impact investing Archives - Page 2 of 2

Social Entrepreneurship: An Introduction

January 28, 2016

Social entrepreneurship is, in its simplest terms, the utilization of business practices to fundamentally change the most intractable issues of our time. Having said that, I feel like I should quickly add, “But wait! There’s more!” In recent years, entrepreneurs of all types have profoundly altered the marketplace. Companies like Dropbox, Airbnb and Red Hat have transformed their industries. What if we could utilize the incredible power of startups to permanently change the landscape of social and environmental issues such as climate change, food security and access to clean water? That’s what social entrepreneurship does. Definition of Social Entrepreneurship Bill Drayton, Ashoka founder and CEO seems to have coined the term social entrepreneur. According…

You Are a Changemaker

January 27, 2016

Do you have the feeling that you were put on the earth to do more than fill and empty your Netflix queue? When you think of the tens of thousands of hours in your lifetime that you’re going to spend at work, do you ache for your career to be more closely aligned to your calling? Is there a social cause that inspires you or a social injustice that stirs your emotions? If so, you are a changemaker, and you’re not alone. In a recent survey, more than 50% of millennials say they would take a pay cut to find work in alignment with their values, and 90% want to…

The Impact Measurement Challenge

November 24, 2015

Calling all data geeks and entrepreneurs. Here’s a business opportunity. Although there are better definitions out there, an entrepreneur is someone who identifies a perceived pain or a desired gain in the marketplace and uses innovative approaches to resolve the pain or bring about the gain. Well, I have a pain for you. As I have been interviewing entrepreneurs for the Social Entrepreneur podcast, one pain point comes up again and again. They tell me that their greatest desire is to create social and environmental impact. However, it is difficult, time consuming and expensive to measure impact. The time and effort that they spend measuring impact reduces the resources that they…

Pitch Me

November 4, 2015

I am often approached by early-stage entrepreneurs who want something from me, whether they are looking for quick advice, mentoring or an investment. I noticed that I was writing similar emails again and again. Eventually I copied and pasted the emails into a Google doc. When someone would contact me, I would send them a link to the Google doc. This helped clear up a lot of misperceptions. I also noticed that the quality of the pitches I was hearing was going up. So, I decided to turn this advice into a blog post (you’re reading it). Social Entrepreneurship Ideas If your business has a strong social or environmental impact,…

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