Explore every episode of the podcast Climate CEOs (formerly Entrepreneurs for Impact): Scaling Climate Tech Startups
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gratitude Micro-Episode: 25% Happiness Boost + Recharge for Climate Wins | 28 Nov 2024 | 00:06:26 | |
In 7 minutes, Chris shares science-backed gratitude practices to recharge, boost happiness, and sustain energy for long-term climate tech impact. In this unusual episode, I do my best to go meta, above our normal climate tech challenges and opportunities, to the science and mindset of gratitude. Does a greater appreciation for what we have mean nothing bad is happening out there? Not at all. But building climate tech solutions is not a spring. It's a marathon. Or maybe both. As such, we need all the non-work tools in our toolbelt to maintain our energy, health, and focus along the journey. In seven short minutes, I walk through five science-based benefits of gratitude and four practical ways to practice it in a few minutes each day. 📈 JOIN EFI’S CLIMATE CEO PEER GROUP: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — Join North America’s top private peer group community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. We’re a community of 85+ CEO Fellows, Alumni Allies, and Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs) representing over $50B of market value or financial assets for climate solutions. Apply here: https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com 📣 READ EFI’S NEWSLETTER: Join over 20,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators who get our three-minute read about changing the world through startups, finance, humor, and wisdom. https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com ✍🏼 LEAVE A PODCAST REVIEW: To help more people discover the climate tech CEOs and investors we interview, please take one minute to review or rate this podcast. Since we don’t take any sponsors for this podcast, we appreciate this small gesture of your appreciation. Here are instructions: https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews 🤔 PODCAST HOST: Dr. Chris Wedding is the founder of EFI (climate CEO peer groups), cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (next-gen power electronics), Duke & UNC professor, ex-private equity investor, ex-investment banker, occasional monk, father of three, 2x ax-throwing champ (huh?), Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006 (Google it), and super humble guy (as evidenced by this long bio). | |||
| Long-Duration Storage: $100M Raised + $4T Market by 2040 | 14 Nov 2024 | 00:46:15 | |
e-Zinc develops zinc-based long-duration energy storage, combining resilience-as-a-service models with FOAK financing to scale in a $4T global market. e-Zinc produces zinc-based long-duration energy storage technology with discharge durations between 10 and 100 hours. They have raised over $100M in funding and are building their first three commercial pilots. In addition to his role at e-Zinc, James is a Board Director of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council (LDESC) and Energy Storage Canada (ESC), as well as a former Manager at Bain and MaRS. In this episode, you’ll learn these four important takeaways.
🔗 PODCAST SHOW LINKS: James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesflarsen?originalSubdomain=ca eZinc - https://www.e-zinc.ca/ Bhagavad Gita (book) - https://shorturl.at/M73By The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers (book) - https://shorturl.at/YIATK 📈 JOIN EFI’S CLIMATE CEO PEER GROUP: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — Join North America’s top private peer group community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. We’re a community of 85+ CEO Fellows, Alumni Allies, and Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs) representing over $40B of market value or financial assets for climate solutions. Apply here: https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com 📣 READ EFI’S NEWSLETTER: Join over 20,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators who get our three-minute read about changing the world through startups, finance, humor, and wisdom. https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com ✍🏼 LEAVE A PODCAST REVIEW: To help more people discover the climate tech CEOs and investors we interview, please take one minute to review or rate this podcast. Since we don’t take any sponsors for this podcast, we appreciate this small gesture of your appreciation. Here are instructions: https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews 🤔 PODCAST HOST: Dr. Chris Wedding is the founder of EFI (climate CEO peer groups), cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (next-gen power electronics), Duke & UNC professor, ex-private equity investor, ex-investment banker, occasional monk, father of three, 2x ax-throwing champ (huh?), Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006 (Google it), and super humble guy (as evidenced by this long bio). | |||
| Lithium Extraction: $100M Raised + Direct Lithium from Brine | 12 Sep 2024 | 00:55:51 | |
EnergyX is scaling direct lithium extraction with $100M in funding, boosting efficiency, building dual plants, and pioneering tech acquired for just $10,000. EnergyX is a direct lithium extraction company with $100M of investment, including about $50M from retail investors. Its 100 team members are advancing its new membrane, solvent, and adsorbents to boost the efficiency of extracting lithium from underground salt water. Teague is a serial entrepreneur whose first success was launching a record label at age 20 and taking an artist to #1 in the iTunes hip hop charts. (That’s a first for a guest on the EFI podcast!) In this episode, you’ll learn these four important takeaways and much more.
🔗 PODCAST SHOW LINKS: Teague - https://www.linkedin.com/in/teagueegan EnergyX - https://energyx.com Elon Musk biography - https://shorturl.at/DkNYU 📈 JOIN EFI’S CLIMATE CEO PEER GROUP: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — Join North America’s top private peer group community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. We’re a community of 85+ CEO Fellows, Alumni Allies, and Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs) representing over $30B of market value or financial assets for climate solutions. Apply here: https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com 📣 READ EFI’S NEWSLETTER: Join over 20,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators who get our three-minute read about changing the world through startups, finance, humor, and wisdom. https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com ✍🏼 LEAVE A PODCAST REVIEW: To help more people discover the climate tech CEOs and investors we interview, please take one minute to review or rate this podcast. Since we don’t take any sponsors for this podcast, we appreciate this small gesture of your appreciation. Here are instructions: https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews 🤔 PODCAST HOST: Dr. Chris Wedding is the founder of EFI (climate CEO peer groups), cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (next-gen power electronics), Duke & UNC professor, ex-private equity investor, ex-investment banker, occasional monk, father of three, 2x ax-throwing champ (huh?), Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006 (Google it), and super humble guy (as evidenced by this long bio). | |||
| Organic Waste Recycling: $200M Raised + Scaling Cities’ Compost Markets | 08 Dec 2022 | 00:39:51 | |
Discover how Atlas Organics turns food & yard waste into profitable compost — leveraging public-private partnerships, strategic investors, & founder grit to scale nationwide. My guest today is Joseph McMillin, Cofounder and CEO of Atlas Organics. Atlas Organics is a national leader in organic waste recycling. Their key partner is Generate Capital, a multi-billion-dollar sustainable infrastructure investor. Joseph is also a member of the Climate Mastermind peer groups we run at Entrepreneurs for Impact with three dozen growth-stage CEOs and investors tackling climate change. In this episode, we talked about the following:
Hope you enjoy. And give Joseph a shout-out on LinkedIn, Slack, or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people. --- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our two offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 4x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 70,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Philanthropy: 2% Funding → Terraset Builds Carbon Market Trust (+ Ex-Twitter Tech Lead) | 01 Dec 2022 | 00:50:23 | |
Discover how Alex Roetter is reshaping carbon removal financing with Terraset — combining advanced market commitments, donor-friendly transparency, & climate tech VC experience. My guest is Alex Roetter, General Partner at Moxxie Ventures, Founder of Terraset, and former Head of Engineering at Twitter. In addition, he came up with this great idea around which we teamed up together to launch Terraset, an anti-GHG 501(c)(3) for advanced market commitments in the carbon removal industry (CDR). In this episode, we talked about the following:
Hope you enjoy it! And give Alex a shout-out on LinkedIn, Slack, or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people. --- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our two offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 4x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 70,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Finance Trends: New Tracker Launch + 15 Winning Pitch Decks | 24 Nov 2022 | 00:19:29 | |
