SocialButterfly

How Much Is the Rest of Your Life Worth?

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 | Blog Talk, Social Entrepreneurship | 6 Comments

Image from Change.org

This is not a wimpy philosophical post. We are talking dollars and sense. (Not a typo). A new business model experimient is in the works, relating to social entrpreneurship called: The Life Investment. Basically, it comes down to this question according to the Social Edge blog:

If an investor offered you a large infusion of unrestricted capital, say $300,000, with the only condition being that you would give them 3% of your income for the rest of your life, would you take the deal?

Apparently, it was fueled by this guy as the concept of personal investment contracts. Then, thanks to Nathaniel Whittemore, Change.org’s Social Entrepreneurship blogger, the conversation grew bigger until three innovative bloggers at SocialEdge, the blog hosted by the Skoll Foundation, took the leap and announced the Thrust Fund. Each has their own startup social entrepreneurship, and here is their offer:

Kjerstin: Offers 6% of her annual income for a $600,000 up front investment.
Saul and Jon: Each offering 3% for $300,000 up front.

Now this gets interesting and I have to say ballsy. If this idea and conversation gets you off your chair and gets your mind thinking, Kjerstin, Saul and Jon are hosting a conversation about their offer saying: “Invest in us; we’ll give you some of our equity for life.” I’m still marinating on this whole concept myself, but I love the innovation here. The details is where it may get tricky–but man, bravo for putting themselves out there and believing in something that strong. What do you think–if you were made the offer, what would you say: Deal? or No Deal?

Tags: belief, capital, Change.org, courage, entrepreneur, equity, faith, funding, innovation, investment, Life Investment, Social Edge, social entrepreneurship, worth