Climate CEOs: Scaling Startups Carbon Removal: $32M Deployed → $925M Pledged (+ Shopify’s Climate Bet)
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.
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QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED:
Business
- What 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?
Personal
- If 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?
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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.