Climate Cowboys

Today we are joined by the founder of Criaterra, Adital Ela. Adital is an industrial designer by education and profession who was seeking the potential to make fully circular building products. She was inspired to do this when visiting India she saw how clay Chai cups were used and then tossed to the ground to return to their original form. 

After 12 years she then decided to set out to build Criaterra. 

In essence, they are an R&D company that aims to license out their IP for the production of fully circular building products. For the time being, they have focused on their MVP, decorative, non-structural tiles. 

In this conversation, we speak about her journey and the challenges of building a company like Criaterra. 

Our biggest takeaway was that it takes a lot of grit and resiliency to persist on this path. Adital has seen many struggles in the journey of building this company but is keeping the faith and working towards the vision of fully-circular structural building products. Prepare to be inspired.

Peace out! 🌎

Topics: 

• 4:40 Intro | Background in Industrial Design
• 11:!7 - Living with respect to raw materials
• 13:31 When she started on this journey
• 18:22 Intricacies of Launching
• 20:11 Misunderstanding of the Gap Between R&D & Production
• 23:46 Their Products
• 27:27 Strengths of Products
• 37:27The Feedstock
• 44:07 Their Business Model | IP
• 46:05 Milestones to Building an IP Model
• 55:06 Closing Thoughts

Links: 

• Connect with Adital: 
• Criaterra Website: 
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: https://www.next-wavepartners.com/
• Join the Slack Channel:  https://cleantechies.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-pd2drz6d-N~9nURU5JlyMXv2ZiO5bAQ#/shared-invite/email
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clean-techies/ 
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Super excited to share this with you. We've got someone who went to the same high school where Steve Jobs and Woz did back in the day. He then worked at Square on international expansion, went on to work with VC Legend Mike Maples, and eventually ended up as the Chief of Staff at Chris Sacca's, Lowercarbon Capital. 

We are talking about Shawn Xu. 

Shawn talked us through his journey to climate, what it takes to be a good VC, what they look for, the areas he's bullish on, and what he's working on now. 

I quite enjoyed this conversation (I say that a lot but I do mean it). 

Enjoy today's episode! 

Topics: 

• 4:29 Intro to Shawn, his career journey, going to high school where Steve Jobs went and getting into VC
• 11:37 Creating access and equity to the Silicon Valley mentality
• 15:59 His climate journey
• 24:38 The inside scoop on VCs - what skills do you need to develop
  • Finding 26:44
  • Picking 27:54
  • Winning 28:58
  • Supporting 29:31
• 31:54 Lowercarbon's Thesis
• 34:29 The founders they look for
• 36:49 Advice to Founders
• 42:20 Areas he's bullish on
• 44:42  His role at Lowercarbon 

Links: 

• Connect with Shawn: 
• The Lowercarbon Capital Website: 
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: 
• Join the Slack Channel:  
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn: 
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

If you are a bit of a shipping nerd like me, this is going to be a great episode. 

We are joined by James Malley the co-founder of Paccurate where they are helping product shippers use smaller boxes so less air is shipped, resulting in fewer trucks to get the same products to your destination. 

This is a juggernaut of a business as they are able to service ginormous companies with a very light staff and it all came out of just being experts in solving annoying problems in the shipping space. 

This conversation talks all about...

• The shipping industry as a whole including packaging materials and incentives
• How the government is bringing regulation surrounding scope 3 emissions
• And how they built their company

If you are at all interested in shipping products, this should be a really fun episode for you. If not, then maybe skip to the second half where we start to talk about building the company. 

