Max Gladwell

JustMeans is “the trading floor for social responsibility”.

Martin Smith is CEO of JustMeans, a social networking community dedicated to social responsibility on the individual and corporate level. In many ways, it is LinkedIn with a purpose. We’ve covered the company before, and it generated plenty of interest. Since that post, the site’s Alexa ranking has jumped from 742K to 270K. On Compete.com, it ranks 177K with a considerable ramp-up over the past couple months (see the graph below). Smith and his team are definitely doing something right.

1. How did the idea for JustMeans come about? What’s the backstory?

After studying economics at the University of Chicago, I was concerned about the lack of focus on externalities/ public goods in the curriculum. Value was defined by short term financial gain and this definition shaped my colleagues’ perception on the role of business in society. A successful business was one that created short term financial value at all costs; a successful career was defined by the size of your paycheck.

As a result, I created StartingBloc, a non-profit organization that educates, empowers and connects emerging leaders to drive positive social change across sectors. The organization started with a $1,000 grant from the University of Chicago and I continued work on it for over four years. The idea was to create a competitive leadership development program for undergraduates and young professionals. In partnership with leading business schools, we showcased the people, organizations and models of change that were driving the fields of social enterprise and sustainability forward. Running the organization was tremendously rewarding but I felt that we needed a place where these ideas could be showcased to many more people.

We call JustMeans the trading floor for social responsibility. In the old days, trading floors were established to drive down the transaction costs of trading commodities and equities. Lower transaction costs meant that more deals could be done, more goods traded. Back then, value was defined by a price. Today, it is as well, but there is much behind that price. If you create a $0.79 pork burrito, does that price accurately reflect the externalities on the environment, labor, or our health care system? In our own neighborhood in Harlem, 125th street is lined with every fast food restaurant where a full meal can be bought for $5. As Amartya Sen has pointed out, the average longevity of a resident of certain poor neighborhoods in New York is lower than that of an average citizen in Bangladesh.

So the goal of JustMeans is to question the assumptions behind how we have traditionally thought of value.  Both how organizations create value and also what we value in our lives. Our goal is to showcase the organizations, ideas, people, and collaborations that are shaping the future of business. In providing a platform where thousands of individuals and companies trade knowledge, we hope to exponentially lower the transaction cost of doing business in the world of social responsibility.  Only then will we be able to create the sustainable future and lives that so many of us want.

2. What is the JustMeans platform? How does it work?

The JustMeans platform consists of three sections – jobs, news and networks – and engages both companies and individuals in conversations and initiatives covering social and environmental responsibility. The JustMeans platform reaches beyond the traditional realm of networking by connecting individuals with individuals, individuals with companies, and companies with companies through a social media architecture that facilitates positive change. The JustMeans news and blog section increases awareness and provides access to information on programs and advancements in the field of social responsibility. The 2,000-plus job listings on JustMeans offer another level of individual and corporate interaction, as individuals can pursue both professional goals and commitment to social responsibility. Through unique individual and company profiles, the JustMeans platform offers the technology and trading floor for user-generated ideas, dialogue and action in social responsibility.

3. It appears you’re going global right out of the gate on three continents. What’s the reasoning and strategy?

The JustMeans mission is to help create partnerships and foster dialogue that extend beyond specific fields of responsibility and across geographic regions. The JustMeans platform leverages the global economy by creating a forum for international collaboration and a marketplace for ideas.  By having three offices on three continents (London, New York, and Mumbai), the JustMeans platform achieves a global reach that unites interested members from around the world.

4. How are you positioned in terms of your closest competitors? What sets JustMeans apart?

Our niche is social responsibility. This focus is specific enough that our users and clients can focus their communications/networking to the right audience, but broad enough that it creates a varied user base – which in turn creates a highly valued platform. Many companies engage in certain elements of the JustMeans platform, but none combine news, jobs and networks in the way that JustMeans does. JustMeans integrates original blogs, company and user-generated news material, job opportunities and networking to create a dynamic platform that serves the professional and social goals of both individuals and companies.  We are pioneering the use of social media as a communications tool for corporate and individual social responsibility.

5. What is your revenue model?

While JustMeans is free for individuals to join, our revenue model consists of JustMeans company membership and technology build-outs. Companies and organizations pay membership fees to post job opportunities and company material like press releases, corporate responsibility reports, articles, videos and blogs. Other organizations and Fortune 500 companies enlist the JustMeans technology team for expert build-outs of their company websites, blogs and social media pages.

6. I see you just launched a new blog. What is the strategy there?

The new All Things Reconsidered aggregates the voices of both leaders across the social responsibility field and the JustMeans staff. Because no blog exists that gives a voice to the people driving social entrepreneurship and responsibility, the All Things Reconsidered blog is a unique resource for news and original thought. The upcoming blogs are meant to stimulate dialogue between social responsibility leaders, companies and individuals to create controversy, collaboration and critical thought.

7. What are the immediate goals and challenges?

The goals of JustMeans are to advance the field of social responsibility and create effective and sustainable change. In order to create a significant impact, we aim to bring the ideas of social responsibility and the JustMeans platform to the broadest audience possible.  We hope to transform the way corporations and individuals view the role and responsibility of business and employment. An important challenge that JustMeans faces is initiating and motivating serious conversation on social and environmental issues within the business space. The JustMeans mission meets resistance in corporate transparency and works to overcome these obstacles by offering a platform and technology for two-way dialogue and stakeholder feedback.

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