Build, Repeat. (A Paces Podcast)

Great to catch up with Brennan Spellacy , CEO and cofounder of Patch ,  a platform for negative emissions who just announced a $4.5m raise led by a16z ! We discussed how businesses can integrate with Patch's API to take carbon out of the air, how they leveraged existing relationships to get their first users, the range of carbon sequestration technologies they work with, how their business mo...

Fascinating conversation with Frederik Taarnhøj cofounder of FaunaPhotonics, a startup with advanced insect monitoring technology for agriculture. We discussed the importance of paternity leave to the early days of FaunaPhotonics, how they developed their early sensor prototypes, what they learned working with farmers on trials, the positive sustainability impacts their technology has on farming,...

Great to chat with Martijn Lukaart founder of Odd. Bot a startup that builds autonomous robots (a weeding robot!) for farms. We discussed how a EU directive coupled with a hackathon drove the initial decision to start Odd. Bot, why they chose carrots as their first use case, the incredible time and labor savings their robot can generate, how they are able to couple data science with in-world robot...

Great to chat with Cosmo Pepe co-founder of Soonapse, a company whose products make farming more efficient with a particular focus on smart irrigation. We discussed how they combine data from multiple sources to give recommendations on when to irrigate to the farmer,  the challenge of balancing software and hardware in agtech, their go-to-market strategy, what it is like building a company in Ital...

I learned tons about biochar from Henrietta Moon, CEO and cofounder of Carbo Culture , a company which makes high quality biocarbons from waste, and puts this biochar to use in soils, agriculture and urban environments. We discussed how biochar is created and why it is such a stable form of carbon, what the process of verifying carbon sequestration is like, how biochar intersects with regenerative...

Learnt so much about aeroponics speaking with Lucas Moreira, CEO of CBA Sementes, a Brazilian startup that grows potatoes in the air!  We discussed how aeroponics differs from hydroponics, why seed potatoes are such a great use case for aeroponics, the importance of sensors, the pros of building a startup with your family, the Brazilian tech scene and more!  ------ If you want to support the podca...

Two great guests on the podcast this week in Ryan Slabaugh and Sarah Day Levesque of Acres USA, North America's oldest publisher on production-scale organic and sustainable farming. We discussed how to better communicate the importance of soil health for sustainable farming, the lessons regenerative agriculture can learn from organic farming, soil carbon sequestration markets, how to better e...

Great to chat with Alexander Gillett, CEO and co-founder of HowGood, a company with the world’s largest food product sustainability database. We discussed what it took to build such a  unique dataset (14 years!), the importance of decision making to actionable sustainability, the challenges for sustainability across the developed versus developing world, their go-to-market strategy, why trust is s...

Very enjoyable chat with Patrick Henry CEO of GroGuru, a company using soil sensors to give farmers AI-based recommendations for crop irrigation. We discussed why their soil sensor is a massive leap over existing solutions, how agtech companies can incorporate sustainability into their products, why strong distribution channels are essential to agtech companies, their approach to building an amazi...

Great to chat to Philip Briscoe, COO at Rezatec, a remote sensing company which helps companies manage critical infrastructure at scale. We discussed their start in forestry carbon credits, the important role satellite imagery can play in managing risk (including climate risk), the boom in the space industry, why their HQ is perfectly located, the importance of being a mission driven company and m...

We went deep into the founding story of Farm Dog with CEO and founder Liron Brish . Farm Dog is a data company which helps growers increase yields and reduce costs with more sustainable practices. We discussed their founding story and how they pivoted from sensors to becoming a data company, how they think about go to market, the ups and downs of competing in monopolized agriculture, why sustainab...

Great podcast with Derin Alemli, COO of New Age Meats, a startup combining plant-based ingredients with cultured animal meat. We discussed why combining plant based and celular meat is such a massive opportunity, the benefits of building a strong brand, how they think about the competitive space, the importance of sustainability to their approach, the value of cross functional skillsets to cutting...

