In this episode, I chat with Ben Eidelson, Co-founder & GP of Stepchange, an early-stage venture fund that invests in product-led companies that will make a “step change”, pun intended, I’m guessing?, impact on climate. 

When editing the episode, Alex, our executive producer, told us he could already tell one of our best episodes yet. I very much agree. This turned out to be the VC meets product meets content special I was hoping it would be. We discuss all things product in climate, Ben being a 2 time exited founder to big tech, starting a climate fund in this environment, and why his kids changed his life. 

A huge shoutout to Ben for coming on the episode. This started out as me fan-boying to one of his episodes and here we are. 

As always, thanks so much for listening and enjoy the episode!

---
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Topics: 
**3:10 What is a Product-Led Company?
**8:49 Why PMs are not Thinking about Climate
**14:45 The Importance of Active Listening
**16:03 Identifying Founder Potential
**18:29 The Role of Vulnerability in Relationships
**20:35 The Origin and Impact of Climate Papa
**25:41 The Product-Focused Thesis of Step Change
**27:41 Product Meets Hardware and Deep Tech
**34:35 Bullish Industries in Climate
**42:45 Lessons from Being a Founder
**44:59 Building Deep Co-Founder Relationships
**47:32 Tips for Product-Market Fit in Climate

-----
Links:
**Ben Eidelson | Stepchange | Climate Papa
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn
**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

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Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

Today we speak with Virginia Klausmeier, President & CEO of Sylvatex, a company aiming to commercialize technology that was originally developed by her father. The technology is a waterless method to produce Cathode Active Materials (the chemicals that go into the production of various types of batteries).

We cover a lot of things. The primary topics being Onshoring Battery Production, Getting to Bankability, and How their Technology works.

Enjoy the episode! 🌱🌎

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----- 

Topics:
**1:23 Intro
**7:11 Battery Mfg in the US
**9:11 Onshoring Battery Mfg
**9:42 The Opportunity
**15:54 Motivation
**17:12 The Story of Sylvatex
**19:16 Starting a Company
**21:03 Taking the Leap
**24:13 Waterless Cathode Production
**30:51 State of Sylvatex
**42:11 Pilot Funding
**42:41Milestones for Commercialization
**45:05 Getting to Bankability
**47:29 Debt Financing for Modular Manufacturing
**48:25 Navigating the Unknown

-----
Links:
**Virginia Klausmeier | Sylvatex
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn
**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

(Take the CleanTechies Listeners Survey to help us better serve you)

In this episode, Somil and Silas chat with Leise Sanderson, founder and CEO of Pathways. Pathways is an AI platform that simplifies environmental impact analysis for the materials and manufacturing supply chain.

I’m a built environment junkie, so this was…really fun. Materials are the main cost driver of construction which means they will be especially difficult to decarbonize. Tools like Pathways make it easier to identify which materials will help maintain cost-parity. Major potential for a big emitter like construction and the built environment. 

Enjoy the episode! 🌱🌎

-----
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
-----
🚨🚨🚨 Shoutout to our sponsor Net Zero Insights — Net Zero Insights is the leading market intelligence platform on climate information with all the latest you need on funding rounds, VCs, and the climate tech ecosystem. Use this link to schedule your demo and get a 10% discount!! 🚨🚨🚨
-----
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🗣️ Take the Listeners Survey
📫 Get Written Summaries of Each Episode in Your Inbox
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-----
Topics:
**01:28 Introduction
**03:18 What is a Life Cycle Analysis
**06:12 Environmental Product Declarations
**09:02 Deciding to Start a Company
**21:24 Finding a Co-founder
**30:48 Growing Interest in the Built Environment
**44:47 Landing the First Customer
**46:50 Receptiveness of Manufacturing Industry
**47:50 Building Relationships Across Differences
**53:39 What Attracted Investors
**55:27 Navigating an Oversubscribed Round
**58:45 Building Audacious Goals
**59:36 Reflecting on the Journey

-----
Links:
**Leise Sandeman | Pathways
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn
**@Silas &

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

Silas speaks with Ryan Jeffery, Sr. Managing Director of the Sustainability Accelerators at Gener8tor, a collection of Accelerators that serve the rest of the country outside of SF, NYC, and Boston, where the majority of VC dollars go.

(Take the CleanTechies Listeners Survey to help us better serve you)

Ryan started as a founder. Later, he became a VC and eventually ended up in Gener8tor running the sustainability-focused accelerators because of his desire to be closer to the founders and more involved.

He shared a lot of great data on where funding goes, his story, why investing in underserved founders is, beyond being the right thing to do, also leads to better returns.