Discover fresh tools, mindset shifts, & fundraising insights — from a new climate finance tracker to pitch decks that helped raise millions for carbon tech startups. In this newsletter-turned-podcast episode from Entrepreneurs for Impact, I cover the following:
Enjoy! Ping me on LinkedIn to let me know what you think about it. ------- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Here's our weekly newsletter — A 3-minute summary of climate tech startups, better habits, and deep work trends: https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Our main program is a Climate CEO Mastermind peer group community: https://entrepreneursforimpact.com Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $8B in market cap or assets under management. Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 4x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 70,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Investing: $3B Hedge Fund Lessons + “Free the Money” for Impact | 17 Nov 2022 | 00:48:31 | |
Discover how Howard Fischer went from hedge fund titan to climate impact evangelist — moving capital from spreadsheets to soul to fund game-changing climate solutions. My guest today is Howard Fischer, the Chief Evangelist at Gratitude Railroad and CEO of Basso Capital Management. Gratitude Railroad's mission is to support investors in moving capital from traditional finance to impact investments that create deep social and environmental impact, without compromising financial returns. His bio on the GR website is delightful in its brevity and insight into who he is. And I quote: “Uphill over downhill; Snow over sand; Read over watch; Trees over skyscrapers; Pizza over steak; Conversation over gossip; Disagree over agree; Instinct over spreadsheets; Relationship over contract.” In this episode, we talked about:
Hope you enjoy. And give Howard a shout-out on LinkedIn or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people. --- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Learn more:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Inclusive Climate Capital: 25K Green Jobs + Funding Underrepresented Founders | 10 Nov 2022 | 00:43:10 | |
Discover how Taj Eldridge is reshaping climate investing — blending alpha returns, social equity, & place-based innovation to power the next wave of green jobs. My guest today is Taj Ahmad Eldridge. Taj is the Director of Climate Innovation at Jobs for the Future, and Cofounder of Include Ventures, a fund of funds investor focused on emerging managers at the intersection of “Alpha + Inclusion + Sustainability.” In addition, Taj is…
In this episode, we talked about:
Hope you enjoy it! And give Taj a shout-out on LinkedIn or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people. --- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Learn more:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate VC Investing: $200M Fund + 100 Early-Stage Bets per Year | 03 Nov 2022 | 00:45:20 | |
Discover how Collaborative Fund backs for-profit & for-good startups — from $200M growth bets to 100 micro-investments fueling the next wave of climate innovation. My guests in this episode are Sophie Bakalar and Tomás Álvarez Belón from Collaborative Fund. Collaborative Fund is a 10-year-old VC firm investing at the intersection of for-profit and for-good, with a long-time focus on climate. Today, they’re investing in Series A- and B-stage startups from their $200M Collab SOS Fund. Through their Shared Future initiative, they're also investing $100,000 into 100 startups per year that come through top-notch accelerator programs like YCombinator, Activate, and AirMiners. In this episode, we talked about the following:
Hope you enjoy! And give Sophie, Tomás, Collaborative Fund, and Shared Future a shout-out on LinkedIn or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people. --- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Learn more:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Net-Zero Infrastructure: $3B Projects + Licensing Breakthrough Tech | 28 Oct 2022 | 00:42:59 | |
Discover how 8 Rivers is building billion-dollar net-zero energy projects & licensing game-changing tech to accelerate the global clean energy transition. My guest for his episode is Damian Beauchamp, the President and Chief Development Officer of 8 Rivers. In addition, he is also:
8 Rivers is a platform company developing the sustainable infrastructure of tomorrow by inventing and commercializing large-scale innovations in the race to Net Zero. Founded by a former Wall Street finance executive and a literal rocket scientist, their investors include industry heavyweights Exelon, SK Group, McDermott, and Occidental Low Carbon Ventures. In this episode, we talked about the following:
Hope you enjoy! And give Damian and 8 Rivers a shout-out on LinkedIn or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people. ------- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Learn more:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Flood Mapping: $2T Climate Adaptation Market — Bessie Schwartz, CEO of Cloud to Street | 20 Oct 2022 | 00:41:34 | |
Explore how Cloud to Street uses satellites, balloons, and big data to protect climate-vulnerable communities and unlock smarter flood insurance. My guest today is Bessie Schwartz, the Co-founder & CEO of Cloud to Street. Cloud to Street is the leading flood mapping platform designed to protect the world’s most climate-vulnerable communities. By harnessing global satellites, advanced science, and community intelligence, they monitor worldwide floods in near real-time and remotely analyze local flood exposure at a click of a button. Their mission is to ensure that all vulnerable governments finally access the high-quality information they need to prepare for and respond to increasing catastrophes. In addition, she is…
In this episode, we talked about the following:
Hope you enjoy! And give Bessie and Cloud to Street a shoutout on LinkedIn or Twitter by sharing this podcast with your people. ------- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Learn more:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Clean Hydrogen: $222M Series B → Smarter Electrolyzers (+ Ex-First Solar CEO) | 13 Oct 2022 | 00:48:42 | |
Explore how Electric Hydrogen combines advanced electrolyzer tech, ultra-low-cost green power, and industrial-scale design to slash clean hydrogen costs. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Electric Hydrogen is a hardtech startup making hydrogen from 100% clean energy to decarbonize industrial sectors by creating a new generation of electrolyzer technologies. They recently raised $198 million from leading climate investors such as Fifth Wall, S2G Ventures Silicon Valley Bank, Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Equinor Ventures, Honeywell, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Rio Tinto, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Capricorn Partners, Energy Impact Partners, and Prelude Ventures. Raffi Garabedian is the cofounder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen. Previously, he was the former CTO of First Solar, the leading global manufacturer of thin-film solar panels, and the founder and CEO of Touchdown Technologies. He also holds over 20 issued patents and is a big proponent of "doing shit that matters." ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Real Estate: $500M Fund → $326T Market (+ 90 Corporate Giants) | 06 Oct 2022 | 00:52:07 | |
Unpack how Fifth Wall combines strategic LPs, deep proptech expertise, and massive real estate reach to accelerate climate innovation across the built world. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Fifth Wall is a $3B VC fund with a new $500M climate tech fund. Their focus is the built environment. Strategic investors include over 90 of the biggest corporate players in real estate, such as Hines, Prologis, and CBRE. Greg Smithies is a Partner at Fifth Wall, where he co-leads the Climate Technology Investment team. Previously, Greg was a Partner at BMW i Ventures where he led the Sustainability investing practice. He also led Finance & Operations for both The Boring Company and Neuralink simultaneously. He started his investment career at Battery Ventures where he covered early-stage enterprise technology startups, as well as industrial technology buyouts. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Energy Storage Software: 200+ Projects + 10-Year Contracts | 05 Sep 2024 | 00:50:09 | |
WATTMORE helps optimize energy storage projects with software, backed by 200+ deployments, decade-long contracts, and insights from founder JW Postal’s decades in clean energy. WATTMORE is an energy storage software company providing battery sizing, economic outcome forecasts, battery charging and discharging, and more. JW is a serial founder and clean power executive (Because Solar, Main Street Power, Clean Energy Collective, SunShare), Vice Chair (Western Caucus) of the Democratic National Committee, Board member of Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, and Board member of SELF (Solar Electric Light Fund). In this episode, you’ll learn these four important takeaways and much more.
