Inevitable

Today's guest is Lee Hoffman, Co-Founder & COO of Runwise.

Lee Hoffman is the Co-Founder and COO of Runwise. Over the past 18 years, Lee has co-founded and managed technology for companies as diverse as Time Warner, Razorfish Studios, and Terabolic, Inc. Most recently, Lee co-founded and served as CEO of Veri, a venture-backed NY mobile startup that in 2018 was acquired by The Knot.

Runwise is the first end-to-end boiler and heating system management platform. Founded in 2010, the company combines a proprietary heat computer and sensor network, machine learning systems, and a team of trained boiler experts to reduce fuel consumption by an average of 20-25% across over 2000 buildings in New York City. Runwise's customers include some of the smallest owners, all the way up to the biggest, including Lefrak, Related, Fairstead, Columbia University, and Lemle & Wolff. Heat Watch's platform is the only end-to-end boiler monitoring and management system that saves owners money, increases tenant comfort, and radically lowers carbon output across New York City.

In this episode, Lee walks me through Runwise's charter, the problem they are tackling, and how commercial buildings impact the climate. We also dive into Runwise's solution, how the company supports its customers, and how policy and government mandates affect its success. For those interested in the intersection of infrastructure and climate, this is a must-listen.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded August 19th, 2021

To learn more about Heat Watch, visit: https://www.runwise.com/

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/runwise

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

Today's guest is Ion Yadigaroglu, Partner & Member of the Investment Committee of Capricorn Investment Group.

Capricorn Investment Group seeks to deliver extraordinary investment results by leveraging market forces to scale solutions to global problems. One of the largest mission-aligned investment firms around the world, Capricorn has grown to manage more than $8 billion in multi-asset class portfolios for families, foundations, and institutional investors.

Ion is a Partner and member of the Investment Committee of Capricorn Investment Group and a Managing Director of Capricorn's Technology Impact Fund. Prior to Capricorn, he was a Director of Business Development with Koch Industries, executing a range of acquisitions and investments. Before Koch Industries, Ion was a founder and Chief Executive Officer at Bivio, a software startup in Colorado, and an Analyst for Olsen & Associates, a foreign exchange analytics company. He was a research fellow at Columbia University and holds a Masters in Physics from Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich in Switzerland and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Stanford University. Ion is also an early investor in iconic technology companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Planet, QuantumScape, and Saildrone.

I was looking forward to sitting down with Ion and learning more about his work at Capricorn Investment Group. Ion walks me through his climate journey, what motivated him to focus on climate, and an overview of Capricorn and the Technology Impact Fund. We also dive into capitalism's effect on the planet, the role policy plays in a sustainable future, and the Technology Impact Fund's investing strategy. This is a great episode for investors and founders alike.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded September 7th, 2021

For more information about Capricorn Investment Group, visit: https://capricornllc.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/ion-yadigaroglu

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

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

Today's guest is Naman Trivedi, Co-Founder & CEO of WattBuy.

Naman Trivedi is the Co-Founder & CEO of WattBuy. He founded the company to help millions of Americas choose cheaper, greener electricity plans and advance the global transition to a clean energy economy. WattBuy provides transparent, intelligent insights for homeowners & renters, helping them save upwards of 40% on electricity bills, select renewable energy plans, and gain a deeper understanding of their home's energy use. Prior to co-founding WattBuy, Naman worked at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, pushing a policy initiative for Community Choice Aggregation. This system aggregates the buying power of individuals in a neighborhood to purchase renewable energy supply contracts. He also spent two years at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Obama Administration, working on federal renewable energy policy and grand prizes. 

In this episode, Naman gives me an overview of WattBuy, why their work addresses climate change, and what motivates consumers to use WattBuy. We also talk about how WattBuy builds trust amongst its customers, the barriers WattBuy faces as the startup looks to scale, and a discussion on how to increase home sustainability consulting. It was great to learn more about WattBuy and have Naman join me this week.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded August 11th, 2021

To learn more about Wattbuy, visit: https://wattbuy.com/

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/orbillion

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

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

Today's guest is Cisco DeVries, CEO of OhmConnect.

OhmConnect provides home energy management solutions via smart meter analytics and energy market integration. OhmConnect's platform enables residential users to sell their energy reductions directly into energy markets.

