When I started my company, growth simply meant keeping the lights on and trying everything we could to find the right market for our product. The view was wide and experimental. I was thinking about the next order, while today, 28 years later, our business is focused on impact and it’s led to growth every single year.
Double Good is a tech-powered fundraising platform that helps schools, youth teams, and community groups raise money by selling gourmet popcorn. Fundraisers can be set up in minutes through a simple app, with no inventory or cash handling required, and organizations keep 50% of every dollar sold.
Double Good has been named on the Inc. 5000 list 18 times, including a special honor of Inc.’s Legacy Award. Additionally, we are on our 28th consecutive year of growth, a consistency seen by few companies. To do that, you have to bring in the right people, and most importantly, create real value for customers. Sustained growth is a measurement of impact.
So the central question I’ve asked myself is: what actually sustains growth this long? For us, the answer comes down to three things—purpose, reinvention, and building a company that can thrive long after I’m gone.
1. Growth Starts With Purpose
Our purpose is simple: Create Joy. We think about that both externally and internally. And although fast growth comes with grind and growing pains, the work should feel fulfilling. Internally, joy doesn’t mean every moment is bliss. It means talented people doing meaningful work that delivers on the company mission. This mission is the root of fulfillment and the purpose that fuels us.
Purpose has been our greatest guide. When you’re clear on why your company exists, and you tie your decision making back to that purpose, your decisions consistently build upon each. Rather than chasing a new, shiny object that doesn’t align with why the company exists but doing it because we think it might be a short-term growth opportunity. I think you can get in trouble that way. Our purpose has kept us focused on long-term impact—and growth has followed as a byproduct.
I’m proud to say we recently passed half a billion dollars raised for our customers. The number is big, but what matters are the individual stories behind it: kids getting opportunities, organizations raising funds quickly with a good return on their time, and making an impact in their communities, organizations, and the kids’ lives. That’s the impact that fuels consistent growth and keeps customers coming back year after year.
2. Reinvent When It Matters
Some of the biggest turning points in our history came from being willing to reinvent completely.
One moment stands out. Years ago, we were selling to big retail buyers and fundraising was a small part of our business. I got off a frustrating phone call with a buyer upset that our product wasn’t moving fast enough on a store shelf in Detroit. We were a small company, being pressured by the big guys to move product and lower the price on our premium popcorn. It was everything we didn’t want to be.
Right after that call, I look at the stack of mail on my desk, and spot a letter with different colored writing on it. It was from a fifth grader who used our fundraising program. It said, “Dear Mr. Heitmann, thank you for having your fundraising program. I was able to raise $300 to fly from Seattle, Washington, to Washington, DC, for my band competition. I loved selling popcorn, and I can’t wait to do it again. Thank you so much. And P.S., Can you send my fifth grade class free popcorn?”
The contrast hit me hard. One side was a buyer pressuring us over margin and speed that would affect our quality and the other was a child who had this terrific experience. That moment, it felt like a no-brainer: our product is made for fundraising. That day was our last big retail order and over a period of nearly five years, we exited big-box and corporate channels as we grew our fundraising business and became a fundraising company.
But reinvention didn’t stop there. Along with that transition, a long-time corporate customer placed the same order they had placed for 15 years. It was a good order, but it felt disconnected. They had no idea we had become centered on impact through fundraising. Eventually I asked: what if 50% of everything we make went to a cause? What if we aligned every channel around impact?
I loved the idea, but the numbers were clear: it would be a significant hit, but the long-term impact was our motivation.
This led to rebranding the company to Double Good, creating new technology, and eventually launching The Double Good Kid’s Foundation to spark joy for children with special needs and the people who care for them, supported by 50% of all non fundraising popcorn sales. It was a nearly two-year process of structural change—financially painful and challenging at first, but necessary and rewarding.
The biggest lesson? When you’re innovating, you can’t be afraid to ditch what you’ve already invested in when a better, more aligned path becomes clear. If you’re building an evergreen company, you make decisions for the long term, even when they hurt in the short term. Today, we’re a $300 million company and have helped raise over half a billion dollars for youth organizations since launch.
3. Build a Company That Outlasts You
As a founder chasing longevity, you have to build a company that outlasts yourself. In practice, you have to think early on about having a team of leaders that can lead and run the organization. You can’t wait until you’re 75 or 80 to start thinking about what comes after you.
The more you have things established, like a clear purpose, values and standards for the organization and allow people to really build off of those things, the more successful you will be in the long term.
You have to identify and support competent and capable leaders in the organization that can continue fulfilling the company’s purpose. We have been preparing for this path by recruiting expert leaders that are aligned with our purpose and values. The goal is to have really strong leaders in the organization that can continue forward as an aligned team and not depend on someone like myself, a founder and CEO, over time.
It means shifting from being the person who drives every decision to being the person who provides perspective and support.
It also means being honest about change. Change is inevitable. You can either drive the change or you can react to it. If you don’t react well to it, you’re not going to be around very long. We have always been an organization that is going to drive the change.
Looking Ahead
What I’ve learned after nearly three decades of Double Good is that leadership longevity isn’t about holding on. It’s about letting go at the right moments and holding tight to the right purpose. Growth is no longer the goal for me; impact is. If we bring real value to our customers, growth will follow.
My hope is that Double Good continues to create joy—externally and internally—for years to come. At its best, a company isn’t built around a founder, but around the lasting impact it creates.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.
