When Donnel Baird needed seed capital to continue developing his B Corporation in 2013, he figured impact investors were the ticket. One year and 250 investor meetings later, BlocPower — Baird’s online marketplace that connects investors with clean-energy projects in underserved communities — hadn’t raised a dime.
In 2014, Baird, who is based in New York, decided to try his luck in Silicon Valley. There, he landed a seed round from VC firms Kapor Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, plus more useful advice than he’d received in the previous 250 meetings. “In Silicon Valley, they said, ‘Oh, are you two guys with a laptop? Great idea. Let’s invest.’ I think they’re just more accustomed to that,” Baird says.