Inevitable

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure.

Nathanael Johnson has spent the past 18 years as an award-winning journalist who has written features for Harper's Magazine, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and produced stories for the likes of NPR and This American Life. Recently, Nathanael has switched career paths and now is training to become an electrician. 

In the past, we've chatted with folks on the show who've spent decades in the trades, but we wanted to hear the story of someone who's earlier in their journey in the field. More interestingly, we wanted to understand the motivations behind someone's decision to make the switch from a computer job to a skills trade job, and the joys, misconceptions, challenges and rewards that come with it.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [01:26]: How Yin and Nathanael got connected 
• [02:37]: Nathanael's early exposure to nature and the “aesthetics of environmentalism”
• [05:13]: His liberal arts education and cutting through jargon in academia
• [07:43]: Starting his career as a newspaper reporter in rural Idaho
• [13:13]: Nathanael’s journey to becoming a climate reporter for Grist
• [15:01]: Falling out of love with journalism and discovering electrical work 
• [17:51]: The clear and immediate impact of electrical work vs. uncertain impact of writing
• [21:18]: Fears about switching careers and dealing with internalized class stigma 
• [25:29]: How we can “dewire” cultural stigmas about skilled trade careers
• [28:26]: The need to rebuild the educational pipeline and infrastructure for trade careers
• [30:33]: The issue of representation and redefining what an electrician looks like
• [32:20]: Nathanael’s advice on testing new career paths
• [35:41]: Pay, schedule, job security, and work-life balance as an electrician
• [41:47]: Nathanael's favorite moments as an electrician so far
• Recommended Resources: Scott Brown Carpentry (YouTube Channel)

Get connected: 
Nathanael Twitter
Yin Twitter / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on March 28, 2023. 

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by MCJ partner, Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress.

Mohammad Barkeshli is the Vice President of Full Consequence Investing at Hall Capital Partners. Hall Capital Partners has a singular focus on building and managing large investment portfolios. Their clients include families, endowments, and foundations with over $40 billion under management. 

Mohammad focuses on the firm's impact investing efforts which they’ve coined Full Consequence Investing or FCI. He's responsible for research, identification, due diligence, and ongoing monitoring of investments across asset classes. 

Jason and Mohammad have a great discussion in this episode about Hall Capital's strategic  approach, where it fits in the climate tech and capital stack, the criteria they use when making investment decisions, what they're hearing from their clients now, and how that's evolved.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [3:00] The benefits of increasing transparency across the capital stack and why Mohammad agreed to come on the show
• [4:35] An overview of Hall Capital
• [6:48] The firm’s approach known as Full Consequence Investing (FCI)
• [8:25] The average asset class for its clients
• [11:38] Hall Capital’s different investment vehicles
• [16:26] How the firm’s investing teams are divided across asset classes
• [21:00] Mohammad’s background
• [22:25] Where FCI fits into Hall Capital’s story and brand
• [28:06] FCI as a key diligence effort for the firm’s investment strategy
• [29:38] What falls within FCI and how Hall Capital evaluates opportunities across categories
• [34:00] The role of ESG across industries and investments
• [36:00] Hall Capital’s process for working with clients who are interested in building a portfolio that’s geared toward climate solutions
• [42:46] Balancing investments for profit, impact, and the public good
• [46:23] Limitations and challenges with time horizons
• [47:57] How Mohammad thinks about team and track record
• [52:55] Concessionary impact investments
• [1:00:57] Hall Capital’s involvement with philanthropic capital
• [1:04:36] Areas Mohammad would like to improve for his clients and their investments
• [1:06:51] Who Hall Capital would like to hear from and how people can help

Get connected: 
Jason Jacobs
Mohammad Barkeshli / Hall Capital
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on April 5, 2023.

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Katrina Erwin and Glennys Navarrete are program managers at the CLEO Institute and co-hosts of the House on Fire Podcast.

The CLEO Institute is a 501C3 nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, exclusively dedicated to climate education and advocacy. Founded in 2010, CLEO, which stands for Climate Leadership Engagement Opportunities, works with communities across Florida to build climate literacy and mobilize climate action.

Katrina focuses on helping youth activists leverage their power most effectively in state and local political settings. And Glennys leads CLEO's efforts at schools to educate students on climate issues and be more effective advocates.