Peace out! 🌎

Topics: 

• 6:14 about the packaging space
• 10:26 Innovation in packaging
• 14:26 some novel tech, but not much, at scale
• 16:02 How shippers can incentivize better packaging practices
• TOPIC CLIP: 12 ish to about 20 ish where the discussion surrounds incentives (It's in he clips)
• 25:11 positive impacts of fewer packages
• 27:34 Starting the company
• 31:22 getting shippers & Mfgs to work together
• 35:27 Challenges and advice to other founders
• 37:!7 The raising process & advice to founders on that process
• 41:!2 Partnerships
• 44:04 Hiring & Talent
• 46:16 Outlook on the future 

Links: 

• Connect with James: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmalley/
• Paccurate Website: https://paccurate.io/
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: https://www.next-wavepartners.com/
• Join the Slack Channel:  https://cleantechies.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-pd2drz6d-N~9nURU5JlyMXv2ZiO5bAQ#/shared-invite/email
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clean-techies/ 
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Today we spoke with Joe Bushnell. I had met Joe before he launched Azollo so it is a pretty cool guest to have on since I got to hear where he was at prior to launch. 

From Australia, he developed a certain attachment to the issue of climate change at a young age when wildfires destroyed his town and burned his school growing up. He went on to study sustainability in Uni. He then went into consulting and finance winding his way back to sustainable finance. Eventually, desiring to pursue a deeper connection directly to the space, he started his own company. 

In today's conversation, we talk about this journey and how he ended up founding Azollo to help corporates transition and up-skill their workforces. This is vital for corporates to achieve the sustainability targets they have set. It's a really interesting challenge. 

We also talked about his advice to other aspiring founders thinking of jumping ship. And then ended on the topic of mentoring and how much tech will be able to revolutionize the talent space. We also discussed where we think the boundaries of tech are. 

Overall, a great episode so let's get into it! 

Topics: 

• 4:00 Intro
• 8:14 ROI
• 12:56 Why he started the company
• 16:23 Advice to others jumping ship
• 21:54 Winding journey to climate
• 24:34 Industries struggling to find talent
• 28:53  How tech can enable change
• 31:16 Biggest objections
• 33:06 The Jobs are not clear
• 34:39 Foundations of educating workforce - the basics
• 36:02  Diagnostics & workforce engagement
• 37:43  AI & Changing employee workforce
• 41:23 Mentorship & the workforce
• 47:06  Raising Money
• 51:16 Two Trends
• 54:44 His "Obvious Predictions" 

Links: 

• Connect with Joe:
• Azollo Website:
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners:
• Join the Slack Channel: 
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn:
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Today's topic is how to raise money for your ClimateTech Startup with Tommy Leep. He is the founder of Jetstream. A ClimateTech VC focused on investing in pre-seed ClimateTech companies. 

Today's conversation focuses on three things. 

First, some of his background, how he got interested in ClimateTech, how he got into VC, and some of the challenges in his career. 

Second, we spoke about his advice to climate tech founders who are fundraising. He has a lot of incredible tips in this section. If you want to skip to that, it's around the 12 min mark. 

Third, he walked us through his thought process for investing. So, if you're trying to get a check from Tommy, definitely check that part out too. It starts at around the 30 min mark. 

Really fun conversation, wish we had more time, will have to bring him back on again in the future. 

Topics: 

• 3:40 Intro
• 8:27 Keeping head down versus plotting next move
• 9:59 A very challenging time in his career
• 11:32 How he became interested in ClimateTech
• 13:13 5 Tips for fundraising
  • 14:58 Stay lean
  • 18:46 Find a strong lead investor
  • 21:25 His sequence for raising/pitching
  • 24:42 Optimize for the investment partner, not the price
  • 27:36 Bring deal to many great investors
  • 29:20 Build relationships for the next round, this round
• 31:27 How he decides on investing
  • 32:23 Market: Predicting the Market
  • 39:34 Product: PMF
  • 40:18 Founders: It's a 10-year relationship
  • 41:10 Fit: Does he feel right about it
• 42:36 Advice to potential founders

Links: 

• Follow Tommy on Twitter:
• Checkout his website, Jetstream.io
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners:
• Join the Slack Channel: 
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn:
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Today we have a dual guest episode with Husband & Wife duo, Steve & Beth McDaniel. They have a background in the paint and coatings industry where they have been finding ways to make paints and coatings do something other than just decorate and protect their surface. 

