My motivation for starting Ziggma is simple: I want to invest in a way that makes the world better for my three kids — and everyone else's, too. Because I know all investing has impact.
As someone who has spent a lifetime in the snow and the mountains, I am deeply troubled by the speed at which the glaciers are melting and winters are changing. It is, of course, just one of many manifestations of climate change — but it is the one I have watched, year after year, with my own eyes.
What troubles me even more is the injustice of it. The way our carbon-intensive lives, lived comfortably here, reach across the world and threaten the livelihoods of people who did almost nothing to cause any of it. That asymmetry is disheartening once you really see it.
— 02The view from inside finance
Professionally, I work in finance — an analyst in private debt, to be specific. The role has given me a front-row seat to something I find difficult to unsee: the hypocrisy of ESG products on one hand, and the quiet apathy of much of corporate and shareholder behavior on climate on the other.
When I first tried to invest in line with my own values, I hit a wall. I needed real financial data. I needed real impact data. I needed a way to look at my entire portfolio through an honest lens. But everywhere I looked, the tools fell short. Brokers were busy pushing trades for commissions. ESG platforms felt like glossy marketing. None of it answered the only question that mattered to me:
So I started building my own database of what I called Good Stocks. Because as a shareholder, I want to own best-in-class companies that are genuinely moving the world forward — not companies that have simply learned how to talk about it.
— 03So we built it
I found a small group of passionate, like-minded people, and we got to work. We partnered with ACA Ethos' impact data division so we could place data points like global warming temperature alignment, net zero targets, share of renewable energy, and recycling rates right next to the financial metrics on Ziggma. The point isn't the old, inward-looking ESG paradigm. The point is real-world impact.
Over a lot of late nights, we built a portfolio management tool and research platform leveraging open banking. In plain language: any investor can now assess the real impact of their portfolio across climate, resource use, fair labor, and corporate accountability. Anyone researching investments can now exclude fossil fuel stocks, focus on firms with net zero targets, and check renewable energy share — alongside the numbers they would look at anyway.
— 04What we're after
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Drive corporate accountability.
By centralizing information on progress and performance when it comes to sustainability — visible to anyone who cares to look.
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Contribute, at the margin, to a shift in capital.
Toward a more sustainable form of capitalism — one company, one portfolio, one allocation at a time.
Investing shouldn't just reflect the world we already live in. It should help build the world we actually want to live in. That's the conviction behind everything we do at Ziggma — and the reason I get up to do this work, especially on the days when it feels small.
