Starting with the Right Problem

Blog series: Venture Discipline for Lasting Impact - part 4

Before a business model, before traction, before margins or market size:

there is the problem.

If that problem is not real, urgent and deeply understood, nothing that follows will stand. That's why Problem Understanding & Societal Relevance is the second major criterion in our investment framework at Shaping Impact.

Impact investing only works when the venture's mission is rooted in a problem that matters, and importantly: matters to the people affected by it.

When we evaluate a venture, we look beyond pitch decks and market reports.

We ask and try to assess whether the founders truly understand the societal pain they aim to address, and whether their solution fits the depth of that problem.

That is why we look for:

• Clarity of the societal problem - Is it defined precisely, not abstractly? Does the founder articulate the underlying drivers, not just the symptoms?
• Evidence of demand & urgency - Is this a "nice to solve" issue, or a "must solve" issue? How visible is the pain for the target group?
• Underserved or overlooked communities - Are those who face the problem the same ones who benefit from the solution? Is the venture addressing inequity or unintentionally reinforcing it?
• Founder proximity - Do the entrepreneurs have lived experience, sector depth or meaningful connection to those affected by the problem?
• Systemic relevance - Does solving this problem change a life, a community, or a system? We invest in companies that push structural improvement, not just surface-level fixes.
• Logical link to the business model - Is the problem aligned with how the company earns money? When missions and economics diverge, both eventually fail.

When a problem is deeply understood and societally relevant, everything else becomes easier: the product sharpens, the business model strengthens, and the impact pathway becomes credible.

That's why we invest quite some time on this step, because real impact starts with understanding what truly needs to change.