Climate Cowboys

The founders and futurists building the hard-tech frontier.

Climate Cowboys | The founders and futurists building the hard-tech frontier. A generation of the most talented engineers built photo-sharing apps and SaaS on top of SaaS. None of it helped the power stay on, the supply chains hold, or the country make the things we need. The smartest people in tech are finally moving into real tech. Tech with a physical footprint: batteries, grid software, microbes that mine copper, and machines that pull carbon out of cement. This is the building business. The sovereignty business. The stewardship business. Hosted by Silas Mähner, we interview the elite founders, builders, and operators executing on the hard-tech frontier. No fluff—just peer-to-peer deep dives into what it actually takes to scale hardware, energy infrastructure, and industrial decarbonization. 💼 Building your team? If you need to staff the frontier, get in touch with Roosevelt Talent at roosevelttalent.com. www.climatecowboys.co

  1. 1d ago

    #295 - The Climate Intelligence Era & The End of Puritanism | Mike D'Aurizio (Bridges)

    Is the "green premium" trade officially dead? In this episode, Silas Mähner sits down with Mike D’Aurizio, Partner at Bridges Fund Management, to break down the shifting landscape of climate technology. Together, they explore what "climate tech" actually means in a post-CleanTech 1.0 world, why software and AI are taking center stage to solve second-order energy transition bottlenecks, and how founders should navigate positioning and pitching depending on who is in the room. 🚨 Enjoying the show? Upgrade to a paid subscription to support the podcast, unlock exclusive insights, and get full access to our deep dives: https://www.climatecowboys.co/ Key Takeaways & Select Quotes The Death of the Green Premium: "The green premium trade is kind of dead, at least in the United States... but the short answer is yes, actually the longer answer is no, because there’s so many different things within climate tech." — Mike D’Aurizio The End of Puritanism: "Puritanism is never going to get us anywhere... being a big, financially successful company is the path to impact." — Mike D’Aurizio Targeting Problems over Categories: "Ultimately you should be obsessed with a problem and a specific customer type that you want to serve... there is no market called climate tech." — Mike D’Aurizio Solving Second-Order Bottlenecks: "What we’re really talking about are all these second-order effects that come from adopting new infrastructure and new technologies." — Mike D’Aurizio In This Episode, We Cover: 00:00 – Intro & The Jersey City pizza review origin story. 03:41 – Is Climate Tech dead? The death of the "green premium" in North America. 07:09 – Blurring the boundaries: Why a wildfire insurance company is actually a climate tech startup. 12:40 – Techno-optimism: Why profit-driven entrepreneurs, not politicians, will save the planet. 15:53 – The Chameleon Founder: Tailoring your pitch to the specific economic pain points of your buyer. 19:26 – Dropping puritanism: Why massive financial success is the only true path to global impact. 25:05 – The Climate Intelligence Era: Managing the second-order effects of clean infrastructure. 29:28 – Portfolio deep dive: Electric Era (bypassing grid transformer bottlenecks) and Euclid Power (AI for renewable project permitting). Connect & Follow Subscribe to the Newsletter & Podcast: https://www.climatecowboys.co/ Watch on YouTube: Climate Cowboys YouTube Episode Sponsors Lehmann’s Terms: High-stakes media training for clean tech founders and executives. Prepare your message so it actually lands with investors and media. Learn more at ltmediatraining.com. Roosevelt Talent: The secret weapon for top CleanTech and frontier startups. Headhunting, candidate screening, and top-tier hires at half the price of traditional recruiters. Save time and build your all-star team. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

    #295 - The Climate Intelligence Era & The End of Puritanism | Mike D'Aurizio (Bridges)

  2. Oct 7

    #294 The $3 Trillion Problem: Reindustrializing America’s Critical Mineral Supply | Nikhil Gupta (Determinant Materials)