🔗 PODCAST SHOW LINKS: WATTMORE - https://www.wattmore.com JW - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jopostal 📈 JOIN EFI’S CLIMATE CEO PEER GROUP: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — Join North America’s top private peer group community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. We’re a community of 85+ CEO Fellows, Alumni Allies, and Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs) representing over $30B of market value or financial assets for climate solutions. Apply here: https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com 📣 READ EFI’S NEWSLETTER: Join over 20,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators who get our three-minute read about changing the world through startups, finance, humor, and wisdom. https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com ✍🏼 LEAVE A PODCAST REVIEW: To help more people discover the climate tech CEOs and investors we interview, please take one minute to review or rate this podcast. Since we don’t take any sponsors for this podcast, we appreciate this small gesture of your appreciation. Here are instructions: https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews 🤔 PODCAST HOST: Dr. Chris Wedding is the founder of EFI (climate CEO peer groups), cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (next-gen power electronics), Duke & UNC professor, ex-private equity investor, ex-investment banker, occasional monk, father of three, 2x ax-throwing champ (huh?), Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006 (Google it), and super humble guy (as evidenced by this long bio). | |||
| Climate VC Bets: Founder Filters → Faster Commercialization (+ Deep Hardtech Roots) | 29 Sep 2022 | 00:43:20 | |
See how Baruch Future Ventures combines early-stage capital, technical due diligence, and founder empathy to accelerate resource tech breakthroughs. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Baruch Future Ventures is a VC investor that works with entrepreneurs to shorten the time and reduce the cost to commercialization of resource technology innovations. They invest in the early stages of companies in these impact areas: energy systems, food security, air quality, healthcare, and water quality. Jason Holt is a partner at Baruch Future Ventures. He is also a former entrepreneur with 27 years of experience; a PhD in chemical engineering from Caltech; and Board member or advisor to dozens of startups, especially in hardtech. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Capital: 10-Min Apps → 30-Day Funding (+ $2.5B Target) | 22 Sep 2022 | 00:46:24 | |
Discover how Enduring Planet combines revenue-based financing, speedy approvals, and zero-dilution terms to fuel climate founders at scale. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Enduring Planet is a fast and founder-friendly non-dilutive capital source for climate entrepreneurs. Apply in 10 mins. Get funded in 30 days. No collateral, no personal guarantees. Their goal is to fund $2.5B in these capital solutions in the next five years. Dimitry Gershenson is the cofounder and CEO of Enduring Planet. He is also a former entrepreneur; prior lead on Meta’s Energy Access program, a $15M+ investing initiative that enabled energy access for 3M people and unlocked nearly $500M in additional capital in underserved markets like Kenya and India; and Board member at Ecosafi, a Lowercarbon Capital-backed climate startup enabling clean cooking in emerging markets ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Carbon Tracking: Hourly Data → Verified Claims (+ VC-Backed SaaS) | 15 Sep 2022 | 00:46:58 | |
Explore how Cleartrace merges real-time grid data, emissions analytics, and automated auditing to help companies prove true carbon-free power use. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Cleartrace is a decarbonization SaaS platform that provides the actionable data companies need to meet their renewable energy goals. They function as an "anti-greenwashing" tool that helps corporations prove they are carbon-free on Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions. Investors include ClearSky, Tenaska, EDF Energy North America, Brookfield Renewable, and Exelon. Lincoln Payton is the CEO of Cleartrace and former Head of Investment Banking Americas and Global Head of Investment Banking Energy & Commodities for BNP Paribas. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Carbon Mineralization: $54M+ Raised → $100/Ton CO₂ Removal (+ 1B Ton Goal) | 08 Sep 2022 | 00:42:49 | |
Discover how Heirloom fuses accelerated mineralization, modular DAC systems, and heavyweight investors to pull gigatons of CO₂ from thin air. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Heirloom aims to accelerate our planet's transition to a carbon-negative society by removing 1B tons of CO2 from the air by 2035 by engineering the most cost-effective, scalable direct air capture system. Their technology enhances a naturally occurring process, called carbon mineralization, to help minerals absorb CO2 from the ambient air in days, rather than years. They are backed with $50M+ of VC funding from Lowercarbon Capital, Musk Foundation, Time Ventures, XPrize, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Grantham Environmental Trust, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and more. Shashank Samala is the CEO of Heirloom. Previously, he was an Entrepreneur In Residence at Carbon180 and Cofounder of Tempo ($75M+ for advanced software-driven electronics production). ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Chaos: 350+ Startups Mapped → 348 ESG Funds Banned (+ Billionaire VC Regret) | 01 Sep 2022 | 00:21:29 | |
Unpack how this week’s wild climate news mixes startup surges, anti-ESG backlash, and rare humility from the ultra-wealthy. In this newsletter-turned-podcast episode from Entrepreneurs for Impact, I cover the following:
Enjoy. Let me know if you like it. ------- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Home Energy: $62M VC → Pay-for-Performance Retrofits (+ Smart Fintech Twist) | 25 Aug 2022 | 00:41:10 | |
Discover how Sealed blends energy-efficiency tech, creative financing, and behavioral economics to slash home emissions risk-free. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Sealed is a VC-backed startup that modernizes single-family houses with the latest HVAC, weatherproofing, and smart home technology. They also cover the upfront costs of these upgrades, so if they don’t reduce customer energy use, then they don’t get paid. Lauren Salz is the co-founder and CEO of Sealed. In addition to a stint at McKinsey & Company and a summer playing the flute as a street musician in Oxford, she is also a Forbes 30 under 30, Olympic-style weightlifter, and flute player. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| VC Wisdom: $3B AUM → 3,000 Startups (+ $70B Portfolio Lessons) | 18 Aug 2022 | 00:49:48 | |
Learn how Brad Feld combines early-stage investing, founder empathy, and a “give first” ethos to scale climate tech breakthroughs. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. He is the Cofounder of Foundry, Mobius Ventures, and Intensity Ventures. He is also the author of eight books and cocreator of Techstars, a leading startup accelerator that has accepted about 3,000 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization over $70B. Foundry manages over $3B in assets and invests in startups and venture capital funds. Their approach is characterized by long-term thinking and a "give first" philosophy. They have 70 active investments, 100 general partners, 45 partner funds, and 1,900 Foundry network companies. Their sample climate investments include VC funds (USV, Moxxie Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital) and startups (Running Tide, Sofar). ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Carbon Tech: $350M Wishlist → 225 Millionaires (+ 2 Must-Listen Pods) | 11 Aug 2022 | 00:13:36 | |
