How to Build a Profitable Business That Changes the World
Purpose isn’t just nice to have – it might be your most powerful competitive advantage.
The Facebook Post That Changed Everything
In 2011, David Heath was scrolling through Facebook when he saw a post that stopped him cold. It was from a homeless shelter sharing a simple but heartbreaking fact: socks are the #1 most requested clothing item at homeless shelters.
David was in his late twenties, working at a lifestyle website with his colleague Randy Goldberg. Like many people their age, they were ambitious but still figuring out their path. They both had entrepreneurial dreams and had been talking about starting a business together someday – they just didn’t know what kind of business.
“Here is an item of clothing I have never spent more than a few seconds a day thinking about,” David later reflected, “and yet this is an item that is perceived as a luxury for over 650,000 people living here in the U.S.”
But David didn’t just feel sad about it – he saw an opportunity.
He and Randy had watched companies like TOMS donate shoes and Warby Parker donate glasses. They thought: “What if we donated socks?” But instead of just starting a charity, they wondered if they could build a profitable business that solved the problem at the same time.
They decided to create a company that would make high-quality socks, sell them online, and for every pair sold, donate a pair to someone in need. They called it Bombas (Latin for “bee”) because bees work together to make the hive a better place.
Starting with just their own savings and a crowdfunding campaign that raised $142,000, David and Randy built Bombas into the most successful Shark Tank company of all time, with over $1.3 billion in lifetime sales and more than 75 million pairs of socks donated.
If their story resonates with you – if you’ve ever seen a social problem and thought “I could build a business that actually fixes this while being profitable” – you might be a Social Entrepreneur.
The Social Entrepreneur Difference: Profit WITH Purpose
Social Entrepreneurs don’t choose between making money and making a difference – they understand that sustainable impact requires sustainable business. But here’s where many passionate, purpose-driven people get stuck: they fall into one of two traps that actually limit their ability to create change.
The “Starving Saint” Trap: You’re so passionate about the cause that you think making money somehow corrupts the mission. You price too low, give away too much, or structure your business in ways that aren’t sustainable. Eventually, you run out of resources and can’t continue your impact.
The “Guilt-Driven Giver” Trap: You want to help but you’re terrified of being seen as exploiting a cause for profit. You either don’t start at all, or you create business models that prioritize appearing “pure” over creating lasting change.
But there’s a third path – the “Savvy Saint” approach that David and Randy mastered:
They understood something crucial: The best way to serve their cause wasn’t to sacrifice business viability for more giving – it was to build a profitable business that could give consistently for decades.
This requires a unique combination of:
- Mission-driven focus that uses purpose as both motivation and competitive advantage
- Business discipline that ensures sustainability and growth
- Strategic partnerships that maximize impact while maintaining values alignment
- Impact integration that builds giving into the business model, not just the marketing
- Financial wisdom that sees profitability as fuel for greater impact, not greed
The Power (And Challenge) of Purpose-Driven Business
When Purpose Becomes Profit
David and Randy discovered something powerful about their approach: customers weren’t just buying socks – they were buying into a mission.
When they appeared on Shark Tank in 2014 with $450,000 in sales, most of the Sharks were skeptical about the “give-away” aspect being too expensive. But Daymond John understood something the others missed: the mission wasn’t a cost center – it was their competitive advantage.
“They were selling socks, but they weren’t selling in traditional retail stores,” John explained. “They had created a whole new way to think about socks.”
The “one-for-one” approach created an emotional connection that traditional marketing couldn’t match. Customers became advocates, spreading the word because they felt like they were part of something meaningful. This organic growth became Bombas’ primary customer acquisition strategy.
After their Shark Tank appearance aired, Bombas did $1.2 million in sales in just two months and completely sold out of inventory.
The Balancing Act Challenge
But David and Randy also learned that social entrepreneurship comes with unique pressures that regular businesses don’t face:
The Authenticity Test: They had to constantly prove their mission was genuine, not just a marketing gimmick. Everything from their manufacturing choices to their company culture had to align with their values.
The Sustainability Question: How do you maintain social impact while meeting investor expectations for growth and profitability? When Daymond John invested $200,000 for 17.5% equity, he was betting on both the business model AND the mission.
The Execution Challenge: They weren’t just running a sock company – they were managing partnerships with homeless shelters, ensuring donated socks actually reached people in need, and maintaining quality standards for both paid and donated products.
The Scale Pressure: As they grew from hundreds of thousands to billions in sales, they had to build systems that could handle massive volume while preserving the personal touch that made their mission meaningful.
Signs You Might Be a Social Entrepreneur
Does this describe how you see business opportunities?
