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

Fleetio

Director, Talent Development

Growthwave, LLC

Built my own coaching and talent development practice where I led over 500 hours of coaching for 60 clients across more than 12 high-growth tech companies.

Led tailored 1:1 leadership coaching for founders, executives, managers and high performing ICs. My coaching efforts consistently led to increased self-efficacy, engagement, resilience and retention.

Developed & facilitated leadership programs for Seed—Series D companies, driving notable improvements in communication and cross-functional collaboration amongst senior teams.

Designed and led a career development workshop series for Maven, which earned a 4.8 rating. Students report leveraging my "Career Storytelling" framework to ignite motivations, clarify their sense of purpose, and help communicate their career ambitions.

Selected as a keynote speaker for the MMANC's Annual Conference in 2022, where I spoke about the process of experiencing burnout and cultivating career resilience.

Additionally, I used my industry expertise and unique perspectives to create an impactful content marketing strategy, expanding my online reach by 4x and enabling further business development.

Founder, Coach & Consultant

Maven

Built and facilitated "The Career Storytelling Sprint" for Maven, a cohort-based course platform. Ran a marketing campaign to attract paid participants. Resulted in a 4.8 rating and a 100% completion rate.

Course Instructor

Gong

As Gong's founding Learning & Development hire, I established their L&D practices from the ground up. I introduced innovative programs focused on elevating the entire employee experience at Gong, including manager training, structured career development, and regular performance feedback cycles.

Within my first 3 months, I designed and delivered a manager development program for 100 people leaders at Gong. Quickly, these sessions demonstrated their value and led to markedly improved leadership effectiveness scores and higher employee satisfaction.

I also pioneered "Grow at Gong," an impactful quarterly feedback and career development initiative. Leading cross-functional stakeholders, I built Grow at Gong from concept to launch. I helped drive a stellar 97% completion rate amongst 450 participants in the first cycle with a focus on user experience and ease of adoption, earning strong executive endorsements.

Sr. Manager, Learning & Development

Blend

As Blend's first dedicated Learning & Development hire, I joined the company around 90 employees. I built L&D, organizational effectiveness, and sales enablement functions from the ground up, establishing Blend as an employer of choice by focusing on the entire employee experience.

I introduced numerous enterprise-wide programs - manager enablement, career development, leadership coaching, performance management and more – that consistently drove high participation and adoption rates above 90%. These programs delivered tangible results tied to Blend’s business KPIs including strengthened leadership bench strength, increased cross-functional collaboration, and decreased regretted attrition.

Promoted twice in 3.5 years, I managed a high-impact 4-person Learning and Organizational Effectiveness team. I directed overall strategy and initiatives alongside key partners like HRBPs to boost leadership assimilation, team effectiveness, and strategic alignment.

I led the deployment of monthly employee engagement surveys and platforms, achieving 96% participation and establishing a data-driven approach for assessing organizational morale, satisfaction, and areas for improvement. This provided the data foundation for Blend to implement informed, engagement-boosting people practices at scale.

My focus on elevating Blend’s learning culture and employee experience through targeted leadership development, career growth opportunities, and performance enablement has solidified their reputation as a great place to work.

Manager, Learning & Organizational Effectiveness

Pandora

Co-founded training team to build a world-class onboarding program ("The Academy"); ensured remarkable new hire experiences through interactive and practical learning; trained 400+ employees, consistently earning 80-90 eNPS; decreased time-to-productivity by 4-6 weeks, earning executive endorsement.

Led a change management initiative to improve organizational capability AND boost engagement scores; built & scaled a global skill development program ("Mobilize") for 450+ using blended learning; results include hitting revenue goals and a 23% increase in employee engagement (effective satisfaction, career development, etc.)

Delivered strategic enablement and talent development strategies for 20 senior leaders through customized assessments, diagnostics and leadership coaching; resulting in 17% increase in employee engagement scores related to trust & confidence in the leadership team.

Promoted 2x in 3.5 years.

Specialist, Training & Organizational Development

BayPoint Benefits

• Managed a book of business driven by my own outside/inside sales efforts. 
• Led email marketing campaign efforts to build sales pipeline.
• Designed marketing collateral, decks, and cold-calling scripts to improve sales development process.
• Contributed to corporate blog and social media, leading to an increase of 300% in engagement. 
• Completed the Wharton Group Benefits Associate (GBA) accreditation while working full-time.

Sales Development Representative

Hey, I’m Ryan. I lead strategy, development, and execution of programs that achieve critical business goals AND drive growth and development for your most important asset, your people. 

I’ve led efforts to cultivate renowned leaders and high performers at companies like Gong, Pandora, Blend, and now Fleetio. 

I bring a wide array of experience, including:
• Talent Development
• Learning & Development
• Organizational Effectiveness
• HR & People Operations
• Sales/CX Training & Enablement 

My former managers tell me that my greatest strength is crafting human-centered solutions that deliver meaningful enterprise-wide results. 

I’ve consistently delivered impactful, well-branded, and sustainable programs that earn 90+ ratings from participants AND strong executive endorsements.

Here are a few examples of the work I’m most proud of:

• At Gong, in my first 60 days, I designed and delivered a leadership development program for 100 people managers that drove a 20% increase in manager capability and effectiveness ratings. 

• At Blend, I built & facilitated 10+ programs, including onboarding, manager training, leader development, performance management, engagement metrics, career development, competency frameworks, feedback programs, coaching, and organizational effectiveness.

• At Pandora, where I was promoted to lead organizational development, I led a change management initiative to upskill over 450 employees, which drove a 23% boost to engagement AND directly contributed to Revenue Operations hitting targets. 

I’m highly responsive to stakeholders and eager to build trust. I aim to understand constraints and co-create wins. I blend my compassion for people with tech startup/scaleup experience to scale positive results & impact for all programmatically.

Why do leaders value partnering with me?
I bring experience creating change across all levels and functions. I’m driven by developing untapped potential in individual people, teams, organizations, and the business as a whole. 

Simply put: I guide strategic learning & talent development that fuels business growth. 

I love to chat about my work. DM’s are open.

taplio

The Battle

Jake Carroll

Ryan Giordano

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