Welcome!

What is this?

This is a resource published by ImpactVC in the pursuit of building community and resources that unlock the venture ecosystem's ability to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.  

This playbook has been designed to help operators unlock the potential of their startups to achieve meaningful impact and leverage this as a source of value.

It draws heavily on work done at Big Society Capital, and has been iterated and developed through engagement with the broader ImpactVC community. For a full list of contributors, see here. If you want to contribute, give us feedback, or have any questions, please do get in touch.

How to use this playbook

The playbook can be read from top to bottom or you can focus in on a particular section based on a more focussed need. People come to entrepreneurship at different points and with all sorts of backgrounds. We assume a very linear process here (discover a problem -> build a solution -> find product-market-fit, etc.) for simplicity and hope that people can navigate this for wherever they're at.

We have structured the playbook into broadly three sections:

1. Impact fundamentals - We recommend everyone read this section as it helps to set the foundations for the other sections. Here we cover the basics, what is impact, why is it important, what are the different types, etc.

2. Starting and growing an impact startup - this is for startups that haven't yet formed or are very early stage. Here we focus on the somewhat linear process a startup goes through (founding, problem identification, solutionising, etc.) and layer in impact thinking on top of this. What are the key things to think about across this process when solving for impact?

3. Embedding impact into an existing business - this is for startups who are well into their venture journey (i.e. reached product-market fit and scaling) and want to align with impact best practice. Here we introduce a generic impact management process (i.e. articulating an impact thesis, impact measurement & reporting, etc.) and unpack what the key things a startup has to do here if they want to maximise their impact.

Why are we building it?

The world faces increasingly pressing social and environmental challenges. We believe technology has an important role to play in tackling those challenges, if used with the right intent, in the right context, and with an aligned business model. We also believe that building an impactful business can be a driver of value – whereby managing for positive impact can reinforce and enhance commercial performance.

An ever-greater number of entrepreneurs see purpose and impact as core to their work, and an increasing number of VCs are looking to back impact startups.

However, topics such as how to build an impactful product, aligning product-market fit with impact, and exiting for impact, can be relatively new aspects of venture building, even for the most seasoned entrepreneurs.

Here we break down some of the core aspects of building an impactful startup in a way that is practical and relevant for the founder community. We draw on expertise from the pioneers in impact venture who have paved the way for others, as well as drawing on fresh perspectives and ideas from the wider community, who are earlier in their impact journey.   

Who is this for?

The playbook is for founders looking to better understand how to embed impact thinking into their venture building process to maximise impact and business success. It is also for VCs who are looking to help their portfolios achieve the same. We hope it is useful for both those new to impact and those with more experience. While the focus is predominantly European (given the makeup of our community), we hope it is useful to other geographies too.