Inevitable

Today’s guest is Mike Phillips, Co-founder and CEO of Sense.Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, Sense provides homeowners with real-time insights that illustrate their home energy use. Users of Sense’s Home Energy Monitor are able to not only understand energy use on an appliance level, but also identify opportunities to both save money and consume energy when it's cheapest and cleanest. Sense is actively pursuing a broader and more ambitious vision. By deploying its technology as a software application and embedded intelligence for the growing landscape of smart meters, the company is positioning itself to expand its energy monitoring and management capabilities considerably. As investors in Sense via our MCJ collective venture capital fund, we were excited to talk with Mike in more detail about his climate journey and the company’s origin story and progress so far. We have a great discussion about the future of the home, electric panels, smart meters, the role utilities play in hardware deployment, and in what ways consumers want to be involved in home energy management. Enjoy the show!  You can find me on Twitter @codysimms, @mcjpod (podcast) or @mcjcollective (company). You can reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded June 14, 2022. Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today’s guest is Rachel Slaybaugh, Principal at DCVC.In her role, Rachel is focused on climate, sustainability, and energy investments. Before joining DCVC, Rachel was an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley where she held leadership roles in several data science and entrepreneurship efforts. Concurrent to being a professor, Rachel was a Division Director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where she ran the Cyclotron Road Division. She served as a Program Director at the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E, where she created the nuclear fission program and managed the agriculture portfolio as well as solar and virtual reality teams. Rachel co-founded the Good Energy Collective and currently serves as Chair of the Board. Rachel received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Penn State, where she served as a licensed nuclear reactor operator, and a M.S. and Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin–Madison in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics. We have a wonderful discussion about Rachel's climate journey and how she has prioritized her professional pursuits. We also talk about what Rachel has learned working in academia, government, early-stage innovation, and now as a venture capitalist. Additionally, the conversation touches on where VC and equity capital fit into the climate problem as well as key learnings from the last cleantech wave, and so much more. Enjoy the show!  You can find me on Twitter @jjacobs22 (me), @mcjpod (podcast) or @mcjcollective (company). You can reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded June 7, 2022. Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Jesse Forrester, Founder and CEO of Mazi Mobility.Mazi Mobility is a Kenyan Mobility as a Service (MaaS) company that is re-imaging mobility through the implementation of an electric vehicle ecosystem in Africa. Mazi assembles and sells electric two and three-wheelers while building and operating the EV charging infrastructure to support these vehicles. A Kenyan award-winning entrepreneur and visionary, Jesse believes in the confluence of impact and profit. He is a former Zayed Sustainability Prize winner and has been involved with social enterprises for the last 6 years, touching on the food, water, and energy nexus.We were excited for this one because while the MCJ podcast focus has primarily been in the Western world, developing nations are just as important. Transportation in countries like Kenya will be critical in terms of emissions and Mazi is trying to bring about positive change.  We learned a lot from this one and are so grateful that Jesse was willing to share his story. Enjoy the show!You can find me on Twitter @jjacobs22 (me),  @mcjpod (podcast) or @mcjcollective (company). You can reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded May 12, 2022. Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Alison Smart and Spencer Glendon of Probable Futures discuss their climate journeys and the creation of their initiative. They emphasize the importance of understanding and preparing for climate change, visualizing its impact, and realizing the destabilization of our civilization. They highlight the universal applicability of their resource for climate change education and planning, the challenge of reconciling self-interest and the collective good, and framing the future as either a defensive catastrophe avoidance or an aspirational vision of abundance. They also discuss learning about the tools and building partnerships.

Today's guests are Dana Gibber, Caroline Klatt, and Phil Fogel of Flowcarbon.And today’s episode is hosted by Jason’s partner at MCJ Collective, Cody Simms.Flowcarbon is using blockchain to make carbon markets more accessible. They're seeking to tokenize the voluntary carbon market to aid in price discovery, transparency, and access. We were looking forward to this conversation as Flowcarbon has been in the news a lot. They just raised significant capital from A16Z and other notable investors; the day after their raised was announced, Verra — the largest voluntary carbon marketplace — made a substantial position statement regarding blockchain; Flowcarbon was incubated by the family office of Adam and Rebekah Neumann of WeWork renown; and blockchain is a controversial topic in climate circles generally. So across all of this, we had a ton to discuss.We cover the founders’ backgrounds and origin story of Flowcarbon, their views on the carbon markets today, how they believe crypto helps solve key issues in the carbon markets, and where they think this whole space is headed. We also discuss Flowcarbon’s specific technology approach and how it fits into the broader #ReFi movement, and we touch on the Neumann’s involvement with the company.Enjoy the show!You can find Cody on Twitter via @codysimms and MCJ Collective via @mcjpod (podcast) or @mcjcollective (company). You can reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded May 27, 2022. Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Emma Stewart, Netflix Sustainability Officer, discusses bringing the company's carbon footprint to net zero, prioritizing emissions sources, offsets, and carbon removal. Insights on Netflix's sustainability journey, late entry into sustainability, motivations for action, and the role of companies in environmental change.

