This recap is a product of GrepBeat’s team-wide coverage, contributions from Katy Breitenbach, Cesar Romero, Katelyn Crespo, and Hail Zulueta; additional assists from the Carolina Climate team with some photos (as labeled) contributed by Corey Truesdale of One TrueShot Photography.
Last Monday through Friday marked the first-ever Raleigh-Durham Climate Week. A product of Carolina Climate and Raleigh-Durham Startup Co., with additional support from the City of Raleigh, the occasion was arranged as a kind of mirror event to the annual spring Raleigh-Durham Startup Week (RDSW). Where RDSW focuses more broadly on the tech and startup scene, however, RDCW is focused exclusively on innovation, strategy, demand, and opportunity relating to the climate.
This first edition of Climate Week featured more than 30 events spread out across the Triangle—with an opening panel in Chapel Hill, a cap-off coffee hour at Research Triangle Park, and most of the in-between sessions taking place either at Raleigh Founded in Downtown Raleigh or at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham.
Whether you were able to attend and you want to remember some of what you heard, or you didn’t make it out and you’re curious about the events, you can get a sense of it all in our session-by-session breakdown below.
(Or jump to specific days here: )
- Monday (Partner Events)
- Tuesday (“Break into Climate”)
- Wednesday (“Founder Skills”)
- Thursday (“Capital & Fundraising”)
- Friday (Wrap-up)
MONDAY
The first day of RDCW was largely designated for partner events. In various ways, these events gave attendees the chance to see and discuss climate solutions in the Triangle.
In some respects it was a microcosm of the week to come, featuring access to climate founders, demonstrations of climate innovation in action in the region, and conversations with subject matter experts.
Green That Pays: Founders Turning Passion Into Lasting Impact (Innovate Carolina Junction, Chapel Hill)
Panel: Laura Olson (Founder & CEO, Trashy); William Vizuete (Co-Founder, Blue Nova Group); Rachel Burton (Founder & CEO, Inoculai); moderated by Michael Piehler (Director, UNC Institute for the Environment)
For this opening panel discussion, Dr. Michael Piehler spoke with three local innovators in the climate space. It was a wide-ranging discussion ultimately revolving around the themes of building and process. The panelists discussed how their backgrounds led them to their respective current efforts in climate innovation; how they’ve pursued funding to keep those efforts alive; and what they value about building in the Triangle area.
Key Insights:
- “You never know what you’ve done in the past that’s going to help you in the future” — Vizuete
- Burton noted that instead of stamping the “sustainability” label on a project (which Piehler compared to a four-letter word), it’s wise to focus on the solution (such as fixing critical infrastructure) within a sustainability context.
- Olson echoed this, saying, “It’s really about showcasing the value that we’re providing.”
- On building in NC and through Launch Chapel Hill, Olson added, “Everyone’s trying to help each other win.”
From Wasteland to Wonder: Tour + Lunch & Learn (Leaf & Limb, Raleigh)
Hosted by Leaf & Limb; talk by Basil Camu (Wizard of Things, Leaf & Limb)
This was a partner event that focused more on conservation and education than, necessarily, business innovation. The event included an outdoor tour at Leaf & Limb, an excellent place for forest bathing, and information about how attendees can shrink their carbon footprints and maintain their yards in ways that are friendly to the Triangle’s environment.
There was also a presentation revolving around (and a handout of) Basil Camu’s book, “Wasteland to Wonder.”
Key Insights:
- Trees are often removed too hastily; nothing can replace a 350-year-old oak.
- Biggest actions individuals can take include replacing the lawn with a “Piedmont Prairie” of native plants that capture more CO2 than grass, and sowing native seeds.
Lab Tour: FREEDM Systems Center at NC State (Keystone Science Center, Raleigh)
Tour by Ken Dulaney (Director of Industry and Innovation, FREEDM Systems Center)
The FREEDM Systems Center at NC State is one of the National Science Foundation’s designated Engineering Research Centers. This session functioned as a presentation of the different research projects students and staff undertake at the center—primarily revolving around promotion of a more sustainable energy grid.
The presentation focused on four pillars of research: renewable energy systems; electric transportation; modern power systems; and wide-bandgap (WBG) electronics.
RTI Pilot Xcelerator Tour (RTI International, RTP)
Hosted by Steve McManus (RTI International); site tour by Matthew Cooper (RPX Site Manager); lab tour by Sameer Parvathikar (Director, RTI International)
This was a limited-capacity session that started with a presentation on the RTI Pilot Xcelerator and a tour of the facility, which supports research, primarily in chemical and material innovation, with an aim to help testing progress toward commercialization.
This presentation included a breakdown of the pilot design framework: Start with the decision, not the equipment (What decision does the pilot need to unlock?); proving more than technical performance (reliability, economics, and “social license”); maintain a single risk registry across technology, supply chain, regulatory, and commercial risks.
Attendees were then given a tour of one of the RTI International labs, as well as a new Xcelerator space (which Cooper and McManus referred to as a “farmer’s market of science”).
Key Insights:
- “The ‘bankable’ story is not a pitch deck. It is a defensible plan for who takes the risk, why and based on what evidence.” — McManus
AI, Energy & The Environment (Wake Tech, RTP campus)
Panel: Chris Hazard (CTO, Howso), Dr. Henry McKoy, Jr. (fmr. President & CEO, Carolina Community Impact; fmr. Director, U.S. Office of State and Community Energy Programs), Phaedra Boinodiris (Global Leader for Trustworthy AI, IBM); moderated by Lisa Hammond (Founder and HR Consultant, LHConsulting)
This session was framed as a conversation with industry experts on the benefits of the expanding AI industry in contrast to the environmental costs. This subject was touched on, but ultimately the panelists wound up talking more about strategic use, population sentiment, and equity.
That in part was because the discussion was structured around live polls that anonymously measured how attendees viewed AI adoption (and specifically new data centers). Responses to those polls varied, though it should be noted that the strongest response (unsurprisingly) was disagreement with the phrase, “AI should be developed rapidly regardless of the level of oversight.”
The panelists noted that in a similar survey driven by Axios, “AI will lead to faster economic growth” was the only one of several statements that received more than 50% positive responses.
In the discussion that followed the poll, Boinodiris, Hazard, and McKoy, Jr. spoke about why AI is not trusted, whether vast energy consumption is always necessary, and where we go from here.
Key Insights:
- McKoy described some data center placement as “digital sharecropping,” suggesting large tech companies are signing lengthy land leases without equitable arrangements for benefits.
- Boinodiris posited that some 85% of AI investments fail to bring about a return; she cited initial investments not tied to solving specific business problems, trouble building trust, and skill gaps as reasons for this.
- Hazard suggested we’ll look back at this period like many other major periods of change in human history (such as the advent of the traditional school lecture); in 10-20 years, it will still feel fresh, but things will have stabilized.
- “This is the most bipartisan issue since beer” — Boinodiris, paraphrasing a comedian with regard to AI opposition.
Confession of a Pilot: How to Fly Better in the Climate Crisis (online)
Co-hosted by Traci McStay Mikulik (Portland Chapter Host, The Circular Economists); Hannah Dick; special guest Captain Katie Thompson (Founder and CEO, Bumprints)
This was the week’s lone virtual-only session, led by “Captain Katie,” who spoke about her trademarked term, “bumprint”—which of course she means as a measurement of the impact that sitting on airplane seats (or, more simply, taking flights) has on the environment.
Beyond explaining this concept, the session left virtual attendees with suggested means of mitigating the negative impact of their travel.
Additional Partner-Run Workshops
Day 1 at Raleigh-Durham Climate Week wrapped up with additional sessions that functioned as more practical workshops for prospective innovators in the space.
These included one session at Cary Founded, led by Rae Lieff Axelbank, all about how to have more positive and constructive discussions about AI’s negative environmental impact; and the other was a talk at Brooks Hall in Raleigh, led by Melissa Keeney, that served as an introduction to LEED certification with an emphasis on “how women in architecture can establish careers in sustainable design.”
TUESDAY: “BREAK INTO CLIMATE”
Tuesday brought about the first of three themed tracks that comprised the bulk of the original programming at Raleigh-Durham Climate Week. This first track was “Break Into Climate,” and was designed for students, aspiring founders, and anyone else with an interest in learning how to get involved with innovative climate solutions.
The track largely took the form of a series of discussions at Raleigh Founded, led by some of the most notable leaders in climate innovation in the region.
