Hello All - Back again for a quick update. We have gotten great feedback from users and we are considering all of it as we implement updates. This week you can expect to see some case studies on companies and further updates to our alternatives. Our objective is to drive installs and feedback.

Wins
-We have had 129 installs. Our next milestone is 500. Let’s see how quickly we can get there...
-Our current power user is using Ethically twice a week and 3 times in a day
-We are learning where our user may be hanging out online through interviews so we will be exploring marketing on Quora and Vox. Vox is an interesting one because a user mentioned that between Vox and Netflix documentaries she was able to build awareness and then the motivation to act but didn’t know how

Challenges
-At this stage, feedback is very valuable. We are doing user feedback interviews and still offering option points for feedback (see help request: https://os.platformstud.io/guild/help_requests/15-minute-user-feedback-interview-for-ethically)

Asks
-Please download, provide feedback, and share
-Social sharing is now a function within the extension! Let us know how you’d like for this feature to be enhanced.
-Introduction to environmentally focused non-profits - We think there is an opportunity to amplify their mission by amplifying Ethically

Recognition
-Francis Kim for always providing feedback! Power user.
-Jeff McFadden, Dave Shefferman, David Boneparth, Garret Dunham and Jack Minson for responding to our prior help requests. Appreciate your support!

Any chance of a Firefox plugin? I stopped using Chrome a while ago because of its bloat. Thanks

Hello All - Last week, we implemented the new taxonomy to approximately 4000 sites so you should be able to see scores and some alternatives for these. We also officially launched and have gotten some great feedback from the Guild already, so thank you! This week we will be refining display logic of alternatives, driving installs, and conducting user interviews.

Wins
- Users were averaging 1.75 clicks on alternatives per session
- We have had 112 installs
- People are engaging - The extension is being expanded about 5.3 times per user and the users were clicking to see the score breakdown about 4.4 times.

Challenges
- We need users and feedback - Feedback is really valuable and we are reaching out to users to get feedback but we can never get enough feedback
- Optimize cold email campaign - We are currently doing a cold email campaign and while we know conversion for these typically aren’t stellar we could use tips on how to optimize these efforts


Asks
- Please download, provide feedback, and share
-- Social sharing is now a function within the extension!
- We are starting to do user interviews so if you are willing to help, please comment.
- We have heard that the marketing department of mid-size retailers would be interested in a product like Ethically. Do you know anyone that would be willing to let us know if/when Ethically would be valuable for their sustainability marketing initiatives?

Recognition
-Thank you to Richard Hart for being a thought partner on vision, mission, and how we get there.

Also - We have brought on a new team member! Iesha Magallanes is a recent Notre Dame grad with experience as a designer, engineer and artist with her own startup and some cool companies like Playstation and Estee Lauder. As a founder associate, she will be working closely with me on everything from talking to users to programming.

Until next time,
Jada

Hello All - Last week, we were able to get a new update out into the wild with most visited e-commerce websites matched to better alternatives. This week, we will be working to implement the new taxonomy more widely and in turn increasing discovery of more sustainable options through our alternatives.

Wins
-Users were averaging 1.5 clicks per session
-We have had 84 installs
-Implementing the new industry taxonomy yielding better matched alternatives but also paving the way for further refinement and customization of our industries to yield even better alternatives

Challenges
-We need users and feedback! Please download, provide feedback and share. We are excited to begin to see where our users are getting value and how we can make sure they continue to derive value

Asks
-Most Important Ask: Please download, provide feedback, and share. You can download here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ethically/jhblmggmbbdkhffdkjfolpmpphfnofla
-An introduction to someone at Ecovadis, a sustainability ratings company. I’d love to learn more about their product

Recognition
-Thank you to Adam Hiatt for introducing me to Zeena Freeman, an expert in scaling D2C products and fellow sustainability warrior

I wonder how you can broaden the reach of scoring, I know that the IFRS is looking into creating a Sustainability Standards Board (the SSB) which helps for big companies but will miss all the smaller ones.

I'm enjoying using it so far!

Hello All - Back again with a quick update. We are laser focused on optimizing alternatives so we can begin to understand the value that users are getting from Ethically. Over the past week, we have been working on implementing a finer-grained industry taxonomy and are excited to get it out into the wild.

Wins
-Users were averaging 1.5 clicks per session
-We have had 61 installs

Challenges
-With better alternatives, our next challenge will be acquiring users. We will be running experiments on several digital channels but always open to more ideas/experiments

Asks
-Please download, provide feedback, and share

Recognition
-Thank you to Merrick, our engineer, he has been working hard on getting us to the next level.
-Thank you to Lissette for the beautifully designed homepage and Brett for getting it live so we can keep engineering focused on the product. Check it out!