Explore how this episode blends a $350M fund’s carbon tech wishlist, counterintuitive funding advice, and insider investor access to spark your next big move. This is another newsletter-turned-podcast episode from Entrepreneurs for Impact. So, yep. It's still August. Lots more downtime. More vacations. Fewer guests wanting to get off Mt. Fuji and talk on a podcast. 😅 Here's what I cover today:
Let me know if you like it. ------- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Here's our weekly newsletter — A 3-minute summary of climate tech startups, better habits, and deep work trends: https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Our main program is a Climate CEO Mastermind peer group community: https://entrepreneursforimpact.com Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $8B in market cap or assets under management. Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 4x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 70,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Mobility Startups: 212 Funding Deals → 4 VC Market Shifts (+ 143M Climate Refugees) | 04 Aug 2022 | 00:18:18 | |
Unpack how this episode mixes fresh VC trends, funding data from 200+ mobility startups, and real talk on climate chaos to fuel your founder game. This is a newsletter-turned-podcast episode from Entrepreneurs for Impact. That, of course, means that I took too much vacation and didn't line up a guest for this week. 😂 But oh, the goodness herein!
Let me know if you like it. ------- Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Carbon SaaS: $100M Raised → Supply Chains Decarbonized (+ Global Enterprise Clients) | 28 Jul 2022 | 00:45:05 | |
Discover how Sweep’s Rachel Delacour blends SaaS tech, carbon tracking, and enterprise partnerships to slash emissions across massive global supply chains. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Sweep is a SaaS company that helps large companies reduce carbon emissions in their businesses and supply chains. Sample customers include multi-billion-dollar global enterprises such as Saint-Gobain and HP. Rachel Delacour is the Co-founder and CEO of Sweep. She is also a Board Member at 2MX Organic, Investment Committee member at RAISE France, and Board member at Shine, as well as the former President at France Digitale and Co-Founder & CEO of BIME Analytics (acquired by Zendesk). She also speaks French very well; that's because she is French and lives in France. (I wonder who reads these podcast summaries. If that's you, Tweet at me here https://twitter.com/DrChrisWedding. 🤣) ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Solar Development: 1 GW + Winning in Deregulated Markets | 22 Aug 2024 | 00:42:50 | |
CleanChoice Energy scales 1 GW of solar while managing concentration risk and navigating deregulated power markets, with leadership insights from Zoe Gamble. CleanChoice is a retail power provider and solar project developer and owner. Combined into one, they aim to be a 100% renewable gentailer. Zoe has experience developing and selling hundreds of megawatts of solar as the former CEO of Pine Gate Renewables and General Counsel at FLS Energy. In this episode, you’ll learn these four important takeaways and much more.
🔗 PODCAST SHOW LINKS: Zoe - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zoehanes CleanChoice Energy - https://cleanchoiceenergy.com The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have - https://shorturl.at/32xet The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection - https://shorturl.at/gJZCo 📈 JOIN EFI’S CLIMATE CEO PEER GROUP: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — Join North America’s top private peer group community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. We’re a community of 85+ CEO Fellows, Alumni Allies, and Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs) representing over $30B of market value or financial assets for climate solutions. Apply here: https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com 📣 READ EFI’S NEWSLETTER: Join over 20,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators who get our three-minute read about changing the world through startups, finance, humor, and wisdom. https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com ✍🏼 LEAVE A PODCAST REVIEW: To help more people discover the climate tech CEOs and investors we interview, please take one minute to review or rate this podcast. Since we don’t take any sponsors for this podcast, we appreciate this small gesture of your appreciation. Here are instructions: https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews 🤔 PODCAST HOST: Dr. Chris Wedding is the founder of EFI (climate CEO peer groups), cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (next-gen power electronics), Duke & UNC professor, ex-private equity investor, ex-investment banker, occasional monk, father of three, 2x ax-throwing champ (huh?), Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006 (Google it), and super humble guy (as evidenced by this long bio). | |||
| ESG Tech: $100M Raised → $2B Mobilized (+ Personalized Impact Portfolios) | 21 Jul 2022 | 00:36:54 | |
Learn how Ethic’s Jay Lipman fuses fintech, values-based investing, and advisor partnerships to channel billions into sustainable portfolios. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Ethic is working toward a future where all investing is sustainable investing. Backed by almost $100M of funding, they empower wealth advisors and investors to create portfolios that seek to align personal values with financial goals. Their solution has catalyzed $2B of capital into more responsible funds to date. Jay Lipman is the Co-founder and President of Ethic. He is also a Top LinkedIn Voice for the Green Economy and a member of our Climate Mastermind peer groups at Entrepreneurs for Impact. Check out his entertaining and educational ESG videos here. He claims that his sophisticated English accent is not a factor in his success, but the jury is still out. (I wonder who reads these podcast summaries. If that's you, Tweet at me here https://twitter.com/DrChrisWedding. 🤣) ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Batteries, But Make Them Faster, Safer, and U.S.-Made — Vivas Kumar, CEO of Mitra Chem | 14 Jul 2022 | 00:47:46 | |
How Mitra Chem is using machine learning to cut battery cathode development timelines by 90% while reshoring safer, cheaper iron-based batteries to the U.S. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Mitra Chem is solving three problems:
Vivas Kumar is the Cofounder and CEO of Mitra Chem. Previously, he was a senior manager in Tesla's Battery Team, where he was the lead commercial negotiator for strategic contracts representing billions of dollars in aggregate multi-year spend along the battery materials supply chain (the company's largest BOM category). Throughout his career, he has conducted commercial negotiations and handled partnerships with executive and senior government counterparties in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. Vivas earned degrees in engineering at Rice University and an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| New Energy Boom: $375M Fund → Scaling Renewables, Efficiency & EV Infrastructure — Mark Lewis, MD of Lime Rock New Energy | 07 Jul 2022 | 00:44:27 | |
