Climate CEOs: Scaling Startups

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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making?What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned about funding your growth with outside investors?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making?What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned about funding your growth with outside investors?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more. Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making?What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned about funding your growth with outside investors?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more. The next live, online course is June 1 to 14.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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.https://twitter.com/DrChrisWeddinghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding/In this show, I cover two topics:(1) Highlights from my newsletter💸 2x valuation increase — SOSV Climate Tech 100 list.☀️ New report — How to finance a “First of a Kind (FOAK)” project.😵 Are you an unconscious leader?READ MORE: https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/its-getting-hot-in-here-2x-valuation?s=w(2) My new live course on climate tech fundingJune 1 to 141-2 live class sessions per week1-2 optional live Q&A sessions per weekEnrollment capped at 25 students500+ climate investor list (with emails)5-step process for raising capital4 tools for assessing your competitive edge9-step method for improving your 1-page business plan10 top startup funding mistakes to avoidNetwork of peers to support youENROLL HERE: https://maven.com/entrepreneurs-for-impact/fund-your-climate-tech-startup--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:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more. The next live, online course is June 1 to 14.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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.https://twitter.com/DrChrisWeddinghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding/In this show, I cover two topics:(1) Highlights from my newsletter🌤️ 56 early-stage climate startups to Google (Diamond List)🏆 62 world-changing companies tackling the climate crisis (Fast Company)🏀 Can you jump 44 inches into the air and dunk a basketball? (Two books to help you play to your strengths)READ MORE: https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com/p/-118-climate-tech-startups-to-watch?s=w(2) My new live course on climate tech fundingJune 1 to 141-2 live class sessions per week1-2 optional live Q&A sessions per weekEnrollment capped at 25 students500+ climate investor list (with emails)5-step process for raising capital4 tools for assessing your competitive edge9-step method for improving your 1-page business plan10 top startup funding mistakes to avoidNetwork of peers to support youENROLL HERE: https://maven.com/entrepreneurs-for-impact/fund-your-climate-tech-startup--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:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more. The next live, online course is June 1 to 14.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making?What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned about funding your growth with outside investors?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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:Climate CEO Mastermind Peer Groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more. The next live, online course is June 1 to 14. It's capped at only 25 students.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making?What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned about funding your growth with outside investors?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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:Climate CEO mastermind peer groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more. The next live, online course is June 1 to 14. It's capped at only 25 students.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?How are you funding your growth — e.g., revenue, VC, CVC, government grants, M&A? What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned along the way?Outside of your current business, what other 1-2 climate or sustainability sectors seem like promising areas in which to start a business? What might those solutions look like?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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:Climate CEO mastermind peer groups — 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.Online course on "Funding Your Climate Tech Startup" — Two-week boot camp offering 500+ climate investor list (with emails), a 5-step process for raising capital, the top 10 startup funding mistakes, and much more. The next live, online course is June 1 to 14. It's capped at only 25 students.Newsletter — A 3-minute weekly summary of climate tech, startups, better habits, and deep work.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.

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. Her thesis "Feature-based Visual Navigation in GPS-denied environment" is the basis for Regrow's software for the processing of remotely sensed images (including Machine Learning), assignment of semantic labels on visual features, and multi-sensor/ multi-temporal data fusion for localization purposes.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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?How are you funding your growth — e.g., revenue, VC, CVC, government grants, M&A? What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned along the way?Outside of your current business, what other 1-2 climate or sustainability sectors seem like promising areas in which to start a business? What might those solutions look like?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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.Website: www.entrepreneursforimpact.comMembership benefits: https://bit.ly/3l12GygSample Mastermind members: https://bit.ly/3ipSehSRequest more information on membership: https://bit.ly/3mj48eM

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:BusinessWhat does your company do? What makes you unique versus the competition?How are you funding your growth — e.g., revenue, VC, CVC, government grants, M&A? What are 1-2 lessons you’ve learned along the way?Outside of your current business, what other 1-2 climate or sustainability sectors seem like promising areas in which to start a business? What might those solutions look like?PersonalIf you had to start over, what are 1-2 tips you’d give yourself in order to be faster, more effective, and higher impact?What are some habits and routines that keep you focused, healthy, and sane — e.g., meditations, exercise, productivity hacks?What recommendations do you have for our audience — books, podcasts, quotes, tools?What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you — outside of your own family?-------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.Website: www.entrepreneursforimpact.comMembership benefits: https://bit.ly/3l12GygSample Mastermind members: https://bit.ly/3ipSehSRequest more information on membership: https://bit.ly/3mj48eM