We jump into a number of different topics about youth climate activism, including what climate education programs look like in schools, how parents can be most effective at supporting youth climate action, when youth activists should focus on collaboration or on resistance, the role of social media in climate action, and lastly, how to inspire kids to care about climate change in the first place.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [02:32] Glennys’s background and climate journey
• [06:40] Katrina's background and climate journey
• [12:36] The history and goals of the CLEO Institute
• [16:03] Integrating climate curriculum into schools in an overly-politicized environment 
• [18:15] Avoiding "Trigger words" and misinformation 
• [19:25] How parents can play a role in youth climate activism
• [25:49] Creating spaces where young people can be heard, not tokenized
• [30:18] Empowering young people to engage in local politics
• [35:25] "Power mapping" and using social media to research and contact local politicians
• [39:22] Katrina's and Glennys's favorite climate influencers on social media, and the role of activists on social platforms
• [40:44] Shifting climate conversations from “doom and gloom” to solutions-oriented, and from “polar bear” imagery to local reality
• [45:08] The House on Fire podcast, and how to get involved with the CLEO Institute

Get connected: 
Cody Simms
CLEO Institute
Katrina Erwin
Glennys Navarrete
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on April 11, 2023

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

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• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Henrik Langeland is the Co-founder and CEO at Enode. 

Enode is building digital infrastructure to enable a coordinated, smart, and flexible energy system. In particular, Enode's software API connects over 400 smart devices like EVs, solar panels, and thermostats, so that they can work together to help a home run as efficiently as possible, both within itself and as a node in a larger energy system. The idea of energy demand response relies on the ability of each node in an energy system to be as smart as possible. And Enode is this digital glue layer between them.

Cody and Henrik spend time talking about his background and the electrification progress made in Norway, where Enode is headquartered. They also talk about the role of software, climate, and energy systems, plus what Enode is and how it works. Henrik compares Enode's role in energy systems to Plaid's role in the banking world, as a service solution that creates more efficiency for all and solves a common problem that all actors in the system would otherwise need to build themselves. We're happy to be multi-time investors in Enode via our MCJ Collective Venture funds and hope you enjoy hearing from Henrik about what they're building.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:54] Henrik's background and early interest in energy 
• [7:04] EV adoption in Norway and the inspiration for Enode's software solution 
• [12:05] Enode's role in connecting and integrating different energy devices 
• [16:58] The company's product offering 
• [18:14] Enode's consumers including OEMs, energy retailers, etc. 
• [23:08] Henrik's perspective on how software can make a difference in climate 
• [26:22] Risks of deregulation of the energy system (e.g. ERCOT)
• [27:17] How Enode uses AI 
• [31:51] Henrik's predictions for energy interoperability and his company's role in it

Get connected: 
Cody Simms Twitter / LinkedIn
Henrik Langeland / Enode
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on May 4, 2023

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by MCJ partner, Jason Jacobs. This series will explore a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we'll take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress. 

Will Tickle is a partner, senior investment advisor, and director of impact investing for Ballentine Partners. 

Ballentine Partners is a wealth management firm that prioritizes the needs of its clients while maintaining integrity and independence. The firm offers customized investment solutions and planning expertise to a wide range of clients, from individual professionals and entrepreneurs with liquid assets of $3.5 million to multi-generational families with assets worth over a billion dollars.

In this episode, Jason and Will discuss his process for defining impact and which areas are important for his client’s portfolios. They also cover the balance of impact between the firm's contributions and those from the clients directly. Will shares how his clients' impact investments have evolved since the firm's first involvement in 2005. Lastly, they explore where climate and climate tech fit into all of this. Enjoy the show! 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:49] An overview of Ballentine Partners
• [4:25] How the firm's clients inspired its approach to climate investing
• [7:09] Will's background and focus on impact
• [9:27] The firm's ethos to serving clients
• [11:58] How Ballentine Partners applies an impact lens to its existing portfolio of assets
• [14:10] What Ballentine is hearing from clients
• [17:01] Challenges of assessing impact across an entire portfolio
• [19:23] How Ballentine balances impact with returns
• [23:55] Capitalism and its role in the future of the clean energy transition ahead
• [29:24] Changes to inspire widespread adoption of impact investing
• [32:40] The role of shareholder activism
• [34:17] Ballentine's impact reports
• [37:35] Who Ballentine wants to work with

Get connected: 
Jason Jacobs
Will Tickle / Ballentine Partners
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on April 4, 2023. 

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Dr. Jay Taneja is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and the director of the STIMA Lab (Systems Towards Infrastructure Measurement and Analytics) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Taneja is a world-class expert on the clean energy economy of Kenya, which is our topic for today's discussion.

