Built with Purpose: How Our Employee-Owned Business Changed What it Means to Work and Why

Why would you want to work at a company you don’t own?

Built with Purpose is the story of Bill Roark realizing his dream. After losing his job and vowing to never experience that again, Roark, along with a team of talented entrepreneurial engineers, set out to challenge the status quo by building a company whose success benefits everyone who works there—not just the founders. Every single employee earns the opportunity to become an owner.

From its evolution as a single entity, Torch Technologies has evolved into a growing family of businesses operating under the umbrella of Starfish Holdings. (When a starfish loses a limb, it can grow another one). This business model has created substantial wealth for hundreds of its employee-owners, who have also been empowered to make substantial contributions to their community. Just as important, the Torch story demonstrates how a business can be built on a foundation that will allow the business to persist and thrive for 100 years or more. The traditional way of growing a business, where just a handful of founders get wealthy, is outdated.

The Torch story validates that there is a better way to build a business—one where everyone is truly engaged and invested in working toward the long-term success of the company—while also keeping generosity as a core value. At Torch, where employees feel secure in their work, they have time and energy to give to others in their community. Only a few other companies owned by their employees have achieved the same level of success as Torch/Starfish. This real-life case study stands apart from other business books by academics or entrepreneurs who have built successful companies in more traditional ways. Business leaders, public servants looking for ways to tackle the growing wealth gap in the U.S., and readers of all genres will rethink what a business is capable of after reading about how Bill Roark’s dream was born and sustained—and the difference it has made for the many who share in its purpose.

Bill Roark is the cofounder of Torch Technologies, Inc. (Torch), the founder and CEO of Starfish Holdings. Inc, the parent company of Torch, and the founder of Freedom Real Estate & Capital, LLC. Bill has also been involved as a business coach in a local brewery, Yellowhammer Brewery. Over the years, he and his wife Brenda have made multiple investments to help the brewery grow and expand. He has also helped them expand into distilling a fine bourbon and other spirits. While he neither brews nor distills, he remains an active business advisor/owner. Yellowhammer brews are local favorites.