#119: 🌎💸 Biodiversity finance | 4 H's framework | $37M for Asian EV's
2-minute read: Climate, Startups, Productivity, Leadership
Good morning, folks.
In today’s 2-minute read, we’ll cover these 4 nuggets below — as delightful as a cold outdoor shower after rucking with 30 pounds on your back.
Climate Startups & Investment:
#1 — 🌲 Biodiversity finance: It’s core economics, not flower power.
#2 — 💰 Template for success? Moving climate startup models overseas.
Productivity & Leadership:
#3 — 😔 Gut-wrenching leadership lesson from a 3rd grade teacher.
#4 — 🤯 Comparison = Dissatisfaction.
Onward and upward,
Chris
P.S. Want more? Read 100+ prior newsletter issues here.
#1 — 🌲 Biodiversity finance: It’s core economics, not flower power.
Or so said Frank Elderson, European Central Bank Exec Board Member in the Financial Times…
How much does it cost to create the world we want to live in?
(See below.)
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So, it’s 1/7 as easy to achieve biodiversity as net zero energy systems? Nice!
That means we’ve almost reached these goals, right? Not quite.
(See green bar)
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And why have biodiversity goals not been met?
According to BloombergNEF:
Lack of standardized data, metrics, and consistent frameworks
Need to integrate biodiversity into key decision making
Absence of effective policy support
Dearth of bankable biodiversity projects
Uncertain environmental integrity of offsets and other mechanisms
Insufficient industry and local community buy-in
And now for the hand off to Mitch Rubin of Elemental Excelerator…
Here he’s written a wonderful 24-page treatise — How to kickstart the private sector biodiversity movement — to show the state of the art and what’s coming to get around each of those six roadblocks.
#2 — 💰 Template for success? Exporting climate startup business models overseas.
Looking for a proven way to grow a successful climate tech startup?
Just be a copycat.
But take the new business to other countries.
And tweak it to fit that new culture, economy, and customer psychology.
Cheeky? Maybe a little.
Does the climate care? Not really.
Is there enough investor return to go around? Yep.
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In this LinkedIn post, you can feel Danny Kennedy’s * excitement about MAKA Motors’ traction in growing the electric motorbike market in Indonesia. **
Those are convincing numbers.
Importantly, the next HUGE opportunity is taking the carbon out of Indonesia’s power grid.
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* Danny is the Chief Energy Officer for New Energy Nexus.
** I’m using MAKA and Indonesia for illustration purposes only. I don’t have details on where they learned what they did. 🤫
#3 — 😔 Gut-wrenching leadership lesson from a 3rd grade teacher.
Kyle Schwartz is an elementary school in Denver, Colorado.
To get to know her students better, she asked them to complete the sentence:
"I wish my teacher knew that..."
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Her students’ responses surprised her:
…my dad was deported to Mexico when I was three years old, and I haven’t seen him in six years.
…I worry because my mom is getting sick a lot and was in the hospital last night.
…my dad died this year, and I feel more alone than ever.
…my family and I live in a shelter.
…we are low on money and have to go to a food bank to get food.
But it wasn’t all sad. Here’s a good one:
…that she knew had to do a back flip. 🤸
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How is this relevant to a startup team? To us as community members?
We often have very little idea of what others are going through.
Asking"How are you?” and expecting an answer like “Fine, but it sure is hot out here?” it not a formula for candor and relationship building.
Instead, we might try the 4 H’s exercise at team meetings (example here). It’s a format for sharing on these themes below. You go around the room asking for people’s input. But first, you share yours.
History — e.g., “I was born in…Here’s how it shaped who I am today…”
Heartbreak — e.g., “X years ago, this [sad, tragic] thing happened…It made me decide to…”
Heroes — e.g., “Ever since this I was [in college, a little kid], my hero has been…”
Hope — e.g., “The reason I get out of bed each day is to see [this goal] realized…”
#4 — 🤯 Comparison = Dissatisfaction.
We’re all guilty of this. Maybe it’s on social media or online forums.
“As the cliche says — stop comparing your bloopers to someone else’s highlight reel.
Take comfort knowing we are all a bit fucked and have some damn affection for your dumbass self.”
But put those self-flagellation whips away. That’s now what this post is about.
(Thanks for the sailor’s summary, Anna Holling. And great write-up here.)
Or maybe you’ve heard it said like this.
“Don’t compare your insides to someone else’s outsides.”
We often associate this with platforms like Facebook or Instagram.
But — shocker! — the same is true for business folks like us scrolling on LinkedIn.
However, it’s fun to remember this:
“Behind every great logo and press relesease is a hot mess.”
This is one of my favorite things to say when we entrepreneurs have our heads stuck in the ground. (Or somewhere worse.)
📓 Two final notes
(1) Tell a friend
If you enjoyed this newsletter, I’d really appreciate it if you sent it to a friend or two (or 20). 🙏
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(2) Fundraising for startups
If you’d like to learn how to raise capital for your climate tech startup, I’m teaching a short course about this in September. It’s taught live, online, with a cohort of peers.
That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week, because it’s usually a choice.
Cheers,
Chris
Entrepreneurs for Impact: The #1 climate CEO peer group in North America
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(As evidenced by these photos, I’m an actual human. Not an AI. 🤫 I promise.)
