VC Lab defines a "For Progress" company as one whose mission aligns with one or more UN Sustainable Development Goals, whose offering directly influences a quantifiable impact key performance indicator (iKPI), and which publicly displays and updates that iKPI on a regular cadence, an approach developed by the Founder Institute to translate the SDGs' 169 sub-goals into metrics private companies and VCs can actually track. The framework maps each For Progress company through three stages, idea stage where a founder aligns their concept with a specific SDG, offering stage where the product or service is built to move a specific iKPI, and traction stage where the board authorizes public reporting of iKPI growth, illustrated with sample companies like a microfinance startup tracked against poverty-reduction iKPIs and a healthtech company tracked against essential health service access. The article also introduces a boundary category, "For Progress Support" companies, for businesses that indirectly aid Impact Companies, like nonprofit resource-allocation software or social-impact consulting, and provides the full translated iKPI list across all 17 SDGs, from extreme poverty eradication through global partnerships, as a practical reference founders and investors can apply directly.

Impact-focused founders and fund managers get a rare, genuinely operational bridge between the UN's high-level Sustainable Development Goals and specific, trackable business metrics, since most SDG-alignment discussions stay abstract while this framework provides an actual iKPI number to report against for nearly every sub-goal across all 17 goals. The three Impact Test criteria, SDG-aligned mission, iKPI-influencing offering, and public iKPI reporting, give impact investors a concrete, checkable definition to apply when screening deal flow, useful for separating genuine impact companies from those using sustainability language more loosely without measurable commitments. The For Progress Support category is also a practically important addition for B2B founders building infrastructure or tools for impact organizations, since it clarifies that a company does not need to directly serve end beneficiaries to qualify as impact-aligned, as long as its primary purpose is enabling other Impact Companies' success.