In today's episode we catch up with Eddy Lu, co-founder and CEO of GOAT, the fashion marketplace. GOAT represents one of the most epic pivots in Y Combinator history: they started out organizing group dinners. Founders are often told they should be "scrappy". Eddy and his cofounder Daishin are scrappiness personified, and that's what enabled them t…

Mish Thadani is the CEO and Co-founder of Rhizome. Rhizome helps utilities plan for resilience. It's an AI-powered software platform that helps electric utilities identify vulnerabilities from climate threats to quantify risk and to measure the economic and social benefits of grid enhancing investments. In our discussion, we delve into how utilitie…

David Rusenko was a college student when he applied, at the last minute, to Y Combinator in 2006. His startup, Weebly, made a web site builder. At one point they came within days of running out of money, but they survived to be acquired by Square in 2018 for $365 million. Now David runs a fund, Leap Forward Ventures, focused on climate change. He h…

Today's conversation is all about how the US is trying to onshore manufacturing of key clean energy supply chains, things like EV, battery metals, and the like. Giulia Siccardo is the Director of the US Department of Energy's Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains or MESC. We start out with a bit of a history lesson on why manufacturing s…

Dr. John Wagner is the President of Battelle Energy Alliance and Director of the Idaho National Laboratory or INL. INL is one of 17 national labs in the United States and leads the nation in work on advanced nuclear research. INL boasts a rich legacy in the narrative of nuclear energy, marked by its pivotal role in producing the inaugural usable el…

In today's episode, we talk with Yin Wu, founder and CEO of Pulley, a cap table management system that YC funded in 2020. Yin has been founding startups since 2011 and she talks about her experiences testing startup ideas, what she's learned about persistence and determination, and why she loves having startup founders as users.…

Christina Yagjian leads global renewable energy strategy and origination at Cargill. According to Forbes, Cargill is the largest private company in the USA by revenue with $177 billion in the fiscal year ending in May, 2023. Before Cargill, Christina managed the renewable energy footprint at Meta, the parent company to Facebook and Instagram and on…

Cyrus Wadia is the CEO of Activate, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers scientists to bring their research to market. Having supported nearly 200 scientists in founding around 150 companies, including notable names like Fervo, Twelve, Sublime Systems, and Antora Energy, Activate offers selected fellows a unique blend of financial suppo…

Dr. Seonghoon Woo is CEO and co-founder at Amogy. Amogy is building technology to unlock ammonia's potential as a clean energy fuel source for transportation and beyond. About a year ago, they raised a Series B of funding led by SK Innovations, with backers including Temasek, Aramco Ventures, Mitsubishi, DCVC, Amazon Climate Pledge Fund, Mitsui OSK…

Ron Conway has been close to the center of things for longer than anyone else in Silicon Valley, from the point when he started his career at National Semiconductor in the early 70s to the AI conference he organized last month. He's the embodiment and the transmitter of Silicon Valley culture. He knows all the stories, usually because he was person…

Adam Stein is the Director of Nuclear Energy Innovation at the Breakthrough Institute, where he focuses on the technology, policy, risk and economics of nuclear energy. The Breakthrough Institute is a global research center that identifies and promotes technological solutions to environmental and human development challenges. Among its many project…

Today we catch up with Kyle Vogt, whose self-driving car company, Cruise, was funded by Y Combinator in 2014 and acquired by GM in 2016. Before that he was a co-founder of Twitch and its predecessor, Justin.tv. Learn how his love of building hard things started at a young age, and why he’s nowhere near done building yet.…

In today's episode, recorded live during San Francisco Climate Week, we delve into the critical intersection of climate policy and carbon removal. Joining us are two distinguished guests: California Senator Scott Wiener, the author of the recent landmark climate legislation known as California's SB 253 or the Climate Corporate Data Accountability A…

Today we are talking to Yuri Sagalov. His company AeroFS, which did enterprise file syncing and sharing, was funded by Y Combinator in summer 2010. Yuri went on to work at Y Combinator before starting his own fund, Wayfinder Ventures.By Jessica Livingston

Dr. Sarah Kapnick serves as the Chief Scientist at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which plays a critical role in understanding and predicting changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts. Bringing a unique mix of science and finance to NOAA, Dr. Kapnick's background includes a stint as a senior climate scientist at JP…

Ning Mosberger-Tang is the founder and president at 1.5 Climate Strategies Group, alongside a host of other climate and civic organizations. As one of the pioneering female engineers at Google, Ning played a crucial role in the development of Google's initial advertising platform. Transitioning from Google in 2006, her focus shifted towards combati…

