Becky Endicott and Jonathan McCoy joins Purposely Podcast to share their founder story about ‘We Are For Good’ from Oklahoma, USA.
This is a special episode for me, I am a massive fan of their podcast and their approach, and I launched Purposely at the same time - sharing similar values to them. Heading into our late-night recording I got to ask questions that I had been sitting on for over a year. We talk about the joy of a successful launch and how deciding to take the leap in the first place was ‘most definitely’ a family decision. We talk about how they decided to reject start-up capital and instead bootstrap the platform using their own time and effort as well as their own money. They have worked as consultants in their spare time to keep money coming in to cover living expenses. The good news is that their launch success will mean they can go fulltime in the New Year. The topic of burnout soon comes up with both giving a very candid and honest assessment of how difficult it is to start and grow something at the same time as prioritising other family commitments.
So what is We Are For Good?
It is a digital kindness community that is working to revolutionize the nonprofit industry through profound compassion, best-in-class education/training, authentic storytelling and crazy good marketing all leading to an #ImpactUprising.’
Becky and Jonathan launched in 2019, they are long time colleagues and close friends, as well as the proudest Oklahomans you will ever meet – they are also ‘American philanthropy royalty’ who really believe in the power of giving and receiving ‘collective good’.
Tell me about the start of We Are For Good?
‘We started building classes with content we loved and we saw that the sector was rife for being disrupted, not only on the professional development side but just in the way that we talk to each other the way that we express our hearts and how we connect with community. It's kind of like Jeff Bezos building Amazon, nobody got it when we first started but I think more people are trying to understand this kind of kindness revolution that we're building. So yeah, it's been really exciting!’ So you gave up your jobs and dived right in, how did you fund that start-up phase?
‘We did have offers of capital from investors in exchange for giving away some equity in the company. Knowing John as long as I have, he's pretty much like my little brother, I just knew that he wouldn’t go for it and my instincts were right. We just looked at each other and both said no way, also it would have lost the purity of what we're trying to do and we don't ever want a group of people coming in and telling us how we need to run our business. So we bootstrapped it, helped by six nonprofit clients we had, we could continue to deliver and get paid for work.’
What are your goals for We Are For Good in the near future?
‘We want it to be about community and this requires us to listen more and to pause more to make sure that we're checking in with what people want. We don't want to move too quickly and miss someone or misrepresent someone with what we're trying to do. We're not here to be millionaires we're here to change the world if we can come at it at a slower pace and get some balance for 2022, I still think we can have great balance but it still grows and create this impact uprising while still nurturing our families and living a full and vibrant life.’
