Climate CEOs

Most climate coverage focuses on companies that have already succeeded. This episode focuses on the next wave. From fusion and industrial heat to wildfire prevention, energy infrastructure, and climate adaptation, this minisode highlights 15 climate tech startups that could become important players in the years ahead. A broad view of climate innovation — Why the most interesting opportunities are...

Most grid modernization discussions focus on hardware. Texture is building the operating system that connects utilities' fragmented software, meter data, DERs, and workflows into a single system of action . Guest Bio: Sanjiv Sanghavi is co-founder and CEO of Texture. Before founding Texture, he co-founded ClassPass , worked at Arcadia , and spent time in energy venture capital. Company Summary...

Climate change is urgent. That does not mean every decision should be. Many climate CEOs operate in a constant state of urgency. This minisode explores how urgency can improve execution, but also distort judgment, team dynamics, and long-term company building. Urgency versus importance — Why climate missions create pressure to move fast, and how leaders can confuse immediate action with meaningful...

Special episode? Maybe. Some listeners asked me this... How about you answer the four final questions that you ask each podcast guest? So I did. Here they are: Give some advice to your younger self for building a career of impact. What habits or routines keep you healthy and sane while building EFI and Climate CEOs? Name three good books. (I listed eight. Overachiever, I know.) Who had a big impac...

10 climate tech startups raised nearly $1B. But the bigger story is where capital is quietly concentrating across AI infrastructure, grid modernization, industrial decarbonization, and carbon removal. This Climate CEOs minisode breaks down ten notable climate tech financings from May 2026 and what they reveal about investor priorities, emerging market opportunities, and where founders may find tai...

William McDonough is one of the world's most influential sustainable design thinkers . His book, Cradle to Cradle , kick-started my career path. And I enjoyed working with him in environmental private equity for many years. Bill has advised companies, governments, and cities on regenerative design for decades and has  won awards such as  the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development, the...

I discuss insights from recent discussions with EFI Climate CEO peer group on sabbaticals, burnout, and building companies that can thrive without the founder in every decision. Plus, why utilities spend roughly $8 billion annually managing vegetation near power lines, yet many still rely on manual inspections and limited visibility. Wait, can't AI do this? -- 1️⃣ Join our confidential CEO com...

Aalo Atomics is developing modular nuclear power plants designed for factory production . They seek to make nuclear energy scalable enough to support AI infrastructure, industrial heat, desalination, and synthetic fuels. Matt Loszak , founder and CEO of Aalo Atomics , discusses how his team is moving from software to nuclear, scaling from 2 to 165 employees in three years , raising $300M+, and pur...

Industrial emissions make up roughly a quarter of global CO₂ emissions , yet many of the most promising climate tech companies remain largely unknown outside specialized circles. This episode explores 95 startups attacking some of the hardest decarbonization challenges across steel, cement, chemicals, heat, fuels, mining, and manufacturing. In addition, I cover one startup turning solar into a 24/...

Embedding batteries into appliances to bypass big bottlenecks : home electrical upgrades . Instead of rewiring buildings, Copper turns induction stove s into distributed energy assets that can also support the grid. Copper is building appliances with integrated energy storage, starting with Charlie, a 30” induction stove with a built-in battery. The company focuses on making electrification cheape...

Women founders receive just 2–3% of venture capital . So why do they consistently outperform on capital efficiency, revenue generation, and exits? Six climate tech leaders share the hard-earned tactics they use to navigate bias, build authority, and scale companies in an ecosystem that still underfunds women entrepreneurs. This episode draws lessons from six women EFI Climate CEO Fellows and Mento...

Eric Ries is the author of Lean Startup (millions of copies sold) , serial founder, ex-EIR at Harvard, and author of a new book: Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great . Why is this relevant? Most climate startups optimize for growth and capital, not governance. That’s how mission-driven companies get sold, diluted, or pointed in the wrong direction over time....

The discussion draws on insights from leading climate investors, including Voyager Ventures, Decarbonization Partners, MassMutual Ventures, SOSV, SJF Ventures, Energy Impact Partners, Spring Lane Capital, Climate Insiders, and Tailwind. Examples of what we discussed: Clarity beats complexity – If a non-expert cannot explain your differentiation after one conversation, your positioning still needs...

