⚡ How a 9x Founder Is Betting on Climate (#196)
+ What 100 Climate Investors Expect in 2025
Today’s topics:
CLIMATE NUMBERS: 56% are building “policy-proof” climate business models.
CEO TO KNOW: BlackRock, Form Energy, and now sustainable aviation fuel.
INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT: First, a 9x founder. Now, a climate investor.
AI INSIGHT: Can GPT be your Chief Culture Detective?
MINDFUL MOMENT: Hot rocks, steam, and scorpions?
1. CLIMATE NUMBERS
Can you build “policy-proof” climate business models?
Sightline Climate (CTVC) and Elemental Impact recently surveyed 100 investors and industry insiders.
Here’s a result that popped:
To deal with current headwinds, 56% aim to build “policy-proof” business models.
Do you agree?
Is this even possible?
If so, how are you doing it?
👉 Share your comments on this LinkedIn post.
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2. CEO TO KNOW
BlackRock, Form Energy, and now sustainable aviation fuel.
Joe Rodden, CEO of Lydian Labs, was my recent guest on our Entrepreneurs for Impact (EFI) podcast.
Their technology uses modular reactors to achieve 95% lower lifecycle emissions compared to traditional jet fuel.
Their production ramps up when solar and wind power are available and cheap, and turns off when they aren’t.
They’re backed by climate-focused investors such as Congruent Ventures and Galvanize Climate Solutions.
Beyond business, you can hear how to use “peanut buttering” as a verb and why we can “fail at routines” while still building great companies.
3. INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT
First, a 9x founder. Now, a climate investor.
Jim McDermott is the Managing Partner at Rusheen Capital Management, an investor in growth-stage companies in the carbon capture and utilization, low-carbon energy, and water sustainability sectors.
But his work before co-founding Rusheen might make you feel like a loser.
Thank goodness he’s on our team.
He started, invested in, and ran US Renewables Group (Founder & Managing Partner), Stamps.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: STMP – Founder), Spoke Software, Inc. (Founder & CEO), Archive, Inc. (Founder & CEO – sold to Cyclone Commerce), NanoH2O, Inc. (Founder & Board Member – sold to LG Chemical), SolarReserve (Founder & Board Member), Fulcrum Bioenergy, Inc. (Founder & Board Member), Common Assets (Founder & Board Member – sold to NASDAQ: SCTY), SET Technology (Board Member) and OH Energy, Inc. (Founder & Board Member).
4. AI INSIGHT
Can GPT be your Chief Culture Detective?
Turn data into insights to boost morale and rally the team.
This is especially important now when Washington DC has made things as crazy as an “all-hands” where a CEO announces a “micro-pivot” that incinerates half the roadmap.
Here’s what you can do.
Export and organize team feedback data.
Download your pulse, eNPS, or other team survey results as a CSV file.
If relevant, remove names and emails for anonymity.
Upload the CSV to ChatGPT Plus.
Prompt it.
“You’re my Chief Culture Detective. Pretend you’re a human resources executive with 30 years of experience. Using the attached files, cluster comments by theme and sentiment, flag low‑frequency but high‑emotion issues, cross‑tab by department and tenure, and recommend three CEO actions.”
Refine the output.
Ask follow‑ups such as:
“Drill deeper into Engineering concerns.”
“Draft follow‑up survey questions for Theme #2.”
Spot‑check to confirm accuracy.
Copy the summary table and action list into your next leadership slide deck.
Repeat quarterly.
Track cultural momentum and communicate to show that you’re listening.
5. MINDFUL MOMENT
Hot rocks, steam, and scorpions?
On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I joined an EFI Climate CEO Fellow in a sweat lodge ceremony.
What is it?
A traditional Indigenous ritual that packs [15] soon-to-be friends into a tree branch-framed dome wrapped in blankets.
You crawl in barefoot, in the mud, on all fours, tense and hopeful.
(“Don’t worry about possible scorpions or tarantulas inside,” we’re told.)
Then water is poured atop bonfire-heated, red-hot stones.
The resulting steam seems to penetrate right into your mitochondria.
(That’s a metaphor. I did study science.)
Prayer chants and rhythmic drumming suggest that you’re not in Kansas anymore.
(Imagine a prehistoric spa mixed with group therapy.)
Oh yeah, and it’s dark as night inside the dome.
Your DNA tells you to run, that you can’t breathe.
But you don’t and you can.
Because the elements are meant to break you down so you can find breakthroughs.
Participants share openly about dominant thoughts in their “skull-sized kingdoms.”
After a few hours, you crawl out, dirty, sweaty, and refreshed.
Partly glad to see light and feel fresh air.
But mostly grateful for what you learned about yourself and your new besties.
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That’s all, y’all.
Make it a great week. It’s usually a choice.
~ Chris
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