Lead the People #103: Social Impact through Startup Success with Civic Champs’ with Geng Wang
As CEO, Geng leads a team of passionate change leaders to deliver software for nonprofit organizations that empowers them and their volunteers to more easily serve their communities. Prior to Civic Champs, Geng co-founded and sold two companies which were both based in Pittsburgh! The first, RentJungle.com was an apartment search engine and the second, Community Elf, was a social media management agency. Geng is also a former McKinsey & Company consultant and a graduate of Michigan State University and Harvard Business School.
Top 3 Takeaways
- Shift Value. Social impact companies can attract talent at a 30% discount to market salaries since employees are willing to earn less to work for a mission they believe in.
- Line it Up. Unlike traditional businesses where growth and impact may diverge, Civic Champs' business model creates direct alignment - as they grow revenue by serving more nonprofits, their social impact automatically increases.
- Open the Door. While all generations value social impact, Gen Z is more likely to actively push for change and make career decisions based on their values compared to millennials, for example, who may have felt constrained by economic conditions.
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From the Source
"You can't have impact if you have no money."
"You get about a 30% discount... because people are just more willing to work with you because they say, 'Hey, you know, even if it doesn't pay as much, I still want to come here because it does a thing that I really believe in.'"
"People aren't dumb. They're not going to buy things that aren't helping them... our ability to charge and to have nonprofits pay right shows that we're actually creating value for them... The bigger we grow, the more impact we have."
"As you get older... having some sort of social impact becomes more and more important... when you have a business that is not as perhaps invested in just social impact, it can be less motivating at times, especially when the times are hard."
"If you ask the nonprofits... they would feel an obligation [to operate efficiently] too, because when donors give you money... there's sort of an obligation... that you're entrusted with to make the most out of those dollars."
"Millennials and Gen Z share very common values. But the main difference is that Gen Z acts on those values a bit more... they're pushing their employers to sort of align to their values."
Connect with Geng
Website: http://www.civicchamps.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gengwang