Reflections on the SOCAP Conference in San Francisco

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend SOCAP, the Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco. I attended as a Social Entrepreneur Scholarship, which SOCAP graciously offers to a select number of social entrepreneurs for a full discount on the $1,300 ticket that other conference attendees have to purchase.

The conference highlighted the release of a report by Omidyar Network on impact investing titled Priming the Pump: The Case for a Sector Based Approach to Impact Investing. Attendees mentioned that each SOCAP conference centers on a particular issue or topic, with this year's focus on impact investing.

Here are some insights I had from my amazing time at the SOCAP conference.

1. Figure out your goal. SOCAP will overwhelm you if you do not prepare in advance by defining a goal and using that goal to choose what to do as well as what not to do. This is true for many large events. With over 1,600 participants, three days of panels, and side-bar presentations, meetings and receptions, doing everything at SOCAP is impossible. The three step solution should be a) define your goal, b) select meetings and panels that advance your goal the most, c) keep away from events and meetings that do not meet you goal.

2. Prepare for meetings. The easy thing is to create a pitch, perfect it, and deliver it ad nauseum. The hard thing is to learn about your audience and tailor your pitch to their interests. One investor might like the geographical focus of your work. Another might be interested in an innovative way you structure your financing to achieve your objectives. A third may be fascinated by your use of mobile technology in a development setting. The same pitch might excite one investor and bore another. You might get a second chance to approach that investor or her company, but you shouldn’t bet on it.

3. Pace yourself. I spoke with several social entrepreneurs who had audacious goals for day one of the three-day conference and were devastated when they failed to meet those goals. Not everything must happen on day one. One of my most unexpectedly productive meetings happened when I decided to share a cab ride to the airport with two people leaving the SOCAP conference who I had not met before. After the initial meet and greet in the cab, I quickly realized that they are impact investors whose focus aligns with that of a close friend’s social enterprise. Just like that – a connection, a call, and the start of a due diligence process. The lesson is not to lose energy and enthusiasm if the first day does not go as planned.

These lessons sound simple and mundane, but they bear repeating because it is so easy to forget them. I thought I knew them going into the conference, but still I made mistakes on each front and can do better next time.

Overall the conference was a useful window into social enterprise. I met former Echoing Green applicants whom I had judged as part of Echoing Green’s Social Investment Council. I met former professors who taught me business in developing countries at Harvard Business School. And I made new connections with entrepreneurs in South Africa, Japan and Singapore, who I may not have met otherwise.