The Top Line → What:  I support ambitious, mission-driven people and ventures on their way . Usually this means helping them straighten out the path from where they are to where they want to go. → Why: Ideally  "impact alpha" aka creating a lock-step flywheel of purpose and profits; most often  refining pragmatic models along a range of returns and trade-offs that help them make (more) money while doing (some to a whole lotta) good. → How:  Through 1:1 advising sessions, 1:m

Update:   Through stress tests and incubation, the core of this model has strengthened as the complexity has simplified. Given current market conditions, fund models support continued high conviction in structured equity and redemption strategies which offer competitive early liquidity to allocators, return ownership to founders, and are more likely to be aligned with impact fidelity. What has evolved is the sector aperture: while “financing tech for good” may not have the s

If you're a founder or funder curious about what kinds of funding might be right for you, check out Capital Explorer , a free tool that will help you discover which of up to 16 different financing options might be right for you ! Capital Explorer is one of several free tools from Village Capital  that help entrepreneurs on their way to building scalable, mission-driven businesses worldwide -- including with aligned financing sources. Here's a nifty preview. Want more support?

If You Build It… Late in 2022, I was on a Zoom with my friend and colleague Maria Pope , who at the time was running community at Republic. She asked a simple question: “What are you going to at SXSW?” My honest answer was: “Eh... seems like kind of a tech bro scene. I just don’t see something for me. So… nothing?” If you know Maria, you know there's always a follow-up challenge: “OK, but what would  you want to go to?” Without overthinking it, I blurted out with gusto: "Some

I've had a few conversations of late that reminded me to share why 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 “𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗲”: 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗶�

In short, the following case study showcases a "philanthropy in, investment out" alternative, impact-linked sustainable fund model with a flexible instrument for early stage impact investments. Since it was first created in 2022 from a US-centric legal context, a legal review in the UK provided context on how to adapt it in that jurisdiction. Additionally, in 2022, Elemental Excelerator brought the D-SAFE to market, which is a very similar mechanism for funding developme