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Sept, 26-27 Vienna, Austria
Wealth Transfer: Building a Sustainable Future
The world is changing, and so are the ways families manage their wealth. A historic generational transfer is underway, creating both challenges and incredible opportunities.
Asian and European forward-thinking families are leading the way by involving stakeholders and planning for a sustainable future. 50+ of the leading Chinese and European families will be joining us.
This is more than just passing on money. It's about building a legacy that considers society, culture, and family dynamics.
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The VC/PE Ghosting Game: How Startups and LPs Get Burned
The startup world thrives on chasing venture capital (VC) or private equity (PE) funding. It's the fuel that launches your innovative idea into a thriving business. But for many founders, the VC/PE game can feel more like a frustrating guessing game than a launchpad. The culprit? VC ghosting.
Imagine this: You've poured your heart and soul into your startup. Your pitch deck is polished, your business model is sound, and you've identified the perfect VC/PE firm with a history of backing success stories like yours. You hit send on that email ... and then... silence. Weeks turn into months, your follow-ups go unanswered, and the VC/PE firm you thought was a perfect fit disappears into thin air.
Sometimes, you get a response, but most of the time you don't. Or they start a game of sausage on a string. This is where continuous requests are made by the VC/PE to provide other information. Make the plan bigger, smaller, red, blue, etc. The founder (investee) does all that is asked and this goes on for a long time and ultimately there is silence. Weeks turn into months, your emails go unanswered, and your calls remain unreturned. This frustrating experience, known as "ghosting," is all too frequent in the VC/PE world.
This agonizing experience is all too common.
Why VC Ghosting Hurts Startups:
- Missed Opportunities: A timely "no" allows you to refocus your efforts on VCs who are a good fit. Ghosting leaves you in limbo, unable to adjust your strategy or pursue other funding avenues. This delays your growth and weakens your competitive edge.
- Wasted Resources: Preparing a strong VC pitch takes significant time and effort. When a VC ghosts you, it's that investment down the drain. These wasted resources could have been used for essential development or marketing activities.
- Damaged Morale: Startup journeys are tough. Constant radio silence from potential investors can be demoralizing. It shakes your confidence and hinders your ability to persevere through the inevitable challenges.
Beyond the Startup: The Ripple Effect of VC Ghosting
While founders bear the brunt of VC ghosting, it has a ripple effect throughout the VC ecosystem:
- Missed Deals for VCs and LPs: Ghosting potentially high-growth companies can lead VCs to miss out on lucrative investment opportunities. It hinders their ability to diversify their portfolio and maximize returns for their own Limited Partners (LPs).
- Inefficient System: Ghosting creates an inefficient allocation of resources. Both startups and VCs waste time and effort on dead-end interactions when a transparent communication system could streamline the process.
- Stifled Innovation: Ultimately, VC/PE ghosting discourages promising startups from entering the market. This stifles innovation and hinders solutions to pressing societal and environmental challenges.
What can founders do?
- Research Thoroughly: Before hitting send, make sure the VC/PE firm aligns with your industry and investment stage. A targeted approach reduces the chances of getting lost in the black hole. Business plans never happen as planned. Always better or worse. When worse you need to have a supportive partner.
- Follow Up Smartly: Don't be afraid to follow up, but be strategic. Craft concise emails that reiterate your value proposition and keep communication professional.
- Build Relationships: Networking within the VC/PE ecosystem can help you get a warm introduction, bypassing the cold email queue and increasing your chances of a response.
- Share experiencesUse platforms to share experiences, similar to Glassdoor. One for the VC/PE space will be launched shortly by TBLI.
This impacts the LPs of the funds as well. It hurts their returns as many potential investments are never pursued. In addition, it hurts the investor's reputation (VC/PE) as many potential deals won’t come their way. If the LP investor is public money (EIF, EIB, DFI’s , etc) then public money is being used to keep an inefficient system operating, hurt reputation and potential loss of returns. Finally, this behavior is slowing or stopping solutions to societal and environmental challenges.
