Flipping the odds for impact startups from 90% failure to 90% success
At ASquared, we love working with impactful businesses. Being able to support a business that puts social or environmental purposes at the forefront of their model is incredibly important to us. Our passion is helping founders unlock their full product potential so that they have the tools to do great things, especially when they’re aligned with one (or more!) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Caught in the tailwind of the COVID-19 pandemic, impact investing soared between 2021 and 2022, giving hope that some obstacles had finally been breached. However, we soon saw a steep decline, with a 24% fall in successful impact startup fundraising between 2022 and 2023 cohorts (Barclays’ Eagle Labs, 2024).
Add that dynamic to the fact that an eye-watering number of startups fail (nearly all, but we’ll get into that later), the forecast for impact-driven founders was looking bleak… Investors were still keen to support companies balancing purpose and profit, but that now came with an increased anxiety around execution risk. For founders, this put even more emphasis on being able to demonstrate their ability to execute flawlessly on both technology and market development.
The seemingly impossible balancing act of building a high-quality product to get the funding needed in order to build it became even trickier. It was clear to us at ASquared that to support impactful businesses in the way that we aspire to, we would have to do something different that would address the pain points of both founders and investors.
Fortunately, we've been helping clients tackle this dilemma for a while and we realised that with a re-tooled approach we could help a new breed of impact startups. With this in mind we developed an innovative way of supporting startups and scaleups by leveraging concepts from venture builder methodologies.
We call it the ASquared Impact Builder.
The traditional venture builder models typically focus on idea-stage founders securing capital to move from idea to prototype/minimum viable product stage. While this is great for very early stage founders, we were speaking to several teams that had already made it some way in their journey, but were now feeling stranded as the 2022 high-tide of impact investment receded.
ASquared’s new model has been designed to address the primary reasons most startups fail: running out of cash and/or building products no one wants (CB Insights, 2021 & Lending Tree, 2024).
We will provide founders with access to funding from our network of Venture Capitalists, Foundations, Funds, and Angels, backed by our trusted and proven design-led technology execution and delivery expertise. This means eligible companies get both funding and hands-on support to build and scale their business.
Our aim is to eliminate the obstacles to success. To do so, the ASquared Impact Builder presents a de-risked path to success by providing:
In order to help you reach success, the programme will be highly individualised, intensive and hands-on. With this in mind, we’ll be offering spaces on the programme to just six eligible startups or scaleups per year.
When ASquared talks about helping impact founders achieve “success”, we mean seeing businesses reach:
The ASquared Impact Builder offers two programmes to support purpose-driven businesses at different stages of their growth.
For both Go! and Grow!, your business must have clear and genuine goals aligned to the UN SDGs and a strong business need for digital products (web or mobile apps).
If your business matches the eligibility criteria then you can begin your application.
The process will be subtly different depending on whether you’re planning on applying for Go! or Grow!, but both involve the following steps:
Eligible applicants with high scoring pitch decks will be invited to a series of discovery meetings. These are a mix of informal and formal meetings with the team, our partners, and investors so that we can get to know each other.
ASquared will then select one startup or scaleup each month to progress conversations with, so make sure to apply before the end of the month to be considered for the next round.
The objective of the Impact Builder is to help businesses secure funding to successfully design, develop and grow digital products with impact at their heart.
Participants of Impact Builder Grow! are expected to spend at least 50% of the funding on execution through ASquared and our partners. This will ensure delivery of high quality, market ready digital products and give you access to technical, growth, legal, accounting and team development services. The remaining funds can, subject to investor agreement, be used at your discretion on justifiable business expenses as specified in your pitch and business plan such as founder salaries.
Whereas, Impact Builder Go! participants are required to allocate approximately 50% of the match-funded amount to design and development services from ASquared.
As a founder, the odds are already stacked against you. 90% of startups fail, but this is even higher for impact startups (Nanoglobal, 2021). Our mission is to turn that 90% failure into 90% success.
The Impact Builder is ideal for startups or scaleups who have market traction and some equity funding, and are looking to build new (or rebuild) existing digital technologies that are either core to their business or critical in supporting growth.
Begin your application for the ASquared Impact Builder.
One-fifth of established businesses close down due to disruption and their competitors overtaking them. So at ASquared, we see it as imperative that companies frequently look to self-disrupt to remain relevant and secure new market opportunities (CB Insights, 2021). For this reason, the Impact Builder is also ideal for established businesses looking to disrupt themselves, leveraging new technologies including AI to pivot into new business models, capture new markets and pivot towards more purpose-driven outcomes.
If you’re an established business and are curious about how we might help you disrupt your industry, take a look at our Generative AI work with On Track Learning. If you'd like to discuss how we can help you self-disrupt and remain relevant, get in contact.
“You either reinvent yourself or you get left behind.”
- John Chambers, Former Executive Chairman & CEO of Cisco Systems and Founder & CEO of JC2 Ventures
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To support impactful businesses from both a founder and investor perspective, we needed to make a change. With the ASquared Impact Builder, we’re addressing the pain points of both founders and investors by leveraging concepts from venture builder methodologies in an innovative way. Let ASquared and our partners help you flip the stats, from 90% failure to 90% success.
Let's see what we can make together.
From startups to scaleups and enterprise, we're always happy to talk to impact-focussed and ambitious organisations. Use our quote creator to get a better idea of scope, timescales and next steps.
