Today we’d like to introduce you to Devin Thorpe.
Hi Devin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story really began when I was 11. After the Teton Dam failed in 1976, my dad took me to Rexburg, Idaho, with hundreds of volunteers to help families dig mud from flooded homes. I probably contributed very little, but I came home believing I had helped—and I promised myself I would never miss an opportunity to serve.
Life, of course, took a winding path. I spent about 25 years in finance and investment banking. Then, in 2011, I lost the best job I’d ever had. That painful disruption became an invitation to honor my promise. I went to China for a year and began building a career centered more intentionally on service and social impact.
Today, I lead The Super Crowd, working to help social entrepreneurs, impact investors, and other changemakers connect with capital, audiences and one another. In many ways, I’m still trying to keep the promise I made at 11.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. Losing my job in 2011 was one of the hardest professional experiences of my life. I had built a successful career in finance and suddenly found myself asking what came next—and, more importantly, what I wanted the rest of my life to be about.
Since then, entrepreneurship has brought plenty of its own challenges. Building a mission-driven business often means pursuing ideas long before they are obvious or widely accepted, while operating with limited resources and an abundance of uncertainty. I’ve launched things that didn’t work, changed direction more than once and had periods when the financial pressures were very real.
But those struggles have also been clarifying. They’ve taught me that success isn’t simply about building something big. For me, it’s about building something useful—something that helps other people create change and gives me another way to keep that promise I made as a boy.
As you know, we’re big fans of The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Super Crowd, Inc. is a public benefit corporation building an ecosystem for social entrepreneurs, impact investors and other changemakers. At the heart of everything we do is a simple idea: people trying to solve important problems deserve better access to capital, visibility, information, opportunity and community.
We may be best known for Superpowers for Good, our newsletter and twice-weekly television show, where I’ve spent years telling the stories of people using business and investing as tools for positive change. But today, SuperCrowd has grown far beyond media.
SuperCrowd.tv gives mission-driven creators, entrepreneurs and organizations a dedicated streaming platform. SuperCrowd Impact Wire helps companies distribute their news, while the SuperCrowd Impact Newsroom provides data and reporting on the regulated investment crowdfunding market. The SuperCrowd Impact League gamifies impact investing, helping investors track their portfolios and celebrate participation rather than simply returns.
We’re also building SuperImpactScore.ai to help investors evaluate impact-oriented crowdfunding opportunities more thoughtfully, and we recently launched the SuperCrowd Career Path to connect talented people with jobs in regulated crowdfunding and mission-driven organizations.
What sets us apart is that these aren’t isolated products. We’re deliberately building them to reinforce one another. An entrepreneur might gain visibility through our media, distribute news through Impact Wire, raise capital from investors in our community, recruit talent through Career Path and ultimately become part of the data and stories we cover.
That interconnected ecosystem is what I’m proudest of. We’re trying to build infrastructure for people who believe business can—and should—help solve the world’s problems.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
There are several easy ways to work with us, collaborate with us or simply become part of the SuperCrowd community.
One of the newest is SuperCrowd Career Path at supercareerpath.com, where mission-driven companies and organizations can post jobs for free and connect with people who want their careers to contribute to positive change.
For entrepreneurs raising capital, I offer one-on-one coaching for $99. These focused sessions are designed to help founders think through crowdfunding strategy, messaging, investor outreach and the practical challenges of running a successful campaign.
We also invite people to explore SuperCrowd.tv, where we’re building a robust and growing library of free programming for entrepreneurs, impact investors and changemakers. You can watch online or through our Roku and Amazon Fire TV apps.
And perhaps the easiest place to start is our free Superpowers for Good newsletter at superpowers4good.com. It’s where we share stories, opportunities, investment ideas and resources for people who want to use business and investing as forces for good.
Pricing:
- Free TV content at SuperCrowd.tv
- Free newsletter at superpowers4good.com
- $99 coaching session at https://new.thesupercrowd.com/coaching
- Free job postings at supercareerpath.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://new.thesupercrowd.com/
- LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/in/devinthorpe
- Other: https://SuperCrowd.TV
