Tom Balderston is the Managing Partner of SustainVC, a venture capital firm focused on investing in early- and growth-stage startups that drive environmental and social impact, such as innovations in healthcare, climate, and education. Tom spoke at the MFN October webinar to discuss the trends SustaineVC follows when cataloging the effects of the product of a portfolio company.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Tom Balderston: We have invested in companies whose primary impact is more on the environmental front, and we’ve invested in a bunch that has generated social impact, and on occasion, we’ve invested in companies that actually have both, which is really a great finding when we see a company that provides, for example, access to things that help promote community solar, for example.
What our broad mandate means is that we’re having to think about the impact differently from company to company. We can’t exactly just tote up all of the megawatts, the carbon savings because we’re not just a climate investor, but instead, we can think about what the climate impact is of the portfolio by looking at those environmental companies We can look at lives saved, high school graduation rates, and we can look at lives touched by a healthcare innovation. So we tally it up all that way.
Tom Balderston: I think you’re right that younger generations are interested in making a difference in their work and making a difference in their investing as well. Many of us in the field have wanted to figure out ways to find a mission that really resonates with the work that we do. That’s what brought me in. I already had experience as a venture investor, but I thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to find a way to use my investment skills, at least thought of investment skills, to make a difference and help businesses that are making the world better by providing some capital and a bit of insight here and there?
When I left a family office holding company at the time and started to do some investing, friends of mine in the venture arena here encouraged me to take on a role running this local venture association. I did that for a few years, and when I was leaving, people said, “What are you going to do, Tom?” I said, Well, I think what I want to do is invest with purpose.” And almost to a person, they said, “You’re nuts. You can’t do that.” This was 15 years ago. So in some sense, there are more opportunities. It doesn’t mean it’s any easier in terms of finding successful opportunities, but it does mean that there are more people who have a dual desire to do something that matters and grow business.
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