Kenya's story is fascinating from a clean energy and climate change perspective. The country has made remarkable progress in expanding electricity access, with renewable sources providing the majority of its electricity supply. In 1990, only one million Kenyans had access to electricity. However, in the past few decades, Kenya has made impressive strides, doubling access to electricity from 30% of households in 2013 to approximately 75% in 2022.

Despite being the least responsible from a cumulative emissions perspective, the African continent is likely to be the most impacted by climate change. Currently, the Horn of Africa, where Kenya is located, is experiencing a multi-year drought. Tune in to learn more about Kenya's clean energy economy, its impressive transition, and some hurdles ahead. Enjoy the show!

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:46] Jay's background and expertise
• [7:35] His work at the STIMA Lab at UMass
• [12:39] An overview of life and electricity usage in urban vs rural communities throughout Kenya
• [20:46] Challenges with solar home systems and accessibility
• [23:57] Kenya's new president and his sentiments toward clean energy
• [27:20] The realized impacts of climate change throughout the country
• [30:38] Geothermal expansion in Kenya
• [35:12] The balance of nationalized priority and commercial capital in driving the region's clean energy transition
• [38:24] Kenya's blueprint and lessons for other countries
• [40:07] How Kenya could leverage COP27's Loss and Damage Fund for vulnerable countries

Get connected: 
Cody Simms
Jay Taneja
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on March 31, 2023. 

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by MCJ partner, Jason Jacobs. This series will explore a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we'll take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress. 

Today’s guest is Sarah Hinkfuss, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures. 

Bain Capital Ventures is a multi-stage VC firm investing across four core domains, fintech, application software, infrastructure, and commerce tech.

Leveraging the unique resources of Bain Capital, they deploy targeted support at every stage of company building. For over 20 years, they've helped launch and commercialize more than 400 companies, and they also recently announced $1.9 billion in new funds.

This is an insightful conversation as Bain Capital Ventures has not historically been a climate-focused investor, but they're increasingly paying attention to and getting active in this area, and Sarah's leading the charge.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [3:23] An overview of Bain Capital Ventures and Sarah's focus in the firm
• [5:35] BCV's exploration of climate tech and the firm's motivations
• [12:04] How the allocation of resources is influenced by time horizons
• [15:22] BCV's areas of focus through a climate lens
• [17:04] Sarah's climate journey from environmental justice and public service to early-stage startups and investing
• [23:07] Her experience leading the effort and formalizing BCV's climate approach
• [28:07] An example of the evolution of BCV's funds
• [31:37] The relevant types of expertise needed to make confident investments 
• [35:45] BCV's insights into the role software plays in solving the climate problem 
• [38:18] The firm's 6 areas of focus 
• [44:48] Founder market fit and the importance of deep market strategy and commercial experience
• [50:00] How climate-focused investors should approach a company's more profitable opportunities in other markets
• [53:31] BCV's climate investments to date and other related efforts across its portfolio 
• [57:12] The role of a changing climate in a company's evolution and BCV's approach 
• [1:05:05] The value of authentic experiences and deep expertise
• [1:08:44] Founders BCV wants to hear from 

Get connected: 
Jason Jacobs
Sarah Hinkfuss / Bain Capital Ventures
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on April 19, 2023. 

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

This episode is part of our new Capital Series hosted by MCJ partner, Jason Jacobs. This series will explore a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we'll take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progress. 

Today’s guest is Lucas Joppa, Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Managing Director at Haveli Investments. 

Haveli Investments is a new and rapidly growing investment firm led by Brian Sheth, former president of Vista Equity Partners. Prior to Haveli, Lucas was the longtime Chief Environmental Officer at Microsoft where he was responsible for Microsoft's overall environmental sustainability vision, strategy, and program execution. 

In this episode, Jason and Lucas have an in-depth discussion about Lucas's journey to becoming aware of and caring about climate change, how his views have evolved on the nature of the problem, and the best path forward from when he first started doing this work to today. They also talk about Microsoft's journey when it started caring about sustainability and its evolution to being one of the leaders in driving net-zero ambitions for big corporations. And finally we cover Lucas's decision to switch from wildlife conservation to the private equity world, his motivations and of course, Haveli's approach.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:10] An overview of Haveli Investments and Lucas's role at the firm 
• [4:29] How Lucas came to work in climate and what got him to care about the problem 
• [11:09] His experience at Microsoft
• [14:08] What inspired Microsoft to address the climate problem 
• [16:32] The company's internal process
• [21:51] Influencing factors that led to climate action at Microsoft 
• [28:57] Lucas's thoughts on corporate net-zero commitments
• [32:52] Weighing the implications of GHG reductions on biodiversity loss
• [38:40] Radical transformations vs. replacing current systems with sustainable alternatives
• [42:09] Challenges with private equity embracing sustainability 
• [49:17] Haveli's internal net-zero operations 
• [50:53] How founders should evaluate Haveli's portfolio management relative to other private equity firms
• [53:30] Lucas' work on sustainable software

Get connected: 
Jason Jacobs
Lucas Joppa / Haveli Investments
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on March 20, 2023. 

