Superpowers for Good: Empowering Changemakers for Social Impact via Regulated Investment Crowdfunding from the SuperCrowd.

Devin Thorpe
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Biweekly

We host changemakers who are using regulated investment crowdfunding for social impact--impact crowdfunding--as impact investors or social entrepreneurs, catalyzing change with leadership skills we call superpowers. www.superpowers4good.com

  1. 11h ago

    You're Invited to the Farm-to-Pet TAILgate Party

    Monday night, we’re throwing a TAILgate party—and you’re invited! Join me November 9 at 4 p.m. Pacific, 6 p.m. Central or 7 p.m. Eastern for a special Superpowers for Good episode sponsored by Farm to Pet. We’ll have dogs, a barbecue, a factory tour and an opportunity to explore investing in the business—all from your couch. Farm to Pet’s Chicken Chips have one ingredient: chicken breast. Founder Jackson Jones will grill chicken from the same supply used to make the treats, then take us inside the factory to see how they’re produced. Farm to Pet is raising capital on StartEngine from everyday investors. This is your chance to meet the team, understand the business and ask questions. Registration is free and brings extra benefits: event links and reminders, access to our networking room, and an invitation to the private Zoom conversation after the livestream. Post your questions now, ask during the show or join us afterward. Your question could even become part of the broadcast. Bring your curiosity, your dinner and a friend who loves pets. Let’s have some fun before Monday Night Football! Register free: 4sc.us/ftptail Get full access to Superpowers for Good at www.superpowers4good.com/subscribe

    You're Invited to the Farm-to-Pet TAILgate Party

  2. 16h ago

    Elemeno Health Puts Lifesaving Know-How in Caregivers’ Hands

    Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku, Google TV or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube. Devin: What is your superpower? Arup: My superpower is inspiration. When we come together and rally around a specific inspiration, and we do it the right way, we can do amazing things. Elemeno Health is closing the dangerous gap between what hospitals know and what frontline caregivers can do in the moment patient safety depends on it. I was honored to speak with Dr. Arup Roy-Burman, founder and Chief Strategy & Medical Officer of Elemeno Health, a PurposeBuilt100® winner that is proving social impact and business growth can reinforce one another. As Arup put it, “We are all about mission. It’s mission and margin together. I believe that’s the future of companies in this country, about how do you build a business that scales, that actually does good for society?” Arup has spent more than two decades in pediatric critical care. From that vantage point, he saw a persistent and dangerous problem: healthcare organizations often know the right thing to do, but that knowledge does not reliably reach the front line in time. “We’ve got all of this knowledge as an organization, but that knowledge struggles to be transformed into frontline know-how,” Arup told me. “Information is growing exponentially. There’s no way that we on the front lines can keep up.” Elemeno Health turns institutional best practices into bite-sized multimedia job aids, including pictures, videos, checklists and decision guides. These tools are customized for specific units, workflows, equipment and teams, then made available on any device in the flow of work. That matters in the most intense moments. Arup shared the story of a new emergency room tech asked to set up a Belmont rapid blood infuser during a major trauma. She had seen the equipment only months earlier during orientation. Scared but prepared, she pulled up the Elemeno guide, followed the steps and got it working. “She was called on to do something urgent and important, and she had the tools with her so that she could do it the right way,” Arup said. “She was reinvigorated. She was excited. She’s ready for the next step to move forward.” The impact is both human and economic. Hospitals use Elemeno to shorten onboarding, reduce time to competency and help staff deliver consistent care. Arup explained that faster “door-to-floor” readiness reduces labor costs while also supporting safer outcomes. Elemeno is already live in hundreds of frontline departments and has served more than 100 hospitals, agencies and outpatient systems. The company is also inviting community participation through regulated investment crowdfunding. For me, Arup’s work is a powerful reminder that patient safety depends not only on brilliant medicine, but on giving every caregiver the practical knowledge they need exactly when they need it. tl;dr: Arup Roy-Burman founded Elemeno Health to turn hospital knowledge into frontline know-how. Microlearning tools help nurses, doctors and techs access instructions during high-stakes care. A new ER tech used Elemeno to operate lifesaving blood-infusion equipment under pressure. Faster onboarding creates economic value for hospitals while supporting better patient safety. Inspiration from losing his sister to medical error fuels Arup’s patient-safety mission. How to Develop Inspiration As a Superpower Arup describes his superpower simply: “My superpower is inspiration.” The source is deeply personal. He lost his little sister to a medical error when he was a child, and her memory became his “subconscious inspiration” to go into medicine, pediatrics, critical care and ultimately to build Elemeno Health. “When I saw so many preventable mistakes continuing to happen in healthcare, I felt I owed it to her to be able to do something about it,” he said. For Arup, inspiration is not just motivation. It is the ability