What Tariffs, Trade Wars & Neutering NATO means for Putin's trump card!

When playing a game of power, there are always two choices one may make. Either you may choose the option that advances your personal goals (ie. collecting points, moving forward…) or the choice that maximally harms your opponents (ie. stealing opponent’s cards, skipping their turn or playing a draw +2/+4 in a game of UNO…).

Essentially, you can either focus on winning or on preventing your opponents from winning.

And in a multipolar world (call it a multiplayer, infinite game for metaphor’s sake — ie. world politics), when you are losing terribly and stand no chance of winning (ie. Russia’s standing on the world stage since the collapse of the Soviet Union), the only chance you have of advancing your position and standing in the world is to bring everyone else down to your pathetic level.

How to cripple the West and reduce its success to ashes…?

If you were a has-been dictator on the world stage and wanted to boost your ego and relative power in the world, the fastest way to do this would be to unravel America’s alliance with Europe and its allies — both economically and militarily.

To do so, it’s probably best to start with the military, ie. the guys with the guns…

What Tariffs, Trade Wars & Neutering NATO means for Putin's trump card!

Neutering NATO…

Security guarantees are based solely on trust. For years, NATO helped prevent nuclear escalation via the so-called “ mutually assured destruction,” that inevitably would have occurred if the Soviet Union or America had attacked one another — ie. all out nuclear war.

Because no one wins with nuclear war and fallout would have rendered the world uninhabitable (both have weapons aplenty to destroy the Earth a bajillion times over).

And it was this threat of violence as well as the member nations’ guarantees to respect and protect the sovereignty of their fellow members (should they be invaded) that largely contributed to the peace and prosperity the world (and esp. the West) has profited from since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The problem is… if there’s EVER any doubt in NATO’s (or America’s) commitment to protected fellow NATO members, and the whole thing comes crashing down.

Because bluffing doesn’t work in poker if everyone knows you’re bluffing.

And once a spouse has cheated on you, you can never really trust them again…

Which is exactly what happened with Trump’s announcements and handling of Europe, Japan, Taiwan and its other NATO allies when he said only countries fulfilling military spending commitments could count on support.

This, combined with Trump and Vance’s mockery of Zelensky in the Oval Office, Vance’s derisive remarks about Europe and the US suddenly blaming Ukraine for starting the war… All of this made things blatantly clear that the United States was no longer automatically on the side of Europe or NATO.

And any guarantee or promise that’s not a guarantee, but instead subject to whimsical changes or strategic reneging is no better than announcing a bluff…

Meaning that within just 70 mere days in office, NATO’s effectively been defanged and neutered and is no longer a collective force/

But the military’s not the only source of true power.

Crippling Western economies…

Let’s do a thought experiment. If you were an economically-irrelevant dictator with an economy the size of Canada or Italy, how could you ever fight or hold your own with the major economic and political powerhouses of the West? You couldn’t.

And nothing is worse or more infuriating than having rich neighbours. So if you can’t build your own wealth, why not burn the billions of your enemies?

While state sponsored hackers have certainly been trying for years, cyber warfare and industrial espionage simply aren’t enough to break the robust economies and supply chains of the West.

Outside of COVID & disrupted global trade, these are too complex and well managed for such simple tactics. The only possible disruption to such a worldwide infrastructure of mutually beneficial global trade would be…

TARIFFS

If you wanted to crater the world economy, the only way to effectively do it would be tariffs and splintering economic power houses in a world of scarcity. And if you can’t make your people rich, making everyone else poor is your next best bet?

Sadly, pathetically pouty little dictators don’t control trade and tariff rates of Western democracies.

How else to cripple one’s democratic foes…

If only there were a useful idiot readily available to implement such destructive policies.

If only Putin had a trump card…

That would be the ultimate Manchurian Candidate.

Just food for thought to explain Trump’s first 60 days in office…

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Matt's Musings & More... | Matt Ward: CEO @ 4WARD.earth | Substack

Is being healthy worth training hard at the gym or skipping that tasty dessert?

Is your marriage worth more than that potential one night stand?

Are EVs and the energy transition worth overpromising on Tesla production and “full self-driving” capabilities…?

Where do we draw the line?

For example: Many climate VCs are starkly vegan. Many won’t even invest in technologies to mitigate the effects of animal agriculture.

They are “extremists,” in a sense, more worried about morals and righteousness than impact and actually solving the problem (more on that here).

The same could be said of LPs — specifically who startups & VC funds take their money from.

Saudi Arabia has been making waves in the VC community by announcing their LP stakes in many top venture funds. Because what better PR is there for the Kingdom than showing the world that they fund leading innovation?

Andressen literally went to the Kingdom to do a big “Saudi itself is a startup” dog and pony show and will probably announce a new Saudi fund any day now.

And of course, Adam Newmann is being Adam Neumann and chasing money wherever it comes.

But are they wrong? Sure, skepticism and criticism are warranted. And yes, oil money is dirty and comes with human suffering, pollution and baggage galore.

But at the same time, we also need to F*ing solve climate change.

If you were starving to death and Putin offered you pancakes, would you save yourself and eat or die in silent protest? Are your morals worth more than the mission itself?

Which brings us back to “enemies of the free world” and investing in climate tech…

We’re all on Team Planet together and regardless of Musk’s views on living in a simulation or moving to Mars, this is the ONLY planet we have for a VERY long time.

We have to save our planet and mitigate the effects of climate change or we’re looking at world wars, mass refugees, resource conflicts and much more…

The outlook is ABYSMAL.

Which brings us back to the question: do the ends justify the means?

Are we climate investors better off avoiding controversial LPs (like China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar etc…), or taking the money of ANYONE who is willing to invest?

Because every single dollar deployed into climate and cleantech now will have exponential impacts on our future?

Is earning money for dictators worth possibly avoiding a climate catastrophe?

Just food for thought…

What do you think? Would love to hear your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.

Would you take LP money from totalitarian regimes? Why or why not?

And what if Andressen or Sequoia announces a major Saudi fund… would that change your mind, once the “taboo” had been taken off the table?

Do the ends justify the means?

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NOTE: The above is purely hypothetical and not to say that we have Saudi LPs (or even a fund per say) and merely thought to stimulate and much needed public debate on the subject.

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Want more information on 4WARD.VC, our controversial climate tech investment thesis and about potential synergies with our Partner in Clime program?

