038. Catherine Griffin: On Measuring Social Impact

TODAY'S GUEST   Catherine Griffin is the founder and CEO of ImpactableX, and sits squarely at the intersection of capital, social innovation and execution to drive world-changing technologies. She has designed impact measurement and management tools that help social entrepreneurs to measure, track, and improve their social impact, as well as demonstrates its connection to revenue, and help startups make better impact decisions and investors to quantify their social impact. Prior to launching ImpactableX, Catherine served as Managing Director at an award-winning impact accelerator, GoodCompany Ventures, where she helped accelerate the application of new technologies to address the world's most pressing challenges.

Catherine serves as a lecturer at Wharton, and her work has been featured in FastCompany, Forbes, and The New York Times, among others.

 

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this conversation we talk about:

• How growing up in a family of doctors instilled in her a focus on healing and a sense of care for others.
• How her personal struggles in college led her to ask tough questions about herself, her privilege, and her path in the world.
• How she got disillusioned with the world of nonprofit social development, and turned to private markets to see if their innovation could help more effectively.
• Getting involved with GoodCompany Ventures in collaboration with the city of Philadelphia, and how that put her in touch with acute public needs and innovative private solutions.
• The challenges of monetizing social impact ventures, and the inherent connection between value creation and value capture.
• And what she's learned about finding one's path in life and making a difference.

 

This conversation with Catherine is one of dozens of wonderful conversations we have for you with designers, authors, researchers, makers, investors, and activists who are trying to make our lives better. So if you don't want to miss those episodes, please make sure to follow this show on your favorite podcast player.

And now let's jump right in with Catherine Griffin.

 

TIMESTAMP CHAPTERS

[3:26] Life During Covid

[8:14] Early Childhood Core Values

[10:43] A Period of Personal Struggles and Reflection

[15:53] A Pivot to the World of Private Markets

[19:43] GoodCompany Ventures

[24:29] Solving a Problem

[28:07] Building Various Business Models

[33:14] The Importance of Measuring Impact

[40:53] Defining Key Impact Metrics

[48:44] Three Summary Analytics

[55:51] Providing the Full Picture

[58:34] A Framework for Harmony

[1:01:03] A Commitment to Service

[1:04:39] A Short Sermon

 

EPISODE LINKS

• Catherine's Links
  • 🌍 ImpactableX
  • 🏫 The Wharton School
  • 💼 LinkedIn: LinkedIn Profile
  • 📣 Twitter: @impactable_x
  • 📺 YouTube Channel
• Other Links
  • 🌍 GoodCompany Ventures
  • 🌍 Wharton Social Impact Initiative
  • 🌍 Bloomberg Philanthropies
  • 🔭 NASA
  • 🔭 NOAA
  • 🌍 Propel
  • 🌍 Edovo
  • 📕 Measure What Matters: OKRs - The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth by John Doerr
  • 👋 Facebook
  • 🌍 Meta
  • 📣 Twitter
  • 🚗 Tesla

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