Explore how Lime Rock New Energy deploys $375M into mature clean energy companies by backing renewable tech, industrial efficiency, and transportation electrification to accelerate the low-carbon transition. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Lime Rock New Energy invests private equity capital out of its first $375M fund into maturing companies focused on renewable energy products and services, energy efficiency for industry and the built environment, and transportation electrification. Mark Lewis is a Managing Director with Lime Rock New Energy, with responsibility for investment sourcing, execution, and overall fund management. He currently serves on the board of directors of EPE, Qmerit, and Smart Wires. Previously, he was the President of TAE Technologies, Inc., the world’s largest and most advanced fusion energy technology development company; CEO of ONEnergy, a diversified energy services company involved in energy retailing, commercial and industrial energy efficiency and distributed solar projects; Managing Director at MissionPoint Capital Partners, an environmentally driven investment firm focused on financing the transition to a lower-carbon economy; and head of Global Business Development at GE Energy where he was involved in over $15 billion of transactions. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Smart Energy & Mobility: $700M Fund → 9 IPOs (incl. Tesla) — Tim Wang, The Westly Group | 30 Jun 2022 | 00:43:38 | |
Discover how The Westly Group deploys $700M across energy, mobility, and industrial tech by funding growth-stage startups, driving sustainable infrastructure, and backing future climate unicorns. PODCAST GUEST BIO: The Westly Group was founded in 2007 and has four venture capital funds with over $700 million under management. They have become one of the premier venture investors in North America focused on energy, mobility, buildings, industrial technology, and cybersecurity. They invest $5-$15M per company, and one of their nine IPOs includes Tesla. Check out their portfolio here: https://westlygroup.com/portfolio Tim Wang joined the Westly Group in 2015 and helps manage the firm’s deal flow and due diligence process. Prior to joining the Westly Group, Tim was a co-founder and Head of Business Development at a China-based financial technology start-up, ChinaScope, where he raised $5M from Moody’s Corporation. Tim began his career as an analyst at S&P Capital IQ, a leading financial data provider for financial institutions and advisory firms. Tim worked with the Client Development team out of their New York office before moving to Hong Kong to lead their Asia go-to-market efforts and build a team that would manage relationships with all of Capital IQ’s clients in the region. Tim holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Renewable-Powered Data: $150M Exit → Grid-Stabilizing Micro Centers — John Belizaire, Soluna Computing | 24 Jun 2022 | 00:46:45 | |
Explore how Soluna combines excess renewable energy, modular data centers, and public-market scale to cut curtailment waste and build a greener cloud backbone. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Soluna Computing is a NASDAQ-listed public company that builds smarter, small-footprint data centers to buy and use excess renewable power. John Belizaire is the CEO of Soluna Computing and a serial entrepreneur who sold his first company at age 28 for $150 million. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Startups: €1–5M Checks → Megaton CO₂ Cuts (+ Europe’s Unicorn Factory) | 16 Jun 2022 | 00:34:01 | |
Explore how Climentum Capital combines late-seed funding, deep climate tech focus, and hands-on founder support to turn European startups into CO₂-slashing scaleups. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Climentum Capital invests via late seed and Series A rounds in European startups that can reduce megatons of CO2 equivalents. With initial ticket sizes ranging between 1 and 5 million EUR, they are building a portfolio of 25 companies. Yoann Berno is a General Partner at Climentum Capital, a mentor with Breakthrough Energy Fellows, a software engineer, and a former cofounder at Catalyst (Enable), Angels Partners, and Supernova. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Critical Minerals: E-Waste → Clean Feedstocks (+ Profitable Recovery Tech) | 09 Jun 2022 | 00:37:35 | |
Explore how Nth Cycle combines electro-extraction tech, onsite modular systems, & recycling partnerships to profitably reclaim critical minerals for the clean energy transition. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Nth Cycle is a metals processing technology company. They work with battery recyclers and miners. Their customizable and clean electro-extraction technology installs onsite to recover critical minerals from separated e-waste, low-grade ore, and mine tailings. They profitably separate critical minerals from other elements, transforming them into production-grade feedstocks for the clean energy transition. Megan O'Connor is a Forbes 30 Under 30 and PhD graduate in environmental engineering from Duke University with scientific and entrepreneurial experience at Yale University and Innovation Crossroads. She cofounded Nth Cycle five years ago. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Clean Energy Law: Complex Deals → Global Impact (+ Hydrogen Tracker Bonus) | 02 Jun 2022 | 00:40:04 | |
Unpack how Mona Dajani combines legal expertise, engineering rigor, & global dealmaking to drive billion-dollar clean energy infrastructure projects. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is an international law firm with a particular focus on the technology & media, energy, financial, and real estate & construction sectors. They have been recognized as one of the most innovative law firms by Financial Times and one of the top firms for client service by BTI Consulting. Mona Dajani, an industry thought leader and a partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, is the global co-leader of the firm’s Energy and Infrastructure Projects Team at and also leads the Renewable Energy practice, which covers clean energy, clean energy technology, hydrogen, and sustainable finance. She is qualified as a lawyer in the U.S., as a registered foreign lawyer in England, and a licensed professional engineer. Their Hydrogen Energy Map Tracker is here: https://www.thehydrogenmap.com ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Charitable Capital: $1T Market → Scalable Impact (+ Turnkey Investment Platform) | 26 May 2022 | 00:43:16 | |
Explore how CapShift blends philanthropy, finance, & climate innovation to mobilize charitable capital for massive social and environmental change. PODCAST GUEST BIO: CapShift empowers philanthropic, donor-advised funds, and financial institutions (along with their clients) to mobilize capital for social and environmental change. They are a turnkey impact investment solution for the $1 trillion charitable investment market. Adam Rein is the Cofounder and Chief Investment Officer. Since 2014, he has served as a Managing Director for MissionPoint Partners, an impact investment advisory and asset management firm. Previously, Adam co-founded Altaeros, an MIT startup bringing affordable broadband to rural communities. Adam is also a co-founder of Greentown Labs, the largest climate tech incubator in North America. Previously, Adam worked as a strategy consultant for Bain & Company. Adam has an MBA from MIT Sloan, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a BA from Yale University. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Tech Trends: 2x Valuations → FOAK Financing (+ Live Funding Course) | 19 May 2022 | 00:09:52 | |
Unpack how SOSV’s Climate Tech 100, FOAK project funding tactics, & founder-focused training can supercharge your climate startup journey. In this episode, I'm once again trying a new format, something less formal. A solo recording where I talk through a few recent news stories in climate tech finance. Let me know if you like it. In this show, I cover two topics: (1) Highlights from my newsletter
(2) My new live course on climate tech funding
-- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Climate Investing: $275M Raised + 120 Companies Backed | 15 Aug 2024 | 00:50:30 | |