If so, we’d love to hear from you.

—

And if you’re a family office or LP looking for more solid cleantech & sustainability deal flow, consider joining our family office climate deal share list here.

Ditto for climate tech VCs here — just add your info.

In the last several months I met TONS of LPs and family offices either investing in or looking to invest in climate tech.

Which is great news! There are finally larger pools of capital starting to enter the climate space.

There’s a problem though… almost all of them want to do direct (ie. invest directly into the companies as opposed to investing via a syndicate or fund).

From a returns perspective, that makes sense — at least on the surface (ie. they don’t want to pay management fees or carry — for more on economics of VC, see this post).

The thing is, family offices DON’T have access to the best deals or the top founders. Investing in climate tech is RARELY their “bread and butter.”

Instead, they made their fortunes in oil, minerals, real estate, the markets, corporate M&A etc… and think they can win at early stage investing.

Or maybe, they’ve been active in startups and VC and want to add climate tech to their portfolio — which makes sense as it’s arguably the largest opportunity (from an impact and ROI perspective) in history.

Unfortunately, investing in climate tech is NOTHING like investing in simple software or consumer:

• There aren’t proven metrics like CAC, LTV and churn
• The tech risk is MUCH higher
• The sales cycles are often MUCH longer
• It often takes tons of cash to reach scale

Add to that the fact that EVERY climate technology and startup is TOTALLY unique and requires a different level of expertise to understand and assess the opportunity and you can see why climate tech investing isn’t for the occasional investor.

Source: Blue Future Partners

To make matters worse (at least for your typical family office types), the founders aren’t your typical Silicon Valley boys either. Many top climate founders are university spinouts and or researchers looking to commercialize incredible discoveries/tech.

And be honest, as a family office or LP, how often do you meet those types of folks?

Even if you wanted to, how would you do direct investments? It’s not like world class scientists are stomping down your door for funding…

Which makes sense: You’re not a value-add investor. You don’t know the top climate tech funds, the big sustainable corporates, the installer networks or the energy & infrastructure agencies that could help the company with rolling out, qualifying for grants and ultimately succeeding.

The hard truth is, if you’re an LP or family office looking to dip into climate tech, you’re probably just money (dumb money as we say in the industry). Which is totally fine.

But if your goals are to fund the future, drive massive ROI and complement your existing operations/assets/portfolio etc…, is it really the best idea to take climate tech into your own hands?

Because you can’t effectively evaluate the deals

You can’t help the founders grow & scale

And you don’t even meet the right teams…

That’s why the smartest family offices and LPs invest into early stage climate funds and accelerators — to unlock deal flow, access, connections and expertise for their later stage direct investments.

You don’t need to be an expert to win at venture or successfully invest in climate tech — you just need to have an “unfair advantage” in the form of access and information.

And if you can’t get that edge on your own, there’s a good reason why so many top LPs invest in great fund managers…

Just food for thought.

For more information on 4WARD.VC ​​and how we’re disrupting the entire climate tech ecosystem with our networked growth hacking approach to climate investing & acceleration, shoot me an email: matt@4ward.vc

It has been a whirlwind year for me and 4WARD.VC and I want to thank everyone who has been a part of it.

As many of you know, I started 4WARD.VC out of desperation, out of frustration on years of helping countless DTC & B2B SaaS companies sell more pointless SH*T. I was burned out by conventional capitalism’s endless desire to feed the money printing machine — societal and environmental implications be damned.

Was the purpose of business REALLY just sell more pointless sh*t or was it time to reinvent the definition of success and prosperity? That’s the question I asked myself at the beginning of 2022.

What did I want to be “remembered” for? What was my “legacy?”

Was it merely a few modest ecommerce and media exits or was I capable of more?

Which is why I launched 4WARD.VC’s climate syndicate and The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show — because I wanted my work to make a difference and nothing trumped climate in my opinion. And thanks to my experience with The Syndicate podcast (plus knowledge of exponential impacts), I decided investing was how I wanted to make my mark on the world — because I’m great at strategy, growth & go-to-market and ADHD enough to not be satisfied with simply building a single startup.

4WARD.VC Climate Syndicate - Funding the best Climate Startups!

Fast forward through dozens of sessions of The Startup Tank, networking, cold outreach and calls with 1300+ climate funds, incubators, accelerators & CVCs (which led to our climate investor database here) and 100s more corporates (to help our portfolio companies with warm intros), investing in incredible companies like EExion, Mycocycle and Applied Bioplastics with our climate syndicate and realizing that running a syndicate is like herding cats to cat food or donkeys to water — ie. a gargantuan, painful task even to deploy a measly $25–50k…

• The Ultimate Climate Tech / Cleantech VC Database
• The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show

It wasn’t sustainable. It wasn’t fair to the incredible companies we were working with. And it sure as heck wasn’t paying the bills…

Yet at the same time, our deal flow was exploding — thanks to the karma we’d built from sharing 100s of deals with other investors, the growth of The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show and our massive climate investor and climate founder slack communities.

Which isn’t only INCREDIBLY frustrating (ie. not having reliable capital to invest in said companies), it also showed me a MAJOR flaw in the climate tech & venture ecosystem — namely, that SO MANY of the companies had been through 2, 3, 4+ accelerators and incubators and were STILL struggling with fundraising.

Why? How could that be?

If these companies were going through the “upper echelon” accelerator programs, shouldn’t there be oodles of money chasing after them?

You’d think so, but one thing was MAJORLY lacking — customers, traction and pilots… It’s like said accelerators were perfecting their pitch decks and pitching abilities without actually emphasizing building the business.

But when it comes to startups (especially in terms of attracting investors), nothing’s more important than traction.

And that’s how 4WARD.VC’s “Partner in Crime” Climate Accelerator program was born — the world’s most hands-on, networked growth hacking climate accelerator focused on getting companies 2–5+ MAJOR new customers/pilots/traction etc… through a combination of strategic warm intros from our network of 100+ ultra-connected high level mentors (more details here), access to our sales & cold outreach templates and corporate databases and refined go-to-market strategies to deliver serious results in record time…

4WARD.VC: Accelerating the Best Climate Tech Companies!

Because nothing trumps traction…

Nothing beats warm intros…

And we have built the network, systems and databases to unlock both for any CRAZY ASS climate companies looking for a real Partner in Crime.

