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

Defiance College

Assistant Professor

Anthony Wayne Innovation and Design

* Product design and development 
* Tech training for the future of work
* Business analytics and data visualizations
* Leveraging AI and prompt engineering
* Design thinking services, aka creative problem solving
* Documentation of operations via information architecture

Stage 3 Talent

* Curriculum Architecture
* Instructor Coaching
* Agile for curriculum development

Director of Curriculum and Instruction

Northwest State Community College

Teach in the VCT department. Photography, Web Design, and Concepts of Visual Communication.

Lead Faculty 

Bowling Green State University

Design Thinker

The Software Guild

Instructional Coach

The Learning House

Designing courses for higher ed. Program planning. CBE, OER, and accessibility.

Instructional Designer

Graduate Assistant

Simple Shelving Solutions, LLC

Helped to bring a new product, the TV Smart Shelf, to market in early 2011. Initial duties included creating an internet presence and creating graphics for box art and promotional materials. Ongoing duties include expanding internet presence through a blog network and social media, managing vendor accounts and responsible for customer service.

Increased sales 400% of our primary product
Created 100% of the content on the company website, http://flatscreenshelving.com and the supporting blog, http://tvwallmountshelf.com
Compiled customer feedback which led to the development of two new products
Analyzed web site analytics to assist with blog network expansion and increased web presence
Managed Google Adwords, Facebook ads and product feed accounts
Expanded our product offering into international markets
Produced product videos
Demonstrated the TV Smart Shelf at the 2012 CES convention in Las Vegas

Director of Online Marketing

Scenic Route Productions

As owner and producer, worked primarily in the real estate and vacation rental markets to create point-of-interest and property videos. Consulted real estate companies regarding property video integration into existing web sites. Also worked as an independent web developer and copywriter.

Designed www.fireworksfireworks.com and created 100% of the written content for a local fireworks store and secured first page ranking ranking in Google search for multiple keywords
Created 100% of the content on http://irishhillsfireworks.com
Shot and edited over 100 videos for real estate and vacation rentals in the Florida market
Produced commercials and point-of-interest videos in Sarasota, FL and Monroe, MI

Producer / Principal

Michael Vanderpool is a lifelong learner with a passion for education. As an entrepreneur and consultant with various startups, his motivation for success required being able to constantly learn and adapt, yet all paths led to helping people learn and grow.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Oakland University, Michael consulted and worked in retail and online sales, applying his video production, photography, writing, and web design skills.

Never forgetting his goal to be a college instructor, Michael attended Bowling Green State University, earning a Master of Education in Learning Design and Technology. As a graduate assistant, he taught video production and visual communication courses at Northwest State Community College.

After graduating, Michael became an instructional designer at The Learning House, Inc., where he assisted with developing a variety of courses and developed plans for implementing accessibility, open educational resources, learning analytics, and competency-based education.

At The Software Guild, a coding bootcamp that teaches the Java and .NET programming languages, Michael assisted instructors with applying learning theory, using technology in the classroom, and creating an exceptional learning experience for guild students.

Michael then became the lead faculty of the Visual Communication / Graphic Design program at Northwest State Community College. He led the formation of the eSports team and the building of a Lego model of the campus.

Recently, Michael was the Curriculum Architect for a company developing learning content for software development, data analytics, and cloud computing.

In August 2024, Michael took the role of Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Defiance College.

taplio

The Battle

Jake Carroll

Michael Vanderpool

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