Enjoy the episode! 🌱🌎

-----
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
-----
🚨🚨🚨 Shoutout to our sponsor Net Zero Insights — Net Zero Insights is the leading market intelligence platform on climate information with all the latest you need on funding rounds, VCs, and the climate tech ecosystem. Use this link to schedule your demo and get a 10% discount!! 🚨🚨🚨
-----
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🗣️ Take the Listeners Survey
📫 Get Written Summaries of Each Episode in Your Inbox
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-----
Topics:
**4:00 Joining Gener8tor
**7:40 Biz Model, Challenges, & Financing an Accelerator
**8:56 Partnering w/ Corps
**11:35 Focus on Underserved Areas
**13:54 The Role of Non-Silicon Valley States in Climate Transition
**22:00 Value Add of an Accelerator
**34:13 Collab in Non-Tech Hub Areas
**40:27 Gap for These Founders
**42:03 Role of AI in Solving Climate Change
**49:40 Milestones for Hard Tech Companies
**57:46 Hiring & Building a Team
**59:57 Raising Tips
**1:06:44 Advice to Investors
**1:08:19 Getting into VC

-----
Links:
**Ryan Jeffery | Gener8tor
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

In this episode, Silas and Somil chat with Robin Lane, CEO and founder of Transect, a product that aids and expedites site selection for infrastructure projects.

For Silas and I, this was an exciting mix of infrastructure meeting technology. Robin has been doing this for a while, so she had a lot to tell us about her experiences with developers, rolling Transect out to market, how she grew as a founder alongside her company, and what she sees for the future.

 (Take the CleanTechies Listeners Survey to help us better serve you)

We were really happy to have her on and learn a lot of new things about site selection and the problems plaguing infrastructure projects today – a major component of increasing the supply of renewables and advancing the climate transition.
-----
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
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📺 👀 Prefer to watch: subscribe on YouTube
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-----
Topics:
**02:37 Need for Transformation in Permitting
**05:58 How Transect Streamlines the process
**08:47 Building Trust with Developers
**11:50 Robin's Journey from Consultant to Entrepreneur
**23:33 Raising Transect's Seed Round
**24:38 Early Contracts and Scaling the Team
**32:24 Building a Culture-First Company and Hiring for Mission Alignment
**38:45 Being Customer-First
**45:32 Opportunities for Software in the Renewables Industry
**47:25 Future Solar Energy Costs

-----
Links:
**Robin Laine | Transect
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn
**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

In this ep, we chat with Peter Sun, founding team at Climactic, an early stage fund investing in ClimateTech, specifically focused on efficiency in software which has a lot to do with, you guessed it, AI.

We dive into the nuances of how AI is impacting climate tech, where the opportunities for software are in decarbonization, and Peter’s journey joining the founding team. As someone who personally is wary of putting AI in every conversation, Peter had real insight into the ins-and-outs of whats real and whats not, and I really enjoyed learning from him.

As always, thanks so much for listening and enjoy the episode!

-----
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
-----
🚨🚨🚨 Shoutout to our sponsor Net Zero Insights — Net Zero Insights is the leading market intelligence platform on climate information with all the latest you need on funding rounds, VCs, and the climate tech ecosystem. Use this link to schedule your demo and get a 10% discount!! 🚨🚨🚨
-----
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🗣️ Take the Listeners Survey
📫 Get Written Summaries of Each Episode in Your Inbox
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-----
Topics:
**02:16 Overview of Climatic
**05:05 Applications of AI in Climate Companies
**09:30 The story of WeaveGrid
**11:58 Evaluating Companies for Automation and Efficiency
**16:50 Challenges in Implementing Transmission Lines
**19:20 The Value of Data in Climate Tech
**23:43 Starting a Climate VC Fund
**27:03 Climate VC vs. Impact VC
**30:12 The Difficulties for Founders in Climate Tech
**34:35 Starting a Fund in the Current Fundraising Environment
**52:45 Exit Strategies in Climate VC
**54:00 Competitiveness in Climate Investing
**56:00 The Blend of VC and Real Asset Industries
**58:29 The Rise of Hyper Specialist VCs
**01:00:20 Building a Personal Brand
**01:04:28 Habits for Success

-----
Links:
**Peter Sun | Climactic
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

Today, we are joined by Adam Goff, the SVP of Strategy at 8 Rivers, a technology portfolio developer. Think of it like a venture studio but specifically for technology (often chemistry) instead of companies.

(Take the CleanTechies Listeners Survey to help us better serve you) 

He talks us through how that looks and how they commercialize the products, and we also spend a lot of time discussing the role and importance of policy when it comes to clean tech. 

Enjoy the episode! 🌱🌎

---
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
---
🌴 https://linktr.ee/cleantechies
📺 👀 Prefer to watch: subscribe on YouTube
🗣️ Take the Listeners Survey
📫 Get Written Summaries of Each Episode in Your Inbox
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-----
Topics:
**2:10 Intro
**4:00 Climate x Policy
**10:00 How to Pass Legislation Faster
**12:40 History and Structure of Eight Rivers
**18:00 The Process of Proving New Tech
**22:15 Their Current Technologies
**28:30 Raising Money for a Tech Developer
**33:20 Commercialization and Revenue Generation
**36:45 Selecting your First Site
**39:40 How to Understanding Global Regulatory Markets
**42:30  Systematizing Building a Hardware Climate Startup
**44:00 Future Plans for Eight Rivers

-----
Links:
**Adam Goff | 8 Rivers
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clean-techies/
**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

There are a plethora of national and local grants available to help companies solving the climate problem, but landing one is a herculean effort. Writing them takes months and can result in absolutely nothing. Half of the battle is picking the right grant to apply for. Well, Helena Merk and her team at Streamline Climate are solving that.

