Introducing The Purpose Pledge

Change requires action and accountability. Brave leaders willing to show up and do things differently, a first wave of pioneers, dreamers, and, dare we say, disruptors. This kind of innovation is encouraged in the kinds of solutions we bring to market, but it needs to extend to how we work. That’s why we created the Purpose Pledge.

The Purpose Pledge is a commitment for founders, funders, operators, and partners to bring purpose into their actions. The seven tenets of the pledge create universal yet practical ways to do so regardless of your role, vertical, or company stage. Words are wonderful, but it requires consistent, ongoing action to change the status quo. It takes community and commitment.

By joining the Purpose Pledge, you commit to:

• view every stakeholder as a human, not as a means to an end, and to treat them with dignity, empathy, and respect.

• address societal challenges through scalable business models.

• view scale and profitability as something in alignment with, not opposition to, mission and values.

• prioritize empathy as a company, product, and business value.

• challenge the startup default of moving fast and breaking things in service of being measured and renewing things.

• engage in the power of play as a means to explore and innovate.

• measure and report impact metrics as one piece, not the whole, of long-term success and impact.

The Purpose Pledge is an invitation. It’s a continuation of what many of you have long been doing, and it serves as a bridge between the motivations and aspirations around impact and the day-to-day of building purposeful companies. Our hope is that by rallying together around the Purpose Pledge, we can deepen our commitment, work and impact. We believe that coming together across shared beliefs and action can only strengthen our efforts — creating new connections, fostering new collaboration, sparking new ideas, and adding to our collective knowledge.

This movement belongs to all of us, and the us is what we are here for.