Meet Heidi, one of our board members: Sometimes a thing doesn’t make a whole pile of sense when you think about it objectively and yet you just can’t shake the feeling that it’s a good thing. That’s a risky basis for any decision but that’s how I’ve always felt about Boundary - from the moment Matt told me that he’d met this guy who brews beer and that they were thinking of starting a co-operative brewery together. As you do. It didn’t make a whole lot of sense - why plan to give away your profits from the outset when most people approach business with the long-term goal of amassing as much as they can? Why prioritise making beer that benefits others over making enough bucks to buy ourselves a jet? Because it feels like a thing worth doing. I love the idea of people like Matt and Matthew doing what they love - brewing excellent beer and pioneering new ways of doing business - and in such a way that other people get to join that party - literally. What if a brewery’s profits could benefit the local community instead or lining the directors’ pockets? What if those who brew the beer and make the organisation function were more than just the grafters - but shareholders and partners in the business too, with as much say in its direction as the bosses? And what if we could do all that whilst making, sharing and enjoying some of the most excellent beer ever produced - right here on our own doorstep? I took up a seat on the founding board around the same time that I had our third child so it’s fair to say that I haven’t exactly wowed anyone with my input. Most of the time I’m at least three months behind everyone else and I can’t actually contribute to virtual board meetings cos I haven’t yet worked how to turn my microphone off mute. Yeah. But I joined because I wanted to help make Boundary happen. (And cos the beer at the first board meeting was REALLY good...) I’ve felt really privileged to be part of something special, and I’m stoked to see other people recognising Boundary as something worth being part of, too. Watching the ‘amount raised’ figures ticking up on the Boundary homepage over the past 24 hours has been a total buzz, not just because this thing is actually happening but because it’s mind-blowing to see that people really do want to be a part of it, which is what we’ve hoped and dreamed of all along. It’s one thing to have a hunch that something is a good thing, but quite another to watch other people put their money where our mouths are, so to speak. I am drawn to Boundary because I love the idea of artfully disrupting everything from the current beer market (I particularly loved the board discussion about beer branding and its appeal to women…) to the way business is owned, operated and even understood. I’ve always seen my role as a quiet encourager of the Boundary dream, and it has been an honour to watch Matt galvanise other people in a shared goal of creating a co-operative together that people have believed in from the get-go. If the idea died right here I would feel like I had been part of something worthwhile, but seeing it come alive as other people take their place in helping make Boundary happen is a thrill. I can’t wait until were all drinking Boundary beer... Want to own a brewery? Become a member. boundarybrewing.coop And maybe one day, well be featuring you as a board member here!
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 13:15:00 +0000
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