Carbon Equity has raised $275M from 900+ investors to back 120+ climate tech companies generating $1.8B in revenue across the EU and US. Today’s podcast is a rebroadcast of one of our most popular episodes ever. Jaqueline van Ende is the CEO of Carbon Equity. They also have some big news... They’ve raised another €60 million in 4 months for their third climate tech fund. The goal is to raise €125 million in all which will be invested through private equity and venture capital funds in the EU and the US and eventually into at least 150 climate tech companies. Since its founding in 2021, Carbon Equity has raised over €250 million from more than 900 investors. To date, the company has invested in 120+ companies through 18 funds, which together, despite being early-stage innovations, already generate more than €1.7 billion in revenue. 🔗 PODCAST SHOW LINKS: Jacqueline - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlvdende?originalSubdomain=nl Carbon Equity - https://www.carbonequity.com/ Their white paper - https://www.carbonequity.com/whitepapers/the-climate-tech-opportunity 📈 JOIN EFI’S CLIMATE CEO PEER GROUP: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — Join North America’s top private peer group community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. We’re a community of 85+ CEO Fellows, Alumni Allies, and Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs) representing over $30B of market value or financial assets for climate solutions. Apply here: https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com 📣 READ EFI’S NEWSLETTER: Join over 20,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators who get our three-minute read about changing the world through startups, finance, humor, and wisdom. https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com ✍🏼 LEAVE A PODCAST REVIEW: To help more people discover the climate tech CEOs and investors we interview, please take one minute to review or rate this podcast. Since we don’t take any sponsors for this podcast, we appreciate this small gesture of your appreciation. Here are instructions: https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews 🤔 PODCAST HOST: Dr. Chris Wedding is the founder of EFI (climate CEO peer groups), cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (next-gen power electronics), Duke & UNC professor, ex-private equity investor, ex-investment banker, occasional monk, father of three, 2x ax-throwing champ (huh?), Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006 (Google it), and super humble guy (as evidenced by this long bio). | |||
| Startup Scouting: 118 Climate Innovators → Founder Edge (+ Live Funding Course) | 12 May 2022 | 00:19:29 | |
Explore how top-ranked startups, strength-based founder tools, & a hands-on funding course can fast-track your climate tech success. In this episode, I'm trying a new format, something less formal. More like a conversation with you. And much shorter than usual. Let me know if you like it. In this show, I cover two topics: (1) Highlights from my newsletter
(2) My new live course on climate tech funding
-- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Carbon Removal: $32M Deployed → $925M Pledged (+ Shopify’s Climate Bet) | 05 May 2022 | 00:43:00 | |
Uncover how Shopify backs carbon-negative startups using bold funding, corporate coalitions, & a long-game climate strategy. PODCAST GUEST BIOS: Shopify is a leading global e-commerce platform where "millions of the world's most successful brands sell, ship, and process payments anywhere." Nearly 600M shoppers made a purchase from a Shopify merchant in 2021, and around $496B has been sold on Shopify by merchants to date. Stacy Kauk is the Head of Sustainability and formerly Head of Ozone Protection and Head of Chemicals Management at Environment and Climate Change Canada. She plays leadership roles in the $32M they've invested to support carbon-negative companies through their Sustainability Fund, and the new $925M commitment from Shopify, Stripe, Alphabet, Meta, and McKinsey Sustainability to do the same over ten years in the Frontier Fund. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Sustainability Software: Emissions Measured → Leadership Gained (+ Engaged Stakeholders) | 28 Apr 2022 | 00:51:20 | |
See how Sustain.Life blends carbon tracking, operational decarbonization, & stakeholder engagement to futureproof mid-cap companies. PODCAST GUEST BIOS: Sustain.Life is a software solution that futureproofs mid-cap businesses tackling climate change. This includes the following benefits: (1) measure, track, and manage carbon emissions, (2) identify areas to make operational changes that reduce emissions, and offset the rest, and (3) leveraging tools and reports to engage suppliers, employees, customers, and other key stakeholders. Mike Hanrahan is the Co-founder, Interim CEO, and Board Member. He is also the CEO of 4Sided, a firm that builds SaaS companies; former Co-founder of Jet.com; and former CEO of Intelligent Retail Lab at Walmart. Alyssa (Zucker) Rade is the Chief Sustainability Officer. She was formerly Director of Sustainability for Vornado Realty Trust and Environmental Designer at Atelier Ten. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Synthetic Biology: Microbes at Work → Carbon-Negative Industry (+ Mining Reinvented) | 21 Apr 2022 | 00:42:59 | |
Explore how Cemvita Factory merges bioengineering, carbon-negative manufacturing, & biomining to decarbonize heavy industry. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Co-led by Cofounder and CEO Moji Karimi, Cemvita Factory is reimagining heavy industries for the net-zero economy via a portfolio of nature-inspired microbial solutions for the oil and gas and mining. Their work focuses on carbon-negative biomanufacturing, biomining, and subsurface biomanufacturing. Moji is a carbon-negative entrepreneur and a technology futurist. His mission is to create a sustainable future where humans have applied technology to balance the rate of climate change. A future where humans live in harmony with nature. As an operator, he has a track record of taking a range of multidisciplinary ideas to market. He started the company with his sister, Dr. Tara Kojimi, who has devoted her academic and professional careers to studying biological systems and applying natural principles in the service of creating biologically-inspired technology. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is on a mission to help climate innovators grow faster with new investment capital, share best practices among peers, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our three offerings include:
Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 3x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself. | |||
| Agtech Software: Soil Insights → Carbon Cuts (+ Profitable Farms) | 14 Apr 2022 | 00:41:20 | |
Discover how Regrow combines agronomy, soil carbon modeling, and satellite data to make agriculture more resilient and profitable. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Co-led by Cofounder and CEO Dr. Anastasia Volkova, Regrow is the first digital platform to unlock the power and profitability of resilient agriculture through a single, measurable, and verifiable system. Regrow combines best-in-class agronomy (from FluroSat, started by Anastasia) with soil and carbon modeling (from Dagan, acquired by FluroSat) to deliver customized, site-specific and scalable solutions to businesses across the supply chain. Anastasia's passion is Earth observation, automation, and efficiency. With three degrees and a doctoral thesis on autonomous navigation systems, she has experience in project management, transportation, and IT, including leading a 370-person team for UEFA, workshopping with Airbus, managing software development teams for American/European companies, starting a web development company, and running a successful event management startup. She is also a member of the Forbes Technology Council and Board Director for the Aurora Space Startup Cluster, an Australian initiative to promote the aerospace industry with 65 member companies across the entire supply chain. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $5B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Green Building Software: $36M VC → Automated Design (+ Backed by Iron Man) | 07 Apr 2022 | 00:43:54 | |
