I mentioned in my prior post that I shared our rationale for building Third Derivative on LinkedIn; here is the full text:
Leading a climate tech startup is tough. You often have greater capital needs and longer paths to market, making it harder for you to compete with software ventures for funding. Commercializing climate tech often necessitates navigating complex, slow-moving corporate customers, where it might take a year just to figure out whom to talk to. All of this is set against a regulatory and policy landscape that favors incumbents, not you — leading a climate tech startup is tough.
Unfortunately many traditional accelerators – which nominally exist to make things easier for startups – divide startups from investors and corporate partners. They hold the investors and corporates up on a pedestal while parading startups in front of them to beg for money or favors on demo day – all while ignoring the critical role of markets and policy for startup success. Given the dearth of climate tech success stories — especially the hard science innovation we need to combat the climate crisis at scale — coming out of accelerators, we believe this model as a lot of room for innovation / improvement.
Third Derivative is introducing a new model: bringing everyone together as equals in a fully integrated accelerator powered by New Energy Nexus, the leader in global climate tech acceleration. While startups in our program are building their ventures, corporates in our program are buying and deploying their products, and investors in our program — motivated by the corporate demand they see — are funding them. All the while, Rocky Mountain Institute’s unparalleled market insights and policy access are giving all participants a superior advantage.
How much does this unprecedented value cost the startup? Not a penny. Participation in our program comes with an optional USD $100,000 seed investment from our investor partners with privileged access to USD $100,000,000+ follow-on funding – but you decide whether or not to take the investment. Either way, our 16-month program is entirely virtual so you can focus your time and money on building your venture, not traveling around the world.
At Third Derivative, we know how tough it is to lead a climate tech startup because we are climate tech investors, corporate executives, market and policy analysts, and — most crucially — entrepreneurs. If you want to be part of something bigger than just accelerating your venture — if you want to accelerate the entire rate of climate innovation — then come join us in solving the climate crisis together.