Because being “founder friendly” and “helpful” are just meaningless catch phrases.

If you’re looking for an accelerator that truly CRUSHES IT for its founders and out hustles EVERYONE else, consider checking out 4WARD.VC’s “Partner in Crime” Climate Accelerator — but only if you’re up to the challenge and willing to give as much as we are, because a) we’re ALL running out of time and b) we REALLY like winning :)

And if you’re interested in more information about 4WARD.VC, why we believe evergreen is the future of tech investing and why our model will ultimately outperform all of venture, please send me an email and we can chat.

Why Evergreen Funds are the Future of Climate Tech Investing!

And if not, have a holly jolly Christmas, it’s the best time of the year :)

Cheers and happy holidays!

Matt

PS. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter to get our growth, fundraising and climate VC guides, our 850+ Climate VC database and much more :)

A 2022 Climate Recap: A year of moving the world 4WARD!

You’ve developed breakthrough carbon capture tech that sucks CO2 out of the atmosphere or a revolutionary recycled waste material to replace single use plastics. You’ve built the ultimate triple-bottom-line climate champion, managed to acquire customers and got Series B funding from the best VCs in the business (who you found from our 850+ Climate VC database)…

Things are looking pretty. You’re in great shape to scale and save our world.

There’s just one problem. One MASSIVE problem — your investor… they want you to sell.

Because their fund only lasts 10 years (plus an additional two if they push it). That means within the next 10–12 years (even less if they invested in year: 2,3, 4 etc… of the fund), they’re going to want to get liquid on their investment so they can pay back their LPs and pay themselves carry (for more on the economics of venture, see this post).

Well, what happens when your company’s in year 8, 9, 10 etc…, powering along, making serious revenue, pulling kilotons of carbon out of the atmosphere and poised to keep growing and expanding… You want to stay private longer? Good luck.

And it’s the same if you’re in year 10, 11, 12 etc… need a longer runway (either to prepare for an IPO or because the market’s in freefall). Ever heard the expression “Sh*t out of Luck” (SOL).

Because that’s how venture funds are set up. They’re designed for capital-light, rapidly scalable SaaS businesses — because that’s where the EASY money is.

But what happens when you’re dealing with hardware?

Hardware is hard. It takes longer and costs more. It just does. It’s not a single code push to fix a faulty actuator or rework a prototype for production. It takes serious engineering hours, knowhow, machinery, tools and tech expertise… and even then, things like supply chains can fall apart (as we all saw during Covid).

Yet when you take venture capital, you NEED to commit to “giving up” (exiting too early via acquisition or IPO) on your climate company after 8–12 years… all so some VC can return capital and hit their IRR numbers?

If you think it sounds ABSURD, you’re not alone.

That’s why we at 4WARD.VC believe an Evergreen Fund structure is the future of venture capital — because investors need to have FULL long-term alignment with our founders to change the world.

Short term incentives lead to short term mindsets and thinking small. But 4WARD.VC’s Partner in Crime Climate Accelerator program is here building the climate champions of tomorrow, the generation-defining cleantech & sustainability startups who’ll save our world, drive MASSIVE returns and alter the very fabric of our world economy.

And that’s more than a decade-long project.

Which brings us back to the most confounding question of all: why aren’t all VC funds evergreen? Why don’t they truly believe in their founders to go big?

Why set an arbitrary limit on innovation, growth, impact, scale…?

Why compromise and create incentives that divide founders & investors?

Evergreen… even the name sounds climate-friendly…

Maybe it’s time the venture industry started thinking bigger :)

For more information about 4WARD.VC, our Partner in Crime Climate Accelerator and how we’re disrupting the entire venture ecosystem (especially in climate), please reach out here.

And if you’re not sure what to do, consider this: we’re running out of time to act. It’s literally NOW OR NEVER when it comes to creating impact and saving our planet. And we think that means rethinking the incentives and structures of the entire venture industry (which was built and optimized on the basis of inexpensive, infinitely scalable SaaS).

Another example of the flaws of VC… why ALWAYS raise dilutive funding? For capital-heavy climate companies, we often recommend considering non-dilutive funding (guide here) after Series A/B etc… (depending on the maturity and cash flows of the company) — because why give up your entire ownership just to finance more facilities/hardware/product etc…

IMPORTANT NOTE: None of the above should be construed as solicitation or investment advice. To clarify, we’re not saying we have an Evergreen fund currently or offering anyone to invest. This is merely how things SHOULD be done and how the industry NEEDS to be disrupted.

If you agree and are interested in learning about our views on long term climate investing, send us an email: matt @ 4ward.vc

Founders: If you’re serious about building a generational climate tech company that moves the world forward and willing to do WHATEVER it takes to achieve your lofty mission, we’d love to help. Apply here for funding and to pitch on The Startup Tank.

The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show

Investors: If you’re serious about impact, ROI and investing in the world-changing climate companies of tomorrow, would love if you’d check out what we’re doing and say hi :)

4WARD.VC: Investing in climate startups moving the world forward!

Techies & Climate Enthusiasts: Join our exploding climate tech slack community to connect with other like minded builders & doers in the capitalist, collaborative fight against climate change and sure to subscribe to The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show available on Spotify, Youtube, Apple, Google Podcasts and all major platforms :)

Announcing 4WARD.VC’s Partner in Clime Evergreen Climate Accelerator

What if I told you it was time to reimagine the ENTIRE venture industry?

Who ever said accelerator cohorts should be enormous, impersonal and constantly growing, indexing the entire startup landscape (so they’re never really vested in the success of any one company) and offering generic advice on creating investor FOMO and raising your round…? Instead of actually getting customers and making progress was the way to go?

And why the heck is the industry standard fund an artificially short 10 (+2) years which incentives VCs to force portfolio liquidity, even when it often hurts founders and the company’s long term prospects/mission?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to hold generation-defining companies almost indefinitely?

Plus, most climate companies and HARD hardware/real world startups take longer than 10–12 years to become massive? Just think how long it took to build the ENTIRE infrastructure that runs our modern world…

Well, with climate change and the green transformation, we’re literally rebuilding the ENTIRE world’s infrastructure & economy.

And if Rome wasn’t built in a day, why should the next AWS of energy infrastructure be?