    Mining isn't the bottleneck for critical minerals—refining is. Traditional metal refining takes months and relies on toxic chemical processes, driving the supply chain straight to China. In this episode, Nikhil Gupta (Founder & CEO of Determinant Materials) reveals how his team uses advanced fluid dynamics to replace months of acid leaching with microparticle refining in mere minutes, slashing costs by 50% and bringing critical supply chains back home. 🔥 Enjoying Climate Cowboys? Join our community of founders, investors, and builders reindustrializing the world. Become a paid subscriber to the Climate Cowboys Substack to unlock full founder breakdowns, deep-dive writeups, and exclusive content. In This Episode, We Cover: The Hidden Bottleneck: Why critical mineral security isn't about mining—it’s about processing. Months to Minutes: How Determinant Materials uses microparticle refining to separate metals at a macro scale. Geopolitics & National Security: China’s tungsten export bans, supply chain dominance, and why U.S. economic sovereignty depends on modular onshore refining. Reindustrializing America: Dropping modular refining units directly onto mine sites and defense primes. Key Episode Quotes: "Typical metal refining breaks materials down to the atom layer... We have a microparticle technology where we’re separating things at a bigger macro scale." "China banned the export of tungsten and the price went 10x overnight. China holds all that market power... To have real sovereignty, we need to have this processing here in the United States." Episode Sponsors & Partners: Lehmann’s Terms: Prepare for high-stakes media appearances, investor pitches, and TV spots with elite communications training. Learn more at ltmediatraining.com. Roosevelt Talent: Headhunting and candidate screening built specifically for energy tech, clean chemistry, and frontier tech startups. Save 50% on recruiter fees and build your all-star team. Connect with Roosevelt Talent. 📲 Stay Connected & Support the Show: 📩 Subscribe to the Newsletter: Climate Cowboys Substack This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

    #294 The $3 Trillion Problem: Reindustrializing America’s Critical Mineral Supply | Nikhil Gupta (Determinant Materials)

  3. Sep 23

    #293 Why the "Green Premium" Is Dead (And What’s Actually Winning Right Now) | Chad Rickaby (ClimateDoor)

    The "climate" label might be under pushback, but the demand for energy, critical minerals, and resource security is skyrocketing. In this episode, Chad Rickaby from ClimateDoor breaks down how successful climate tech companies are reframing their value proposition around national security, capital efficiency, and supply chain resilience to close multi-million dollar deals. Chad unpacks ClimateDoor’s acquisition of Standard Demand Partners, why AI investors are pivoting to energy, and how to build custom "company brains" to transform B2B sales—ditching cold email spam in favor of high-value human relationships. 🎧 Highlights Climate as National Security: Why baseload power, data center energy needs, and critical minerals are driving the next wave of VC. The "Show Me" Environment: What investors and enterprise buyers demand today (LOIs, traction, and unit economics over eco-narratives). AI-Powered Sales: How to use custom LLM workflows to research markets and uncover "warm paths" without automated email spam. Dual-Use & Sovereign Capital: Leveraging capital at the intersection of defense, energy security, and frontier tech. ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 — Winning in a market where the "climate" label is under attack 04:00 — ClimateDoor's Standard Demand Partners acquisition 09:19 — The Canadian advantage: Government funding & raw resources 12:52 — The shift from "tell me" to "show me" for VC investors 18:12 — Resource security as the new national security 25:16 — European supply chain vulnerabilities & waste-to-value 29:03 — The winning formula: Clear value props & capital efficiency 37:49 — Dual-use defense capital & Arctic sovereignty 45:54 — AI in B2B sales: Replacing email spam with a "Company Brain" 58:33 — Why Canadian founders lead in pragmatic innovation 🔗 Links & Sponsors Guest: Chad Rickaby | ClimateDoor Host & Show: Silas | Climate Cowboys Lehmann’s Terms: Executive media and pitch training for high-stakes investor moments. ltmediatraining.com Roosevelt Talent: Executive search built specifically for energy tech and frontier startups. Save 50% on recruiter fees at Roosevelt Talent. Disclaimer: For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

    #293 Why the "Green Premium" Is Dead (And What’s Actually Winning Right Now) | Chad Rickaby (ClimateDoor)

  4. Sep 9

    #292 She built a flying boat in 10 months. VCs said it would take 5 | Sampriti Bhattacharyya (Navier)

