Mapping the Gaps: Navigating the Chasm from Innovation to Scale and What We Can Learn from the Paths Charted by Pioneer Entrepreneurs & Funders

This fireside chat will bring to life the practical decisions and trade-offs that founders and funders make, and the cascade of financing options that open or close as a result of these choices. We’ll reflect on our work with Stanford’s Center for Social Innovation to map founder journeys through the dynamic impact financing landscape, and we will spotlight pathways (both well-trod and unconventional) and whitespace for financing innovation. Participants will walk away with concrete resources: 1) impact financing catalog/map, 2) guiding questions to animate strategic choices and tradeoffs, 3) access to mini cases that illustrate varied pathways to unlock resources for scale. Participants will also have an opportunity to contribute to a crowd-sourced impact financing “cartography project,” to generate a robust, publicly available, mapping of this rapidly changing field.