This CEO sold 5 companies & does this key thing 1,000x per year (Issue #126)

Learn why this ex-Google engineer raised $375M for biodiversity startups

Oct 17, 2023

Good morning, folks.

In today’s 2-minute read, we’ll cover these 4 nuggets below — as delightful as those rare moments in meditation when your body disappears. (And, no, I wasn’t smoking anything.)

Climate Startups & Investment:

#1 — 🚫 Should climate tech startups accept money from oil and gas majors? Meet this one who will not.
#2 — 🌳 Learn why this ex-Google X engineer raised $375M for biodiversity startups.

Productivity & Leadership:

#3 — 🍲 Take bolder action like this founder who decided to feed 400 homeless folks each weekend (on top of her day job).
#4 — 📲 Meet a CEO who sold 5 companies and does this important thing 1,000x per year

Onward and upward,

Chris

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

#1 — 🚫 Should climate tech startups accept money from oil and gas majors? Meet one who will not.

Is all money invested into climate solutions the same?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Heirloom — a leader in carbon removal with a recent commitment from Microsoft valued at $200M — has clarified that it won’t accept oil industry investment in its growth.

However, there is no consensus on this.

I work with some climate tech CEOs who will accept capital from more future-leaning oil majors. But they won’t accept it from those more focused on legacy (current) profits in conventional energy.

Others have seen headlines like this and question motivations:

Shell joins BP and Total in U-turning on climate pledges ‘to reward shareholders’

But some note that oil and gas giants may be the best positioned to help scale industries like carbon capture and removal given their decades of experience in massive engineering projects.

I’m currently in the camp of “more money into climate solutions is the goal, regardless of source” [barring extreme stuff like money laundering, blood money, etc.] 😬

But I could be proven wrong in the future.

The debate continues in this Axios article.

#2 — 🌳 Learn why this ex-Google X engineer raised $375M for biodiversity startups.

Tom Chi cofounded At One Ventures to focus on seed and Series A investments in air, water, soil, and biodiversity.

His perspective:

A large number of venture capital funds investing in climate tech are looking for companies that can cut carbon emissions — that leaves a lane open to back startups tackling other problems.

His team also sees the benefit of backing underrepresented founders:

40% of At One’s startups are run by women or people of color. This outcome wasn’t intentional. If everybody in the world is looking at the same entrepreneurs, these white dudes that just came out of Stanford, then those things get massively over-picked. That means you’re going to pay way too much for something relative to its value.

Image of At One Ventures cofounder, Tom Chi, saying: “We are investing towards a world where humanity is a net positive to nature.”

If you want their funding, here’s what they look for in startups:

Image: A table from At One Ventures showing what kinds of companies they invest in, including criteria for seed and Series A companies.

#3 — 🍲 Take bolder action like this founder who decided to feed 400 homeless folks each weekend (on top of her day job).

Meet Jasmine Crowe.

CEO of Goodr, TED speaker (2.2 million views), named as one of the top 100 influential female founders by Entrepreneur Magazine, 35th black woman to raise more than $1 million in venture capital

In her prior role helping black celebrities and athletes set up their own nonprofits, she became more acutely aware of the hunger problem among the homeless in Atlanta.

So, she started feeding 350-500 people on the weekends.

And not just PB&J sandwiches.

Instead, there were appetizers, entrees, and desserts.

Dignity. Respect. Love.

Later, she learned about the connection between hunger and food waste — and started Goodr to harness tech to reduce food waste and feed the hungry.

Every year in the United States, we waste over 72 billion pounds of edible food, yet 54 million people are suﬀering from food insecurity.

Yes to this: Bold action. Connecting the dots. Waste into value.

Read about 15 other tech companies tackling food waste…

including our friends at Copia, who are tackling hunger — “the world’s dumbest problem” — with “tech that allows businesses to redistribute food surplus to feed local shelters, after-school programs, and other nonprofit organizations.”

#4 — 📲 Meet a CEO who sold 5 companies and does this important thing 1,000x per year.

Meet Jesse Itzler.

A serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience, Jesse has built and sold five companies, including Marquis Jet, Zico Coconut Water, and 29029 Everesting to name a few. He’s a NYT bestselling author of two books, Emmy award winner, globally recognized keynote speaker, part owner of the Atlanta Hawks, proud father of four kids, loving husband, son, brother, and friend, and finisher of endurance races like Ultraman and multiple 100-mile runs!

Here’s his simple and potent advice that I love and hope to follow:

Send a text to three people each day.
Use these themes for your short messages: Compliment, Congratulate, and Console.

That’s a lot of good karma seeds we can plant each day.

Listen to an unfiltered podcast with Jesse on MFM here.

🤲 Small favor.

If you enjoyed this newsletter, I’d be grateful if you sent it to a friend.

We gotta spread the word about the solutions, optimism, and business opportunities in climate tech. 🙏

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That’s all, y’all.

Make it a great week, because it’s usually a choice.

Cheers,