Can mission scale like software?

The upcoming Global Mission Summit aims to find out. The three-day gathering will bring together founders, investors, and business leaders who don’t just talk about change; they create it. Business can be more than transactional, the organizers say. It can be transformational.

Michael Moe

The summit is hosted by the new Global Mission Institute, founded by Michael Moe, a Silicon Valley investor who relocated to Dallas in 2021, and Mike Hoque of Hoque Global, a Dallas developer and investor. Moe, who literally wrote the book on changing the world one business at a time, created the institute with Hoque around the belief that business should be a force for good.

The Global Mission Summit, presented by Dallas College, will take place October 8–10 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas. There, leaders from business, education, finance, technology, and more will explore how purpose and profit reinforce each other.

Capturing the energy of a ‘megatrend’

According to the organizers, the summit captures the energy of a megatrend among entrepreneurs who want to build organizations with a mission to solve today’s—and tomorrow’s—biggest challenges. The vision is to connect entrepreneurs with the broader business, civic, and financial community to catalyze and accelerate ideas that can scale.

The “stars” of the summit, it says, are the entrepreneurs who have “the ambition of a for-profit and the heart of a not-for-profit.” The event is designed to inspire partnerships that can foster, and ultimately accelerate, community growth and real-world impact.

The summit’s founders call this philosophy the “Mission Movement,” a growing alignment among entrepreneurs who are building companies designed to merge purpose and profitability.

“Successful, thriving companies moving ahead need to think mission-based—to inspire their leaders, their employees, and their communities with something that connects beyond profits and financial success,” Moe said in a statement. “With their financial success, they need to be able to reach into their communities to help facilitate solutions that last.”

Mike Hoque

For Hoque, the idea extends a Dallas tradition where business success and community impact often go hand in hand.

“We know that along with our goals of excellence in entrepreneurship and innovation, we as business leaders can include problem-solving through engaging with and giving back to the community,” he added. “Businesses with this kind of strength will impact their communities beneficially in infinite ways.”

An agenda for change

Across its sessions, the Global Mission Summit is designed as something of a blueprint. Moe and Hoque aim to facilitate the transition of ideas from mission statements to models.

The program pairs big questions with practical playbooks. “Everything You Wanted to Know About Gen Z but Were Afraid to Ask” explores how a new generation’s values are reshaping business, spending, and social expectations. “The Democratization of Quality Education” looks at how AI and adaptive learning can make world-class education accessible to more people, while “The Modern Company” discusses talent, culture, and the new definition of workplace success.

One forward-looking session, “The Future Success of Cities,” challenges attendees to design one measurable improvement in urban life that can be launched within 90 days and scaled globally.

Another, “What’s Worth Funding?,” reframes investment through the summit’s “five Ps”—People, Product, Potential, Predictability, and Purpose—asking whether the next great returns will come from solving society’s hardest problems. Other panels will examine topics such as health-span innovation and how AI is reshaping entrepreneurship and education.

The summit’s Global Mission Bootcamp, led by Moe himself, offers a crash course in entrepreneurial mindset, from the “Magic of Thinking Big” to the essentials of team, finance, and pitch. It’s meant to demonstrate how purpose can be operationalized at every level of a company—from how founders raise capital to how they measure results.

Friday’s session, “Purpose, Profits, and Prophet,” ties together the summit’s themes, bringing entrepreneurs, investors, and professional athletes onstage to talk about the connection between success, influence, and responsibility. Following up is “The Power of Sports as a Force for Good.”

“Uncovering Potential” highlights how unlocking opportunity for underserved populations can create stronger, more resilient workforces as more than 600,000 people are released from prison and 16% of students graduate high school with some form of disability each year.

Global Mission Cup and Hero Awards

Another highlight will be the Global Mission Cup, a pitch competition where entrepreneurs present their ventures to a panel of investors and business leaders. The competition invites founders who “have the ambition of a for-profit and the heart of a non-profit.” Entrants are evaluated on the aforementioned “five Ps” of the Mission Corporation model: People (team), Product (problem solved), Potential (market size), Predictability (traction), and Purpose (social impact). The top three winners will receive cash awards of $5,000, $3,000, and $2,000.

The summit will conclude with the Mission Hero Award, honoring an organization already proving that purpose can be more than a slogan—it can be infrastructure.

Cross-sector collaboration

Speakers and panelists include Arthur Brooks of Harvard University; Thomas Lehrman of Teamworthy Ventures; Jason Illian, general partner at Highmount Capital; and Michael Peterson of AT&T. They’ll be joined by a long list of leaders from the region.

The Global Mission Summit’s Advisory Council brings together a powerhouse mix of business, civic, and community leaders. The council’s role is to guide and steward the Global Mission Summit and help extend its reach into the broader business and civic community.

Council members include G. Brint Ryan, Ryan LLC; Rob Pace, HundredX; Jennifer Chandler, Bank of America; Michael Peterson, AT&T; Jennifer Scripps, Downtown Dallas Inc.; Jeanne Allen, The Center for Education Reform; Michael Sorrell, Paul Quinn College; Todd Wagner, 1613 Project; Hal Brown, Panther City Media Group; Doug Deason, Deason Capital; Rob Walters, Gibson Dunn; James Keyes, Key Development LLC; Harry Hawkes, Interlock Partners; and Duane Dankesreiter, Dallas Regional Chamber.

They’re joined by other well-known regional figures, including Trey Bowles, 1845 Venture Studios; John Parker, Hi Solutions; Gillea Allison, D Magazine; Jamie Adams, Compass RE; Joe May, Dallas College; John Denniston, Mighty Light; Michael Tregoning, Headington Companies; Kirk Wilson, T. Wilson and Associates; Mike Hoque, Hoque Global; Mike Ablon, Pegasus Ablon; Mike Carter, EMG; Dave Johnson, Horizon Capital Partners; Mehrdad Moayedi, Centurion American; Steve Van Amburgh, KDC; and Billy Prewitt, Pacific Elm Properties.

‘The best of the best thinking’

As Ryan Chairman and CEO Brint Ryan put it, “The Global Mission Summit 2025 will be a powerful and productive gathering of the best of the best thinking on how companies can design structures that win financially and socially.”

For Moe and Hoque, the hope is that this first gathering becomes a model for how business can drive community change at scale. Moe called it an opportunity to “bring an inspiring and positive perspective and catalyst from some of our world’s foremost thinkers and innovators.”

“With this summit,” he said, “we are showing that our business community in Dallas and North Texas is an epicenter of this positive culture, with resonance and outreach across the United States and internationally.”

For more information

General admission for the Global Mission Summit is $500. Go here to register and learn more. 

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