A new Paradigm of Intrinsic Economy.
The human spirit yearns for a world beyond the daily grind where nothing is ever enough. We crave true connection, purpose, and the opportunity to contribute meaningfully. The current economic model, built on extrinsic motivation and competition, stifles these desires, leading to isolation, stress, and environmental degradation. It is a win-lose game, every day, always in favour of capital and profits for the privileged few.
We propose a radical paradigm shift: the Intrinsic Economy. This model replaces extrinsic drivers like fear and scarcity with intrinsic motivation, fuelled by the desire for purposeful self-expression, collaboration, and service. It redefines the key concepts of our economic reality, fostering a more sustainable, prosperous, and fulfilling future for all.
When you embark on a journey into the unknown, you cannot talk about initiating and managing a project. In a project, you already know all the necessary elements to achieve a desired outcome. You know the team, the resources needed, and in most cases the time frame available. A project therefore cannot bring anything truly new into the world. With this kind of approach and mindset, there is no space for true innovation and breakthroughs.
Today’s startup world carries the myth of innovation and risk. And it loves to sell that myth. The reality is very different. The only uncertainty is the question of whether a startup will become a unicorn or die, based on its pitch abilities to raise the necessary funds. Investment funds and venture capital specialists have their formulas for analytics to even eliminate that risk.
The result is a startup world that has completely lost its innovative essence. It has become a shark tank of capital-hungry copycats. The only innovation left in this field is the passion of some dreamers and entrepreneurs before they get crushed by the time pressure of KPIs, short-term ROIs, and lack of understanding and support from their investors.
The result is entrepreneurs with no space or time for creativity, focusing always on the next investment round, permanently worried about paying salaries and bills, having to learn Sales, Marketing, Human Resources, IT, and Finance to satisfy all the different stakeholders controlling the forcefield they find themselves in. They simply have no time and space to focus on what truly mattered to them in the first place: creativity and bringing something meaningful into the world.
An Odyssey has two unique elements: a destination instead of an outcome, and a committed crew instead of different parties with different agendas. The committed crew knows from day zero that the path is a slalom full of adventures and situations that will challenge and foster the crew’s collective intelligence, and that it needs their shared talents and abilities to move forward.
The unknown path is a sum of multiple endeavours that asks for everything from the crew. The main ingredient is mutual, unshakeable trust. The crew knows there are no guarantees of a successful outcome, but that learning and evolving is a given.
As the crew is intrinsically motivated, there is no need for extrinsic carrots in the form of phantom shares that pay out in case of a successful exit or IPO. What drives a Noble Crew is personal fulfilment paired with the inner drive and epic feeling of truly making the world a better place, together.
This goes far beyond the matchmaking of projects and resources. A new economic model requires a new tool for the management of resources and sources. The Syntropist introduces the novelty of equalising the value and importance of human creativity and abilities (sources) with material and economic resources. In an era where humans are treated as just one more disposable resource, this is already a revolution.
The Syntropist is a management tool that ensures that whatever venture is created is innovative and in the service of society and nature equally.
The process to create new ventures has an order: first, an Odyssey is curated. Second, the Noble Crew is established. Third, the necessary economic resources are added. When everything is set up and the commitment of the crew is clear, The Syntropist accompanies the journey towards the destination.
Although we envision The Syntropist as an AI-supported real-time platform at a later stage, initially it works in an analog way with a lot of human interaction and communication. Managing needs in uncertainty requires trustful human relations, and the real-time platform needs reference cases to develop the underlying algorithm.
Have you ever experienced a committed group of people doing something together, each with individual emotional maturity? It is beyond magical, and so effortless. This maturity is necessary to be responsible for yourself, your emotions, and your vulnerability.
Emotional maturity naturally causes people to be honest and reliable in their words and actions. It is easy to trust such a person. Conflicts become impossible. It is the maturity necessary to tie yourself and your life, like a rope together with other members of an expedition, towards a new alpinist line in the Himalayas. There is no room for egos and hidden agendas.
A Noble Crew shares the same values and vision. It is the same attitude that brings them together. They know they are headed somewhere no one has ever gone before. To become a member of a Noble Crew is not a logical decision, weighing pros and cons. Such a crew is connected through intuition and heart. It simply feels right.
A Noble Crew acts as one organism, with intrinsic leadership and responsibility in each field, without the need for a linear, controlling hierarchy. Each member is responsible for themselves, their engagement, and their commitment. This is the end of the separation of personal agendas that comes with the extrinsic industrial mindset: investors, entrepreneurs, white collars, blue collars, employers, employees. Labels that in most cases add no real value but cause stress and conflict.
The Intrinsic Economy is based on unity. Everyone becomes an enabler with what they can contribute to the Odyssey, be it source, resource, or both.
