Six things to consider while crafting your go-to-market strategy
03.02.2023In the last few years, it became clear and almost a mainstream concept that social and environmental challenges are great opportunities to be fostered through the approach of a business venture. In 2022 impact companies represented 15% of the broader European tech market (Atomico 2022), and as such, both impact and mainstream VCs are increasingly […]
Why I chose to code for an impact startup
25.07.2022As developers, we often find ourselves looking for job opportunities that give us the perks we value the most: compensation, flexibility, learning opportunities and a dynamic team that will rock awesome JavaScript and fancy frameworks. While all that matters, my main driver as a developer has mostly been about joining an impact startup that triggered […]
Why I chose to be a lead developer in an impact startup
21.07.2022After interviewing with several companies in different industries and environments, it became clear to me that: I wanted to contribute to positive change in the world and have real ownership of my work; I wanted a real technical challenge, something that had space for my own suggestions and space for me to grow professionally alongside […]
A Social Impact Bond fully achieves its outcomes: is that success?
04.02.2022This is not a story about how success means different things to different people. It is a story of how a project that fully delivered its intended social outcomes might be at risk of not meeting the most important one. Projeto Família® is implemented by MDV (Movimento Defesa da Vida), a Portuguese non-profit organisation. Their […]
The Rise of the Regenerative Entrepreneur
22.02.2021Entrepreneurs are now entering a new era where transparency, accountability, and impact measurement is becoming the new norm. Just as the scale of our collective challenges call for more meaningful change, entrepreneurs are now being asked to shift from a sustainable to a regenerative mindset.
Buying and selling carbon credits from nature, a good deal to support biodiversity conservation and restoration efforts?
19.02.2021The use carbon credits from nature to finance conservation and restoration efforts is growing. This approach holds incredible potential, on paper, but has major challenges to overcome. Through months of research, Maze is moving forward. The conclusions are presented in this article.
The impact of the European funds on impact
15.02.2021The European funds had a positive impact on social innovation in Portugal. The impact in the coming years depends on the decisions that will happen in the very near future. Losing this opportunity now means that we will only be able to have it again six years from now. Continuing the work done means getting closer and closer to finding better solutions to the problems we face.
Social Impact: what’s all the fuss about?
12.11.2020Since I joined MAZE, I have learned quite a bit on the meaning of impact. The most important thing is that impact, whether social or environmental, is the greatest social economic opportunity of our time. Once you get it, you cannot forget it. Here’s how I see it: What is social impact? Social impact is […]
Four ideas to embed impact within an organisation
18.09.2020‘The next decade will be defined by companies that have a social and environmental purpose’, said a partner of Index Ventures, one of the largest venture capital funds in Europe. The CEO of Y Combinator, one of the leading accelerators in the world which has invested in companies such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, among many others, also […]
My first 90 Days in Venture
03.09.2020After spending almost three years as a consultant, it has been three months since I have officially made the move to being an investment analyst at Mustard Seed MAZE impact VC fund. The past few months have been both challenging and rewarding. In many ways, venture is like an infinite hike and I am only in the beginning. If you are interested in partaking this journey too, here’s what helped me get started.
How Biology, Acting and Film prepared me for the VC world
03.08.2020When I was asked what my dream job was, I answered different things throughout my life: a doctor, a biologist, a writer, an actress, a director, a film teacher at university. None of these became true. While searching for a career path, I dealt with a significant amount of frustration. I wandered in the fields of Biology, Theatre and Film, and through the fear of yet another wrong choice, I learned resilience.
The opportunity to improve the lives of half the population
18.07.2020There are 3.9 billion women in the world which corresponds to 49% of the world’s population. However, and despite the fact that women drive about 85% of consumption decisions [1], most products have not been developed considering their specific needs. There are several examples that corroborate this phenomenon. Basic life support training for resuscitation from […]
6 lessons skateboarding has taught me about my first job
10.07.2020Here are 6 (of many) lessons skateboarding has taught me about the adult world that I am now facing every day
What a ‘green recovery’ might look like
03.07.2020“Whatever it takes!” has become a motto for saving the global economy as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the planet and shuts down entire countries.
5 tips for shifting a startup accelerator programme to online
04.06.2020Confronted with COVID-19, my team and I had to move the accelerator to online ASAP. Here are some of the main lessons we’ve learned throughout the preparation process.
How to find the best impact startups across Europe: 3 guiding steps
03.06.2020Scouting is a fancy word that usually refers to the activity of “looking for people with particular skills”. In the case of Maze X and in this article, this definition is somehow incomplete for us. The way we look at scouting is more on building a relationship with extraordinary founders that are solving the most pressing social and environmental issues.
Coronavirus and the opportunity for the digital transformation of social services
08.05.2020The digital transformation that social enterprises go through in the next months will pay double in the future. It will make them more resilient and fitter for adaptation in future crises. More importantly, it will allow them to streamline processes and save energy, empathy, and time for the human interactions that are worth fighting for.
5 tips for fostering creative thinking, starting tomorrow
03.05.2020But more recently, I’ve been interested in how to foster that creativity on others. Is there a secret formula for bringing creativity into the problem-solving process within teams? What is the right way to lead your team to more creative outcomes?
Impact-Weighted Accounts: can accounting shift the paradigm?
15.11.2019‘Impact-Weighted Accounts’ might be the opportunity for companies’ to include on their financial statements the impact of their activity on employees, community and planet.