The 5 dysfunctions of a team (We're all dysfunctional)
New model for climate tech funds. More alone time needed. Role of humor. (vol 144)
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Today’s topics.
💸 Two new models for climate tech funds.
😆 Climate tech should have a sense of humor.
💣 The 5 dysfunctions of a team.
⚡ We’d rather give ourselves electric shocks than sit alone bored.
P.S. Check out the poll about how much climate tech funding we’ll see in 2024.
1.
💸 Two new models for climate tech funds.
Investing in the best climate tech startups is hard for at least two reasons:
Access
Risk
These two new funds address one or both of these challenges.
#1
“Amsterdam-based Carbon Equity raises an additional €100 million for its second climate tech solutions fund”
My friends at Carbon Equity have raised €200 million from 700 investors in the last three years.
They’re tapping into the $177T in “mass affluent net worth globally, with less than 1% exposure to private markets.”
They don’t invest directly in companies.
Instead, they invest in the top VC funds in climate tech, including our allies at Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Energy Impact Partners.
This creates diversified investments.
(The cool kids call this structure a “fund of funds.”) 🤓
And investors don’t need millions of dollars to invest. Sometimes check sizes are in the low five figures.
As they continue to innovate new financial products, their goal is this:
“Anyone with a good salary, a pension, a children’s saving plan, or an inheritance can help build a net zero future with their capital whilst benefiting from the value creation of doing so.”
—
#2
“New early-stage climate tech fund of funds closes $152 million”
WovenEarth Ventures’ purpose is to create a “risk-adjusted product, that in one investment, you get exposure to 300 or 400 companies, instead of 20 to 30 (that you’d get in one fund)."
In a world where white males lead 98.6% of asset management firms, it’s inspiring to see that this fund, like Carbon Equity, is women-led, too. 💪
POLL:
2.
😆 Climate tech should have a sense of humor.
You’ve heard it before and probably yawned. But it’s sage advice. 🧘🏻♀️
“Life is too important to be taken seriously.”
With climate tech, we’re tackling a serious problem.
But it’s also OK to have fun and laugh a bit on the way.
Case in point — this song below waxes romantically about the benefits of heat pumps.
(Imagine Barry White’s deep sweet lovin’ voice and strong bass. RIP.)
It starts with these lyrics from Mike Roberts and Will Hammond Jr. about a heat pump "with a lot of love to give."
“Baby, tell me what you want.
Cool days.
Warm nights.
Yeah, sometimes we all need a little help.
To make everything just right.”
LOL, indeed. 🙃
Thanks to Emilie Mazzacurati, cofounder of Tailwind Climate and Mentor at EFI, for sharing this with me. 👍🏼
3.
💣 The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team
Many of the CEOs in EFI’s peer group community LOVE this book by Patrick Lencioni.
Here’s a summary from Runn, plus the 5 dysfunctions pyramid.
Because all people and all teams are dysfunctional to varying degrees, the book has a 4.6-star rating with 13,277 reviews on Amazon. 😲
A suggestion:
Pick three tactics that the author suggests for remedying dysfunctions.
Decide on a few KPIs that could change with a higher-functioning team.
Implement them, one per month for April, May, and June.
Measure changes in KPIs.
Repeat. 🏋🏽
4.
⚡ We’d rather give ourselves electric shocks than sit alone bored.
A 2014 experiment published in the journal Science showed the following:
“In 11 studies, we found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think.
Many — 67% of men and 25% of women — preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts.”
This reminds me of the wise words of Blaise Pascal — a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer.
“All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”
We need more alone time, without anything electronic nearby.
That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week because it’s usually a choice.
~ Chris
Dr. Chris Wedding: Founder @ Entrepreneurs for Impact — North America’s top CEO peer group for growth-stage climate tech, with 70+ entrepreneurs and investors representing over $20B of market value for climate solutions
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(As these photos show, I’m an actual human writing this newsletter. Not AI. 🤖)
