Sustainability isn’t sustainable without revenue.

In this episode, Helen Zhang shares how she’s building Coffee Elf -a company transforming commercial coffee waste into bio-based materials and cosmetic ingredients.

What started as a kitchen experiment is now evolving into a circular system spanning industrial sourcing, processing, and downstream partnerships.

We discuss:

• Why climate founders must commercialize early

• How to navigate small buyers vs. enterprise procurement teams

• The complexity of building physical infrastructure in climate tech

• The overlooked strategic framework climate startups need

• Why profit and purpose must coexist

Helen’s perspective is clear: you’re not building a charity. You’re building a business and profitability is what allows impact to scale and last.

What does real scale look like in a sustainability business?

For Mallika Reddy, founder of Cancelled Plans, it doesn’t mean producing more.

It means producing differently.

Mallika’s studio transforms industrial waste, from pharmaceutical packaging to billboard misprints, into high-value design pieces. But along the way, she’s had to confront some uncomfortable truths about growth, marketing, and what actually drives adoption.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why “saving the planet” isn’t a strong enough sales message

• The tension between profitability and purpose

• How to pivot without losing your core philosophy

• Why performance marketing failed and what worked instead

• How founder-led storytelling builds credibility in a world of greenwashing

This is an honest conversation about redefining scale, resisting overproduction, and building a sustainability business that can stand commercially, not just morally.

Clean heat is one of the biggest pieces of the climate puzzle - but it won’t scale unless it makes financial sense.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, I sat down with Jane Melia, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer of Harvest Thermal, to explore what it really takes to bring climate hardware into the mainstream.

Harvest combines heat pumps with thermal storage to deliver low-carbon heating and hot water that cuts emissions by around 90% - while lowering bills and supporting grid flexibility.

But this conversation goes far beyond the technology.

Jane shares:

• Why economics - not emissions - determine whether climate solutions scale

• The reality of product-market fit in climate tech

• Why go-to-market is often harder than building the product

• What founders underestimate about selling into utilities and infrastructure

• The mindset shift required when transitioning from CEO to CRO

• Why hiring the right team is one of the most important decisions a founder makes

This episode is a practical look at scaling sustainability in the real world - where incentives, timing, and trust matter just as much as innovation.

Turning climate concern into meaningful action is one of the biggest challenges facing the sustainability movement today.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, I sat down with Brett Walter, founder & CEO of Climate Action Now, to explore how technology can mobilise individuals to drive systemic climate impact.

After a career building scalable software in Silicon Valley, Brett launched the Climate Action Now app on Earth Day 2021 with a clear goal: make it easy for people to influence legislation, corporate behaviour, and public policy directly from their phones.

But creating the platform was only the beginning.

Sustaining engagement, motivating action, and scaling participation required deep thinking around behavioural psychology, product design, and advocacy strategy.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why systemic action scales faster than lifestyle change

• How software can amplify individual climate impact

• The psychology behind sustained user engagement

• Why fear-based messaging often limits participation

• The role of hope in driving climate action

• Monetisation strategies for impact platforms

• The challenges of scaling civic advocacy technology

• Advice for founders building mission-driven startups

If you’re building at the intersection of climate, technology, and systems change - this episode offers a thoughtful look at how digital platforms can turn awareness into action at scale.

Commercialising sustainable materials is one of the hardest and most misunderstood challenges in climate tech.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, I sat down with Marc McConnaughey, CEO of Biobond Adhesives, to unpack what it really takes to bring bio-based industrial products to market.

Biobond is on a mission to replace petroleum-based chemicals in adhesives and coatings with plant-based alternatives - removing microplastics, VOCs, and harmful toxins from global supply chains.

But as Marc explains, breakthrough technology alone isn’t enough.

Success depends on execution, market timing, customer adoption, and the ability to sell into industries that are often slow to change.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Why the #1 startup failure is building something the market doesn’t need

• Why execution accounts for the majority of startup success

• How to identify early adopter “rabbit customers”

• The psychological and commercial barriers to industry change

• The role of sales capacity in driving growth

• How regulation and labour pressures influence adoption

• Lessons from failed sustainability scale-ups

• What the future holds for bio-based materials

If you’re a founder, operator, or commercial leader scaling innovation in sustainability, manufacturing, or materials - this episode offers a grounded look at the realities behind impact.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, I sat down with Emilio Sassine, Founder & CEO of Cedrus, to talk about what it really takes to commercialise AI in the built environment.

Cedrus is building a platform that helps real estate owners reduce emissions across building portfolios - using AI to replace static energy audits with dynamic, data-driven retrofit planning.

