It used to be that this model was common for charity startups and I was sort of ok with that. Uninspired... but ok. Its a bit of wealth transfer capitalism-styl

It used to be that this model was common for charity startups and I was sort of ok with that. Uninspired... but ok. Its a bit of wealth transfer capitalism-style, and at least then the profits do to go to help someone in need, maybe by donating back to the people with disabilities, or building infrastructure in the Amazon. But this is just nah we'll keep 100% of the profits ourselves instead! Innovation! - Find a packaged product with raw material sourced from an "on-trend" country (founder's words), buy at market prices, claim to be "creating opportunities" there in a vague way. - Find laborers subsidized by grants to do the packaging, use this to apply for your own grants. Enjoy "the incredible feel-good aspects of providing jobs" (founder's words) with subsidized labor costs. Also enjoying "effectively ... zero-interest loans" is a nice benefit as well. PROTIP - If you automate away those same workers once you have used them to bootstrap the business you can still use the pictures in your origin story PR pieces. - Target "higher-income consumers with the values and means to vote with their dollars - whether that’s in support of high-quality food, progressive community development, or both." (founder's words) to avoid having to justify a premium-priced but ultimately commoditized product. - Do a kickstarter, not because its necessary to get product validation, just because "the most concrete, useful lesson is definitely that nearly anyone has a $10,000 crowdfunding campaign in them."