We're excited to share that the Startups and Society Initiative (SSI) formally joined forces with our partners Responsible Innovation Labs (RIL).

When we started SSI, it was meant to fill a gap that we experienced as founders. There were few practical tools and networks available to us to help us build tech startups responsibly.

Our ambitions were initially modest. Create open-source tools and gather like minded peers — It turns out that many more founders were hungry for the conversation, and more importantly for the tools and community. So we continued building SSI.

The Responsible Innovation Founder Summit we co-hosted with RIL convened 700+ global tech leaders including founders backed by Y-Combinator, General Catalyst, and Sequoia. We published the Responsible Innovation Primer for Founders, a distillation of 100+ interviews of influential tech and civil society leaders about building tech companies responsibly. It has been used by leaders at Stanford, IBM, Disney, Princeton, The Center for Humane Technology, General Catalyst, Nasdaq, The Long Term Stock Exchange, Y-Combinator, Harvard, and more.

Our space has evolved considerably in the last five years — Responsible Innovation is now the zeitgeist. We're proud of the tools we created, the community we organized, and helping Responsible Innovation gain currency as a concept. And it's still early days for it as a field and methodology. It's even being attacked, which is a sign of its resonance.

The time is right for us to apply our energy and networks to different facets of Responsible Innovation and the startup ecosystem. More on that to follow.

For now, we know that RIL will steward our shared mission. RIL is building shared infrastructure and networks that make responsible innovation essential for high performing startups. Founded by veterans of Stripe and General Catalyst, RIL works with startup builders who understand that speed plus intention creates vector advantage over speed alone. They help founders make better decisions faster through coaching, practical frameworks, and community.

You can learn more about RIL on their website. Please consider joining RIL at EDGES 2025, their September summit for startup builders making responsible innovation a competitive advantage. RIL is working hard to develop new content for startup builders, peer and near-peer learning experiences, and a consortium of startups to influence how tech shapes society. 

Thank you to everyone who helped drive this work — the funders who took a leap on our thesis, all of our partner organizations, and all of the founders, builders, and investors committed to fostering a technology ecosystem that prioritizes shared prosperity and human dignity.

For additional resources on Responsible Innovation, please also check out our friends at VentureESG, Lucid Capitalism, and All Raise.