Friends of ClimateHaven –
In another lifetime, while training for a marathon, I remember a particular morning run made difficult by the prior night’s antics. In a tiring uphill moment, my friend, running partner, and life coach screamed at me:
“Mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”
My response was neither kind nor clean, but after all these years, I still remember the moment and that phrase.
Now, why am I mentioning this? In the ups and downs of our three-decade march to decarbonize our planet, I feel like we’re entering a “mind over matter” period.
EV adoption isn’t accelerating as hoped, leaving automakers to rethink their strategies. The transmission grid is stuck in a regulatory quagmire. Rising interest rates and inflation challenge offshore wind development. Even heat pumps, a growing product, face a unique challenge in a shrinking market (home remodeling and renovation) as consumers tighten their wallets.
Does this mean we can’t reach our decarbonization goals over the next few decades? Of course not. We will get there. But with these newfound headwinds, the path to get there will be quite bumpy and, at times, unpredictable.
In these periods of turbulence––whether it’s caused by economic forces like high interest rates or social forces like low EV adoption––it is increasingly important that we:
There’s no better place to lean into climate tech entrepreneurship than ClimateHaven, and no better time to do it than our grand opening!
It’s time to break out the big scissors!
We are delighted to hold the ClimateHaven grand opening on Thursday, November 9. We’ll start the day with a speaking program, startup pitches, and ribbon-cutting for our members, partners, and supporters at 4:00 p.m. Then, we’ll open our doors at 5:30 p.m. for a networking event on the first day of the Yale Clean Energy Conference.
We look forward to celebrating with each of you. To request an invitation to the speaking program, startup pitches, and ribbon cutting, reply here.
Register for the Yale Clean Energy Conference here to join the grand opening networking event. The Conference will span Thursday and Friday, so registration for Thursday night’s affair will get you access to the entire event. The agenda is packed!
P.S. Speaking of great Yale events, mark your calendars for the Yale Innovation Summit, which returns May 29-30, 2024.
One of the best ways to lean into climate tech entrepreneurship is to surround entrepreneurs with all the resources they need to scale, which is why we are proud to launch the ReGen Accelerator with our partner Kaplak Ventures. The Accelerator will feature two programs in 2024, each designed to support ten companies whose technologies meaningfully contribute to the most critical step towards building a regenerative economy: decarbonization.
Each program will provide resources and mentorship to address the unique challenges companies face in two distinct phases of their lifecycle: technology development and commercialization. The first program, ReGen for Startups, will run from April to June 2024 and focus on pre-seed and seed-stage founders tackling the challenge of technology development. The second program, ReGen for Scaleups, will run from September to November 2024 and will support Seed and Series A companies aiming to commercialize their technologies.
The ReGen Accelerator will provide a host of unique benefits to the participating startups, including capital investment, customer introductions, access to a network of world-class mentors, and in-person workshops that will take place at ClimateHaven’s headquarters in New Haven (selfishly, our favorite benefit).
Interested startups can learn more about the ReGen for Startups here and apply now.
We know the grand opening is still a few weeks away, but we had the pleasure of opening the doors of ClimateHaven to our initial climate tech startups a few weeks ago. As we go forward, you’ll see this newsletter focus more on them!
Many are working to decarbonize our grid, transportation sector, and heavy industry.
Companies like Revert will decarbonize our buildings!
Founded by Ryan Li and Joel Lybik, ReVert power adapters optimize household appliance energy use, reducing electricity bills to maximize savings. Through the integration of AI, grid analytics, and your usage patterns, ReVert technology automatically identifies phantom loads from parasitic devices consuming energy, powering them off until needed.
Learn more about Revert here and contact ClimateHaven’s Haley Lieberman for a direct introduction to the founders.
I’m all for leaning into climate tech entrepreneurship, but let’s do it with a clear sense of what entrepreneurship requires.
One of the best things any founder can do when starting a climate tech company is to take a gut check: Do you really want to be a climate tech founder?
For many folks, the answer is a resounding yes. Trust me, I get it. We’re passionate people who want to find solutions that address climate change. Why not apply that devotion to climate tech entrepreneurship, especially when there’s an opportunity for major economic gains and social glory? We do love our entrepreneurs, after all!
But here’s the thing. Entrepreneurship is hard, fraught with risk, and likely to fail more often than not. So, do that gut check to ensure you’re ready to be the founder your investors, employees, and customers need you to be.
Read more in the most recent post in the Startup Playbook.
Our community of climate tech founders has done that gut check and committed their brilliance and energy to building great climate tech companies.
The grand opening will be an excellent opportunity to celebrate them and the amazing work they do every day.
However, I’m already thinking about the day after the grand opening and the work we’ll need to do to scale each of these companies. If you’re interested in investing in our startups, mentoring our founders, or joining our community as a funder, partner, or startup, reach out to me.
We’re definitely entering a “mind over matter” period, but if we stick together, focus on the long-term goal, and don’t mind some short-term turbulence, it won’t matter!
Until next time,
Ryan
P.S. Follow ClimateHaven on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram to keep up on our progress between newsletters.