    In this episode of Climate Cowboys, host Silas Mahner sits down with Sampriti Bhattacharyya, founder and CEO of Navier, at their headquarters in Alameda, California. While traditional maritime manufacturing remains antiquated and reliant on brute force, Navier is taking a fundamentally different approach: building all-electric hydrofoiling vessels that literally "fly" above the water—reducing drag by 90% and slashing operational costs by 15x. Sampriti breaks down her journey from MIT roboticist to building a generational American maritime company, her vision for a "generalized marine vessel platform" (the Nvidia chip of the sea), and why she chose conviction over hype when VC investors doubted her timeline. ⚡ SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE MOVEMENT: Become a Paid Subscriber: Unlock exclusive deep dives, founder insights at Climate Cowboys Substack. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 – Intro & What is Navier? Building the Generalized Marine Vessel Platform 02:47 – Why maritime innovation stalled and how efficiency unlocks economies 07:54 – Computing, manufacturing, and robotics: Enabling hydrofoiling tech 11:45 – Sampriti’s origin story: High-energy physics to MIT underwater drones 16:54 – Go-To-Market Strategy: Gathering real-world data with recreational boaters 20:59 – The "Nvidia Chip" of the sea: Separating the base layer from the payload 27:07 – Overcoming VC skepticism and ignoring funding hype 35:03 – 3 Guiding Principles: Scale, Range, and Reliability 46:07 – The Video Game Analogy: Choosing to play on "level seven" 55:54 – Rebuilding American maritime and the frontier builder spirit 01:03:50 – Expanding the frontier with optimism over "hall monitor" energy 🤝 SPONSORS: Lehmann’s Terms: Master your message for high-stakes media, investor pitches, and stage appearances. Learn more at ltmediatraining.com. Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Secured over $1.6B in grant funding with a 90%+ success rate. Discover grant opportunities at ClimateFinanceSolutions.com. Roosevelt Talent: Headhunting and talent acquisition for frontier and CleanTech startups at half the price. Find your next hire with Roosevelt Talent. 🔗 CONNECT & FOLLOW: Connect with Silas Mahner on LinkedIn Follow Climate Cowboys on LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

    #292 She built a flying boat in 10 months. VCs said it would take 5 | Sampriti Bhattacharyya (Navier)

  5. Sep 2

    Inside Climate Capital Summit: Networking with Legends, Founders, and $1T+ of Climate Firepower

    Silas Mahner previews NY Climate Week’s most exclusive event: the Climate Capital Summit by Equal Ventures. Gathering over $1.3 trillion in climate capital and federal funding, this invite-only summit on September 24th features legends like Sophie Purdom, Leticia Webster, Jonathan Silver, and Jim Coulter. Space is strictly capped at 400 people. Listen to this for the full scoop and discover how to request an invite. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

  6. Aug 26

    #291 Building Physical Infrastructure at the Speed of Software | Cole Ashman | Pila |

    #291 Building Physical Infrastructure at the Speed of Software | Cole Ashman | Pila How Pila is decentralizing home energy storage, cutting $7,000 in installation soft costs, and upgrading the grid one smart node at a time. Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts Key Quotes “We’re reinventing the home battery by spreading it out throughout the home... they automatically recognize each other, they communicate over this mesh network.” – Cole Ashman “A whole home battery today is gonna cost like $15,000. About half of that is soft cost installation, design, permitting, like BS.” – Cole Ashman “The power grid that we have is built around like the worst case. You know, like we’ve built a 10-lane super highway, but on most days the utilization is 40%.” – Cole Ashman “Software is becoming so easy to replicate in the world of LLM-generated code... having a physical place in the world and a platform that’s generating new useful data is being so much more interesting and defensible.” – Cole Ashman Episode Overview Whole-home backup power traditionally requires $15,000 upfront, expensive electrical work, and months of permitting. As retail electricity prices skyrocket and outages multiply, home energy resilience remains out of reach for most people. Cole Ashman, Founder & CEO of Pila (ex-Tesla, Span), is fixing this with modular battery nodes that plug straight into standard wall outlets. Operating over a wireless mesh network, Pila delivers instant outage protection and load balancing with zero installation costs—making energy storage accessible to renters and homeowners alike. Key Topics Covered: Positioning CleanTech: Why pitching safety, comfort, and savings beats leading with "climate." Hardware Moats: How physical infrastructure protects against AI software replication. Grid Economics: Using distributed batteries as shock absorbers to lower peak-demand costs. Check Out Our Sponsors! Lehmann’s Terms: Executive media training and message positioning for CleanTech leaders preparing for high-stakes investor pitches and national press. Learn more. Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Expert grant funding strategy. Secured over $1.6B in non-dilutive government funding for climate tech startups with a 90%+ success rate. Learn more. Roosevelt Talent: Technical headhunting for frontier and energy tech companies. Delivering top 5% candidates at half the price of traditional recruiters. Connect with Roosevelt. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro & The Pila Solution: Modular batteries for every outlet 04:33 – Un-stealthing and fundraising against rising retail power rates 08:19 – Storytelling: Sell reliability and savings over climate anxiety 16:36 – Bypassing the $15K installation barrier and permitting bloat 18:40 – B2B Playbook: Deploying networks across multi-family real estate 21:54 – Smart Monitoring: Predicting appliance failures via outlet data 34:19 – HardTech Moats: Why physical infrastructure wins in the AI era 43:00 – Hardware Velocity: Tesla Energy takeaways on scaling manufacturing 54:07 – Grid Optimization: Distributed batteries as shock absorbers Links & Resources Guest: Cole Ashman | Pila Energy Host: Silas Mähner on LinkedIn Socials: Climate Cowboys on LinkedIn | YouTube Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

