Consider a brilliant 22 year-old Harvard new grad, who is sophisticated, risk taking, and entrepreneurial.
She has a choice to make:
She can now choose to start a farm animal welfare non-profit or an alternative protein startup.
Why she would choose an alternative protein startup:
The alternative protein startup might have compensation and tail value equal to tech startups.
Also, the business world gives talented entrepreneurs and leadership like her “access to conventional business norms that seem common in the startup scene” (as problematic as this is). While literally the same norms as everyone else in business, this provides “safety” from epiphenomenal activism in certain non-profit sectors, where such behavior—or maybe even assertions or sentiment—could eject a founder after years of work.
Why she would choose a farm animal welfare non-profit:
In alternative protein, talent may be extremely crowded, so our Harvard’s grad counterfactual impact there might be the same as working for Goldman Sachs.
In contrast, her leadership in farm animal welfare would be precious and astronomically impactful and she can inspire countless others.
If we care about impact, what can be done for her?
The details will matter as far as what will have the most impact.
If she’s starting another plant-based burger or milk company, a la Beyond Meat or Oatly, then I’d say she can’t add so much value because there’s already a ton of activity solving that problem. But if she has novel solutions; for example, a new way to make semi-solid lipids at scale, then she can add a lot. Semi-solid lipids are a problem for nearly every alternative food effort; there two “natural” options with coconut oil and palm oil. Also, for what it’s worth, many of these companies are struggling with hiring. So rather than starting her own startup, she could join and help an impactful one. That’d likely provide even more safety.
And likewise, with the non-profit, the details matter too. I write that fighting agriculture subsidies is the biggest barrier to the alternative food revolution. At the time of writing, I couldn’t find any organization addressing this problem specifically (likely because lobbying efforts are capped for non-profits). If our wunderkind is willing to tackle that, then she could have a substantial impact.
Consider a brilliant 22 year-old Harvard new grad, who is sophisticated, risk taking, and entrepreneurial.
She has a choice to make:
She can now choose to start a farm animal welfare non-profit or an alternative protein startup.
Why she would choose an alternative protein startup:
The alternative protein startup might have compensation and tail value equal to tech startups.
Also, the business world gives talented entrepreneurs and leadership like her “access to conventional business norms that seem common in the startup scene” (as problematic as this is). While literally the same norms as everyone else in business, this provides “safety” from epiphenomenal activism in certain non-profit sectors, where such behavior—or maybe even assertions or sentiment—could eject a founder after years of work.
Why she would choose a farm animal welfare non-profit:
In alternative protein, talent may be extremely crowded, so our Harvard’s grad counterfactual impact there might be the same as working for Goldman Sachs.
In contrast, her leadership in farm animal welfare would be precious and astronomically impactful and she can inspire countless others.
If we care about impact, what can be done for her?
The details will matter as far as what will have the most impact.
If she’s starting another plant-based burger or milk company, a la Beyond Meat or Oatly, then I’d say she can’t add so much value because there’s already a ton of activity solving that problem. But if she has novel solutions; for example, a new way to make semi-solid lipids at scale, then she can add a lot. Semi-solid lipids are a problem for nearly every alternative food effort; there two “natural” options with coconut oil and palm oil. Also, for what it’s worth, many of these companies are struggling with hiring. So rather than starting her own startup, she could join and help an impactful one. That’d likely provide even more safety.
And likewise, with the non-profit, the details matter too. I write that fighting agriculture subsidies is the biggest barrier to the alternative food revolution. At the time of writing, I couldn’t find any organization addressing this problem specifically (likely because lobbying efforts are capped for non-profits). If our wunderkind is willing to tackle that, then she could have a substantial impact.