Climate Cowboys

On this episode, we interview Jay Kapoor, General Partner at VSC Ventures. VSC Ventures is a Seed-stage VC fund focusing on climate adaptation and industrial automation. Their central thesis is that although starting a company is becoming easier, its becoming harder and harder to get noticed. Their solution? Storytelling. Confused? Listen to this episode – you won’t be disappointed.

Jay needs no introduction – he has a podcast himself, comes from a VC and media background, and left a lasting impression on us as one of the most well-spoken guests we've ever had.
---
🌎 If you'd like to see the full PodLetter, go to our substack to see all 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.

Want to be part of the community and engage further? Check out the Slack Channel. 

Topics:
**5:50 Focus on Industrial Automation
**9:39 The Intersection of Industrial Automation and Climate
**15:26 Augmentation vs Replacement in Automation
**17:23 The Importance of Good Storytelling in Automation
**20:03 Jay’s Accidental Transition to Climate Investing
**25:40 Engaging with Government and Incumbents
**34:28 Founder/Market Fit: Founders from The Industry
**40:24 Impact on Fundraising and Time Horizons; Fund Size
**47:50 The Importance of Choosing the Right Investor
**50:47 Changing Cap Table Construction
**58:28 The Evolution of VCs' Value Prop
**1:02:20 The Role of PR in Climate Investing
**1:06:43 Founder vs Company Journey; Paint Jet's Story
**1:11:53 The Power of Storytelling in Pitch Decks
**1:17:06 Hiring and Building a Team
**1:20:53 Identifying Founders Willing to Adapt

Links:
**Connect with Jay | VSC Ventures
**Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas
**Check out our sponsor, NextWave Partners, for all your Climate, Renewable

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]

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.

Today, we are talking to Adam Tank of Transcend Infrastructure

In this episode, some of the biggest ideas we discuss are:

* His Decision to Join Transcend Infrastructure

* Importance of Efficient Tools in Water/Wastewater Engineering

* Role of AI in Water Industry Innovations

* Global Water Management Trends and Approaches

* Contrasting Water Treatment Strategies in the UK and US

* Automation in Water and Wastewater Treatment

* Public Demand and Awareness in Industry Innovation

* Future Trends in Water Infrastructure

* Technology's Role in Addressing Climate and Infrastructure Challenges

* Career Opportunities in Critical Infrastructure Fields

* The Impact of Digitization and AI on Industry Practices

* The Intersection of Climate Tech and Water Management

In short, prepare to nerd out about water. It’s epic 🤩

📺 Watch on YouTube🍎 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

The Guest: Adam Tank

* Industry Expertise: Adam Tank is a prominent figure in the water infrastructure sector, with over 15 years of experience. He started out his career in food production, where water usage and waste were a big topic. Overall, he didn’t enjoy it, so he went to business school and ended up working at GE Water. There he had his first foray into entrepreneurship as an intraprenuer with GE after he won an internal pitch competition. The Idea: robots that repair water pipes from the inside. Through GE, he had a connection that ended up introducing him to the people he’d Co-Found Transcend Infrastructure with.

* Professional Journey: He decided to help Co-Found Transcend Infrastructure as a stand-alone company in 2018. Having already founded companies, the big push to make the leap came after hearing the CEO of Black & Veatch say publicly they were seeking software to help improve the design speed.

* Focus on Innovation: Adam has always had an interest in innovation. His experience founding companies, along with the the original 2012 buzz around AI, made the move to co-found Transcend easy. Adam is very bullish on innovation in the Water Infrastructure space to create a more sustainable world.

The Company: Transcend Infrastructure

Infrastructure, Generative AI, Design, Water,

One-liner: Slashing 30 and 60% of design time and Improving Sustainability for Water Infrastructure using Generative AI Design Software.

Function: Transcend Infrastructure is a Generative AI Design software, with a current focus on Water Infrastructure.

Origin: Transcend started as an internal tool at Organica as a way to help increase the speed of designing so they could bid on projects faster. Organica specializes in developing more efficient wastewater infrastsructure, hence Transcend’s initial focus on that space.

