Karma Capitalism – James Reed (1)

This is something Stephan Schenk discovered when he turned to this structure after a terrible experience with early backers. While Stapelstein, the brand Schenk founded in 2016, is far younger than all the businesses mentioned here, it is hoped that, as a PhilCo, it now has the ability to go the distance, something that was very much in doubt with its previous structure. Stapelstein, which looks for ways to help children keep moving, was founded when Schenk was still at university.

He devised a simple, colourful series of modular objects, with the goal of creating a wide range of incentives to get children playing, interacting and using their energy. While he was pleased to have attracted some early investment from two business angels, he quickly realised that he had made a mistake.

He had traded most of his company away in the process, including the all-important voting rights. When the business went into profit, Schenk soon discovered that he and the investors had very different visions for the future of Stapelstein. He was eager to reinvest the profits to grow the business, while they wanted to take money out via dividends. As a minority shareholder, he was not able to overrule them. To extricate himself and his company from the situation, and to protect Stapelstein’s original purpose, he moved to become a PhilCo (also known as steward company), working with capital partners Purpose Ventures and Purpose Evergreen Capital.

To achieve this, he had to buy out the other two shareholders. While one shareholder sold out fairly soon, it took 18 months and a lot of money to persuade the second to sell. Stapelstein Stapelstein is a company that creates versatile, open-ended play products designed to inspire children to move more and explore their creativity. Its colourful, durable foam blocks are made from eco-friendly materials. I come from a family where there is no connection to business.

We all work in social professions, such as care homes, kindergartens and schools. It is probably why I chose to create such a product. As a product designer, I connected with my personal background. I trusted the investors 100 per cent, thinking they had really connected with the idea and wanted to create this purpose-driven company together with me. There was a moment when the trust relationship tipped in the wrong direction. The preferred option for the angels was to sell the whole company to another investor or a big toy company.

James Reed is the Chairman and CEO of Reed – Britain’s biggest and best known recruitment brand. Reed is a values led and purpose driven Philanthropy Company (PhilCo) that has been improving lives through work since 1960. He is a regular media commentator on work and labour market issues, with appearances on BBC News, Sky News, BBC Radio 2 and The Apprentice.

James has also contributed to a wide range of publications including the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review and the Sunday Times. James is the author of six books; Karma Capitalism, Life’s Work, The Happy Recruiter, The 7-Second CV, Why You? 101 Interview Questions You’ll Never Fear Again and Put Your Mindset to Work, which he co- authored with Dr Paul Stoltz. James also hosts the chart-topping business podcast James Reed: All About Business.

OceanofPDF.com Praise for Karma Capitalism ‘James Reed is this country’s leading voice on effective, strategic philanthropy. His new book is both a persuasive argument for the PhilCo movement and a call to arms for entrepreneurs and executives who want to make the world – and their own companies – a better place. Read it, then go and put his ideas into action.’ – Edwin Smith, editor-in-chief of Spear’s Magazine ‘If you believe, as every successful business leader should, that giving back must be baked into your DNA, then James Reed provides the recipe.’

– Dame Irene Hays, owner and chair of Hays Travel ‘Now that I’ve read this book, I cannot unsee the potential and necessity of Karma Capitalism and the concept of a PhilCo. I will be building these ideas into my business from day one.’ – Sharmadean Reid MBE, founder, creative consultant and advocate for women’s empowerment ‘Businesses (when they’re not cheating you out of your pants) have the power to transform and support our society for the better and James Reed’s insightful book tells us exactly how.

I know him personally and believe these ideas could lead the way.’

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 068bac5050464c7d
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 6,670,513 bytes (6.361 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 228
• Language: English (en)

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• Total Words: 47,579
• Total Characters: 289,374
• Average Words per Page: 208.68
• Average Characters per Page: 1269.18

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