The Entrepreneurs Impact Summit

A Call for Entrepreneurs to Address the Biggest Problems We Face

It’s impossible to read the business news without seeing the excitement around the pending IPO’s of companies like Lyft, Slack, Uber and Pinterest.

One Forbes headline captured the fascination and frenzy by saying the IPO’s “could create a $230 billion windfall and 6,000 new millionaires.”

The New York Times took it a step farther saying:

“welcomed finally into the elite caste who can afford to live comfortably in the Bay Area, the fleet of new millionaires are already itching to claim what has been promised all these years. They want cars. They want to open new restaurants. They want to throw bigger parties. And they want houses.”

The question will be how many of them want to address the greatest threat humanity has ever faced — catastrophic climate change.

The most important book on climate change in many years is The Uninhabitable Earth, and the author David Wallace-Wells’ first line summarizes the topic succinctly.

“It is worse, much worse, than you think.”

What follows is a terrifying wake up call, a comprehensive, scientifically validated view of where we headed.

A few examples:

· By the end of the century the coolest months in tropical South America, Africa, and the Pacific are likely to be warmer than the warmest months at the end of the twentieth century.

· The planet will need nearly twice as much food in 2050 as it does today and at the same time 75 billion tons of soil is lost each year. In the United States the rate of erosion is ten times as high as the natural replenishment rate; in China and India it is thirty to forty times as fast.

· By 2100, if we do not halt carbon emissions, as much as 5 percent of the world’s population will be flooded every single year.

· By the end of the century we will be seeing roughly 64 times as much land burning from wildfires every year as we saw in 2018

· We are currently making it all worse. Carbon emissions rose in the last year and we are now burning 80% more coal, the most polluting fossil fuel, than we were just in the year 2000.

Peter Thiel’s famous quote, “(w)e wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” could easily be applied to the current disconnect between the focus of most entrepreneurs and the severity of the climate crisis we face.

That’s why on June 13th — 14th we are convening the first Entrepreneurs Impact Summit in Santa Monica, CA.

Entrepreneurs Impact Summit (EIS) will bring together approximately 300 innovative entrepreneurs, thought leaders and investors for the first event 100% focused on specific commitments by entrepreneurs to create a measurable, positive social impact.

EIS will have several key components, including

• education for entrepreneurs on using their time and talents to address the world’s pressing problems
• awards showcasing leadership on these efforts

EIS will be structured around entrepreneurs making public and specific commitments to tackle challenges in areas like health, education, climate change, gender equality, clean energy and more. Future invitations will be based on demonstrated progress on these commitments, and each year an Entrepreneur Impact Award will recognize one participant whose commitment has shown measurable catalytic change.

Over thirty companies have already signed on.

“I applaud the Entrepreneurs Impact Summit for going beyond ‘raising awareness’ and ‘doing well by doing good.’ With Washington so broken, we need entrepreneurs to step forward and exercise the true power they have right now to spark and scale innovations that can confront the greatest challenges we face,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Let’s use the power of entrepreneurship not to only create wealth but to create change. At its best, entrepreneurship is about solving problems — about disrupting the trajectory of issues that seem intractable. Let’s not wait for government to solve the problems we face — let’s solve them ourselves.

To learn more or register to attend click here. If you are interested in sponsorship or speaking opportunities email info@entrepreneursimpactsummit.com, i(x) investments and Good Money are the presenting sponsors of the Entrepreneurs Impact Summit.