Olivia LaRoche: Nobody Likes the Paper Straws

Today, we’re thrilled to have Olivia LaRoche with us. Olivia is the Program Manager for Cleantech Open Northeast, ACT, which supports climate tech startups with funding, hiring, and all the little decisions you have to make to build a business. Olivia is a super knowledgeable and passionate climate advocate who organizes all sorts of events, like recruiting mixers, bootcamps, and pitch competitions. We’re glad you’re here, lets get to work!

Transcript

The planet, we're big fans, and it needs some help. We're gonna skip the part where we convince you that humans have caused a tremendous change in the climate since roughly the 1700s. We're also going to skip over a bunch of terrifying statistics and doom and gloom stories.

We know you've heard all of that. We are regular people, you might say, climate curious, that want to help and don't know where we can jump in yet. Welcome to Team Climate, a show about what it really looks like to do climate work.

This is real, and this is bigger than all of us, and it's gonna take all of us to change it. My name is Jeffrey Bryan Potter. I'm a senior product designer in the FinTech space.

My co-host, Kristen Shaw, is the head of growth for a consulting agency and the national marketing chair for a Cleantech accelerator. Each episode, we're gonna be talking with someone in the field, doing the real work it takes to make change. We hope this inspires you to jump in too, because we're going to need you.

Today, we're thrilled to have Olivia LaRoche with us. Olivia is the program manager for Cleantech Open Northeast ACT, which supports climate tech startups with funding, hiring, and all the little decisions you have to make to build a business. Olivia is a super knowledgeable and passionate climate advocate who organizes all sorts of events, like recruiting mixers, boot camps, and pitch competitions.

We're glad you're here, so let's get to work.

Olivia, welcome. How are you today?

Thank you. I'm doing well. It's a Friday.

I'm pretty excited for the weekend. Weekends feel precious nowadays. Done some nerd reveal.

I had done some science camps in high school, and that was really fun.

And I loved the life sciences, and I knew that that was something that I was interested in. And then I found out how much time you have to stay in a lab, and I was like, I think I like talking to people too much for that.

I see.

So quickly pivoted, and also that's the time when you're supposed to be figuring everything out. But I always knew I was interested in climate, and I didn't know what that entailed, and kind of nobody else did either, because it was a thing as a job. So that's the through line.

But yeah, international relations. So my graduating thought was, oh, I'm going to go save the fish, because I had learned about all of the terrible things happening to our ocean. I have a big passion for like blue tech and ocean, renewable energy.

And I had found out that there was a lot of stuff that's legal, that should not be legal. And even then, there's the illegal stuff still happening. And I was like, perfect, send me to the UN.

And then I found out that you can't do that with just the VA. Okay. Yeah.

So that's what I studied.

So you are with Cleantech. And can you give us a bit of an elevator pitch about what they do?

So I work for Cleantech Open Northeast, which is a part of ACT. So the Alliance for Climate Transition, which is sort of like a non-profit, but we are sort of like a trade organization, convening organization, bringing together, we have policy, we have innovation, we have workforce development. I'll drop all the shortcomings.

But I work on the innovation side, and within that is Cleantech Open Northeast, but it's sort of like a Venn diagram. So Cleantech Open, which is how I know lovely Kristen over here, is a national organization, and it's an accelerator for early stage startups. Accelerators do exactly how it sounds.

They accelerate startups, so they take you, put you through some programming, and hopefully you come out the other side. Having scaled up in a much faster that way than if you were just in the wild, it would take you maybe a couple of years, two or three usually is what we hear. The alumni calculate that they have saved, so that's great.

But it's divided into different regions, and in the Northeast, we do things slightly differently because we have ACT behind us. So whenever I'm explaining it to interns, to potential applicants, they say Venn diagram, ACT, Cleantech Open, and Cleantech Open Northeast in the middle. So it's an interesting perspective on accelerator work because it's sort of like being a part of two jobs at once.

What does a typical day for you look like?

A lot of emails, let me tell you. I think we'll need to get more real about how much we're emailing each other. It'd be like, what's the database is?

I'm just typing away. It depends on what part of the accelerator we are in. So it's cyclical.

Our accelerator program runs May to October. And outside of that, we are either wrapping up recruiting or preparing. So right now, we're just leaving the recruiting and heading into the preparing part.

But during the program, my job entails managing our mentor cohort, our startup cohort, so that's the e-mailing. That's part of the e-mailing is corresponding, dealing with if there's any issues or things we should know about, any extra questions we get, questions that have already been answered, but we got to answer them again. All of the wonderful things that you get, but having a bunch of people on a program.

I have lots of meetings that are either about program related things, we might have a meeting about an upcoming webinar that we want to add because we realize that it's relevant to the program. Or we don't have a partnerships person right now, so my colleague Beth and I are colleagues, she's also my boss, but we're really a team in that there's just two of us running this whole thing. So we do a lot of partnerships meetings together, either separately or together.

So it's like on the ground management, plus trying to build out our plan for the next year, trying to continue to build relationships that will be helpful to us and the people we're building those relationships with. And yeah, trying to make sure that our startups feel like they are supported, and they are, and provide a quality curriculum for them, and manage anything else coming out of the program.

