519: How to Break Into Social Entrepreneurship With Alden Zecha, We Scale Impact [Espresso Shots]

Alden Zecha is a founding partner at We Scale Impact, a consulting firm that focuses on supporting early stage social enterprise clients. He is also Managing Director for an angel investment group, Sidecar Angels. Over the course of his career he has raised over $50 million in capital for a variety of ventures. Even though Alden majored in Chemical Engineering at Princeton University, he has worked in many fields including healthcare, consulting, and operations in luxury travel and even a skin-care distribution company. Lastly, Alden is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.  WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE: What social entrepreneurs/enterprises and emerging markets are (3:40) What entry level jobs are available for those who want to break into social entrepreneurship (6:23) Why empathy and being a good listeners are important soft skills to cultivate (7:20) Does your college major matter if you want to become a social entrepreneur (10:22)  Why it’s so valuable to push yourself outside your comfort zone  Why to figure out whether you want to become an expert in a single area or a generalist