That’s why we’re very excited to announce the next chapter in 4WARD.VC, our Partner in Clime Climate Accelerator, which is breaking ALL the rules when it comes to venture capital and climate tech investing with the world’s most hands-on, engaged, network-enabled, constantly open (accepting new 1–2 new companies a month instead of making founders wait 3–9+ months for the next cohort) accelerator focused not on pretty pitch decks and ad-inflated artificial J-curves, but on real, practical traction: ie. on getting customers, pilots, revenues and real world results.

Because that’s what matters, especially in today’s economy — traction and results. Gone are the days of paper napkin pitch decks or pithy promises of future revenue. It’s time to get real. It’s time to grit your teeth, get down to business and ACTUALLY build a business.

That’s where 4WARD.VC comes in — partnering with 1–2 of the most promising climate startups per month in a 10 week deadsprint of steroid-like introductions, networking, sales/outreach templates & systems and fundraising help to take your awesome (but maybe struggling to raise or went through another incubator or accelerator which didn’t deliver) startup to the next level (ie. adding 2–3 new clients/pilots etc…) and helping you raise your REAL round.

To do that, we’ve built an AMAZING advisor network of 35+ industry experts, investors and super-connectors to help our companies crush it on business development and fundraising with strategic intros to the most relevant, big name companies, funds, partners and talent you need to scale.

Because a warm intro is worth 100+ cold emails (and even then, we’ll teach you how to make your cold outreach land big and fill your pipeline :)

For more details, please visit: 4ward.vc/accelerator

So, are you interested? If you’re a CRAZY ASS founder tackling a BIG, DIRTY real world problem, we’d love for you to apply for our Partner in Clime Climate Accelerator.

4WARD.VC: Accelerating the Best Climate Tech Companies!

And if you’re interested in learning more, let’s chat.

A more callous (yet brutally honest) statement is hard to fathom.

How could Covid-19, climate change or the Russia-Ukraine War be a good thing? What about a looming recession, crash & burn startups or failing to raise your next round?

The truth is, the economy is tanking, inflation and unemployment are on the rise and investors & LPs are terrified as markets crater.

There’s an ominous chill in the air (which Putin’s threats of going nuclear don’t help).

Amidst all of this FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), am I a bad person for saying NOW is probably THE BEST time to invest? (That’s certainly what we see with 4WARD.VC’s Climate Syndicate).

Note: nothing in this article should be taken as investment advice obviously :)

“Fortunes are made in a downturn.”

It’s like shopping at a “Everything Must Go” (or estate) sale. Everything’s on bottom-basement prices — for a limited time only. “Get it, while supplies last.”​

That’s what’s happening now in the economy. Markets are being thrashed, prices are going way down and interest rates are going up.

All of which means it will be harder than ever for startups to raise their next round.

Yet, SO MANY new startups were created out of the Covid funding boom as the FED and other central banks printed trillions in “stimulus” and unemployment checks to keep countries and citizens solvent.

Well, surprise, surprise, when people get “free” money in an EXTREMELY low interest rate environment, money pours into the markets — ie. stocks. Hence why the S&P and every major index experienced record levels for the past two years.

Which are coming crashing back to Earth.

Because suddenly money doesn’t grow on trees, your public SaaS company isn’t worth 15–70x ARR and your napkin-sketch startup’s not close to a $15M pre…

Reality is returning at last, and coming with a vengeance.

Gone are the insane pre-revenue valuations and automatic massive markups.

Companies are SLASHING staff and budgets and seeking profitability, startups are struggling to manage burn and expenses and stretch their precarious runways while investors are debating bonds for the first time in forever.

But as we said at the beginning of this article, “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste…” Not only as an investor, but as a founder as well.

Because if the recessions of the past have proven anything, it’s that the cream rises to the top

Examples:

• Microsoft: 1975
• EA: 1982
• 2008–2010 Airbnb, Slack, Whatsapp, Square, Uber, Pinterest, Instagram etc…

As many competitors and incumbents fail, they lay the groundwork and make space for the studs to emerge.

That’s why when you look at the top performing venture funds in history, many of them were started during so-called recessions — because everything’s on sale (which is exactly why ​​4WARD.VC ​​is accelerating our investing pace).

And that is just for pointless SaaS, social media and DTC companies selling more sh*t people don’t REALLY need.

What about climate tech — what about a solution to saving our planet?

Well, every month that goes by, humanity collectively emits 4.16B tons of carbon into the atmosphere.

In short, we’re racing toward climate catastrophe, the results of which are becoming more apparent each passing day — record highs, wildfires, drought, hurricanes and other natural disasters…

[caption id=”attachment_3390" align=”aligncenter” width=”640"]

Our world is being hammered by the effects of excessive emissions and greenhouse gasses and the world is “fighting” back.

It is a one-way road for humanity and there are ONLY viable options:

1. Mitigate
2. Adapt

Both present MASSIVE and CRITICAL opportunities for mankind and for climate companies (and for climate investors like us).

So, in a world where everything is going to sh*t, oil & gas prices are skyrocketing (thanks to Russian reliance and the OPEC mafia) and leading to ballooning costs of everything (only made worse by inflation), where does that lead?

A battlefield of corporate & startup corpses… that’s where.

Yet governments are starting to legislate increasingly stringent climate & emissions standards and push for energy independence while consumers clamor for renewables & green; while other corporates and large LPs are divesting out fossil fuels and pollutive industries entirely and investing billions in decarbonization.

The momentum is there. The demand is there.

And the talent is ABUNDANT.

Thousands of amazing climate tech companies were created in the past two years. And many more will be created in the years to come and be featured on The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show.

The Startup Tank Climate Tech Investor Pitch Show

And the very best of the best, those are the ones 4WARD.VC and other leading investors will fund to build our better world of tomorrow. Those will be the CRITICAL companies solving MAJOR real-world problems and making serious bank.

Because we are ALL running out of time and options.

And thanks to generous grants & tax incentive programs as well as MASSIVE amounts of funding becoming available for climate companies at the later stages (see this post for more details on why), they will be almost UNLIMITED funding for top climate companies (that survive the next 3–5 year crunch) to scale to the ULTRA mega decacorns of tomorrow.

Because our ENTIRE industrial world needs to be completely overhauled.

And that’s the BIGGEST opportunity in history.

Especially when everything’s on sale :)

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At 4WARD.VC’s climate syndicate, we believe a crisis is a terrible thing to waste and that more than ever, great climate companies need our strategic support and funding to ride out this “Cold (Economic) War/Crash.”