I want to add, I want to sum up how I view, because I do get to work with Olivia and how I view what she does. So she does relationship management, partnership management, I would say coaching and mentoring. She also does event planning, marketing, all the operations of the organization for all of the components across the board, and then leads a lot of the communication efforts as well.

Yeah. Yeah. I shouldn't, I shouldn't minimize how much the event planning and mom's piece is a piece of my job.

Thank you, Kristen. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's a lot, you know, wearing a lot of hats has many benefits and also some cons. You know, it's hard work and therefore you get all that experience, which as a early stage career person, is beneficial, if not also a little tiring.

Recruiting who exactly?

Startups. So we're looking for entrepreneurs who have proven their technology, which means that it's been tested. It's not just a science experiment, which is not something I say to belittle anybody's, you know, technical ventures.

But we want somebody who knows that this is going to work. It's one of our, you know, we're not here to help you with your tech, so it's good that you have that built up. You know, not, it's fine if you haven't reached like a prototype.

Usually people either have a prototype or they're like on the verge of building one. But we're here to help people with their business. So we're looking for folks who have really invested a lot of time in their technology, or they've gotten through it pretty quickly.

It depends on the technology software. It doesn't require as much development, for example, as somebody who's creating an algae farm or made bricks out of recycled plastic. So we're telling them, okay, you would like to turn this into a business, we can help you.

They have no idea where to start. So we say start here.

So to be clear, we're talking about startups and entrepreneurs who have a business or business idea that is going to have a climate impact.

Yes, yeah.

And so can you give us an example of one that you might be working with?

Yeah, absolutely. For example, people do all sorts of things, is I guess what I'll start out with, which is part of why I'm having trouble putting my finger down, because we define Cleantech as anything that is having a positive environmental impact and is technology, which is very wide reaching. So like I said, that could be, as I referenced before, making bricks, circular economy, doing anything with recycled materials, farming, SaaS solutions like information and communication technology.

But for example, popular ones right now, we've had a bunch of startups recently who have done Probskyte solar. So Probskyte is the material that allows solar panels to bend, and it makes it easier to carry, easier to build with, and you can put it on more stuff, because it's not this heavy, stagnant thing. Your roof is circular, boom, solar.

So that's the idea. And I think it's cheaper to make as well, while not without cutting corners. So these are the kinds of things people are looking for.

We've also had somebody who was making a concrete, not concrete, pavement, which is usually made out of petroleum, out of gypsum, which is a type of rock, which I thought was sick. Yeah, it keeps it very exciting. There's always something new, and we see the trends from year to year.

AI is still huge. Chemicals and advanced materials, we got quite a few of those this year, and green buildings is now pretty big, making resilience and adaptation for buildings, especially here on the East Coast, where in the Northeast, there's a lot of old buildings that were not built with that in mind. Now they're like, oh my God, we got to properly insulate because otherwise we're just leaking money and heat.

Right.

It's always usually, you know, the reason these can be turned into businesses is because they are economically viable, like people would want to use them not just because of their environmental impact, which is my main motivator as a consumer, it may not be somebody else's.

Well, there would have to be demand, right? So you're establishing a connection with the demand as well.

Yeah.

What do you feel is like one of the big challenges when a startup comes to you? For them or for you, both?

Yeah. It's really applicable to them. I mean, the only challenge for us is just to figure out if it's a good fit for them or not.

We never really reject people because we take as many startups as we can, who we think are a great fit. People ask us about like, what's your acceptance rate? We're like, I don't really have one.

If we did, it would be high because we're trying to help people out. So I guess a challenge that a perspective participant could have or a perspective entrepreneur. I mean, funding is a big one.

A lot of these startups don't have any money. They are their food strapping, which basically means they're funding it themselves. Maybe they have a rich uncle, but not always.

It's never now. Sometimes you see like 4 million friends and family and you're like, wait a minute, how did that get there? I don't know.

I'm like, that's great for you. But yeah, so funding is a big one. Another could be team.

That's another big one. Team is critical. It's part of the things we focus on in our accelerator a lot.

Because who you put on that team, when you're in a startup that early, it's not idea stage, which is we don't accept startups that are that early, like someone's just literally had an idea. But it's still early days and it feels like a marriage to your startup, I think you could say, because it's all the time and there's no working hours, especially if you also have a day job. So they might not have a team member.

We really say this is 10 hours a week, it's intensive. This is for your benefit, you should have a second person, it can just be your advisor from your PhD or whatever. But then trying to figure out who are the right people to put on the team.

Finding a co-founder is extremely difficult. Just because you don't want to work with the wrong person, and a lot of people do, and it's fine, you just figure it out later. But it's one of the things you have to plan for.

So I think team and funding are the biggest hurdles there. I mean, there's a bajillion things to plan for. I think also just time.

When people ask me what would I say is the best thing about the program, besides the mentors, which I can get to later, you're forced to give yourself time. There's a reason we do it in the summer. A lot of our participants are members of an educational institution in some way.

So that's the only time they have off. If they have a job, maybe it's also when people typically take vacation so hopefully it won't be too much. In any case, you're forced to go, okay, I'm going to focus on this thing.

I've decided to jump off the cliff. I'm going to do it and I'm going to focus on it by doing this program. That could be really valuable if you've been toying with the idea of something over 13 years and you've decided to really go for it.

