climatetech

Molly and Jason discuss the news that Coinbase is doing another 20% RIF. (6:50) Then they discuss the announcement that Microsoft is investing $10B into OpenAI with some pretty favourable terms. (27:19) After, Molly and Jason chat about Make Sunsets’ plan to cool the planet and Enpal, a German solar panel company raising money at a $2.4B valuation. (46:56) Then we wrap with this year’s first edition of TWiCS featuring Mike O’Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements. (1:00:56)

(0:00) M+J kick off the show

(2:10) Atmospheric rivers and the chaos in California

(6:50) Coinbase does another 20% RIF

(11:56) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist

(13:03) The future of employment in tech

(21:50) Mixpanel - Apply for $50K in credits at https://mixpanel.com/startups

(23:16) The perfect amount of founders

(27:19) Microsoft is invests $10B into OpenAI

(32:46) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/TWIST

(34:10) OpenAI going from a non-profit to a for-profit + What is roundtripping?

(46:56) Make Sunsets raises $750K to do what?!

(53:05) Enpal raises at a $2.4B valuation

(1:00:56) TWiCS: Mike O’Kronley of Ascend Elements

FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis

FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

First up, J+M cover how to approach a market that's heating up during a downturn (1:42), before covering warrants. (25:07) Then, Voyager's Nat Bullard joins to discuss his journalist to VC path and Voyager's climate focus. (32:09)

(0:00) J+M tee up today's segments!

(1:42) How to approach a market that's heating up during a downturn

(11:26) Blueground - Get up to $1000 off your booking at https://promos.theblueground.com/twist 

(12:58) Strategies around patience in VC, entering markets at the wrong time

(25:07) Understanding warrants

(30:49) Paperclip - Go to getpaperclip.com/twist to get the app free for life

(32:09) Nat Bullard joins Molly and breaks down his path from journalist to climate VC

(39:15) LinkedIn Marketing -  Get a $100 LinkedIn ad credit at https://linkedin.com/thisweekinstartups

(40:38) Voyager's thesis, most exciting investment opportunities in climate

FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis

FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

FOLLOW Nat: https://twitter.com/natbullard

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Sunday double-header. First, Jason discusses why some VC firms allow side investing and others explicitly forbid it (01:50). Then, in a This Week in Climate Startups segment Molly interviews Nan Ransohoff, Head of Climate at Stripe (12:27) about their $900M+ plan to fund carbon sequestration (31:18).

00:00 Jason and Molly introduce today’s show
01:50 VC Sunday School: What’s the deal with side investing?
09:42 Thorne - Personalized, scientific wellness. Go to https://Thorne.com/u/TWIST
10:55 Intro This Week in Climate Startups
12:27 TWiCS: Molly interviews Nan Ransohoff, Head of Climate at Stripe
20:14 Wealthfront - Get your first $5,000 managed for free, for life at https://wealthfront.com/TWIST
21:30 The market for carbon removal: paying to re-sequester carbon
29:57 OpenPhone - Get an extra 20% off any plan for your first 6 months at https://openphone.com/twist
31:18 Discussing how Frontier functions as a non-profit within Stripe & how to make something like Frontier mainstream

Check out Frontier: https://frontierclimate.com

FOLLOW Nan Ransohoff: https://twitter.com/nanransohoff
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

Jason says, "fortunes are made in the down market and collected in the up market." In today's VC Sunday School Jason and Molly discuss how a down market impacts early-stage investors (01:45). You will learn:

1. Risks to VC fundraising when valuations are down

2. If your investing process should vary depending on market conditions

3. How a down market impacts future returns

4. Why founders should have 18 months of runway

5. How founders can turn a down market into an advantage

Then, Molly chats with Emily Kirsch, Managing Partner of Powerhouse Ventures for a This Week in Climate Startups segment (25:53). Emily is a climate investor and they discuss:

1. Why Powerhouse is focused on software

2. Climate change's potential impact on GDP

3. How financial tools enabled the solar revolution

4. Regulations impacting climate investing

5. How different climate tech investors work together

6. The imbalance between climate tech founders and companies

(00:00) Molly and Jason intro the show
(01:45) VC Sunday School: how a down market impacts the early-stage
(05:45) Risks to VC fundraising when valuations are down
(09:37) Should investors standards change depending on market conditions?
(12:24) Bubble. Get one month free of a no-code plan at https://bubble.io/twist
(13:53) How a down market impacts future returns
(18:55) Why founders should have 18 months of runway
(21:21) How founders can turn a down market into an advantage
(23:46) Jason and Molly intro Emily Kirsch
(24:34) Coda - The all-in-one doc for teams, get a $1,000 credit at https://coda.io/twist
(25:53) Emily Kirsch Managing Partner of Powerhouse Ventures
(29:11) Why Powerhouse is focused on software
(34:31) Fellow - Sign up and get $1000 in credits at https://fellow.app/twist
(36:16) Climate change's potential impact on GDP
(37:50) How financial tools enabled the solar revolution
(39:58) Regulations impacting climate investing
(44:17) How different climate tech investors work together
(55:24) The imbalance between climate tech founders and companies

Check out Powerhouse: https://www.powerhouse.fund/ventures

FOLLOW Emily: https://twitter.com/emilykirsch
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

First, Jason teaches Sunday VC School: how investors work together (01:54). In this segment you will learn.:

1. How collaboration varies across investing stages.
2. How lead investors are determined and what their responsibilities are.
3. The strategies you can use to win deals (Jason explains the pitch he gives to founders with options).
4. The warning signs to watch for when working with other investors.
5. Tactics founders can use for lower-friction fundraising.

