Capitalist environmentalist @TobaCapital. Extracurrics @enviro_voter @CO2council. Ex Sound Ventures, @Stripe, 1st hire @Reforge, @500startups, @google
Seattle, WA
Joined June 2008
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I’m excited to announce a new project called Climate On the Edge
It’s a podcast about what’s at the true frontier of climate change intervention.
Curious about cloud seeding? Solar radiation modification? Towing glaciers? Fertilizing the ocean? Rewilding the arctic? Space based energy? The next gen of carbon removal? 👇
Episode 1: Dispatches from the edge open.spotify.com/show/4ARUwa……
Episode 2: What's at the edge of carbon removal? with Nikki Batchelor, @xprize Carbon Removal and @AndreasenJack, @Breakthrough
Episode 3: Cutting contrails for climate with Marc Shapiro, @Breakthrough
We’ve been working hard on the global climate transition, but science — and our lived experience — tells us it’s not enough. So what else is out there?
We dig into the game-changing climate interventions that no one else is talking about.
Saving the world with science and innovation can be thrilling and fun, and it’s the best antidote to climate anxiety — join us!
climateontheedge.com
As we start seeing more evidence of a nonzero tail risk of collapse due to heating and climate volatility, it’s tempting to go to the “China will save us” mentality — perverse but common
In reality, the majority of meaningful climate science, especially atmospheric science, is coming out of the US. Only we can save us
And @yishan is right that we are far, far from actual deployment-ready tech on any near term measures like SRM. Instead, the current state of affairs sees most of the climate community pushing a moratorium on research itself
We have a lot to do, but it starts with open conversations like this one
10-ish deep thoughts applicable to all businesses, from the Confucius of SaaS @pmthn
My fave: What entrepreneurs need is confidence, not advice open.substack.com/pub/thedow…
What are some other essential reads that climate people are missing?
Agree on Vaclav Smil book, which our team did a book club on (aka group therapy)
Already read the Daniel Yergin books and Robert Bryce’s Question of Power
What else should go on the list?
The more people in climate who read @VaclavSmil’s work the better. I’m surprised how often folks have never heard of him.
This feels spot on, and not just as a climate optimist
-Methane gas has its days numbered
- Wind is $$$ and doesn’t have the same cost curve profile as solar
- Solar technology is improving non incrementally, even as distribution is exploding
If you look at all new deployment esp in growing / emerging economies, it’s dominated by solar
BUT the sad thing here is that many developing economies are desperately investing in oil and gas as a way to get immediate bucks today
These are going to become stranded assets in short order, leaving countries high and dry that can ill afford it
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Next Weds I'll have the honor of hosting Dr Phil Levin, Director of the White House's National Nature Assessment, in a fireside chat to talk all things climate and nature
The event is live/in-person in Seattle, but will also be on Zoom -- and comes with an ask
Specifically, Dr Levin wants to know:
- What is nature to you?
- Why is it important to you?
- What changes are you seeing?
We'll talk about climate, inequity and nature loss, and how they overlap
Join us in person in North Seattle or on Zoom!
RSVP: lu.ma/phil-levin-jan-17
PS Zoom link shared upon RSVP
Highly, highly recommend Ada. She not only has the experience but is an exceptionally high quality thinker and human who can give so much more than advice on how to scale (though that too)
Excited for this amazing opportunity for founders and execs out there
Big news! ✨ Starting today, I'm available on @useintro to give personalized executive coaching to founders and CEOs. Need someone to act as a sounding board on an issue you’re working through? Keep reading ⬇️
Lots of technical talent coming into climate for the last ~3y... but now we're in the Sales/ Marketing/ Growth era
Anecdotally feels like we're way behind here — these are technical sales / partnerships that require seasoned GTM skills, not necessarily super common with founding technical teams
Your investors can help. VC is a sales job and some even have actual sales / marketing operating chops
For example:
- @EggersMatt led sales at Tesla and ran/built a customer-facing operations team at Sunrun
- @ChouKirsti led a major revenue team at Vungle
- @davemcclure built the original marketing and dev relations team at PayPal
- @sierrap built sales strategy and corp dev (aka also sales!) at Renovate America and others
- @leepnet did biz dev at Angellist and marketing at Meraki
- me! I regularly call on the selling/marketing/partnerships skills I got from @reforge @stripe in portfolio scenarios
+ many others that can be great resources for hiring, strategy etc as we all try to hit our numbers and change the world
Ay! And certainly not least -- @teddypowday who ran sales and biz dev at Symphony Commerce (and it shows when you talk to him!)
