I spent the back half of June in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. This was the first trip I’ve taken since moving to Colorado a year ago in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Although the trip was for business, my family managed to join for part of it and the change of sceneryContinue reading “A Week and a Half in the Mountains”
Category Archives: Energy & Climate
Third Derivative Launch: GreenBiz Covers Our Climatetech Accelerator Debut
Today is a big day. After nine months of building in stealth (well, stealth-ish), Third Derivative is officially launching to the world; our inaugural cohort of nearly 50 climatetech startups, nine corporate partners, and nine VC investor partners are all out in the open at last. Readers of my origin story and six month updateContinue reading “Third Derivative Launch: GreenBiz Covers Our Climatetech Accelerator Debut”
Right Place, Right Time for Climatetech
Many lives ago I was CTO of a startup that built the largest DVD rental machine network in the world. We were acquired by RedBox, our largest competitor at the time, but before that happened it was amazing to participate on the front lines of a market in the throes of massive disruption. One dayContinue reading “Right Place, Right Time for Climatetech”
Third Derivative Six Month Update
It has been six months since I began as Cofounder and CEO of Third Derivative. Below is a very long assessment of how things are going, but the TLDR is that I am really thriving in this role, loving my team, and feeling really good about this decision! What is Third Derivative?A joint venture ofContinue reading “Third Derivative Six Month Update”
The Poorest of the Poor Revisited
Today marks the 12th anniversary of the day I spent in Nairobi’s Korogocho Slums with some of the world’s “poorest of the poor.” I was profoundly affected then and still am – but I have some new thoughts. In hindsight, this experience, which I found to be so special and impactful at the time, feelsContinue reading “The Poorest of the Poor Revisited”
We Built Something Big: RMI Launches Third Derivative Climatetech Accelerator
Two weeks ago, I announced that I had become the co-founder and CEO of Third Derivative climatetech accelerator, a new joint venture between Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and New Energy Nexus. Now that we are fully live, I couldn’t be more excited to share what we’ve built. It still feels a little surreal. Two weeksContinue reading “We Built Something Big: RMI Launches Third Derivative Climatetech Accelerator”
Why We Built Third Derivative
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 techContinue reading “Why We Built Third Derivative”
Third Derivative: My Next Great Adventure
Far over the misty mountains coldTo dungeons deep and caverns oldWe must away ere break of dayTo seek the pale enchanted gold. I have founded or led eight climate tech startups. I’ve had one really big success, a few smaller successes, and a few “learning experiences” along the way – but every one of themContinue reading “Third Derivative: My Next Great Adventure”
The End of Smart OES
Last year Smart OES was acquired by Ingenero, one of our corporate strategic investors! I’ve been meaning to blog about this momentous event, but the acquisition itself and then major moves in other areas of my life (More on that soon!) have kept me busy. Finally I have a chance to reflect back on SmartContinue reading “The End of Smart OES”
Innovating to Solve Two Crises at Once
The world is locked down. My calendar, which weeks ago was full of flights and meetings, is now back to back to back Zooms. And yet – while so much has stopped – the glaciers are still melting, the emissions are still climbing, and the climatetech startups that are our best hope of reversing bothContinue reading “Innovating to Solve Two Crises at Once”