Reintroducing The Great Near
The Great Near was previously published at Common Future. You can find an archive of old posts under the section “Old TGN.” TGN is now a publication written by me, Caitlin Morelli, and all opinions are my own.
Hi everyone - it’s been a minute.
A lot has changed in the two years since I stopped writing. Beyoncé gave us the gift of Renaissance, Elon Musk tanked Twitter/X, and the world took a temporary step across the 2 degree celsius barrier. (Not sure why that wasn’t a bigger story!) In other news, I left the wonderful team at Common Future to launch an advisory and impact investment firm called Worthmore with my co-founder Rodney Foxworth.
If you’ve subscribed for a while, I’ll be writing about similar themes with some new stuff and slightly fewer emojis. While I don’t have everything figured out about this re-launch, I plan to write about my curiosities, catalogue what I’m learning as we launch Worthmore, and use this as a space to work through big ideas, hopefully with some guest voices. Here are a few things that I’m thinking about these days and hope to write about:
Finance and economics, (i.e. inclusive investment structures and alternative fund models, how stale framing and status quo bias limit our imagination in finance, ESG (gasp), ownership and governance as tools for wealth creation, the “purpose” of the economy, and community-driven finance)
building purposeful institutions, (i.e. talent and team-building, corporate structure, governance, and investment terms in social ventures, and raising aligned capital)
and at the heart of it, why it all matters.
These topics frankly matter little when held up to the existential threat of climate change and the exciting energy transition, the rise of authoritarianism and the pro-democracy movement, the concentration of power and the antitrust movement, and of course the ongoing tragedy in Gaza. I claim no answers, but I can point to the people and resources offering me guidance and insight in challenging times. There is so much power in how we tell these stories and I’m constantly reminded that change is possible and maybe closer than we think.
Today’s post has more preamble than usual, but generally I’ll share a mix of these observations and longer essays once or twice every month. I hope you’ll stick around!
Something new
This publication won’t be about building Worthmore per se, but I want to give a quick intro as I’ve been asked about what inspired the company and it’s relevant to what I’ll be writing about moving forward.
First, we’ve found that purpose-driven entrepreneurs struggle to find partners who are well versed in alternative business models, ownership structures, and financing that aligns with their values. This is something we’ve experienced and hear about time and again in our networks. Related, few investors are willing to venture beyond debt and equity and structure transactions aligned to social entrepreneurs growing non VC-backed businesses. While it’s growing, the ecosystem of innovative finance can be hard to navigate, though there are a few great resources.
There is a common expectations for venture-style growth and market-rate returns among impact investors, and we see missed opportunities for long-term investment in companies with disciplined growth—maybe not billion-dollar unicorns but great companies nonetheless. I love this quote from Evan Armstrong that evokes some of our ethos: “As venture funds continue to target larger and larger outcomes, there is a ton of opportunity left on the table that no one is seizing. You could invest in businesses that have an 80% chance of being worth $300M, rather than a 1% chance of being worth $80B.”
If the majority of a company’s value comes from long-term performance, as Buffet evangelists may point out, social entrepreneurs need more partners excited to provide patient long-term capital. We’re building a firm for purpose-driven companies seeking a) flexible investment and b) a strategic partner who has their back. We’ll combine elements of VC, private equity, merchant banks, and consulting to build a supportive backbone for our ecosystem, kind of like an impact merchant bank.1
Something interesting
A cool new report on alternative ownership enterprises. Hats of to Transform Finance and collaborators. They define alternative ownership enterprises as “firms that significantly shift economic value and decision-making power toward the non-investor stakeholders they impact, such as workers, producers, consumers, community members, or even a non-financial purpose.” The report is extremely comprehensive and reviews the goals and structure of many different models, from ESOPs to EOTs.2 I haven’t read it all yet, but I know this will be a report I return to.
Something amusing
I couldn’t possibly offer a better response to Marc Andreessen’s techno-optimist manifesto than this one. ICYMI, Andreessen, co-founder of the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and very rich person, put out a vision of the world where technology solves all of our problems. Ah, if only! These ideas, essentially modern trickle-down economics, are just a coded pursuit of less regulation and accountability for big tech. Historically, tech titans with unbridled power haven’t always helped regular folks and consumers, so my BS-meter goes off when told of a silver bullet for making the world a better place. This pairs well with Molly White’s piece, Effective Obfuscation, examining how the “effective accelerationism” philosophy emerging in the wake of the OpenAI debacle offers the same justification for unchecked technological progress by those who stand to profit from it.
Something inspiring
I wasn’t expecting much when I clicked on this talk, but as I listened on a walk recently, I found my pace getting faster, knowing this was a message I needed to hear. It’s a lecture to students at Stanford by Graham Weaver, Founder of Alpine Investors, called “How to Live an Asymmetric Life.” I have a tendency to dismiss zealous business advice that, I feel, sometimes misses the bigger picture, but this talk felt different. I appreciated that the four principles Weaver offered certainly apply to one’s career, but also to finding life fulfillment more broadly. It’s worth checking out.
Something personal
It’s been a while since I introduced myself, hello!
I’m Caitlin. Before working on Worthmore, I spent four years working on the pursuit of a more equitable economy at Common Future, first leading knowledge management and then supporting acquisitions and direct investments in the Office of the CEO. Prior to that, I spent a few years at a digital health startup in Baltimore, the greatest city in America, as a Venture for America Fellow.
I’m more rooted these days, but I used to seek every opportunity to travel and be far out of my comfort zone. I’ve taught a course on human centered design at Beijing Women’s University, lived and worked in South Africa, and once traveled the world for six months on behalf of my university after winning a competition to design my own job as their first global ambassador.
I’m equal types eight and two on the Enneagram test, so basically I exhaust myself trying to solve problems and build meticulous plans (with mixed success!). I love the work of breathing life into a vision and make it reality. I live in Brooklyn and spend a lot of time outside, cooking for friends, and dabbling on the piano. I dream about reforming capitalism to serve humanity over the interests of capital and financing climate solutions with greater ambition and urgency, and smaller things like collectively owning a bit of land with my friends and learning to play jazz.
I get fired up about work that helps people live more dignified lives, and have found that outlet in recent years through economic justice—the idea that building wealth builds power and self-determination for people at the margins. I believe that we need reformed financial markets, a stronger labor movement, and ultimately a government with deeper capacity and an exciting, progressive vision for a shared future that protects our climate and democracy.
— What I’m reading & listening to
A beautiful, heart-wrenching audio doc // Building the case for an ownership movement // I can’t get enough of this album // An interview with a nurse who left Gaza // A voice of our generation on Palestine // RIP Goldman Sachs or whatever // Inside the mind of a billionaire // Some more thoughts on McKinsey if you weren’t already convinced // André 3000! // A new podcast that I’m excited about on investing to do good // Tech drama never fails to entertain
A primer on merchant banks from Robinhood
Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). If these terms are new to you, I highly encourage the report.