This Week in MCJ (10/24/20)
First quarterly fund almost fully allocated!
Hey everyone,
Another big week in MCJ-land. Only 3 weeks into the first quarterly MCJ Collective fund, and a large percentage of the fund is already spoken for. We are really excited and proud about the companies we are getting involved with: great teams, great co-investors, great marriage of impact and profit, and great variety. We can’t wait to share more as soon as we are able!
We are also making strides, in terms of getting Sarah (our new content lead!) up to speed. She’s wasted no time diving in head first and climbing up the learning curve, which is great because there is a list of content/community initiatives a mile long that we are fired up to start cranking through!
And lastly, I had some pretty sh*tty personal news this week. Both my kids tested positive for COVID. Fortunately they have almost no symptoms so far, and my wife and I have somehow managed to avoid it (at least so far). But life in the Jacobs household is super weird and stressful right now - like being in a COVID ward with no PPE! If anything though, it makes me even more determined to keep working to get us on a more sustainable path with the planet, and with each other. Speaking to my fellow Americans, our country really needs to get its act together. 10 more days! 💪
Until next week.
Jason
📼Episodes
Here’s this week’s episode, in case you missed it.
Episode 127 (Member Bonus): Andrei Cherny, CEO & Co-Founder of Aspiration
If you’re already an MCJ Member, you can listen to the full episode here.
This week's guest is Andrei Cherny, co-founder & CEO of Aspiration, an online financial firm with a conscience--created for everyone, built on trust, and dedicated to combining profit with philanthropic purpose.
Before Aspiration, Andrei worked for Vice President Al Gore as a speechwriter and John Kerry for President campaign as a speech writer and special advisor on policy. Andrei served public office as the Assistant Attorney General in Arizona in the late 2000s. Since then, Andrei has worked on public policy, communication and strategy in the private sector as president of ACE strategies and as managing director at Burson-Marsteller. Additionally, he is the author of two books and spent time as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
We cover a lot in this episode, including Aspiration and how it came to be. We dive into how Aspiration works and what Andrei hopes to achieve through it. Andrei and I discuss the effectiveness of incentives in capitalist societies. Andrei also touches on how public policy and government helped him start Aspiration.
📼Climate Tech Startup Series (CTSS)
CTSS is a series for members, where we feature founders of early-stage companies, sharing their startup’s business and mission. Members can check out our recent episode below and find an updated list here.
CTSS Episode 13: Nori with CEO & Co-Founder, Paul Gambill
Nori is a carbon removal marketplace that focuses on regenerative agriculture. One of the most effective carbon removal methods is storing carbon in soils. It's affordable, scalable, and the agriculture industry is already working towards carbon removal practices. The only catch is that every internationally sold carbon removal credit is being counted twice. Nori works to eliminate double counting by monitoring Nori Carbon Removal Tonnes (or NRTs). Farmers report and certify their removal practices through Nori. Once approved, Nori issues NRTs and provides an online platform for farmers to sell NRTs to buyers. Nori is creating a better way for individuals and companies to pay to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Nori Co-Founder and CEO, Paul Gambill, talks with me today about Nori and it's origins. We discuss carbon removal versus carbon offsets and how important agriculture carbon removal is.
👤MCJ Member Directory
Calling all members! As many of you are already aware, the MCJ Member Directory is a helpful resource to learn more about your fellow MCJers. As a friendly reminder, once you’ve introduced yourself in #introductions, don’t forget to fill out the MCJ Member Info Form so you’re represented in the directory.
👋 Welcome New MCJers!
Below are new members who joined the community and introduced themselves in the past week. You can learn more about them on #introductions, where you can welcome them to the community.
A warm welcome to the MCJ Community!
Raghav (Rags) Gupta: Previously the COO at Humantics, Rags is working with tech startups and writing angel checks while he figures out his next move.
Ben Bailey: Previously a revenue generator for non-profits and educational fundraising. Ben is looking for new opportunities in the the environmental space focusing on strategy. He is looking forward to connecting and networking within the MCJ community.
Will Havemeyer: A partner at Swift Currentt Energy, a utility-scale renewable energy developer and investor, Will is looking forward to discussing clean power generation technologies and learn from the community.
Sandra Uddback: Sandra led product operations at a computer vision startup but since it acquisition she has been focused on her own climate journey. Sandra is particularly interested in food and agriculture tech specifically in carbon sequestering in soil.
Corey Kupersmith: Co-founder of Sun2o Partners, a developer of utility solar, battery storage, and high voltage transmission, Corey has expertise across the development spectrum and would love to discuss decarbonization ideas and opportunities.
🥳Member Meet-Up
We love when members meet up in real life! Meghan Bush and NYC MCJers met up in Washington Square Park last weekend! We love to see COVID friendly meet ups.
