069, Michael Pirron, Impact Makers | How to Scale a Social Enterprise

If you want to know how to scale a social enterprise, Michael Pirron of Impact Makers might be someone to ask. Not only is his company recognized as a “Best for the World” B Corporation, they are also on the Inc. list of Fastest Growing Companies for five years in a row. And, they have been listed as a Best Places to Work. That’s a combination that piques my interest.

Impact Makers is a for-profit Virginia benefit corporation that is owned by two non-profits. In 2015, Impact Makers gifted ownership of the company to two organizations that support philanthropy and community development: Virginia Community Capital and The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia.

Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Michael Pirron:

“The typical path is the Warren Buffet or Bill Gates model: work really hard, be an Attila the Hun egregious business man. To make a lot of money is the focus, so that you can have an exit, cash out and then do philanthropy at some point.”

“I’m not a trust fund kid. I’m not independently wealthy and I had to pay the mortgage.”

“I created a model, selfishly, thinking how can I do well and do good at the same time?”

“I started Impact Makers, with me, a laptop and $50 in the bank.”

“We didn’t grow despite our model. I think we grew because of it.”

“The true secret is our ability to attract and retain talent, because of the model and because people have this desire to find meaning.”

“In ten years we’ve had eleven people leave, which is off the charts for an industry that has 15% to 20% annual turnover.”

“Mission-aligned teams outperform teams that aren’t.”

“Even in our performance reviews with our staff, we start with our values and everything derives from there.”

“Our clients are able to hire us and double leverage their already-existing IT consulting expenditure budgets, not just to get quality consulting services, but they can also make community impact.”

Mentoring Giveaway:

Throughout the month of April, you can win one of ten one-on-one mentoring calls to help you launch or grow your social enterprise. We’ll be drawing each week. To enter, go to http://tonyloyd.com/coaching

Social Entrepreneurship Resources: Impact Makers: http://impactmakers.com Enter to win a one-on-one mentoring call! http://tonyloyd.com/coaching Try Audible and Receive Two Free Audiobooks: http://tonyloyd.com/books