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guests are John Bissell and Rich Riley, co-CEOs at Origin Materials, a carbon-negative materials company that turns carbon found in biomass into chemical outputs.

John co-founded Origin Materials as an undergraduate at UC Davis in 2008. Rich became an investor in Origin in 2010, and joined as co-CEO in 2020 after a successful tech career, including most recently as the CEO of the music startup Shazam, which he sold to Apple in 2018. So what kind of opportunity brought a wunderkind chemical engineer and a seasoned software technology executive together? The way they tell it, it's the once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild the world's material stack from one built on petrochemical inputs to one built on biomass.

Recently, Origin Materials went public through a SPAC merger and is now finishing its first commercial plant, Origin One, in Canada. In this podcast episode, Cody delves into John and Rich's backgrounds, how they met, Origin's theory of change, its technical processes, the market it operates in, and the chemical outputs its customers purchase. They also discuss their vision for scaling the business. 

Almost everything we use in our lives is reliant on fossil fuel-based chemicals. However, Origin Materials is striving to change this by transforming the industry, as the world moves away from fossil fuels. Tune in to discover how they plan to achieve this goal.

In this episode, we cover: 

• [2:44] John's time at UC Davis and what prompted his idea for Origin Materials 
• [6:23] Rich's story and how he got involved with the company 
• [10:52] The decision process behind John and Rich's co-CEO structure
• [12:49] Original insight behind the company's focus
• [19:13] How Origin Materials fits into the value chain 
• [20:26] Challenges of working with biomass and Origin Materials' process 
• [23:52] The company's different product streams
• [27:22] Use cases and how Origin Materials works with partners and customers
• [35:09] The infrastructure side of the business
• [38:39] How the company raised funds for its first plant and the evolution of talent they're bringing into the company
• [42:43] Origin Materials' unit economics strategy and what's next

Get connected: 
Cody Simms
John Bissell / Rich Riley
Origin Materials  
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on March 17, 2023. 

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Scott Case is the CEO and Co-Founder at Recurrent, which provides EV battery reports for used EVs, helping consumers and dealers understand the residual health of the battery in a prospective purchase. Think of them as a Carfax report for EVs.

New EV sales have boomed since the launch of the Tesla Model 3 in 2018. A year later, roughly 1% of new sales in the US were EVs. And in 2022, that number had increased to over 5%. The used EV market therefore logically will follow a similar trajectory, with a 3-4 year delay. 

In this discussion, Scott points out that a car can only be sold new one time but can be sold used many times over. Most of us have no experience buying a used EV because there just hasn’t been enough inventory.  As that changes, so too will our used car buying experience.  And when it comes to which factors to pay attention to, the battery's health rises to the top of the list.

Scott and Cody have a great conversation about what impacts an EV battery’s health, how Recurrent gets the data to make health assessments, how Scott sees the used EV market evolving, and even what make/model EV he drives. It’s a jam-packed episode with information that’s sure to be personally relevant to many of us in the coming months and years ahead. 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [3:02] Scott's background and how he got started in the used EV market
• [9:25] How Recurrent came to be
• [13:51] The early days of figuring out the company's approach and business model
• [17:54] An overview of the used EV market
• [19:97] How to determine the quality of a used EV battery
• [20:24] Recurrent's solution and battery assessment process
• [24:49] Battery issues associated with EVs and environmental factors that influence performance
• [30:11] Battery quality and price discrimination for used EVs
• [32:48] Recent volatility and future market predictions
• [35:19] How Recurrent's business model is adjusting and its plans for growth
• [40:19] The dealer's role in EV sales
• [44:45] Recurrent's progress to date and what's ahead

Get connected:
Cody Simms
Scott Case / Recurrent
MCJ Collective

*You can also reach us via email at [email protected], where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on April 21, 2023.

Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at [email protected].

Connect with MCJ:

• Cody Simms on LinkedIn
• Visit mcj.vc
• Subscribe to the MCJ Newsletter

*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant