Kathleen Kelly Janus

Kathleen Kelly Janus, a lecturer at the Stanford University Program on Social Entrepreneurship and the founder of the successful social enterprise Spark, set out to investigate what makes a startup succeed or fail. She surveyed more than 200 high-performing social entrepreneurs and interviewed dozens of founders. Social Startup Success shares her findings for the legions of entrepreneurs working for social good, revealing how the best organizations get over the revenue hump. How do social ventures scale to over $2 million, Janus's clear benchmark for a social enterprise's sustainability? Janus, tapping into strong connections to the Silicon Valley world where many of these ventures are started or and/or funded, reveals insights from key figures such as DonorsChoose founder Charles Best, charity:water's Scott Harrison, Reshma Saujani of Girls Who Code and many others. Social Startup Success will be social entrepreneurship's essential playbook; the first definitive guide to solving the problem of scale.

With business advice from an expert entrepreneur, learn how to identify and leverage the key factors that will bring sustainability and success to your startup. In order to make a difference, any modern nonprofit needs to achieve multimillion-dollar annual revenues. After surveying more than 200 high-performing entrepreneurs across the country--including the leaders of Teach for America, City Year, Donors Choose, charity: water, and Hot Bread Kitchen--Kathleen Kelly Janus is here to show you how to reach and sustain lasting organizational growth. Janus asked a simple question: "What is the key to nonprofit success?" The answers she received reveal five key strategies responsible for the most successful social startups: Testing IdeasMeasuring ImpactFunding ExperimentationLeading CollaborativelyTelling Compelling Stories In these uncertain times, we need every bit of creativity and determination to find better solutions. The stories in Social Startup Success and the tools it recommends will help you to make your organization--whether a fledging startup or a large, well-established operation--thrive.