Valerie Shen is Partner and Chief Operating Officer at G2 Venture Partners , where she oversees all operational aspects of the firm and fund including fundraising /LP relations, recruiting / HR, fund administration, impact reporting, legal, compliance, and marketing. Prior to business school, Valerie was an analyst at Kleiner Perkins’ $1B Green Growth Fund, where she helped the team found G2. Before that she was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where she worked across four cont...
Sep 13, 2023•41 min
Molly is the Founder and CEO of Molly Wood Media , an independent journalism and investing firm focused on climate solutions. She is also an angel investor and scout for the climate investment firm Amasia , and was previously a managing director at LAUNCH, where she also co-hosted the podcast This Week in Startups . Molly Wood is a veteran of national media (Marketplace on National Public Radio, the New York Times, and CBS Interactive) and began covering climate tech in 2018. At Marketplace, she...
Sep 06, 2023•40 min
Vaughn Blake is a partner at Blue Bear Capital with a focus on the renewal energy industry. He is specifically focused on themes and opportunities where policy and technology catalysts interconnect. Prior to Blue Bear, Vaughn managed a portfolio of emerging and esoteric hedge fund and venture capital fund strategies at a Southern California-based Family Office. He is the founder and managing director of Autochrome Ventures , an early-stage venture firm investing in frontier technologies applied ...
Aug 30, 2023•39 min
Tommy Stadlen is a technology entrepreneur and bestselling author. He is the Co-Founder of Giant Ventures . Giant builds and backs purpose-driven technology companies solving the world’s biggest challenges. They champion entrepreneurs in creating a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient planet. Giant is a multi-stage, thesis-driven firm based in London, LA, and Copenhagen. Previous to Giant Ventures, he was the Co-Founder of Swing Technologies, which exited to Microsoft in November 2017. Tom...
Aug 23, 2023•41 min
Shomik Dutta is a dynamic force in the climate investment landscape. As the Co-Founder and General Partner of Higher Ground Labs venture fund, he brings a unique blend of experience and expertise to the table. With a background in private equity renewable energy, Shomik has a deep understanding of sustainable solutions. His journey has been nothing short of remarkable, having served as an Obama White House aide and contributing his skills to the Obama ‘08 & ‘12 campaigns. Shomik's advisory r...
Aug 16, 2023•34 min
Abe Murray is a visionary founder, accomplished builder, and distinguished product engineering lead with a remarkable track record in the tech industry. Currently serving as a General Partner at AlleyCorp Robotics , Abe leverages his expertise to drive innovation and excellence in the field of robotics and technology. Abe was previously a product and engineering leader at Alphabet. He launched Play Books and Magazines at Android, delivered $XXXM in business while building the Verily Life Science...
Aug 09, 2023•44 min
Ryan Gembala is a pre-seed and seed-stage technology investor & founder of Pathbreaker Ventures . As founder of one of the first deep tech funds in Silicon Valley, he is focused on solving complex global problems through novel hardware-software systems. In 2023, Ryan was named one of the Top 100 Seed Investors by Business Insider. Prior to starting Pathbreaker, Ryan was a deal lead on the corporate development team at Facebook where he worked with product and engineering teams to landscape t...
Aug 02, 2023•41 min
Michael DeLucia is the Sector Lead for Climate Investing at Wellington , an investment management firm with over $1 trillion assets under management. Before joining Wellington Management in 2021, Mike was a founding partner at Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), where he led all aspects of the investment process for companies and projects in the infrastructure technology space, focusing. Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2021, Mike was a founding partner at Sidewalk Infrastructure ...
Jul 26, 2023•39 min
David McColl is currently the Executive Director of Stanford Climate Ventures and is a Graduate Research Fellow at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance . He is also a Partner at Echelon , an early-stage venture capital firm, and its affiliate Shoreline Capital. David received a B.S. in Management Science & Engineering and an M.S. in Energy Resources Engineering from Stanford University. He is a nationally-ranked beach volleyball player. About VSC Ventures: For 20 years, o...
Jul 12, 2023•34 min
Nazlican Goksu is a Design Director at IDEO , the design studio behind breakout products like Apple’s first usable mouse , the Simplisafe Security System , and Ford’s next-gen vehicles. She has collaborated and supported the launch of IDEO's Climate Portfolio, where she leads a team of designers in building products, services, and ventures that help advance climate goals. Sustainability, climate action, and circular design are all passion areas for her, and she believes design can play a critica...
