CleanTechies Podcast #153 The Most Valuable Data in ClimateTech, Confusing AI with Efficiency, and The Power of Tea w/ Peter Sun (Climactic)
🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, VC edition.
Today, we are talking to Peter Sun from Climactic
The major topics we covered were…
* Peter’s experiences hosting his very popular tea series ☕️
* What data is most valuable in ClimateTech 💻
* What AI can and can’t do…for now
Ask yourself this: is the content we put out valuable enough to you that you’d be willing to buy us a latte 🍵 once a month?
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The Guest: Peter Sun
* Peter has launched a popular tea series where he brings together all types of people to talk about important topics in ClimateTech
* He co-founded the Duke Impact Investing Group, which led to the relationships that ultimately enabled him to join Climactic
* Being on the founding team of Climatic, he has lots of insights into the current state of launching a fund and where trending topics like AI fit into his investing thesis
🚨🚨🚨 Shoutout to our sponsor Net Zero Insights — Net Zero Insights is the leading market intelligence platform on climate information with all the latest you need on funding rounds, VCs, and the climate tech ecosystem. Use this link to schedule your demo and get a 10% discount! 🚨🚨🚨
The VC: Climactic
Climactic invests in visionary founders solving our planet’s greatest challenges: battling climate change, achieving sustainability, and creating a more circular economy.
They focus early stage venture investments in climate tech for the enterprise and mobility. Their experience ranges over 20+ years of general tech experience, spanning 4 successful startups and two VC firms.
Founded by serially successful entrepreneurs who are also seasoned venture capitalists and growth execs, Climactic will help engineer the next wave of multi-billion dollar companies aligned with planetary and societal prosperity - proving that capitalism and impact are not in conflict.
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📝 Show Notes:
Topics
* 02:16 Overview of Climatic
* 05:05 Applications of AI in Climate Companies
* 09:30 The story of WeaveGrid
* 11:58 Evaluating Companies for Automation and Efficiency
* 16:50 Challenges in Implementing Transmission Lines
* 19:20 The Value of Data in Climate Tech
* 23:43 Starting a Climate VC Fund
* 27:03 Climate VC vs. Impact VC
* 30:12 The Difficulties for Founders in Climate Tech
* 34:35 Starting a Fund in the Current Fundraising Environment
* 52:45 Exit Strategies in Climate VC
* 54:00 Competitiveness in Climate Investing
* 56:00 The Blend of VC and Real Asset Industries
* 58:29 The Rise of Hyper Specialist VCs
* 01:00:20 Building a Personal Brand
* 01:04:28 Habits for Success
Links
* Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas
* Check out our sponsor, NextWave Partners, for all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs.
* This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.
Asks 👋
* We have recently launched a listener survey, and we would love to hear from you how we can improve the show and what you like most. Please take 7 minutes to help us with this. It’s 7 minutes for you, but it makes a huge impact on how we can serve you.
* Have a specific guest or topic you’d like us to discuss? Leave a comment and let us know.
Here’s the thing: Somil and I both have day jobs, so if you’re in the helping mood, we both have an ask for you today.
Somil: I’m currently seeking to connect with founders in the built environment space for a project I’m working on. If you’re in that space, schedule a chat here!
Silas: As many of you know, my day job is solving people’s hiring headaches in climate - do you have a hiring headache? Well, let me be your Advil. (booking here)
🚨🚨🚨 Attention Hiring Managers!!! Are you struggling to find qualified candidates? Maybe getting candidates but can’t bring them across the line consistently? Or not getting sufficient applicants? — Reach out to our sponsors, NextWave Partners today to help solve that for you.
NextWave Partners is a leading Global Renewables, Climate, & Sustainability recruitment consultancy solely focused on these impact areas. They are also B-Corp Certified.
Reach out to them today to help you solve your hiring challenges and get you one step closer to making an impact.
🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!
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