I have a question. How did you get to Cleantech Open? Yeah.

How did you get that job?

Yeah, so I feel like because I think I went on too long about my education earlier, but it's kind of funny to look back now and think, I definitely don't regret my degree in IR. It was super fun and interesting and I find most things interesting. But I totally had built an educational and internship background based on my primary thought about my career leaving high school, which was I'm going to go into policy.

My mother had worked in environmental policy for the second half of her career. My father was a science teacher and I was like, this is it guys, me too. Not from them by any way, but I just sort of was like, this is what I know.

And also, politics are important. They affect every part of our lives and I wanted to be a part of the change. And then as I got through school, I realized there were other ways to be part of the change, possibly with quicker returns or quicker shows of impact, which I found out as an impatient person, I do enjoy.

Yeah, so had that idea, I was like, great, sign me up, I'm going to Washington DC, no problem. And I graduated in 2022 and it was just post COVID. So apparently phenomenal job market.

I feel like everyone always talks about the job market, but we don't, I don't know, I never have that bird's eye view, but was looking around feeling kind of like, maybe I don't want to do policy. I honestly can't remember like specific reasons why or why not. And I also don't remember how exactly I got turned on to the idea of business sustainability.

Like that phrase had never even crossed my mind or been introduced to me pre like the winter of 2021, 2022.

Do you want to give a quick definition of what business sustainability is in case people don't know what that means?

Is it a practice or an industry? But the idea is that businesses want to transition, how to incorporate sustainability into your business practices. That's the most succinct way I think I could put it.

Which sustainability is a huge word that encompasses a lot of things. Like the conference I went to today, what is sustainability? There were like a bajillion different topics on the agenda, because it's like people always told me you got to choose between environment and energy and like sustainability is sort of the mother of both of those things, right?

It's like the umbrella for everything. So, how to make businesses better suited to the world today and better adapted to our changing climate was sort of how I interpreted it. And I think a career ed advisor was like, you should apply for some of those jobs.

You never know. But I didn't know anything about business at all. But I had all these transferable skills.

And I found this job through my alumni network because I just wanted to talk to someone who knew anything about it, because I hadn't met anyone like that. That person ended up being, I put it in, I was just like for like kicks and gigs, I'm just going to put in to the alumni search database, like all of the different filters that I'm looking for and just see if anyone pops up. And I was not expecting anyone to pop up.

Only one person did, so there you go. It was Beth, who's now my boss. And so I reached out and I was like, hey, informational interview, would love to chat.

And I now know this is very much in her personality, but she was like, absolutely. Also, we have an internship position. Do you want to apply for it?

And I was like, sure. Because I figured I'd just make some money this summer, that summer if I was still looking for jobs, which was more and more starting to seem like a reality. Nothing wrong with it.

So did that halfway through my interview for that internship position, and the program manager announced that she was leaving. And it was like, so we liked your interviews, would you like to be in training? Because we could just do that.

And I was like, great. Yeah, so I worked for them, sort of like, yeah, intern position officially, but I think my name was program manager in training. And someone else was the interim program manager, who's also one of our mentors, who I work with a lot now, Skelly.

And he's a wonderful person and really gave me a lot of help as I ended this purgatory of not quite student, not quite professional worker. And it was a lot of work that I definitely did not anticipate doing my senior spring when you're supposed to be like, I'm coasting, heck yes, like, here we go. Still had fun though.

And yeah, and then I got a job offer in May, and I started working for them the Monday after I graduated, which in hindsight, take a couple weeks to yourself, but it was our big event, the Academy, and it was virtual. And so I was like, and they were really short staffed. So I was, you know, and I was stressed off being a student and going, yeah, I'll do whatever, sure.

So you touched on a lot of themes that I want to lean into. The first being the background. What people don't understand in entering the job market is that everybody's story looks like spaghetti, you know, to get to where they are now.

Everybody I've ever met, like, how did you start this job? Like, well, I did construction, and then I was a golf caddy, and then, like, crazy stuff. It's everybody's story is not a linear path, you know?

So I want to, you know, hammer that home. And then you mentioned, you already mentioned mentors, which is a big topic of mine, an important one. So, I mean, I was going to ask you, have you had good mentors, and you've already touched on that.

Are you at a point now where you yourself are starting to mentor as well?

Yeah, a little bit, actually. Well, so first, I just want to say about the, you never know where it's going to come from. Sometimes I feel a little reticent to share my story in that I am young.

This is early career for sure. I also don't want to discredit all the project, the project progress that I've made since I started the job. And the true working professional that I've become.

But when I asked a professor of, I took this environmental law series of classes and I asked that professor, where should I go to work in climate? What needs the most help? She was like, anywhere.

She was like, I got bad and good news for you. It's so pervasive that you could pick anywhere and you'd probably be having an impact. So that was nice, but no help at all.

And the other thing was, the reason I feel resonant is because I feel like, oh, like some of that was luck, and some of it was hard work. And that's kind of how job stories go in general though, because especially now, there's just so many people all the time in the interview process. These are like six rounds and crazy.

I think that's how life goes also. I mean, we all work really hard and things go really well, and sometimes we forget to attribute some of that to luck because there's someone working equally as hard, doing just as many things, and things don't swing that way. And sometimes in life, you're the one that it doesn't swing in your favor.

