Building a Winning Team: Insights Every Climate Tech Founder Should Hear
CleanTechies Insights #2
Building a winning team is life-or-death for a startup. An innovation will not grow itself – a team is needed to execute on bringing that innovation to market. Building a team in ClimateTech is even more complicated. Founders are not only recruiting for the basics like tech, marketing, and sales but also often have to recruit for deep tech talent for hardware, R&D, and legislation.
In this edition of CleanTechies Insights, we are breaking down some of the best pieces of advice we have seen on this podcast on how to build a winning team from our conversations with 100+ founders and VCs in ClimateTech.
TLDR:
Passion inspires
Fill the gaps
Understand your talents’ motivations
It's all about sales
Find subject-matter experts
This edition’s clips specifically come from our conversations with:
Let’s get into it…
1. Understand your talents’ motivations
Tailor your hiring strategy to the distinct motivations and roles within your audience. In building a climate tech startup, you may be recruiting for traditional software, sales, marketing, etc. talent, but there are likely also engineering, manufacturing, and R&D components to the business. You will be hiring for a wide range of archetypes where the motivations of each person cannot be generalized.
This principle is especially vital in the blue-collar sector of climate work, given the substantial demand for deep tech and hardware innovation. There is a massive unmet demand for skilled labor to match the pace of innovation in climate. Being able to construct a workplace with a culture that is conducive and considerate not only of this population but also of the broader team is a necessary skill.
DR Richardson (Elephant Energy) on the need for blue collar work in climate
2. It’s all about sales
Having a commercial mindset and practical business experience within the team is invaluable. This is not the same as saying you need to have someone on your team with an MBA. While formal business education is beneficial, what is actually crucial is having someone who can craft a well-informed commercialization strategy. This not only enhances the chances of success but also boosts investor confidence, as it demonstrates a clear path to market and revenue generation, which is integral to raising private funding.
Marshall Cox (Kelvin) on the importance of having business acumen on your team
Eric Rubenstein (New Climate Ventures) on needing a commercial mindset
3. Passion Inspires
Founders in the climate sector must be passionate about their mission and inspire others with a clear vision and strategy. Passion drives commitment, while a well-articulated vision and strategy ensure that the team is focused and aligned in their efforts to tackle climate challenges.
Eric Rubenstein (New Climate Ventures) on why it is important to inspire
Jeff Hendler (Logical Buildings) on why founders should be passionate about what they do
4. Fill the gaps
As a founder, it is crucial to build a team that complements your skills and addresses your skill gaps. One approach is to start by identifying the specific expertise and strengths required to achieve your goals in the climate sector. This allows you to factor in granularity in your specific subsector/problem area that may not be considered otherwise. Then, work backward to assemble a team that integrates the necessary skill set, ensuring a versed and adept group to drive your venture toward success.
Tee Ganbold (OpenESG) on making sure you have the right team
Cody Finke (Brimstone) on the importance of finding people with complementary skills
5. Find subject-matter experts
For companies pioneering innovation, aligning with subject matter experts in their specific field is paramount. These experts not only contribute their knowledge to technology development but also bring their extensive network and established reputation, which can open doors to collaboration, funding, and industry recognition. The fusion of technical expertise with deep-rooted industry connections significantly enhances the company's ability to navigate challenges and drive forward in its pursuit of groundbreaking solutions.
Teague Egan (EnergyX) on the benefits of having subject matter experts
6. Ending thoughts
With these insights, we hope to educate the many founders who come to us asking for advice – we need more innovative climate solutions in the world.
This was written and informed by our personal experiences talking to hundreds of founders and VCs but have some special clips taken from our episodes.
Check out the rest of the amazing conversations:
Thank you so much for reading, and let us know what you think. It has been a longstanding dream of this podcast to put out readable, digestible content that can help get these insights to more people.