to rally people, listen to them, encourage them and bring them together around a shared purpose. Early in his career, Arup witnessed a devastating ICU event. A patient on a dialysis-like protocol suddenly arrested. The team traced the crisis to a medication mixture that had not been prepared correctly. Rather than blame the nurse, Arup saw a system failure. “It really drove home to me how easy it is in a busy situation for an individual to make a mistake,” he said. The caregivers involved were well-trained, well-intentioned and caring. That experience helped shape Elemeno’s focus on better processes, shared knowledge and frontline support. Anchor your work in a personal source of meaning that can sustain you through hard moments. Rally people around a clear idea bigger than any one person’s role or ego. Listen to the people closest to the problem before trying to lead them toward a solution. Look for system failures before blaming individuals for mistakes. Practice patience, especially when changing risk-averse systems like healthcare. Use data, trust and time to bring people along instead of expecting instant adoption. By following Arup’s example and advice, you can make inspiration a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you! Guest Profile Arup Roy-Burman, MD (he/him): Founder | Chief Strategy & Medical Officer, Elemeno Health About Elemeno Health: Elemeno Health provides an operational enablement platform for healthcare teams that turns organizational knowledge into frontline know-how. Elemeno integrates institutional best practices and department-specific workflows into bite-sized, multimedia job aids tailored to local needs. Accessible on any device, in the flow of work, Elemeno gives frontline staff practical, just-in-time support, helping shorten training times, improve care consistency, and support better outcomes. Website: elemenohealth.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/elemenohealth/ Biographical Information: Dr. Arup Roy-Burman is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Critical Care at UCSF. Building from his clinical experience and research on microlearning and team communication, he is the founder of UCSF spin-off Elemeno Health, an operational enablement system designed for frontline teams. He is the founding CEO of Elemeno Health and currently serves as Chief Strategy & Medical Officer. Dr. Roy-Burman received his M.D., with Thesis, degree at UCSF and completed a residency in pediatrics at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. He completed pediatric critical care training in the UCSF-Children’s Hospital Oakland Joint Fellowship Program. He also completed research fellowships at UCSF’s Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Department of Anesthesia. He began his clinical career at UCSF, followed by nearly a decade at Children’s Hospital Oakland, and returned to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco in 2011. From 2011 to 2016, Dr. Roy-Burman was Medical Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU), as well as Director of Pediatric Transport, Access, and Outreach for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco. He continues to provide part-time clinical service and teaching in the Pediatric ICU. Dr. Roy-Burman is interested in the promotion of both internal and external collaborations between specialties and institutions, standardization of patient care delivery, optimization of outcomes, and the development of regional best practices. He has also long been an advocate of facilitating access to care, for both patients and referring physicians, with a focus on customer relationship management and telehealth. In 2016, Dr. Roy-Burman founded Elemeno Health, a UCSF-backed company building upon an internal cloud-based prototype to empower frontline staff with institution-specific microlearning. This approach streamlines dissemination of rapidly changing best practices to a large, distributed, and/or asynchronous workforce, driving consistency of practice, and improved safety and outcomes. This first-in-market solution has served tens of thousands of nurses, doctors, and ancillary staff across 20+ health systems and 100+ hospitals and clinics. Dr. Roy-Burman has partnered consultatively with C-suite and middle management to solve critical operational challenges across organizational quality, safety, and efficiency. Through the development of a novel cloud-based inter-institutional knowledge-sharing network, he has helped drive sustainable hospitals, clinics and programs for underserved populations, both domestic and global. Previously, Dr. Roy-Burman led the re-establishment of the Northern California Pediatric Intensive Care Network and served as its Chair. Dr. Roy-Burman has a long history of involvement with international health. He is co-founder and former Director of the Roatan Volunteer Pediatric Clinic in Roatan, Honduras, which has served hundreds of thousands of patient-visits over the past two decades. There, he also established one of the largest pediatric resident international health electives available to US trainees. He is a former member and Chair of the Board of Directors of the 501(c)3 Global Healing, which has led the development of heart surgery, ICU, pediatrics, and blood safety programs in Western Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. Dr. Roy-Burman has been recognized consistently in Best Doctors in America and Who’s Who in America. Personal X/Twitter: @aruproyburman LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/arup-roy-burman-md-7891736/ Sponsored by: Join us Monday, November 9th, at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific for the SuperCrowd.tv pregame Tailgate Party with Farm to Pet, factory tour and webinar.

