When Rochelle Keyhan left her government role to fight human trafficking, and Dan Wexler set out to revolutionize “food as medicine” for Medicare recipients, they embodied a truth we’ve long observed at MassChallenge: the most promising social entrepreneurs often sit uncomfortably between traditional venture capital and philanthropy—too impact-focused for conventional investors, yet too commercial for traditional philanthropic support.
Their stories illuminate a critical gap in how we support entrepreneurs tackling society’s most pressing challenges. After supporting over 4,300 startups across our programs, we’ve discovered that the term “social enterprise” oversimplifies a complex reality. This insight led us to develop a new framework that’s reshaping how we think about impact entrepreneurship.
The Impact Entrepreneur Spectrum: Solvers and Challengers
We’ve identified two distinct types of impact ventures, each requiring fundamentally different support:
Solvers work directly with underserved populations, constantly balancing social impact with financial sustainability. They often grapple with early decisions about their legal structure (nonprofit vs. for-profit) and face unique challenges in scaling their impact while maintaining financial viability.
Take Rochelle’s organization, Collective Liberty. As a Solver, they’re directly combating human trafficking through data-driven solutions, having facilitated over 1,000 arrests and supported more than 450 survivors. “The path to scale isn’t straightforward when your primary focus is social impact,” Rochelle notes. “You need guidance that understands both the mission and the mechanics of building a sustainable organization.”
Challengers tackle systemic issues with broader market potential but face significant regulatory or technological barriers. They’re often too risky for traditional venture capital but too commercial for pure philanthropy.
Dan Wexler’s EatWell Meal Kits exemplifies the Challenger model. They’re revolutionizing healthcare by providing prescription-based meal kits for diabetic patients, with 45% of their target population facing food insecurity. “We knew we had a compelling solution,” Dan shares, “but fundraising for a startup in an evolving regulatory framework requires a different playbook. We needed help navigating both venture capital and non-dilutive funding opportunities.”
Building New Support Systems: The MC Impact Fellows Program
Recognizing these distinct needs, we launched the MC Impact Fellows program in 2024. This innovative initiative provides highly customized support across four critical areas:
- Peer Community: Creating powerful networks where Solvers and Challengers can share insights and resources
- Executive Leadership Development: Building capabilities specific to impact-driven organizations
- Strategic Stakeholder Access: Opening doors to decision-makers who understand blended value propositions
- Customized Funding Support: Helping founders navigate everything from impact investing to blended capital
Our inaugural cohort demonstrates the power of this targeted approach:
- Collective Liberty is revolutionizing anti-trafficking efforts through data-driven solutions, working with over 400 law enforcement agencies
- Vectech is preventing disease outbreaks through advanced insect detection technology
- EatWell Meal Kits is transforming healthcare through food-as-medicine
- Matrix Holograms is democratizing education through AI-powered holographic tutoring
The Future of Impact Investment
This new framework has implications beyond just startup support. For impact investors, family offices, and foundations, understanding the Solver/Challenger distinction enables more strategic deployment of capital and resources:
- Solvers often benefit from blended capital approaches, combining philanthropic support with sustainable revenue models
- Challengers typically need patient capital investment that understands longer development cycles and complex stakeholder environments but can lead to more traditional venture capital over time
“As we look at the urgent challenges facing humanity today,” says Cait Brumme, CEO of MassChallenge, “we must invest in infrastructure that enables systemic change. This means creating new support models and capital stacks that match the unique needs of both Solvers and Challengers.”
Join Us in Reimagining Impact
The MC Impact Fellows program represents more than just another accelerator program—it’s a new model for supporting transformative entrepreneurship. But to scale this impact, we need partners who understand that solving society’s most pressing challenges requires new frameworks, new funding models, and new ways of thinking about impact.
Whether you’re a foundation looking to maximize impact, a family office exploring blended investment strategies, or an impact investor seeking transformative opportunities, we invite you to join us in building the infrastructure that tomorrow’s change-makers need.
The challenges we face as a society are immense. But so is the potential of entrepreneurs dedicated to solving them. With the right support systems—ones that recognize and respond to the unique needs of different impact ventures—we can empower these founders to create lasting, systemic change.
Interested in learning more about the MC Impact Fellows program or exploring partnership opportunities? Contact Grace Scamurra, grace@masschallenge.org, Grants Manager at MassChallenge, to join us in building the future of high-impact, high-potential entrepreneurship.