One of Good People’s core values is being genuine, which means honesty, transparency, and being true to ourselves.  That middle one, transparency, is one of the reasons I am spending our very limited resources on writing a blog.  If potential customers, suppliers, partners, investors, or other stakeholders want to know what we are up to, we want there to be an easy way for them to find out.  I’m also hoping that new hires, students of innovation,  and the generally curious will enjoy the opportunity to look back at our archives and how we got to where we are.  That assumes we actually get somewhere, but that’s a leap we’ve already taken.  So, let’s recap Good People Month 1.

Good People Month 1

  • We incorporated as a NY Benefit Corporation and launched on September 1, 2016
  • Our License Agreement with Opto Generic Devices went to their Board of Directors for approval and has since been signed
  • We started a conversation with Herkimer Industries about how we can build a NY supply chain, empower people with disabilities, and make it easier for state agencies to get our product
  • Greg Martino, a Hartwick College senior, signed on as our intern and jumped right in working on our pitch deck and doing some field research on how units sold by OGD have fared
  • We started talking to friends and family about our need for seed funding and goal of $50K this quarter as part of a $250K raise we hope to complete early next year
  • We met with Ryan Miller and John Liddy at thINCubator about how to get plugged into the developing Mohawk Valley and Upstate venture ecosystems
  • We published four blog posts about why we are doing what we are doing and launched our extremely ugly website at gdpplnrg.com (Good People Energy without the wasteful vowels)
  • We started building infrastructure with G Suite (formerly Google Apps for Business)

Good People By the Numbers

  • We installed no units and saved no energy
  • We made it easy for 0 new leads, new customers, or new partners to save energy
  • We hired an intern and, even though we aren’t paying him, I’m saying our team went to 3
  • We sourced nothing locally (other than eating at locally owned restaurants)
  • We didn’t really donate anything to the community (though I did give a TED Talk at TEDxUtica)
  • We brought in $0 revenue and $0 investment (other than a founder’s loan for costs)
  • We spent $249, mostly on legal costs and meals

In our defense, I would just like to remind everyone that we all have day jobs.  September was about setting the stage for our new business, just getting started.  In October, we hope to start answering some fundamental questions about our initial supply chain, customer strategy, and whether others will invest in our vision.  It’s that first tranche of investment we are really looking forward to, since it will allow us to put more time into Good People and accelerate our progress.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email