Ross Baird is a believer in the power of impact investing. As the executive director at non-profit venture capital firm Village Capital, he scours the globe for social entrepreneurs and ways to encourage them both individually and as part of a social enterprise ecosystem. Village Capital took another big step in its mission earlier this year when the company's affiliated VilCap Investments fund raised $17.7 million from investors including Steve and Jean Case. The money will be invested in seventy five peer-selected startups working on energy, health and other areas where the right innovation can change lives for the better.
What's your secret to staying creative and juggling all the aspects of your work?
There are two different ways of thinking, the manager and the maker [mindsets]. I schedule out my day into two half days to spend time in both ways. One half of the day [in manager mode] I have my meetings and administrative work. When I'm in maker mode, that's when I do my writing, create proposals and do reading and synthesis of ideas. It seems counter intuitive to be productive when I'm talking to nobody else but that's when I'm at my most productive.
What inspires you, where do you find inspiration?
I read a lot. If it's a good week I'm reading two to three books a week. But, I think good ideas come from everywhere. The best ideas are often right under your nose. We have a Slack channel at the office of 'What I Find Interesting' where people share ideas. In general. it's very, very hard to work with entrepreneurs every day and not have massive intellectual overload.
"The best ideas are often right under your nose."
What do you think people should understand about entrepreneurship?
I think the biggest myth of innovation is the hero entrepreneur, the Steve Jobs who is brilliant, and if you just get them the resources they need, they're going to create something innovative. In reality, innovation is an evolutionary process. If you want to make an impact you have to work at it.
What stands out about Washington, D.C. when it comes to innovation?
D.C.'s greatest weakness is also its greatest strength. D.C. is the capital of incredibly complicated institutions, and growing to a really meaningful scale for startups means integrating with complicated institutions. Other places there's the mindset that government and corporations are the enemy to innovation, but I have found D.C.'s entrepreneurial environment to be incredibly collaborative. Startups here generally understand they need to think of government as worth partnering with, not ignoring and and that corporations can be for partnering with, not disrupting. There's more patience here than Silicon Valley. D.C. is the best city in the world to be a founder in things that affect people every day.
"D.C. is the best city in the world to be a founder in things that affect people every day."
When did you realize this was the kind of career you wanted?
As far back as I can remember, I've been starting stuff. I can't remember not wanting to turn it into something that would change the world.
How will your industry change the most in the next five years?
These days, even big corporations are starting to have social responsibility arms. It's increasingly important to people that companies be ethical, to employees that their jobs help people and to investors that they make money but also contribute positively to society. It used to be that companies had two pockets, one for [the central] business and one for philanthropy. Now, the two pocket world is increasingly merging into a one pocket world where companies are taking into account long-term societal benefits or harm as well as short-term profits.
What’s something that you do every single day, no matter what you have going on?
I have a pretty structured morning routine. I go for a run, then breakfast. I'm not going to work until I take care of myself physically. I feel like if I can win that first hour of the day I'll do better the rest of the day.
Who in D.C. do you admire?
The president. He's amazing. After eight years, no drama, no scandal, he's an amazing model of how to conduct yourself under the highest stress job in world. And D.C. is full of great civil servants, the behind the scenes people, people's aides. They work so hard but any credit goes tot their boss. In a town where people get heat for having big egos, they work incredibly hard with no ego, even when they could make more money elsewhere.
Since VilCap's investments are done by peer-selection, what do you look for in the people you invest in?
It's experience plus attitude. Having lived the experience you're trying to solve is necessary to being able to spot solutions. Lots of people look at a problem and think why they'll fail, entrepreneurs look at the idea instead and think of why it will succeed. The problem is sometimes VCs, particularly on the East Coast are cautious. They look for patterns they recognize and are risk averse rather than reward seeking. I'd like to change that. We need more investors like Revolution. We need ten Revolutions.
Related to that, what would you change about D.C. or D.C. Tech if you could snap your fingers and make it happen?
The D.C. innovation scene has a long way to go on diversity. D.C. historically had a very successful black middle class, but the D.C. innovation scene doesn't reflect that well. But, there are specific, targeted things to do to address that and you see people like Jason Towns doing great work on it.
What does it mean to be 'on fire?'
On fire means they've got momentum, that they've got some insight and are spending the time to make something happen. It's the best compliment someone can get.