(Take the CleanTechies Listeners Survey to help us better serve you)

Their AI powered tech helps companies identify which grants to apply for and then helps them land them by ensuring every t is cross and i dotted.

Aside from telling us what they are doing, we also got to hear the story of how Helena met her co-founder Douglas Qian and how growing up in Palo Alto impacted her career decisions, among other things.

Enjoy the episode! 🌱🌎

---
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
---
🌴 https://linktr.ee/cleantechies
📺 👀 Prefer to watch: subscribe on YouTube
🗣️ Take the Listeners Survey
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🌐 Join the CleanTechies Slack Channel 

Topics:
**3:03 Crash Course on Grants
**5:57 Streamlining the Grant Process
**12:37 Choosing the Right Grants
**19:55 More TAM
**25:33 Finding a Co-Founder
**26:51 GTM Strategies
**42:25 Fundraising Journey
**41:27 VC Funding and Grant Writing
**44:40 Inbound Processes and VC Decision-making

Links:
**Helena Merk | Streamline Climate
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn
**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

Climate Tech founders needs lots of different financing options and styles of support – ClimateDoor is an example of a niche’d styles of venture support that I hope we see more of in ClimateTech VC.

ClimateDoor is a style of venture builder called “Growth-as-a-Service”, functioning similarly to a late stage accelerator.

We dive into the nuances of their model, the Canadian VC ecosystem, what its like founding a company with your childhood best friend and more.

Enjoy the episode! 🌱🌎
-----
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
-----
🚨🚨🚨 Shoutout to our sponsor Net Zero Insights — Net Zero Insights is the leading market intelligence platform on climate information with all the latest you need on funding rounds, VCs, and the climate tech ecosystem. Use this link to schedule your demo and get a 10% discount!! 🚨🚨🚨
-----
📺 👀 Prefer to watch: subscribe on YouTube
🗣️ Take the Listeners Survey
📫 Get Written Summaries of Each Episode in Your Inbox
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-----
Topics:
**00:00 Introduction and Background
**07:14 Overview of Climate Door
**13:27 The story of Polar Beer Taps
**16:10 Advantages of "Growth-as-a-Service"
**23:24 Canadian Venture Ecosystem
**26:20 Blending Capital Sources in Climate Tech
**29:30 Navigating Fundraising and Building Investor Relationships
**35:01 Streamlining Operations with AI
**39:51 Hiring Advice for Early Stage Companies
**42:57 Fundraising Advice for Bridge Stage Companies
**49:03 Challenges in Finding Value Spots in Climate

-----
Links:
**Nick Findler | Chad Rickaby | ClimateDoor
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn
**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on X 

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]

Our guest today is Tobias Egle, an investor at M Ventures, the Corporate Venture arm of Merck.

Tobias joins us today to speak about deep tech investing, specifically around materials innovation and the decarbonization of electronics manufacturing. A topic that has been in the news a lot recently is PFAS, and given his work, he was able to speak about the issues with PFAS as well as how to get rid of it.

He also provided some advice to highly technical founders when it comes to team building and surrounding themselves with the right partners.

Enjoy the episode! 🌱🌎
-----
🌎 Want the full PodLetter? Go to our substack to see the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
-----
🚨🚨🚨 Shoutout to our sponsor Net Zero Insights — Net Zero Insights is the leading market intelligence platform on climate information with all the latest you need on funding rounds, VCs, and the climate tech ecosystem. Use this link to schedule your demo and get a 10% discount!! 🚨🚨🚨
-----
📺 👀 Prefer to watch: subscribe on YouTube
🗣️ Take the Listeners Survey
📫 Get Written Summaries of Each Episode in Your Inbox
🌐 Join the CleanTechies Slack Channel

-----
Topics:
**01:21 - Introduction and Background
**04:32 - Transitioning from Academia to Venture Capital
**07:48 - Getting into Venture Capital
**10:52 - Focus Areas of M Ventures
**17:05 - Decarbonizing Electronics and Life Sciences
**23:37 - Challenges of PFAS Removal
**31:45 - Gaps in Deep Tech Founders
**40:45 - The Impact of AI in Climate Solutions
**46:55 - Adaptation and Climate Resilience
**48:10 - Grid Resiliency and Renewable Integration
**51:40 - Transitioning from R&D to Product and Business Development
**53:00 - Designing for Manufacturability in Hard Tech
**56:26 - Sustainable Supply Chain in Electronics Manufacturing
**57:42 - Team Building and Hiring for Startups
**01:01:34 - Getting into VC and Starting a Company

-----
Links:
**Tobias Egle | M Ventures
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on

Support the show

If you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less.

• 70+ Placements
• 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech)
• The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary)
• 90-day placement guarantee

It's really hard to say no to that.

Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company.

We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank.

Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. [email protected]