Impact and growth: mission impossible?

The impact is still a source of prejudice: “Often people think that everyone (in an impact startup) is a hippie in the company, [that they] do not generate money, that they do not think about money...” underlines Marie-Helene David, president and CEO of the zero waste personal care and cleaning products company, Myni.

This sentence, which says a lot about how far we have to go on this subject, was shared during a recent exchange organized between her and Frédéric Bastien, co-founder and partner at Admiral Ventures, a venture capital company, specialized in development and growth.

With these two guests, we wanted to explore the question of growth in an impact startup in order to find out if it comes with different challenges. This reflection is obviously part of the activities of our Startup campaign, the impact reflex.

The challenges of growing an impact startup

The decision-making process deployed in an impact startup depends on organizational values, which requires flexibility in order to ensure that they are respected at all times.

Longer thoughts

Chez Myni, growth and impact go hand in hand, but this has generated a lot of analysis and questions. Marie-Hélène explains that: “generally, she has the impression that this slows down some decisions without [however] preventing long-term growth.”

As a concrete example, Marie-Hélène's team asked itself several questions when choosing some of the raw materials it wanted to use in the manufacture of its products and packaging. As it is an organization that aims for a significant ecological impact, it was out of the question for it to let new plastic into its production. She therefore had to search the market for possibilities in order to make a coherent and intelligent choice for her business.

Rigor imposed from the start

As you know, starting any business is difficult. However, when a startup chooses the path of impact, it adds additional objectives in terms of its indicators. An impact startup must ensure that it generates and optimizes results on two fronts at the same time, financial on the one hand and social and environmental on the other. (see our previous article Impact and money, an impossible marriage?). Establishing and monitoring these measures can be intense at first, but it establishes a good work ethic from the start. This approach is therefore very profitable in the medium term.

Moreover, this vision, which must be coherent both environmentally, socially and economically, sometimes suggests a few back and forth on the paths taken by entrepreneurs. A decision that seems at first glance profitable from an ecological point of view may turn out to be unprofitable from a financial point of view. Additional efforts are therefore needed to maintain a balance between priorities.

Why choose impact?

For many entrepreneurs, impact rhymes with the future of their children. They want to leave a healthy planet for the generations that will take over. This is the case of Frédéric and Marie-Hélène who used this orientation for their business projects with the idea of “doing a little [their] part” or “doing more” for the planet. This vision acts as a powerful driver of engagement.

Also, although several specific challenges arise at the beginning of the journey, it is a model that has the same growth potential as another type of organization in the long term. This is a bit unique to sustainable development: sometimes you have to be more courageous in the choices that clearly define the contours of our organization, but once the guidelines are clear, they can become levers for growth.

That's why, at Startup Montreal, we are committed to deconstructing persistent prejudices against impact startups. For those who want to know more, we invite you to consult our impact toolkit.

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