Founders: If you’re serious about building a generational climate tech company that moves the world forward and willing to do WHATEVER it takes to achieve your lofty mission, we’d love to help. Apply here for funding and to pitch on The Startup Tank.

The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show

Investors: If you’re serious about impact, ROI and investing in the world-changing climate companies of tomorrow, would love if you’d check out our accredited investor/LP syndicate and say hi :)

4WARD.VC Climate Syndicate - Funding the best Climate Startups!

Techies & Climate Enthusiasts: Join our exploding climate tech slack community to connect with other like minded builders & doers in the capitalist, collaborative fight against climate change and sure to subscribe to The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show available on Spotify, Youtube, Apple, Google Podcasts and all major platforms :)

Whether you are a climate startup building game changing carbon capture tech or a next gen battery startup revolutionizing the future of mobility & energy (like 4WARD.VC portfolio company: EExion), you probably know your way around the VC world. Maybe you’ve checked out our 780+ Climate VC & Accelerator database, raised money for venture capitalists or come at climate tech from a conventional startup background and are well-schooled in the world of startups and venture capital (for more on the pros & cons of VC funding, see this post).

The thing is, while VC funding can be rocket fuel for your business, it isn’t ALWAYS a great fit — especially for climate companies. Especially at the later stages.

Because VC funding is the MOST expensive source for capital. You’re trading equity for cash. And at the later stages when the business is significantly de-risked, that math doesn’t always add up in your favor.

This is ESPECIALLY true with capital intensive climate companies — think hardware, infrastructure, heavy industry, manufacturing… sectors that require massive upfront capital investments.

Tesla’s famed Gigafactory is projected to cost $1.1B. That’s a lot of dilution for a company like Tesla who could raise debt in the public or private markets at miniscule interest rates.

And the same is true for many climate tech startups — albeit not with traditional banks (who only work with larger and more established businesses)

Which is where other forms of non-dilutive funding come in.

Full Databases to Access:

• The full Non-Dilutive Funding Database
• The full 780+ Climate VC & Accelerator Database

The 3 Types of Non-Dilutive Funding for Climate Startups

1. Grants (Basically “free” money from governments and institutions to promote jobs/research/business etc…) — Bonus info below on Grant Advances from Enduring Planet.
2. Venture Debt
3. Revenue-Based Financing (RBF)

**NOTE: Since most of you are familiar with governmental grants and the grant application process, we will mostly skip this for the purpose of this article. That said, grants are a PHENOMENAL way to fund early R&D and product development and should be a part of almost every hardtech climate company’s funding strategy (especially in the EU). It is also worth noting that while there are almost unlimited sources of grant capital available for those who know where to look, the process is often quite lengthy, somewhat political and should not be the core of funding your company, but an additive to venture capital and other forms of non-dilutive funding.

What is a Grant Advance?

Have you applied for and won grant funding from an organization or foundation to develop your technology and business? Did you know you can get an advance on your grant award — ie. cash without having to wait the full funding timeline?

The great news is, Enduring Planet (our favorite non-dilutive partner for climate companies because they try to be almost as helpful as 4WARD.VC). recently launched an ultra-innovative Grant Advance product alongside their already popular revenue-based financing. So, if you’ve won a grant but are waiting on your first/next reimbursement and need cash faster than the lengthy grant funding timelines allow, check out Enduring Planet and tell them 4WARD.VC sent you Dimitry and team will take care of you, get you your money and get you on your way to building your business.

Visit 4ward.vc/enduringplanet for more details and to apply.

Add your email here to get our downloadable Climate VC database and bonus growth & fundraising guides

What is Venture Debt?

Venture debt (ie. venture lending) is a non-dilutive type of financing often used by high-growth startups and companies looking to scale without giving more equity (like a bank loan, but for startups that don’t have years of track record and a proven revenue history).

While the exact structure for venture debt varies greatly, it is usually some form of term loan with interest payments and warrants (for more on warrants, see below glossary).

NOTE: Many companies (especially climate companies) utilize a combination of VC funding and non-dilutive funding (venture debt or revenue-based financing) to build and grow their companies in the most efficient way possible.

As a rule of thumb, VC funding is used in earlier stages and more geared to “high risk” activities like product development, go-to-market, R&D, growing the team etc… while non-dilutive funding works well for companies with established track records and business models looking to scale what is already working — for instance, fulfilling expensive hardware purchase orders, building up manufacturing capacity or pouring into sales and growth activities.

When it comes to venture debt providers, we personally like (be sure to tell them 4WARD.VC sent you :):

• Lighter Capital: Up to $4M in non-dilutive funding for $15k+ MRR companies in the US, Canada and Australia

For a full list of venture debt and rev-based financing providers for climate companies, see the below database

What is Revenue-Based Financing?

Revenue-based financing is a type of business loan (primarily for growth related costs: hiring, marketing, sales etc…) calculated as a percentage of business revenue, rather than a fixed amount of capital. This is great as it allows companies to quickly access growth capital in exchange for a set percentage of future revenues.

Unlike other types of financing, it is a relatively fast approval process (as it is mostly based off analyzing existing revenue numbers — typically at least 6 months of revenue) and there’s no equity or personal guarantees involved with rev-based financing, making it a much safer option for startups because the lender does not have control over your business.

Additionally, rev-financing provides more flexibility than traditional debt because rather than repaying a fixed amount to a lender each month, you only need to pay a set percentage of your sales/profits so your repayments increase when your revenue goes up and decrease when sales are low — meaning you can always make your payments.

Additionally, monthly payments are generally capped at a multiple of the loan, providing more predictability and ensuring you don’t pay ridiculous amounts to the lender.

When it comes to revenue-based financing, we HANDS DOWN recommend Enduring Planet as they have a similar philosophy and model as us here at 4WARD.VC, being the most value add investor (be sure to tell them 4WARD.VC sent you :):

• Enduring Planet: $100–500k for US companies with > $25k/mo and > 35% gross margins

(NOTE: They can also offer you grant advances, so if you’re going to receive EU Horizon Funding or IRA money etc in 6–9 months, they can front you the money today — how cool is that Visit 4ward.vc/enduringplanet or see above on Grant Advances for more details.