Explore how cove.tool combines machine learning, performance analytics, and cost optimization to make buildings greener, faster, and cheaper. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Co-led by Cofounder and CEO Sandeep Ahuja, cove.tool is an end-to-end automated green building performance software suite. It produces beautiful analysis graphics for energy, daylight, carbon, HVAC design, and more. Using machine learning, it considers thousands of options in order to select the lowest cost and highest performance material components for new construction and renovations. cove.tool has raised over $36M of venture capital funding, including investors such as FootPrint Coalition (Robert Downey, Jr.'s fund), Third Sphere, URBAN-X, and Mucker Capital. Sandeep is also the founder of a successful sustainability consulting firm Pattern r+d. She has presented at the UN environment assembly, with 1,500 global delegates, on the impact of building on climate change, showcased at the Tedx Atlanta, SXSW, won the Forbes 30 under 30, and Atlanta Startup Battle. Multiple publications have written about Sandeep's impact in the AEC industry including Architect magazine, Tech Crunch, Site Selection, and ArchDaily. With her desire to bring automation into the AEC world, she is pioneering the integration of building performance into the design and construction process by developing and using intelligent technology and software. Sandeep has presented at multiple architectural and engineering conferences including AIA, ACUI, ASHRAE, Facades+, Tech+, Build Tech, DBL. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
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------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $5B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Bio-Based Infrastructure: Manual Development → Automated Execution (+ Billion-Dollar Clients) | 31 Mar 2022 | 00:47:45 | |
Discover how Nexus PMG blends cutting-edge tech (drones + 3D laser scanning), sharp financial modeling, and bio-based design to build low-carbon infrastructure for global giants like Apollo and Cargill. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Co-led by COO and Cofounder Roshan Vani, Nexus PMG is a low-carbon, bio-based infrastructure development expert focused on project management, drone monitoring, 3D laser scanning, financial modeling, site selection, fuel supply, offtakes, permitting, FEED studies, EPC contracts, and project execution. Customers include some of the biggest names in infrastructure and finance, such as Apollo, Riverstone, Cargill, Skanska, Ultra Capital, Ember Infrastructure, and QIC. Roshan is a solutions-focused executive and advisor with more than 15 years of success across the construction industry. His broad areas of expertise include leadership, team building, risk analysis, business development, cash-flow forecasting, process improvement, client relations, and strategy. In addition to prior roles at Bechtel Power Corporation and Fluor, he is the Founder of Cloud EPC, a cloud-based enterprise project management and project controls system for the engineering, procurement, and construction industries. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $4B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Carbon Removal API: Manual Offsets → Instant Automation (+ VC Rocket Fuel) | 24 Mar 2022 | 00:42:40 | |
Explore how Patch merges sleek API tech, diverse carbon removal projects (from forests to biochar), and top-tier VC backing to help companies erase their emissions at internet speed. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Led by CEO and Co-founder Brennan Spellacy, Patch is an API-based solution enabling customers to embed carbon footprint estimation and removal directly into their digital products and experiences. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and other VC investors, Patch collaborates with a wide range of carbon removal project types, from traditional nature-based projects 一 such as forestry, soil, and kelp 一 to leading-edge carbon removal technologies 一 such as biochar, bio-oil, and mineralization. Prior to Patch, Brendan was trained as a chemical engineer and worked as a web developer and product manager for groups such as Sonder, Shopify, and McGill University. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $4B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Industrial Decarb: 12% Wasted Energy → 90% Efficiency (+ $45M MIT Spinout) | 17 Mar 2022 | 00:43:06 | |
See how Via Separations blends breakthrough membranes, electrified chemical processing, and $45M in deep-tech funding to slash industrial energy use and emissions at massive scale. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Led by CEO and Co-founder Dr. Shreya Dave, Via Separations is an MIT spinout enabling industrial process efficiency with novel chemistries that allow manufacturing facilities to slash energy consumption while making more product. Targeting the 12% of US energy consumption that is wasted each year separating chemical compounds with heat, Via Separations reduces the load of the process by 90%, electrifies the most energy-intensive step in chemical production, and generates additional revenue for the customer. Today, Via is deploying its technology in pilot trials at pulp and paper facilities to eliminate 500 million metric tons of CO2 by 2050. Via's investors and partners include Prime Impact Fund, Safar Partners, The Engine, Embark Ventures, ARPA-E, the National Science Foundation, and Greentown Labs. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $4B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Cleantech VC: 15 Years Investing → 36+ Startups (+ $700M+ Climate Impact Bets) | 10 Mar 2022 | 00:48:36 | |
Unpack how Congruent Ventures mixes early-stage risk-taking, cross-sector climate focus, and founder-first support to back the next wave of high-impact climate startups. Co-led by Cofounder and Managing Partner Abe Yokell, Congruent Ventures is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco. They focus on sustainability challenges and investing early across hardware, software, enterprise, consumer, deep technology, fin-tech, and business model innovation, with 36+ positive-impact investments to date. Abe oversees Congruent’s investments in AMP Robotics, Blueprint Power, OptimoRoute, For Days, Leap, Omnidian, Amply Power, Raptor Maps, Span.IO, Vector, and Phase Genomics. He has over 15 years of investment experience, having invested across sectors and business models, and was responsible for opening RockPort Capital’s West Coast office in 2007. Abe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Economics, with minors in Chemistry and Biology. When not serving as entertainment for his young children, Abe enjoys hiking, cycling, skiing, travel, and pointing out solar roofs to whoever happens to be nearby. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $5B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Climate Venture Studio: Launching Startups + AI & Parametric Insurance | 08 Aug 2024 | 00:42:21 | |
Montauk Climate uses a venture studio model to build startups in energy, mobility, and adaptation, tackling AI’s energy demands and innovating parametric climate insurance. Montauk Climate is a venture studio that launches and grows startups in the mobility, adaptation, energy, decarbonization, and sustainability sectors. Evan is a serial founder, power trader, board member, and investor with 20 years in the energy sector, including roles as Head of Venture Investing at Riverstone, a $40B energy investment and infrastructure firm. In this episode, you’ll learn these four important takeaways and much more.
