Climate CEOs: Scaling Startups

Dr. Chris Wedding — Climate Tech CEO Coach | CEO @ EFI
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The leading weekly briefing for climate founders and CEOs. Hosted by Dr. Chris Wedding, executive coach and CEO of Entrepreneurs for Impact (EFI), a peer group with 100 CEOs & investors representing $40B in enterprise value and assets under management. Climate CEOs delivers playbooks from the front lines of climate tech, with insights on raising capital, scaling startups in clean energy, batteries, carbon capture, and the circular economy, plus the founder mindset, mindfulness, daily habits, book recommendations, and resilience needed to thrive.

  1. Beware of Hidden Costs of “Cheap” Capital in Climate Tech

    1D AGO

    Beware of Hidden Costs of “Cheap” Capital in Climate Tech

    Here are today’s three NEW topics on climate tech finance, decision tools, and mindful leadership: 📊 Climate Finance — Non-dilutive capital is not free money ⚙️ Decision Tool — Take the Four Tendencies Quiz ⛰️ Mindful leadership — Speed vs. direction (don’t get this backwards) ------------ Join the top climate CEO peer group in North America. Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — a confidential peer community for Series A to private equity-backed CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and investor mentors, representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 3-minute newsletter: Climate CEOs For climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a podcast review to help others discover these guests. I don't take any sponsors, so this 30-second favor really helps lot. We need millions more people to get to work on profitable climate solutions. Thanks in advance! 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the host: Dr. Chris Wedding Climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    14 min
  2. Rare-Earth-Free Electric Motors: $200B Markets Without Supply-Chain Risk | Ankit Somani, CEO of Conifer

    4D AGO

    Rare-Earth-Free Electric Motors: $200B Markets Without Supply-Chain Risk | Ankit Somani, CEO of Conifer

    VC backing for the world's most compact, modular, and cost-effective electric powertrains without rare earth minerals risk 🎧 Episode Summary Conifer has created the only rare-earth free electric motor and powertrain that is also better across power density, efficiency and cost metrics, compared to incumbents with rare-earths. Conifer’s in-wheel powertrains and NEMA compatible motors are designed to fuel the fast growing $200B electric mobility, agriculture, and industrial markets. They raised a $20M seed round last year, which is a good sign in a tough market for hardtech startups. Ankit Somani, CEO and Co-founder of Conifer, and a repeat entrepreneur and has raised $80M+ across his startups. Prior to Conifer, Ankit co-founded AllyO, an enterprise AI agent that served Fortune 500 companies like Walmart and Amazon. Following its acquisition by HireVue, he served as HireVue's Chief Product Officer. Previously, he was a part of Google’s Data Center R&D and Electrification teams, creating products that serve all of Google infrastructure. ----------- Join the top climate CEO peer group in North America. Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — a confidential peer community for Series A to private equity-backed CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and investor mentors, representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 3-minute newsletter: Climate CEOs For climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a podcast review to help others discover these guests. I don't take any sponsors, so this 30-second favor really helps lot. We need millions more people to get to work on profitable climate solutions. Thanks in advance! 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the host: Dr. Chris Wedding Climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    41 min
  3. Be Boring to Get Funding: Unit Economics > Bold Visions

    JAN 29

    Be Boring to Get Funding: Unit Economics > Bold Visions

    Here are today’s three NEW topics on climate tech finance, decision tools, and mindful leadership: 📊 Finance — This one metric quietly kills climate tech fundraises. ⚙️ Tools — Return on Effort (RoE): Fewer hours. Better outcomes. ⛰️ Leadership — “Don’t do anything that someone else can do.” ------------ Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 4-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOs For entrepreneurs and investors: 5 quick ideas on climate data, CEOs to know, investor spotlights, AI insights, and mindfulness moments — drawn from lessons working with 400+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.) No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it. 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the Host: Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, connect on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    10 min
  4. $75M for AI Efficiency: 3-5x Better Performance/Watt than NVIDIA | Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron AI