✅ You see social problems and immediately think about business solutions that could fix them
✅ You believe customers will pay for products that make a positive impact (and you’re right)
✅ You want to prove that businesses can be both profitable AND purposeful
✅ You’re willing to build a sustainable business model because you know that’s how you create lasting change
✅ You understand that the most effective way to help a cause is to ensure you can support it for decades, not just months
✅ You see partnerships as crucial but want to carefully vet organizations to ensure values alignment
✅ You believe your mission should be integrated into your business operations, not just your marketing
✅ You’re comfortable explaining to both investors and beneficiaries why profitability serves your cause
✅ You want to change systems and create sustainable solutions, not just treat symptoms
✅ You’re driven by impact but smart enough to know that impact requires business sustainability
Beyond Good Intentions: What Sustainable Impact Really Takes
Bombas’ journey from a Facebook post to over $1.3 billion in sales while donating 75+ million items proves something crucial: sustainable social impact requires sophisticated business skills, not just a good heart.
Here’s what David and Randy mastered that separates successful Social Entrepreneurs from well-meaning efforts that don’t last:
Business Model Integration: They built giving into their business model, not just their marketing. Every sale automatically generated both profit and impact.
Product Excellence: They made sure their paid products were so good that customers would choose Bombas even without the mission. Quality came first, mission came second.
Partnership Wisdom: They carefully vetted their nonprofit partners and built systems to ensure donations created real impact, not just good feelings.
Financial Discipline: They balanced growth investment with sustainable giving, understanding that profitability was essential for long-term impact.
Values Alignment: They integrated their mission into every business decision, from hiring to operations to expansion strategies.
Communication Authenticity: They told their story genuinely without exploiting the people they were helping or overselling their impact.
Scalable Systems: They built operations that could handle massive growth while maintaining both quality and mission integrity.
The result: A business that helps more people every year precisely because it’s profitable and growing. David and Randy didn’t sacrifice their values for business success – they used business success to amplify their values.
This is the “Savvy Saint” approach: building a business so successful and sustainable that it can serve your cause for decades.
The Partnership Truth: Due Diligence Serves Your Cause
Here’s something David and Randy got right that many social entrepreneurs miss: your impact is only as good as your partnerships, and bad partnerships don’t just hurt your business – they hurt the people you’re trying to help.
When Bombas started donating socks, they didn’t just start dropping them off at random shelters. They:
Researched the Real Need: They discovered that regular socks weren’t optimal for homeless individuals, so they developed specially designed socks with reinforced seams, moisture-wicking materials, and antimicrobial properties.
Vetted Their Partners: They built relationships with organizations that shared their values and had proven track records of actually reaching people in need.
Created Accountability Systems: They established processes to ensure donated items were distributed effectively and created real impact.
Maintained Values Alignment: As they scaled, they continuously evaluated their partnerships to ensure their giving remained aligned with their mission.
This isn’t being overly cautious – it’s being responsible to your cause. When you partner with organizations that don’t share your values or have poor processes, you risk:
- Donated products not reaching the people who need them
- Being associated with organizations that damage your credibility
- Creating dependency rather than sustainable solutions
- Accidentally harming the communities you’re trying to help
The most effective social entrepreneurs understand that being “savvy” about partnerships isn’t compromising their values – it’s protecting their ability to create real, lasting change.
The Strategic Reality Check
If you’re reading this thinking “This sounds like me,” here’s what you need to understand: There are different ways to be a successful Social Entrepreneur, and finding your specific approach is crucial.
Some purpose-driven entrepreneurs thrive as pure Social Entrepreneurs (building one-for-one models like Bombas). Others succeed better as mission-driven Scalers (rapidly expanding social impact through business growth). Still others discover they’re actually Social Innovators (creating breakthrough solutions to social problems) or Systemic Disruptors (changing how entire industries address social issues).
Your path depends on more than just caring about social problems. It depends on:
- Your natural business strengths and approach
- Your tolerance for different types of business complexity
- Your specific passion areas and expertise
- Your financial goals and risk tolerance
- Your vision for how business can create change
The key is finding the approach that lets you maximize both your business success AND your social impact – because when you succeed at both, everyone wins.
Discover Your Purpose-Driven Path
If you recognize yourself in David and Randy’s story, you’re likely a mission-driven entrepreneur – but the question isn’t whether you care about social problems. The question is: What’s your optimal approach to building businesses that create both financial and social value?
Our entrepreneurial assessment looks beyond your current situation to analyze your approach to balancing profit with purpose, your natural strengths in stakeholder management, and what it will take to accomplish your bigger social impact goals.
In just 10 minutes, you’ll discover:
✅ Your exact entrepreneurial type and how it relates to social entrepreneurship
✅ Your top 3 natural strengths as a purpose-driven entrepreneur
✅ Your top 2 challenges and what to expect on your social impact journey
✅ Your strategic advantage in building mission-driven businesses
✅ Hidden investment opportunities specific to your type (often $185K+ annually)
✅ Your competitive vulnerabilities and how to protect against them
✅ A relevant framework to guide your purpose-driven entrepreneurial decisions
Take the Assessment Now – Discover Your Exact Entrepreneurial Type →
Remember: The world needs problem-solvers, but not every problem-solver should follow the same social entrepreneurship path. Your passion for making a difference might indeed be your secret weapon – if you’re on the right path to channel it into sustainable business success.
Ready to discover whether purpose is your secret weapon or if you’re better suited for another impact-driven approach? Your assessment results are waiting.