Pictured from left to right: MCJers Brianna, Meghan (center), Alyssa, Metok, Julien, and Peter.
💼Climate Jobs & Fellowships
Here are some jobs shared by members of the MCJ community that we think might be of interest to you. Many of these opportunities and the MCJers who shared them can be found in #climatejobs in the MCJ Slack.
Early-stage hardtech founders! Just a note to say that the deadline to apply for a two-year, paid fellowship with Activate is approaching (10/31). Check out MC O’Connor’s post here!
External Affairs & Communications Partner, Senior Investment Manager, and Investment Associate at DC Green Bank (Washington, DC)
Internship at Nuclear Innovation Alliance and Nuclear Innovation Bootcamp (job posting)
Technical Co-Founder/CTO at MarketPearl (job posting)
📰🎧Recommended Reading/Listening
Below are recently published articles and content that we find interesting and/or that were shared by fellow MCJers.
The New York Times: “Belching Cows and Endless Feedlots: Fixing Cattle’s Climate Issues”
The Wall Street Journal: “China Wants to Be the World’s EV Factory. It May Succeed.” (PDF)
MCJ Member, John Tough Tweets: “hi all! I wrote a tweetstorm summary of the Biden plan and what types / how many assets and jobs it will create. Check it out!”
Shayle Kan took to twitter to outline his mental method for climate tech. Check it out here!
Gizmodo: “The Year’s Arctic Sea Ice is Failing to Form, Raising a Huge ‘Red Flag’”
🎥Watch List
Below is a curated list of recently released films, tv shows, and other watchable media that we find interesting and/or that were shared by fellow MCJers.
Netflix released the docuseries Broken in 2019. Ep. 4 Recycling Sham focuses on the scam of recyclable single use plastic.
The Wildscreen Festival 2020 features a conversation between Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough called The Planetary Crisis
🤿Deep Dive
We’ll be unpacking different topics periodically that we at MCJ find particularly interesting. This week: The Climate Clock.
On September 19th, the Climate Clock was installed in Manhattan’s Union Square. At 3:20 p.m., messages including “The Earth has a deadline” began to appear on the display. Then numbers — 7:103:15:40:07 — showed up, representing the years, days, hours, minutes and seconds until that deadline. The artists Andrew Boyd and Gan Golan have said this is their way of shouting from the rooftops. The artists previously made a handheld climate clock for Greta Thunberg before she appeared at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. - The New York Times
As photos and articles began to surface in late September, I came across a well written critique of the Climate Clock. Lauren Ritchie a climate justice advocate, writer, student, and founder of The Eco Gal took to instagram to share her thoughts. Check out her piece here: the problem with the climate clock. - Sarah, content lead
🎟Climate Events
As a reminder, we have a MCJ Events Calendar, where you can view and post events for the rest of the MCJ community to attend. When posting an event, please refer to this checklist.
*We’re highlighting a few upcoming events below; please refer to the events calendar for a complete list.*
Upcoming
We Are Climate FinTech: A Webinar (Tuesday, October 27th, 2 PM EST)
In this webinar they will cover: How the financial industry can play a key role in managing climate risks and helping to decarbonize our economies, how Climate FinTechs enable banks with their technologies, such as large-scale carbon footprint analytics, and why VCs are looking to back Climate FinTechs, and which kind of teams and technologies they are most excited about. Pioneers in the space such as Doconomy, Findomestic Banca, and CommerzVentures will report on the status quo, upcoming developments, and their broader vision of Climate FinTech. Register for the event!
Climate Entrepreneurship Panel: Move Fast and Fix Things (Wednesday, October 28th, 10 AM EST)
Perhaps the most important issue for us to collaborate on in the years ahead is our climate crisis. In partnership with IDEO’s friends at Project Drawdown, you will hear from experts in the space of climate entrepreneurship about how startups are playing an important role in solving one of the planet’s most pressing problems. Panelist include Hana Kajimura (Allbirds), Jamie Alexander (Project Drawdown), Hannah Davis (Techstars), Sanchali Pal (Joro), Joanne Cheung (IDEO Colab), and Parker Woodworth (IDEO Colab). Sign up here.
MCJ Town Hall (Friday, October 30th, 4 PM EST)
We’re hosting our monthly town hall to discuss updates and feedback from the community. If you’ve been following along with the newsletter, you know that much has happened since our last town hall and this forum provides an opportunity to discuss a variety of topics of your choosing with fellow members of the community. This event is intended for MCJ Members; if you would like a calendar invite, please drop us a note.
This Week in MCJ is a free weekly email curating news, jobs, new MCJ episodes, and other noteworthy happenings in the MCJ community.
📨If someone forwarded this to you, sign up!
🙋🏽♀️If you have feedback or items you’d like to include, feel free to reach out.
👂Check out the MCJ podcast
🌳Become an MCJ member
👤View the MCJ Member Directory