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🌎 Welcome back to the CleanTechies PodLetter, founder edition.
In Today’s Issue
Today’s Issue
Lori’s background
The origin of Optimus Technologies and what they do
Show notes (timestamps)
Links
Asks
Our key takeaways
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Today, we are talking to Lori Dunn from Optimus Technologies
We have a great issue of the show today with a kick-ass person who is passionate about doing everything we can to decarbonize TODAY.
Some of the core discussion points are…
Going from a ‘small company’ energy to ‘big company’ energy
Why the trucking industry hasn’t already switched to biodiesel and how Optimus Technologies is solving that
Managing the challenges of upscaling manufacturing
And much more…
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The Guest: Lori Dunn
Early in Lori’s career, she worked for the Peace Corps. This alone offers you an idea of the type of person she is.
After that, she got straight into decarbonizing, primarily doing sales for various climate tech companies.
Eventually, this culminated in landing the COO role at Optimus Technologies in 2022, where she wasted no time in getting to business.
On the personal side, it’s clear when you speak with Lori, that she’s a kick-ass person who is squarely focused on doing her part to reverse climate change.
The Startup: Optimus Technologies
Transportation Decarbonization, Biodiesel, Hardware
One-liner: Helping the trucking industry decarbonize by up to 90% TODAY.
Founded in 2010 by Colin Huwyler who believed there had to be a better biodiesel option. Most technologies only allowed low blends of biodiesel (B5-B20).
Thanks to his deep conviction, he has persisted through many challenges and the company is still alive due to that effort.
The partnership between Lori and OT, comes at a perfect time where the technology has been proven and it’s now time to scale.
In 2024 they sold 1,000 units, and are aiming to be selling multi-thousands within the next year and a half.
📝 Show Notes:
Topics
01:43 Small vs Big Energy Company
04:37 Decarbonizing Diesel Engines
07:00 Challenges to Decarb the Diesel Industry
09:39 Understanding Fleet Managers' Problems
11:37 Previous Attempts
14:33 The Long Game of Hardware Innovation
19:25 Joining Optimus
25:36 The Technology of Optimus
29:07 Communicating Value to Investors
33:16 Revenue Model and Cost Structure
37:42 Scaling Manufacturing and Funding
42:33 Metrics and Partnerships
44:30 Early Stage Manufacturing
46:34 Manufacturing In-house vs Outsourcing
Links
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Asks 👋
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Key Takeaways
As we record, some things pop up that stand out to us. Either because they are unique and new to us or because they have been said similarly by other past guests.
Since you have most likely not listened to every episode, we are putting them here for you.
They had the right team.
Lori talked a lot about how culture and the right people have been important to their success.
This stood out because it’s something a LOT of our guests have said. The notable part is that the ones who have scaled up their teams a lot are the ones who are banging the drum of culture the most.
Cost + Safety.
This is related to most of the companies that sell to large corporates but are new because we’ve not had anyone selling to commercial fleet owners.
The general principle to be aware of is that innovation may not be the word your customers want to hear. Many folks focus on cost savings, but in many cases, the word innovation is equal to risk, and the decision-makers in many legacy companies are not chomping at the bit to be the first ones to try a new gadget.
So, when building your company, developing your tech, and crafting your messaging, account for your customers' motives. In many cases, the words reliability and cost savings will be critical.
Preserving Optionality.
Given that her customers are fleet managers, a huge concern is access to biodiesel. Similar to range anxiety, the question in their mind is, what if I can’t access biodiesel on this route?
Therefore, their system must allow drivers to switch between 100% biodiesel and traditional diesel if they don’t have it.
I think this is the first time we’ve heard this specific advice on the pod.
Worth keeping this in mind. Many hard-core folks might be tempted to push for all-or-nothing adoption, but maintaining optionality is super important.
Design for Reporting.
It's not a new concept, but I noticed that they help make it easy for their customers to report on their sustainability goals by generating real-time data on what fuel is used.
(ASK: Let us know what you think of this section)
🙏🏽 Thanks for tuning in, and see you all next episode!
#159 Slashing Trucking Emissions by 90% TODAY, Biodiesel, Scaling up Manufacturing, & more w/ Lori Dunn (Optimus Technologies)