🎵 Don’t Worry — Be Hemp-y 🎵
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Today, we are talking to Jesse Henry from Heartland Industries
Manufacturers everywhere are trying to decarbonize their supply chains. Some want to get a higher ESG score and some want to get access to IRA incentives.
This includes goods made of plastic. Heartland Industries helps those manufacturers.
But they do more than just make their products more sustainable.
They also help them improve strength, reduce weight, and save costs. It’s a quadruple whammy.
Today, Jesse told us his story, how they started, and he unpacked…
How they utilized wood pellet mills to produce their goods without building a facility while also adding revenue to the bottom line of those mills
The importance of choosing the right Corporate Venture Capital partner (and how to know who is a good partner)
How several years of entrepreneurship is far more valuable than working for someone else
It’s a great show — enjoy! 🍿
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The Guest: Jesse Henry
As a kid, Jesse was entrepreneurial, but he doubted he had what it took. Eventually, through university, he decided to take the leap and build Heartland Industries.
This journey wasn’t without mistakes, though. Through trial and error, he and his co-founder learned the importance of fitting into existing manufacturing processes.
After a big pivot, they found the right way to approach it.
Today, it’s fitting that Jesse is working in the fibers industry. His dad and grandpa have been in the fibers industry in different capacities.
The Company: Heartland Industries
One Liner: Making hemp-fiber pellets to improve the carbon footprint of plastic products, as well as make them stronger, lighter, and save the manufacters money.
Taking Hemp Fiber, a huge carbon sink, they originally tested out producing powder that would be sold to plastic goods manufacteres.
After realizing this would require a huge change in the handling and processing of plastics, they decided to make pellets instead.
Through their partnership with Toyota, they were pointed in the direction of utilizing existing mills to produce their pellets. Producing their hemp-fiber pellets during down time allows them to fill up deadspace, pad the bottom line, and it helps Heartland produce goods without ever needing to build a factory.
Doing all this allows them to deliver large quantities to their customers.
With the recent investment from BASF, they are well positioned for the future.
Do you have suggestions on future guests or topics? Leave a comment!
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📝 Show Notes:
Topics
2:15 Intro
2:55 Jesse's Background & Heartland's Mission
10:06 The Challenge of Developing Reliable Supply Chains
13:33 From Powder to Pellets
16:47 What it Means to be a ClimateTech Entrepreneur Today
22:03 Partnering with Wood Pellet Mills for Scale and Cost Reduction
28:34 Run Jesse's Playbook
31:16 The Finance of Materials Companies
34:00 The Power of CVCs
41:10 Opportunities in B2B Marketplaces
43:27 How to Pick the Right CVCs
47:02 Next Steps for Heartland
54:58 Process Technologies and Software Solutions
56:11 Focusing Beyond Carbon
57:46 Takeaway
54:51 Using Infrastructure to Skip Building
56:16 Reducing Risk with Each Fundraising Round
Links
This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.
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