But as Emilio shared, the technology is only part of the story.

A big part of the challenge is trust.

When you’re selling innovation - especially AI - to engineers, asset managers, and technical experts, you’re asking people to rethink how they’ve worked for decades.

And that creates friction.

In our conversation, we explore:

• What early sales look like when your product is still being built

• The challenge of selling AI to technical stakeholders

• How Cedrus uses data to reduce building emissions at scale

• Why founders need to challenge their own value proposition first

• Balancing customer feedback with product vision

• Lessons from moving from MVP to a market-ready platform

One insight that stuck with me was Emilio’s view that before convincing anyone else, founders need to be fully convinced themselves - stress-testing their product, positioning, and differentiation.

If you’re building in climate tech, proptech, or energy, especially with an AI layer, this episode offers a grounded look at the commercial realities behind bringing innovation to market.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, I sat down with Josh Knauer, Co-Founder & CEO of ReSeed, to explore how environmental markets can work better for the farmers at the centre of them.

Josh has spent his career building businesses at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and economic inclusion. Through ReSeed, he’s focused on a simple but powerful idea:

If we want farmers to deliver climate impact, they need to share in the financial value it creates.

The conversation unpacks how carbon and ecosystem markets function today - and why many have historically been inaccessible to smallholder farmers due to cost, complexity, and delayed revenue.

Josh shares how ReSeed is helping farmers generate income from environmental data, connect to global carbon markets, and participate in new financial systems that reward land stewardship.

Together, we discuss:

• Why ecosystem service markets have struggled to scale

• The importance of early revenue in farmer adoption

• Turning farm data into a new income stream

• Building trust through partnership, not prescription

• What founders must understand about emerging climate markets

• The commercial realities behind nature-based solutions

This episode offers a grounded look at what it really takes to align climate impact, farmer livelihoods, and scalable business models.

Building a sustainability business isn’t just about good intentions.It’s about the trade-offs you make when values, margins, and growth collide.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, I’m joined by Sara Baxter, Co-Founder and CEO of Paperclip.

Sara shares what it’s really like to build a consumer sustainability brand under real commercial pressure - from absorbing higher material costs to competing with cheaper alternatives and navigating growth without losing trust.

We talk about:

• Why sustainable materials often come with a “green premium”

• How founders decide when to protect margins vs values

• The reality of DTC and wholesale growth for early-stage brands

• Why influencer marketing and agencies often disappoint

• How trust, education, and transparency shape long-term demand

• The hard lessons Sara learned as a founder - and what she’d do differently

This episode is for sustainability founders and operators who want an honest look at what it takes to grow a values-led business without shortcuts.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, Chris Jones sits down with Brad Stutzman, Founder and CEO of o3 Energy, to talk about what actually drives adoption in commercial renewable energy.

Brad shares lessons from building o3 Energy across residential, commercial, and small utility-scale markets - including when to pivot, how to evaluate new offerings, and why many sustainability messages fail to resonate with business decision-makers.

Rather than leading with ideology, Brad explains why successful renewable energy companies focus on outcomes that can be measured: energy costs, risk reduction, grid reliability, and operational impact.

The conversation also covers how o3 Energy works with real estate owners and developers, why relationships and trust still matter in B2B sales, and how founders can make clearer decisions in fast-changing markets.

This episode is for sustainability founders, operators, and commercial leaders who want a grounded, practical view of how renewable energy gets adopted in the real world.

Growth in traditional industries doesn’t fail loudly. It slows quietly - when leaders stop building forward and start protecting what already exists.

In this episode of The Plucky Bamboo Podcast, Chris Jones sits down with Titan Immel, Founder of Ag Hub Midwest, to talk about what scaling, sustainability, and leadership actually look like in agriculture - one of the most risk-sensitive industries there is.

Titan shares how rapid early growth led to complexity, stalled momentum, and leadership blind spots - and how stepping back to rebuild systems, refocus on value, and redefine sustainability helped the business move forward again.

This conversation explores:

• Why growth often plateaus after early success - and how founders lose sight of the future

• How systems matter more than headcount once complexity sets in

• What sustainability looks like when customers’ livelihoods are on the line

• How to introduce change in traditional industries without breaking trust

• The leadership shifts required to move from “holding steady” back into growth

Ag Hub Midwest serves growers across the Midwest by focusing on efficiency, operational fit, and long-term value - not hype or short-term wins.

If you’re building a sustainability business under real constraints - margins, people, operations, and trust - this episode offers a grounded, practical perspective on what it actually takes to scale.