Start-ups and nonprofits actually share a lot of DNA—we both run on extreme resourcefulness and mission-driven energy. Tech bros think they invented it, but we know nonprofit employees were stretching time, money, and people creatively, long before the internet. In both sectors, employees wear multiple hats and engineered work-arounds even when resources are limited. More importantly, we are also all motivated by a shared sense of purpose and possibility. 

So if we are cut from the same cloth, why don’t nonprofits borrow more tactics that seem to work well in Silicon Valley? The following tenets of Start-Up businesses provide an interesting reframing of the way we run our organizations.

In working with numerous organizations, I have learned that this process isn’t meant to be the burden, nor the lifeline. Instead, it should be a constant effort of evaluation, consensus gathering, and thoughtful implementation.