What the heck is the point of Bolder??

This post comes from an interview we did with Jeff McIntire-Strasburg from Sustainablog. The interview is focused on the environment, but the themes hold constant across our four key focuses: environment, health and fitness, community, and education issues. We thought it would be fun to share and would love your thoughts in the comments section below.

1. Sustainablog: I'll start off with the tough one: is rewarding people with incentives to consume sustainable? Why (or why not)? Or is the question totally off base?

Bolder: The question is definitely not off base. It's a question we've definitely struggled with as founders. The idealist side of our brains thinks Bolder can succeed just by asking people to do good - no reward required. We actually see this in the data: 90% of people are requesting the rewards, but 35% of those people redeem them. So there's a gap, which means people aren't just doing it for the reward.

The realist side of our brain sees a huge opportunity to have massive impact by attaching an incentive to challenges. The reward allows us to start a conversation with people that might scoff at just being told to do good. AND it allows us to reach out to the business community and begin to convert the promotion into a vehicle for positive change. This is the fundamental reason we started Bolder.

We saw all these coupons being thrown around and snatched up by the masses. We asked ourselves, why can't these promos actually accomplish something? Why can't brands ask for something in return? A small something that makes the world a little better and highlights what the brand cares about; what's really in their DNA. As we all know, brands are struggling to connect with their customers on a meaningful level. Bolder was founded as a means to create that connection over real-world positive action. We're also experimenting with non-consumption based rewards, like donations for actions taken.

Finally, promotions are going to exist forever (or at least it seems). If Bolder's existence can convert a portion of those promos into awareness for world issues and inspire positive action, well then…we've won.

2. Sustainablog: On the flip side, a number of business models have succeeded by offering rewards for eco-friendly action: Recyclebank comes to mind immediately. Do those of us who push environmental action for its own sake and benefits simply expect too much of people? Again, why or why not?

Bolder: We think this depends on who you ask, and at the end of the day, it's really a subjective answer. So here's our opinion: we're all human, we'll never be perfect. We have a long way to go as a society to surmount some of the problems we've gotten ourselves into- environmental degradation being one of them. It's extremely important that we push hard to solve them, but it's even more important that what we're pushing works.

Our sense is pushing environmentalism for the environment's sake isn't going to work right now. Unfortunately, the planet is not a high enough priority in most people's day-to-day existence in the U.S. Caring for the planet requires real change, some of which is admittedly hard to make.

Adding to the problem, the macro environmental costs and consequences caused by our actions are incredibly disconnected from our lives (think "I can't feel it getting warmer"). Humans aren't inherently good at changing behavior when there's little perceived cost/benefit for doing so. So forcing environmental action on people can not only be polarizing, but can work in the opposite direction, and actually make people less likely to care. Or even worse, people begin to justify crapping on the planet.

Our hope is that in the future, the environmental choice is not only the easy choice, but the most beneficial choice (think natural lighting: easy on the pocketbook and shown to have positive psychological effects). In the meantime, as a society, we'll go through many iterations figuring out what actually motivates people to care at scale. We haven't figured it out yet.

3. Sustainablog: You use user-generated content as a means of judging and verifying action taken on particular challenges: stories and photos seem to be the norm now. How do you see this element of your model expanding? Do you foresee partnerships with larger, more established players in the user-generated content space, such as Flickr and Youtube?

Bolder: Absolutely. We're excited about all kinds of partnerships, especially with large content sources like the ones you mention. We've built Bolder as the platform to help any community mobilize to do something good. Whether that community is a business and its customers, a college, a non-profit or corporation, a large media company, celebrity fans, or a consumer product (i.e. YouTube). It's exciting to think about all these enormous communities that are already build and just waiting to be mobilized. We don't want a community, we just want to help existing communities accomplish something meaningful (and fun!).

Imagine a Flickr challenge to the Flickr community to "post a picture of something good happening." Wouldn't that be cool? Same for Nikon, Canon, etc. Bolder could power that challenge today and build a community of people showcasing what good is happening in the world. You want to go tell them about our idea :)

4. Jeff: I know that you don't limit “challengers” to green businesses. What are the advantages and disadvantages of allowing a wide range of companies to make eco-challenges to your users? Any fears that you could become a platform for greenwashing?

We decided from day one that we weren't in the business to decide which companies are good and bad. We just wouldn't get anything done during the day if we debated the good/bad merits of each company! Trust us, we love to sit around and talk :) Rather, we wanted to provide a platform that allowed anyone to mobilize a community to do something good.

While the platform has been fairly self-selecting so far, we see the net opening wider in the future. It's up to consumers, not Bolder, to determine whether the businesses they interact with are greenwashing. As was said in 2), we have a long way to go as a society. Limiting participation on the platform would defeat the purpose and lessen the impact we can all have together.

5. Sustainablog: You challenge your users to take green actions; what kinds of green actions does the company take in day-to-day operations and other facets of the business?

Bolder: Cool, so now you get to decide if we're faking it :) We're just going to list some ways that we live, so we'll inevitably miss something. First and foremost though, we complete every challenge (at least so far), so we're constantly thinking about and living the actions on the site. In general, our mantra is embracing change. Always questioning what we're doing, can we be doing it better? Gives life some variety. So listing some things we do everyday:

- commute: we're all bike commuters/public transit users. Everyday, even in the rain.
- paper: we don't print in the office unless our lawyer/payroll company makes us
- waste: we don't use throwaway coffee cups. We each have our own mugs on our desks. If you get caught with a paper cup, you do 30 pullups on the spot (we have a cool park next to our office). waterbottles: do plastic bottles even exist anymore? Thanks MiiR!
- litter: we're constantly picking up trash on our neighborhood "stress walks" (we circle the block when we're stressed)
- lunch: waste free, as often as possible. The data is mixed on the exact benefits of not eating meat, but very little meat is consumed at Bolder (thanks Rob!).
- energy: lights off (who likes fluorescent anyway), until our loft mates make us turn them on. Always unplug everything after working.
- clothing: we dress casual & strive to reduce our wardrobe by donating and buying from thrift stores. Benefit: super hip clothes!
- consumption: we're pretty poor from starting Bolder, so we don't shop much, except for outdoor gear :)

Guilty pleasure: we draw much of our energy to pour into Bolder from our experiences in the outdoors. Since we live in San Francisco and are avid mountain folk, our winters involve a decent amount of driving. But we assure you, it's always 4 packed in the Subie. Gotta complete the "carpool" challenge on the way to Tahoe :)

Thanks everyone. It's been fun so far and we're looking forward to growing with all of you! We'd love to hear what you think in the comments section below. Thanks!