This Week in MCJ (3/27/21)
Hi all,
We had a great Town Hall this week, where we shared some of the things we are thinking about and excited about, and got a lot of great feedback from the MCJ’ers who attended. The big theme for us heading into Q2 is making things better for the people who are already here. That includes both existing MCJ members, and the MCJ Collective portfolio companies we’ve already backed. We are big believers that this is not only the best way to keep the existing community strong, but also the best way to grow!
There are a whole host of things we have planned to start to streamline and improve the MCJ experience. Some of them are little, and more incremental improvements to reduce friction and increase delight. And some are bigger moves, that should introduce some great new capabilities to the platform! There is a lot of work to be done, and it won’t be done overnight. But we are deeply committed to continuing down this path, and plan to stay focused, bring in additional resources, and expand our pace of development. Cliche to say, but we truly are just getting warmed up.
Thank you for joining us on this journey!
Jason
🎙The Week’s Episodes
Jason had a lively conversation with the New York City Comptroller, Scott Stringer, on Episode 149 of the MCJ pod about his decision recently to divest NYC pension funds from $4B of fossil fuels.
Later in the week, Jason had a chance to catch up with Andy Towne on a great episode of our Climate Careers podcast. Andy is a Founding Partner and CEO of Hobbs & Towne, an executive search firm that has been working in climate tech since well before it was called climate tech. Andy has great insight into what is happening in the trenches of climate tech innovation, and how this time is similar or different to the last wave.
During Wednesday’s MCJ Live show on Clubhouse, Jason was joined by Kelly Hering (Charm Industrial), Maria Carolina Fujihara (SINAI), Chris Tolles (Yard Stick), and Shashank Samala (Heirloom) to discuss Climate Tech Startups: Lesson from the Trenches.
📣Climate News
Pachama and Sila Nanotechnologies are highlighted in The Next Generation of Climate Innovation by BCG Global. The article discusses companies that can create business advantages and values while accelerating climate action. MCJ Pod Alum, Alex Dewar, is also a contributing writer!
Aspiration, the financial services business for socially conscious consumers, is back with another environmentally-friendly offering for its customers — this time, it’s a credit card. Jason caught up with Aspiration CEO and Co-Founder, Andrei Cherny, in Episode 127.
In Cleantech 2:0: Silicon Valley’s new bet on start-ups fighting climate change, The Financial Times outlines how SPACs add to the deepening pool of investors rushing to put money behind green technologies.
📰In Case You Missed It
Articles, content, and climate news from this week you might have missed.
The oil industry’s top lobbying group will push Congress for legislation to price carbon emissions across the economy, in a sharp policy turnabout a decade after the industry helped kill a similar effort to address climate change According to The Wall Street Journal.
The Los Angeles Times announces Los Angeles has a road map for 100% renewable energy. The plan would help fight climate change and reduce deadly air pollution from cars, trucks and power plants and gas furnaces.
From The Wall Street Journal, U.S. funds are being forced to comply with new European rules on climate and other sustainable-finance issues, requiring disclosure of potential harm their investments could do to the environment and society.
The Wall Street Journal highlights how President Biden and some Democrats fret over inequities from pricing carbon, despite lack of evidence in Support for Carbon Tax Grows, Except Where It Matters Most.
👋 Welcome New MCJers!
Get to know new MCJ members! You can learn more about them on #introductions, where you can welcome them to the community, as well as in the MCJ Member Directory.
John Lin: John is the founder of Exaquest Carbon, a 501c3 nonprofit that’s working on CO2 removal via long-term biomass storage.
Ben Thompson: Ben is a longtime activist and math Ph.D. starting a new journey in data science; a leader in FF divestment & 350MA working on MA govt transparency.
John Slinkman: Software engineer in climate tech for the long haul, just off 3.5 years working on grid flexibility. Here to connect, learn and help out.
Josh Green: Josh is the Co-Founder of Panjiva (acq. by S&P) interested in tracking supply chain emissions, financing greener supply chains, and greening crypto.
Lucas Fioretti: Lucas is an Associate at an impact wealth management firm and interested in harnessing the capital markets and investing to drive sustainable impact.
Luciana Reznik: Co-founder at Wolox part of Accenture. Luciana is recently started her journey, willing to connect and share ideas and opportunities.
Mai Ly: Mai works in finance on Wall Street on the investing/trading side. Mai is excited to join a like minded-community of individuals, and hopefully discover opportunities along the way.
Phil Aiken: Phil is a finance professional exploring new career opportunities, particularly interested in companies focused on renewable energy or sustainable buildings.
Ross Gordon: Ross is a Tech MBA Candidate at NYU Stern. He’s interested in transitioning to a full-time product management role in climate tech.
Jennifer Anderson: Previously, an O&G Geologist on large-scale carbon capture and storage projects, Jennifer is excited to be part of MCJ and tackle climate change for underrepresented populations.
Ivan Lalović: Ivan is the founder and CEO at Gybe, a start-up focused on changing how water quality issues are tracked, understood, and solved.