  3. 2d ago

    Sanku Fortifies Everyday Flour to Fight Hidden Hunger

    Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku, Google TV or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube. Devin: What is your superpower? Felix: My superpower, if I can call it that, is a combination of curiosity and creativity. For me, I don’t think you can really separate those; they kind of lead into each other. Sanku is proving that hidden hunger can be fought at village scale by adding essential nutrients to the flour families already eat without raising the price mothers pay. In this episode, I spoke with Felix Brooks-church, cofounder and CEO of Sanku, a social enterprise working across East Africa to make food fortification practical for small local millers. The problem he is tackling is easy to overlook because the hunger is often invisible. Felix explained, “Hidden hunger means you’re eating carbs, your belly’s full, but full bellies aren’t enough. It’s a 3 billion person problem.” Sanku’s model starts with a simple insight. In rural communities, families are not usually buying packaged food from big brands in supermarkets. They grow grain locally, mill it locally and eat it locally. So, Sanku had to bring proven nutrition science to the village mill. “We’re literally adding nutrients to the food that people already eat at the village level, avoiding behavioral change, avoiding cost barriers,” Felix said, “essentially getting every plate that every mother, every child eats with the essential nutrients they deserve.” The company invented a machine, the Sanku Dosifier, to add precise amounts of nutrient powder to flour as it is milled. But the technology alone was not enough. The economics had to work for millers and families. Felix told me that the first attempt, selling nutrients directly to millers, failed. After two years of trying, he asked a better question: what are millers already buying? The answer was flour bags. Sanku began producing and selling discounted flour bags bundled with nutrients, allowing millers to fortify flour without increasing the cost to mothers. That market-based model has helped Sanku scale dramatically. Felix said Sanku grew from reaching about 1 million people in 2020 to more than 80 million people through roughly 2,000 millers in Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. The impact is profound because the change is invisible to families but vital to health. “It doesn’t change the look, the taste, the color,” Felix said. “But the impact is enormous. It literally saves lives.” I love how Sanku combines invention, business model innovation and respect for local food systems. Rather than asking families to change what they eat, Sanku improves the food already on the plate. That is a powerful recipe for scale. tl;dr: Sanku fortifies village-milled flour with essential nutrients families already eat every day. Felix Brooks-church built technology and business models to make nutrition affordable at scale. Hidden hunger leaves full bellies undernourished, harming billions and killing thousands of children. More than 80 million people now benefit through 2,000 millers across four East African countries. Curious creativity keeps Felix close to problems, prototyping solutions others have not imagined. How to Develop Curious Creativity As a Superpower Felix describes his superpower as “a combination of curiosity and creativity,” saying, “I don’t think you can really separate those; they kind of lead into each other.” That mindset began in childhood when he was “obsessed with trying to figure out how the world around me worked.” As CEO, he still applies the same approach: “I cannot solve this or lead this organization sitting from an office high up away from the problem.” Instead, he goes to the front lines, gathers information and turns it into solutions. “I need data. I need information,” he said. “With that information, I’m able to design something, create something.” Felix’s best illustration of this superpower came from Sanku’s earliest days. Asked to invent a machine that could someday help reach 100 million people, he flew to Nepal with a backpack and rough designs from Stanford students. For two years, he worked in dirt metal shops, building prototypes, breaking things and trying again. In 2012, he installed a prototype in a small village. It worked. The machine dosed nutrients without blowing up. In honor of that village, Sanku named both the device and the organization after it. Stay close to the problem instead of trying to solve it from a comfortable distance. Gather raw data by talking with customers, partners, frontline workers and the people affected. Ask what people already do and buy before designing a new solution. Prototype quickly, expect things to break and treat failure as useful information. Return to the drawing board when conditions change rather than forcing an old solution to fit. Design for sustainability, including business models that reduce dependence on grants. Hand off clear designs to your team so curiosity becomes organizational capacity. By following Felix’s example and advice, you can make curious creativity a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you! Guest Profile Felix Brooks-church (he/him): Cofounder & CEO, Sanku About Sanku: We’re a social enterprise working with African mills of every size, from small village millers to large flour producers. Our model makes fortification simple, affordable and scalable, delivering vital nutrition through the foods millions of people already eat. Website: sanku.com X/Twitter Handle: @SankuAfrica Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/SankuPHC Biographical Information: Felix Brooks-church is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sanku, a social enterprise on a mission to end hidden hunger by making nutritious food accessible and affordable to millions. Inspired by his experience working with street children in Cambodia in 2007, Felix invented Sanku’s award-winning Dosifier technology and pioneered a sustainable, market-based model for fortifying staple foods. Today, Sanku partners with almost 2000 flour millers across East Africa, reaching more than 80 million people daily, with ambitions to reach 100 million by 2028 and one billion over the next decade. Under Felix’s leadership, Sanku has received the Zayed Sustainability Prize, Elevate Prize, Lipman Family Prize, and Seeding the Future Grand Prize. TIME recognized the Dosifier as a Best Invention of 2019 and named Sanku among its 10 Most Influential Social Good Companies of 2026. Felix is a Rolex Laureate and Mulago Fellow. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/felixbc Instagram: @sankufortification Sponsored by: Join us Monday, November 9th, at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific for the SuperCrowd.tv pregame Tailgate Party with Farm to Pet, factory tour and webinar. This event will be unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Scheduled right before the Monday evening game, you’ll enjoy getting into the mood for some football as you learn more about investing in Farm to Pet. Register for free now. Register for Free Now! Impact jobs this week Acquisitions Specialist & Housing Cooperative Coach — New Hampshire Community Loan Fund · Concord, NH · Hybrid · $57,000–$66,000/yr Loan Support Specialist — New Hampshire Community Loan Fund · Concord, NH · Hybrid · $48,000–$55,000/yr Vice President, Solutions — Opportunity Finance Network · Washington, DC · Hybrid · $100,000–$125,000/yr See all open roles Coming up Nov 9, 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT — Pregame Tailgating with Farm to Pet: a special Superpowers for Good episode with a one-hour virtual site visit and barbecue before the game. #ad Nov 10, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT — Impact Member networking session: a private networking session for Impact and Max-Impact Members, who’ll get registration details by email. Upgrade to join → Nov 19 — Superpowers for Good Live Pitch: raising through Reg CF? Pitch live to active investors, free if selected. Apply by Oct 29 → Feb 4, 2027 — SuperGreen Live: a global virtual gathering connecting climate solutions with the capital and community to scale them. Learn more → Anytime — Join the SuperCrowd Impact League: get recognized for your Reg CF impact investments, see how you compare with your peers, and win prizes. It’s free. Start now → See the full community event calendar Thank you Our Max-Impact Members: Alisa Evans, Mission Enrollment | Brian Christie, Brainsy | Cameron Neil, Lend For Good | Carol Fineagan, Independent Consultant | Dion Whitman, Call4USA | Eric Coury, Arthia AI | Joey Hayes, thru | John Berlet, CORE Tax Deeds, LLC. | Justin Smith, Contractor+ | Justin Starbird, The Aebli Group | Ken Steele, Rotarian | Lory Moore, Lory Moore Law | Marcia Brinton, High Desert Gear | Mark Grimes, Networked Enterprise Development | Mike Babbit | Coledger Solutions | Mike Green, Envirosult | Nick Degnan, Unlimit Ventures | Paul Lovejoy, Stakeholder Enterprise | Pearl Wright, Global Changemaker | Scott Thorpe, Philanthropist | Sharon Samjitsingh, Health Care Originals | Add Your Name Here Advertise with us Manage the volume of emails you receive from us by clicking here. We share educational information—not investment advice. Some links may generate compensation. See our full disclosure. Get full access to Superpowers for Good at www.superpowers4good.com/subscribe

