Programs +
There is a quote I often think about at the end of each year: “Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years.”
I love it because it makes me feel like I have nine more years to exercise, improve my diet, and learn to play the guitar.
Joking aside, this Bill Gates quote is highly relevant for climate tech founders working tirelessly to decarbonize our planet. We should not lose sight of the fact that decarbonizing the global economy is a multi-decade, multi-trillion-dollar effort. Each year of progress will build upon the year before it. But in some years, progress will be very difficult to judge.
Take the story of solar, wind, and coal in a three-act play:
Now, you could argue that 2023 was a down year for solar and wind. Still, the incredible work done for decades by so many in the climate tech community (illustrated by the staggering amount of wind and solar brought online in 2023) will contribute to these amazing milestones happening in the coming years.
All of this speaks to the importance of execution and endurance. Ideas are amazing, but a sustained commitment to execution is what will lead to the creation of enduring climate tech companies. In the long run, it will be those companies who are there to celebrate the net zero milestone when we reach it!
It’s time for our year-end edition of Three Up, Three Down––three things that excited me this year and three things that leave me hoping for more:
Let’s start with the good stuff:
And the three things that left me hoping for more:
It is supremely important for climate tech company founders to understand precisely how their technology will contribute to a healthy planet.
Not all climate technologies are going to directly contribute to decarbonization. But let’s be clear. This question goes beyond your technology’s potential environmental impact.
Consider the ramifications, like how you will design your product, develop your go-to-market strategy, raise capital, and make money over time. The goal, after all, is to build an enduring company.
Since these categories were not declared on high, they could be sliced and diced in numerous ways. But I’ll propose there are three main buckets for which you could categorize your climate technology:
Dig into this week’s installment of the Startup Playbook to learn more.
ClimateHaven would not be where it is today without our exceptional funders' commitment to climate tech entrepreneurship, believing it will meaningfully and simultaneously address the climate crisis and build inclusive prosperity for communities.
As a 501(c)(3) organization, ClimateHaven leverages philanthropic support to strengthen the programming and workshops we offer our climate community, expand the number of entrepreneurs we serve, and accelerate climate careers our member companies create. In turn, such support is tax deductible by our donors to the fullest extent allowed by law.
If you would like to join our community of climate-doers by donating, click here!
Speaking of our fantastic community, we have two startups to spotlight. Welcome to ClimateHaven! First, a big welcome to Cool Amps, co-founded by CEO Lonnie Garris, CTO Dr. Thomas Madden, and Technical Advisor Duwayno Robertson. Dedicated to responsibly recycling lithium-ion batteries, Cool Amps provides an opportunity to enhance America’s economic competitiveness and national security.
By developing an infrastructure with independent capabilities to mine, process, and recycle scarce metal components such as cobalt and nickel found in battery products, Cool Amps creates a circular supply chain, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and supporting the transition to a sustainable, electric future.
Second, we are proud to be working with Future Island Impact! Co-founded by Daniel A. Rosales Roche, PhD, MBA and Nancy Tanguay, Future Island Impact deploys tidal turbines to regions characterized by low energy density, advancing a clean, renewable energy solution at a community-wide scale and unlocking substantial new markets along the U.S. coastline. By developing models for this underutilized resource, Future Island empowers residents and organizations, stabilizes local energy costs, and adds resilience to energy grids while reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.
The ClimateHaven community is 17 members strong and still growing. If you’re interested in introductions to any of these amazing climate tech companies, contact ClimateHaven’s super connecter, Haley Lieberman! If you are an entrepreneur interested in joining this amazing community, you can apply for membership here.
Here’s a quick year-end roundup of the ClimateHaven community:
Congratulations to The Community Foundation
On December 8, we hosted our partners at the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven as they received a $2M grant from the US EDA to fund the foundation’s business support ecosystem for underserved tech entrepreneurs, of which ClimateHaven is a supporting partner. We’re incredibly grateful to Senator Blumenthal, Congresswoman DeLauro, Mayor Elicker, and the Community Foundation leadership team for celebrating the grant at ClimateHaven and spotlighting the entrepreneurs benefitting from it.
2024 Calendar
We’ll publish our full events calendar in mid-January. In the meantime, mark your calendars for the next installment of Green Drinks on February 8, 2024, sponsored by our good friends at GSB, and the Yale Innovation Summit on May 29 – 30, 2024.
ReGen Accelerator
Speaking of 2024, we’re announcing the ReGen Accelerator’s first cohort in Q1 of 2024. The accelerator program will run for eight weeks at our New Haven-based incubator in April and May, culminating with a showcase around the Innovation Summit in late May.
New people, New Roles
Stay tuned for announcements in January introducing ClimateHaven’s new board members and our first class of Executives in Residence.
Back to where we started. I’m fascinated with the idea of building enduring companies. Celebrating major fundraising, attending big conferences, and promoting new ideas is easy, but the real impact of climate tech will be made by folks who fiercely execute over years and decades.
Our goal is for ClimateHaven to be one of those enduring organizations, and we’re already off to a great start. We accomplished an enormous amount in 2023, and we’re poised to make 2024 even better. Still, the focus remains on the long-term––doing what it takes to build an organization that will be there to celebrate with the planet when we reach net zero emissions.
But first, egg nog.
Until next time,
Ryan
P.S. Follow ClimateHaven on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram to keep up on our progress between newsletters.