So, you know, but the reality is you have the courage and the grit to do the research, kind of navigate, figure out what you don't want. And then the courage to just say, oh, I'm going to start talking to people that know this because I want to learn more about it. I think that is a really good lesson.

I think you should be very proud of that.

Thanks, yeah.

Luck tends to lean towards the prepared.

This is sort of a religion in my family. Familyless. Yeah.

So, but back to mentoring. Recently, someone retired from our Board of Act of the Alliance for Climate Transition, my workplace, my full workplace. And at our board meeting, someone, we all thanked him.

He was also previously our president. And everyone who was on the board now, you know, was saying their individual thank yous, you know, to the group of sort of like an announcement. And they were talking about how, oh, you helped me transition my career.

And that's what I hear all the time is like, I feel, speaking of luck, but I feel so grateful to be a part of a generation. I feel like it was like half true for millennials. And like now, like really with the folks who are graduating, you know, around when I was as well, like climate's starting to be like, you can start your career here if you want, if it works out.

Like it's a, but it is a possibility. It's on the table, it's not off. But everyone else, but I like that that is a version, but also, and this actually transitions well into the people that I have been my mentors, right?

Like I'm mentoring people, like usually former interns, someone, one of my former interns just got a job that I recommended her for, which is very exciting. And she's working for the state, for the Massachusetts state in one of their offices, doing some energy efficiency, like officer work. And it's fantastic.

But also the people that I look up to, and they all, they started, they added the layer. That's what, because climate does affect everything, and it's important everywhere. So no matter what your previous or current area of expertise is, you can add a layer of sustainability or climate, or however your company or yourself want to phrase it, onto that, and you can start to take effect.

And that's beautiful, right? Like there's really, there are very few barriers to being in the industry. It's, you know, how close you are to that.

But, you know, we see companies, like, maybe not as much now, but, you know, just creating branches. So like, oh, we have a sustainability team. And right, like, and you're like, oh, did you have to change anything about your core mission?

No.

I kind of liken it to, like, I don't know, 30 years ago, you could have a whole career and never look at a computer, maybe 40 years ago. But now you have to do your job and be good at using a computer because it's everywhere. It's everybody's job.

You know, there's going to be the sustainability part, aspect of X job.

Yeah.

So back to challenges. What about flipping it to you? How have you had been challenged in your job?

Oh, well, certainly in just getting up to speed.

Yeah.

I mean, I was just, I mean, and also organization is small and maybe has to do with the onboarding process, but there was no, really no, like here's a crash course. Like now I know of resources that at the time, I could have like done a climate based crash course or like looked some stuff up on YouTube. But I just like Osmosis, tried to listen a lot, which and join webinars, because also like because of this network, we get emails from people and I'd be like, yeah, I want to learn about dancing adventure.

What does that even mean? And stuff that I previously would have been like, that is not in my wheelhouse. I was like, no, I need to know this now because I need to be able to best serve the people whose primary job this is, which is the entrepreneurs.

And then also, so I guess that's, I was just going to say also like our mentors are just there are people who have been doing some part of business for their whole career. So there was the getting up to speed on the business part and the lingo and knowing what is the path to creating a business. I don't even know what that looks like.

I have no idea what the term like Valley of Death, Lent or South solution. I was like, so it can be very, it can be, it is very overwhelming. So there was that.

And then now I feel like I'm about to hit three years. I feel like that is very much in my wheelhouse. And probably we'll continue to pursue this line of work in business in some capacity.

And also now I'm starting to pick up like that is now white noise, and I can focus on the technical aspects. And so I'll be like, I'm starting to know a little bit more about when the startup says we're working in PFAS. I'm like, I kind of know what that means now.

And before I just had to tune it out, I'd be like, I don't care. And it was okay because I'm supposed to help people with the other aspect. And so I used to joke, I no longer because now I'm picking it up.

But I used to joke that if I don't understand what they're talking about, they need to reframe their pitch. Like, look, entrepreneurs in our cohort, if you can't explain it to me, then you probably will not be able to explain to an investor. You know, not to equate myself with an investor, but to be.

Let's take a quick break.

Transitioning to a greener economy could create 24 million new jobs by 2030, according to the International Labor Organization. And about 30% of roles in the climate space don't require technical expertise. Skills in marketing, sales, policy, business operations, or communications are in high demand.

That means your experience might already be more relevant to you than you think. If you're curious about diving into climate work, here are a few ideas to get started. Research and apply for roles in rapidly growing sectors like renewable energy, EV infrastructure, and carbon markets.

These areas are booming with opportunities for fresh talent. Volunteering with climate-focused nonprofits is a great way to build relevant experience, expand your network, and see firsthand what climate work looks like. And remember, networking is key.

Eighty-five percent of jobs are filled through connections. Communities like My Climate Journey, Work on Climate, and Terra.do are fantastic slack communities to meet like-minded individuals and learn from others already in the field. You can find the links in the episode notes.

In terms of plain language.

Like, for example, your example about the flexible solar panel material.

Yeah, right.

You feel like you had to, first of all, like educate yourself on the terminology and the science of solar panels, that kind of thing?