Until next time,
Jada

Hello All - This is the first in a series of weekly updates for Ethically. We are really excited about building Ethically and want to share more of it with you all. Keeping in line with the ethos of platform studio, we build in the open. I will try to keep them brief and to the point.

The format will be as follows:
- Update on recent accomplishments and new focuses
- Wins over the last week
- Areas that are presenting challenges
- Any asks for assistance
- Recognition for those who have helped us in the previous week.

I am now heading into my 3rd week as CEO/co-founder of Ethically. Wow, it has flown by. Since starting, we have released the MVP (You can download it here) and have already made a few updates. Because our goal is to change the behavior of consumers, our north star metric is how many alternatives users click per session. Our single focus is proving that, when presented with quality alternatives, consumers will purchase from the more sustainable option.

Wins
- In our first week our users were averaging 2.5 clicks per session
- We have had 48 installs

Challenges
- Because of conversations with Joe Kendall and some initial user feedback, I have been thinking a lot about incremental trust. Our challenge right now is instilling trust in our sustainability scores.
- Refining our alternatives so that quality alternatives are presented for popular brands

Asks
- Please download, provide feedback, and share. You can download here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ethically/jhblmggmbbdkhffdkjfolpmpphfnofla
- What purchase are you currently thinking about? How do you go about comparison shopping? I’d love to hear about it.

Recognition
- Thank you to Ron Drabkin for validation on our marketing experiments and refinement of our metrics for our content marketing efforts
- Thank you to Joe Kendall for providing color on affiliate marketing assumptions and being a thinking partner

Until next time,
Jada

Exciting news! Yesterday, our extension was approved in the app store! You can download the extension here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ethically/jhblmggmbbdkhffdkjfolpmpphfnofla

Since we're still early on, feedback is really appreciated (and necessary) so we would love if you could provide any feedback you have here: https://platform.canny.io/ethically

Thanks for joining us in this journey!

Our resubmission was declined with no additional details. I’ve submitted a “Our submission was rejected in error” response and placed an additional help ticket requesting details on their decision so we can respond accordingly. We’ll keep you updated as we hear more.

Totally agree. It’s always about that bottom line, right? And that’s why empowering consumers has the potential to be so powerful! (Btw, the part about companies building a conscience is just me being my usual jocose playful self. I’ll include a laughing emoji to denote the tone in the future.)

I love these types of dialogues. There are so many great opportunities to create subject matter content in consumable ways in Ethically via case studies, infographics, interviews, etc. just on the topic of circular economy, its restorative and regenerative principles applied to all aspects of society, linked to the companies leading the way.

Lisette - I wholeheartedly agree with a slight caveat, colored heavily by my perspective on the circular economy. I spent years trying to reconcile the capitalist society predicated on growth with the fundamental resource limitations we have. And there’s a pretty simple link - a need to focus on renewable resources, which includes human labor and human capital. Human creativity and abilities, plus true accounting for all the impacts of a company, open the door to sustainable growth without expanded resource usage. You are able to capture the long tail of usefulness if you do it right.
And as for why businesses do it, it’s crucial for their own survival as they all depend on limited resources. As resource scarcity increases, so does the price variability. If COGS/resources are volatile, scarce, and unpredictable, businesses can’t plan and put their own future at stake.
You can see this play out even 10 years ago when all the airlines were buying long term fuel contracts to guard against the volatility. Or even consumers signing contracts for years of fixed rate electricity in deregulated markets.
The reality we live in is that growth is not bad nor inherently unsustainable. The system just needs to price in externalized costs like human suffering, GHG emissions, etc, and the market can respond.
Basically, the forward thinking companies aren’t growing a conscience, they are realizing there is an existential threat to their continued existence if they don’t start accounting for many of these externalized costs. It’s not clear which ones will hit, but some certainly will. And when those are priced in, those companies who were already accounting for it thrive.
Just like you said, Ethically can give users the ability to consciously vote with their dollars, adding another lever beyond regulation. It gives people a way to show companies which externalized costs matter most to them. That lets the smart companies focus on the most pressing existential threats. My take is it’s not a come to Jesus moment or even growing a conscience. It’s the desire to survive, which is far stronger than a conscience :)

It’s naive to think corporations had some kind of a Come-to-Jesus moment, built a conscience, and decided to act right. The fact is that acting irresponsibly became a risk to their bottom line. Welcome CSR, joined by the ESG criteria. (Wonder if these acronyms will grow more pillars in the future, we’ll see.)

