliant and inspired ideas/inventions and entrepreneurs get ignored.
- Investor perceptions of how big a market and return they can make acts as a very narrow filter for investment ideas.
- For large funds, it may also not be practical for them to focus on opportunities they feel are more niche oriented even if they are innovative and essential ideas, and can still make attractive returns for investors if structured the right way.
- When money is too easy and new technology development is exciting, it leads to bubbles and herding behavior.
- This is too large an issue to expect governments and non profits to fully address on their own.
- It is very reasonable for investors to expect to make sustainable and resilient long-term returns.
- Is it possible to solve the ultimate paradox more easily than many would believe possible? We are organizing our investment advisory business both to provide adequate long-term returns for investors and to leverage the entrepreneurial process to develop more integrated and inclusive businesses that solve important problems in society.