Social Wolves

I discovered a recipe for awakening the hero in every young person. New kind of hero - team member. Shy teens connect in teams in which they become self-confident and competent. Now I want to give away the recipe, just like Elon Musk Tesla's patents. 

Emily Kaczmarek is the latest example of what people can get. Emily joined us 2 years ago and transformed from the shy, high school nerd without the right people around her to CEO of the international organization fighting period poverty, surrounded by people who strive to make her spread her wings and become a hero. Check her on Forbes 25 Under 25 list. 

We’re ready to scale up. We tested the recipe and the business model on a national level. We’re able to motivate and navigate tens of thousands through a complex behavior i.e. doing a social project. I have 30 teammates, each best in one’s field and the highest revenues ever. We’ve prepared strategy with Bain & Company. Last week I convinced the CEO of the state development bank to fund our expansion pilot. Prize will speed-up expansion as I will build an app using voice recognition and AI to provide users feedback.

When I was little my dad got complete paralysis. I spent 13 years watching his face and translating his expressions to his business associates. I learned how to read faces, noticing emotions from the smallest muscle move on someone’s face. That's why I understand people so well. But I felt very alone, full of anger, used to fight with classmates as they laughed at my family. 

At the age of 15 I moved out of the village, started living on my own. Despite getting into the best high school in the country, I was frustrated with my education - I felt alone again. We were taught to learn theory, passed the exam, then forgot. Individually. 12 years of school taught us neither teamwork nor problem solving.

Being 28 I quit my career in CEE largest corporation and used all of my time and energy to change that. We created the first-ever olympiad that encourages youngsters to connect in teams and create their own social impact projects. Now, hundreds of our participants are in every fifth Polish school. I want to give youngsters around the world what I didn’t have - the belief that with team everyone can be a hero.

When today’s 2nd-grade kids finish school, half of the current job positions will be replaced by technology. 45% of people aren't confident they’ll find work after finishing their studies. 55% wanted more support to develop skills in problem solving, critical thinking, communication and teamwork.

We’re a 30-people social startup and B2B agency providing a platform for teens to connect in teams and make social impact projects (charity events, social campaigns, etc.). We’ve designed the pioneering Social Project Method, which makes it possible to gain 4C skills - cooperation, critical thinking, communication, creativity. It’s a much better learning method than simulations or cases, because it’s real; or starting a micro-business, because it’s  radically easier and time-boxed. This year 76K students are making 3K social projects, helping around 26M people. 75% of our participants worked in a group, on a real project, for the first time.

Every September we shout up several teams to get in our cars filled up with 300kgs of posters and roof racks full of clothes. The goal for each person is to visit min 5 schools per day. After 2 weeks of the promo tour, our platform takes lead providing the know-how and mentors - our alumni.

Vertically integrated technology makes us unique. Our idea is to take many different components that already exist and put them all together in a new form, which is what Peter Thiel calls, a “complex coordination/vertical integration”. We’ve combined our own discoveries about social projects’ advantages, like the noble cause as a “magic” ingredient, the learning by doing approach, like Harvard’s MBA FIELD Method, gamification, real-life community involvement, MOOCs. This was a capital-intensive and time-consuming task, however, we’re now the pioneers of simultaneously motivating and navigating as many real-life teams as we do. Our team numbers/North Star KPI have grown from 500 in 2016 to 3K this year. Similar initiatives are exclusive and limit their participation number - Y Combinator (200 teams), Enactus (50 teams per country), Ashoka (3000 social entrepreneurs total). We are inclusive - everyone can connect in a team and do a social impact project with us and our marginal cost is close to zero.

We’re the only organization that has succeeded in training project and team management skills in one-on-one, in-person interaction model on a mass scale with a total cost 25x cheaper than competition. On top of that, our participants address social problems of real people.

We’re effective because “Lean Startup” by Eric Ries is our Bible. We left the waterfall planning years ago for the data-rules lean approach. So there are no more founders disputes nor expert-opinions-based decisions. Just plenty of research, focus groups, A/B testing and pilots. After some impact hypothesis we execute MVP - Minimum Viable Product and only if results are good, we invest more to develop a new service or expand to a new user group.

How do we have an impact? With our guidance and support, we hope to breed a more socially responsible and competent generation, and consequently, a more sustainable and flourishing world. No matter if our alumni become business tycoons or project managers of small companies; prime ministers or remain voters, they will have two things in common.

First, they will value the joy of changing the world for the better and act accordingly. They will think twice before dumping toxic waste into a river or withstand populistic policies. Second, they will be hungry for being in a team and competent in 4C skills.

A generation of a more community oriented, yet skilled people will indirectly impact various areas of their influence.