We know founders are navigating a long list of priorities, and sustainability might not always feel urgent. But done right, it can help you build faster, raise capital more easily, and avoid future roadblocks.

This toolkit is here to make sustainability work for your business, without overcomplicating things.

You’ll find practical guidance, simple tools, and real startup examples to help you take action early. It’s built for where you are now, with content you can return to as you grow.

The toolkit works in tandem with your Antler coaches, aiming to:

1. Increase awareness: Understand how sustainability contributes to business success
2. Provide guidance: Get stage-relevant advice based on your company’s growth trajectory
3. Offer tools: Use practical templates and resources to take action, fast

The Toolkit is organized into three main sections. You don’t need to read everything, just start where it’s most useful to you.

Getting started

A market backdrop and how to develop the beginnings of a sustainability journey for a startup.

1. Sustainability’s value for startups: Why sustainability is commercially relevant at early stage
2. Find your focus areas: A guided path to identify which sustainability topics matter most based on your product, business model, and growth stage
3. Recommendations at a glance: Snapshot guidance by company maturity, validated by investors and the VC community

This section links directly into the Core focus areas below, so you can explore the topics that matter most to your company.

Core focus areas

These are the five business-critical areas where sustainability considerations often show up first.

Each page includes:

• Why it matters
• First steps (pre-seed and seed)
• Key investor questions (seed and beyond)