10 Tips for Measuring a Social Venture
While collecting data is a critical component of running a successful company or venture, it can also be one of the most intimidating. The Resolution Project, a nonprofit based in New York that provides a pathway to action to undergraduate social entrepreneurs, recently hosted a panel in which it asked three successful entrepreneurs* how they go about collecting information and measuring the impact and success of their companies. Here are their tips:
1. Just get started
Remember that we all use data all the time and it doesn’t have to be scary. Some of the key measurements for a company are the simplest ones: satisfaction surveys, customer responses, etc. all count. We need to eliminate the stigma surrounding measurement, because you don’t want to ever underestimate the importance of data. It’s what’s going to inform your future choices and strategies and how you are going to get funding and support for your venture from potential stakeholders.
2. Start small
Try to find just one metric at first that you can track that is going to align with the success or the health of your company or your social venture. This will be your guiding light in determining whether or not things are working for you. Keep in mind that this metric might not be revenue, rather a data point that shows your impact’s breadth and depth.
3. Make good use of the people around you
Make sure your measurers — either employees or volunteers — see the results of their efforts and believe in what they’re doing. Ineffectual data collection isn’t going to help your company grow. At the same time, identify your core customers and have them fill out your survey before you disseminate it to a broader audience so as to identify how to most effectively grow your venture from its earliest stages.
4. Find the partners/stakeholders who can help you succeed
When finding investors, ask yourself who else will be most interested in the outcome of your data collection and in your company’s field of interest. Who else has a stake in what you’re targeting? Go after the people who have the most ability to influence the success of the program, but make sure you’re using your resources in the most effective way — if the stakeholder would require costly interventions on your part in order to be able to support you, it might not be the best path for your venture.
5. Use mixed measures
This one’s pretty straightforward. There are a number of ways of collecting data: surveys, interviews conducted by a third party, focus groups, and cheap platforms like Upwork (see tip 6) are all viable options. Use as many of these mixed measures as is practical to get an accurate read. Note: this also means you shouldn’t neglect qualitative data collection in your efforts to get hard numbers. When your sample size is small (ie. when your venture/company is still getting off the ground), emphasize qualitative data over quantitative, as you’ll gain more insights from your core customers.
6. Keep your surveys short and simple, and try to do them in-person.
Mental fatigue is absolutely a factor to consider when creating a survey — if it’s too long or tedious, the responses you collect won’t be accurate. Randomize question order so as to minimize the systematic effects of mental fatigue, and take out outliers when you’re analyzing your data. Also keep in mind that not everyone is going to take the time to fill out a survey at home — if you want a good response rate, try to administer the survey to respondents who are physically in the room.
7. Keep an eye out for free or affordable tech solutions
Google, Survey Monkey, Upwork, etc. are all viable and readily available options!
8. Let data inform your decisions
Once you’ve put the work into collecting data, make sure you’re using it as an opportunity to refine processes that are working for you and to address potential problems. Commit your team to making fully intentional, data-backed decisions. In fact, for one month, Helen suggests: “Every time someone in your team makes a decision, ask them, ‘What is the data that informed that decision?’” The payoff of this effort will be new insight into whether you are using the right set of data to inform your choices or you need to institute some new data collection techniques.
9. BUT, don’t let data override your common sense
Make sure your data has narrative and a context that makes sense. Be data-smart: don’t accept data as the end-all, be-all when it doesn’t make sense to do so.
Good luck!
Make sure to check out our first and second installments, 7 Tips for Starting a Social Venture and 7 Tips for Scaling a Social Venture.
*Special thanks to our entrepreneur panel speakers:
- Sam Peurifoy is a Resolution Fellow currently pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at Columbia University. His last Resolution venture, USolar, provides hands-on alternative energy workshops at targeted schools in multiple states.
- Remen Okoruwa is the co-founder and CEO of Status Quota, a predictive analytics firm for sales and marketing. Prior to Status Quota, Raymond worked as an accountant at Hub Spot and a strategy consultant at McKinsey.
- Helen Goldberg is a director at Arabella Advisors, a philanthropic consulting firm. Previously, Helen was a senior strategy adviser at the International Rescue Committee.
To watch the full panel discussion, moderated by The Resolution Project’s Associate Director of Programs Rachel Brophy, click here.
