Entrepreneurs for Impact #187: Astrid Atkinson, CEO of Camus Energy — $26M for Power Grid Software. Ex-Google Engineer. One-Million-Fold Load Growth. Dog Training and CEO Skills.
My guest today is Astrid Atkinson, Co-founder and CEO of Camus Energy.
Camus Energy is a VC-backed software company serving power utilities with analytics and forecasting, real-time monitoring, and advanced control for local resources to help decarbonize the grid.
Astrid was a technical writer who worked her way up to become an executive in engineering at Google. She’s also a board member at the Gridwise Alliance and an Aussie who occasionally unveils her delightful accent. In her free time, she likes to find the connections between crocheting, dog training, and growing a world-changing company.
In this episode, you’ll learn these four important takeaways and much more.
- How she shortened the sales cycle of selling into power utilities
- What factors have helped her raise $26M in investor capital
- How the Myth of Sisyphys relates to her company name and the climate change fight
- What she learned from being a Google executive aat a time when the company experienced a one-million-fold load growth
🔗 PODCAST SHOW LINKS:
Camus Energy - https://www.camus.energy
Astrid Atkinson - https://www.linkedin.com/in/astridatkinson
Myth of Sisyphys - https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736
The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How (book) - https://www.amazon.com/Talent-Code-Greatness-Born-Grown/dp/055380684X
Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule (Paul Graham essay) - https://paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
Man’s Search for Meaning (book) - https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X
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🤔 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).