Entrepreneurs for Impact (EFI): Climate Tech CEOs & VCs

In this newsletter-turned-podcast episode from Entrepreneurs for Impact, I cover the following: 🚫 Texas “bans” 348 ESG funds 🗺️ 350+ climate startups on a map ☠️ We’re all dying right now 💰 Billionaire VC investor — “We made a mistake.” 🏳️ Investing in climate adaptation is not surrendering to sorrow and darkness 📽️ Movie | The Story of Stuff 🤮 Your network is your net worth (Vomit) 🗓️ TGIF? Nope. Thank God it’s Monday 🧡 Taxes — Why you should give them a big warm hug. Enjoy. Let me know if you like it. https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding ------- 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. 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.

PODCAST GUEST BIO: Sealed is a VC-backed startup that modernizes single-family houses with the latest HVAC, weatherproofing, and smart home technology. They also cover the upfront costs of these upgrades, so if they don’t reduce customer energy use, then they don’t get paid.  Lauren Salz is the co-founder and CEO of Sealed. In addition to a stint at McKinsey & Company and a summer playing the flute as a street musician in Oxford, she is also a Forbes 30 under 30, Olympic-style weightlifter, and flute player.  ------- 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? ------- 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. 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.

PODCAST GUEST BIO: Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. He is the Cofounder of Foundry, Mobius Ventures, and Intensity Ventures. He is also the author of eight books and cocreator of Techstars, a leading startup accelerator that has accepted about 3,000 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization over $70B. Foundry manages over $3B in assets and invests in startups and venture capital funds. Their approach is characterized by long-term thinking and a "give first" philosophy. They have 70 active investments, 100 general partners, 45 partner funds, and 1,900 Foundry network companies. Their sample climate investments include VC funds (USV, Moxxie Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital) and startups (Running Tide, Sofar). ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business What is your investment focus — e.g., sector, stage, geography, check size? What makes you unique versus the competition? What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making? 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? ------- 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. 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.

This is another newsletter-turned-podcast episode from Entrepreneurs for Impact. So, yep. It's still August.  Lots more downtime. More vacations. Fewer guests wanting to get off Mt. Fuji and talk on a podcast. 😅 Here's what I cover today: ⛰️ A carbon tech wishlist from a $350M fund. 😲 You don’t need VC funding. 🎙️ Climate tech podcast #1 — “Making ESG Investing Easier for $2 Billion.” 🎧 Climate tech podcast #2 — “$100M Love Letter to Pioneering Climate Businesses Leaders.” 💰 225 millionaires fit into four categories. 📣 I’ll share your pitch deck with 25 early-stage climate investors. Let me know if you like it. https://twitter.com/DrChrisWedding https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding ------- 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. Here's our weekly newsletter — A 3-minute summary of climate tech startups, better habits, and deep work trends: https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Our main program is a Climate CEO Mastermind peer group community: https://entrepreneursforimpact.com 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. Programs are led by Dr. Chris Wedding — 4x founder, $1B of investment experience, and Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill professor, with 70,000+ professional students taught, 25 years of meditation, an obsession with constant improvement, and far too many mistakes to keep to himself.

This is a newsletter-turned-podcast episode from Entrepreneurs for Impact. That, of course, means that I took too much vacation and didn't line up a guest for this week. 😂 But oh, the goodness herein! 🤑 Climate tech VC — 4 market updates 🏎️ Funding data for 200+ mobility startups 🏥 143 million climate refugees 🌾 Movie | Vegans are not weenies 🌎 Save $250 | Learn climate tech startup funding with me ⛈️ Under every beautiful company logo is a hot mess Let me know if you like it. https://twitter.com/DrChrisWedding https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding ------- 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. 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.

PODCAST GUEST BIO: Sweep is a SaaS company that helps large companies reduce carbon emissions in their businesses and supply chains. Sample customers include multi-billion-dollar global enterprises such as Saint-Gobain and HP. Rachel Delacour is the Co-founder and CEO of Sweep. She is also a Board Member at 2MX Organic, Investment Committee member at RAISE France, and Board member at Shine, as well as the former President at France Digitale and Co-Founder & CEO of BIME Analytics (acquired by Zendesk). She also speaks French very well; that's because she is French and lives in France.  (I wonder who reads these podcast summaries. If that's you, Tweet at me here https://twitter.com/DrChrisWedding. 🤣) ------- 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? ------- 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. 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.