Other solid choices include:

• Outfund: $20k-$10M in rev financing for step-wise loans to scale your $13k+ MRR company in the US, Europe and Australia.
• Lighter Capital: Up to $4M in non-dilutive funding for $15k+ MRR companies in the US, Canada and Australia

For a full list of venture debt and rev-based financing providers for climate companies, see the below database

And if you’re looking for VCs and equity-based financing, check out our ultimate Climate Investor Database here.Or just reach out for 4WARD.VC to fund your pre-seed or seed round!

PRO TIP: When to Raise Non-Dilutive Funding

As a rule of thumb, the best time to raise money is when you don’t need it — because you’ll get the best terms. This equates to raising when either a) your cash rich from your latest VC raise or b) your business is printing money and wants more “firepower” to scale what is already working.

Don’t Use Venture Debt or Revenue-Based Financing If

1. You can’t guarantee repayment

• Do you have a high burn rate?
• Do you have less than 6 months of cash on hand?
• Are your revenues unpredictable or not proven?

2. If the terms are too expensive

• Paying back the debt will hamper your growth. Look at the costs and terms and ENSURE you can pay it back and achieve the growth you’re targeting. If not, or if it would hamstring your company’s growth and success, don’t take debt

3. If your VCs and Angels aren’t onboard

• Building a startup “takes a village”… you need to avoid alienating your existing investors and some VCs and funds don’t like venture debt or revenue-based financing.

At 4WARD.VC, we are big fans of non-dilutive funding (where it makes sense) and would love to help you find the right venture debt or revenue-based financing providers to help you grow and scale — because climate tech and hardware is hard and expensive, and we don’t want you to lose all your equity and upside in the business!

Advantages of Venture Debt and Rev-Based Financing

1. You generally don’t have to give up equity
2. You don’t have to give up board seats
3. You generally have more favorable terms and fewer personal guarantees/liability compared to traditional bank loans

The Most Common Uses for Venture Debt

1. Extend your companies runway to your next venture round
2. Extend your companies runway to reach positive cash flow
3. A backup plan if things doing go “according to plan” with sales and funding
4. Alongside an equity raise to reduce founder dilution
5. To maintain control of the board and company

Recommended venture debt providers (be sure to tell them 4WARD.VC sent you :

• Lighter Capital: Up to $4M in non-dilutive funding for $15k+ MRR companies in the US, Canada and Australia

The Most Common Uses for Rev-Based Financing

1. Accelerate growth by boosting marketing and sales
2. To launch new product lines or marketing channels
3. Instead of an equity raise to reduce founder dilution
4. To maintain control of the board and company
5. Reduced risk funding — raising money in small, manageable chunks

Recommended rev financing providers (be sure to tell them 4WARD.VC sent you :

• OUR FAVORITE: Enduring Planet: $100–500k for US companies with > $25k/mo and > 35% gross margins (the most climate founder friendly and aligned. Application only takes 10 mins and they fund FAST)
• Outfund: $20k-$10M in rev financing for step-wise loans to scale your $13k+ MRR company in the US, Europe and Australia.
• Lighter Capital: Up to $4M in non-dilutive funding for $15k+ MRR companies in the US, Canada and Australia

A quick non-dilutive funding example:

Take two different climate tech teams — both with three founders.

One team raises a Pre-Seed and Seed round (20% dilution each) and then grows organically and via non-dilutive funding to $300M/yr in sales within 8 years.

The other team however stays on the venture train and raises 5 rounds (20% dilution each) to hit $200M/yr within 8 years (a bit less due to paying back the debt and/or rev-based financing).

Company 2 is forced by the board to go public (even the founders would prefer to stay private) and hits a market cap of 10x ARR (annual recurring revenue) = $3B valuation. At this point, each founder owns about 11% of the company and would walk away with a nice $330M.

Company 1 on the other hand had only 36% dilution (vs 67.3% for team 1), meaning the founders are left with 21% of the company each. Not only do they control the company and the board, their equity’s worth ±50% more — all thanks to taking less dilutive funding.

The Cost of Venture Debt

The average cost of venture debt from venture debt lenders is typically between 12–15% (dependent on the economic situation, your company’s situation and track record and who you work with).

Obviously venture debt is more expensive than a traditional bank loan (typically several percentage points of interest), but is also less restrictive with clauses, cash flow covenants or personal guarantees and more accessible for relatively “risky” startup companies.

The Cost of Revenue-Based Funding

The average cost of revenue advances (rev-based financing) varies greatly depending on the situation, provider and stability/track record of your company’s revenue history. For example, with 4WARD.VC preferred provider Outfund, you’ll pay 5–6% of the total cash advance — $5–6k on a $100k advance (total repayable is 106K) paid out as a fixed percentage of your daily revenues.

NOTE: Revenue financing only works well for companies with consistent revenues and strong margins. If you can’t afford to give up 1–20% of your revenues/margins, rev financing may not be for you.

NOTE: Many companies that use rev-based financing to grow and scale do so over the course of numerous, manageable “financings.” This means, if you start with a low risk cash advance of $10–20k, you can easily scale up to $100k, $1M, $10M etc… as your company grows and your lender gains confidence in your ability to repay (which also generally means better terms

The Fundraising Process for Venture Debt

How Long Does It Take?

It depends greatly, but typically anywhere from 4–8 weeks.

The Application Process Itself

1. Origination: Finding the best venture debt providers (see our list below)
2. Initial Screening: Pitching your company to the lender
3. Term Sheet: Like with VCs, but for debt terms
4. Due Diligence: You know the drill
5. Legal Documentation
6. Funding: Wahoo!

The Fundraising Process for Revenue-Based Financing

How Long Does It Take?

Rev-based financing is MUCH faster than venture debt or equity financing, sometimes as fast as 24 hours after applying — because it is dealing with smaller loan amounts and is ALMOST ENTIRELY based on your businesses sales and revenue history.

Important Terms and Criteria for Non-Dilutive Funding

Warrants: A right to invest in the company at a later date

Warrants are very common to venture debt and provide debt lenders with the right (but not obligation) to buy common equity shares in the company at a fixed price within a certain period of time and are used to make the terms more attractive for lenders.

Basically, if you use the money to increase your valuation, they’d like the ability to invest into the company at a preferred valuation and also participate in the upside.

NOTE: Typical venture debt warrants are for ±1–2% of company equity (which is still much lower than the 15–20% dilution of a typical Series A, B etc…).