Before OhmConnect, Cisco co-founded Renew Financial, which became one of the largest dedicated clean energy finance companies in the U.S. As CEO of Renew, he raised over $2 billion in private capital that financed energy efficiency and clean energy projects in nearly 100,000 homes. Previously, Cisco spent five years as the Chief of Staff to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. In 1996, President Clinton appointed him to serve as an aide to the U.S. Secretary of Energy, where he held roles at the White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation. Cisco has over 20 years of experience in public policy and energy efficiency. He also holds a B.A. in political science from UCSD and a Master's of Public Policy from UC Berkeley. 

In this episode, Cisco explains what OhmConnect does, how their platform works, and what led him to serve as CEO. He also touches on the relationship between OhmConnect and CA utilities and barriers to large-scale deployment. Plus, we have a lively discussion on pricing carbon and other policies that would address climate change. It was great to have Cisco join me this week, and I'm excited for listeners to learn more about OhmConnect.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded August 13th, 2021

For more information about OhmConnect: https://www.ohmconnect.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/cisco-devries

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

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

Today's guest is Patricia Bubner, Co-Founder & CEO of Orbillion Bio, Inc.

Patricia is a founder and the CEO of Orbillion Bio, Inc. The company is on a mission to accelerate the broad availability of a variety of healthy, nutritious, and flavorful cultivated meat products. Orbillion recently graduated from renowned Y Combinator's Winter 21 batch. Originally from Austria, Patricia is a scientist and engineer working to build a future of ethical and sustainable food. Before Orbillion, she co-founded an agriculture & food systems project, The Millet Project, that aimed at diversifying agriculture and our diet by cultivation and consumption of lesser-known grains such as millets. Patricia did her postdoc at the Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley, where she studied the expression of glycoproteins in filamentous fungi and plants.

In this episode, Patricia walks me through Orbillion Bio Inc, the company's origins, and how the ethics of traditional meat production motivated her to co-found the startup. We dive into the key phases of bringing the company to market and how to scale the cell-based meat industry. Patricia also explains the impact food systems have on the environment and why wide-scale adoption of alternative meats is essential for addressing climate change. Patricia is a fantastic guest!

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded August 6th, 2021

To learn more about Orbillion Bio Inc., visit: https://www.orbillion.com/

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/orbillion

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

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

Today's guest is Amy Duffuor, Principal at Prime Impact Fund.

Prime Impact Fund, an investment initiative of Prime Coalition, is an early-stage VC fund dedicated to investing in technology companies with the potential for gigaton-scale climate impact.

Prior to Prime Impact Fund, Amy was a renewables and power investment banker at Bank of America. There, she worked with CEOs of public and private companies to raise investment capital, including the IPO of Sunnova, a residential solar company initially valued at approximately $1 billion. Before her stint on Wall Street, Amy ran early-stage social venture accelerators around Southeast Asia for a Singapore-headquartered impact investing firm called Impact Investment Exchange. Earlier in her career, Amy was a management consultant at State of Flux, a London-based consulting firm specializing in supply chain and procurement. In addition, she serves as a board member for Prime Impact Fund portfolio companies Clean Crop Technologies and Noon Energy and is on the Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC) board. 

I was looking forward to catching up with Amy because I've interviewed some of her colleagues early on in the My Climate Journey days. It was exciting to hear how Prime Impact Fund has grown since 2018 and learn about Amy's role at the company. She walks me through her climate journey, what led her to work at Prime Impact Fund and the firm's investment strategy. We also talk about the differences between catalytic capital and concessionary capital and the importance of climate impact-aligned investing.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded August 4th, 2021

For more information about Prime Impact Fund: https://www.primeimpactfund.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/amy-duffuor

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

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

Today's guests are Bessie Schwarz, Co-Founder & CEO, and Beth Tellman, Co-Founder & Chief Science Officer, at Cloud to Street.

Bessie and Beth met as Master's students at Yale University's School of Environmental Sciences and Forestry, where Cloud to Street started as their thesis research. The company is the world's leading remote flood mapping platform. Cloud to Street uses global satellites and remote sensing AI to monitor flood risk and detect worldwide floods in real-time. Its unique technology requires zero ground equipment and provides governments and communities with accurate and trustworthy flood monitoring. Seeded by Google, Cloud to Street provides disaster relief support and data to governments in almost 20 countries worldwide. Partnering with top insurers, the startup is launching the first commercial parametric flood insurance product to protect climate-vulnerable communities better. 