    #291 Building Physical Infrastructure at the Speed of Software | Cole Ashman | Pila |

  7. Aug 12

    #290 Is This What a Kitchen Stove Would Look Like If Steve Jobs Designed It? | Sam Calisch | Copper

    #290 Meet The Hottest Grid Solution... A Kitchen Stove? w/ Sam Calisch | Copper How Copper is bypassing expensive electrical panel upgrades and grid bottlenecks by hiding smart battery storage inside beautiful induction stoves. Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts Select Quotes From This Episode: “You could have free wind and solar out on the grid, and you’d still be paying about as much as you are today just to get it to your house.” – Sam Calisch “Installing the best home batteries are like 1200, 1500 bucks a kilowatt hour... If we instead put batteries into an appliance that already has efficient sales channels... we cut out that extra 10x.” – Sam Calisch “What you see is what you get. There’s an authenticity in material... It’s real California walnut. It’s not spray-painted plastic.” – Sam Calisch “For too long homes have been just a consumer of electricity... We’re entering a world where homes have the opportunity to be bi-directional consumers and producers of power.” – Sam Calisch What’s the solution to rising electricity prices? Kitchen stoves. Despite dropping solar and wind generation costs, home electric bills continue to surge—with up to 70% of utility costs going toward delivery infrastructure. In this episode, Sam Calisch, co-founder of Copper, breaks down how putting smart batteries inside induction stoves bypasses expensive 240V panel upgrades, avoids peak grid demand, and elevates the home cooking experience while turning homes into active grid participants. Check Out Our Sponsors! Lehmann’s Terms: Media and pitch training for clean tech founders and executives preparing for high-stakes media, TV, and investor appearances. Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Global consulting firm helping climate tech companies secure non-dilutive government grant funding ($1.6B+ secured with >90% success rate). Roosevelt Talent: Specialized headhunting and recruitment for energy tech, battery, and frontier startups—delivering top talent at half the traditional recruiter cost. 📝 Show Notes & Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro & Sam’s background in math, physics, and early climate tech. 04:33 – The grid’s delivery problem: Why cheap solar doesn’t mean cheap electricity bills. 08:18 – The “Trojan Horse” Strategy: Why Copper put a battery inside an induction stove. 10:35 – Bypassing the electrician shortage and avoiding 240V panel upgrades. 14:00 – Building Emotional Value: Why a product needs to be more than just a spreadsheet ROI. 16:00 – The Design Philosophy: Authentic materials, California walnut, and the “walk-up test.” 24:47 – Expanding the Vision: Selling to apartments and licensing tech to legacy appliance OEMs. 33:21 – Timing the Market: Why legacy companies couldn’t build this 10 years ago (The battery cost curve). 38:43 – Escaping “throwaway culture” and building durable, high-quality hardware. 47:04 – The Bi-directional Home: Transforming houses from passive consumers to active grid participants. 51:06 – Manufacturing in the U.S. and reigniting the American builder’s spirit. Links & Resources: Connect with Sam Calisch | Copper Connect with Silas Mähner on LinkedIn Follow Climate Cowboys on LinkedIn Disclaimer: This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

    #290 Is This What a Kitchen Stove Would Look Like If Steve Jobs Designed It? | Sam Calisch | Copper

  8. Jul 29

    #001 Stewardship Tech & Ocean Robotics w/ THE Ocean Cowboy. Will O'Brien. Ulysses.

