Built to Hold Venture Design Program

Corporations and impact entrepreneurs aiming to build sustainable, high-impact markets that solve pressing environmental and social challenges must design and build new ventures for profitability, not exit valuation.

That requires a different way of innovating than today’s Silicon Valley-inspired “lean startup” approach championed by venture capital funds, who are building ventures to drive exit valuations, not enduring profitability.

The Built to Hold Venture Design Program (B2H) was created to advance and disseminate a venture design methodology for those building ventures for their actual profits, not their paper profits.

The methodology, called “FIT startup,” harnesses systems engineering principles and techniques to design ventures to be robust and resilient in the face of uncertain costs and demand. It drives up ventures’ odds of being profitable at launch, cutting the time and cash of getting to cash flow positive.

FIT has been tested and refined over the past decade with dozens of corporate and impact ventures in banking, education, nutrition, home care, mobility, and renewable energy.

The B2H Program provides multiple ways to engage, including participation in a Built to Hold Lab. The B2H Lab convenes companies, entrepreneurs, impact investors, and researchers to both learn about and advance the science and practice of FIT startup through working groups and seminars.

If you or your organization are interested in participating in or learning more about the B2H Program or Lab, please contact us.