A Lose-Lose Situation
For LPs, ghosting creates a knowledge vacuum. many missed opportunities and a lack of insight into the companies that were turned down. This lack of transparency makes it difficult for LPs to assess risk, make informed investment decisions and understand the market.
Meanwhile, VC/PE firms that ghost potential investors risk damaging their reputations. LPs value open communication and responsiveness. Ghosting breeds distrust and can lead LPs to take their capital elsewhere.
Breaking the Cycle of Silence
So, what can be done?
- Founders: Advocate for clear communication standards from the outset. Don't be afraid to follow up, but also set boundaries for acceptable response times. Most important don’t be afraid to walk away or say no. Consider joining forces with other LPs to create a collective voice.
- VC/PE Firms: Prioritize clear communication with all potential investors, regardless of their perceived deal flow potential. Develop a standardized communication plan outlining response timeframes and information-sharing protocols. Remember, even a polite "no" goes a long way.
- LPs: Demand timely responses to all potential investments and a database of all deals that come through the door. This gives LPs a better insight into the market.
A Call for Transparency
The VC/PE ecosystem thrives on collaboration and trust. By prioritizing clear communication, both LPs and VC/PE firms can create a more efficient and productive investment environment. Ultimately, fostering transparency benefits everyone – LPs make informed decisions, VC/PE firms build strong relationships, and innovation flourishes with the right capital in its corner.
By fostering a culture of transparency and clear communication, we can transform the VC ecosystem into a launchpad for innovation, not a ghost town where promising ideas get lost in the shuffle.
Source
What Investors Want To See From Cleantech Startups
Clean-focused technology companies across the country are having a moment. Public and private spending into space is up this year. And VC dollars into Cleantech grew 30% over the last two years despite overall VC funding dips, according to Crunchbase data.
The Southeast has long been a hub for Cleantech innovation, serving as the home to several eco-focused tech accelerators and venture-backed teams like electric bus company Proterra and recycling giant Rubicon. The region is also home to a growing number of Cleantech and climate-focused startups like cove.tool, EnviroSpark, Palmetto, EnvAns, Cloverly, Aquagenuity, NALA Membranes, and HData.
What’s behind the momentum? There are several optimistic signs about the future of the industry, said Bob Irvin, Executive Director of the clean energy-focused Joules Accelerator in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“There are significant headwinds for venture backed startups, but also good opportunities for companies and governments willing to take big bets on the energy transition. The United States has a long history of building big, ambitious projects and delivering world-changing results,” Irvin told Hypepotamus. “The road ahead demands terawatts of new generation deployment, an overhaul and modernization of the grid, the rapid development of new materials and technologies, and trillions invested in carbon neutral and carbon negative solutions. I remain confident that market forces and innovation will ensure we are up to the task.”
Henk Both at the investment firm Anzu Partners, added that the “decreasing costs of energy storage” is helping drive even more innovation and helping improve the “value per dollar” associated with Cleantech projects.
What Investors Want To See From Cleantech Founders
So what do investors want to see from Cleantech founders right now?
Nick Fragnito, Founding Partner at Shorewind Capital, said that he wants to see Cleantech founders show a “viable path to profitability.”
“For a lot of [companies], pilot projects are tremendously helpful for de-risking product market fit,” Fragnito told Hypepotamus. “It’s important for startups to know what KPIs those pilots are being measured against as well as what’s needed to convert the pilot to a longer term contract.”
Henk Both at Anzu Partners said he wants to see founders that can show “substantial and significant results” within their specific industry vertical.
“It’s more than just an intrinsic belief in a specific person’s charisma,” added Both. “[In venture capital], we are playing with live rounds. We’re not trying to fund people’s education, we don’t want to be their learning experience.”