Problem / Solution: Designing Water Infrastrcuture is currently very maual, and can take months just to create 30 and 60% designs. With Transcend, 30 and 60% designs can be generated in hours saving time for engineering consultancies, utilities, and even investors. Saved time means more flexibility to try out more efficient and sustainable infrastructure designs.

Enjoying the CleanTechies PodLetter? Please show your support by subscribing!

📝 Show Notes:

Topics

* 2:00 How Adam Ended Up in the Water

* 6:30 From Investor to Entrepreneur

* 8:20 First Company, Pipe Robots

* 10:00 Transcend's Tech

* 11:45 Who Uses Transcend

* 12:30 Before and After Transcend

* 17:20 Why Current Infrastructure is Bad

* 19:30 Spin-Out of Organica, the MVP

* 23:40 Taking the Leap to Transcend

* 26:25 The Future of Water Infrastructure / the UK vs US Utilities

* 28:45 Future: Proactivity, Automation, Digitization, Active Consumers

* 30:35 Why To Choose A Critical Infrastructure Careers

* 32:20 Founder Advice: Find the right team, Remember WHY You Do What You Do, Be Passionately Curious

* 34:15 Importance of Curiosity & Intentionality in Career

Links

* Connect with Adam | Adam’s Website | Transcend Infrastructure Website

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

* Check out our sponsor, NextWave Partners, for all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs.

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

🗓️ Upcoming Events

Reminder 🔔 that we have another CleanTechies in-person networking event on January 11th

Contact Somil or Silas on LinkedIn to be included and receive details on the location.

🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors, NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.

NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.

Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.

🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.

Today, we are talking to Sudhu Arumugam of CYNK

In this episode, some of the biggest ideas we discuss are:

* Evolution and Importance of Carbon Markets: Discussion on how the carbon markets have evolved over the years, especially the increased emphasis on the social impact of carbon credits.

* Role of Blockchain Technology in Carbon Markets: Exploring the need for blockchain technology in carbon markets for transparency and trust and how it improves data management and verification.

* Challenges and Opportunities in the African Carbon Market: Insights into the specific challenges and opportunities in the African voluntary carbon markets and how CYNK is addressing these.

* Impact of CYNK and Its Market Approach: Understanding the impact of CYNK’s blockchain-tied marketplace in the carbon market, particularly regarding connectivity, transparency, and supporting local communities.

* Retail Investors in Carbon Markets as a Catalyzing Event: Discussion on the future of carbon markets, including the potential for increased retail investor involvement and the overall market growth projections.

📺 Watch on YouTube🍎 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

The Guest: Sudhu Arumugam

* Sudhu Arumugam is the Co-Founder and CEO of CYNK.

* He has over 20 years of experience in various trading and risk management roles across fixed income, equity, exotic derivatives, commodities, and, more recently, crypto markets in Europe and Asia.

* Before starting CYNK, Sudhu Co-Founded CoinFLEX. Before that, he was the Head of Risk at Coinfloor UK, the UK’s oldest and largest crypto exchange. In addition, he served as Partner and Head of Trading at Cusaru Capital, managing portfolio hedging across different financial instruments.

The Company: CYNK

Carbon Markets, Blockchain, Transparency, Carbon Credits,

One-liner: Increasing transparency in the Carbon Markets and creating access for retail investors.

CYNK is a blockchain-tied marketplace for carbon credits.

They help maxime revenues and secure early-stage financing for carbon capture projects, particularly in African carbon markets through transparency, connectivity, and proprietary climate technology.

They achieve this through use of blockchain-tied marketplace carbon credits, thus addressing the recent transparency issues in the carbon markets.

Through providing this transparency, they believe it will help catalyze retail investors to get into the carbon markets, which they believe to be critical to the long-term success of carbon markets.

Enjoying the CleanTechies PodLetter? Please show your support by subscribing!

