Abstraction With Hunter Watkin

Show Summary |

It's June 2023. You’re the Founder, CEO, or CFO of a company, and are under pressure to increase operating efficiency. How does carbon-related technology stack rank in priority against other items of expenditure?


I flipped the script and became interviewee for episode 10 of this carbon-focused series, sitting down with my colleague Abhi to talk about the progress made by Australia’s best carbon tech entrepreneurs and investors.


It’s a 30-minute birds-eye view of what I’ve uncovered through chats with Alex, Olympia, Charlie, Hannah, Katherine, Tegan, Mick, Anastasia, Mike, and James.


We discuss building an investment thesis on carbon, first-order problems, and the common traits of successful founders and companies.



Timestamps |

0:00 - Intro

1:00 - Abhi’s background and show overview

3:00 - How we think about building conviction in an area of technology

5:30 - Mapping the relationship between carbon and commercial problems

7:30 - Guests and the problems they solve

9:00 - Do businesses put their money where their mouth is with climate?

12:00 - Who feels the pressure of net zero targets?

14:30 - Where do the biggest opportunities lie in carbon markets?

17:00 - Challenged preconceptions

22:00 - Key traits of successful companies and founders

29:30 - Getting in touch with Hunter, Abhi and Rampersand



Series Guests |

Alex - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-logan-cecil/

Olympia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/olympiayarger/

Charlie - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-macdonald/

Hannah - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-mourney/

Katherine - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherinemcconnell1/

Tegan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tegan-nock-a4079499/

Mick - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mliubinskas/

Anastasia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-volkova1/

Mike - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikezim/

James - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesallston/

Show Summary |



Episode 9 of this carbon-focused series is with Orkestra Co-Founder, James Allston.



Solar and batteries often provide a significant financial return when used in a commercial setting. However, James has little faith that with current software, humans can deploy clean energy at the level required to prevent our planet from warming a further 1.5 degrees.



That’s why three energy experts, James, Chris, and Michael, created Orkestra. Orkestra makes understanding the financial return on solar and battery projects incredibly easy, before helping businesses sell, install, track, and optimise these projects into the future.



Tune in to hear about the Orkestra solution and James’ hot takes on what the immediate future looks like for Australian and global businesses that rely on public energy markets.



Timestamps |

2:00 - Orkestra’s beginnings

7:00 - why Orkestra was born from people saying James’ consulting service was too expensive

9:00 - The tradeoff between educating customers and building a true product-led software business

12:00 - How does Orkestra fit into carbon markets and what impact does it actually have

14:30 - Orkestra’s customers and who benefits

17:30 - The value of in-front-of-the-meter, neighbourhood and behind-the-meter batteries

25:00 - Where in Australia is the best place to install solar at the home

28:00 - Impact of Russia / Ukraine on electricity prices here in Aus and why AEMO shut our energy markets down

30:00 - why pricing volatility and the movement to renewables actually drives a greater commercial pressure to adopt decentralised energy technology

38:00 - Orkestra’s focus on scope 1 and 2, and James’ thoughts on scope 3

40:00 - James’ perspective on what matters most to being a successful founder



Connect |

James’ Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesallston/

Orkestra website - https://www.orkestra.energy/

Show Summary |

Main Sequence partner Mike Zimmerman has an unrivalled Aussie climate tech investment CV. Notably, he’s an investor in companies founded by two previous podcast guests Anastasia (Regrow) and Tegan (Loam).

He has been a founder and led three venture-backed companies in AU/US, and reflects candidly in this episode on the mistakes he made as a founder, applying this to today’s capital raising environment.

We cover why Main Sequence warms to and is uniquely positioned to fund deep tech, why it has made certain investments, their unique ‘venture science’ model for supporting startups, and where Mike sees greatest opportunity for Aussie carbon tech solutions.





Timestamps |

1:30 - Mike’s journey to partner at Main Sequence

7:00 - Battle scars and lessons learned from founding Building IQ and working in a grow at all costs startup

8:30 - How Main Sequence invests and its unique love of deep tech
11:00 - Investing alongside government

12:00 - Working with the CSIRO

13:30 - Main Sequence’s unique practice of venture science

16:30 - Investing in the world leader for helping food companies source sustainable agriculture
20:00 - Investing in Loam Bio

24:00 - Where Main Sequence is spending a lot of its time deep diving

29:30 - Why Mike thinks Australia is a special place to launch climate tech companies



Connect |

Mike’s email - mike@mseq.vc

Mike’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikezim/

Main Sequence website - https://www.mseq.vc/

Show Summary |

Episode 7 of this carbon-focused series is with Anastasia Volkova, the founder of Regrow Ag.