Principal: The total amount of the loan/cash advance

Payment Schedule: How and when the money will be paid back

For venture debt, this is typically a term loan with interest and principal repayment over a fixed period of time (months or years).

For rev-based financing (RBF), this is typically a percentage of revenue (1–7%) paid back monthly until reaching the agreed upon repayment total (for example: 1.01–1.07x loan with Enduring Planet)

Cost of Capital: Additional fees or expenses lenders charge on top of repayment

Covenants: Agreements and compliance requirements between the company and the lender

Default: What happens when you’re unable to repay the loan

Repayment: Paying back the loan

What if you can’t pay back the loan?

Refinancing: Finding another lender willing to give new loan and repay existing one

Restructuring: Negotiating a “more favorable” repayment plan

NOTE: Venture lenders have the right to foreclose and sell off your company’s assets, but try avoiding this (where possible) and are often willing to restructure the loan for more flexibility.

Venture Debt vs Rev-Based Financing for your climate company?

Do you have consistent sales and are looking for fast, low-risk access to growth capital? If so, revenue-based financing might be for you — in which case you should check out Enduring Planet, Lighter Capital or Outfund.

Are you looking to bridge (or replace) a venture round, develop the business and product line further or reach profitability? Then venture debt might be a better fit — so talk to Lighter Capital or Viola Capital.

Have you won a grant but need the money sooner? Then Enduring Planet’s Grant Advance Program would be perfect for you. Reach out and be sure to tell Dimitry that 4WARD.VC sent you

Need help finding top providers?

Feel free to reach out for help: matt (at) 4ward.vc

Here’s the full Non-Dilutive Funding Database

Here’s the full 780+ Climate VC & Accelerator Database

Our Preferred Non-Dilutive Partners!

• For Rev-Based Financing: Enduring Planet
• For Venture Debt: Lighter Capital
• For Grant Advances: Enduring Planet

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Build Vs Buy — A VC’s Perspective on Licensing Climate Tech and Outlier Startup Returns

One of the most common questions and/or debates I have with founders is around business model and go to market. More often than not, when meeting a genius founder commercializing crazy tech or IP they developed at university, it goes something like this:

“We’ve created a next generation of XYZ engine/battery/reactor etc… that’s x100% more efficient/cheaper/faster etc… than the best systems on the market. We’re still in the lab, but we’re Xyears ahead of the competition and raising Xmillions to finalize our prototype designs and build our first manufacturing center.”

And they are so excited.

And I always ask WHY?

“Your system has the possibility to change the world, but even in the best case scenario, in 5 years you’ll only be able to produce Xthousand a year and reach 0.X% of the market. It takes so much time, capital and hustle to build out robust supply chains and dealer networks… why not partner with the incumbents?”

My reasoning is simple: IMPACT is proportional to SCALE

And building and scaling a capital-intensive business like manufacturing is a b*tch. It’s not something most techie founders have done and requires a completely different skillset, network and capital structure. It means taking on massive funding, taking on massive inventory and execution risk and as with anything hardware, it takes at least twice as long and costs twice as much.

“So… why not license the tech?”

That’s always my question. It’s the capital light, scale-fast strategy for impact and venture-scale returns. It’s the way to ensure your breakthrough engine/battery/generator etc… sees not only the light of day, but lights the future for millions or billions of households (instead of 1000s) as you quickly penetrate the market and scale.

Now don’t get me wrong — licensing is not ALWAYS the answer. Often, if the technology is too disruptive, incumbents are hesitant to adopt something that would kill their existing business (the so-called Innovator’s Dilemma).

Additionally, few large corporates are interested in risky innovation until you’ve proven demand, traction and real world use. If consumers aren’t asking for it or businesses aren’t using it, why would incumbents make the effort to switch from their existing solutions?

Which creates a bit of a chicken and egg problem… You need to show demand to convince corporates to license and market your technology/product, but to be able to demonstrate that, you need production and sales traction — like the samples section of your favorite grocery store.

To do that, you need to be able to manufacture.

But you DON’T NEED to OWN the supply chain.

In fact, working with contract manufacturers is often what I advise. You handle the sales and find someone else with in-house expertise and machinery to produce your product. Sure, the costs and margins won’t be AS good as if you manufactured yourself, but you won’t need to raise $5–10M+ to build out your own facilities, hire your operations and manufacturing teams and scale into the real world.

Instead, you can focus on what you do best — designing great product and wowing initial customers. Then, once you’ve landed that hallmark customer or two and have killer case studies showing both efficacy and demand for your product, then and only then does it make sense to really start approaching big players for licensing agreements.

The second pushback I often get when bringing up licensing is the margins or total value capture for the startup. Most founders argue they’ll capture significantly more of the upside if they attack the market themselves vs selling through a 3rd party licensee.

And that is true. But the technical, execution and capital risk is SO MUCH larger when building the manufacturing and supply chains yourself. Unless your team is experienced in both manufacturing and managing supply chains, you’re in for a rude awakening. And even then, even for founders and folks who’ve done this before, hardware is ALWAYS hard.

None of which is to say licensing is the golden goose or better of the two business models. I only like to point out that it exists and is OFTEN the better of the two models for startups, as least once they’ve proven the technology a bit.

And impact wise, licensing is a clear winner — at least in the short-to-medium term (would you rather have 100% of a small pizza or 25% of a pizza empire…?)

The other thing to consider: STUFF — literally. For every new manufacturing center, machine etc… your business requires necessitates creating more STUFF — although there are so many countless machines and factories currently underutilized — and all those unneeded machines and parts have a carbon footprint too…

Imagine how much less garbage there’d be in the world if we all shared our lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners and cars with our neighbors… We certainly wouldn’t need 275M+ motor vehicles in the US to serve a whopping 258M adults…

So, why is it any different with manufacturing? Especially if you’re a “climate” company.

Just some food for thought…

Would love to hear your thoughts and perspective in the comments below.

–

And if you’re an exceptional climate founder stubbornly fighting climate change and looking for an extremely connected and hard-hustling investor for your pre-seed or seed, would love for you to reach out and apply :)

The same goes with your climate investors and industry experts… if you’re accredited/sophisticated investor big on climate, looking to make a massive difference and serious about returns and radical climate tech, would love for you to check our 4WARD.VC’s climate syndicate.

Download our 600+ Climate VC & Accelerator Database — FREE!

