The Founder of One of Tesla's First Institutional Investors Explains Why Social Impact Is So Important to Her Strategy Nancy Pfund and DBL Partners have made big business of the double bottom line.
By Alice •
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People, planet and profit are three words that Nancy Pfund knows well. As the founder and managing partner of DBL Partners, Pfund and her team were one of the first venture capital firms to make social impact a part of their investment thesis. That double bottom line philosophy led DBL to become one of the first institutional investors in Tesla -- and Pfund to cheekily suggest that Elon Musk forego his private plane to reduce his carbon footprint.
Pfund shared another anecdote of writing an investment check after a chance encounter with Farmers Business Network founders Amol Deshpande and Charles Baron. The entrepreneurs were prepared to take advantage of the run-in and pitched Pfund on the fly.
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Other companies in the DBL portfolio include SolarCity, SpaceX, Off Grid Electric, Andela, The Muse and Pandora.