Risk disappears when we know we are doing the right thing because it simply feels right. True innovation needs intrinsic “risk-takers” to shift the human paradigm from lack to true prosperity. Prosperity goes beyond being wealthy. It adds “being of service” to the equation, a feeling everyone is consciously or unconsciously looking for.
Finding our purpose changes everything. The formula is as simple as it is striking: Service to Others equals Service to Self.
Anything else leads to either an extrinsically motivated capitalist or an extrinsically motivated communist model.
The scary mask of risk is torn off when we act from intrinsic motivation. Risk implies that you believe you could lose. This fear can only have power over you when you are attached to what you could lose. An intrinsically motivated person knows there is nothing to lose, but a lot to gain: experience, fellowship, joy, fulfilment, material success, learning. In one word: prosperity.
An intrinsic enabler automatically is a true philanthropist, sharing their excess, no matter the form or size. Excess needs a purpose to be in balance. Anything else is an extrinsically motivated act out of fear of individual survival, holding back resources that are meant to find their creative counterpart, trying to make money with money to fill the insatiable inner void that comes from emotional immaturity.
Whether we like it or not, ownership in the sense of possession fosters separation and a desire to control what is “mine.” It drives humans to amass more and more, to have more control and power. If we are truly honest and take a close look at natural dynamics, ownership as we believe it to be is nowhere to be found in nature.
Our proposal has nothing to do with taking away anything from anyone, and it is far from a communist idea or modern slavery. Yet, by disentangling ownership of a business from controlling its assets and management, we create a completely new, fertile playground for co-creativity.
Our approach uses the available elements of the current legal and financial system for a redistribution of resources and power from one to many. It has a not-for-profit foundation at its centre that nobody owns but everyone feels part of. A legal entity that can pay salaries and dividends. A new holding system that allows management by committed boards and advisors according to crystal-clear statutes, where management is separated from the ownership of assets.
This system will outlive its founders because its statutes guarantee its lasting purpose. It is neither new nor complex, but this format has never been used for true prosperity for all before.
No extrinsic carrots needed. While these two words are the holy grail of the extrinsic economy, they do not make any sense in an intrinsic model. They represent the myth of the last step to success, the reward for all the hard work and all the risks taken. The thing that is going to liberate you from ever having to work again. That allows you to become one of the few privileged on top of the world.
To be honest: why would you sell something you created doing what you love and what fulfils you, that pays you well, contributes to the well-being of society and nature, makes you feel alive, and allows you to thrive every day?
You would only sell something created for the sheer purpose of making money. Something created out of extrinsic motivation. That is what drives mass consumerism and the never-ending desire for more. We accept that many people are motivated in this way, and they are of course allowed to play the game as they want to play it.
All we do is set a new benchmark and offer a new alternative for the authentic dreamers in this world. We know that everything we start and create has its own life and evolution, and we are instruments in its service. That is not for sale. Period.
A not-for-profit that pays out dividends? How is that possible? It is. First of all, a not-for-profit can have profits legally. These profits need to serve the purpose of the statutes of the foundation. Some Odysseys might need resources coming from “resource enablers.”
A resource enabler is not an investor. It is a member of the Noble Crew, sharing the same values and vision, equipped with emotional maturity, knowing that uncertainty is certain. This type of enabler might have too many other things going on in life, but loves the idea and wants to see it created.
The way of creating their return on investment is equal to all members of the crew: a financial return in the form of a regular dividend, once the Odyssey starts creating its proper resources.
In the long-term view, the main resource enabler will be the mother foundation herself, following a fair share distribution scheme to five stakeholders: a first part for the Holding Foundation for providing the structure. A second part for the non-profitable entities of the foundation. A third part for reinvestment in the Odyssey for organic growth. A fourth part for the crew. And a fifth part for the city, town, community, and environment where the Odyssey takes place.
This is what we mean by redefining investment.
Transitioning to the Intrinsic Economy requires clear steps:
Nothing is more important than having tangible references for new approaches. Most people cannot envision something based on theory alone. They need to read about it, hear about it, visit it. If that triggers their curiosity, they will feel inspired to apply it to their own lives and work.
Raising awareness through leadership by example, and inviting people to visit and experience the new references firsthand.
Adapting the model intelligently to the legal and cultural characteristics of each region of the world, to spread globally.
Enabling support systems that foster the adoption of the Intrinsic Economic model.
Embracing intrinsic values in our daily lives and supporting businesses and foundations that align with them.
Bringing The Syntropist to the next levels. First, enabling a higher level of efficiency in sources and resources connection. Second, introducing fractal management using innovative software for backend management. Third, using the deep learning acquired to scale the system using AI.