Vested Impact - Redefining the Meaning of a Millionaire
“I want to redefine the millionaire into a person that impacts millions of lives.”
When Kimberly Abbott founded Vested Impact, her vision was clear: to help investors channel funds into organisations that create meaningful change in the world. Drawing on her extensive experience working with the UN Peacekeeping Division, Kim developed a powerful framework to measure social, environmental, and economic impact aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
During her four years as consultant and contractor with the UN Peacekeeping Division, Kim built a data platform that assessed the impact of peacekeeping efforts. This helped identify where to best direct resources for maximum effect. As she delved further into data measurement and ESG/sustainability investments, Kim saw an opportunity to apply her expertise in the private sector. By adapting her methodology, she envisioned guiding investors toward funding projects that aligned with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, enabling meaningful change on a global scale.
Eventually, Kim’s passion project turned into Vested Impact, a consultancy dedicated to helping banks and investment funds decide where to invest for maximum ESG impact. However, scaling her vision soon proved challenging.
The Challenge: A Vision Limited by Manual Processes
Kim’s groundbreaking methodology initially relied on complex Excel spreadsheets, a powerful system she had spent years perfecting. While this solution worked effectively for small-scale projects, it required significant time and effort to manage. Each client required extensive data input and analysis, making it difficult for Vested to expand and take on additional clients.
As demand for Vested’s insights grew, the limitations of this manual system became increasingly apparent. The process was highly specialised, required Kim’s direct involvement, and presented challenges in training others to use it effectively. Kim realised that in order to scale Vested’s impact, she needed a better solution, one that would streamline her expertise and make her insights accessible to a wider audience.
Unlocking Growth: Turning a Vision into Reality
To scale Vested's mission and improve efficiency, Kim approached Easol for support.
In 2021, Kim partnered with Easol to build a digital platform that could automate her data analysis process. Working closely with Dan, Easol’s Technical Lead, they began translating Kim’s intricate formulas into a scalable, future-proof application.
The complexity of Kim’s data was no small feat, her system referenced over 100 million data points. Yet, Easol developed an API-driven platform that replicated her calculations in seconds, reducing what once took days into mere moments.
The new platform not only improved efficiency but also empowered Kim to focus on strategy and growth. Within six months, Vested experienced a surge in client intake and project capacity.
Breaking Barriers with SaaS Innovation
As Vested’s demand grew, it became clear that the platform needed to evolve further. With Kim still being the primary user of the tool, her availability became the new bottleneck.
Together with Easol, Vested transitioned from a consultancy service to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. This shift removed Vested’s reliance on Kim’s hands-on involvement, unlocking greater scalability and empowering investors to make informed decisions directly through the platform.
To ensure a seamless user experience, Easol’s UI/UX partner worked alongside Kim to create an intuitive, user-friendly interface that simplified data insights for clients.
The Results: Driving Global Impact
The transformation delivered remarkable results:
✅ Data processing time reduced from 3 days to 3 seconds
✅ Vested evolved from a one-person consultancy to a scalable, global platform
✅ The platform now helps manage $170 trillion in assets and has partnered with major organisations like Village Capital, UBS, and the UN.
Vested is now recognised as a leader in ESG impact measurement and was the only private sector company invited to present on the subject at a UN conference.
Insights from the Easol Team
Dan:
"Vested was quite the challenging project. While the development of the web app was reasonably simple from a technical perspective, understanding Kim’s formulas to be able to embed it accurately from Excel to the new platform was a different story. I spent weeks studying to properly understand the intricacies of the financial domain as well as the methodology behind Kim’s existing formulas - how she references data points and matches it with the UN’s sustainable development goals, all to nail down the algorithm perfectly.
When everything clicked and the MVP worked exactly the way Kim wanted it to, that was the crowning moment of awesome. That started the ball rolling for everything else."
Mike:
"Kim is an amazing woman and a visionary who was trapped in a purgatory of busywork. To me, freeing her to do what she is passionate about is the real key indicator of our success - and to that end, we succeeded."
A Word from Kimberly Abbott
“Working with Easol was just amazing. In a span of 12 months of working with them, Vested grew from a one-man show to an operation on the global scale. The best part was that they actually cared about my business like their own. They weren’t afraid to push back and advise when needed, and their affordability, flexible contracting and payment structure really helped with the cash flow issue all startups face.
I learned and grew with Easol during our journey together. For instance - one lesson I learned was that you don’t always need what you think you need, and vice versa. I doubted the need for a UI/UX designer - I didn’t think a product for financiers needed to look good - only function well, but I was very quickly proven wrong with a bit of user testing. Impressions and user-friendliness go a long way - user needs are constantly changing, and we as entrepreneurs need to constantly review our assumptions to meet them halfway.
The Easol crew were incredibly professional, flexible and adaptable in their support (shoutout to Dan!), and I can say with absolute certainty that I’d partner with them again in a heartbeat should the opportunity arise.”
- Kimberly Abbott, Founder and CEO of Vested Impact
Key Learnings for Future Projects
✅ Complex solutions require simplified systems: By translating Kim's intricate Excel model into an automated platform, Easol helped unlock scalability. Finding smart ways to simplify complexity is key.
✅ User Experience matters: Even technical products designed for financial professionals benefit from intuitive design. Investing in UI/UX can improve adoption and customer satisfaction.
✅ Empowering the client is critical: By building a platform that reduced reliance on Kim herself, Easol enabled Vested to scale independently. Building systems that reduce bottlenecks is vital for growth.
✅ Collaborative partnerships drive success: By combining Kim's expertise with Easol's technical skill and design insights, the result was a solution that exceeded expectations.
Why Easol?
At Easol, we believe in empowering innovators to break out of limiting processes and unlock new potential. Whether you’re transforming a consultancy into a scalable SaaS platform or enhancing operational efficiency, we partner with you to turn your boldest ideas into reality.
Learn more about how we can support your vision at easol.io.