This limestone battery can achieve 100+ hour heat storage without lithium and zero standby losses. Industrial heat is a $1T+ problem, but most solutions ignore storage, especially those using ancient chemistry. Arpit Dwivedi is the founder and CEO of Cache Energy , building thermal storage systems for industrial decarbonization. Cache uses calcium oxide chemistry to store and release heat, targeti...

When expansion feels like productivity, climate CEOs often drift into adjacent markets, new products, and endless “opportunities” that quietly dilute execution . This episode breaks down three strategic traps: timid visions, distraction disguised as growth , and rebuilding too late . Here’s what we discussed: Manifestos vs. marketing decks – Why some climate companies raise billions by selling an...

Biomass waste is one of the largest unmanaged carbon flows , yet most climate solutions ignore it. This founder is turning landfills into carbon sinks using decentralized pyrolysis and biochar . Andrew Jones is the founder and CEO of Carba , a waste-to-value company converting biomass into permanent carbon removal. He studied catalytic fast pyrolysis and earned a PhD in chemical engineering from t...

Vendor Financing Isn’t Free Money – Extending supplier payment terms can improve runway and reduce dilution , but concentrated climate supply chains create hidden dependency risk when critical vendors effectively become reluctant lenders. Working Capital Can Distort Reality – Better short-term cash metrics may hide structural fragility if supplier leverage, component concentration , or financing a...

This 6x company founder and CEO explains how to structure smarter climate tech investment rounds and actually get renewable energy projects financed. Peter Davidson is CEO and founder of Aligned Climate Capital , a $2B AUM multi-strategy firm investing across venture and infrastructure. He previously led the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office and has founded or led six companies. Align...

Three decisions that determine if climate tech founders scale or stall: Customer focus, sustainable intensity, and information diet all compound into capital efficiency and judgment. Antelope vs mice – Why chasing small, fast customers can accelerate learning but trap you in low-value revenue, while large customers require patience but define the business GTM timing – Matching customer type to run...

Scaling carbon removal through existing supply chains, community-aligned infrastructure, and signing up JPMorgan in the process. – Barclay Rogers is the founder and CEO of Graphyte , focused on low-cost, permanent carbon removal using biomass burial.  Graphyte converts agricultural waste into dense carbon blocks and stores them underground, targeting sub-$100/ton durable carbon removal with high s...

Your data center project clears IRR. Investors nod. But it still doesn’t get built. In this episode, we break down decisions shaping climate CEOs right now: IRR vs. MCC — Affordability, not returns, is now a gating metric in project finance for data centers Cost to ratepayer — Higher bills signal credit risk, regulatory friction, and slower time to cash flow Culture types — "Commitment cultur...

Did I get your attention? Bruce Anderson hopes so. He is the founder and CEO of 247Solar, an MIT-linked spinout, and has worked in solar for more than four decades. He completed his MIT master’s thesis on solar energy in 1973 and later authored early solar books, including The Solar Home Book. 247Solar is a zero-carbon technology company focused on modular concentrated solar systems that provide r...

When will customers overpay for power? When delay costs them billions of dollars. AI demand is rewriting energy economics faster than regulators can react. This episode draws from real operator conversations across utilities, AI infrastructure, and venture-backed climate companies. We talked about: The “watt-bit spread” - Why a single electron today can be worth billions more than the same electro...

AI is scaling nuclear plants without touching the reactor, by automating thousands of required workflows behind the scenes. Nuclearn’s strategy is simple but rare: start painfully narrow, prove ROI fast, then expand across the plant. Bradley Fox and Jerrold Vincent are co-founders of Nuclearn, deploying AI tools across 70+ global reactors. And shout out to our friends at SJF Ventures for this intr...

Climate founders are told to add. The best ones subtract. In capital-heavy sectors, focus isn’t a strategy. It’s survival. Strategic sprawl kills startups - more tech, markets, and use cases increase execution risk in already complex systems Subtraction as strategy - the constraint is not ideas, it’s prioritization under capital, permitting, and time pressure Customer narrowing - don’t sell to uti...