Yeah, or, you know, it's kind of unavoidable, the amount of information I receive from various, like I can't, some of it was just, I have unending curiosity. I wanted to read news articles about, you know, what was going on in the industry. That's also what I saw the senior members of my organization doing because that's how they stay up with it.

And so I was like, okay, best practices, I'm learning. Just, yeah, basically getting that leadership and then deciding what worked for me from that. And I wanted to also mention the challenge, in terms of a challenge, in terms of learning for this role, a big part of it was the human aspect.

I think I went into this job thinking, I know how to interact with people, I know how to like, it's like, I know how to be charming, I know how to like talk and verbally and written communication and all that stuff. Sure, yes. But working with this stage of entrepreneur in particular, you could probably get away with, I shouldn't say anything that I would regret later, but I think you could get away with being a little less tolerant of just like life things happening or like entrepreneurs.

What I'm trying to say is that entrepreneurs at this stage aren't even sure if this is really going to happen. And they are sometimes, oftentimes, still fully leading the life that they were leading pre having this idea and doing any market research and developing their tech. That's just what's going on.

And there are so many reasons that somebody would not show up to something. There are so many reasons that someone would ask for a little more time. There are so many reasons people would say, I'm having these questions, I think I need to talk to someone else.

You know, like, I really learned to, I don't want to paint myself. It's like, it's like I was not kind before, but I certainly learned very solidly that there, you never ever know what is going on with someone else. And that entrepreneurship is a lifestyle.

It is not just a job, holy cow. I think I had a different view of entrepreneurs, and I certainly didn't know anything about climate entrepreneurs. And learning, being able to build up this incredible amount of respect that I now have for folks who are doing, taking this approach to climate business is invaluable.

I mean, I just, anyway, I feel for a wrench about it, and I'm not feeling articulate, but certainly, learning what it is to be an entrepreneur, and then the added layer of being, I keep talking about the layers, but that's sort of what it is. Adding the layer of being a climate entrepreneur, there's a reason that the accelerator that I run with Beth is a Cleantech accelerator. People say, okay, I could go to a different accelerator.

There's a bajillion early stage business accelerators, but we focus on Cleantech because it's different. You have a different run-up time, you have different obstacles. It's hard.

And this is not the get rich quick scheme. So yours who are in this, they're not here because they're like, hell yeah, I made a new app and I'm ready to go. And we are here to support that.

And so once I unlocked that, that level of relationship management, I feel like I, and now I'm facing the new level, whatever that may be, but it made the job so fulfilling because I could understand on a deeper level what the people I was working with are going through. And what, and therefore what their needs are and how we can better, like you see, it's all related. But that's the part that really, because I've been talking about it so long, you could probably tell, really fascinates me and drives me because I'm here to make an impact, they're here to make an impact, and we just need to figure out how best to work together to make it happen.

Are you developing some what of a prescription so that you can say A plus B plus C equals you're successful?

For the entrepreneur?

Yeah.

That's so funny you're asking that because actually in previous recruiting seasons maybe I just blank every year. I do feel like every year I get to the same point. I was like, I know I did this last year, but I've already forgotten.

Startups have started asking me like, what can I do to succeed in this? Which great question by the way, I'll be asking that. Yeah.

So yeah, a little. I mean, if this breaks down into certain things, but essentially it all comes down to intention. Do you have goals coming into the accelerator or even just, we could extend it to not just the accelerator, but a period of development for your venture or development for your life.

Do you know what you want going into it? And if you don't, how can you give yourself some time to think about that so that you move forward knowing what's realistic and also what you'd want in that? In this case, it usually comes down to, have you done a little bit of customer discovery?

Do you know what the variable you would be selling to? Do you know what they are looking for? Have you done a little bit of market research?

Do you know if there is at all a market for this? Would people buy it? Is there a massive competitor?

You're not thinking about.

Yeah, I have.

And you in the back.

I want to add to what you said. So I worked in the tech startup world for a long time before I pivoted into climate. And I will tell you one of the biggest differences between climate founders and non-climate founders generally.

I'm not saying, there's always, they do not give up. They are persistent. They are expecting headwinds and they will fight through the downturns.

And I've recently heard investors saying that. Like they like to invest in climate entrepreneurs because they will not just give up and walk away. Yeah, they're going to keep fighting and fighting and fighting.

And then I want to circle us back to the luck, right? Like there's a lot of great startups, like, and you have to give it your all. You have to fight through the downtimes.

And then you also have to receive a little bit of luck. And that's what that's the recipe for success that I've seen.

Oh, yeah. And if you know, like what you said, if you know that there will be obstacles, you can plan for that. And, you know, sometimes plans don't really matter.

But in this case, an entrepreneur who is going to be resilient is bound to at least do pretty well and most of the time do very well.

We heard in a call of a climate entrepreneur who had been running at 30 days of capital for over a year. Now, every other entrepreneur I've ever met, if they were running at 30 days runway, right? That's they only kept having enough cash to exist for another 30 days.

After one quarter, they would have walked away, right? Be like, this is, you know, this startup was... And now they've taken off.

Like, that's like their story now, right? Like, we ran at 30 days for over a year before we got traction. And so, you know, I think it's just a good example of the people are not in this for the exit.

They're not in it for the money. Yes, they want to make money. Everybody wants to make good money, and they're definitely want to build a strong, profitable business.

