Giving Compass' Take:

• Nate Wong shares five new questions that should be asked when scaling social impact from enterprises. The venture model used to scale enterprises should not also be used to scale impact.

• How can these questions help make the distinction between scaling impact vs enterprise? Are you using the right tools to scale impact? 

• Read more about a pathway to scale for social entrepreneurs


As I scan the ideas-for-good sprawled across tabs on my computer screen—from a mobile grocery store to solve food deserts to a mental health app to encourage kids processing trauma to an app to connect the incarcerated with loved ones and families—the job of whittling down the applicant pool gets much harder because of the single-most problematic assumption so many of them make: that a single enterprise at scale will solve a massive social issue.

For years, social enterprise pitch competitions have operated the same way: Submitters present their world-changing idea and judges ask them standard questions rooted in a venture capital model. People too often conflate scaling impact with scaling enterprises. When we evaluate social ventures, why would we port over the Silicon Valley venture capital lens which incentivizes bigger, better, faster when positive impact may not always have this intent.

These questions only make sense if we’re trying to incentivize scaling an organization. But doesn’t creating sustainable social impact require a different model than a Silicon Valley venture? After all, no single organization can solve global social problems. It will take a coordinated effort across sectors from social ventures to policymakers to local social service providers.

If scaling impact—rather than the enterprise—is the goal, there are five must-ask questions that I recommend for my fellow judges. But take note, social entrepreneurs: These are also the questions you should be prepared to answer. Let’s use that first business idea I was asked to evaluate—a mobile grocery store to solve food deserts in blighted neighborhoods—and put this new model into practice.

  1. What is your “TAP” (Total Addressable Problem)?
  2. What is your “co-opetition” plan?
  3. What are your exit pathways?
  4. What unintended effects might success have?
  5. How do your internal operations reinforce the impact you intend to make?

Read the full article about venture models and social impact by Nate Wong at Stanford Social Innovation Review.