Walking Mastermind™ for Climate Founders and Leaders (Raleigh Founded)
Led by Noa Ronen (Founder and CEO, ADVAgo)
“Walking Mastermind” is a monthly, on-the-go networking session that, for this iteration, teamed up with the Raleigh-Durham Climate Week team to kick off day two.
The walkabout began at Raleigh Founded and continued through parts of Downtown Raleigh. This gave attendees—many of whom were there to stay for large portions of the day for a full slate of events at Raleigh Founded—a chance to connect without focusing on programming.
AI and the Environment: What We Know, What We Do Not, and How to Decide for Yourself (Raleigh Founded)
Panel: Dr. Jackson Ewing (Director, Energy and Climate Policy, Duke University Nicholas Institute), Shawn Jones (Operations Enablement and Transformation Advisor, Better Together Brain Trust); moderated by Abigail Merrill (AI Adoption and Enablement Consultant, GrowthUp Partners)
The “AI And The Environment” panel was another that focused largely on the scale of AI adoption and the issue of data centers. In this case, as opposed to the “AI, Energy, & The Environment” panel, the focus was less on the nature of consumer sentiment and more on the size of the issue and how ordinary citizens can (or should) react.
Much of the talk about impact was crystallized in what Jones put forth as the “5-10-15” framework: 5% of local fresh water is likely going to data centers; 10% of electricity will be within five years; $15B per year is the estimated cost to address air pollution and grid updates.
The panel also discussed “citizen leverage points,” such as demanding that data centers be built on public land, requiring recycled water use, pushing for PILOT agreements (payment in lieu of taxes), and more.
As for using AI responsibly, the speakers recommended practical, individual steps such as avoiding “frivolous image and video generation,” choosing smaller, task-specific models over general-purpose LLMs, and being intentional and specific with prompts.
Key Insights:
- AI tools are artificially cheap because companies want training data—not because costs are zero.
- The World Economic Forum projected in 2025 that “AI literacy” will be a baseline skill by 2030; the panel sees this as “already feeling outdated.”
Game On for Climate Action (Raleigh Founded)
Led by Teresa Townsend (Co-Founder & CEO, Planning Communities)
This was more of a workshop session led by Teresa Townsend, who translates her decades of experience into the practical development of tools and frameworks to drive actionable solutions.
In this case, Townsend was running a strategy game dubbed “Action to Zero” that boiled down to groups of attendees working to advise companies (based on worksheets) on how to build sustainably and balance mission with success.
Those interested can find a link to the game here.
Built Here: The Climate Companies in Our Backyard (Raleigh Founded)
Speakers: Phil Cohen (CEO, Simplifyber), Haroon Inam (CEO, DG Matrix); Alex Lassiter (Founder,CEO, Greenplaces); Vicki Lee Parker-High (Executive Director, NC Sustainable Business Council)
True to its name, this session functioned as a chance for attendees to get to know some of the climate-related companies that have been built in and around the Triangle. In effect, each panelist gave an introduction and then discussed challenges in and lessons drawn from building in their space.
Phil Cohen described Simplifyber as the world’s most advanced molded fiber company, making automotive parts, footwear, and consumer electronics. He introduced a theme that would be common among the panelists—that failing to achieve cost parity is often the “real killer” in climate tech—and then shared a handful of lessons for climate entrepreneurs.
These lessons included to focus on product (he recommended making something simple and tangible); to lead with performance attributes rather than sustainability; to push into healthy markets and let the unhealthy ones find you; to build a “surprising, locked-tight strategy;” and to achieve that cost parity.
Vicki Lee Parker-High of the North Carolina Sustainable Business Council spoke primarily about the impending launch of the Raleigh Sustainability Connector—a solution for small- and mid-sized businesses that want to be climate-ready but lack resources. The Connector is meant to aggregate those resources (including things like university contacts, green lenders, etc.) and help businesses post their needs to be linked to the relevant help.
Alex Lassiter introduced Greenplaces as an AI-native compliance firm covering 20-30 types of compliance (sustainability/ESG, AI governance, SOC2, etc.) and serving 1,300-plus supply chains in more than 30 countries.
The problem Lassiter spoke to is that 90% or more of large company emissions come from their suppliers (he cited Microsoft as an example, estimating 93% of emissions stemming from 50,000 suppliers). Companies struggle to address this on their own because sustainability compliance is “expert-driven, expensive, and hard to staff.”
