102: Mike Farber of GreenStory

Boston Speaks Up

Guest Mike Farber has played many roles throughout his career, serving as a brand builder, mentor, advisor, partner, and now, co-founder. In his latest career move, Farber has the world’s best interests in mind by co-founding GreenStory, an agency focused entirely on elevating the stories of organizations addressing the climate crisis. Farber is also an advisor at Greentown Labs, the country’s biggest climate tech accelerator based in Somerville, Massachusetts. Before launching GreenStory, Farber began his career at Schwartz Communications, where he launched scores of companies, guided four clients through successful IPOs and helped many others become acquired. His experience spanned across multiple types of technologies, ranging from consumer to enterprise software to clean energy (which he has always magnetized towards). Farber helped lead the growth of Schwartz’s San Francisco office in the late 1990s, before moving back to Boston in 1999. At Schwartz, he worked alongside peers who became the founders of LaunchSquad, which was the next stop on Farber’s journey. In 2010, he joined LaunchSquad as a partner where he founded LaunchSquad’s Boston office and helped high-growth companies tell their stories to the world. Following LaunchSquad, Farber took a sabbatical, de-accelerated, spent time with family and friends, guest lectured at Middlebury College and ideated on the next innovative step he might take. During that time, he wrote on LinkedIn, “One through line I keep re-visiting – as governments become increasingly dysfunctional, businesses and NGOs must take a bigger role in driving positive change. I’m not exactly sure what that means for my next step, but… I’ll be working that out.” In this episode, we explore how Farber worked it all out, why he believes every part of the economy is changing for the better because of climate, how Massachusetts rocks in climate, the legacy he wants to leave on this planet, and so much more.