Dr. Peter Fiske is the Executive Director at the National Alliance for Water Innovation or NAWI. NAWI is a collection of 19 universities, four national labs and 190 plus US water companies committed to developing new technologies to enable distributed desalination and water reuse. They're a five-year, $110 million research program supported by the …

Eric Law is the CEO and co-founder of Urban Machine. Urban Machine develops robotics and AI to reclaim lumber from construction and demolition for re-use. They claim that 37 million tons of wood goes into landfills annually, and much of that wood could be reused. Their robotic machines specialize in the necessary steps to prep wood for reconditioni…

Brandon Hurlbut, our guest on this episode, wears multiple hats. He's co-founder at Boundary Stone Partners, a climate change focused government affairs firm created in 2013 that operates at the intersection of technology, finance, and policy. He's also co-founder of Overture, an early stage climate tech venture capital firm that recently announced…

Kim Stanley Robinson, renowned science fiction author, is our guest on this episode of MCJ. He is the author of the Ministry for the Future, a novel which outlines humanity's attempts to navigate climate change in the coming decades. Former President Barack Obama named the Ministry for the Future as one of his favorite books of 2020. The work has b…

Subodh Kulkarni is CEO and President at Rigetti Computing, and our topic in this episode is quantum computing and its implications for our changing planet. Rigetti Computing, a publicly listed company, builds quantum computers and superconducting quantum processors. It also provides cloud-based access to quantum computing for both commercial and re…

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Eric Letvin serves as the Federal Emergency Manag…

Dr. Britt Wray is a science communicator and the author of two books. Her latest is Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety, which is a national bestseller. Dr. Wray is also the director of CIRCLE (Community-minded Interventions for Resilience, Climate Leadership, and Emotional wellbeing) at Stanford Psychiatry, a research an…

On this episode of My Climate Journey, we have two guests: Susan Schofer and Po Bronson. Susan is partner at SOSV and Chief Science Officer at Hax, which is SOSV's initiative around hard tech. She has a PhD in chemistry from Caltech, and most recently spent eight years at Modern Meadow, a growth stage startup in the bio leather space. Po is general…

Dan Yates is the CEO and Chairman of Dandelion Energy, a Series B Stage startup deploying solutions for residential geothermal energy. As Dan explains it, residential geothermal distinguishes itself from utility-scale geothermal by not aiming to exploit a scarce, underground heat source for electricity generation through turbines. Instead, the proc…

Today’s guests are Dr. Melissa Burt and Dr. Emily Fischer, who are part of a group called the Science Moms. The Science Moms are a consortium of climate scientists who are also mothers and who are, in their words, working to give our children the planet they deserve. They aim to demystify climate science and motivate everyday moms to demand climate…

Prakash Govindan is COO and Co-founder at Gradiant. Gradiant is a Series D stage company that develops technology for industrial wastewater treatment. They work with Fortune 500 clients across a range of industries, including semiconductor fabrication, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, mining, and more, to help them reuse water in their operation…

Ben Hubbard is CEO and Co-founder at Nexus PMG, an infrastructure advisory and project development organization dedicated to reducing carbon intensity and enhancing resource efficiency. Ben co-founded Nexus PMG in 2013 after multiple years of working on complex metal refining facilities in locations including Mongolia and Saudi Arabia. In this epis…

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Roy Mittleider is the director of training for Ca…

Announcing Season 3 of The Social Radars!By Jessica Livingston

Dr. Denise Baden is Professor of Sustainable Business at the University of Southampton and founder of Green Stories. At Green Stories, Dr. Baden has run 16 writing competitions since 2018, focused around sustainability and storytelling. She is herself also the author of multiple eco-fiction novels, including Habitat Man and is the editor of a colle…

Sarah Lamaison is the CEO and Co-founder of Dioxycle. Dioxycle is developing technology to produce sustainable ethylene from recycled carbon emissions. Ethylene is the world's most used organic chemical and it's a precursor to many everyday products including construction materials, plastics, and textile fibers. Indeed, it's a core feedstock for po…

This episode is part of our Capital Series hosted by Jason Jacobs. This series explores a diverse range of capital sources and the individuals who drive them. From family offices and institutional LPs to private equity, government funding, and more, we take a deep dive into the world of capital and its critical role in driving innovation and progre…

