#125: Who’s failing on their net zero GHG targets? [visual tracker]

+ Climate video from Apple to make you LOL (or cry), 50 questions to pick your co-founder, 90% of our bodies are not human cells

Oct 03, 2023

Good morning, folks.

In today’s 2-minute read, we’ll cover these 4 nuggets below — as delightful as that super healthy morning smoothie that should taste like garden soil but is actually quite yummy.

Climate Startups & Investment:

#1 — 🍎 A delicious sustainability video from Apple
#2 — 🌡️ Who’s failing on their net zero GHG targets?

Productivity & Leadership:

#3 — 👰 50 questions to pick your co-founder
#4 — 🦠 You didn’t do it. We did.

Onward and upward,

Chris

P.S. Want more? Read 120+ prior newsletter issues here.

#1 — 🍎 A delicious sustainability video from Apple

Want to see Tim Cook super nervous?

Watch Academy Award-winner Octavia Spencer role play as Mother Nature?

Be inspired by Apple’s ambitious environmental commitments and progress?

Honestly, it’s hilarious and might move you.

But remember, companies don’t have to be valued at $2.6 trillion in order to achieve climate greatness.

(And no, Apple, is not a sponsor of this message. But if you’re reading this, Apple, my wife would love to get your latest smartphone model.)

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🙏 Thanks to Amanda Hall, CEO of Summit Nanotech, for sharing this with our climate CEO peer group at Entrepreneurs for Impact.

🎙️ Learn more about her low-energy, low-water, high-purity lithium extraction tech in my podcast: Tibetan Inspiration, $72M, and Better Lithium Production

#2 — 🌡️ Who’s failing on their net zero targets?

Do you feel lost in the maze of net zero headlines by corporations and countries?

Doubtful that they mean what they should?

Me, too.

Thankfully Net Zero Tracker, well, tracks it for all of us.

Here’s where we stand:

Having 88% of global GHGs covered by a net zero goal is a good start.

But 2050 is a long way away.

And the people in power then are not the ones making these plans today.

Now repeat after me: Interim. Goals.

How about targets for 2030? 2035? 2040?

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Net Zero Tracker also grades companies.

Go ahead. Double-click on one. You know you want to.

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🙏 Thanks to Tim Krysiek, Managing Partner at MassMutual Ventures, for bringing this resource to my attention during our recent podcast.

🎙️ Listen to my chat with him here: $100M from Insurance Giant for U.S. Climate Tech Startups

That’s brand-new dry powder. So get in line, y’all.

#3 — 👰 50 questions to pick your co-founder

Picking a co-founder is hard.

So it’s best to not rely on “gut feeling.”

Instead, try these 50 detailed questions from First Round, a seed-stage VC firm.

And if your potential partner runs away when you ask them to answer these, well, they’ve made the decision easy for you.

Examples include:

What is success to you? What motivates you personally?
When have you taken a chance when others did not? Or when have you been willing to take an unpopular stance?
What is your expected time commitment right now? How do you see that changing in the next 6 months? 2 years?
What happens in the scenario where we aren’t growing? How would we diagnose the problem?
Can one co-founder fire another co-founder? Can someone else fire a founder?
What number would you sell at? How would that change if you got extra liquidity from your existing positions?

#4 — 🦠 You didn’t do it. We did.

This is both a reminder of our biology and our tendencies toward hubris.

First, the biology:

70-90% of all cells in the human body are bacterial, representing perhaps 10,000 different species.
Genetically we get even less real estate: 99% of the unique genes in our bodies are bacterial.

Second, the obvious relevance to [ahem] excess confidence.

Whether we’re flying high on success or stuck in temporary setbacks, it’s easy to think it’s all about us.

And while I love the “take 100% responsibility for everything” philosophy, two things can be true at the same time.

We don’t get to where we are through our own merit or hustle alone.

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Source: American Museum of Natural History