Their latest innovation is a way to create surfaces that act as carbon capture the same way Blue Algae does. The surfaces can be mass deployed to capture gigatons of carbon to remove carbon from the air permanently at scale. 

Their company is called Reactive solutions, they are the recent winners of a CarbonX Prize to help Bulgaria test out their solution. 

The conversation has two parts. 

First, we talk about the science - the tech it self - how they came across it and the R&D process 

Second, we go into the more commercial side of things. We talk about their business model, their tips for winning  pilot projects, some of their advice on focusing on the MVP, and the importance of leveraging existing network to get the intros you need. 

If you're an entrepreneur in the hardware or IP side of thing, this second half is going to be pretty valuable so you can go there if you're strapped for time. 

Overall, really fascinating conversation. We hope you enjoy! 

Topics: 

• 4:46 Intro to them, their backgrounds, and how they got into CarbonTech
• 17:29 The R&D Process
• 19:22 - The ideal use case for their tech
• 27:43 Their cost per ton of capture and how many don't count the sequestration costs
• 33:24 How carbon capture projects make money
• 37:00 The IP & Licensing Model
• 44:39 Why pilots are required to secure further investment
• 51:20 Tips to winning pilot projects
• 57:00 Gov. grants, should you get them, & how to

Links: 

• Beth on LinkedIn:
• Steve on LinkedIn:
• Reactive Surfaces Website:
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners:
• Join the Slack Channel: 
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn:
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Interested in how we will have enough lithium over the next decades to support the energy and EV transition? Well, you can learn about a company solving this problem. 

Enter EnergyX founded and run by Teague Egan. Teague had no previous experience in mining or chemistry but after seeing a huge gap in the market and one particular problem faced by a lithium reserve in Bolivia, he set out to see how he could solve this problem. 

In this conversation we cover...

• His journey to finding this problem and how he built the company 
• What their technology does and how it's an artificial intersecting of several proven technologies
• The detailed process of how he funded the company at the start and the milestones to achieve each subsequent fundraise 
• And finally how they spent effort up-front building a world-class team in order to help them attract talent more broadly down the road 

It is really an amazing conversation especially because of how candid he was about the experience and the raising process. 

I think both existing and aspiring climate tech entrepreneurs will find this valuable. 

Topics: 

• 00:40 Intro to Teague
• 5:30 How, as a non-technical person he founded a highly technical ClimateTech company
• 15:50 What their technology is and how it works
• 20:22 Borrowing existing proven tech and applying it to new problems
• 29:45 Who are their customers
• 33:10 The detailed breakdown of their fundraising process and the key milestones to advance to the next stage successfully
• 42:00 Importance of IP
• 44:50 Mining & Recycling
• 46:30 Building a talent attraction machine and moat through hard work up-front

Links: 

• Teague on LinkedIn:
• Teague on Twitter:
• EnergyX Website:
• Invest in EnergyX:
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners:
• Join the Slack Channel: 
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn:
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Today we are joined by Olivia Pedersen the founder of Sustaio. 

Olivia has a really incredible journey to building Sustaio. We were able to speak today about their technology, which is essentially a rewards platform for choosing sustainable products. This is a method for consumers to signal to corporates their interest in sustainable products. 

One thing we also touched on was the difficulty many women or financially less fortunate have to take ClimateTech jobs. Often, at an early-stage startup, the pay is low making it difficult to provide for a family. Founding a company is also difficult when providing for a family given the need to often work for an extended period of time without pay. 

Many really great topics in today's episode so as always, enjoy! 

