Winter Canvas

This one pager is a work in progress. A place to sketch out ideas for now and invite feedback. Please critique!

So you want to save the world? To be somebody? 😂

The Problem: the Silicon Valley playbook is inadequate.

• We are in dire need of a new way of being with each ourselves, each other and the planet
• Disruptive "world changing" innovations out of Silicon Valley tend to leave massive negative externalities in their wake for the commons, users, employees, and founders themselves
• Leading startup education (accelerator programs, university courses, VC and hacker blogs) teach a narrow, homogenous, vacuous approach to creating and growing a business
• There is a dearth of knowledge reaching young founders on how to know themselves better and effectively contribute to thriving future based on care, connection, healing, and equity
• A more diverse skills and awareness set is needed for business leaders to navigate the increasingly complex challenges ahead
• We don't get humane tech without humane founders

What is society demanding of the next Mark Zuckberberg? 🐣

The Offering: an upgraded playbook for startup founders.

• Online course for startup founders (first time, nth time, aspirational) to cultivate the awarenesses, skills, values and experiences beyond those offered by typical startup curriculum
• Crowdsourced curriculum design and curated, dogma-free instruction by thought leaders in a variety of disciplines. Introduction to different ways of knowing, being and doing to augment traditional training. Not to throw the business fundamentals away, but to question, adjust, and balance them out.
• Transformational exercises
• Comprehensive lists of resources for continuing education
• Experiential and practical > theoretical. Personal > organizational.
• 12 weeks over Zoom; including 1:1 coaching and group integration circles

Who Is Behind This?

Andrew Dunn is designing and leading this course with the support of his community. A millennial who grew up with relatively extreme pressures of expectation, he achieved his way through academic institutions like Wharton and YC/VC startups like Flexport until getting inspired to save the world through a series of professional projects and personal journeys. Falling into many pits along that path, he is excited to share what he has learned with other founders who want to bring their creations into the world in a good way. This course is part of a multi-year inquiry into: what is life on earth inviting of the next generation of founders?

In This Course, You Will:

• Increase your ability to understand history from new angles and your business's place in it, making connections across some of the most important issues of our times, so you can create a great business while genuinely engaging social issues
• Learn ritual practices to help connect you with your body and the earth, and experience more of the richness of life. Increase your sense of fulfillment around your work in the world as you bring your leadership forward as a responsible steward of life on Earth.
• Reduce personal and professional risk of perpetuating "business as usual" in 2021, learning about common pitfalls and identifying blindspots and delusions in your leadership capacities, product and organization
• Create and receive feedback on an Impact Plan for your personal and professional life
• Get a comprehensive "lay of the land" for a variety of disciplines, with clear pathways of support for deeper exploration
• Connect with a cohort of likeminded founders on a similar journey

Target Audience

Founders who are ready to take the next steps to better know themselves and serve the whole. Founders who want to do the right thing with their business, but don't know where to start, are jaded by dominant startup culture, don't feel like they have the time to invest, or don't feel they have been welcomed into this work in the best way. Essentially versions of me several years ago. Leaving a bigger company or graduating from college and keen on starting something themselves, or are already a few months in to starting something.

High achieving as a result of growing up with lots of pressure of expectation. You want to have an impact in the world, and have a feeling that it might require a different playbook than what is found on leading startup blogs. You haven’t developed overly rigid opinions about things like capitalism and politics. You are curious and try to approach things with a beginners mind.

At the end of this, I want you to be able to better locate yourselves and your startups in the web of life, and be empowered to make more effective choices. You will have a more clear sense of self (including desires and blindspots) as well as a lay of the land that is most relevant to your product/org. You will walk away with a set of tools and principles to work with. You will feel more sovereign, aligned and on purpose.

In holding the intention to embody the principles I'm teaching, I am seeking to make the creation process of this course as transparent as possible and appropriate. i.e. most of my working notes will take place on this page and its sub pages, so you can see my thinking and questions in real time.