Excited to share Ep.1 of the Climate Money Podcast!
Back in 2020, I started hosting a Clubhouse room called Climate Headlines to highlight important climate news and talk about what it meant
The Climate Money podcast is an updated version of that, with a slight tweak — we’ll focus just on the ample stories where climate and business intersect
It won’t just be climate venture capital either. I’m a climate VC, but my work at @TobaCapital a multistage fund that also deals in public equities and large late stage transactions makes me think about the world beyond early stage venture
For example, in Ep. 1, we look at:
- The UAE's new $30B climate fund and what it means for climate investing
- A big development for carbon sequestration in... Louisiana?
- India's solar and wind story, the good the bad and the tricky
- First Solar's $700M revenue bump from tax credits courtesy of the IRA
The pod is meant to help you stay up to date on what’s going on in the world of climate + money, which are converging more every day
This is a homegrown version, but please share your best Tiger Dad feedback!
Apple Podcasts podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Spotify
podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s…
YouTube
youtu.be/417GaOP3Bt4
Outlive is the most important book I read in 2023. Have implemented 10+ changes including:
+increasing Zone 2 training
+starting weekly VO2 max training
+increasing resistance training
+wearing a CGM
+cutting out all sugar for better insulin sensitivity
+upping my protein game (still mostly plants)
+sleep is life
and more
I love life and want it to last!
this is one of the most important graphs that I saw in 2023 that has led to behavior change. This is in Peter Attia's book Outlive
tldr:
if you want to be able to climb stairs when you are 75, you need to be in the top 95th percentile of cardiovascular fitness. With this, you won't be able to run nor briskly climb stairs
But if you are average/low, you may not even be able to do any of that. And it seems unlikely you'll be avg/low now (I'm in my early 40s) and then somehow go from 50th percentile to 95th. So basically it's better to get started
Thus, after reading his book, I reluctantly started running again even though I hate it. And am also doing some peloton / cycling outdoors when time/weather allows
cc @KatieBaynes
Susan Su retweeted
this is one of the most important graphs that I saw in 2023 that has led to behavior change. This is in Peter Attia's book Outlive
tldr:
if you want to be able to climb stairs when you are 75, you need to be in the top 95th percentile of cardiovascular fitness. With this, you won't be able to run nor briskly climb stairs
But if you are average/low, you may not even be able to do any of that. And it seems unlikely you'll be avg/low now (I'm in my early 40s) and then somehow go from 50th percentile to 95th. So basically it's better to get started
Thus, after reading his book, I reluctantly started running again even though I hate it. And am also doing some peloton / cycling outdoors when time/weather allows
cc @KatieBaynes
What are the best AI image editors / generators out there?
For a climate project -- before vs possible after 🌺🌲
“This summer is likely one of the coolest summers of the rest of our lives,” said Bharat Venkat, an associate professor at UCLA and director of the UCLA Heat Lab. “It's not even that what we're experiencing now is the new normal; it’s probably the best it's going to be.”
Grateful I at least get to try to change this every day, rather than lie flat and wait for it to mow us all down (now THAT would be depressing...)
Quote via @emorwee and Heated heated.world/p/what-does-tay…
Next time you come across clever / viral VC content (post, essay, deck) remember that every content creator is selling you something
This doesn’t necessarily detract from the idea, but it does explain the hype and hyperbole
Many great things start with a newsletter:
1- being able to write well requires — and inspires — being able to think well
2- publishing on a regular cadence builds the execution muscle
3- sharing deep work publicly is a core act of entrepreneurship
Go @KimberlyZou @climatetech_vc! – at Seattle, WA
We’re incredibly excited to unveil Sightline Climate (sightlineclimate.com/), a climate-first market intelligence platform built on the foundation of the CTVC newsletter.
