Aligning purpose, profit, and public interests: what this means for Alkemio.

These words are easy to say. However, embedding them in your company ownership, governance, and culture is not easy. It isn’t a well-worn path, and it is an evolving process. Inspired by this article from John O'Nolan about Ghost, we wanted to share what these words mean to us.

Purpose

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Alkemio exists for purpose, not for shareholder returns.

The purpose is our why. It is why Alkemio exists, and why we come to work every day.

Building a sustainable business is our how. We have chosen this method, and we do it ethically, in line with our values, conscious at all times that the reason we’re doing this business is to achieve the purpose.

It is crucial that the how is aligned with the why. This means acting responsibly and in line with our values, towards the purpose. Moving quickly, competing fairly, and finding a way to win deals against the odds, in order to earn revenue and build much-needed market traction, is not in conflict with the purpose — it is essential for the purpose, especially for a startup that is still working towards product-market fit.

Pursuing the purpose across market cycles, leadership changes, and shifting funding climates requires financial resilience. Grants from aligned parties are genuinely welcome and have an important role to play. But we do not want to depend on grants; therefore, we need a clear focus on achieving sustainable profitability.

Profit serves purpose

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Profits are a means to the purpose, not a goal in themselves.

Profit and purpose are not in conflict. To attract investors beyond the current ‘trusted network’, we need those investors to believe Alkemio can achieve profitability in a highly competitive digital platform market and become a sustainable business for the long-term. Without that confidence, Alkemio reads as a cause worth supporting rather than an investment worth making — and impact investors need both.

Scale is important and is a key enabler towards our purpose. A credible path to profitability will attract the external capital needed to scale responsibly. And sustainable profitability can ultimately enable building an independent business that can support its own growth.

A Venn diagram, with Purpose, Profit, and Public Interests. Text reads, "A resilient business that creates meaningful impact."

Aligning with public interests

Alkemio is a tech company that is aligned with public interests.

These are highly unusual words for a technology company to be able to say, and to show with actions.

It is an explicit choice. By the purpose we have chosen — to help people get more effective at working together to solve complex societal challenges. By choosing steward-ownership to legally safeguard this purpose and ensure it is central to Alkemio’s existence and actions — with decision-making power held by stewards, not by shareholders, and this power not being for sale. By preventing extraction of value for personal or shareholder benefit; with the value created by the platform, after capped economic returns to all parties, to circulate back into society to help achieve the purpose.

This doesn’t mean we put public interests first in every business decision we make. It means the business we build is designed, driven, and exists to achieve a purpose aligned with public interests.

A learning journey for our team

The team has been purpose-driven since day 1. We chose steward-ownership at an early stage of our journey to ensure this will always remain the case. We are learning as we go how to create a team culture that combines this with building a sustainable business. To effectively align purpose, profit and public interests.

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Balancing purpose with business isn't always easy, and we won't pretend otherwise, but we believe it is a struggle worth having.

If this resonates with you, we welcome a conversation; please reach out to the team.