But that's not what's motivating them. And I think that's what, like, Beth and Olivia are really good at fostering and nurturing through the accelerator, you know, like, giving them the tools they need to fight the obstacles. I don't want to steal your thunder, but I'm very impressed.

And so, you know, giving them the tools and teaching them how to be resilient in and above, like, you know, how to build your go-to-market plan. You know, you can learn that at any accelerator. I think that the differentiator is they teach them how to be resilient, give them the tools and the network to be resilient.

Our offices are in the Green Town Labs in Summerville, Massachusetts. And on the wall of one of the stairwells, it says, we need all hands on deck for the climate crisis. Don't give up.

And it makes me emotional. And whenever I would see it, I'm like, I can send that. You know, for me, I'm like, I just got to send that fifth even, you know, whatever.

But that's not what makes me emotional, got to be clear. But what makes me emotional is just that it's like, yeah, this is the point. And also I love bringing like, my parents are like a family member is there and they'll be like, wow, this is so beautiful.

The new generation, like we're trying to inspire hope. Yes.

Yeah. Bring in everybody cookies and stuff.

Yeah.

I really want to try to push back against this idea that what environmentalism looks like and what advocating for the climate looks like is living in trees and eating granola. Totally.

Do you want to do that? More than how it would to you, but that's probably the majority of the population.

Yeah. Just to say, look, this is a living or life balance, and except if you're an entrepreneur, that's a different life, but you're not sacrificing. And in fact, you know what I like to say, bringing paycheck and passion together.

That's the dream. I recently was telling my friends, I was like, my goals in life or my professional life are just to have a job that pays all my bills, plus maybe a little extra. And I don't wake up every day and go, and I was like, I know that's like kind of basic.

And they're like, no, that's a good bar. I feel other people not always do that. And the other thing I'll say to that is that this period of this federal administration has put a lot of this stuff in respect and attacked labels and names of things.

So that I think other people to some degree might attach to as well, just in terms of what you're saying and saying, like, how can I help with the environment? Or like, environment people are crazy because they just want us to like all like live on economy and I don't even know, like I have these straws, which by the way, none of us like paper straws. I just want to get that very clear.

Go on record. Yeah. The paper straw.

I'm the most reported podcast to say paper straws are terrible. But thanks for the effort. Anyway, but what I wanted to say is that therefore, when people attack the labels of things or the name or like, environmentalism or clean energy, it forces you to reframe.

And it's too bad that people don't agree with you. They don't also want to practice the sustainable save the planet practices that you want to play, but disagreement is inevitable. So in the reframing, I have found it's actually been very valuable to be like, no, well, what's at the core of what we're doing?

And what is at the core is that we're trying to make things cheaper. We're trying to make them more efficient. We're trying to build an economy where people have jobs easily and in areas that are helpful to both society and to themselves personally.

These are just the makings of a long lasting and happy life and world. That's what we're trying to do, especially, you know, working in innovation. And that's why I'm so glad I partially fell, partially worked into this area of work, because I did not have this view of business prior to taking this job, very narrow.

And to be able to talk about what it means to build a green economy is, I think, what I've found people respond the most to, because everybody wants a job, they want a job that pays them well and protects them. And they want places to live that are warm in the winter and can cool off in the summer, that they don't have to replace tons of pieces of, and they don't want things to fall apart or cost more money. They definitely don't want their home or their groceries or their heating system to cost them more money.

They want it to be up to date. They want communities to be safer and more enjoyable to be around. There need to be green spaces.

They want their water and air to be healthier and cleaner. And those are the things that building up a climate economy can do for everyone, not just in the country, but in the world. So, that's my big picture message, but that's the idea.

If you really want to get down to it, that's what it is. It's not so scary.

I was struck the other day. I kind of forgot that, like, there was a time where the world's energy needs was whale based, you know? And, like, and there was a time where that made total sense, and that was the smartest thing to do.

And, you know, we're not there anymore. And there was some kind of, like, fight for a while of, like, this is the best thing to do. What are you talking about?

We're not going away from whale oil.

Right. Yeah.

But we did. We eventually did, because it just made a lot of sense on a lot of levels to not stop doing that.

Oh, my God. You guys can edit this out in a post if you want, but I do have to tell you. I saw a picture the other day of someone had, like, AI generated, like, it was like a steamship, you know, like tugboat style, you know, that goes across the ocean carrier, carrier craft.

But it had, like, a parasail attached to it, or, you know, like, so it's, like, new idea for, you know, low carbon emission movement is we just attach, like, a big cloth to, like, all these boats, and the wind will actually carry it. And then it was like, oh, my God, such a good idea. And then somebody finally, it was like, so, like, you mean, like a, like a boat, like a sailboat.

Right, yeah, you invented sailboats.

I feel like in the 1400s, they were doing that.

Right.

And there was a reason.

Famously documented in every pirate movie.

Yes, yes. We're like, you should check out Pirates of the Caribbean. You're gonna love it.

So ego-friendly.

Yeah. So talk about something you maybe have achieved that you never would have thought of. Like if you had talked to yourself five years ago, like you're going to this.