Then, Molly chats with Ramez Naam from Prime Movers Lab in a This Week in Climate Startups segment (35:10). They discuss the declining costs of renewable energy, making the choice between advancing existing technologies and inventing new ones, how science fiction can make you a better investor and more. 

(00:00) Jason and Molly introduce the show
(01:54) Sunday VC School - how investors work together
(06:53) How collaboration varies across investing stages
(08:43) Odoo - Get your first app free and a $1000 credit at https://odoo.com/twist
(09:49) Why seeing other late stage investors be passive in a deal is a warning sign
(11:20) How raising from more investors can be actually be easier than raising from a few
(15:44) Lead investor responsibilities
(20:09) Fellow - Sign up and get $1000 in credits at https://fellow.app/twist
(21:38) How VCs can win over founders
(26:44) Do VCs get offended by what order they get into a startup?
(29:16) Will investors still invest if the founder picked another VCs term sheet?
(31:33) Molly and Jason introduce the next segment
(33:25) Revelo - Get 20% off the first 3 months by mentioning TWIST at https://revelo.io/twist
(35:10) This Week in Climate Startups - Ramez Naam
(37:55) Advancing existing technologies vs. inventing new ones
(42:19) Early stage climate investing
(46:43) The declining costs of renewable energy
(52:52) Confronting climate tech skeptics
(57:06) How writing science fiction impacts Ramez's investing

Check out Prime Movers Lab: https://www.primemoverslab.com/ 

FOLLOW Ramez: https://twitter.com/ramez

FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

First-of-a-kind projects are, by definition, unproven. Despite the abundance of capital in climate tech these days, the valley of death for new technologies still exists. But there are solutions. And this week on Catalyst, we have a case study of one of them.  The U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office has $40 billion of capacity to help solve this exact kind of problem. It just announced its first conditional commitment for a $1 billion loan guarantee to help Monolith scale up its first megaplant in Nebraska.  Monolith uses methane pyrolysis – heating methane up to high temperatures – to split the gas into hydrogen and carbon black, which is an essential component of tires, plastics, rubber and other materials. It’s a key indication of where the department is putting its priorities.  We brought both sides of the negotiating table on the podcast: Rob Hanson, the CEO and co-founder of Monolith; and Jigar Shah, the Director of the Loan Programs Office.  Jigar shares what he’s heard from lenders about why loan guarantees are important, and why commercial banks are reluctant to place bets on these first-of-a-kind plants. He also addresses misconceptions about the office’s role in the climate tech ecosystem. Rob dives into Monolith's decade-long process to reach this milestone, and points out key differences between venture capital and infrastructure capital. He also talks about what Monolith’s second- or third-of-a-kind climate tech plant could look like. Catalyst is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com. Catalyst is supported by Antenna Group. For 25 years, Antenna has partnered with leading clean-economy innovators to build their brands and accelerate business growth. If you're a startup, investor, enterprise, or innovation ecosystem that's creating positive change, Antenna is ready to power your impact. Visit antennagroup.com to learn more.

Can investors win by betting on early-stage innovations in hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as energy, transportation, agriculture and heavy industry?  The answer doesn’t matter only to venture capitalists. If you believe that we need fundamental science and engineering innovation to climb our way out of the climate crisis, it's an important question. Plenty of reasonable observers say the answer is no. Case in point: The 2016 MIT report Venture Capital and Cleantech: The Wrong Model for Clean Energy Innovation by Ben Gaddy and Varun Sivaram. But things have changed since “Cleantech 1.0,” the first wave of investment in the sector that resulted in a lot of bankruptcies -- but also some big hits like Tesla, Sunrun, and Nest. Capital is flowing back into the sector at stunning rates, as venture investors all turn their attention to climatetech. So do the arguments against deeptech climate venture capital hold up today? To explore this question, Shayle turns to Ramez Naam, another veteran of Cleantech 1.0. Ramez and Shayle go point by point, covering questions such as: Does climatetech take too much capital to scale? Is the time to commercialization too long? Is the exit landscape still relatively unattractive? Will this new climatetech boom lead to another bust? Catalyst is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media. Catalyst is supported by Atmos Financial. Atmos offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts that only invest in climate-positive assets like renewables, green construction, and regenerative agriculture. Modern banking for climate-conscious people. Get an account in minutes at joinatmos.com.