Lessons from building MATCH, a platform to connect impact startups with mainstream partners
At maze, we work to prove that impact is not only possible but is the greatest economic opportunity of our time. This vision led us to develop a set of tools to support players across the impact ecosystem in scaling their initiatives. Among those players are impact startups—young companies dedicated to solving social and environmental issues through business. We work closely with their founders either through hands on support in dealing with the many challenges faced by early-stage ventures or through providing capital needed to scale.
Why impact startups need mainstream partners
Many impact startups start with a B2C approach, directly selling their products or services to individual customers. This strategy allows them to gain visibility, build brand awareness, and test the market. However, as they grow they often make the transition to a B2B approach, where they focus on selling to larger, mainstream companies. By making this shift they benefit from securing steadier sources of revenues as these contracts tend to be longer-term and larger in value, unlike individual customers. Despite these advantages, the first hurdle is often access—getting connected to the right commercial partners.
Traditionally, founders rely on networks or ad hoc requests to investors for introductions, but this approach is slow and limited. Without efficient access to B2B networks, impact startups struggle to establish the foundational partnerships that could help them thrive.
Enter MATCH: bridging the gap between impact and industry
Rewind back 18 months to when maze and partners Casa Do Impacto, Saint Brand, Startup Norway, and BLab Europe won EU funding to address this access gap. Together, we launched MATCH, a project aimed at preparing mainstream businesses for meaningful commercial engagement with impact startups while empowering startups to position themselves in the broader market.
At the heart of the project was an online platform serving as a marketplace for B2B interactions. The benefits of MATCH are clear:
- No more tedious back-and-forth emails to secure introductions.
- Higher-quality, pre-qualified leads to reduce time spent on dead ends.
- Scalable, democratised access to opportunities beyond a single network.
- Higher visibility of impact offerings in the broader European market.
Building MATCH
To bring the platform to life, we followed a structured approach focused on four main questions:
- Who are we building for? What goals, motivations, and pain points do impact startups and mainstream businesses have?
- What data is essential? Which data relationships are crucial to connect users and build seamless interactions?
- What tools can support rapid development? We selected no-code tools to ensure flexibility and efficiency.
- How do we engage and retain users? With multi-channel outreach and automated drop campaigns, we aimed to build awareness and drive sign-ups.
In a matter of months, we had built the platform using no-code tools, making it possible to iterate as we went. We leaned on our internal experience building similar tools for our investment vehicles and growth programs to build fast. After the launch, we promoted MATCH across newsletters, workshops, press releases, and LinkedIn campaigns to generate awareness.
Connections made
Lessons from launch: 3,000 leads, 140 sign-ups, and valuable insights
Over six months, we mapped and reached out to over 3,000 companies, of which we converted 4.7% into active users. Although this outcome fell short of our original target, the process offered us some valuable lessons. While these may seem obvious, I think it’s helpful to share them.
- Plan for outreach: Even the best product needs a strong marketing strategy.
- Network quality counts: Leads generated from close networks converted more effectively than those sourced through automated tools.
- Workshops drive engagement: Free workshops addressing practical solutions increased sign-ups, especially when focusing on specific benefits of B2B partnerships.
- You can’t automate empathy (another maze catch phrase): While automation streamlines processes, early-stage platforms need personal connections and active feedback loops.
maze office posters: “Empathy cannot be automated”” / “Impact is made not found” / “Build a good name”
Why conversion was so challenging?
We suspect that a combination of the following factors contributed to the lower-than-expected conversion rate:
- Awareness and education: Despite our efforts, not all users understood the platform’s benefits and how it aligned with their goals. Especially in the case of mainstream businesses who’s incentives for joining were less obvious.
- Lead quality: Not all mapped leads were focused on B2B at the time, limiting the potential for conversion.
- Onboarding complexity: The initial registration process was lengthy, which led us to simplify it mid-campaign. Having a longer registration form caused drop-off.
- Messaging consistency: Early outreach efforts didn’t emphasise that MATCH was free to join, potentially deterring users and especially budget-conscious impact startups.
- Single-channel outreach: Multiple follow-ups across different channels proved essential for higher conversion rates. Initially we favoured Email as the main channel and later learnt that combination of LinkedIn and Email delivered the best results.
- Seasonal timing: The middle of our campaign ran through the summer, where companies are often less responsive, impacting engagement.
Moving forward
MATCH platform launch at Casa do Impacto: with In our ongoing mission to invest earlier, leaner, deeper and smaller (read more about this here)—we’re committed to continuous improvement, and we know that learning from others in the field is invaluable. If you’re working on similar projects, whether in no-code or vc platform and venture support, reach out to me at julian@maze-impact.com, I’d love to hear from you.
MATCH was funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.