a16z Podcast: Connecting People with Digital Work, the Gig Economy, and More

Aug 31, 2015

Leila Janah, founder and CEO of Samasource, discusses how digital work can reduce poverty and empower marginalized individuals. She challenges the idea of separating profit from social good, promoting 'impact sourcing' as a way for businesses to have a positive impact while being profitable. Janah delves into the gig economy, stressing the need for fair wages and protections, and highlights the importance of measuring outcomes over costs. Her insights encourage a shift towards integrating social entrepreneurship into the core of business practices.

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INSIGHT

Integrating Social Good

Traditional philanthropy often treats "doing good" as separate from making money, like weekend volunteering.
Impact sourcing integrates social good into the business model itself, rather than as an afterthought.

INSIGHT

Gig Economy vs. Sweatshops

The gig economy offers more choice and agency than traditional sweatshops, though workers might not receive adequate social protections.
The challenge is to share the benefits of the network effect more widely with workers, possibly through policy changes like increased corporate taxes to fund worker benefits.

INSIGHT

Social Entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurs prioritize social mission alongside or above profit, unlike traditional businesses that focus on maximizing profit.
Leila Janah believes social entrepreneurship can bridge the gap between traditional nonprofits and purely profit-driven businesses.

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Can digital work fight poverty? Can companies be profitable and also do social good -- especially in a society where the proxy for value is capital and much of that value accrues to platforms? And finally, what's the difference between a mission-driven and 'social' entrepreneur?

Samasource, a nonprofit that uses technology to connect marginalized people around the world to digital work, is one attempt at answering those questions. In this segment of the a16z Podcast, we talk with founder and CEO Leila Janah about employment of all kinds -- from sweatshop work to the gig economy to remote work. Janah also argues what the nonprofit world should borrow from for-profit startups -- including attitudes around failure and better measures of success.

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