    #289 The Ocean Cowboy. Will O'Brien. Ulysses | Ocean Robotics & Stewardship Tech Why the future of marine conservation, national security, and global abundance relies on underwater robots and a true frontier spirit. Episode Overview 71% of the planet is the ocean, yet it remains largely unexplored—the ultimate geopolitical and environmental frontier. To help us understand it, we sat down with the Ocean Cowboy, Will O’Brien. He and his crew are building Ulysses to tame the ocean frontier by building autonomous underwater robots to become stewards of the ocean at scale. Starting with restoring seagrass, they’ve expanded across environmental, commercial, and defense markets. Will embodies a strong focus on Stewardship Technology: tech serving humanity and stewarding scarce resources with technological progress, a frontier spirit, and projection of strength. Select Quotes: "It’s kind of clear that in the future, robots are gonna do all the important jobs... the ocean’s just getting more and more and more important. It’s gonna need robots, and they’re the ones that we build." – Will "Functionally, at the end of the day, you want to build a business that really fully realizes your vision... You want to move to a world of abundance, right? Let’s go forth and conquer it." – Will "I kind of draw the line between what I would call ‘stewardship technologies’ and climate tech... we need this pro-human framing." – Will 📝 Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro & The origin of Ulysses: Discovering the ocean as a massive business frontier. 02:57 – Why underwater robotics? Solving the manual labor problem in seagrass restoration. 05:20 – Moving to San Francisco: Why the Bay Area is still the undisputed king of HardTech. 07:51 – The Strategic Ocean: Geopolitics, AI, deep-sea minerals, and subsea cables. 10:23 – Pragmatic Business Models: Using defense and commercial revenue to fund nature restoration. 13:17 – Grey Warfare & Illegal Fishing: The environmental destruction caused by foreign fleets. 17:35 – The Case for U.S. Manufacturing: Supply chain security, geopolitics, and clean industrial standards. 23:14 – Making Climate Bipartisan: Why focusing on abundance and energy resonates with the median American. 35:44 – Hiring “Farmers” and Builders: Why hands-on projects beat fancy engineering degrees. 42:13 – “Stewardship Tech” vs. “Clean Tech”: Rejecting scarcity for a pro-human, expansionist mindset. Sponsors: Lehmann’s Terms – Preparing founders and executives for high-stakes media and investor moments (ltmediatraining.com). Climate Finance Solutions (CFS) – Securing billions in grant funding for climate tech (ClimateFinanceSolutions.com). Roosevelt Talent – Headhunting, candidate screening, and hiring consulting for energy tech and frontier startups. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.climatecowboys.co/subscribe

    #001 Stewardship Tech & Ocean Robotics w/ THE Ocean Cowboy. Will O'Brien. Ulysses.
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About

Climate Cowboys | The founders and futurists building the hard-tech frontier. A generation of the most talented engineers built photo-sharing apps and SaaS on top of SaaS. None of it helped the power stay on, the supply chains hold, or the country make the things we need. The smartest people in tech are finally moving into real tech. Tech with a physical footprint: batteries, grid software, microbes that mine copper, and machines that pull carbon out of cement. This is the building business. The sovereignty business. The stewardship business. Hosted by Silas Mähner, we interview the elite founders, builders, and operators executing on the hard-tech frontier. No fluff—just peer-to-peer deep dives into what it actually takes to scale hardware, energy infrastructure, and industrial decarbonization. 💼 Building your team? If you need to staff the frontier, get in touch with Roosevelt Talent at roosevelttalent.com. www.climatecowboys.co

Information

  • Creator
    The founders and futurists building the hard-tech frontier.
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    297
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Climate Cowboys
  • Show Website
    Climate Cowboys

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