    JAN 26

    $75M for AI Efficiency: 3-5x Better Performance/Watt than NVIDIA | Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron AI

    Producing the highest performance, lowest power, and best total cost of ownership solution for AI transformer model inference. 🎧 Episode Summary Positron AI is an AI hardware startup developing energy-efficient solutions optimized for transformer model inference, critical for applications like ChatGPT. They’ve raised about $75M and achieve 3-5x better performance per dollar and per watt versus most other chips today. They recently raised $51.6 million in an oversubscribed Series A round led by Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and DFJ Growth. They also ranked #3 in The Information’s 50 Most Promising Startups. Mitesh Agrawal, CEO of Positron, recently transitioned from his role as chief operating officer and cofounder of Lambda, a multibillion-dollar-valued cloud infrastructure company focused on AI and NVIDIA GPU-powered services.  ----------- Join the top climate CEO peer group in North America. Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — a confidential peer community for Series A to private equity-backed CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and investor mentors, representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 3-minute newsletter: Climate CEOs For climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a podcast review to help others discover these guests. I don't take any sponsors, so this 30-second favor really helps lot. We need millions more people to get to work on profitable climate solutions. Thanks in advance! 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the host: Dr. Chris Wedding Climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    52 min
  5. This CEO Left a VC job to Start a Company. (Gasp!) Then Raised $40M and Signed Google and Microsoft as Clients.

    JAN 22

    This CEO Left a VC job to Start a Company. (Gasp!) Then Raised $40M and Signed Google and Microsoft as Clients.

    Here are today’s five NEW topics on climate & clean energy, startup investment, AI for entrepreneurs, and mindfulness in leadership: 1. 📊 CLIMATE DATA Committed warming: Are we already cooked? 2. 💡 CEO TO KNOW Julia Reichelstein @ Vaulted Deep ($40M for carbon removal with co-benefits) 3. 💸 INVESTOR SPOTLIGHT Bala Nagarajan @S2G ($2.5B for food, energy, and oceans) 4. 🤖 AI INSIGHT Your new Board of Directors: All experts, zero humans 5. ⛰️ MINDFUL MOMENT Wisdom is not free. ------------ Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 4-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOs For entrepreneurs and investors: 5 quick ideas on climate data, CEOs to know, investor spotlights, AI insights, and mindfulness moments — drawn from lessons working with 400+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.) No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it. 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the Host: Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, connect on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    12 min
  6. Turning Methane Into Money: Carbon-Negative Fuels at Industrial Scale | Dr. Emmanuel Kasseris, CEO of Emvolon

    JAN 19

    Turning Methane Into Money: Carbon-Negative Fuels at Industrial Scale | Dr. Emmanuel Kasseris, CEO of Emvolon

    Using off-the-shelf tech to convert methane, CO2 emissions, and waste into carbon-negative fuels and green chemicals like methanol and ammonia. 🎧 Episode Summary Emvolon helps hard-to-abate industries such as agriculture, aviation, energy, maritime and waste management power the global economy without producing emissions. The company’s patented technology converts greenhouse gas emissions into carbon-negative fuels and chemicals like green methanol and green ammonia onsite by repurposing mass-produced automotive engines as cost-effective, modular chemical plants. Emmanuel Kasseris, CEO and co-founder, has more than 20 years of experience in the energy sector. As a research project manager for Chevron, ConocoPhillips and MIT, he led several new energy technologies from concept to laboratory prototype and eventually full-scale pilots. His work has been cited by the DOE, EPA and NSF and used in expert testimonies to Congress. He holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. from MIT in Mechanical Engineering. He is the inventor of five US patents and the author of nine publications with over 1.000 citations. ----------- Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 3-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOs For climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.) If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it. 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the Host: Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    47 min
  7. Decarbonization Finance: 73% Invest for the Wrong Reason

