⚡ Get All Content for 20% Off ⚡

Why Your Next Startup Should Be Purpose-Driven There needn't be a division between what's best for humanity and the bottom line.

By Jeff Barrett

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Hero Images | Getty Images

Recessions aren't something to fear; they are inevitable. They're like the tides, only inexact. Internationally renowned entrepreneur and author Gary Vaynerchuk was speaking when I was in Las Vegas a couple months ago, and one of his pieces of advice was, "If you've created something in the last eight years and it hasn't succeeded, you're doing it wrong."

He's right. It's much easier to succeed when times are great, and our economy has been on one amazing entrepreneurial wave. Looking ahead, that will naturally ebb and flow, and we are going to experience a period where it's harder to create something.

Where you should be focused during that inevitable downturn is simple. Create where people are going to be, not where they already are. So, where are people heading? Start by looking at where corporate support is. At first, those two things may seem incongruent, but they're not. Purpose, or as it's less affectionaly called, corporate social responsibility, is critical for companies to market themselves going forward. It's also less costly, when done effectively, than conventional advertising.

Related: 7 Steps to Living Your Life WIth Purpose

Building a brand is no longer a one-way street, so smart businesses know that they need to create lasting programs and do good work to stay both top of mind and top in our hearts. That can sound calculating, and I won't disagree, and that's where the authenticity of the work becomes the differentiator. Changing lives and creating impactful programs will always yield the best results.

How Brands Are Embracing Purpose

In June, Uber and UBS announced they would be parternering with Venture For America (VFA), a two-year fellowship program for recent college graduates in 14 cities nationwide where they work in a salaried position and are trained to be leaders in their community. For these brands, it's more than a check. In this specific case, they are both donating $1 million to help start a program that will help 300 women and people of color to launch businesses through their fellowship by 2021. That's amazing, but it's also something to notice as an entrepreneur, no matter your diversity.

Tying your business to purpose will make it more likely to succeed, especially if we take an economic downturn. Brands will always need good purpose-based ideas to support so they keep growing and stay connected with consumers. Remember that purpose is the new, hopefully more authentic approach to marketing.

Related: How a Sense of Purpose Is Critical to Unleashing Your Company's Full Potential

What a Purpose-Based Startup Looks Like

And then there are the opportunities to power this entire system for brands. InvolveSoft found a purpose-based niche and filled it. The SaaS platform, which recently raised $2.5 million, is navigating this space. Their value proposition is that they handle everything from coordinating team volunteer activities to launching diversity and inclusion intitiatives. And a lot of that is built on creating a strong community inside a company through the platform.

These kinds of ideas aren't complicated, but they usually require a deep understanding of what's missing in the marketplace. As a female born in India, InvolveSoft co-founder Saumya Bhatnagar knows all the challenges that many women and people of different backgrounds face in the workplace or in starting a business.

In an interview with Duke University, Bhatnagar detailed the many challenges diverse founders still face, but pairs that with optimism about how real change can occur. Through her platform, she is seeing that companies and workplaces can create deeper connections through a shared purpose. And from a business sense, deeper connections to purpose will yield better talent attraction and retention. It's a virtuous cycle of creating better internal teams and better outward marketing.

When I hear these examples, I don't think about creating something in that space specifically because it's being done. What I do intuit is that the big startups of the next 10 years won't look like those of the past decade, because when startups become harder to create, they will demand passion to succeed, and you don't find passion in something without purpose.

Jeff Barrett

CEO of Status Creative

Jeff Barrett has traveled to nearly every state writing about startup ecosystems. He has won the Shorty Award, and is a Webby Award nominee. He creates dynamic campaigns and influencer networks for Fortune 500 clients including Adobe and Oracle.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Side Hustle

The Remote Side Hustle a 43-Year-Old Musician Works on for 1 Hour a Day Earns Nearly $3,000 a Month: 'All From the Comfort of Home'

Sam Ziegler wanted to supplement his income as a professional drummer — then his tech skills and desire to help people came together.

Business News

Costco CFO Reveals Uncertain Fate of $1.50 Hot Dog and Soda Combo

CFO Richard Galanti reveals that the price will stay the same — but only "for a while."

Marketing

Ever Wonder Why Certain Websites Rank Higher Than Yours? This SEO Expert Reveals The Secret to Dominating Search Results

It's often the smart use of SEO, now supercharged with AI, particularly in keyword optimization.

Leadership

Former Interrogator Shares 5 Behaviors Liars Exhibit and How to Handle Them

Five deceptive behaviors to look for and how to respond to those behaviors when you encounter them.

Business News

AI Is Impacting Jobs. Here Are the Gigs Affected the Most, According to an Analysis of 5 Million Upwork Postings

The researcher said in the report that freelance jobs were analyzed first because that market will likely see AI's immediate impact.