How to build a company that can save the world and generate a profit
For startups that hope to save the world, or at least make it a better place, balancing impact with profit can be tricky.
For startups that hope to save the world, or at least make it a better place, balancing impact with profit can be tricky.
“Investor and shareholder expectations are often not aligned with how hard and intractable the problems are that we face as a society,” Allison Wolff, co-founder and CEO of Vibrant Planet, said on the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. “I think in some ways, we’re a little bit stuck.”
But it’s not impossible.
Wolff’s company develops cloud-based software for utilities, insurers, and land managers like the U.S. Forest Service to model and respond to wildfire risk. To ensure the company keeps its eye on the mission, it has registered as a public benefit corporation, which requires companies to report on impact in addition to the usual financial information.
“That’s an elegant structure to consider if you haven’t already, and it’s easy to convert,” she said. “And it’s a good forcing function to do the reporting side of that, to really think through every year, what impact are we having, and how do we account for it.”
Another approach is to find a technology and business model that tightly couples purpose and profit. That’s what Areeb Malik and his co-founders did when launching Glacier, their robotic recycling company.