Good Fortune

Writing about sustainable startups and interviewing Impact Founders to inspire your next impact project, startup, or side hustle. 

Good Fortune will help you:
🌱 Discover sustainable businesses
🧠 Learn from Impact Founders
🌍 Meet likeminded change makers

Founder

Swinburne Design Factory Melbourne

Developing new products, services, and experiences for the innovation world.

Working with Industry, Government, and Individuals to better understand their world and design new solutions to make it a better one.

Senior Product Development Manager

Create Kaizen

I design tools, workshops, and learning programs for tech leaders to:
- Build innovative teams
- Improve creative collaboration
- Build human-centered organizations
- Create systems to navigate uncertainty
- Develop creative problem solving practices

Strategic Designer & Facilitator

Designit

- Lead discovery research, persona building, and journey mapping for transformation projects
- Designed and facilitated AI enablement workshops for exploration and implementation
- Partnered with BizDev to identify customer needs across partner orgs
- Implemented Design Thinking to tackle creative business transformation problems

Strategic Design Lead

NOBA

NOBA partners with companies to build and launch new products, services, or business models.

I supported digital, innovation, and marketing teams in different stages of the development and launch of new products:
- Defining the value propositions and business model for new products and services
- Testing and learning through business prototyping - building and launching an alpha version of the business, gathering metrics, and iterating with real customers
- Driving a soft market launch to start growing the customer base before scaling

Business Designer

NerdWallet

- Software development planning and visibility at all levels of management
- End to end quarterly planning for cross-functional pods
- Manage communication touchpoints between Product, Engineering, Design, Data
- Agile coaching for NerdWallet feature teams
- Program Management for Content Design team

NerdWallet is on a mission to provide clarity for all of life’s financial decisions. We provide consumers with expert, personalized, and actionable guidance across a range of personal finance topics. Whether you’re shopping for a new credit card or mortgage, hoping to refinance a student loan, interested in learning more about investing, or just want to stay on top of your money, we do the homework for you, simplifying complex ideas so you have the information and tools you need to make the right decision for you.

Backed by IVP, RRE Ventures, iGlobe Partners and Silicon Valley Bank, among others, NerdWallet has been certified a Great Place to Work and named one of the Best Workplaces in the Bay Area™ 2020 by Fortune. We’ve been recognized for our stellar benefits, too, from world-class health, vision, and dental insurance to our matching 401(k) program to our generous time off and parental leave policies. 

Based in San Francisco, we have more than 400 passionate “Nerds” around the country, and we’re growing every day. Whether you’re committed to helping consumers or  excited about working for a profitable tech company or interested in growing professionally—or all of the above!—we’d love to hear from you. Check out our job openings here: http://www.nerdwallet.com/careers

Program Manager

- Project manager for Content Design team, creating graphics, illustrations, animations and editorial videos
- Certified ScrumMaster, Scrum Alliance
- Refine and streamline department processes to maintain efficiency and scalability in a fast growing startup environment
- Facilitate projects for a stakeholder team of 90 Content Strategists, Assigning Editors, Copy Editors, and Writers in team operations and communication
- Develop and oversee quantitative success metrics and key performance indicators for Content and Content Design teams
- Advise Content team on institutional knowledge, the fluid inner workings of startup company operations and their position in it

Content Operations and Project Management

Interscope Records

- Coordinated photo shoots and graphic design work for 100+ artist roster
- Oversaw and refined end to end project portals for photographers, stylists, graphic designers, etc.
- Created and resolved photography and art contracts for all creative services provided to Interscope artists
- Organized and facilitated all travel, setup and production operations  for Interscope directors, photographers, producers, and stylist  teams
- Refined organizational strategy, including artist archiving, scheduling, and soliciting promotional materials

Creative Marketing

Opus Bank

- Consulted high net-worth banking clientele, managing accounts $500k-$1mm in balances
- Spearheaded sales team who aquired $50mm in deposits since inception 10.17.2011
- Integral part of opening and growing de novo banking office
- Integrated new sales, appointment, and follow up pipelines for Opus Bank de novo offices
- Generated qualified large acquisition meetings for VP/Retail Banking Manager

Client Services

Want to build a business that makes money AND makes a difference?

I break down exactly how successful impact founders are doing it.

Through conversations with founders and detailed case studies, I uncover the strategies and tactics that actually work in social impact.

At Good Fortune, I'm creating:
🎙️ Deep-dive conversations with impact founders sharing their playbook
📧 Weekly newsletters breaking down successful impact businesses
🛠️ Free, actionable tools for bootstrapped teams (like our Tactic Cards)

Everything I make is designed to help you:
- Validate your impact business idea
- Find and connect with your first customers
- Grow sustainably while maximizing impact
- Navigate the unique challenges of social enterprise

Want actionable insights for your impact business?

→ Subscribe to my weekly newsletter
→ Download free Tactic Cards
→ Listen to the latest founder deep dives


A bit more about me and why I love doing this:
🏄 I've always been an "experience channel surfer" (look at my work history)
💭 I love finding the overlap between creativity, strategy, and impact
🙏 I want to create things that enable others to do their best work

Give me a follow 🔔 for free content and learnings shared daily, or reach out if you want to talk strategy and social innovation (whatever that means to you).

Jake Carroll

Senior Accountant

Keder Solutions

Financial and Accounting Analyst

Grant Thornton LLP (US)

Senior Associate

Associate

Maven Solutions 

Scrum Master

Redpath and Company (Accounting, Tax, Audit, Consulting)

Professional Staff

Sodexo

Manager

Employee

RSM US LLP

Process Risk & Controls Associate

Jamf

Account Services Analyst

Senior Accountant | Servant Leader | Entrepreneur | Driving Financial Excellence and Inspiring Individuals & Teams for Success

The simplest and easiest way you can show appreciation for someone else is through kindness.

I’ve worn many hats in my journey from being an accountant, scrum master, auditor, financial analyst, mentor, mentee, classmate, teammate, coach, friend, son, brother, cousin, and this list continues on… but the one thing that holds true, regardless of the hat I have worn or currently wearing, is kindness will always prevail. A lot of the opportunities that have come my way thus far are because of kindness. When we are kind and appreciative, we become likable and that can open a lot of doors. Some we may never have seen coming. From my experience, if we add a willingness to learn, a solid work ethic, and some boldness/confidence to being kind, the world is our oyster.

Sports were a staple in my life growing up and that is where I learned the values of being kind and grateful. Growing up my sports coaches preached the saying “Stay Hungry and Stay Humble” which to me means always showing appreciation for what we currently have and have accomplished but never losing the urge to grow and become better. In today’s world, if we want to lead others and continue to grow we need to humble ourselves by setting our egos aside. We need to be willing to ask for constructive feedback in the areas we need to improve and ultimately we have to take our eyes off ourselves and put them on others.

I’ve learned though, in order to lead, add value, and make a positive impact on others, I first need to lead and improve myself. As a result, I’ve taken on the biggest project anyone can take on in their life, which is their own personal development journey. Over the years I’ve become fanatical about my personal development journey and finding ways to become the best version of myself.

As I continue to improve my own leadership, professional, communication, and business skills, I look to pay it forward and continue living out my values of giving and kindness by helping others develop their skills and reach their full potential.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or just want to network.

taplio

The Battle

Jake Carroll

Brandon S.

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?