Open Sourcing The Food+Tech Connect Business Plan

I am thrilled to introduce Christine Rico, my business and idea weaving advisor. Christine and I have been working together to take all of my ideas and the amazing people and opportunities coming my way, and build a cohesive business plan. I feel very fortunate to be working with her. So, I’ve decided to spread the wealth- we’ll be open sourcing the process!

-Danielle

As Danielle wrote in her post about Windowfarms, “you have to give something relevant to get something relevant.” With this underlying philosophy, I am excited to begin writing weekly posts that focus on business planning and social entrepreneurship using Food+Tech Connect as the open case study.

When I first met Danielle, it quickly became clear that while she has a strong vision for what she wants to achieve, the way forward looked more like a plate of opportunity spaghetti than a roadmap.

Danielle wanted help taking all these opportunities and creating a business model and implementation plan. I signed on to be her coach because I see tremendous opportunity, creativity, and social connection in Food+Tech Connect. I’m especially intrigued by the positioning of Food+Tech Connect as a bridge between several very powerful social networks namely: food and agriculture; emerging technology; open data; and open government.

In addition to standard business planning tools, I use visual thinking and design concepts to create business models and strategies. When Danielle and I met to discuss Food+Tech Connect we had a spark of mutual excitement around using these tools plus open innovation to create her business plan.

Secrecy is key in a competitive frame where anyone outside of your inner circle could be the enemy. But Food Tech Connect is constructed on a different model. Food+Tech Connect is rooted in a concept of mutual benefit and innovation based on open data, crowdsourcing, and information sharing. So, as we work through the business model, I will blog about the process and ask you to help build the plan for Food+Tech Connect through comments and feedback. I look forward to learning with you and Danielle.

I am a social entrepreneur with a passion for sustainability. I live and work in NYC; and have some success growing vegetables and healthy kids in Brooklyn. My work is focused on the intersection of business development/job creation and urban sustainability. I provide business management and strategy consulting to entrepreneurs that are creating new models for addressing urgent social problems. My company is called Waste to Wealth because inefficiencies create waste, and addressing that waste is the road to sustainability – for organizations as well as for the environment.
Christine Rico