I think I never knew that I, I think if I talked to me five years ago, she'd be like, that tracks. But I don't think that she would have thought that like that would be the thing. Would be like how much I also discovered a love for like equitable climate practices and how, I guess this is something I haven't really touched on yet, but that investing, like community building and green economy like this.

It's a unique opportunity that this movement, if you will, potentially industry, unclear, however you want to frame it, is starting and I feel we're quickly leaving the starting phase. I mean, I didn't say that anymore, but I probably could like three or five years ago. But, you know, and a lot of times we're trying to fit equitable practices based on class, race, identity, station in life, anything, into an already existing industry.

And it's like, it's hard because they were built off of like systems that were not meant to include people in an equitable way or not meant to include, you know, expertise in a certain type of way. So, you know, I think it's so cool that we have this ability to just start from the ground up, be like, why would we not include everyone? Because the communities that are facing the most harm are the ones that need this because of climate.

They need this so badly. Yeah. Right?

Like communities on the coast, underserved communities who don't have the resources to like build new houses or adapt. You know, we're seeing more frequent natural disaster events and right. We're just going to bleed federal and state funding until we, you know, crisis our way out of this, or are we going to figure out how to mitigate and get ahead of it and be smart?

And so I think so I've done a lot of stuff with our curriculum, with the help of our vice president, his title is VP of DEIJ. But I think you might change it to staff inclusion. Barry Reeves.

Anyway, he's a phenomenal leader in that respect. And we built out a part of the, you know, we embedded new elements that just ask questions about how this can be more equitable in different parts of in every single part, I should say, of the curriculum and all of the modules. There's 10 of them.

Because there's a bit of that in everywhere. It's not just in how you build out your team. It's also, what's your financial model?

How are you going to pitch? How are you going to pitch to different audiences? You know, what's your value proposition?

Who is that for? How are you doing customer discovery? Is that an accurate picture of who you should be talking to?

Are these, there are different use case depending on different geographies, you know, where you're looking at. Part of things like that, doing some stuff internally as well with like a working group, to, you know, doing some research on my own, attending webinars. I just, you know, it's a part of, you kind of can't talk about climate without talking about inclusion, without talking about security for communities, without talking about community building, to discover that passion and to do something with it that felt meaningful and practical.

I love learning, don't get me wrong. I love reading a book, love attending a webinar. But what really gets me is when you can then implement it.

And that's what's great is at my job, we are encouraged to go and learn and develop professionally and then bring it back and make the work better. And I think that's really beautiful.

I've been saying at work lately, there is no education without participation.

There you go. That's great.

In a video game called Solve Climate Change, what is level one and what is level 10?

Wow, Solve Climate Change. I have issue already with the word solve. Okay, I'm going to change it to mitigate.

I, we're already at a certain point.

I don't know if Xbox is going to sell a lot of.

Yeah, right. There's only characters. I would say level one is, I was going to put it on the consumer, but I'm going to put it on the city, which is cities making it easier for individuals to do things like have a garden and compost and recycle without having to clean the tiniest bit of Dijon mustard out of your frigging jar.

I hate that. I'm like, I'm not recycling if that's the deal.

That's what's holding us all back.

Actually, we'd be fine if it wasn't for that. Unfortunately, no. But making it easier to be an energy conscious person offering discounted like incentives for, this is a pretty hefty level one, but this is my fantasy world.

Incentives for like switching to a clean energy source for your electricity. Doing deals with big companies like Eversource who control a lot of that and like how can it. We just had a flyer come to our house and they were like, yeah, we would love for you to sign up for clean energy.

Also, it's going to cost you more. And I was like, we are too early career ladies. We are not, me and my roommate, we're not doing that.

Sorry. Like I would love to, but that's ridiculous. Slow baby steps.

That's level one.

So the big boss at the end.

Oh God, I think like carbon tax. You know, showing the real cost of what, and I only say it's a big boss. I don't feel that that is a radical step.

I really don't, but I know that it is viewed nationally and I think globally as a radical step. You know, charging, and that should be a cause to be clear, not on the consumer, that should be on the seller, on the provider, on the industry. Because gosh, we know the systems we're living in, and then if you can touch the money, I think you can make real change, which is also a reason that I'm psyched to be doing this kind of work, because to redirect the funds to places where they can make a lot of positive impact is great.

Yeah, so carbon tax, showing folks what the real cost of what our systems are. Because if, yeah, we're not paying for it now, but your grandkids are probably going to. And I know we don't really live in societies where like that's an okay mentality to have.

But I, you know, that's upsetting, paying for it, yeah, financially, but probably also physically and just making sure the world sticks around. So I think if we can touch that, that would be huge.

Yeah, it's like I'm going on a trip and they're not going.

Yeah

And it's like if I was going to Australia, you know, on a vacation, I would be like excited and learn all kinds of trivia and like bore everybody to death about, did you know that in Sydney, blah, blah, blah? Some people just like, I'm not going to Australia.

What?

I don't have to.

Yeah, who cares about this?

You know, if there is a bit of checking out.

Yeah. But that's, that's also like what the political and economic systems that we're in encourage is individual thinking, which is not all bad, of course. But I was just speaking with a friend of mine about how good it is.

I mean, we're both young people, but also just in general to be living. We said in a city, but I would argue it's just somebody where, places where you're definitely going to interact with other people. So that could be like a neighborhood or a village.