    JAN 15

    Decarbonization Finance: 73% Invest for the Wrong Reason

    Here are today’s five NEW topics on climate & clean energy, startup investment, AI for entrepreneurs, and mindfulness in leadership: 1. 📊 CLIMATE DATA 73% of investors engage in decarbonization for this reason 2. 💡 CEO TO KNOW Randy Allen @ Still Bright (80% savings in copper mining) 3. 💸 INVESTOR INSIGHT How CEOs and investors actually align on priorities 4. 🤖 AI USE CASE Create instant infographics with NotebookLM 5. ⛰️ MINDFUL MOMENT Just say it: “I don’t know.” [Zen story] ------------ Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 4-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOs For entrepreneurs and investors: 5 quick ideas on climate data, CEOs to know, investor spotlights, AI insights, and mindfulness moments — drawn from lessons working with 400+ climate CEOs and investors, plus 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.) No sponsors — just real conversations with climate leaders. If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it. 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the Host: Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, connect on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    13 min
  8. Earth Data: $40M for Stratospheric Robot Fleet with Zero Emissions | Rema Matevosyan, CEO of Near Space Labs

    JAN 12

    Earth Data: $40M for Stratospheric Robot Fleet with Zero Emissions | Rema Matevosyan, CEO of Near Space Labs

    Climate resilience via better data: 7 cm-resolution via satellites and aerial imagery that does in hours what 80,000 drones would do in weeks. 🎧 Episode Summary Near Space Labs is a category-defining Earth observation company delivering high-resolution, high-frequency aerial imagery through its industry-first stratospheric imaging platform, the Swift.  With its nationwide network of autonomous Swift robots, the company provides unmatched 7 cm-resolution imagery at a scale and cadence that fundamentally transform how organizations monitor and respond to our rapidly changing world.  Near Space Labs' private-market focus has enabled it to develop sustainable technologies that meet the needs of commercial clients while reducing reliance on federal funding. Its mission is to serve as the Earth data backbone for business, community, and climate resilience. While pursuing her PhD in aerospace systems engineering, Rema Matevosyan, co-founder and CEO, worked on the European Union's Copernicus satellite network, where she began exploring new approaches to Earth observation.  Recognizing the limitations of traditional satellite and aerial imagery, Matevosyan decided to leave her PhD program to found Near Space Labs.  Her vision has led to breakthroughs in stratospheric imaging technology, and the company now serves major Fortune 500 enterprises across multiple industries.  A published researcher and recognized scholar by the International Astronautical Federation, Matevosyan was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 for her contributions to aerospace innovation. ----------- Join my EFI Climate CEO Peer Group: Become an EFI Climate CEO Fellow — North America’s top invite-only peer community for growth-stage CEOs in climate tech and sustainability. Capped at 100 CEOs and Mentors representing $40B in market value or investment assets. 👉 https://www.entrepreneursforimpact.com Get my 3-Minute Newsletter: Climate CEOs For climate CEOs: 3 decisions each week in climate finance, strategy tools, and mindful leadership — based on work with 300+ climate CEOs and 25 years of meditation practice. 👉 https://entrepreneursforimpact.substack.com Leave a Podcast Review. (All the cool kids do it.) If you found this episode valuable, please leave a review to help others discover it. 👉 https://ratethispodcast.com/guides/where-can-people-leave-podcast-reviews About the Host: Dr. Chris Wedding is a climate CEO coach, investor, serial founder, board member, professor, and occasional monk. For more on climate tech startups and leadership, follow daily posts on LinkedIn: 👉 https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherwedding

    49 min
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About

The leading weekly briefing for climate founders and CEOs. Hosted by Dr. Chris Wedding, executive coach and CEO of Entrepreneurs for Impact (EFI), a peer group with 100 CEOs & investors representing $40B in enterprise value and assets under management. Climate CEOs delivers playbooks from the front lines of climate tech, with insights on raising capital, scaling startups in clean energy, batteries, carbon capture, and the circular economy, plus the founder mindset, mindfulness, daily habits, book recommendations, and resilience needed to thrive.

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. Chris Wedding — Climate Tech CEO Coach | CEO @ EFI
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    275
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dr. Chris Wedding — Climate Tech CEO Coach | CEO @ EFI
  • Show Website
    Climate CEOs: Scaling Startups

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