My guest today is Brad Pedersen, one of the Co-Founders of Pela. Pela is a B Corp, 1% for the planet, and Climate Neutral Certified Brand working to create a waste-free future by developing products from environmentally sensitive materials.

Pela started with the observation that people upgrade their phones every 18-24 months on average, but phone cases last hundreds or thousands of years. Pela started with plant-based compostable phone covers and accessories and now has plant-based biodegradable sunglasses and their newest product Lomi which is tackling food waste and the messy problem of composting for people that don’t have access to compost themselves.

Along with the trifecta of third-party certifications Pela addresses problems that people have around waste, but most importantly they do it in a way that people want to talk about and share.

We also talk about Pela’s previous goal of keeping 1 billion pounds of waste from ever being made, and how Pela has ten X’ed that to 10 billion.

Brad has been involved in many businesses, some that worked and some that didn’t. He has done a lot of personal development and reflection in the process which we discuss in the second half of our conversation. I hope you enjoy our conversation and find it useful.

John Balkam is the author of the book '3 Win Sponsorship’ and the founder of Third Win Group (TWG). TWG is an agency serving impact athletes, artists, creators on a mission to serve others and pursue their passions.

The traditional business model for agencies working with athletes or artists is to maximize the revenue of sponsorships or partnerships, similar to shareholder primacy. TWG is focused on maximizing revenue AND impact, a shift toward stakeholder capitalism.

Matthew Campelli is the Founder of the Sustainability Report, the essential source of intelligence and insight for sports professionals committed to enhancing the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of their organizations.

Matthew has thought extensively about the relationship between sport, society, and our environment. I’ve learned so much from Matthew’s articles and podcasts over the years and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.

We go deep on:

• What is the value of sport to our society and environment?
• The opportunity pro sport has to compete on impact by incorporating purpose into the core of pro teams and leagues
• The role athletes can play advocating for the causes they care about
• Shifting fan behavior through game day experience and gamification
• The importance of storytelling and narrative
• And making the business case for sustainability in sports sponsorship