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Want to Save the World? Kristen Bell Can Tell You How. Bell and the other founders of This Saves Lives answer burning questions from budding social entrepreneurs.

This story appears in the April 2019 issue of Entrepreneur. Subscribe »

Nigel Parry

Building a company is hard, but building a mission-driven company is really hard. With the help of social enterprise platform Classy and the Red Bull Amaphiko Academy, Entrepreneur collected burning questions from up-and-coming social entrepreneurs and asked the founders of This Saves Lives -- Kristen Bell, Ryan Devlin, Todd Grinnell and Ravi Patel -- for answers.

Social entrepreneurs are passionate about making a difference, but the actual building of a business can be very challenging. Where did you find like-minded communities to support you on your journey? -- Michelle Martin, founder and CEO, Travara

Ryan Devlin: We didn't know anything about starting a social impact enterprise. We literally googled "How to make granola bars for retail" and then started sending emails to the people and firms that looked like they'd be a fit for us. More often than not, people were willing to offer advice, an intro, or simply point us in the right direction. Those small things added up over time, and we pieced together an education and a Rolodex that provided the foundation to launch our company. It was all about getting advice -- like who's a good lawyer or a PR firm -- swapping war stories, and finding ways to collaborate. You can get five years of experience in a matter of months by connecting with people who are already doing what you want to do.