Despite being the industry that manages and nurtures land, agriculture emits between 11 and 25% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Regrow uses a combination of remote sensing and ground truth data to help brands drive carbon insetting projects with upstream farmers and suppliers working on the land.


Anastasia’s remarkable story spans starting her business while completing a PhD, a very important acquisition that led to finding product-market fit, and more recently raising capital while her home country of Ukraine was invaded. Enjoy 7 years of insight packed into a 40-minute conversation on what businesses that rely on agriculture really need in order to mitigate climate risk in their supply chains and how it can be done in a scalable way.



Timestamps |

1:30 - Why businesses are the sustainable drivers of change and not-for-profits are limited in enacting enduring change

4:30 - The macro problem Regrow is addressing

5:00 - The problems of excess synthetic fertiliser on farms and why it exists
8:00 - Why you cannot manage without measurement

10:00 - Why you need a mix of ground truth, satellite and other tech to measure empower real-time decision making

14:30 - How brands using Regrow encourage adoption of the solution by farmers

18:30 - How Regrow helps customers understand and improve scope 3 emissions
23:30 - Why aggregate measurement of scope 3 rather than perfect, contract-level traceability of emissions is actually better

28:00 - Regrow’s biggest challenge: finding product-market fit

30:00 - The trade off between short-term v long term gains as a climate tech startup

34:30 - Regrow’s early adopters and bullseye Ideal Customer Profile

36:30 - Capital raising for Regrow as Ukraine was invaded

41:30 - What Anastasia will be doing when she retires



Connect |

Anatasia’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-volkova1/

Regrow’s website - https://www.regrow.ag/

Anastasia’s recent blog on scope 3 -

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/scope-3-spotlight-climate-action-anastasia-volkova-phd

Show Summary |



Episode 6 of this carbon-focused series provides a bird's-eye view of the local climate tech ecosystem with the help of Climate Salad founder and local angel investor @Mick Liubinskas



We map the solutions to climate problems across the reduction and removal of emissions, adapting to our changing environment, and improving how we interact with nature.



Mick also explains why he believes that most Australian climate tech startups are fundamentally undervalued.



PS: Mick’s claim to superstardom is that he came up with the name ‘Startmate’. 😯



Timestamps |



2:30 - Mick’s background and going all in on Climate tech

4:30 - Climate Salad and climate tech angel investing

9:00 - The climate tech industry map and the four categories of impact

12:00 - Why corporates are investing directly in carbon reduction and removal solutions

15:00 - How corporates looking to understand and act on their scope 3 emissions

18:00 - Why climate problems can’t be solved with software alone

21:00 - What drives Mick’s assessment of investment opportunities

26:00 - What red flags to watch out for when it comes to climate tech investors

31:00 - Products helping corporates on the demand side of carbon markets

37 :00 - Mick’s new fund and helping climate tech companies expand internationally

39:30 - Getting involved with Climate Salad and connecting with Mick



Company Mentions |



Cecil - https://www.cecil.earth/

Emmi - https://www.emmi.io/

Enosi - https://enosi.energy/

Goterra - https://goterra.au/

Loambio - https://www.loambio.com/

Regrow - https://www.regrow.ag/

Ripe Robotics - https://www.riperobotics.com/

Show Summary |



In episode 5 of this carbon-focused series, we hear from former farmer and Loam Bio founder Tegan Nock. Loam Bio is introducing a “gateway drug” that gets growers hooked on building stable soil carbon into their cropping systems.



Fresh off a A$105 million Series B raise, Tegan shares how a simple seed coating could deliver a significant revenue opportunity for farmers while helping solve the problem of excess atmospheric carbon around the world.



We chat about what motivates farmers, carbon insetting, and why Tegan thinks farmers need to be careful about who they deal with when it comes to carbon credits.



Timestamps |



01:30 - Tegan’s background and the origin story of Loam Bio

4:30 - Macro problem

5:30 - The product(s) and how they are used

8:30 - Commercial incentive to use Loam Bio for farmers

11:00 - What does “stable” carbon mean and why does it matter

13:30 - The administration and requirements to convert stable carbon sequestration into a carbon credit

17:30 - Raising A$105m, traction to date and immediate goals

20:00 - The time it will take to prove the power of the ‘perfect’ fungus

25:00 - The things people try to get farmers to do on their farms

29:30 - Biggest problem in carbon markets

31:00 - Carbon insetting and ensuring farmers are careful of entering carbon credit contracts with companies

35:00 - Biggest wins

36:30 - Life outside Loam Bio



Connect |



Tegan’s Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tegan-nock-a4079499/

Tegan’s Twitter -https://twitter.com/TeganNock

Loam Bio Website - https://www.loambio.com/