Haroon Inam described the core product of DG Matrix as a multi-port, solid-state transformer, and the only option for simultaneous output of AC and DC power. The effect, in simpler terms, is eliminating some of the equipment in a traditional data center setup to reduce the center’s footprint.
Key Insights:
- Multiple panelists talked about the importance of focusing on cost parity over a sustainability narrative.
- Both Parker-High and Lassiter discussed the need and opportunity to serve the underserved middle (small- to mid-sized businesses).
- Both Cohen and Inam spoke to NC State as a foundational asset for their businesses.
Climate Needs YOUR Skills (Raleigh Founded)
Speaker: Josh Dorfman (Co-Founder & CMO, Plantd; Host, Supercool)
Josh Dorfman is best known in the Triangle as a Co-Founder of Plantd (which you can read about here) and as the host of the “Supercool” podcast. The focus of his session was less about his current ventures, however, and more about how skillset and preparation can set you up for a role (in climate, in this case) you may not have intentionally aimed for.
Dorfman began with a story about decorated NFL coach Andy Reid, who was hired to lead the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999 despite never having served as a professional head coach or coordinator (often a stepping stone to the big job). Reid secured a single interview and showed up with a detailed plan for running the team and building a culture—a lesson Dorfman used to communicate that deep preparation creates opportunity where conventional credentials may not.
From there, Dorfman told his own winding tale from teaching English in China, to starting a sustainable furniture company in Brooklyn, to various climate-related roles, and ultimately, Plantd.
Key Insights:
- Climate companies are just companies; they still need normal skillsets.
- Say yes to anything aligned with your values if you can afford to.
- The journey is rarely a straight line.
WEDNESDAY: “FOUNDER SKILLS”
Wednesday’s “Founder Skills” track was about, as Carolina Climate Co-Founder and event organizer Majela Fonseca put it, the “unglamorous work” that helps founders establish themselves in the space.
The day’s programming was designed based on conversations with climate founders concerning what they need, and ultimately leaned on area experts in brand storytelling, go-to-market strategy, and more to cover the essential nuts and bolts of building a sustainable (sustainable) company.
1 Million Cups Durham: RDCW Edition (echo, Durham)
Presenting Founder: Kwame Asare (Blossoms Village); hosted by Anjanette Miller (CEO, echo) and McKinley Ogden (Communications Manager, echo)
1 Million Cups is a weekly gathering, hosted at echo in Durham and designed to showcase a local business leader. This week, the program partnered with the RDCW organizers to provide a climate-themed program.
That program centered on Kwame Asare, who operates Blossoms Village—a honey brand that is actually rooted in Ghana. Asare sources cashew nut honey directly from Ghana, packaging it in Durham and sending profits back.
His ultimate goals are to build an eco-village in Ghana and to continue to support kids with educational trips concerning nature and the art of beekeeping. He noted that the average commercial beekeeper is 60 years old, and he wants to pass the practice along to a new generation.
Triangle Table: A Trusted Workspace for Solutions (Raleigh)
Hosted by Benjamin Friedman (Co-Founder, Table)
Table is an organization that aims to foster constructive dialogues, typically among founders and investors. For this event, they partnered with Raleigh-Durham Climate Week to host a workshop-like session inviting attendees to present the challenges they see in startups and work out solutions together.
PEOPLE OF THE SUN: Black Folks Collaborating on Climate Justice (The Shrine of the Black Star, Durham)
Hosted by Justin Minott (Founder, Black Power Energy Co.)
This was a “solar-powered coffee event” and came about because… well… Justin Minott, the organizer, told Tim Scales (another RDCW organizer) that he wanted to host a solar-powered coffee event.
Minott specifically designed the session to be about connection for Black leaders in clean energy and sustainability, providing a place for an exchange of ideas.
Digital Sustainability for Good Business (Raleigh Founded)
Led by: Jen McFarland (Founder, Marit Digital)
This was another partner event that took place Wednesday morning, with the aim being to help attendees learn how to keep tabs on their digital footprints to operate sustainably.
Jen McFarland led the session with a wealth of statistics concerning the impact of day-to-day practices—including those most of us don’t give a second thought to, such as using our personal devices and loading web pages or playing videos. While much of this was merely presented as knowledge, some mitigation suggestions were also offered.