Scott Gale is Executive Director at Halliburton Labs. Halliburton is a complex company. It’s a 100-year-old oil field services giant, known for its extensive fracking operations and infrastructure expertise in the oil and gas sector. It is not an oil and gas distributor like Chevron or Exxon, but it is a powerhouse nonetheless. With their Halliburt…

Eloa Guillotin is the Co-founder and CEO of Beyond Aero. The topic of aviation emissions is complex. Flying is in many ways a crucial part of our global society, and although COVID lockdowns temporarily reduced frequent flying, the reliance on air travel in modern society is indisputable. Aviation accounts for over 2% of global emissions. Lithium-i…

Barbara Burger is the former president of Chevron Technology Ventures and describes herself as a "corporate graduate." She now spends her time advising and helping startups and venture funds working on the energy transition, including Greentown Labs, Energy Impact Partners, Emerald Technology Ventures, Syzygy Plasmonics, Heliogen, and many more. In…

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Chris Higgins works for the city of Vancouver, Br…

Today we chat with Adora Cheung, Co-founder of Homejoy (YC summer 2010) and now InstaLab, an at-home blood testing service that helps you optimize your health by measuring over 60 biomarkers. Our conversation is wide-ranging: from how to clean homes efficiently to how she helped defeat Trump in 2020 by getting hundreds of thousands of votes in swin…

Tom Ferguson is founder and managing partner at Burnt Island Ventures, which is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on technologies related to water. Burnt Island's website notes that climate change is water change. And that water is the medium through which we will feel the effects of a warming earth. Tom has been working in water for over…

Stanley Janicki is the Chief Revenue Officer at Sedron Technologies. Sedron is on a mission to revolutionize how waste streams can be processed to eliminate disposal costs and destroy pathogens while capturing valuable energy and recycling water. Their Varcor system takes liquid waste slurries and recovers nutrients for beneficial reuse. Their prim…

Tisha Schuller is the founding CEO of Adamantine Energy. At Adamantine, Tisha consults with clients ranging from Fortune 100 energy companies to nonprofit environmental organizations on topics related to energy policy, business strategy, politics, and community engagement. With a background as the former president and CEO of the Colorado Oil & Gas …

Today we have another insider episode: we're talking to Trevor Blackwell, who was my cofounder at Y Combinator. But that's not all he's done. He was also the founder of Anybots, where he created the first dynamically balancing biped robot, and also worked on Viaweb with Paul Graham and Robert Morris.…

Cameron Halliday is the CEO and Co-founder of Mantel. Mantel is developing a point source carbon capture solution, which means they're developing technology that can sit next to industrial equipment and capture its emissions. Mantel's key innovation lies in their utilization of a high-temperature liquid-phase material for carbon capture, enabling o…

John Melby is CEO at Xpansiv. Xpansiv operates what they claim to be the largest carbon offset exchange in the world, purportedly covering 40% of the voluntary carbon market volumes and 90% of exchange traded volumes. Beyond carbon, Xpansiv provides global market infrastructure for registering, managing, trading, settling, retiring, analyzing, and …

This episode is part of our Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure. Today we're talking about the US Department of En…

Dr. Carlos Nobre is a Nobel Laureate and co-author of the IPCC AR4 Report that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He’s also one of Brazil's top climate scientists. Dr. Nobre is a member of the Brazil Academy of Science and a founding member of the World Resources Institute Brazil. He is known for his work on the risk of the savannaization of the Am…

Chris Tolles is the CEO and Co-founder of Yard Stick PBC, which stands for Public Benefits Corporation. Yard Stick is aiming to be the measurement backbone for soil carbon. Their handheld hardware enables onsite measurement of soil carbon in agricultural fields, and their software package provides data and analytics that help stakeholders in a soil…

Today we're talking with Parker Conrad, who founded two startups that went on to become unicorns: Zenefits in 2013, and Rippling in 2016. Parker’s story is one the more dramatic ones you’ll hear on this podcast. In fact this episode is two stories: his misadventures at Zenefits, and the ambitious ideas he has implemented at Rippling.…

Shashank Sane is the Executive Vice President for Transmission at Invenergy. Invenergy is North America's largest, privately held renewable power generation company. They have developed more than 200 power generation projects around the world and are responsible for more than 31 gigawatts of power on four continents, with the majority of that being…

Julie Willoughby serves as the Chief Commercialization Officer at Circ, and in this episode, we are talking about fast fashion, the clothing industry, and Circ's role in bringing circularity to the world of polyester and cotton. According to statistics from The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the equivalent of a garbage truckload of clothes is burned o…