  4. Oct 29

    Justin Smith Sees Opportunity Where Others See Limitations

    Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku, Google TV or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube. Devin: What is your superpower? Justin: I see possibility where other people see limitations. Some entrepreneurs see a difficult problem and start looking for an easier one. Justin Smith does the opposite. The co-founder and CEO of Contractor+ told me that the bigger and more difficult a problem becomes, the more attracted he is to solving it. That mindset has shaped both his company and his approach to entrepreneurship. Contractor+ grew out of Justin’s own experience running a handyman business. He began building software to solve the bottlenecks he was experiencing himself. Years later, those solutions became a platform serving small business operators and trade contractors. The need is substantial. Small contractors often struggle with contracts, change orders, estimates, payments and other administrative processes. Contractor+ has built tools to automate much of that work. Its Estimatic AI, for example, can reduce an estimating process that once took hours to about five minutes. Justin knows those problems personally. He recalled having a foreman return from several daily estimates with handwritten notes, photos and rough calculations. Justin would then spend hours turning those estimates into finished proposals. Sometimes he was still working on them at 2 a.m. That experience became part of the motivation for building something better. But Justin’s entrepreneurial journey has also included profound personal hardship. After spending about six years in the prison system, he said he came to understand that money was not the definition of success he once thought it was. “What makes me happy is creating value,” Justin told me. That lesson now seems deeply connected to his business philosophy. He described his ambition as creating “real value that impacts other people’s lives.” That purpose also shaped how Contractor+ has raised capital. After speaking with 126 investors, Justin turned to the crowd. He saw an opportunity to let customers and others who believed in the company participate in its future. The company has raised capital through Wefunder in multiple rounds and, as Justin explained, has been exclusively funded by the crowd. For me, the most compelling lesson from this episode is that limitations do not always have to remain limitations. Sometimes they reveal the opportunity. Justin put it simply: “I see possibility where other people see limitations.” That is more than an entrepreneurial philosophy. It is a useful way to approach difficult problems. The obstacle in front of us may contain the clue to what we should build next. tl;dr: Justin built Contractor+ from firsthand experience solving operational problems he encountered while running a contracting business. Contractor+ helps small contractors streamline contracts, change orders, payments and estimates through increasingly automated technology. Justin’s personal hardships reshaped his definition of success, shifting his focus from pursuing money toward creating meaningful value. After 126 investor conversations, Justin found a community-powered path to funding Contractor+, bringing customers and supporters into the company’s growth. Justin’s superpower is seeing possibility where others see limitations, then persisting until difficult challenges become opportunities. How to Develop Seeing Possibility As a Superpower Justin’s superpower is seeing possibility. He explained it this way: “I see possibility where other people see limitations.” He is naturally drawn to problems that seem too large or difficult for others to tackle. Rather than being discouraged by the size of a challenge, he becomes more interested in solving it. He also connects this ability with persistence, saying, “the one thing for sure is that I persist where a lot of people would give up. I persist.” One of the clearest examples came from Contractor+’s fundraising journey. Justin had spoken with 126 investors while trying to find traditional investment. Rather than treating repeated rejection as evidence that the company could not raise capital, he looked for another possibility. He realized that the people who actually benefited from Contractor+ could become investors themselves. He pivoted toward community funding, put substantial time and energy into the effort and successfully raised capital from the crowd. Another example involved technology certifications. Contractor+ spent six months building technology only to discover that it could not ship without the necessary certification. Instead of treating that requirement as the end of the road, Justin pushed through it. The certification ultimately became an asset, helping create a stronger product and valuable relationships with Google. How To Develop The Superpower Care deeply about the problem. Justin’s strongest advice was to make sure you genuinely care about what you are building and the problem you are trying to solve. Focus on the outcome. When you care about the outcome, obstacles become easier to confront rather than reasons to quit. Look at limitations differently. When you encounter a barrier, ask what opportunity might exist on the other side of it. Persist when others stop. Justin repeatedly emphasized persistence. Continuing through difficulty can create opportunities that are invisible at first. Get outside your comfort zone. Justin connected difficult challenges with growth, noting that possibilities can become greater after being forced through demanding situations. Serve the people who benefit. His fundraising experience suggests looking closely at who genuinely values the solution. Those people may become important supporters and participants in the journey. By following Justin’s example and advice, you can make seeing possibility a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you! Guest Profile Justin Smith (he/him): CEO, Contractor+ About Contractor+: Contractor+ is an all-in-one business operating system built to revolutionize the way contractors run, manage, and grow their businesses. By bringing together customer relationship management, estimating, invoicing, payments, project management, scheduling, and AI-powered automation into one platform, Contractor+ eliminates the fragmented, outdated systems that hold millions of hardworking tradespeople back. Our mission is simple: empower the people who build and maintain the world with the same powerful technology and competitive advantages traditionally reserved for large enterprises. We’re not just building software. We’re building the digital infrastructure for the next generation of construction and field service businesses, creating a connected ecosystem where contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and property owners can work together seamlessly. Website: contractorplus.app X/Twitter Handle: @cplusapp Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/contractorplus.app Other URL: wefunder.com/contractor Biographical Information: Justin Smith is a serial entrepreneur, bestselling author, and Co-Founder and CEO of Contractor+, a rapidly growing technology company on a mission to transform the construction and field service industries. A builder and problem solver at heart, Justin has dedicated his entrepreneurial career to challenging outdated business models, identifying overlooked opportunities, and creating technology that levels the playing field for small businesses. Under his leadership, Contractor+ has evolved into a comprehensive, AI-powered operating system serving thousands of paying customers and generating approximately $1 million in annualized revenue. But Justin’s ambitions extend far beyond building another successful software company. He envisions a future where independent contractors have access to intelligent automation, powerful business tools, and a connected marketplace that allows them to compete with much larger organizations. Driven by a deep belief in entrepreneurship, individual freedom, and the transformative power of technology, Justin is determined to help the people who build our communities build extraordinary businesses of their own. Personal X/Twitter: @justinonsuccess Personal Facebook Profile: facebook.com/justinbriansmith LinkedIn: linkedIn.com/in/justinbriansmith Instagram: @justinonsuccess Sponsored by: Join us Monday, November 9th, at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific for the SuperCrowd.tv pregame Tailgate Party with Farm to Pet, factory tour and webinar. This event will be unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Scheduled right before the Monday evening game, you’ll enjoy getting into the mood for some football as you learn more about investing in Farm to Pet. Register for free now. Register for Free Now! Impact jobs this week Senior Director, Fund Finance — Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) · Remote (United States) · $154,236–$196,651/yr Senior Asset Manager – Lending — Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) · New York, NY · $102,000–$127,000/yr Vice President, Partnerships & Philanthropy — Social Finance · San Francisco, CA · Hybrid · $190,000/yr See all open roles Coming up Nov 9, 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT — Pregame Tailgating with Farm to Pet: a special Superpowers for Good episode with a one-hour virtual site visit and barbecue before the game. #ad Nov 10, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT — Impact Member networking session: a private networking session for Impact and Max-Impact Members, who’ll get registration details by email. Upgrade to join → Nov 19 — Superpowers for Good Live Pitch: raising through Reg CF? Pitch li