It will be interesting to witness how much companies will be able to bend until they can no longer accommodate the two antagonists: the extractive capitalism or a regenerative economy. Building ESG-friendly layers over a dysfunctional system to appease the new generational and societal demands will be futile, completely pointless, because as you said, ESG is a "do no harm" principle, and all the factors are intertwined. Incremental or selective change won't be good enough.

When you peel back the layers, capitalism is an extractive economy– financial gains at the expense of the environment, natural resources, the human condition, our very existence. As such, you could say the ESG criteria and its scores are at odds with capitalism. The entire ESG movement essentially challenges the very foundation of a capitalist economy, because, while investors used ESG criteria for risk assessment, now the consumer will finally have access to information that was not accessible to them before, and will use it to decide how and where they spend their money, catalyzing change, even in the supply chain, challenging companies and keeping them accountable. This may just become their real Come-to-Jesus moment afterall! :)

We submitted V1 of the Ethically Chrome extension to Google on Wednesday. They rejected it because we included "Ethically" in the list of keywords :-) We have resubmitted and hope that turnaround will be rapid.

In this being a viable business, Dosh is another example of the mechanisms like Honey driving business results. Just last week they were bought for $275MM https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cardlytics-acquire-dosh-bolster-digital-113000519.html for a similar model to Honey, but with a business model built on less friction and even more direct feedback. They are a really interesting case study in comparison with browser plugins. Wikibuy is similar as well, which was bought by CapitalOne in 2018 and is now CapitalOne Shopping.

While doing research, I ran into this example of these 2 young girls in the UK that put up a petition on change.org to get Burger King and Mcdonald's to get rid of toys in kid's meals because the plastic is non-recyclable. It seems approximately 9 months and 500,000 signatures later, Burger King submitted a statement that said they would get rid of toys and in exchange would provide books, fruits, etc and even fund playgrounds made out of these turned in toys. And the UK CEO admitted that the petition spurred this decision. This is great and makes the need clear for the companies. HUGE Companies are almost literally throwing spaghetti at the wall to find what customers want (therefore not spending efficiently and probably as a result not eager to spend because they don't know what will yield results) and companies are eager to respond to any collective action being taken by the consumers.

How I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when Burger King's team discussed this potential initiative. I would love to understand how the team goes about pitching these initiatives within a company. How they frame it and what they currently deem as a successful outcome.

Some background on our terminology approach–on the usage of “green/sustainable”, we’re purposely avoiding the use of the term “green” to label companies, practices, or products. It’s overdone and weak on specificity so it carries no weight or substance. On “sustainability”, although the term was originally coined in relation to forestry, we’re using its most current evolved definition which encompasses all three ESG pillars. By the same token, we are avoiding the use of the ESG acronym to label a company’s overall score. We hope to further empower users by breaking down the sustainability score into the three pillars and explicitly calling out what they are and what they represent in general audience terms.

With such massive adoption of ESG by investors, it's great to see Ethically could now catalyze ESG criteria adoption for consumers, who often get the final say in a well-functioning capitalism.

I've seen two classes of errors from the well-intentioned in ESG. Technologists often confuse ESG with "mission," saying that because they have a great mission that is aligned with, say, the UN SDGs, they are by default also ESG aligned, not realizing ESG is a "do no harm" principle, not a "do one great thing" principle. The second type of error is is made by someone who wants ESG to work so badly that they advocate for company governance that effectively is equivalent to regulation by another name. Sometimes the result can be analogous to a child pulling on a plant to try to get it to grow, only water, sunlight and nutrient rich soil can do that!

ESG, at its best, is a framework for a good-faith dialogue and process seeking individual and organizational alignment with broader societal objectives (hopefully built on top of functioning legal, regulatory, and ethics layers already in place). In this process, capitalist decision makers add criteria and companies do their best to accommodate requests. So, instead of "let me rate you" (and attempt to take control of your governance), it becomes "hey, I'm trying to improve my own ESG score as an investor or consumer, can we work on this together." Then, when companies make ESG improvements, they look more favorable to ESG-minded investors and consumers, and everybody wins.

What you end up with is a new collaboration layer for capitalism. Any capitalist participant who wants to improve their own ESG score and drive their own self-and-collective actualization will be able to put out a request for help and recommendations to strategies, people and vendors/products will flow in. Should be pretty cool. Great to see Ethically as an early leader here.

The hottest space with so much opportunity. It's taking off at a global level and it's waiting for no one.