She also provided Marit Digital’s tools for tracking and managing impact, which are kept up to date and can be referenced at any time.
Preparing for Venture: What Climate Tech Investors Look For (Raleigh Founded)
Led by: Stephanie Simon (Founding Partner, Blueridge Climate Ventures)
Stephanie Simon started this session with an introduction to Blueridge Climate Ventures as the only dedicated climate tech investment group in the region. She then presented a number of statistics on both the broad climate tech market and the North Carolina ecosystem specifically.
A few takeaways from those statistics:
- Climate tech accounts for ~10% of total VC focus and 7-8% of global deal count.
- Exit timeline in climate tech is 10-14 years, as opposed to 9-12 traditionally.
- In an August survey, 40% say capital access is significantly or slightly worse versus 12 months ago.
- 140-plus clean/climate tech startups are mapped in NC (up from 120 in 2024).
Simon also shared her perspective on what climate tech investors are looking for in founders and startups. For the most part, the picture aligned with what one considers a strong, durable founder in general—though she did point out that founders need to be able to quantify climate impact while being able to demonstrate commercial viability.
Simon also pointed out some common mistakes she sees in the space, including over-indexing on product or technology at the expense of a business model; going to VC too early; and approaching investors “without research or alignment.”
**Preemptive Indignant Interlude: Right about now you’re thinking, huh, we’re at about 3300 words and it’s still Wednesday, this must’ve been churned out by AI. Once again, we don’t do that here. Gotta take my word for it. Unless you think Uncle Claude (nope, don’t like how that sounds) AI has reached a point of subversively issuing preemptive denials of its own implementation, in which case you could be turning things over for a while wondering from whence this recap really came and whether or not you’re even conscious. So anyway, the next session was about what founders can learn from nature.
Built to Endure: What Living Systems Teach Climate Founders (Raleigh Founded)
Speaker: Bert Bruggeman (Founder, Aurelia)
Bert Bruggeman brought decades of experience working with innovative climate-adjacent companies to this session—along with an interesting premise. That premise was that today’s founders have inherited a “reductionist” and segmented worldview that optimizes parts of a system at the expense of the whole.
By contrast, Bruggeman looked to an alternative model in nature, where living systems thrive on diversity, flow, interdependence, and resilience. Climate founders, he argued, are thus well positioned to learn from the very systems they’re aiming to protect.
To support his ideas, Bruggeman pointed to a handful of examples from different fields he’s observed, including a car factory, a bio-cement startup, and ocean cleanup efforts.
Key Insights:
- Founders should identify what living system their companies depend on, map where they sit in it, and ask what it can teach them about how its parts work together.
- Decisions should be tested against both a company’s health and the living system’s health.
Story That Sells: Building a Brand People Care About (Raleigh Founded)
Led by Robert Birnbach (Founder, Curious Ant)
One of the most prevalent themes in programming across Raleigh-Durham Climate Week was that there is a difference between a compelling mission and a compelling business case. Several speakers and panelists spoke to the need to emphasize the latter (essentially, to enable the former).
Robert Birnbach’s session landed somewhere in the middle—educating climate founders not on mission versus business, but rather (insofar as there’s a difference) on how to communicate the mission in a way that’s rooted in a true foundation and compelling to others.
A pure focus on green benefits, Birnbach argued, can build friction. It sounds expensive and/or as if it may not operate as well as another business. He compared the association some people have with green businesses to that which they have with veggie burgers, noting that if such burgers taste like cardboard boxes, no one is going to buy them.
As an actionable solution to this tricky state of expectations, he presented a map of priorities working from the center (identity and values) out toward presentation. A brand should begin with values (what it believes and won’t change, even if the product does); move to purpose (why the brand exists, beyond making money); extend to promises (what the brand offers and why it matters); and move outward to engage an audience accordingly.
Key Insights:
- Lead with why people should care (Example: Slack didn’t sell a communication platform; it sold fewer emails).
- Build from the center (values) out.
- Your competitor is the status quo.
- You should have a consistent story you can tailor to multiple audiences.