🔗 PODCAST SHOW LINKS: Montauk Climate - https://montaukclimate.com Evan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanc1 📈 JOIN EFI’S CLIMATE CEO PEER GROUP: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — Join North America’s top private peer group community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. We’re a community of 80+ CEO Fellows, Alumni Allies, and Mentors (investors and post-exit CEOs) representing over $20B of market value or financial assets for climate solutions. Apply here: https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com 📣 READ EFI’S NEWSLETTER: Join over 20,000 entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators who get our three-minute read about changing the world through startups, finance, humor, and wisdom. https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com ✍🏼 LEAVE A PODCAST REVIEW: To help more people discover the climate tech CEOs and investors we interview, please take one minute to review or rate this podcast. Since we don’t take any sponsors for this podcast, we appreciate this small gesture of your appreciation. Here are instructions: https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews 🤔 PODCAST HOST: Dr. Chris Wedding is the founder of EFI (climate CEO peer groups), cofounder of Terraset (carbon removal), Senior Advisor at Javelin Capital (investment banking), Board member at World Tree (regenerative forestry), Board Advisor at DG Matrix (next-gen power electronics), Duke & UNC professor, ex-private equity investor, ex-investment banker, occasional monk, father of three, 2x ax-throwing champ (huh?), Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006 (Google it), and super humble guy (as evidenced by this long bio). | |||
| Impact Investing: $260M Deployed + 70+ Climate Ventures Backed | 03 Mar 2022 | 00:42:00 | |
Learn how SJF Ventures drives financial & environmental returns by investing in solar, energy efficiency, & mobility startups. Led by Managing Director Dave Kirkpatrick, SJF Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Durham, San Francisco, New York, and Seattle that has been at the forefront of impact investing since 1999. They have invested in 70+ high impact ventures that are creating a healthier, smarter and cleaner future. Dave Kirkpatrick helped lead SJF’s capitalization of four funds totaling $260 million starting in 1999. His portfolio engagements include Terabase Energy, ROOM, Waycare, Voltaiq, Living Earth, ENTOUCH Controls, and Community Energy, as well as exited companies TransLoc, NEXTracker, groSolar, CleanScapes, B.B Hobbs, and Foxfire. Dave’s industry focus areas include solar energy, energy efficiency, recycling & reuse, and mobility. Dave also serves as the founding co-chair of the Impact Capital Managers, a network of private capital fund managers in the U.S. and Canada investing for financial returns and impact. Prior to SJF, Dave founded and managed two other successful enterprises – KirkWorks, a cleantech investment research firm; and SunShares, a solar energy and recycling company. Dave was named the 2005 CDVC Practitioner of the Year by the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance and Recycler of the Year in 1996 by the National Recycling Coalition. Dave earned a BA in Physics and History from Duke University in 1982 and an MBA from UNC Kenan Flagler Business School (KFBS) in 1991. He was named KFBS Executive MBA Alumnus of the Year in 2010. He enjoys gardening, kayaking, and trying to learn Spanish. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
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------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $4B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Ocean Wave Energy: 15 Years Expertise + Storm-Resistant Tech Deployed | 24 Feb 2022 | 00:40:44 | |
Discover how CalWave harnesses ocean wave energy with resilient converters, offshore scaling, & venture-backed innovation. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Led by CEO and Co-founder Dr. Marcus Lehmann, CalWave is unlocking the vast and steady carbon-free power from ocean waves worldwide. They have built a proprietary wave energy converter technology that achieves high performance while surviving storms and extreme conditions. Marcus is a Forbes 30 Under 30 and brings 15+ years of experience as an industrial engineer and startup builder from Cyclotron Road, E.ON, Siemens, and BMW. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $4B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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| Industrial Innovation VC: 25 Years Experience + AI, Energy, Automation Bets | 17 Feb 2022 | 00:41:43 | |
Learn how Piva Capital accelerates industrial tech through venture capital, breakthrough AI & automation, & high-impact investments. PODCAST GUEST BIO: Led by CEO and Managing Partner Ricardo Angel, Piva Capital is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California. They invest in specialty chemicals, new materials, energy, mobility, industrials, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, robotics, automation, supply chain, logistics, electrification, and automation. Ricardo Angel leverages over 25 years of experience investing in the industrial and energy sectors to find and back visionary entrepreneurs, solving the world’s greatest challenges through breakthrough technologies and innovative business models. Before starting Piva in 2019, Ricardo was a founding Managing Director of GE Ventures. He led origination and investments and served on dozens of company Boards, providing leadership and guidance to management teams to drive operational and financial value. He also led Energy Technology Ventures (ETV), a $300 million joint venture formed by GE, NRG Energy, and ConocoPhillips. Previously, Ricardo worked at Chevron’s Venture Capital group, in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, and as a consultant at the CNA Corporation. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business
Personal
------- PODCAST HOST: Entrepreneurs for Impact is the only private mastermind community for growth-stage CEOs and investors fighting climate change. We’re on a mission to help climate leaders supercharge their impacts, share best practices, expand their networks, and reach their full potential. Our invite-only cohorts of 12 executives catalyze personal development and business growth via monthly meetings, annual retreats, a member-only Climate Investor Database, and 1:1 coaching and strategy calls. Today’s highly curated Mastermind members represent over $4B in market cap or assets under management, and are influencing corporate priorities and infrastructure much bigger than that. Peer groups are led by Dr. Chris Wedding who brings $1B+ of investment experience, 60,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.
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