Measure Better  |  October 16, 2018

Impact investors can gain real feedback from their portfolio companies’ customers. Do they want it?

Alnoor Ebrahim, management professor at The Fletcher School professor l Photo: Paul Rutherford for Tufts University
  • “The single most important feature of Lean Data is its focus on listening to customers in order to serve them better,” writes Alnoor Ebrahim, a professor Tufts’ Fletcher School. Acumen’s Lean Data methodology is no silver bullet, he says, and “is better seen as a complement to evaluation approaches such as randomized control trials rather than a substitute.”
Alnoor Ebrahim    Alnoor Ebrahim
Inclusive Economy  |  October 16, 2018

North Carolina idea: Invest in ecosystems that invest in entrepreneurs

Durham, NC l Photo: American Underground

A healthy environment for startups begins with a targeted investment in the systems nurturing founders and budding entrepreneurs. That’s been the driving philosophy for Durham-based NC Idea Foundation, which since 2006  has invested millions to support maturing startup cultures in cities and towns across North Carolina. The privately-funded foundation has supported more than 250 North

Sherrell Dorsey    Sherrell Dorsey
Measure Better  |  October 15, 2018

Measuring the impact of impact investments – by talking to customers themselves

Photo credit: EarthSky
  • Acumen's “Lean Data” impact measurement methodology lets the firm hear “directly from customers, even those in the most remote locations, in ways that creates value for them, for the companies that serve them, and for investors,” write Acumen’s Sasha Dichter and Tom Adams in the Measure Better series opener.
    Sasha Dichter and Tom Adams