📝 Show Notes:

Topics

* 1:40 Intro to Sudhu

* 5:00 Importance of blockchain in the carbon markets and how it works

* 6:05 The Data Behind Carbon Credits and How That Affects the Price

* 7:45 Technology: Carbon → Blockchain 

* 8:40 Who their Customers are

* 10:00 Growing the TAM Requires Transparency

* 13:00 Pricing Carbon

* 14:20 Attitude Towards Buying Carbon in Your Geography

* 17:45 Retail Investors Will Catalyze the Carbon Markets

* 20:30 How They Got Their First Customer

* 22:10 Merging Carbon and Blockchain Cultures

* 24:30 Interacting with Scientists

* 27:00 Their Next Challenges

* 27:50 Advice on Building in Carbon Markets Space

* 30:00 Closing Thoughts

Links

* Connect with Sudhu | CYNK Website

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

* Check out our sponsor, NextWave Partners, for all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs.

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

🗓️ Upcoming Events

Reminder 🔔 that we have another CleanTechies in-person networking event on January 11th

Contact Somil or Silas on LinkedIn to be included and receive details on the location.

🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors, NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.

NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.

Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.

🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!

In this enlightening episode, Silas and Somil delve into an engaging conversation with a visionary in the realm of carbon markets, Sudhu Arumugam, the CEO and Co-Founder of CYNK.

CYNK is an early-stage company based out of Nairobi and Singapore, and they are building a block-chained tied marketplace specifically for the African voluntary carbon markets. 

Many debate the need for another carbon marketplace, but one thing is certain: trust in this space has been hard to find, and what CYNK is doing should help fix this.

Sudhu Arumugam and his co-founder, Nils Razmilovic, bring a unique blend of Finance, Blockchain, and Sustainability expertise. Their collective experience and insight have culminated in the creation of CYNK. The driving force behind their venture is the imperative need to ensure that financial benefits reach local African communities, fostering a more inclusive and sustainable environmental impact.

---
🌎 If you'd like to see the full PodLetter, go to our substack to see all the written content that supplements the audio interview.  

📺 👀 Prefer to watch: Subscribe on YouTube.

Want to be part of the community and engage further? Check out the Slack Channel.

Topics:

**1:40 Intro to Sudhu
**5:00 Importance of blockchain in the carbon markets and how it works
**6:05 The Data Behind Carbon Credits and How That Affects the Price
**7:45 Technology: Carbon → Blockchain 
**8:40 Who their Customers are
**10:00 Growing the TAM Requires Transparency
**13:00 Pricing Carbon
**14:20 Attitude Towards Buying Carbon in Your Geography
**17:45 Retail Investors Will Catalyze the Carbon Markets
**20:30 How They Got Their First Customer
**22:10 Merging Carbon and Blockchain Cultures
**24:30 Interacting with Scientists 
**27:00 Their Next Challenges 
**27:50 Advice on Building in Carbon Markets Space
**30:00 Closing Thoughts

Links: 

• Sudhu Arumugam | CYNK
• Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas
• For all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs, check out our sponsor NextWave Partners.
• This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

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]

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter… Podcast Collision Edition?

Today we are speaking with Ryan Grant Little; Investor, Consultant, Founder, and Creator of Another Climate Tech Podcast.

Given that Ryan is also a podcaster, we did something a bit different and decided to interview each other. Today’s discussion covers…

* The reasoning behind our podcasts and the format of each

* This offered us the chance to talk about the story behind Somil & Silas collaborating on this

* We had a pretty interesting discussion about how to decide what not to work on

* How networking has been commercialized to an extent

* Then we closed off with the areas we are most bullish on and what we think will drive that change

🚨🚨🚨 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!! 🚨🚨🚨

📺 Watch on YouTube🍎 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

The Guest: Ryan Grant Little

Ryan, originally from Canada 🇨🇦, started his journey to climate by creating CanadaHelps, Canada’s first internet-based charity. From there he built a biogas company which he later exited from. This all stemmed from his fears of climate change as a child learning about the ozone crisis.

Once he started investing with his winnings, he decided that all his profits would be used to make a positive impact on the climate.

Fast forward today, he’s a man of many hats. Angel investing in Climate Startups, advising accelerators and startups, speaking, and our personal favorite, running Another Climate Tech Podcast.

