Today's guest on the My Climate Journey Startup Series is Jack Morrison, Co-founder and CEO at Scythe.
Scythe recently announced a $42M Series B round of financing led by Energy Impact Partners to grow and scale their product line of autonomous electric commercial lawnmowers. When discussing the need to electrify everything, we tend to focus on electric vehicles and home efficiency. But over the next 5-10 years most of us will be surprised by just how many things in our daily lives will move from loud, smelly, gasoline-powered engines to quiet, odorless electric motors. This podcast has featured electric solutions for pleasure craft boating, motorcycles, passenger buses, semi trucks, and even cargo shipping. And in most cases, the business models of the electric versions of these things are innovative in some way or another too.
The Scythe team is pioneering a new usage-based model for their mowers and the company believes it offers a more sustainable way for landscaping companies to manage their cashflows and help their employees get the job done.
In this episode, we cover:
- [2:00] Jack's background in programming and robots
- [4:00] His transition from 3D scanning to landscaping
- [6:48] Climate impact of the landscaping business and Scythe's role in helping curb the emissions footprint
- [11:03] Scythe's M.52 mower product
- [13:17] Why Scythe chose an electric and autonomous solution
- [18:16] The safety side of the company's tech
- [22:36] Impacts on landscapers' day to day
- [27:45] Technology barriers for incumbent mowing companies
- [30:18] Scythe's early traction, progress to date, and market share
Get connected:
Cody Simms Twitter / LinkedIn
Jack Morrison / Scythe
MCJ Podcast / Collective
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Episode recorded on March 7, 2023.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