Bessie and Beth are great guests, and I was looking forward to having them on the show. The two co-founders explain how Cloud to Street came to be, what sets the company apart from other flood monitoring businesses, and how their product works. We also discuss how natural hazards, blue lining, and climate change negatively affect frontline communities and how Cloud to Street can help. 

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded August 2nd, 2021

To learn more about Cloud to Street, visit: https://www.cloudtostreet.ai/

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/cloud-to-street

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

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

Today's guest is Dominic Falcão, Founding Director of Deep Science Ventures.

Deep Science Ventures is a venture studio and a fund that pioneers a new model for synthesizing knowledge, talent, and capital into optimal outcome-centric scientific ventures. DSV focuses on building high-growth, high-impact companies in "tough" sectors from energy and agriculture to pharmaceuticals and computing.

With a decade's knowledge and experience in company building, Dom serves as Founding Director of Deep Science Ventures, where he focuses on energy and the net-zero transition. He co-founded Deep Science Ventures in 2016 at the age of 25. Before DSV, Dom led Imperial College London's science startup program. He worked with over 200 student companies and supported a fraction of these to raise over £25m in funding within three years. He grew the community 375% to 3000 scientists in 1 year. In 2021, Dom was named one of Forbes Finance Under 30. 

I was looking forward to sitting down with Dom because Deep Science Ventures' approach to company building is unique. He walks me through that approach and their go-to-market strategy. Dom explains his climate journey and what led him to found DSV. We also discuss why the current path from academic research to commercialization is difficult and compare DSV with a traditional fund. Dom and I's conversation is a must-listen.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded July 28th, 2021

For more information about Deep Science Ventures: https://deepscienceventures.com/
 

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/dominic-falcao

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

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

Today's guest is Amanda Li, Co-Founder & COO at Banyan Infrastructure.

Banyan Infrastructure is unleashing capital to accelerate the development of next-generation infrastructure projects to provide essential services across the globe and transform the world's energy systems into sustainable forms of energy. The startup combines financial and technological innovation to accelerate the deployment of solar, wind, and other critical infrastructure around the globe. They use blockchain-based, innovative contract technology to oversee and automate complex and time-consuming contractual management of these small distributed assets. Their solution de-risks these assets for lenders, decreases overhead costs, and increases the ability to refinance these projects at a lower cost of capital. Before co-founding Banyan Infrastructure, Amanda was an Infrastructure Investor at Generate Capital and Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company. She has also served many product roles at technology and renewables startups across Canada, China, and the US. 

In this episode, Amanda takes me through the company's mission, the product, and what led her to co-found the company. Then, we dive into how these projects are traditionally financed, the problem Banyan is tackling, and other areas of project finance ripe for innovation. Amanda and I have a great discussion, and it was exciting to learn more about what Banyan is doing.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded July 29th, 2021

To learn more about Banyan Infrastructure: https://www.banyaninfrastructure.com/

To learn more about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/ctss-episodes/banyan-infrastructure

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

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

Today's guest is Lila Preston, Head of the Growth Equity Strategy for Generation Investment Management.

Lila joined Generation in 2004 and serves as Head of the Growth Equity Strategy. Prior to joining Generation, Lila was a Director in Development & Finance at VolunteerMatch and a Fulbright Fellow in Chile, where she worked on forestry and conservation projects. Lila currently serves as a Board Director at Nature's Fynd as well as a Board Observer at Toast and CiBO Technologies. In addition, she is a member of the Social Mission Board at Seventh Generation, is on the Board of Advisors at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and is a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum. Lila received a BA in English Language and Literature from Stanford University and an MBA from London Business School.

I was looking forward to sitting down with Lila and learning more about Generation Investment Management. In this episode, Lila walks me through Generation's mission, her climate journey, and how Generation evaluates companies to invest in. We also have a lively discussion about ESG investing, greenwashing, and the ethics of partnering with fossil fuel companies as we head towards a clean future. Lila is a great guest, and this episode is a must-listen.

Enjoy the show!

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded July 23rd, 2021

For more information about Generation Investment Management: https://www.generationim.com/

For more information about this episode, visit: https://myclimatejourney.co/episodes/lila-preston

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

Connect with MCJ:

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