Rachel Romer and Josh Reeves, Co-Founders and CEOs of Guild Education and Gusto respectively, and Susan (“Suz”) Mac Cormac from Morrison Foerster LLP joined RIL Co-Founder Jon Zieger for a pointed discussion on stakeholder value. They dialed in on structures like the Public Benefit Corporation (PBC) for protecting a company’s mission and the importance of intentional, simple mechanisms like building a great team in service of a clear, shared mission that’s good for customers and business.

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Key Takeaways:

• Stakeholder value can be pursued in different structures. One example is the Public Benefit Corporation, which is legally obligated to protect the specific public benefit (mission) of the company even through a sale, new CEO, etc.
• "Our business only does well when the three sides of our community do well. Our communities only do well when our business does well." - Rachel Romer
• Single materiality means that a business considers its impact on business operations. Double materiality means that a business considers its impact on stakeholders, community, environment, etc.
• “VC returns are way more reliant on GDP than on individual company alpha - so VCs need to act on systemic risks like climate change and societal inequality.” - Suz Mac Cormac
• On values + problem solving, start with the problem you’re trying to solve and think of how employees contribute as stakeholders in what you’re building.
• “Creating value for customers starts with having really values-aligned employees…We focus on the Minimum Lovable Product, instead of a MVP (minimum viable product).” - Josh Reeves

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Supplementary Resources:

1. American Worker Survey Report from Guild Education
2. Why I converted to a PBC when Raising a $40M Series B — Aclima Case Study
3. 2022 RISE Report from Gusto
4. Patagonia Makes “Earth its only Shareholder”

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