Becoming A Certified B Corp: The Road to Building A More Rewarding Venture With Zack Fayer & Max Hayes

B Lab’s Fayer and Hayes break down the journey to B Corp Certification in the sixth episode of Get Down to Business: A B Corp Podcast. For them, the most rewarding aspect of being a part of the B Corp movement is knowing that their dreams are valid and their work matters. It’s also being able to lean on a community that wants to see you thrive.

Value Starts with Accountability: Why Should I Become A B Corp?

In the final episode of season 1 of Get Down to Business, Zach Fayer, Recertification Manager, and Max Hayes, Growth Manager at B Lab U.S. & Canada, tell host Lauren Everett about the journey to becoming a Certified B Corp and why founders and business leaders should consider the certification as an investment—one that helps build a more reputable, responsible, and rewarding venture. 

One key factor that impact-driven brands struggle with is accountability. The intent to do good is ever-present, but who’s making sure you fulfil it? Hayes notes that not only does B Corp Certification hold businesses accountable to their mission and values through B Lab’s Standards, but it also provides a roadmap for achieving it. 

While there are many certifications and frameworks you can leverage, what makes B Corp Certification unique is its holistic approach. It’s not just tailored to one industry; all businesses, regardless of size, structure, and scope, can find it a useful starting point. 

Hayes adds that even for businesses that aren’t ready to take that leap, the free B Impact Assessment (BIA) tool can still help them evaluate their social and environmental sustainability performance. 

However, many folks find this benchmarking phase overwhelming. Getting through 250 questions without breaking a sweat is almost impossible—that’s where the B Lab team comes in, providing additional resources, service support, and consulting where needed.

Starting On The Right Track: How Do I Become A B Corp?

Hayes tells Lauren that the best place to learn more about B Corp Certification is the resource section of the B Lab U.S. & Canada website. It has a great web page titled “Why Certify?,” which walks you through the major requirements of the B Corp Certification process. 

You’ll find webinars, guides, and online courses, adapted to different availability and learning needs. If you need further assistance, you can schedule a meeting with a certification manager.

When you decide to certify, your first requirement would be to complete an evaluation with a contractor from B Lab U.S. & Canada. It’s a low-pressure appraisal focusing on how you performed on the B Impact Assessment. You may be asked to provide additional information, but that’s only because we want to have everything we need to support you. 

Next, you’d be assigned a verification analyst, who will conduct a thorough review of your assessment and verify the documents you’ve supplied. If you do well on the assessment, you’ll be awarded your B Corp Certification. 

Fayer recounts that one major hurdle for most companies is providing the documentation for the verification phase. For small business owners, it may feel like a heavy lift when you’re the only one on your team who can provide the required documents. That’s why we build in space between the evaluation and verification phases, Hayes stressed. 

Help Comes In Different Ways: The Role of B Consultants In Certifications 

“I think something that comes up, mostly from a B Lab perspective, is that a lot of companies come into the process thinking that B Lab is going to act as, like, a consulting agency or something along those lines,” says Fayer. For a non-profit that prioritizes several businesses at the same time, often with limited resources, that consulting dream isn’t usually a reality. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean support is unavailable. 

For companies that prefer one-to-one support during their certification process, B Lab U.S. & Canada offers a comprehensive directory of consultants. B Lab has a directory of B Consultants who support prospective B Corps. “It’s actually considered best practice for the folks who are creating the standards to not also, then, be consulting on them,”  Hayes shares.

The B Local communities are also an incredible support system for the new B Corps. For instance, the B Corp community in Philadelphia has been proactive in hosting webinars and helping companies identify new ways to push forward their mission. These B Locals collaborate with B Lab partners to share resources and host events, including the Champions Retreat.

Is It Worth It? Why Becoming A B Corp Is Investing In Your Brand Value

“I always tell folks, the best place to learn about the value of it is to go talk to other members of our community,” says Hayes. He notes that the community members are eager to help one another succeed. Whatever method feels most natural to you—sending a cold email, attending a B Local meeting, or grabbing coffee with a community member—do it without hesitation. 

Nevertheless, earning a B Corp Certification isn’t a cure-all. It wouldn’t guarantee more shelf life for your products or a deal with a retailer, Hayes clarified. While we can’t help you double your sales overnight, we can help you broaden your scope to see value areas you’ve ignored or haven’t even noticed.

Hayes observes that the B Lab logo carries significant weight with consumers. When they see the logo on their favourite products, it tells them that the product has been vetted as meeting a satisfactory level of social and environmental responsibility. While no company can be perfect, knowing that the brand is operating with intention and integrity is comforting for many.

“Most companies in America have one responsibility, and that’s to make more money and pass it along to their shareholders,” Hayes addresses. He continues that B Corps usually have to expand their fiduciary duties to allow them to consider beyond profit-making. That level of commitment earns most brands more trust and affinity among their consumers. 

An Invitation To Be More: What Comes Next After B Corp Certification? 

“Oftentimes, folks are, like, just so excited to get over the line. They aren’t thinking about the next step, which is actually one of the most critical stages,” Hayes reveals. 

Luckily, we’ve created a resource library to prepare you for recertification, which comes up every three years. This library also offers advice on how to improve your impact before recertification, some of which includes attending Impact Topic collabs, signing up for the Impact Improvement program, and sharing your learnings with fellow B Corps in the B Hive. 

For some folks, social and environmental sustainability still feels like an abstract narrative. Earlier this year, B Lab released version 7 of its standards to raise the bar for responsible business. With several new impact topics, including Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) and Human Rights, the revised standards strengthen accountability and provide clarity for all existing and prospective companies that are using business as a force for good. 

Hayes affirms that the goal is for B Corps to be at the forefront of sustainability even when it’s not a legal requirement, and the new standards will help facilitate this goal. “Our new standards show that we want to be a community of education, of learning, of excellence,” he reveals. It’ll help build stronger bonds and break down limiting biases.

Life As A B Labber: What Does Real Impact Feel Like?

In a world where only the loudest get the spotlight, honoring local stories is where the real joy lies for us. Fayer notes that the most rewarding part of being a B Labber is hosting webinars for B Corps looking to recertify. 

For Hayes, it’s being able to support the Level program, which evens the playing field for women entrepreneurs. “And now, here we are, a few years down the road, and we’ve seen cohort after cohort of, you know, entrepreneurs who are coming in and making waves and really representing what this movement is,” Hayes says.

Hayes tells Lauren that it was Fayer who introduced him to B Lab. Having prior experience writing free sustainability reports as a college intern, Hayes noted that the missing piece for him was community, which he has found at B Lab. He observes that B Lab’s mission is an intersection of people, business, economics, and community. 

For Fayer, it was the changes B Lab committed to effecting on a global scale that drew him to the movement. “If we want to see a more just, equitable, sustainable world, I think that businesses have the incentive, the power structures, and, you know, frankly, the capital in order to, like, effect those changes,” he says. 

Working for an organization that knows how to harness this potential on a massive scale just made sense to him. Fayer admits that seeing the companies he helped certify thrive and continue to highlight and evangelize the B Corp movement is amazing. Like him, Hayes notes that he loves validating the dream of entrepreneurs who want to help build a better world.

Episode 6 of the Get Down to Business podcast featuring Fayer and Hayes of B Lab U.S. & Canada is available across streaming platforms, accompanied by video on B Lab U.S. & Canada’s YouTube channel.

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