The Podcast:

Throughout all the work Ryan was doing, he often had the desire to share the conversations he was having with professionals in the space. Knowing there were already a good number of podcasts in the climate space, he cheekily named it Another Climate Tech Podcast.

Since the summer of 2023 he’s been putting out impactful and punchy episodes covering specific topics in the Climate space. Given his work, he has a large following in Europe.

Enjoying the CleanTechies PodLetter? Please show your support by subscribing!

📝 Show Notes:

💭 Topics

* 2:30 Intro 

* 6:00 About Our Podcast Formats

* 10:50 Why the Newsletter

* 12:50 Why Somil & Silas Decided to Collab

* 15:10 What Silas & Somil Do

* 16:30 Ryan’s Climate Journey

* 20:20 How to Decide What Not to Do

* 23:30 Human Connection + Scaling Relationships

* 36:00 Areas We Are Bullish On 

* 45:30 Regulation vs Market Forces

* Regulation vs Market Forces

🔗 Links

* Listen to Another Climate Tech Podcast on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Connect with Ryan Grant Little on LinkedIn

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

* For all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs, check out our sponsor NextWave Partners.

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.

NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.

Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.

🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in and see you all next episode!

🌎 Today Somil & Silas had the opportunity to do something slightly different today since we did an episode with Ryan Grant Little, the Creator and Host of Another Climate Tech Podcast. He has conversations that are more topical with his guests who are, in many cases, people he already knows. Ryan has a really fascinating background as a Founder, Investor, and Consultant. He found his way to climate via some of the impact work he was doing in Canada.

Since all three of us are used to interviewing others, we decided to interview each other. We really enjoyed making this as it was a fun change of pace from our usual work. We hope you also enjoy it.

Please also be sure to go follow Ryan’s podcast if you’re not already following.

Enjoy the Episode! 🌎🔗🌍

---
🌎 If you'd like to see the full PodLetter, go to our substack to see all the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
---

📺 👀 Prefer to watch: subscribe on YouTube.
📫 Interested in written summaries and takeaways from the episode? Subscribe to the newsletter.
Want to be part of the community and engage further? Check out the Slack Channel. https://tinyurl.com/mwkn8zk5

Topics:
**Intro
**About Our Podcast Formats
**Why the Newsletter
**Why Somil & Silas Decided to Collab
**What Silas & Somil Do
**Ryan’s Climate Journey
**How to Decide What Not to Do
**Human Connection + Scaling Relationships
**Areas we are Bullish On
**Regulation vs Market Forces

Links:
**Listen to Another Climate Tech Podcast on Apple Podcasts & Spotify
**Connect with Ryan Grant Little on LinkedIn
**Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners
**Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn
**@Silas & @Somil_Agg on Twitter / 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]

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, VC edition.

Today, we are talking to Chris Richardson of Uptake Alliance & ADL Ventures.

In this episode, you will find:

* Investing in electrification and clean infrastructure

* The success story of Mainspring Energy demonstrates the importance of starting small and scaling based on customer needs

* Corporate pilots facing challenges in finding the right fit and aligning with startups in Uptake Alliance

🚨🚨🚨 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!! 🚨🚨🚨

📺 Watch on YouTube🍎 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

The Guest: Chris Richardson

Uptake Alliance is a global venture development program that connects organizations with technical challenges to startups with novel solutions — creating a regenerative impact on business performance, technology scaling, and our shared climate future.

Uptake is supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and powered by ADL Ventures.

The Program: Uptake Alliance

Uptake Alliance is a global venture development program that connects organizations with technical challenges to startups with novel solutions — creating a regenerative impact on business performance, technology scaling, and our shared climate future.

Uptake is supported by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and powered by ADL Ventures.

The “VC”: ADL Ventures

ADL Ventures develops and launches clean infrastructure innovations. ADL helps energy & infrastructure companies Assess, Develop and Launch new products, services and startups — and we lead innovation programs sponsored by DOE, NREL, and more.

Every member of the ADL team has start-up and/or venture fund experience AND knows “what good looks like” at scale through work at successful corporate entities.

Enjoying the CleanTechies PodLetter? Please show your support by subscribing!

