A clear vision and mis­sion pro­vide the foun­da­tion for your team to under­stand the social and envi­ron­men­tal val­ue you aim to cre­ate. They define your startup’s pur­pose and help you inspire both inter­nal and exter­nal stake­hold­ers. Start by mak­ing sure all founders share a com­mon under­stand­ing of the big­ger pic­ture – why does your start­up exist, and what impact do you want to achieve?

Shape your vision and mis­sion togeth­er by incor­po­rat­ing diverse per­spec­tives from your team. Use brain­storm­ing ses­sions, sto­ry­telling exer­cis­es or best-prac­tice exam­ples to refine them. Most impor­tant­ly, put them in writ­ing and reg­u­lar­ly com­mu­ni­cate with your team, part­ners and investors about how they guide every­day deci­sions.

That’s how your vision and mis­sion become more than just state­ments – they become a real com­pass for your actions.