694. Stop Scaling. Start Solving: What the Nonprofit Sector Gets Wrong About Growth - Eliza Blank
Listen to this episode
In today's episode, Jon and Becky sit down with Eliza Blank, the new CEO of The Farmlink Project, to explore what happens when a founder-CEO mindset collides with one of the most urgent food systems problems of our time.
Eliza bootstrapped and scaled The Sill from a single idea to 12 stores across seven markets and $25M raised. Now she's applying that same startup lens to Farmlink, which rescues and redistributes over a million pounds of food every week.
In this episode, you'll hear:
Why Eliza's team talks about their own obsolescence every day, and what that mindset unlocks for mission-driven orgs
Why growth for growth's sake is a red flag, and how Farmlink thinks about scale vs. depth instead
How to build a community of fanatics around a cause most people don't even know exists yet
“It’s never going to be one solution that solves this. It’s going to have to be many.”
Episode Transcript
Download Full Episode Transcript Here
Episode Highlights:
From The Sill to Farmlink: Eliza's origin story (3:22)
What the startup model has to teach the nonprofit sector (6:14)
Brand building and community as a growth strategy (9:16)
Scale vs. depth: why Farmlink talks about its own obsolescence (13:19)
The Field Fellowship: investing in the next generation of food systems leaders (16:41)
One Good Thing: pick a lane and compound it over a lifetime (26:01)
Resources Mentioned:
Powerful Quotes
"We talk about our obsolescence every single day. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need to exist." -Eliza Blank
"It's not growth for growth's sake. We have 48 million folks in this country experiencing food insecurity. We don't want to see that number go up, and implying that we get bigger just means that's getting bigger." -Eliza BLank
"It's never going to be just one solution that solves this. It's going to have to be many." -Eliza Blank
"You can create such a meaningful community of fanatics around the cause you're trying to gain awareness around." -Eliza Blank
"You can't be what you can't see. For Farmlink, that means really encouraging and inspiring young people to get in the game. You don't have to wait until you're 40 to go solve problems." -Eliza Blank
Eliza’s One Good Thing: “Find the thing that lights you up—and double down. Over time, that’s how real impact compounds.”
Connect with Eliza
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