📝 Show Notes:

💭 Topics

* 00:00 Introduction and Background

* 08:07 EV Button and Electrifying Existing Infrastructure

* 17:28 Uptake Alliance and Venture Development

* 38:34 Clean Infrastructure and the Built Environment

* 44:48 Moonshot Technologies and Innovation

* 49:17 Incentivizing Domestic Economic Benefits

* 51:41 Investing in Urban vs Rural Technologies

* 59:33 Insights

* 59:33 IRA

* 01:02:13 Climate x XI

* 01:06:15 Success Story of a Hardware MVP

* 01:10:19 Challenges in Corporate Pilots

* 01:13:48 Starting a New Company in Climate

* 01:16:11 Advice for Applicants

🔗 Links

* GUEST: Chris Richardson

* COMPANY: Uptake Alliance, ADL Ventures

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

* For all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs, check out our sponsor NextWave Partners.

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.

NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.

Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.

🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in and see you all next episode!

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.

Today, we are talking to Dan Katz of Orbital Sidekick.

In this episode, you will find:

* How Dan and his co-founder, Tushar decided to build a satellite company to help stop climate change.

* Learn how they started with a business model first, found PMF, built an MVP, went to market, and raised their funding.

* Dan’s advice on talent and the speed of hiring.

📺 Watch on YouTube🍎 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

The Guest: Dan Katz

* Dan started his career in the aerospace industry building satellites for other organizations.

* In the wake of the frothy space exploration market, Dan and his colleague believed they could also build a company in this space. This paired with their realization that the ocean was boiling, led them to focus on catching methane leaks. So they started Orbital Sidekick in Dan’s garage.

* Today they have several satellites in the air and paying customers.

The Company: Orbital Sidekick

Climate Data, Monitoring, Minerals, Hardware

One-liner: Persistent, global monitoring to identify and stop GHG emissions.

Orbital Sidekick, builds and launches hyperspectral satellites that have a variety of climate uses. A hyperspectral satellite is able to see in much greater detail and different reflections of light to use it to identify more than just objects.

Their first usecase, which Dan explains the rationale for in the episode, is to monitor pipelines to idenitfy methane leaks.

In the future, they hope to identify geographies with critical minerals beneath the surface.

Enjoying the CleanTechies PodLetter? Please show your support by subscribing!

📝 Show Notes:

Topics

* 2:00 Intro to Dan

* 5:45 How to Identify Subsurface Minerals

* 12:00 Why he Became an Entrepreneur

* 19:00 PMF & MVP

* 22:00 GTM & Raising

* 26:00 Watching Their Launch

* 31:15 Challenges

* 35:34 Talent

* 39:00 Take the Leap

Links

* Connect with Dan | Orbital Sidekick

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

* For all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs, check out our sponsor NextWave Partners.

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

🗓️ Upcoming Events

UPDATE! 🚨 Reminder 🔔 that we have another CleanTechies in-person networking event on December 15th!! (The date changed)

Reach out to Somil or Silas on LinkedIn to be included and receive details on the location.

🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.

NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.

Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.

🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in and see you all next episode!

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, VC edition.

Today, we are talking to Jamil Wyne of Climate Tech Bootcamp & Riffle Ventures.

In this episode, you will find:

* Why direct access to customers and revenue generation are crucial for success in the climate tech space

* How Jamil shaped Climate Tech Bootcamp with individuals with deep subject matter expertise and a builder's mindset

* A walkthrough of his leading report “The Climate Tech Opportunity” published by the Oxford Climate Tech Initiative

🚨🚨🚨 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!! 🚨🚨🚨

📺 Watch on YouTube🍎 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify🗣️ Join the Slack Channel

The Guest: Jamil Wyne

* Jamil has MANY different involves that put him in 4 different roles:

* Investor: Running Riffle Ventures and investing personally in a number of climate startups

* Academic: Lecturing at George Washington University and lead of the Climate Tech Opportunity at Oxford Climate Tech Initiative

* Policy Advisor: Advisory roles at UNICEF, The World Bank, the US International Development Finance Corporation, and more

* Ecosystem Builder: Founding Climate Tech Bootcamp

The VC: Riffle Ventures

Riffle Ventures is an impact engine that unlocks climate innovation to solve meaningful problems. They are a collective of mission-driven builders, educators, investors, and designers.