Today's guest is Alisha Fredriksson, Co-founder and CEO of Seabound.Seabound builds carbon capture equipment for ships. They're the only way for existing ships to reduce up to 95% of CO2 emissions and meet new global regulations and they already have six LOIs secured from major ship owners. I was excited for this one because shipping is one of those areas that is a big source of emissions and also really hard to decarbonize. So it's interesting to dig into what it is that makes it so hard to decarbonize, the different options for doing so, and of course, where Seabound fits in.We also cover the origin story of the company, what inspired Alisha and team to do the work that they do, and some of their progress to date. It's especially interesting to dig into some of the motivations of the customers that are signing these LOIs, what value proposition is resonating, what some of their concerns are, and how a business like this ultimately scales.Enjoy the show!You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 (me), @mcjpod (podcast), or @mcjcollective (company) and via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.To learn more about Seabound, visit: https://www.seabound.co/To learn more about this episode, visit: https://mcjcollective.com/my-climate-journey-podcast/seabound Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Stephan Nicoleau, Managing Director at FullCycle.FullCycle developed a unique investment model, specifically designed to accelerate the deployment of climate-critical technologies. These technologies must exceed their thresholds for carbon return on investment and deliver above market returns on a risk adjusted basis. Stephan leads the firm's capital formation and partnerships, and brings more than a decade of investing and investment advisory experience to the team.I was excited for this one because FullCycle is interesting. They do both growth stage equity investing and they do project finance and like to get involved early in terms of the first few plants that get built and things like that, which I've heard from many people and founders is a gap and one that's highly additional to help address. We cover a lot in this episode, including Stephan's background and what led him to doing the work that he's doing, FullCycle's model, origin story, and progress to date, as well as their investment approach and how they measure success. We also cover how they think about returns, LP composition, some examples of sectors and companies they have gotten involved with, and what types of resources they bring to bear beyond capital to be helpful to the companies they work with.Enjoy the show!You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 (me), @mcjpod (podcast), or @mcjcollective (company) and via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.Episode recorded April 19, 2022To learn more about FullCycle, visit: https://www.fullcycle.com/To learn more about this episode, visit: https://mcjcollective.com/my-climate-journey-podcast/stephan-nicoleau Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Today's guest is Raffi Garabedian, Co-Founder and CEO of Electric Hydrogen.Electric Hydrogen is creating a new generation of electrolyzer technologies to enable clean, abundant and low cost hydrogen to end the age of fossil fuels. They closed an A round of financing back in 2021, including participation from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Capricorn's Technology Impact Fund, and Energy Impact partners.I was excited for this one as one, hydrogen is such an important topic and a controversial one. Two, I really wanted to learn more about Electric Hydrogen's approach. They've raised a bunch of money early in their journey from high caliber climate investors, and they have quite an experienced team. Raffi himself was the Chief Technology Officer of First Solar before jumping in as Co-Founder of Electric Hydrogen. We cover a lot in this episode, including the state of heavy industry, what makes it so hard to decarbonize, the role that hydrogen can play, where it is in its evolution, some of the barriers holding it back, some of the approaches that seem promising, and of course, Electric Hydrogens approach. We cover where electrolyzers fit in, how their electrolyzer is different and better, what types of target customers they focus on, how close they are to going to market, what some of the biggest risks are, what scale looks like, and how it will be financed. Enjoy the show!To learn more about Electric Hydrogen, visit: https://eh2.com/To learn more about this episode, visit: https://mcjcollective.com/my-climate-journey-podcast/electric-hydrogen Enjoyed this episode? Please leave us a review! Share feedback or suggest future topics and guests at info@mcj.vc.Connect with MCJ:Cody Simms on LinkedInVisit mcj.vcSubscribe to the MCJ Newsletter*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

Tony Fadell, Principal at Future Shape and former iPod, iPhone, & Nest executive, discusses climate tech investing, entrepreneurial journey, navigating climate messaging, empowering consumers for change, seeking expert opinions, and encouraging action in climate solutions.