  5. Oct 27

    The Hidden Cost of Changing the World: Why Changemakers Need Healing, Too

    Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku, Google TV or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube. Devin: What is your superpower? Dr. Rhonda: I have lived the very thing that I now am helping people to navigate in their lives. The people working hardest to change the world can sometimes be the ones who neglect themselves most. Their commitment to a cause is admirable, but what happens when the work they love begins to undermine their health? Dr. Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt knows that question personally. After 11 years running a consulting practice focused on social justice, Rhonda made a difficult decision: sunset her company and pursue a new mission. Through her healing retreat center, she wants to help the leaders who spend their lives serving others find the rest and restoration they need. Her motivation came from an experience she could no longer ignore. While organizing healing retreats for other leaders, Rhonda was struggling with her own health. Ordinary illnesses lingered for weeks. She faced significant knee and shoulder problems and eventually took a three-month sabbatical. During the COVID-19 pandemic, slowing down gave her body time to recover. It also changed how she understood the needs of the people she had spent years supporting. “I began to see how my body was healing itself just because I was taking the time to slow down and pay attention to my body and pay attention to my health and well-being,” Rhonda told me. She began recognizing similar patterns among the changemakers in her fellowship programs. Exhaustion, insomnia and declining health were common among people who gave so much to their work that they paid little attention to their own needs. Rhonda connects this pattern to John Henryism, the story of a man who works so hard to beat the machines that he ultimately dies from exhaustion. As she explained, “We grind ourselves to dust and work ourselves to the bone in order to achieve something that is so important.” That is a sobering warning for anyone building a mission-driven business, leading a nonprofit or fighting for social justice. Dedication alone does not guarantee sustainable impact. Rhonda’s new retreat center, planned for North Carolina, is designed to offer individual and small-group experiences that may include breathwork, meditation, massage, sound baths and other healing practices. Her approach emphasizes helping people carry lessons from their retreats into everyday life. Her work also reflects a deeper lesson about leadership: personal hardship can become a source of wisdom when we take time to understand it. For Rhonda, that means helping changemakers process difficult experiences rather than simply pushing through them. She encourages people to journal, talk through their experiences and seek support from a business coach when needed. The goal isn’t to abandon a meaningful mission. It is to pursue that mission in a way that protects the person doing the work. The most sustainable way to change the world may begin with learning how to care for yourself. tl;dr: Rhonda’s transition from social justice consulting to healing retreats reflects a commitment to helping changemakers restore their health and energy. Her personal health struggles revealed the dangers of relentless work and the importance of rest, reflection and sustainable leadership. Iyoku Healing Retreat Center plans to offer individualized healing experiences incorporating ancestral traditions and practices that nurture mind, body and spirit. Rhonda’s superpower is transforming lived experience into empathy, helping changemakers navigate personal challenges and make decisions aligned with their lives. She encourages leaders to process emotions, reflect on setbacks, learn from experience and pursue meaningful impact without sacrificing well-being. How to Develop Empathetic Experience As a Superpower Rhonda’s superpower is turning lived experience into empathy that helps other changemakers navigate difficult decisions. She explained, “I have lived the very thing that I now am helping people to navigate in their lives.” Having experienced professional stress, health struggles and the challenges of building mission-driven organizations, she can approach others with “empathy and care” and help them consider their personal healing journeys. Her experience allows her to offer guidance that goes beyond abstract advice because she understands the emotional and practical realities of doing difficult work while trying to maintain personal well-being. Rhonda recently coached a client in her late 50s who wanted to launch a nonprofit. Drawing on her own experience founding two companies and two nonprofits, Rhonda understood the substantial time, effort and energy a startup can demand. Rather than immediately outlining the tasks required to launch the organization, she asked her client to consider what she wanted her life to look like over the next three years. Together, they compared that vision with the realities of a startup’s first three years. If the commitment aligned with her client’s goals, Rhonda would help her move forward. If not, they could explore another way to make a meaningful community impact without compromising her health or family priorities. How to Develop This Superpower Rhonda’s advice offers practical lessons for anyone working to make a positive difference. Turn setbacks into learning opportunities. When something goes wrong, resist the urge to dwell on failure. Ask yourself what the experience can teach you. Separate learning from self-blame. A disappointing outcome does not mean you are a failure. Focus on understanding what happened and how you can grow. Make time for reflection. Step away from your daily responsibilities to examine difficult experiences. Do not assume that moving straight to the next task means you have learned from the last one. Write down what you learn. Journal about your challenges, identify recurring patterns and record lessons you can apply to future decisions. Process your emotions, not just the facts. Recognize the feelings connected to setbacks. Mission-driven work often carries deep personal meaning, so emotional recovery deserves attention alongside practical problem-solving. Talk things through with others. Have honest conversations with trusted people and consider working with a business coach when you need additional perspective. Align your ambitions with your life. Before committing to a demanding project, consider your health, family, personal priorities and the kind of life you want to build. Use your experience to help others. Once you have reflected on a challenge, share what you learned with people facing similar situations. Your experience may help them make more thoughtful decisions. By following Rhonda’s example and advice, you can make empathetic experience a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you! Guest Profile Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt (she/her): CEO / Founder, Ayoku Healing Retreat Center About Ayoku Healing Retreat Center: Ayoku Healing Retreat Center is a restorative sanctuary for mission-driven leaders carrying the weight of their work - opening in January 2027 in North Carolina. Rooted in the belief that personal healing is essential to the work they do, Ayoku exists to support nonprofit professionals, movement leaders, and philanthropists through culturally grounded experiences that nourish the mind, body, and spirit. Meaning “joy remains” in Yoruba, Ayoku embodies the belief that rest is not a reward to be earned, but a necessary practice for those committed to creating greater impact. Through immersive retreats and holistic wellness practices, including body work, ancestral healing, peer coaching, leadership development, and an intentional community of mission-focused peers, Ayoku equips individuals and organizations with the tools to care for themselves as deeply as they care for others. More than a retreat center, Ayoku is a growing community dedicated to transforming how we think about the role of resilience within leadership and collective care. By creating intentional spaces for reflection, restoration, and reconnection, Ayoku empowers leaders to return to their work with renewed clarity, deeper joy, and the capacity to lead with greater purpose, presence, and perseverance. Website: ayokuhealing.com Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/ayokuhealing Biographical Information: For more than 25 years, Dr. Rhonda Tsoi-A-Fatt has dedicated her life to advancing equity, strengthening communities, and supporting the leaders who make lasting social change possible. As an internationally recognized researcher and strategist, business leader, published author, public speaker, and iyanifa, Dr. Tsoi-A-Fatt has spent her career partnering with philanthropic institutions, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and movement leaders to design initiatives that foster healing, strengthen leadership, and create more just and equitable futures for all. As Founder and CEO of The Moriah Group - an organization she founded in 2015, Dr. Tsoi-A-Fatt advised organizations and institutions navigating systems change, leadership development, and social impact. She made the decision to close the firm in 2026, after 11 years of operation. Creating and leading nationally recognized initiatives including Forward Promise, a movement dedicated to improving outcomes for boys and young men of color through healing-centered approaches, Dr. Tsoi-A-Fatt’s dedication to the advancement of minority communities remains the core tenet of her work. Following years of experiencing leadership burnout, Dr. Tsoi-