Go-to-Market Strategies: Reaching Your First Customers (Raleigh Founded)
Led by Joe Hicken (Partner, Kairo)
Bringing his own experience building the commercial side of a first-in-its-class climate tech company to the table, Joe Hicken engineered this session to help climate founders better consider sales processes. He compared the average climate founder to a world-class scientist who’s never had to sell anything, but still pointed to founder-led sales as, typically, the right place to start.
To help that average climate tech founder think strategically about generating those founder-led sales, Hicken offered up a set of questions at the heart of case studies he presented, as well as some processes and ideas for founders to follow.
The questions concerned five P’s: Persona (who has this problem?); Problem (what does it cost them today in dollars, risk, or time?); Product (how does it solve the problem in their terms, not yours?); Positioning (why you, against the incumbent or doing nothing?); Price and Channel (does price track their value, and through whom do they buy?).
Key Insights:
- Your invention alone is not a business.
- Early adopters face real switching costs; they need to be shown how they win by buying in.
- Revenue is oxygen; proof of life is the pitch.
The Business Case for Climate: Skip the Impact Pitch (Raleigh Founded)
Panel: Jeff Soplop (Founder and CEO, Nimble Energy), Tricia Carey (CCO, Avalo), and Susan Wall (serial entrepreneur, E8 Angels investor); moderated by Malhar Shah (Founder and CEO, microWatt)
This panel discussion began with each member speaking briefly about their professional background and current position in relation to climate innovation.
Shah (also an organizer of the event) talked about microWatt’s mission to help companies efficiently deliver products by curbing emissions at the source; Soplop covered Nimble Energy’s drive to help clients (such as building operators) better track their energy costs and efficiency; Carey discussed using AI to bring about product efficiency, citing emissions reductions from low-impact cotton; and Wall talked about her varied experience across six exits and where she focuses her investment today.
Once they’d covered experience and some more general points about how climate companies approach common problems relating to sustainability, they addressed the question in the title of the session: whether the impact pitch should be “skipped.”
The consensus? You don’t necessarily have to skip it, but you still have to communicate the value of your business and you have to know your audience.
Key Insights:
- “If you don’t have the impact then we’re not going to invest. But we’re not going to invest only for the impact.” — Wall
- All three panelists talked not only about the need to know your audience, but the need to speak in terms that audience relates to (echoing, to some degree, the Robert Birnbach talk from earlier in the afternoon).
Founders & Funders: Climate Tech Showcase and Social (Raleigh Founded)
Featured Startups: AmpOn, Ceretune, Innatrix, Sustaera, TidalCleanse, Trashy
To wrap up Day 3, the RDCW organizers set up this “showcase and social” at Raleigh Founded to shine a spotlight on some of the emerging climate startups in the area. Attendees were invited to mingle for a couple hours as six such startups set up exhibition tables and founders spoke to their missions.
You can see our full look into those six startups here.
THURSDAY: “Capital & Fundraising”
Thursday’s “Capital & Fundraising” track was designed to help founders (or prospective founders) in the space look beyond passion and impact to learn how to make the case that a climate venture is investable. As Carolina Climate Co-Founder Ben Provan put it, founders in the Triangle deserve a “straight answer” about what it takes to raise in climate innovation, and Thursday was about providing that answer.
Throughout the day, attendees heard from investors and others in the space about how investment in climate innovation has evolved over time, how investors make and justify decisions, and more.
The day rounded out with a bit of fun in the form of a cap-off happy hour and a “Bad Ideas” Pitch Competition.
Becoming a Climate Angel with E8 (Durham)
Hosted by Susan C. Wall, Karin Kidder, Amanda White of E8 Angels
This session functioned as both an introduction to E8 Angels and a bit of an all-purpose guide to how angel investment can work for a climate founder.
Big picture: E8 spun out of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and now has upwards of 160 members, just under 200 portfolio companies, and some $77M invested. Their mission is to “mobilize early-stage capital and community to scale climate solutions,” and they vote as a group on companies they’re considering investing in.
Members also spoke about their specific process for whittling some 60-70 monthly applications down to about three for live pitches. During those pitches, members assess based on criteria including team strength, market opportunity, scalable impact, tech differentiation, go-to-market clarity.
Key Insights:
- For most climate tech, the gap between concept and pilot is significant.
- Angels can play a bigger role now with non-dilutive funding shrinking.
- However, that pilot may cost more than angel capital (often a Series A move).
