By Stacey Lindsay
When Daniel Epstein was in college, whenever people asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, his answer was resolute: "An entrepreneur," he would say. What came next, however, wasn't as confident. "The question that always followed was: What's your idea? And I had none," Epstein says with a laugh.
Epstein endlessly asked himself what he wanted to venture. He wanted to make an impact, but how? With a brick and mortar? A "new thing" called social media? He blames his philosophy studies for causing him "to question everything." Then one day, Epstein asked himself something that created a shift: What do entrepreneurs do? They "design solutions to problems," he says. And that realization "threw him down a path" of working with friends to build companies that were trying to fix large-scale social and environmental issues.“I realized that if I’m going to focus my relationships, reputation, time, sleep, energy, and equity on starting companies," he tells us, "why not work on companies that are striving to solve the most pressing challenges of our time?”
It might be easy to think that what ensured was a series of for-profit start-ups that Epstein and his colleagues built and sold with a Silicon Valley ease. That was not the case. Epstein had momentum, but he still hadn't found his place. He was mingling with fellow impact-minded people in the nonprofit world but "felt like a misfit" because he's a capitalist, he says. ("Not in heart, but in mind.") Or he'd be with people in the private sector and would still feel out of place because he's not driven by profit. He claims “profit is simply a tool to be leveraged to create impact at scale.” What he wanted was to have a community of like-minded entrepreneurs. "I wanted to seek refuge amongst fellow misfits: entrepreneurs foolhardy enough to believe they can change the world but so hellbent they won’t stop until they do."
Epstein's answer was just that. He decided to bring entrepreneurism something it was lacking: a kinship of support where founders could bring their ideas, vulnerability, passions, and questions. So he and his friends brought together twenty-three entrepreneurs from eighteen countries to launch an organization that supported these makers and doers with connections, resources, and—ultimately—camaraderie. It was called The Unreasonable Institute and it was a success. A huge success. So much so that by the end of the program several people had gotten tattoos of the Unreasonable logo.
That was in the summer of 2010. Since The Unreasonable Institute—which is now called Unchartered—has taken off as a program. It has also splintered into a full-fledged brand that supports entrepreneurs and their socially and environmentally driven missions. Enter: Unreasonable Group, an organization that drives relationships and bolsters the works of socially and environmentally minded growth-stage start-ups. As stated on its website, Unreasonable Group's "goal is to drive resources into and break down barriers for entrepreneurs solving BFPs" (big f#*king problems).
It's hard to describe exactly what Unreasonable Group is. It's a company. A portfolio of initiatives. A rallying cry. An investment firm. A family. But to try to fully define it would mean to put it in a box, potentially jeopardizing its multifaceted uniqueness. Unreasonable Group is something entirely different that's offering the world of mission-driven entrepreneurs needed support and—in turn—ways to help fortify their journey so they can make the greatest impact the fastest way. "We're finding the most effective solutions in the world and trying to help scale them," says Epstein.
Unreasonable’s roster of more than 200 entrepreneurs is impressive and expansive. Each one is working to solve one of today's most pressing issues. There's the former cardiologist who is producing cell-based meat to offer the world a more humane way to consume animal protein. The company converting carbon into proteins, oils, and other bio-based products. The engineer who went from being the youngest member of Canada's Parliament to designing safe plant-based alternative to pesticides. The list continues. And Epstein is "humbled" and "in awe" of every single one of them. "They've already defied gravity," he says. (The companies Unreasonable supports have raised more than 4 billion dollars in investment and are measurably impacting the lives of more than 350 million individuals in more than 180 countries.)
As diverse as these entrepreneurs are, there's a trace that runs through each of them: a need for connection and a desire to leverage capital markets to solve global issues full stop. And this is what motivates Epstein. He and his team will "go to great lengths" to give each of these entrepreneurs what they need. Say one founder is struggling with a work-life balance. The Unreasonable team will tap their resources and provide support. Another CEO may be in need of a connection at a global retailer. The rolodex opens. Or sometimes what's needed is assurance; fellow entrepreneurs who can relate to one another and provide counsel and kinship. "It takes a very rare type individual to risk everything; to try to will something into existence that's never been in the market before," says Epstein. "That journey can be really lonely. To have these other CEOs who are struggling with the same thing, are also working at a global scale, and who can celebrate those wins with you, is the greatest sense of value."
That support system is the seed Epstein initially planted for Unreasonable Group more than a decade ago. It's also what fueled him in college, a young entrepreneur-in-the-making seeking a path. Whether or not he knew it at the time, Epstein had his pulse on an essential ingredient for tackling the world's largest problems: a trusted community. "At the end of the day, the greatest source of value for the entrepreneurs we support is each other," says Epstein.
To learn more about Unreasonable Group, visit: unreasonablegroup.com.
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