One Entrepreneur's Challenge to Start Ups and Impact Investors

Jeannie Tarkenton, Co-Founder and CEO of Funding U, shares her early experiences on impact entrepreneurship and investing.

Tarkenton sets a challenge for impact investors and to her fellow social entrepreneurs: Invest more seed capital in exchange for more equity.

Tarkenton urges that impact investors should account for a higher portion of angel, seed and early stage investments in the investment market if they aim to bring more socially-focused companies to life. She also encourages impact investors to include earlier stage investments in their portfolios and demand to be richly compensated for their earlier, higher risk, "rocket fuel" position.

To her fellow social entrepreneurs, she addresses three things they must prepare for: 1) Consider giving up more ownership of their companies early; 2) Be rigorous as to their concepts' abilities to scale to a stage; and 3) Use early stage impact capital in highly focused ways.

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