Amanda Luchetti: Amanda is the Co-Founder of dayani.io, a digital design & innovation firm partnering whose clients focused on climate solutions. MCJ has been fundamental to my journey.
Julia Weber: Julia works in investment management and venture capital as part of Willow Creek Investment Group. She is excited to connect with like-minded folks through MCJ.
Adam Libert: Adam is nearing 7 great years at SpaceX, but looking for a hardware engineering leadership role at an early-stage carbon reduction company in SF.
Andy Jackson: Andy is a graduate student at UW Madison developing a mental model of climate change solutions. Former healthcare software project leader.
Jennifer Green Ratner: Jennifer is an executive recruiter at Hobbs & Towne. She is here to help others navigate and build upon their career journey within cleantech, climate tech, and sustainability.
Sam Tidswell: Sam is an Aussie-based investor @ Grok Ventures and is always looking to meet people in climatetech space.
Jutta Steiner: Jutta Steiner is the co-founder of Partiy Technologies. She is an angel investor and has done investments in climate-related ventures in the past.
John Webster: John has developed an extensive range of partnerships and opportunities to create and source biochar for agricultural projects including raw biochar, biochar/compost blends, and biochar/soil blends.
Liron Gitig: Liron a Partner at a growth equity firm who has decided to begin a career transition into a very different path. Looking forward to being a part of this community.
John McMahon: John is a Product Leader with 10-years of experience across ecommerce and marketplaces in the Bay Area.
Rory Eakin: Rory created Earthrise PBC. He looks forward to meeting people here and sharing ideas with the community across climate solutions and company building.
Forest Miller: Forest is a Mechanical Engineering student at UT Austin. Among other things, he is excited to be part of MCJ to get advice on how to build a successful career in clean energy.
🔦Member Spotlight: Karthik Rao
“I’ve been obsessed with climate change since grad school and have dedicated my career over the past 12 years to working on solutions, including modernizing the grid and reducing corporate carbon emissions. I was the head of global customer success at Enel X before taking some time off last year to welcome our first child. Now, I’m looking to build and scale an early stage (seed or Series A) startup that is bringing innovative decarbonization technology to market. If you'd like to chat, send me a note at rao.karthik@gmail.com!”
💼Climate Jobs
Jobs, fellowships, and career opportunities shared by members of the MCJ community. Many of these opportunities and the MCJers who shared them can be found in #climatejobs in the MCJ Slack. Check out this google doc for the jobs from this week!
📚Startup Resources
The Sustainable Ocean Alliance is taking applications for the 2021 Ocean Solutions Accelerator 4th and 5th cohorts. If you are a founder or know a founder with a brilliant, for-profit solution that will restore our ocean in our lifetime, apply here by April 12! Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, so the sooner the better.
📌Community Board
News and initiatives from members of our community. MCJers mentioned can be DMed in Slack.
🏕 MCJ Town Hall: For those who missed it, you can watch a recording of our monthly town hall with members here.
👨🏽🏫 Mentors Wanted: MCJ is working on a mentor office hours program to offer more support for those looking to transition into climate at any level. If you’d like to serve as a mentor please DM Thai Nguyen on Slack.
📨 Daniel Kriozere is debuting a climate newsletter for startups: Innovate Climate is a newsletter that highlights startups the broader climate and sustainability ecosystem. The mission is to help startups succeed and create impact, specifically by providing visibility to others in the sector and facilitating introductions.
🎟Climate Events
Check out the MCJ Calendar! Stay up to date with MCJ HQ-hosted events, networking opportunities, and member-run events. We encourage members to host community events such as expert Q&As, book clubs, topic discussions, location-based meet-ups, and more! If you want to add your event to the calendar, email us at events@myclimatejourney.co with the event details.
Please note, the MCJ calendar is for community events. For third-party events, please use the #events channel in the MCJ slack!
Upcoming
DEI-Climate Justice Monthly Meeting (Friday, April 2nd at 12 pm ET)
Maki Tazawa and Charlotte Mallo are kicking off the monthly meetups for the #dei-climatejustice channel! DM Maki Tazawa for a calendar invite. Please add ideas to the thread here of what you would like to talk about in our meetups and how we can best knowledge share, collaborate, and/or leverage this group for change.
Meet-a-MCJer via Icebreaker (Friday, April 2nd @ 1 pm ET)
We’re hosting an Icebreaker for members of the MCJ community. Come join us for several rounds of casual 1:1 conversations with a fellow MCJ Member whom you have not met. Each round of conversation is 10 minutes and there are fun questions to help break the 🧊! RSVP here: MCJ Icebreaker
MCJ Live on Clubhouse (Wednesday, March 31st @ 9 pm ET)
This week Jason and his guests will discuss Climate & the Future of Meat. Follow MCJ Live on Clubhouse to get notifications when these events occur. If you are not on Clubhouse yet, you can find an invite in the #mcj-live channel on Slack.
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