Scholarships for underrepresented founders in climate tech +
Texas bans ESG, 350+ climate startups mapped, Brad Feld podcast, Bloomberg' green car guide, and how much time you waste
Yo, yo.
In today’s 3-minute read, we’ll cover these juicy nuggets:
📚 Scholarships for underrepresented founders in climate tech
🎤 Podcast — 30+ years of VC investing
🏎️ Which EV should you buy?
🚫 Texas “bans” 348 ESG funds
🗺️ 350+ climate startups on a map
☠️ We’re all dying right now
Enjoy.
Chris
📚 Scholarships for underrepresented founders in climate tech.
If you’re a woman or BIPOC founder in climate tech, agtech, etc…
And you’re trying to raise pre-seed, seed, or first-of-a-kind project finance…
You might find value in my live, online course => “Fund Your Climate Tech Startup” from September 5-16.
And I have scholarships waiting for you. Just hit reply to this newsletter, or ping me on LinkedIn by Thursday, September 1.
Enrollment is capped at 20-25.
I will finalize seats this week.
My two AMAZING guest instructors include:
Jen Wagner — Former President of CarbonCure Technologies (winner of the Carbon XPRIZE) and climate tech startup advisor
A surprise climate tech VC investor — Managing over $100M in capital for early-stage companies and mentoring startups via Bill Gates's Breakthrough Energy program
Check out the live course details here.
And email me if you want a big ole’ discount! 🙌
🎤 Podcast — 30+ years of VC investing.
Brad Feld has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987.
He is the co-founder of Foundry, Mobius Ventures, and Intensity Ventures.
Foundry manages over $3B in assets and invests in startups and venture capital funds. Their approach is characterized by long-term thinking and a "give first" philosophy.
They have 70 active investments, 100 general partners, 45 partner funds, and 1,900 Foundry network companies.
Their sample climate investments include VC funds (USV, Moxxie Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital) and startups (Running Tide, Sofar).
He is also the author of eight books and cocreator of Techstars, a leading startup accelerator that has accepted about 3,000 companies into its accelerator programs with a combined market capitalization over $70B.
Listen to my podcast with Brad:
🏎️ Which EV should you buy?
I don’t know.
Thankfully, we have lots to choose from.
Here’s Bloomberg’s data to help you out.
🚫 Texas “bans” 348 ESG funds.
No, this is not a joke.
But it sounds like one.
Officials in Texas and West Virginia seem to think that some ESG-focused investment managers are “boycotting energy companies.” For example, these 10 companies and 348 investment funds.
But…
BlackRock responded:
“This is not a fact-based judgment. We do not boycott fossil fuels — investing over $100 billion in Texas energy companies on behalf of our clients proves that.”
The Texas official claimed:
“The environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) movement has produced an opaque and perverse system in which some financial companies no longer make decisions in the best interest of their shareholders or their clients, but instead use their financial clout to push a social and political agenda shrouded in secrecy.”
However, meta-studies (of many studies) tend to show the opposite, most of the time.
That is, ESG excellence tends to lead to stronger financial performance.
Check out this NYU Stern research as an example.
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🗺️ 350+ climate startups on a map.
The good folks at Startup Basecamp continue to produce incredible resources about and for climate tech startups around the world.
Awesome work, Guillaume de Dorlodot.
Here’s their recently announced map of 350+ global climate startups.
☠️ We’re all dying right now.
Here’s a little pick-me-up from my boy Ryan Holiday at The Daily Stoic.
Dip this in your morning coffee. See how it tastes.
“It’s easy to see death as this thing that lies off in the distant future. We think of dying as an event that happens to us.
Seneca felt that this was the wrong way to think about it, that it was a mistaken view that enabled many bad habits and much bad living.
Instead, he said, death was a process—it was happening to us right now. Even as you read this email, time is passing that you will never get back. That time, he said, belongs to death.
Death doesn’t lie off in the distance. It’s with us right now. It’s the second hand on the clock. It’s the setting sun. As the arrow of time moves, death follows, claiming every moment that has passed. What ought we do about it? Seize it while it still belongs to us.”
That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week, because it’s usually a choice.
👊 Chris
Dr. Chris Wedding
Founder and Chief Catalyst, Entrepreneurs for Impact
We help CEOs and investors tackle climate change with mastermind peer groups, online courses, newsletters, and podcasts
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P.S. Do you know how much time you waste each day?
Check out this calculator to visualize it. Shout out to Steph Smith, podcast host for VC investor az16.
https://begreat.me/