Accelerate Climate Tech Ventures with Duke (Gross Hall, Duke University, Durham)
Hosted by Katie Douglas (Project Planner, Duke University), Judy Ledlee (Executive in Residence, Duke University), and Ginger Sigmon (Director of Research and Development, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke)
Organized with help from various Duke University figures connected to climate innovation, this session gave RDCW attendees the chance to interact with a host of climate groups active on the Duke campus. These included Design Climate, Duke RESTORE, Energy and Climate Ventures, and Oceans@Duke, among others.
Electrons and Green Space (American Underground, Durham)
Panelists: Jess Lyons (Aurora Solar), Swati Khimesra (President and CEO, Surface 678), and Jed Routh (Vice President of Market and Products, Kempower); moderated by Donald Addu (Head of Climate Solutions, Climate Vault Solutions)
With so much of the week’s programming focusing on climate innovation more broadly, climate founder strategies, and investment insights, this event instead invited a look specifically at the state of green tech and the needs and growth potential in Durham.
That conversation, as it turned out, had capacity to touch on everything from the Scandinavian sensibilities (aka more environmentally friendly) Routh could bring from Kempower to Durham, to the federal government zapping sustainability incentives, to the fact that it’s literally gotten too hot for children to play outside in the city at certain times. The takeaway, to some extent, that there is a need and an opportunity to put Durham on the map for near-future innovation.
Key Insights:
- The government needs to re-prioritize climate.
- A hopeful tone is possible (perhaps even necessary) even amid some of the struggles outlined.
Climate Tech: Thirty Years of Lessons and What Comes Next (American Underground, Durham)
Speaker: Dave Kirkpatrick (Managing Director & Co-Founder, SJF Ventures)
Following a bit of a day-to-day trend within this inaugural Raleigh-Durham Climate Week, this session brought in a speaker with deep experience working in a space most of us still tend to think of as relatively new (if not distinctly modern). Dave Kirkpatrick has spent nearly 30 years investing in roughly 100 “impact-oriented startups.”
Tapping into this personal history, Kirkpatrick delivered something of a general history of climate tech and its necessity and impact over the years. He worked his way up to the current era, which he defines as Cleantech 2.1 (2.0 having occurred under the Biden Administration, with VC fundraising in the space peaking around 2022). The 2.1 era as he described it comes with uncertainty (aka federal policy barriers) but not without some bright spots (commitment from LPs overseas).
Following the walk through recent history in climate innovation, Kirkpatrick spoke more to the SJF Ventures approach before speaking to the North Carolina ecosystem specifically and taking questions from the audience.
Key Insights:
- SJF aims for capital-efficient growth and step-by-step scaling rather than step-change bets.
- SJF avoids companies that require massive capital infusions without a clear financial model justification.
- NC remains a leader in manufacturing, agtech, biotech, power electronics, and has the advantage of three major research universities—even if it’s lost its once-lofty place in solar innovation.
Getting Creative About Capital When Your Calls Aren’t Returned (American Underground, Durham)
Panel: Sasha Brown (Senior Partner, Ecosystem Integrity Fund); Lister Delgado (Managing Partner, IDEA Fund Partners); Drew Geer (climate investor); Dr. Ashley Rivenbark (Project Director, Climate Finance Solutions; grant strategist)
Continuing with the day’s “Capital and Fundraising” theme, this panel took on some of the factors that go into investment particularly in first-of-its-kind initiatives.
Much of the discussion centered on the early assertion, from Geer, that climate is “typically harder tech;” it requires a longer runway, and founders need to be able to speak to that when seeking funding. With that said, the panel also collectively went over a variety of funding options, with advice for those writing grant applications as well as those trying to find the right investors.
Delgado and Brown spoke specifically about that last point—finding the right investors—noting that investors have “different flavors and tastes” (Brown, likening investing to a sales process) and entrepreneurs “need to fit with the strategy of the fund they’re talking to” (Delgado). That said, the focus wasn’t only on grants and investment. Delgado also said that “the first kind of capital an entrepreneur should be looking for is customer capital.”
The group then provided attendees with a number of specific resources to keep track of in a wide-ranging consideration of capital needs, before wrapping up with general advice and Q&A.
Key Insights:
- Know your gaps and name them.
