Replacing plastics through a circular economy with Dispatch Goods & Congruent Ventures, Ep #26

Oct 25, 2022

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Ever get carry out food and then feel guilty about all the plastic packaging? Single use plastics are a real problem. Every year over 14 millions tons of plastic end up in our oceans, and plastic that ends up in landfills release toxins that pollute our soil, waterways and food chain. This is not to mention the carbon emissions of producing plastic packaging to begin with.

The convenience of carry out food isn’t going anywhere, and so we need to find alternatives to plastic packaging. That’s where Dispatch Goods come in. They’re an innovative startup that’s already replaced over 1 million pieces of plastic packaging with reusable containers.

In this episode, I spoke with Dispatch Goods’ CEO Lindsey Hoell and Christina O’Conor, a partner at Congruent Ventures who led a seed investment in Dispatch. We talked about Dispatch’s history and progress, the challenges of scaling circular economy businesses and what our future might look like as companies like Dispatch grow and enable us all to return packaging and materials for future use. Hope you learn as much as I did. Enjoy.

In today’s episode, we cover:

[3:09] What is Dispatch Goods & the problem they’re aiming to solve
[4:45] Dispatch’s partners & how their business works
[5:40] The scale of our waste problem
[7:15] Does recycling plastics work
[8:49] Lindsey’s journey developing traction & where Dispatch is at today
[11:33] The materials that Dispatch is currently focused on
[13:00] What is Congruent Ventures, their investment thesis & why did they invest in Dispatch Goods
[16:13] How is Dispatch scalable & what will it take to scale
[20:52] Dispatch’s vision for the future & key strategies for growth
[25:37] The scalability challenges of circular businesses from an investor’s perspective
[26:36] What Christina & Congruent are looking for from entrepreneurs
[27:24] Congruent’s investments in Planet FWD & other ventures
[30:26] The investment opportunity for consumer products-related companies
[32:04] Untapped opportunities that deserve more attention
[35:08] What if the unit economics don’t make sense yet
[35:46] The scope of what Dispatch will be doing in the future

Replacing plastics through a circular economy with Dispatch Goods & Congruent Ventures, Ep #26

In today’s episode, we cover:

Resources Mentioned

Connect with Lindsey Hoell and Christina O’Conor

Connect With Jason Rissman