Scaling the Social Enterprise: Lessons Learned from Founders of Social Startups

Scaling the Social Enterprise is an ideal text for courses that focus on social entrepreneurship and social innovation, at either the graduate or undergraduate level. Common themes across high growth social startups discussed in the book include:
building and modifying a management team for growth
creating and maintaining a dynamic stakeholder network
choosing corporate form and funders
moving from idea to pilot, to roll-out, and pivots along the way
the importance of media magic in building a brand
developing and refining one’s value chain
the pivotal role of technology in scaling.
Featuring high profile, high growth social startups including Fair Trade USA, Revolution Foods, Sanergy, Kiva, d.light, Back to the Roots, and Grameen America, the chapter on funding social startups also profiles social funders such as Bridges Fund Management and Better Ventures, amongst others.