  6. Oct 22

    Baron Davis’s BIG Opens The Game To Everyday Investors

    Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku, Google TV or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube. Devin: What is your superpower? Eric: It’s just my positivity. It’s my joy. Too many people are locked out of the investment opportunities that create the most wealth. Eric A. Cox II wants to help change that by connecting everyday investors with deals and founders they might otherwise never reach. As COO of Business Inside the Game (BIG), Eric is working with NBA All-Star and entrepreneur Baron Davis to build an investment platform designed to give more people access to opportunities that have traditionally been available only to insiders. That mission is personal for Eric. While working at Cooley, one of the country’s premier law firms, Eric was part of the legal team representing Snapchat in its IPO. Seeing a company born in his own Los Angeles community reach the public markets made him think about who had actually owned a piece of the company along the way. “I really wanted to see more people that were in the community owning a piece of the products and solutions that they enjoy,” Eric told me. That experience helped shape his commitment to Regulation Crowdfunding and online investing. Eric sees a significant opportunity in bringing capital to entrepreneurs who have historically been overlooked. He pointed out that investors can miss promising companies when they restrict themselves to familiar networks dominated by the same founders, schools and social circles. There is both a social and financial argument for widening those networks. “There are incredibly talented entrepreneurs of all creeds, colors, races and sexes that can create incredible high value opportunities that you might otherwise miss,” Eric said. BIG is now building toward a model where investors can participate alongside Baron Davis and others with access to compelling deal flow. The platform is powered by Silicon Prairie’s investment technology, creating a broader ecosystem for online investing. For me, that is the most exciting part of this story. Democratizing investment isn’t simply about giving more people another financial product. It is about changing who gets to participate in wealth creation. Eric’s vision connects the interests of founders seeking capital with communities seeking opportunity. If he and the BIG team can make that connection work at scale, they could help reshape who gets a seat at the investment table. tl;dr: Eric Cox is helping democratize access to private investments, connecting everyday investors with opportunities previously reserved for insiders. Baron Davis combines entrepreneurial experience, investment expertise and influence to create opportunities for underrepresented founders and investors. Eric’s personal experience with Snapchat strengthened his conviction that communities should own pieces of companies they help build. Eric’s superpower is joy, strengthened by gratitude, intentional reframing and choosing opportunity instead of obligation during difficult seasons. By expanding access to capital and ownership, Eric believes investing can become a powerful tool for creating broader wealth. How to Develop Joy As a Superpower Eric initially considered his multifaceted professional background as a possible superpower. He has worked across law, entrepreneurship, investing and technology. But when he asked others what they saw as his greatest strength, the answer was consistent: “It’s just my positivity. It’s my joy.” Eric believes that joy matters especially in entrepreneurship because the journey “can be incredibly lonely and difficult.” His approach is to deliberately reframe difficult experiences as opportunities. Instead of thinking, “I have to” do something, he tells himself, “I get to do this thing.” Eric illustrated his joy through the difficult experience of preparing for the California Bar Exam. During the intense 10-week study process, he reached the point where he was frustrated by repeatedly seeing similar questions without the progress he wanted. Rather than surrender to the difficulty, he deliberately stopped and focused on gratitude. He reminded himself what an extraordinary opportunity it was to attend law school and prepare for a legal career. He reflected on how many people historically had been excluded from those opportunities. That perspective gave him the energy to continue and ultimately helped him pass the California Bar. How You Can Develop Joy as a Strength Eric’s advice suggests that joy can be practiced rather than simply inherited. Reframe “I have to” as “I get to.” Turn obligations into opportunities whenever possible. Practice gratitude during difficulty. When something becomes frustrating, deliberately identify what makes the opportunity valuable. Remember how far you have come. Eric reminds himself that a past version of him would have done almost anything to reach where he is today. Choose your emotional temperature. Eric says, “You cannot be a thermometer. You have to be a thermostat.” Instead of merely reflecting the mood around you, intentionally influence it. Make joy intentional. Eric’s clearest advice is that “Joy is not accidental.” Decide how you will begin the day. Rather than letting circumstances, data or even his Apple Watch tell him how he feels, Eric chooses his attitude for himself. By following Eric’s example and advice, you can make joy a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you! Guest Profile Eric A. Cox II (he/him): Chief Operating Officer, Business Inside the Game (BIG) About Business Inside the Game (BIG): Business Inside The Game (BIG) is an exclusive membership platform for mul·ti-hy·phen·ates — the athlete/creator/entrepreneur/investor/founder — the leaders shaping tomorrow. Website: teambig.io Company Twitter/X Handle: @BIGsummits_ Instagram: @bigsummits Other URL: teambig.io/big-deals Biographical Information: Eric A. Cox II is the Chief Operating Officer of Business Inside the Game (BIG) (teambig.io) and Head of Growth at Silicon Prairie (SPPX)(sppx.io). BIG is an exclusive membership platform for mul·ti-hy·phen·ates — the athlete/creator/entrepreneur/investor/founder — the leaders shaping tomorrow. BIG offers its’ members access to exclusive curated investment opportunities through its’ investment platform, BIG Deals, powered by SPPX. Before joining BIG, Eric was the Chief Operating Officer at Netcapital (http://www.netcapital.com), an online private investment platform that allows companies to close capital digitally and provides investors access to new investment opportunities through its affiliated FINRA registered funding portal and broker-dealer. Eric also practices Corporate Law as Counsel at SSM (http://www.ssm.legal). SSM represents venture capital funds, technology companies, and industry-adjacent service providers who are forming and scaling their companies, fundraising/deploying venture capital, selling to, merging with, and/or acquiring other businesses. Prior to joining Netcapital and SSM, Eric practiced in the Corporate Law Group at Cooley LLP in their Silicon Valley headquarters. While at Cooley, Eric advised Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) on their $400M acquisition of Shazam. He also advised Snap Inc (NYSE: SNAP) and Corsair Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: CRSR) on their Initial Public Offerings that raised $3.4B and $238M, respectively. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ericcoxii Sponsored by: Join us Monday, November 9th, at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific for the SuperCrowd.tv pregame Tailgate Party with Farm to Pet, factory tour and webinar. This event will be unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Scheduled right before the Monday evening game, you’ll enjoy getting into the mood for some football as you learn more about investing in Farm to Pet. Register for free now. Register for Free Now! Impact jobs this week Investments Director — Capital Impact Partners · Arlington, VA · Remote OK · $142,244–$190,000/yr Senior Associate, Business Development (Client Solutions) — ImpactAssets · United States · Remote OK · $85,000–$115,000/yr Funding Analyst — Solar Landscape · Asbury Park, NJ · Remote OK · $60,000–$70,000/yr See all open roles Coming up Oct 21, 9 AM PT — SuperCrowdHour: Before You Click “Invest”: Due Diligence for Crowdfunding Investors, with Devin Thorpe. Learn how to check financials, business models, risks and terms, and spot red flags before you invest. Nov 9, 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT — Pregame Tailgating with Farm to Pet: a special Superpowers for Good episode with a one-hour virtual site visit and barbecue before the game. #ad Nov 10, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT — Impact Member networking session: a private networking session for Impact and Max-Impact Members, who’ll get registration details by email. Upgrade to join → Nov 19 — Superpowers for Good Live Pitch: raising through Reg CF? Pitch live to active investors, free if selected. Apply by Oct 29 → Feb 4, 2027 — SuperGreen Live: a global virtual gathering connecting climate solutions with the capital and community to scale them. Learn more → Anytime — Join the SuperCrowd Impact League: get recognized for your Reg CF impact investments, see how you compare with your peers, and win prizes. It’s free. Start now → See the full community event calendar Thank you Our Max-Impact Members: Alisa Evans, Mission Enrollment | Brian Christie, Brainsy | Cameron Neil, Lend For Good | Carol Fineagan, Independent Consultant | Dion Whitman, Call4USA | Eric Coury, Arthia AI | Joey Hayes, thru | John Berlet, CORE Tax Deeds, LLC. | Justin Smith, C

