Cool impact VC playbooks, podcasts, and communities 🤩

Impact Supporters Issue #22. Thanks for being here. If you have comments or feedback drop me a message.

Disclaimer from August Solliv: Everything that I write here is my own opinion and my own research, and is not affiliated with any current or former employments i.e. it’s my weekend work 😉

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Greetings, Impact Supporters! 🌍 It’s August Solliv 👋 Welcome to this week’s 5 min short article where I answer a common question I get asked → what are some cool resources, besides your newsletter, to always stay in the know on impact VC topics?

There are many newsletters that I recommend that you can see from my page, so this time I have chosen to just focus on other types of playbooks, podcasts, and communities and explain what value I get out of them. I am sharing these with you as these are the resources that I would have loved to have had myself early on in my Impact VC journey and still use today :)

Playbooks/Reports

• Impact VC’s playbook: A general playbook for Impact VC, spanning from definitions of impact and impact investing to levers like impact measurement and impact incentive structures. Great for new people in impact VC or people who want to get an all-around view of the space. I use it to make sure I have a correct overall view of the impact VC space.

• Climate Hardware playbook: A playbook made specifically for building and scaling climate hardware. It is highly useful for founders building climate hardware start-ups and investors in the space and answers questions on financing, sales, IP, and much more. Practitioners from Norrsken, Planet A, and Speedinvest made the playbook. I have used it to understand new nuances of hardware investing.

• Partech Africa Tech VC report: An annual report with statistics from the African VC ecosystem. This report is not directly linked to impact, but covers all VC topics in the African ecosystem, including impact. I use it to stay up-to-date with impact in the African VC ecosystem.

Podcasts

• EUVC: A generalist VC podcast talking with actors from the European VC scene. They include some great chats with people from the impact space - one of my all-time favorites is the one with Agate Freimane. I listen to the podcast to challenge my view on VC and some impact VC topics.

• My Climate Journey (MCJ): A general climate podcast covering everything related to climate. In their “Capital Series“, they discuss everything linked to financing the climate transition. I listen to the podcast as they bring in many different types of investors so it gives various perspectives on climate financing.

• 20VC: Unedited: A generalist VC podcast. I had to include it just because it is so good at sharing insights on product-market fit, building a start-up, and investing in early-stage ventures. I listen to the podcast for generalist start-ups and VC insights.

• Summa & Friends: A VC podcast by the impact private equity firm, Summa Equity. They discuss impact and climate topics, purpose in life, and modern work cultures and skills. I listen to the podcast to upskill on certain climate topics and think about skills in impact.

Communities

• ImpactVC: A dedicated community to Impact VC practitioners. This is the largest group of people truly dedicated to impact VC. I have gotten inspiration for my newsletter and connected with other Impact VC enthusiasts through the community.

• Voyagers: A community of givers not takers that all are driven by impact (climate and health are the two main pillars). Voyagers host meet-ups and trips for members. The community has led to the creation of a community VC firm. I am part of the group to connect with purpose-driven people.

• MCJ: A community of climate-focused people. MCJ allows people to learn about climate and connect with other people in the space. I have connected with new people globally on climate topics through the community.

• Objective Net Zero (in French): A French community of climate enthusiasts supporting each other through a Whatsapp group and meeting up in France (includes 2 communities - one is free and one is premium). I have gotten inspiration for my newsletter and connected with French climate enthusiasts through the community.

• ClimateHack: A global community for climate funders, founders, and operators. They organize a global summit, build valuable reports on impact topics, and organize climate meet-ups in top climate cities globally. I haven’t used the community yet but have gotten the meet-ups recommended.

• ClimateU: A Europe-focused community and platform to support people in succeeding with their climate careers. I have connected with new people globally on climate topics through the community.

• Baby VC: A generalist community for people who want to break into VC. They organize a 10-week bootcamp in some European capitals and build a long-term community. I haven’t joined the community yet but have gotten it recommended.

• GenZ VC: A global collective helping the Gen Z succeed in VC and support each other. I have received feedback for my newsletter through the collective.

Did I miss a nice playbook/podcast/community? Do you want to learn more about one of the resources? Do you have an experience with one of the above resources? Please let me know in the comments below or in my DMs. Let’s chat!

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