Legal & Regulatory

How to start a social enterprise

This project guide helps two Sky’s the Limit members work together through four meetings as they collaborate to start a social enterprise

Meeting 1: Define Social Entrepreneurship

Before this meeting:

• Mentor Review: How to Work with Social Entrepreneurs 

• Both Review: What is a Social Enterprise?

In this meeting discuss or brainstorm...

• Your business idea

• Your personal passion

• The purpose of your enterprise

After this meeting:

• Google it. Try to find other businesses that are doing something  similar to what you would like to do. How are they structured? 

Meeting 2: Discuss business activities, goals, motivations

Before this meeting:

• Both Review: What motivates a social entrepreneur?

• Both Review: Understanding your reasons for starting a business

In this meeting:

• Complete the Understanding Your Why Worksheet prior to or during your meeting. 

• Discuss your personal why as well as the purpose of the enterprise. 

• Discuss the type and scale of impact you hope to have, and brainstorm ways you can you start testing your idea.

After this meeting:

• Get feedback. Talk to potential customers or clients about your idea and document their feedback.

• Note any agreed-upon next steps.

Meeting 3: Discuss pros & cons of social entrepreneurship

Before this meeting:

• Both Review: Legal Types of Business Entities 

• Both Review: What’s the Difference Between a Social Enterprise and a For-profit Business?

In this meeting:

• Talk through each of the relevant business entities in the articles. 

• Which ones sound most like what you are trying to accomplish? 

• Discuss  the pros and cons to your business for each of your top options. 

• Be sure to think about how you will generate revenue, what your governance structure will need to be, and any funding implications.

After this meeting:

• Sleep on it. This is a big decision with legal and funding consequences. Make sure you feel good about your final decision.  

Meeting 4: Identify next steps for chosen business type

Before this meeting:

• Review your meeting notes from last time.

In this meeting:

• Based on the state or country you’re in and the entity you’ve chosen for your business, prepare to apply for that type of legal business structure.

• Go through the application together and create a list of what information you will need to gather before you apply. 

After this meeting:

• Apply for the business type.

• Be sure to mark your project complete, update your business tracker , and start a new project!