How Tech Companies Can Renew Capitalism

#sxsw #tech4good

The technology industry has reinvented information, commerce, and social connection. But what if we could do more? What if the tech industry, the cornerstone and hope of the new economy, could reinvent business as usual?
We already have the power and resources necessary to turn companies into epic forces for good. Now it’s time to lead by example. We must change our financial incentives by embracing new business models like benefit corporations. Change our company values by building the best places in the world to work. And change our expectations by demanding more – of ourselves, our companies, and our industry at large.
Join Change.org Founder and CEO Ben Rattray and explore how our industry can create a better economy and leave a lasting legacy we’re all proud of.

Presenters

Ben Rattray

Founder & CEO

Change.org

Ben Rattray is the founder and CEO of Change.org, the world's largest platform for social change. He has been named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and one of Fortune's 40 Under 40 rising young business leaders.

Since its founding in 2007, Change.org has achieved international prominence, attracting 45 million users from every country, hundreds of thousands of user-generated petitions, and coverage in every major media outlet, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

Time Magazine writes: "Rattray's site has quietly enabled tens of thousands of people, many with little exposure to social activism, to launch homegrown crusades on issues ranging from corporate malpractice to immigration reform without ever gathering in a park or square. By marrying one of the world's oldest organizing tools, the petition, to one of its newest, the social-media loop, Change.org is putting companies and governments under tremendous pressure to change their policies, sometimes in a matter of a few weeks or less, and it has invited everyone around the globe to participate."

Rattray is a graduate of Stanford University and the London School of Economics. He leads Change.org's strategic vision and is a frequent public speaker about the intersection of technology and social change.