Topics: 

• 2:28 Her and how she got here
• 8:18 how to test an idea
• 9:10 # ppl have
• 12:17 what they do
• 22:51 Starting biz
• 39:44 ish Gender pay gap 

Links: 

• Connect with Olivia:  
• Sustaio Website: 
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: https://www.next-wavepartners.com/
• Join the Slack Channel:  https://cleantechies.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-pd2drz6d-N~9nURU5JlyMXv2ZiO5bAQ#/shared-invite/email
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clean-techies/ 
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Today we are joined by DR Richardson the Co-Founder and CEO of Elephant Energy. DR started his career in a ClimateTech Fund for about 8 years. Then eventually left to scratch his entrepreneurial itch and build a ClimateTech startup. After about 2 years of testing ideas, he and his Co-founder Josh Lake landed on Elephant Energy where they are removing the friction of electrifying homes. 

A few of the things we talked about today are...

• their product & the benefits - an interesting one was the health benefits of it
• how they got started
• the challenges of being a ClimateTech founder
• his experience fundraising for the company
• the talent challenges 
• how important blue-collar work is and the challenges of making it attractive 
• and his outlook on the future 
• how you don't need to be a technical person to found a climate tech startup 

It's a really fun episode and hopefully an inspiration to those without a technical background who are motivated to build a business and want to help reverse climate change in the meantime.

Topics: 

• 3:19 How he started
• 15:02 Benefits of electrifying a home (Financial, Climate, Comfort, Health)
• 21:54 Finding good contractors and working with them
• 25:06 Insurance COs & cleaner homes
• 26:30  Launching and advice to other founders
• 28:48 How PE exp informed his decision making process
• 31:32 His experience fundraising (How wide, Luck, Just need one yes)
• 35:10 Loyal to a fault
• 37:23 Behind the scenes - the hard things
• 39:38 The mental gymnastics of being a founder
• 41:47 Talent and making Blue Collar work sexy
• 49:13 Outlook on the future 

Links: 

• Connect with DR on LinkedIn:
• Elephant Energy Website: 
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: 
• Join the Slack Channel: 
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn:
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]

Today we were joined by John Shegerian the Co-Founder of ERI. Where they are recycling electronic devices and ensuring safe data destruction to comply with Cybersecurity concerns. They have been around for over 20 years. 

They wouldn't have been called this when they started, but being one of the oldest "CliamteTech" or "Circular Economy" companies out there, John had a lot of really great things to share with current ClimateTech founders. 

Perhaps most importantly he commented on fundraising from aligned individuals as well as how to attract and retain talent. 

John is also the author of The Insecurity of Everything and has offered to send a book for free to anyone who emails me or him at [email protected] - If you do reach out to him please let him know you heard this discussion on the CleanTechies Podcast and he'll send you a free copy of the book so you can learn about cyber security - he'll even pay for shipping. 

Topics: 

• 3:43 About John and how he got into ERI
• 7:27 - What led him to go back to school later in his career
• 9:17 - How cybersecurity and ClimateTech intersect
• 15:06 - What ERI are doing and the process of recycling electronics for companies
• 18:07- ESG forcing recycling behavior
• 19:58 - Costs of recycling
• 20:51 - Costs of not recycling
• 25:03 - Key advice to CT Founders
• 31:31 - Raising funds and strategic, value-aligned investors
• 35:51 - Talent acquisition and retention
• 44:55 - Why he's bullish on the future
• 46:58 - About his book and how to get it for free ([email protected]) 

Links: 

• John on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnshegerian/
• ERI Website: https://eridirect.com/
• Check out our Sponsor, NextWave Partners: https://www.next-wavepartners.com/
• Join the Slack Channel: 
• Follow CleanTechies on LinkedIn:
• HMU on Twitter: @silasmahner

__________

We are proud to continue working with NextWave as our official show sponsor for this podcast. NextWave and all of its staff are highly motivated to advance the ClimateTech revolution and are constantly innovating ways that they can help affect that transition. From experts in the talent space to ESG experts, NextWave is taking on Climate and Social responsibility head-on and helping companies build great cultures that not only make the world a better place but also increase workplace satisfaction. Reach out to NextWave Partners today to learn more about how we might partner with you today. https://www.next-wavepartners.com/ / [email protected]