As you continue to flesh out your venture, you will need to begin assigning values and costs to the resources you have identified. The goal here is to move from understanding the costs and revenue of each unit of sale and/ or impact to how these things will look on a yearly basis when your venture reaches its stable state (This may or may equal your ultimate goal. It’s the state where most assumptions have been resolved and progress starts being steady. If you have no idea when that would be, imagine five years from now).

At Trico Foundation we often talk to groups about their goals for their social enterprise and discuss what their venture will look like when it has reached its desired steady state (here we are talking about down the road when you have reached your financial and social impact goals—please note that we previously referred to this as your five-year goals/ fifth year of operating, however each venture and industry will have a different indicators for stability and it is important to work with the desired goals/ markers that you have set out to indicate that your venture has reached its steady state).

This blog is an opportunity for us to introduce a number of groups and types of stakeholders that you may come in contact with/ have to respond to as develop or grow your social enterprise.

Now it’s time to shift gears and think of your end game – that is, what you want this venture to accomplish when it is up and running (from now on we will refer to this as your stable state). Ultimately, the art of being a start-up or expanding on your existing social enterprise is figuring out how to secure your ‘early adopter’ customer and then build up to your end game with the least amount of risk and the highest chance of success.