Through our Climate Ecosystem Design and advisory services, we co-create with various stakeholders in three key areas: education, program design, and venture creation.

Their vision is to catalyze and build ventures focused on creating a more resilient, equitable, and just world.

The Company: Climate Tech Bootcamp

The Climate Tech Bootcamp supports climate entrepreneurs from around the world by providing accessto expert-led training, mentors, and a like-minded community of peers dedicated to tackling thepressing issues of climate change.

Enjoying the CleanTechies PodLetter? Please show your support by subscribing!

📝 Show Notes:

💭 Topics

* 1:16 Intro

* 10:36 Policy-oriented mindset in climate

* 16:27 Parallels between developmental finance and climate investing

* 29:24 Origins of CT Bootcamp

* 36:58 Choosing Climate experts and filling in founders’ weaknesses

* 54:12 What is Riffle Ventures

* 59:55 How he thinks about COP 28 being in Dubai and concerns with O&G

* 1:08:41 The Climate Tech Opportunity

* 1:08:41 Energy

* 1:10:00 Transportation

* 1:11:31 Food & Ag

* 1:12:47 Industry

* 1:15:43 Built Environment

* 1:17:49 GHG Capture

* 1:20:16 Managing & Reporting

* 1:23:01 Advice to VCs

🔗 Links

* GUEST: Jamil Wyne

* COMPANY: Riffle Ventures, Climate Tech Bootcamp

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

* For all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs, check out our sponsor NextWave Partners.

* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

🗓️ Upcoming Events

Reminder 🔔 that we have another CleanTechies in-person networking event on December 14th!!

Reach out to Somil or Silas on LinkedIn to be included and receive details on the location.

🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.

NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.

Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.

🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in and see you all next episode!

🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.

Today, we are talking to Pawel Ciesielski of Maas Loop.

In this episode, you will find:

* How Pawel makes reverse vending machines to help reduce the cost of collecting recycling bottles

* Understanding regulation’s correlation with future demand and why their technology is seeing solid adoption

* The importance of traction and paying customers to run a successful fundraising process

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The Guest: Paweł Ciesielski

* Paweł started his career in a branding agency in Poland.

* In this role, he spent most of his time predicting trends and demonstrating what the world could look like in 20 years, with a special focus on climate. Eventually, he started his own branding agency doing the same thing.

* Having this interest in climate led him and his two long-time friends to start a business that would help with recycling glass bottles as their initial offering but with a broader goal to help create a blueprint for people to set up their own recycling plants.

The Company: Maas Loop

Circular Economy, Waste Management, Hardware

One-liner: Helping divert waste from landfills & helping small businesses reduce the costs of and manage their bottle deposit return schemes while retaining customers.

MaaS Loop builds reverse vending machines that identify the input through computer vision, accept, crush, and pay the depositor. These reverse vending machines help small businesses collect recyclables and retain customers.

In Europe, there is a deposit charge on each bottle to encourage consumers to return them. The problem for business that want to use them is they either need a large and expensive piece of equipment or you need to hire extra staff to handle collection.

MaaS Loop’s machines help solve all of this by offering a small footprint machine and offering a hardware-as-a-service model to reduce upfront CapEx.

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📝 Show Notes:

💭 Topics

* 3:20 Intro to Paweł & MaaS Loop

* 4:20 What part of the waste supply chain they are working in

* 5:30 What reverse vending machines do

* 7:15 Founding MaaS Loop

* 10:00 How they differentiate from the rest of the circular economy

* 13:40 Explaining the cost savings

* 18:40 How the technology works

* 19:35 Creating their MVP

* 23:50 Defining traction

* 26:45 How they determined PMF

* 30:00 Advice on raising $$$

* 32:35 Overcoming the production scaling up challenge

🔗 Links

* GUEST: Paweł Ciesielski

* COMPANY: maasloop.com

* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas

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* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.

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Reminder 🔔 that we have another CleanTechies in-person networking event on December 14th!!

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🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in and see you all next episode!