More than a seal of approval: Why every company can create impact

When impact is discussed, a silent division sometimes arises: Here are the companies with a “sustainable product”. There are the rest, which at best offset their emissions – but supposedly cannot have a “real” impact.

We believe this classification is too simplistic.

By impact, we don’t mean perfection, but rather a commitment to responsibility that manifests itself in everyday work: in decisions, routines, and the way we interact with each other and with partners. In other words, it’s about how we work – not just what we offer.

Because the same applies to neosfer: We are neither a huge corporation nor a typical “green business” player. We operate in a complex environment surrounding innovation and finance – a field that rarely offers simple answers. That’s precisely why it’s important to us: Even small teams can set standards, shape conversations, and shift expectations – if responsibility isn’t simply added on top, but rather considered as a guiding principle.

The requirements from the (re-)certification process help us like a roadmap: What is already well established? Where are we still too informal? Where do we rely too much on “we’ll manage” – instead of setting up responsibilities, transparency, and learning loops in such a way that they function independently of individuals?

Recertification might sound like a routine matter, like something you’ve just done again. In reality, it feels more like an honest look in the mirror – with the difference that you can’t simply move on as if you hadn’t seen anything. Furthermore, such a process leaves little room for gut feeling. It forces you to look more closely – and not be satisfied with good intentions alone.

What we learned during our first certification (2023) is that a lot can happen within a team without being formally documented. Culture is powerful – but culture alone is sometimes fleeting. It depends on people, context, and pace. And it changes: when roles shift, when colleagues join or leave, when decisions need to be made more quickly.

During the recertification process, we therefore worked intensively once again to anchor topics more clearly: less between the lines, more in a way that remains comprehensible in everyday practice. In short: We further enhanced our governance so that standards are not just “intuitive” but structurally ingrained.

And yes, of course, in such a process, one also asks the question familiar to many companies that don’t offer a “classically sustainable” product or service: Is what we’re doing sufficient – ​​measured against a demanding framework? This very uncertainty is also one of the reasons why we value standards like B Corp. They aren’t a feel-good test. They are a tool that forces you to look more closely: to learn, to refine.

Ultimately, the most important aspect for us is not that a process has been “passed,” but rather that it has an internal impact: as an opportunity to clarify priorities, uncover blind spots, and seriously consider further development.

When you ask yourself how a relatively small team can have an impact, you quickly arrive at the question of leverage.

Our leverage isn’t selling a product that automatically reduces emissions or saves resources. Our leverage is rather: influence through collaboration. Through conversations. Through networks. Through the issues we bring to the forefront – and those we consciously choose not to treat as mere “nice-to-haves”.

For example, what does it mean to talk about transformation in a financial and innovation context – not as a buzzword, but as a task? What role does capital play? What role do decision-making logics, transparency, and stakeholder accountability play?

Even if the pursuit of impact isn’t always equally present in public debate, our conversations continue to show that the task hasn’t gone away. It has become more complex – and it needs more actors who don’t wait until everything is perfect.

And this is precisely where the idea behind the B Corp community fits in for us: not as an exclusive circle, but as a catalyst for systemic change. Standards, exchange, and comparability help ensure that individual initiatives become more than just good intentions.

Recertification is an interim step. If you treat it as a goal, it loses its impact. As an interim result, it remains what it can be: an invitation to continue – more concretely, more boldly, more committedly.

For neosfer, this means: We don’t want to manage sustainability and impact as a separate project that’s “just another thing” running alongside everything else. Instead, we want to see it as a cross-cutting issue that’s integrated into our core business areas.

• In our work as an innovation unit, we want to ask the right questions in the early stages – not just when something is finished.
• As an early-stage investor, Impact should be incorporated as a serious perspective into the evaluation and dialogue with startups.
• In our events and formats, we want to focus on impact as a core theme alongside technology and finance topics – not in a didactic way, but practically: What works? Where are the problems? What are we learning right now?

And perhaps this is the most important point: Impact doesn’t come from never being contradictory. It comes from not suppressing contradictions, but from addressing them. From being willing to be measured. And from saying, in a world full of pressure for perfection: We won’t start only when everything is ideal.

We are convinced that impact is possible for every company. Not because every company gets everything right immediately, but because every company makes decisions – every day. And because these decisions can be shaped in such a way that responsibility doesn’t remain a matter of chance, but becomes a long-term methodology.

If you’re wondering what B Corp means in practice, what such a process feels like, or where to even begin: Check out our website – and feel free to get in touch if you’d like to exchange ideas.