from Hacker News

Lessons learned after 5 years of climate tech entrepreneurship

by corradio on 11/18/21, 1:40 PM with 35 comments

• by m12k on 11/20/21, 6:51 PM

  The core problem here is that emitting carbon doesn't cost the polluters much, so helping them or their customers to avoid it doesn't save them money. It's not a pain point, so the only motivation for them to do anything about it would be altruism/"Look How Green We Are!" CSR marketing. That's why the world desperately needs a carbon tax, so emission goes from being an externality (i.e. somebody else's problem) to being priced into the activities that emit. So the producers get a real incentive to change, and throw money at the problem, because it helps their bottom line to do so. So those that can easily change to less emitting techniques will do so. So those that can't will help fund research into tech that will. So there's a market for green tech like this. So consumers will favor less carbon-intensive products, not just if they are hippies, but simply because they value their wallets.

  The only way to make a massive, global change like this up and down the supply chain is to give everyone involved - from producers to logistics to consumers - a direct economic incentive to do so. A carbon tax fits that bill, and allows the market to do what it does best.

• by diafygi on 11/20/21, 4:37 PM

  > Failure to pick problems that are relevant for both will result in increased decision making complexity at all levels of the organisation: do we optimise for impact (the environmental problem) or for revenue (the customer’s problem)?

  I've been an climate tech entrepreneur for the past 7+ years, and the most reliable way I've found to accomplish the combo viable-business + climate-impact:

  1. Get a job at a revenue generating climate-change-fighting company (solar, EVs, policy/regulatory consulting, etc.).

  2. Keep your eyes open for pain points that your company (or especially you in your position) would pay money to solve.

  3. Quit and start a company solving that pain point (or if you're not the founder-type, go work for a company trying to solve that pain point).

  I suppose this kind of strategy would work in many other industries, but it's especially effective in climate tech, because:

  (a) As OP mentions, the pain points are very hidden to the general public, so you really need to be actually working inside the industry to find and understand them (since energy often has very complex business models and regulatory constructs).

  (b) By focusing on finding pain points for already climate-change-fighting companies and solving them, your impact goals are already built-in, since you're enabling more impact by default. So you don't have to worry as much about finding the magical combo of viable-business + impact.

  (c) The climate-change-fighting sector is so young that many of the pain points are still major issues and don't have many viable solutions yet. In other more mature industries, many pain points already have established companies solving them, so there's less of green field for new companies.

  Anyway, for people looking to fight climate change, by far the biggest thing you can do is join the industry and make a career out of it. There's so much ceiling here!

• by grvdrm on 11/20/21, 10:01 PM

  @corradio - would be interesting to chat with you about your ideas/goals.

  I don't work in climate tech but adjacent to it: property insurance. We spend a lot of time thinking about ways to mitigate losses from a variety of natural catastrophes. Some of the increased frequency/severity is increasingly thought to be from climate change. I won't go into that here.

  There are a lot of contradictions. Insurers are paid to take risks but increasingly move away from those risks. But the actual events - wildfires, floods, etc. - affect people and businesses every year. Coastal property is at risk from sea-level rise, and sunny-day flooding is common in Miami and other places.

  So, I wonder if what you might focus on instead is tech that helps fill some of those gaps. Offer products that help folks buy protection for things that an insurer might not cover unless you give them a lot of cash. Do it more cheaply with tech, if possible. Private flood already exists, but I still think there's a lot of opportunity and runway for other folks in that market. Floods and the other perils are increasingly climate-related problems that people can touch and feel. They cause damage. They upend lives and businesses.

  Other folks are tackling wildfire insurance, tornado insurance, and etc. A couple of examples: https://solainsurance.com https://ourkettle.com

• by toomuchtodo on 11/20/21, 6:04 PM

  Hey Olivier, thanks not only for sharing your learnings, but for electricitymap. I believe it’s foundational for measuring and directing electrical climate change efforts, and wish you the best on this next part of your entrepreneurial journey.

• by ulnarkressty on 11/20/21, 8:04 PM

  Since I imagine there are a lot of interested people in this thread: is there a list or an index of companies that one could work at if one was interested to make a difference? Can't really find any on Linkedin.

  Or maybe the opposite is needed - a list of companies one should be ashamed to work at due to their negative impact on the climate?

• by geewee on 11/20/21, 3:37 PM

  Having worked in the ClimateTech sector for a few years (and with no intention to stop) - I can definitely emphasize with the potential for burnout. It's really ease to start caring immensely about your work, which can be great - but also needs some sort of balance so that it doesn't hit too hard when it doesn't work out.

• by jackconsidine on 11/20/21, 7:32 PM

  > Most people don’t see the large impact differences of actions they undertake in they everyday life (North)

  Anyone ever used the app Joro [1]? It calculates your carbon footprint based on your credit card transactions (via Plaid integration) and provides convenient ways to offset. I've been on it for a few months and it's had a huge impact by way of behavioral nudges. Also, the carbon calculations are surprisingly solid.

  [1] https://www.joro.app/

• by moralestapia on 11/20/21, 3:50 PM

  Hi Olivier, nice to read you here. I'm bootstrapping a climate tech related business in Mexico and would like to have a chat someday. Please get in touch! Email in my bio.

• by tppiotrowski on 11/20/21, 11:50 PM

  “In the end, you can’t fix the world if you’re not in a positive mindset.”

  I can see how the shame of consumption can slow innovation. Especially when it gets to the point that you’re analyzing the best way to ship a laptop to your office to even get started...

  Enjoyed the advice on burnout. Many tech companies now recruit on mission statements as much as on pay and when you fail to live up to that mission your employees will rethink staying put.

• by gleglegle on 11/20/21, 8:32 PM

  Tomorrow’s efforts have been creative and very interesting to follow. It was sad to hear that the demand is so weak for their solutions.

• by guico on 11/20/21, 4:39 PM

  Nice read, thanks for sharing