Jul 05, 2023•28 min
Shawn Xu is a venture capitalist and current Chief of Staff at Lowercarbon Capital . Shawn believes in audacious founders and bold solutions to the climate crisis and we wanted to have him on CLIMB because he's not just an investor; he's also a relentless builder helping to expand Lowercarbon's platform and founder products. Shawn has personally partnered with ~50 companies to date and brings with him a wealth of knowledge on helping founders go zero to one, from ideation to product-market fit. ...
Jun 28, 2023•29 min
Sophie Purdom is a leading climate venture capitalist at Planeteer Capital , specializing in early-stage climate tech startups. Sophie's passion for climate and innovation is also expressed through her highly popular newsletter, Climate Tech VC . With a community of over 50,000 subscribers, she explores cutting-edge advancements in climate technology and sustainable innovation. Her diverse experience includes launching an ESG fund, strategy development at Bain & Co. , publishing a book on su...
Jun 23, 2023•31 min
Rachel Beals is a seasoned writer and editor with over two decades of expertise. She is currently the Assistant Managing Editor and Lead Climate Writer at MarketWatch . Over a 25-year career, Rachel has covered traditional commodities markets, alternative energy and the major global conferences on emissions and biodiversity. She's also written on a range of investing and personal finance topics. Rachel originated two columns at MarketWatch aimed at helping investors, retirees and homeowners plan...
Jun 14, 2023•27 min
Arvind Gupta co-leads Mayfield ’s engineering biology practice and is Founder and Venture Advisor at IndieBio. He was the first investor in breakout bio companies such as Geltor, Synthex, Prime Roots, NotCo, Prellis, New Culture, DNA Lite and Memphis Meats. As Founder of IndieBio , Arvind redefined the pace and possibilities of early stage biotech, investing in over 136 companies in five years, defining human and planetary health, and growing the IndieBio portfolio into billions of dollars in va...
Jun 07, 2023•34 min
Ian Rountree is the Founder & General Partner of Cantos Ventures , a San Francisco-based venture capital firm with $90M under management dedicated to backing deeply technical founders at inception across climate tech, computational biology, aerospace, and next-generation computing. Ian started making angel investments in 2012 while on the early teams at SoFi Bank and then Invisible Technologies. He founded Cantos in 2016 to continue backing world-positive startups at pre-seed & seed stag...
May 31, 2023•36 min
FootPrint Coalition invests in high-growth, sustainability-focused companies. They make charitable grants to non-profits that advance the adoption of environmental technology and entertain, inform, and mobilize the public with original and curated content. They are a coalition of investors, donors, and storytellers committed to scaling technologies to restore our planet. Jonathan Shieber is the chief editor and a venture partner at FootPrint Coalition. He previously worked as Climate Editor, Con...
May 24, 2023•32 min
Tim De Chant is a Senior Climate Reporter at TechCrunch and Founder and Editor at Future Proof , a publication covering climate and energy. Future Proof helps you make eco-friendly decisions when it comes to the stuff you buy with the goal of helping you to reduce your carbon footprint, one purchase at a time. He is a lecturer in MIT's Graduate Program in Science Writing and has written for Wired, the Chicago Tribune, and NOVA Next, among others. About VSC Ventures: For 20 years, our award-winni...
May 17, 2023•28 min
Mike Jackson is the Managing Director at Earthshot Ventures , where he invests in entrepreneurs solving the toughest climate challenges. He has built an impressive career as an investor, entrepreneur, board member, and advisor in sectors such as clean energy, food & agriculture, buildings, mobility, and public safety. Drawing from his extensive experience across all stages of startup growth, Mike is dedicated to helping climate startups scale. Previously, Mike was a partner at the Westly Gro...
May 10, 2023•50 min
Allison Agsten is the inaugural director of USC Annenberg’s Center for Climate Journalism and Communication . In her role, she conceptualizes programs, develops partnerships, and collaborates with faculty and students to shift public perception and response to climate change. Previously, she has worked in journalism, communications, and public engagement capacities including as a producer at CNN, Director of Communications at LACMA , and Curator of Public Engagement at the Hammer Museum. In addi...
May 03, 2023•36 min
Amy Francetic is the founder of Buoyant Ventures , a new woman-owned venture fund in Chicago that invests in digital climate solutions. Her journey began at Evergreen Climate Innovations , where she co-founded and led the company as CEO, before moving on to Energize Ventures , a $165 million venture fund that propelled cutting-edge digital technologies to optimize energy equipment and infrastructure. As a member of the Advisory Board for the WISER Institute at the Illinois Institute of Technolog...