The Ultimate Climate Tech and Cleantech Investor Overview

PS. Don’t Miss The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show: Oct 10th with Lowercarbon Capital, PaleBlue Dot and Aegon Asset Management

LIVE Monday Oct 10th at 5–7pm CET (11am EST)

Youtube Live Tune in Link

Linkedin Live Tune in Link

PRESENTING STARTUPS INCLUDE:

• Fonto Power: AI-powered Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Generation & Mgmt System
• LassoLoop: The world’s first at-home recycling solution to increase recycled value
• Nyoka: Replacing chemical lights with sustainable protein bioluminescence
• Myro: Reusable, refillable body care products that eliminate plastic waste
• HeavyFinance: Borderless lending marketplace to fund sustainable farms
• Additional companies to be announced…

INVESTOR PANELISTS INCLUDE:

• Heidi Lindall @ PaleBlue Dot
• Kristin Ellis @ Lowercarbon Capital
• Brian Wayne @ Aegon Asset Management

I’d love to see you there. RSVP here on Linkedin.

Prefer recordings/podcasts? Subscribe on your platform of choice!

Spotify | Youtube | Apple | Google Podcasts | Other platforms

—

PPS. Have you joined our Climate Tech Startup Super Crew Slack? If not, it’s a great place to network and collaborate with 380+ other climate techies focused on solving major real world problems: https://4ward.vc/startupslack

When connecting with fellow climate investors and advocates (like the 700+ climate funds, incubators and accelerators I reached out to as part of creating our climate investor database), I’m always asked what exactly 4WARD.VC invests in. And after explaining focus on early stage climate companies in Europe, North America and Israel solving major real world problems (ie. not just the next carbon accounting software or carbon credits marketplace), they almost inevitably ask: “What makes something a “climate company?””

That is a great question and something every investor and organization has a different definition for. For many, it’s tons of CO2 captured or mitigated, for others, it’s some form of waste reduction or other obscure LCA (life cycle assessment)-driven metric.

Regardless, most funds have their own set criteria for what “qualifies” as a climate company worth funding. And while I appreciate this approach and believe it is important for tackling climate change, it is ultimately misses the point and overcomplicates the problem. Having an investment criteria of “at least one gigaton of carbon mitigation” or “> 200M tons of carbon capture” artificially creates barriers toward true economic and climate impact. It means that often only “moonshot” ventures get funded and that made up often projections trump proven impact.

The thing is, the numbers never lie

Any entrepreneur worth their salt is familiar with the term “unit economics” — for every unit sold, how much do you earn? What are your margins?

Positive unit economics + growth = profits

Negative unit economics + growth = losses

In the past, many in the venture industry advocated “blitzscaling” — often before working out the business model and unit economics.

“We’ll make it up in volume” was a common adage with companies like Uber, DoorDash, Blue Apron etc…

What they forgot is that with physical goods and services, your costs scale proportionally to your sales — ie. margins never really improve.

Past business lessons aside, the concept of unit economics works wonderfully (with a twist) when applied to climate companies.

That’s why I developed the concept of “climate economics” — a better way to thing about what makes a climate company.

What are climate economics?

As partner and syndicate lead at 4WARD.VC, there are many things I have going for me — an incredible network of climate investors and LPs for deal flow sharing, collaboration, expertise and industry connections, major reach and inbound with The Startup Tank Climate Investor Pitch Show and a strong community and platform with our various newsletters and our Slack communities for climate tech founders and for investors…

But, at the same time, syndicates have huge management fees (for more on the economics of venture, see this post) or big teams to handle in-depth LCAs or emission-reduction calculations…

We simply don’t have the resources to spend (or waste) on reporting and projected climate impact. And in a way, I view this as an advantage. It allows us to be nimble, flexible and fast when it comes to evaluating climate companies. It allows us to invest in the startups and founders changing the world without worrying that said solution to plastic pollution or massive fertilizer overuse doesn’t directly mitigate X megatons of carbon per year.

It allows us to rely on something much simpler: Climate Economics.

The question we ask ourselves is: “For every unit, service contract or new client etc…, does this make the world a proportionally better place?”

Does the company’s impact scale along with their revenues and bottom-line?

If it does, they’re a climate company and someone we’d consider investing in — as long as they meet our other criteria and thesis.

If it seems like a simple framework, that is because it is. It’s like that for a reason.

Move fast and break things — and pivot

In the world of startups, there is nothing more sacred than the lean startup model of build, test and iterate. Startups are CONSTANTLY looking to fail fast and improve from their mistakes and learnings.

So why should this be different with climate companies?

When was the last time a founder told you their vision for the world and business model and everything went “according to plan…?”

Probably never.

Slack was a video game, Airbnb was for air mattresses and Facebook was a hot-or-not app!

And that was with something as simple as software and web apps.

Hardware is a different beast entirely — much more challenging, much less predictable. And its implications are even less uncertain.

The Butterfly Effect

Who would have predicted the automobile would transform & gentrify cities, create suburbs, drive unprecedented economic progress and lead to climate change? Or that the “ultimate” clean energy (nuclear) would be shut down due to reactor failures and public outcries. Anyone predict that the iPhone would enable ride sharing and e-scooters — who’d actually increase, rather than improve the climate and traffic problems…?

Of course not!

That’s just it, we can never know. Our world is more interconnected and random than any of us (even a perfectly calculated LCA) can predict.

So, instead of seeking false “perfection,” I suggest we focus on progress.

Success or failure of a diet doesn’t come down to 100% adherence — it’s all about reducing the junk food and replacing it with healthy options, even if you enjoy an ice cream once and a while. It’s about doing what’s manageable and scalable to help move yourself (and our world) forward.

Which is especially true in the rocky world of startups — because things change, survival’s never guaranteed and pivoting is often the name of the game.

That’s why 4WARD.VC bets on stubbornly persistent, world-class founders tackling massive climate problems. If you’re too busy making the world a better place to have exact 10 year carbon mitigation targets and best-case scenario business projections, we’d love to chat (and possibly feature you on The Startup Tank as well :)

And if you’re an accredited investor or LP interested in learning more about our investor syndicate and the types of incredible companies we invest in, please visit: 4WARD.VC/syndicate for more details and to apply.

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PS. Btw, do you angel invest? Would love if you’d check out our accredited climate investor syndicate as we have a few super interesting deals we’re looking at currently.