I'm from that kind of lower population, but everybody lives very close, so you still get to know everybody. And just to be like forcefully extracted from your own narrative and say like, oh, today's actually like really about them. And you like see somebody on the street like arguing with their partner or something, and they're like, that's their story.

And I'm just walking by. And I think that would encourage people to think about the effect of their actions. And I think you can tell this whole time I've been kind of hesitant to put it on an individual person, because I think most of the time, people are not out here actively damaging the environment.

No. Some people litter. But other than that, most people are not.

And so really, it's about holding the people who have money and power accountable. And I think it would be great if we all got forcefully extracted from our own personal narratives more often. Probably also good for our mental health.

I love all that happens. And I go, I don't have to think about me right now. I can't deal with that.

That's a good way to put it. Wow. Is there anything else you want to mention?

Or Kristen, did you have any other parting questions for Olivia today?

Well, I want to ask just if you could give one piece of advice to somebody who hasn't graduated yet, or hasn't entered the workforce yet, and is also passionate about working and having a positive impact on climate. What advice would you give them?

Of course. I said I was going to prep for this interview by reviewing all the questions and planning things. I didn't do that because life, and also because I realized I'm part of a group.

I'm now a city lead for a group called Women in Climate, which is a national non-profit, and we help connect women and non-binary folks with. It's basically about building community. There's no requirement to work in climate, or, I mean, I don't think you'd show up if you weren't interested in climate.

And so, but it is, I would say, at least in our chapter, which is the Greater Boston Chapter, majority folks who are not working in climate maybe have had whole careers and just would like to be a part and are trying to figure it out. Usually the minority are people who already work in it. It's definitely not a networking thing.

So from speaking to those people, from knowing generally what their perspective is, I would just say, look at all of your options and know what you're really passionate about and you'll find a way to contribute that is meaningful to you and has a very real impact on the industry, the community you're in, the environment you're in. It goes back to that intention. If you know, because you're also not going to be helpful if you're like, I hate talking to people and now I'm a volunteer at this event and I'm handing out stuff, and my whole job is to tell people about this climate that we're putting on.

That's going to be so terrible for you. I'm so sorry. That's not what you want.

It's basically like any other type of work where your heart is in it as well. Don't do it if your heart is not in it. Don't feel that you're a good person for punishing yourself to some part of advocacy or climate work that doesn't suit you.

I think I didn't mean to, but it's going back to my weird layer, Madam, but put it on top of everything you already are and care about. Bring your personality to the climate fight, and I can tell you we'd be really happy to have you. And every new perspective, almost everyone I know also feels this way, every new perspective makes it all better.

So you definitely have something to contribute. Don't think that you don't. Yeah.

That's great. If your workplace or a workplace sitcom, who plays you?

Oh my gosh. I feel like I'm like Monica from Friends because I'm always like freaking out. I'm not that manic though, I swear.

If we were a sitcom, someone who, yeah, I do plan a lot. And also sort of though, when I get to interact with other people, I kind of throw everything else out the window and I'm like, let's just talk about like you and like what's going on right now. Then I get a little bit like, oh, who cares if like this doesn't happen?

Like I get, it feels tangible like in front of me. So I always get emotionally attached to the startups. And then six months later, they're like, okay, we got to go.

And I'm like, you did so good though. Like, thank you so much. So yeah, some combination of, I didn't know if you wanted me to pick an actual sitcom character, but.

Or an actor or whatever.

Yeah, I picture myself. I'm Monica when I'm behind my desk.

Okay.

And then as soon as I get to actually interact with an entrepreneur, either in our court or otherwise, and they're nice to me, of course. I turn into Rachel and I'm like, let's chat. Let's, yeah, I'd love to hear about you.

How's it going?

That's great.

I just had a conversation with some folks today who are now going to, they're accepted to our program. And I had a really hard time because I needed to check one more thing, but I was almost like 99 percent sure that it was fine. And I had such a hard time not being like, yeah, this is great.

So let's sign you up and let's do this thing. Because they were exactly where they needed to be. And I was like, I'm happy, you're happy, let's get to work.

That was a weird answer, but that's my answer for what kind of person I am.

Yeah, that's perfect. That's where we can leave it. And did you have anything else you wanted to plug for or mention?

If you're a budding entrepreneur, apply to Cleantech Open Northeast. Applications are closed right now, but you can apply for next year. You can always reach out to me.

I've had lots of chats with people who reach out to me on LinkedIn and just are curious about where to go or what to do. And I also want to plug, this is in no way, I'm not part of anything with this, but ClimateBase is a great place to start. It's like Indeed for Climate.

I'm sure you guys have talked about it before. They also do a fellowship. So if you're looking for a crash course in working in climate, that's a good place to start.

We're Terra graduates, which is like the opposition.

We work with Terra. Yeah.

Plug for Terra.

They're great. Yeah. So I guess I just say, I love my job and I love this work, and it was so special to get to talk with you both about it.

And hopefully someone who was on the edge of thinking about doing something in climate, does a little Google search today and figures out a little bit more about. And if you're interested in a specific topic, go deep. Why not?

Sounds good. That's a good place to leave it on. Thank you so much, Olivia, and have a nice night.

You guys. You too.

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