  7. Oct 20

    The Best Mental Health Business Decision Jessie Ogienko Made Wasn’t About Growth

    Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube. Devin: What is your superpower? Jessie: Problem solving. A mental health practice cannot provide excellent care for clients if its therapists are burning out behind the scenes. That insight has shaped the growth of Caladrius Therapy, where founder and CEO Jessie Ogienko has deliberately built a business model designed to help therapists take better care of themselves while serving their clients. Jessie started Caladrius almost accidentally. After returning from maternity leave to find that much of her community mental health team had left, she started her own practice primarily to create the flexibility she needed as a mother. One hire became another, and eventually the solo practice grew to 25 staff members. As the practice grew, Jessie made an expensive but intentional decision: move most therapists from contractor arrangements to salaried W-2 employment with benefits. The decision was driven by what she saw happening to therapists who technically had flexibility but lacked the financial security to use it. “They would lose a lot of money if they took time off,” Jessie told me. She wanted to create a structure that made it possible for therapists to actually rest and care for themselves. The transition was costly. Jessie recalled that her CPA noticed revenue had grown without a comparable increase in profit. Her response was simple: “It’s intentional.” That investment is beginning to pay off. Jessie told me her team members are taking more time off and showing fewer signs of burnout. The practice is also attracting experienced clinicians who value the benefits. Better-supported therapists, she argues, can provide better care. “The care you’re getting from a therapist who is seeing eight back-to-back sessions and not taking a lunch break is not the kind of quality care you’re gonna get from someone who’s got six sessions in a day, a nice lunch break support, you know, those kinds of things.” I find that business philosophy compelling because it connects employee wellbeing directly to mission. Taking care of the people delivering the service is not a distraction from the social impact. It is part of the impact. For organizations trying to create meaningful social change, that may be an important lesson: sustainable impact often begins by building a workplace where the people doing the work can thrive. tl;dr: Jessie grew Caladrius Therapy from a solo practice into a growing team while keeping accessible, quality care central. She redesigned employment around salaries and benefits, helping therapists avoid burnout while improving the quality of client care. Jessie continues serving clients who might otherwise struggle to access therapy, including people using Medicaid despite difficult economics. Her superpower is problem solving, especially reframing challenges and finding solutions that better serve people and mission. Her example shows how persistence, thoughtful leadership and questioning assumptions can turn practical challenges into opportunities for impact. tl;dr: Jessie grew Caladrius Therapy from a solo practice into a growing team while keeping accessible, quality care central. She redesigned employment around salaries and benefits, helping therapists avoid burnout while improving the quality of client care. Jessie continues serving clients who might otherwise struggle to access therapy, including people using Medicaid despite difficult economics. Her superpower is problem solving, especially reframing challenges and finding solutions that better serve people and mission. Her example shows how persistence, thoughtful leadership and questioning assumptions can turn practical challenges into opportunities for impact. How to Develop Problem Solving As a Superpower Jessie’s superpower is problem solving. She describes herself as someone who is always asking, “How could we do this better?” and “How could we improve this?” She does not simply accept existing processes because they are familiar. Instead, she looks for ways to make work easier, more effective and more useful. She also connects problem solving with persistence. “I think I also am just stubborn,” she says. In her therapy practice, that means continuing to look for an effective approach when one method fails rather than accepting that a client’s challenges are simply too difficult. In her business, it means stepping back from immediate operational problems and questioning whether the underlying problem has been defined correctly in the first place. One of Jessie’s clearest examples came from a seemingly ordinary business problem: how to manage multiple therapy locations. The conventional approach was to operate several smaller offices, but Jessie discovered that the second location became “the stepchild,” without enough administrative support or leadership attention. Rather than trying to solve every small problem created by the arrangement, she stepped back and reconsidered the entire model. She ultimately moved toward one large location where staff could share offices, collaborate more easily and serve families with multiple appointments more conveniently. The solution addressed the larger goal instead of merely optimizing a flawed arrangement. How to Develop the Superpower Question the problem before solving it. Ask whether the problem you see is actually the problem you need to solve. Identify the ultimate goal. Jessie asks, “What do you ultimately want to do?” Keep the desired outcome in view. Step back three levels. Look at the broader system instead of immediately attacking the most visible symptom. Challenge assumptions. Just because something is conventional or looks successful on paper does not mean it serves the goal. Redefine the problem when necessary. Jessie emphasizes asking whether the problem can be framed differently. Test, learn and adapt. When an approach does not work, do not simply stop. Try something different. Keep the people affected by the solution in view. Jessie repeatedly returned to the experience of staff and clients as the real measure of success. Persist. Her willingness to keep working through difficult problems is part of what makes her problem solving effective. Jessie’s approach reminds me that good problem solving is not simply about finding clever answers. It is about understanding what really matters, questioning assumptions and having the persistence to keep looking until the solution serves the people and the mission. By following Jessie’s example and advice, you can make problem solving a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you! Guest Profile Jessie Ogienko (she/her): CEO / Founder, Caladrius Therapy About Caladrius Therapy: Caladrius Therapy is a mission-driven mental health practice in Charlotte, NC, with a team of about 25 clinicians and staff. We specialize in trauma treatment, including EMDR, and run a DBT program for people who need more structure and support than weekly talk therapy can offer. Our work starts from a simple belief: good care shouldn’t depend on who you are or where you start, and the people delivering it deserve to be well supported too. That’s why we focus on training highly skilled clinicians and growing leaders in mental health, so more people get excellent care and the field gets stronger. Website: caladriustherapy.com Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/CaladriusTherapy Instagram: @caladriustherapy Biographical Information: Jessie Ogienko, LCSW, is the founder and CEO of Caladrius Therapy in Charlotte, NC. After earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology with honors from Emory University, she worked in psychology research at Emory, then did research with NYU at Bellevue Hospital. She supported foster care involved families at Graham Windham in New York before providing direct care at Mount Sinai’s adolescent health center. She went on to earn her Master of Social Work from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, then moved into community-based work in North Carolina, providing family-centered treatment and program supervision with Pinnacle Family Services and The MENTOR Network. In 2018 she started Caladrius Therapy as a solo practice. Personal Facebook Profile: facebook.com/jessieogienko LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessie-ogienko Instagram: @jessieogienkolcsw Sponsored by: Join us Monday, November 9th, at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific for the SuperCrowd.tv pregame Tailgate Party with Farm to Pet, factory tour and webinar. This event will be unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Scheduled right before the Monday evening game, you’ll enjoy getting into the mood for some football as you learn more about investing in Farm to Pet. Register for free now. Register for Free Now! Impact jobs this week Investments Director — Capital Impact Partners · Arlington, VA · Remote OK · $142,244–$190,000/yr Senior Associate, Business Development (Client Solutions) — ImpactAssets · United States · Remote OK · $85,000–$115,000/yr Funding Analyst — Solar Landscape · Asbury Park, NJ · Remote OK · $60,000–$70,000/yr See all open roles Coming up Oct 21, 9 AM PT — SuperCrowdHour: Before You Click “Invest”: Due Diligence for Crowdfunding Investors, with Devin Thorpe. Learn how to check financials, business models, risks and terms, and spot red flags before you invest. Nov 9, 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT — Pregame Tailgating with Farm to Pet: a special Superpowers for Good episode with a one-hour virtual site visit and barbecue before the game. #ad Nov 10, 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT —

  8. Oct 15

    Turning Wasted Renewable Energy Into Natural Gas Could Help Decarbonize Existing Buildings

