24 months ago, a group of committed folks embarked upon the mission of creating a world-class community of climate tech entrepreneurs rooted in New Haven, CT. That community–aptly titled ClimateHaven–aimed to attract talented folks from around the city, state, and region.

As we mentioned in the last Startup Playbook post, the next ten posts will focus on what a climate tech startup needs to do to succeed: build a great, scalable product.

The Startup Playbook’s first ten posts focused on all the elements climate tech founders must consider when building their business––financial controls, intellectual property, cap tables, data rooms, and more!

As the founder of a climate tech startup, your responsibility is to bring together the numerous and necessary elements that will make it successful––the technology, capital, team, vendors, customers, and more. But the most critical piece of them all… It’s YOU!

For many, a human resource department feels like the adult version of the principal’s office, but an HR team is one of those things founders cannot fall into the trap of dismissing. Why? At an early-stage company, your people are everything, and I mean everything. You must take care of them, and that starts with an excellent HR management team.

Most climate tech founders start at a similar position–no revenue, customers, employees, investors, or product. Instead, there’s a vision and a critical need to translate it into a compelling story that will convince potential investors, employees, and customers that you, the founder, are the right person to solve the critical problem you have identified.

Crafting an intellectual property (IP) strategy at the onset of establishing your startup is critical.

Like any good startup, ClimateHaven is a work in progress. We started out earlier this year with the simple intention of building a vibrant community comprised of climate tech entrepreneurs and the passionate people that support them.

Every person who joins a high-flying startup is looking for a few things: a fast growth culture, the opportunity to be part of something great, and stock options.

Every person who joins a high-flying startup is looking for a few things: a fast growth culture, the opportunity to be part of something great, and stock options.

Raising capital is an exhausting process. A founder of an early-stage company, especially an early-stage climate tech company, is much more likely to hear a “no” than a “yes” from investors.