PODCAST GUEST BIO: Ethic is working toward a future where all investing is sustainable investing. Backed by almost $100M of funding, they empower wealth advisors and investors to create portfolios that seek to align personal values with financial goals. Their solution has catalyzed $2B of capital into more responsible funds to date. Jay Lipman is the Co-founder and President of Ethic. He is also a Top LinkedIn Voice for the Green Economy and a member of our Climate Mastermind peer groups at Entrepreneurs for Impact. Check out his entertaining and educational ESG videos here. He claims that his sophisticated English accent is not a factor in his success, but the jury is still out. (I wonder who reads these podcast summaries. If that's you, Tweet at me here https://twitter.com/DrChrisWedding. 🤣) ------- 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? ------- 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. 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.

PODCAST GUEST BIO: Mitra Chem is solving three problems:  Shifting the Western electric vehicle and energy storage industries' battery portfolio towards safer, cheaper, and cleaner iron-based battery cathodes Building production capacity in the USA to offset production asset overconcentration in China Accelerating by >90% the lab-to-market timeline for a portfolio of battery materials through a proprietary machine learning advantage Vivas Kumar is the Cofounder and CEO of Mitra Chem. Previously, he was a senior manager in Tesla's Battery Team, where he was the lead commercial negotiator for strategic contracts representing billions of dollars in aggregate multi-year spend along the battery materials supply chain (the company's largest BOM category). Throughout his career, he has conducted commercial negotiations and handled partnerships with executive and senior government counterparties in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. Vivas earned degrees in engineering at Rice University and an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business. ------- 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? ------- 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. 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.

PODCAST GUEST BIO: Lime Rock New Energy invests private equity capital out of its first $375M fund into maturing companies focused on renewable energy products and services, energy efficiency for industry and the built environment, and transportation electrification. Mark Lewis is a Managing Director with Lime Rock New Energy, with responsibility for investment sourcing, execution, and overall fund management. He currently serves on the board of directors of EPE, Qmerit, and Smart Wires. Previously, he was the President of TAE Technologies, Inc., the world’s largest and most advanced fusion energy technology development company; CEO of ONEnergy, a diversified energy services company involved in energy retailing, commercial and industrial energy efficiency and distributed solar projects; Managing Director at MissionPoint Capital Partners, an environmentally driven investment firm focused on financing the transition to a lower-carbon economy; and head of Global Business Development at GE Energy where he was involved in over $15 billion of transactions. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business What is your investment focus — e.g., sector, stage, geography, check size? What makes you unique versus the competition? What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making? 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? ------- 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. 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.

PODCAST GUEST BIO: The Westly Group was founded in 2007 and has four venture capital funds with over $700 million under management. They have become one of the premier venture investors in North America focused on energy, mobility, buildings, industrial technology, and cybersecurity. They invest $5-$15M per company, and one of their nine IPOs includes Tesla. Check out their portfolio here: https://westlygroup.com/portfolio Tim Wang joined the Westly Group in 2015 and helps manage the firm’s deal flow and due diligence process. Prior to joining the Westly Group, Tim was a co-founder and Head of Business Development at a China-based financial technology start-up, ChinaScope, where he raised $5M from Moody’s Corporation. Tim began his career as an analyst at S&P Capital IQ, a leading financial data provider for financial institutions and advisory firms. Tim worked with the Client Development team out of their New York office before moving to Hong Kong to lead their Asia go-to-market efforts and build a team that would manage relationships with all of Capital IQ’s clients in the region. Tim holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business. ------- QUESTIONS THAT WE COVERED: Business What is your investment focus — e.g., sector, stage, geography, check size? What makes you unique versus the competition? What is one mistake that you see many CEOs making? 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? ------- 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. 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.