    Watch the show on television by downloading the SuperCrowd.tv Channel app to your Roku or Amazon Fire TV or e360tv channel app to your Roku, LG or Amazon Fire TV. You can also see it on YouTube. Devin: What is your superpower? Natan: I have the patience to watch market forces that are based off of science come to fruition. What if we could turn carbon dioxide emissions and surplus renewable electricity into natural gas, helping businesses reduce emissions without replacing the equipment they already own? That is the opportunity Natan Shahar, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Standard Carbon, is pursuing with a technology that combines captured carbon dioxide with electricity to produce synthetic methane. The approach addresses two challenges at once. Industrial facilities and buildings need practical ways to reduce emissions, while renewable energy sources such as solar and wind sometimes generate more electricity than the grid can use. When supply exceeds demand, electricity prices can fall close to zero or even become negative. Natan sees an opportunity in that mismatch. “There’s this goldmine, for all intents and purposes, sitting in front of us, which is the excess wasted renewable power,” he explained. Standard Carbon captures carbon dioxide from industrial exhaust and stores it until affordable electricity is available. The company then converts the carbon dioxide into methane, producing fuel that can be stored and used when needed. The process offers an important advantage over approaches that require businesses to replace their existing energy infrastructure. Natan founded Standard Carbon after working as a consulting engineer on boiler rooms, microgrids and cogeneration systems in New York. He saw that building owners needed to decarbonize their facilities but could not easily abandon the equipment on which their businesses depended. “What we’re doing here is we’re feeding an existing multi-trillion-dollar market for natural gas,” Natan said. He believes compatibility with existing infrastructure makes adoption easier than technologies that require a complete replacement of existing systems. The economics can be compelling, too. Natan described projects serving oil-fired applications in North America where the equivalent fuel could be produced and stored at a cost comparable to $3 per gallon, compared with oil prices of $6 per gallon. He also sees opportunities for businesses seeking more affordable ways to comply with carbon regulations. This is the kind of innovation I find exciting: technology that connects environmental progress with practical business incentives. When companies can save money while reducing emissions, sustainability becomes more than an aspiration. It becomes an economic opportunity. Standard Carbon is raising capital and invites interested investors to explore its offering through its website at standardcarbon.com. The broader lesson is worth considering. We do not always need to replace everything we have built to create a cleaner future. Sometimes, the opportunity lies in making existing systems work differently by using resources we have been wasting. tl;dr: Standard Carbon converts captured carbon dioxide and surplus clean electricity into synthetic natural gas to help reduce industrial emissions. Its technology stores renewable energy as fuel while leveraging existing natural gas infrastructure, reducing disruption and potentially lowering energy costs. Natan Shahar sees an opportunity where decarbonization regulations meet inexpensive renewable electricity and growing demand for practical solutions. His superpower is patience: recognizing scientific and market forces early, then persisting until conditions create meaningful opportunities. By anticipating New York’s building emissions regulations and preparing for enforcement, Natan positioned Standard Carbon to address a growing market need. How to Develop Patient Persistence As a Superpower Natan’s superpower is his patience in recognizing when scientific principles and market forces will eventually align to create an opportunity. With Standard Carbon, he saw two powerful forces converging: regulations requiring businesses to reduce carbon emissions and surplus renewable electricity that needed buyers. He understood that replacing existing infrastructure would be difficult and expensive, creating an opportunity for a practical alternative. As Natan explained, “I have the patience to watch market forces that are based off of science come to fruition.” He has continued pursuing the opportunity because he believes the underlying science and economics support it, even when others question the timing. He puts it plainly: “I promise you what we’re working on will succeed. I can’t promise you that I’ll be the guy who manages to pull it off.” His patience combines long-term conviction with a willingness to keep working toward a goal whose timing and ultimate champion remain uncertain. When Natan founded Standard Carbon in 2019, a new New York City law aimed at decarbonizing buildings helped inspire the business. A colleague dismissed the law as unrealistic and predicted it would be repealed. Natan believed the broader movement toward decarbonization would continue and suspected the law would remain in place. Although enforcement did not begin until 2025, he kept the opportunity in mind while the company explored other markets and applications. When enforcement finally arrived, building operators began calling because Standard Carbon had a solution to a problem many had assumed would disappear. His patience helped position the company for a market shift years before it fully materialized. Tips for Developing Patient Persistence Identify forces grounded in science. Look for physical, technological or economic realities that support the outcome you anticipate. Study the market conditions. Identify the needs, regulations and economic incentives that could make your solution increasingly valuable over time. Separate the outcome from the timing. Recognize that a trend can be durable even when the path to adoption is uncertain. Prepare before demand arrives. Build capabilities, explore markets and refine your approach while waiting for the conditions to align. Visualize inevitable natural forces. Natan recommends thinking about an ocean wave that builds and eventually crashes. Use that image to remind yourself that some developments take time but still arrive. Stay committed without assuming success is guaranteed for you personally. Keep working toward the goal while acknowledging that execution and timing remain uncertain. Look for signals that the moment is approaching. Watch for changes in regulation, economics or customer behavior that indicate a long-anticipated opportunity is becoming real. By following Natan’s example and advice, you can make patient persistence a skill. With practice and effort, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. Remember, however, that research into success suggests that building on your own superpowers is more important than creating new ones or overcoming weaknesses. You do you! Guest Profile Natan Shahar (he/him): Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Standard Carbon About Standard Carbon: Standard Carbon is a New York energy technology company developing the Carbon Bridge, a modular system that converts carbon dioxide and electricity into synthetic natural gas, or eNG. The Carbon Bridge captures CO₂ at the point of emission, produces hydrogen from water using electricity, and combines the hydrogen and captured carbon to manufacture methane that can be used in existing boilers, power plants, pipelines and other natural-gas infrastructure. Rather than requiring customers to replace their existing energy systems, Standard Carbon’s approach is designed to decarbonize the fuel those systems already use. The company has demonstrated the technology in Israel and deployed a Carbon Bridge system at The City College of New York. Website: standardcarbon.com Other URL: invest.standardcarbon.com Biographical Information: Natan Shahar is the founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Standard Carbon and a licensed Professional Engineer in New York. A mechanical and energy engineer, he has spent his career working on the practical economics of energy systems, buildings and infrastructure. He founded Standard Carbon around a straightforward engineering question: rather than replacing trillions of dollars of existing equipment that depends on gaseous fuels, why not manufacture a low-carbon replacement fuel that can work with the infrastructure already in place? That question led to the Carbon Bridge, Standard Carbon’s modular platform for capturing CO₂ and converting it with electricity and water into synthetic natural gas. The technology has progressed from an operating system in Israel to deployment in New York City at The City College of New York, with Standard Carbon now pursuing commercial applications in buildings, power generation and other energy-intensive facilities. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/natan-shahar-3ba84920 Start 30 days free Impact jobs this week Office Manager II or Senior Office Manager — NYSERDA · Albany, NY · 70,139–101,118/yr Venture Capital Senior Associate (Hybrid) — CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield · Washington, DC · 107,064–212,641/yr Vice President, Energy Transition — AllianceBernstein · New York, NY · 160,000–195,000/yr See all 8 open roles Coming up Oct 13, 8 PM ET — Impact Member networking session (members get a private invite). Upgrade to join Oct 21, 9 AM PT — SuperCrowdHour: Before You Click “Invest”: Due Diligence for Crowdfunding Investors, with Devin Thorpe. Register Nov 19 — Superpowers for Good Live Pitch: raising through Reg CF? Pitch live to active investors — free if selected. Apply by Oct 29 → Feb 4, 2027 — SuperGreen Live, the global virtual gathering for climate so

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