Weekend Briefing No. 8

US consumers prefer sustainable and local food. According to a recent survey, 77% of Americans list sustainability as a priority when making food choices, 89% consider where a product is produced when making food purchasing decisions, and 66% would pay more for food that is produced close to home. However, the number one reason for purchasing food is still whether the family enjoys it.

  Is social enterprise poised for bigger exits? With more aggressive investors showing interest, middle market companies jumping into the sector and an increasing distinction between charity and social enterprise, Fast Company thinks we may be seeing more big exits.

How Pixar can teach us to pitch better. Oren Jacob spent 20 years at Pixar and is now CEO of his own company. Learn how the Pixar principles of storytelling can take your pitch from mediocre to memorable.

Putting the soul back in startups. The valley is dominated by hoodie-wearing twenty-somethings looking to build the next addictive, vapid app or network and get rich quick. We have more ways to distract our selves, but are we better off? Putting the soul back in startups starts with humility.

The cash transfer controversy continues. In last week’s WEEKEND BRIEFING, Give Directly’s cash transfer approach was criticized for being more hype than impact. This week they fire back saying that the ROI on cash transfers beat the average stock on the US stock market.