Apr 26, 2023•41 min
For over 15 years, David Roberts has been exploring and writing about a variety of topics related to news and culture. From 2015 to 2020, he was with Vox, a news and culture publication for which he still occasionally writes and contributes. Previously, he was with Grist , a publication focused on environmental news, and has also written for Outside. He has appeared on TV shows, radio programs, and podcasts such as All In with Chris Hayes, On the Media, Pod Save America, and Why Is This Happenin...
Apr 19, 2023•33 min
Catherine Boudreau is senior sustainability reporter at Insider . She previously spent six years at POLITICO , first covering food and agriculture policy and then helping launch the company's first sustainability beat focused on corporate accountability on environmental and social issues. She started her journalism career at Bloomberg BNA. Her reporting has also been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek and on WAMU's 1A and WBUR's On Point. About VSC Ventures: For 20 years, our award-winning PR ag...
Apr 12, 2023•38 min
Tom Chi is the Founding Partner at At One Ventures based in San Francisco. At One Ventures focuses on backing early-stage startups that use deep technology to reduce planetary footprint. Tom has worked in a wide range of roles from astrophysical researcher to designer to corporate executive developing new hardware/software products and services. He's played a significant role in established projects with global reach (Microsoft Outlook, Yahoo Search, Google), and scaled new projects from concept...
Apr 05, 2023•56 min
Alex Brown started his career in the tech world and served as a Chief Engineer before turning his attention to science. He is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Alga Biosciences , which has set its sights on transforming the agricultural industry. With a mission to eliminate methane produced by enteric fermentation, Alga has created a model to stop cattle from burping methane and make a dramatic impact on global methane emissions . Through collaborations with cattle-owners, ranchers, and scientists, ...
Mar 29, 2023•31 min
Leo Banchik is a Partner at Global Founders Capital , leading their early-stage climate tech venture fund. He has a strong passion for sustainable technology and a unique combination of engineering and sustainability consulting experience. A mechanical engineer by background and graduate of the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) , Leo has conducted research at two US National Labs and holds a MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on thermof...
Mar 22, 2023•36 min
Heather Clancy is an award-winning journalist specializing in transformative technology and innovation. She started her reporting career on the business news desk of United Press International, and her articles have appeared in Entrepreneur, Fortune, The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times. Heather was the launch editor for the Fortune Data Sheet , the magazine's newsletter dedicated to the business of technology, and she co-authored the Amazon best-seller for entrepreneurs, "Nic...
Mar 15, 2023•30 min
Dylan Welch is the Founder & CEO of Green.Org and Dylan Welch Media. He has a long history in television production and business development, having produced over 1,000 TV shows with ABC, NBC, CBS, and Amazon, before starting his own company with a focus on clean technology, renewable energy, and sustainability. Since then, Dylan has interviewed hundreds of scientists, CEOs, and experts in the renewable energy space, and has shared their stories to millions of people. Dylan’s big picture goa...
Mar 08, 2023•30 min
Laurie Menoud is a Partner at At One Ventures , a venture capital firm focused on investing in a world where humanity becomes a net positive to nature. A biotechnologist by training, Laurie’s played roles in the chemical industry, she’s built a dozen ventures out of DoD research programs, and she’s currently focused on finding, funding, and growing teams that catalyze planet-positive industries. Some of At One Venture’s funded companies include robotic indoor farming company Iron Ox, earth diges...
Mar 01, 2023•28 min
Michael Grunwald is a Miami-based journalist who fled the mainstream media after three decades with the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, Time Magazine & Politico Magazine. He wrote books for Simon & Schuster called The Swamp (about the Everglades and Florida) and The New New Deal (about the Obama administration), and now is working on another one about how to feed the world without frying the world. He has won the George Polk Award for national reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize for in...
Feb 22, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Areeb Malik is the Co-Founder of Glacier , a company using AI & Robotics to fight climate change and extract value from the $123B worth of recyclables that fill landfills and oceans. Before founding Glacier, Areeb worked as a Software Engineer at Facebook. This episode centers around the complexities of the recycling industry , why it's such an intriguing yet technically challenging space for robotics, and the staggering global waste management market which was valued at USD 989.20 billion i...
Feb 15, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 16