- “Your most precious resource is your time, and that’s something that’s consistent across the investment journey, it’s important to use it wisely.” (Brown)
- To be honest, I kind of spoiled most of the key insights above.
Your Other Product Is a Financial Data Room (American Underground, Durham)
Panel: Joe Darcy (Investment Director, Volvo Group Venture Capital), Jennie Graham (Senior Associate, Burnt Island Ventures), Josh Grehan (Partner, Helios Climate Ventures), Christina Pastoria (Manager, Climate Finance, RMI)
This session was described as one in which investors who finance first-of-a-kind hardware would walk the audience through what makes that package credible, and also speak to where they’ve witnessed Triangle founders leaving money and/or leverage on the table.
That description bore out in the room, though the panelists ultimately wound up offering a broader, more general set of advice to founders seeking investment—which was perhaps fitting for what was essentially the penultimate speaker session of the inaugural RDCW.
Key Insights:
- “Venture capital is a really sexy way to fund your business, but it’s not the only way.” (Darcy)
- “It’s so important to have a clearly organized data room because that is how we will be perceiving you. If it is messy, I assume that is the same with how you run your business.” (Graham)
- “I am always cautious when hearing about contracts, so I always really get persnickety* and ask questions about the contract’s details. Make sure you know all the facts.” (Grehan)
- “Do you know what your downside cases are? I want to know what happens to your business model if the risks happen.” (Pastoria)
- “VCs have the attention span of a squirrel, can I see a very easy explanation of how you can scale very easily, very fast?” (Darcy)
*This is the first time the word “persnickety” has appeared on GrepBeat.com. Innovation indeed.
The Shape of a Fundable Company (American Underground, Durham)
Panel: Nick Borisow (Vice President of Business Development, 8 Rivers), Erik Lensch (Founder and CEO, Leyline Renewable Capital), Melissa Malkin-Weber (Co-Executive Director, Clean Energy Fund of the Carolinas), and Locke Raper (Executive Staff, Clean Energy Finance, Self-Help Climate Capital)
This was a panel of investors who set out to talk about what makes climate hardware investable, specifically through the lens of where they themselves have actually deployed capital.
The prevailing takeaway, which resurfaced continually throughout the 45-minute conversation, was that climate tech isn’t sexy (at least from a value perspective). For this reason, the speakers contended across the board, it is a founder’s job to, as one does, orchestrate financial sexiness for investors. Naturally they spoke about different things they look for that signal a company is mature enough to buy into. But the sexiness was the main thing.
Key Insights:
- 50 is the young of the old (Lensch was paraphrasing a comedian); solar is the sexy of the boring.
- The point at which a climate tech company is financeable is not always obvious, because there may not be market or exit comparisons.
Capital & Connections: Climate Tech Happy Hour (Fullsteam, American Tobacco Campus, Durham)
With the final panel having wrapped at American Underground, much of the crowd gathered at the new Fullsteam ATC venue (which is approximately 18 yards from the AU).
This was an informal Happy Hour, supported by Climate Vault and Fractionaut and giving folks one more chance to mingle and connect before a final evening partner event (for which a few drinks didn’t hurt….).
Bad Idea Pitch Competition: Climate Week Edition (American Underground, Durham)
Finally, a sizable crowd headed back to the American Underground for the second iteration of the Bad Idea Pitch Competition, organized by Catie King and Shannon Varcoe, both of whom, it should be put in writing, are certified good peeps.
This event echoed a debut Bad Pitch competition that took place at Raleigh-Durham Startup Week this past spring. Only this time around, naturally, the fake founders who got up in front of the crowd were presenting bad ideas specifically relating to climate solutions.
You can read more about the pitches—from fake startups Petty Planet, Hot Garbage, Floaty Toots, and Only-Fans (dash important)—in our write-up.
FRIDAY: WRAP-UP
Strength in Numbers x Raleigh-Durham Climate Week Coffee Meet-Up
CED’s Strength in Numbers partnered with the Raleigh-Durham Climate Week team to support a casual cap-off for the week that was. The combined group hosted a coffee and networking event at Boxyard RTP, going beyond the usual Strength in Numbers crowd to invite any and all who attended throughout the week to meet up one more time.
And that was a wrap on the inaugural Raleigh-Durham Climate Week. Stay tuned for information on follow-up events from both Carolina Climate and Raleigh-Durham Startup Co.
