The Hardest Part of Doing Good: A Q&A With Ido Leffler, Founder of Yes To Inc. and Yoobi
Join Fast Company’s Kc Ifeanyi for a live chat with Ido Leffler, founder of socially conscious companies Yes To Inc. and Yoobi. The event starts Friday, September 19 at 12:00 pm E.T.
For-profit companies founded on a social mission face a unique challenge: businesses have to balance bottom-lines with giving back. It’s easy enough to want to make an impact on the world, but how can your company become great at doing good?
Ido Leffler has answers.
Leffler, the man behind natural beauty products company Yes To Inc. and now school supplies line Yoobi, has built successful brands on the base of meaningful social missions. A portion of Yes To’s profits goes toward a “Seed Fund” that has provided 50,000 meals to kids worldwide, while Yoobi operates on a one-for-one model, giving one item to schoolchildren in need for every Yoobi item purchased.
Before speaking at Techmanity 2014 on Oct. 1-2, Leffler joins us for a live chat to answer your questions about building and fortifying your business and its social mission, as well as cracking the hardest part of “doing good.”
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If anyone out there has suggestions for new products or colors PLEASE ping me.
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Great idea to involve your customers! Mark your calendars for March, everyone.
Another live watcher has a question for you, Ido. -
Hi, You made the world different! What kind of kid and teen life did you have and what would you tell them to make their life fully? I work with fosterchildren.
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Here's another video to watch while we wait for Ido's response, Yoobi's first give:by Miles Kohrman via YouTube 9/19/2014 4:33:53 PM
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Love this... i was very lucky to have incredible parents that truly allowed us to follow our dreams, however when i was 12/13 my family lost all of our money in a failed business and we were nearly homeless...
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I watched my parents band together and fight their way out of their situation, and do so as a team— they never believed the negativity around them and created their own happier version of reality.
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What i learned through that is that ANYONE can create an opportunity for themselves.....
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My suggestion is alway to visualize your dreams and then figure out who out the in their world can make that dream come true, write their names down, and do whatever it takes to get their attention (within reason ;-))
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Got another question from "Curious George" coming in for you, Ido..
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Ido - you're obviously an inspiration to so many young entrepreneurs. Who did you look up to when learning the trade and is there anyone you still go to for advice or to bounce ideas?
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Thank you deeply touched, Ido. I would tell this to my foster kids! though they are too busy doomed in their own dark world.
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I am very lucky to have my own personal advisor at home, my wife is someone who gets to hear the raw ideas and helps me to to shape them.
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Also, my business partner Lance Kalish is someone who I speak to every day even though we live an ocean apart. He is the numbers guy, and always makes sure we stay focused.
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Someone who I loved and respected was the late Jacques Levy, the former CEO of Sephora, he was a mentor of mine that I loved dearly. I met him randomly at a trade show and we became like family.
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Hi Ido! Looking forward to hearing from you at Techmanity! Are you excited?
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I am very excited, I love these events!!! October is a special month for me as we are about to have our 3rd child (so my phone will be on while I am on stage :-))
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Can't wait for Techmanity! Got another question for you, Ido...
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Any tips on connecting with other socially-minded entrepreneurs? Websites, conferences or influencers shaping the industry?
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100% yes, I would try to get involved with organizations such as the UNF, Summit Series, TED etc
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On the subject of Techmanity: As a thank you to our followers, we’re offering a limited number of free tickets to the event, where you can hear more from Ido live, plus Jared Leto, Tim Draper, Leah Busque, Scooter Braun, and more. Visit this link, select “conference pass,” and use code IDO to claim your ticket now.
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I would also try to find other companies in your region who you respect and try and band together to throw fun events... We are very close to Method, Annies, Seventh Generation, Clif Bar, Zarbees, Evol, Sundial, Kashi, Vita coco etc through our Made To Matter program at Target.
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Also, this Sunday/Monday there is the Social Good Summit in NYC which some amazing folks will be presenting and attending (including some great FC folks!)
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Thanks, Ido. It's so inspiring to hear how your customers invest in not just school supplies, but also the brand's mission and social impact. As your company grows, how do you plan to keep customers involved in the conversation? How will you share your story and the impact of your brand's mission?
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Here's a link to the Social Good Summit that Ido mentioned.
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It is a challenge that we constantly strive to solve, the bigger you get the further away you are from your core consumers! We try and pretend we are still small and act like a speed boat.
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As for sharing the story, thats the fun part, we are constantly creating content to share to the world. We will never have the budgets of the HUGE multi nations, but our fans/consumers allow us to have a massive reach.
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Ido - You mention that your kids were the inspiration for Yoobi - do they understand the issues it seeks to solve? How do they react to your travel and business life?
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My five-year-old 100% understands the mission and vision of the company, and i love watching her tell the story.
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As for the travel, that is always a challenge and not one i have 100% mastered. What I do make sure of is that when I am at home, I am 100% present. I come home for dinner, I'm always around for bath time, and I rarely check emails on weekends. (I also try never to travel on weekends or fly them out to me.)
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Yesterday, for example, I cleared out my calendar so I could pick them up from school. These little things matter especially when you travel.
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The hardest part of doing good is knowing when to say no. What I have learned is that you need to stay focused on the issue you are trying to solve. Focus is what leads to success when trying to solve a problem. In the past we were very wishy washy about our "do good" goals, now we are very, very focused.
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That's so amazing! Adults can no longer underestimate kids intelligence. We hope you'd come to Japan, please share your amazing kids stories directly to our kids in Kyoto!! and will have Yoobi in Japanese design :-)
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Thanks for all the amazing questions, everyone! We’re wrapping up our live chat with Ido Leffler now. You can hear Ido speak on "The Hard Part of 'Doing Good'" at Techmanity (Oct. 1 - 2) and we’re offering a limited number of free tickets to the event:
1) VisitTECHMANITY Registration
Techmanity celebrates the companies, entrepreneurs, inventors, programmers and investors commercializing innovations that make our world a better plac
2) Select “Conference Only Pass”
3) Use code “IDO” to claim your ticket
If you have any more questions for Ido, tweet him at @yoobigives.
Ido, it’s been an absolute pleasure talking with you today. -
Thank you everyone this has been so so so much fun!!! See you all at Techmanity, come say HI!