For Thanksgiving week, a bit of background on my climate journey and how Carbotnic came about!  ------ If you want to support the podcast there are two amazing ways! Subscribe to the Carbotnic patreon   Rate 5 stars on Apple Thanks so much!  James Paces helps developers find and evaluate the sites most suitable for renewable development. Interested in a call with James, CEO @ Paces?

Really interesting to get into compostable plastics with Tony Bova,  CEO and founder of Mobius, a startup developing compostable plastics. We discussed how plastic use goes up with regenerative farming which makes compostable plastics an essential part of a sustainable food system, how plastics fit into circular economy, the careful consideration they gave the plastics value chain when deciding th...

Inspiring chat with Marcia Woods, founder and CEO of FreshSpoke, a marketplace that makes it easy to source local food by sustainability tapping into excess logistics capacity. We discussed why “local” is the future of food, the importance of logistics data to sustainable supply chains, how they managed multiple company pivots and what that meant for the types of investors who were most interested...

Really interesting podcast with Shadi Bakour, the CEO and Co-Founder of Pathwater, a company whose aluminum water bottles are designed to be refilled and reused infinitely unlike single use plastic water bottles. We discussed the importance of balance customer expectations and sustainability, how many times the typical path water bottle is reused and what its carbon footprint is, what it takes to...

A great chat on the importance of expanding our diets into a broader range of plants with Marc Diaz, SVP of Business Development at TerViva, a company which uses the Pongamia tree to create new food products and sequester soil carbon. We discussed the reasons why Pongamia has been under-utilized up to now, the important role soil can play in sequestering carbon, the recent revolution in plant base...

Dived deep into supply chain sustainability with Allyson Quijano, Chief Sustainability Officer at Bext360, a SaaS platform to manage supply chain traceability and sustainability. We discussed how sustainability and risk management intersect at enterprises, how the team’s experience in the Congo drove the development of Bext360, how circular economy can affect traditional supply chain models, why b...

Really interesting chat with Peter Majeranowski, CEO of Tyton Biosciences which uses biotechnology to recycle cotton and polyester for nearly complete re-use in fashion. We discussed how Tyton started as a develop of biofuels, how their technique differs from conventional fabric recycling, how regulators are thinking about the new circular economy, the ways celebrities can have a positive impact o...

I became a cellular meat convert while chatting to Jalene Anderson-Baron! She is the co-founder of Future Fields, a biotech startup enabling cheaper development of cellular ag. We discussed how Future Fields is working to get cellular meat to price parity with conventional meat, how large food companies are reacting to cellular meat, whether the future kitchen includes a desktop meat maker, what i...

Learned so much speaking with Connie Bowen, Director of Innovation and Investment at AgLaunch a network that connects farmers and startups as well as the cohost of the End of Agriculture podcast. We discussed the importance of diversity in both farmer networks and startup teams, the different types of investment opportunities in agriculture, why Irish butter doesn’t get the sustainability credit i...

Really interesting conversation with Manik Suri, CEO of CoInspect who build checklist and refrigeration monitoring solutions for food safety and sustainability. We discussed the importance of pivoting to find product market fit, how insight from their software product pointed them to a massive opportunity which they are meeting with their new product Therma, why first generation IoT cooling measur...

Very enjoyable chat with Olympia Yarger, CEO of Goterra a company using insects for sustainable waste management. We discussed the amazing merging of insect and technology that allows the decentralization of waste management across cities, why finding under serviced customers is key to early adoption,  how important it is for startups to build vertically integrated supply chains, how insects are g...

Really great conversation with Sarah Nolet, founder of both the agtech focused VC firm Tenacious Ventures and AgThentic an agtech strategy and advisory firm, as well as the host of the “ AgTech...So What? ” podcast. We discussed the how agtech in the US and Australia differ, the importance of translating values and points of view between tech entrepreneurs and farmers, why we need measurement and...

Great to speak with Irina Fedorenko who is working on nature based decarbonization solutions. We discussed the importance of solutions like mangroves to decarbonization, the trade offs between nature based and technology based sequestration solutions, how working on siberian tiger conservation was the start of her cleantech journey and more! ------ If you want to support the podcast there are two...