Irvin at Joules Accelerator said he sees more opportunities coming up for founders working on reliable energy options (geothermal and nuclear), and those addressing labor shortage problems that are keeping the Cleantech world from growing.
He added there is still a lot of “low hanging fruit” for founders working in the energy efficiency space.
What’s Overhyped?
The startup world is prone to getting caught up in “hype cycles,” where inflated expectations and exaggerated promises impact technologies before they are ready to be out in the market. The Climate and Cleantech world is not immune from such cycles.
So what’s overhyped in the industry? We heard from multiple investors that fusion-related ideas are decades away from turning into viable energy startups. Irvin at Joules Accelerator and Both at Anzu Partners said hydrogen technology and hydrogen from electrolysis are also still nowhere near ready to be a viable business answer to our energy needs.
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Hello Europe, Ukraine Has The Green Hydrogen You’re Looking For
The nations of Europe have been throwing many dollars at the green hydrogen industry, seeking a way to cut imports of natural gas from Russia. However, the EU’s 2030 production goal is sliding out of reach and industry stakeholders are complaining that the stuff is just too expensive, even with subsidies. Into this picture marches Ukraine with a solution — but it will work only if the Russian war machine is stopped in its tracks.
Green Hydrogen For Europe: Too Pricey?
CleanTechnica has been keeping an eye on the green hydrogen goings-on in Europe for about nine years or so, ever since a visit to the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne introduced us to the emerging power-to-gas field. The idea is to pry hydrogen loose from water with electrolysis systems powered by wind, solar, or other renewables, instead of squeezing it out of natural gas or coal. Hydrogen is widely used in industry and agriculture, aside from its potential for decarbonizing transportation.
Things seemed to be moving along in Europe earlier this year, especially in the Baltic region where Baltic Sea offshore wind resources are close at hand. In January, Mitsubishi also announced plans to build the world’s biggest electrolyzer plant in the Netherlands, and last week the Hungarian firm MOL Group hit the start button on a 10-megawatt electrolysis system in Százhalombatta, billed as the largest of its kind in the region.
Green hydrogen from that facility will help reduce fossil fuel consumption at MOL’s sprawling Danube refinery, helping the company tidy up around the edges of its carbon footprint. “The new technology will gradually replace the natural gas-based production process, which currently accounts for one sixth of the MOL Group’s total carbon dioxide emissions,” MOL explained.
So much for the good news. On the down side, in January the leading green hydrogen stakeholder Fortescue opined that Europe’s sustainable H2 industry can’t compete with other parts of the world on cost. The steelmaker ArcelorMittal also let it be known that the company can’t make steel in Europe with European green hydrogen.
The news organization Hydrogen Insight got the ArcelorMittal scoop from the Dutch magazine Trends, which cited the head of the company’s European branch, Geert van Poelvoorde. “We already know that hydrogen will be expensive in Europe,” van Poelvoorde said. “We will not be able to use it because we would catapult ourselves completely out of the market.”
Meanwhile, in March Bloomberg cited the CEO of the French utility ENGIE, Catherine MacGregor, who told a gathering of journalists that the company has “an issue with the regulation, with the economics, and an issue in terms of reliability when it comes to building electrolyzers at scale,” making it likely that the EU will miss the goal of installing 40 gigawatts’ worth of electrolyzers by 2030.
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Net zero has become unhelpful slogan, says outgoing head of UK climate watchdog
Chris Stark says populist response and culture war around the term is inhibiting environmental progress
The concept of “net zero” has become a political slogan used to start a “dangerous” culture war over the climate, and may be better dropped, the outgoing head of the UK’s climate watchdog has warned.
Chris Stark, the chief executive of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), said sensible improvements to the economy and people’s lives were being blocked by a populist response to the net zero label, and he would be “intensely relaxed” about losing the term.
“Net zero has definitely become a slogan that I feel occasionally is now unhelpful, because it’s so associated with the campaigns against it,” he said. “That wasn’t something I expected.”
Politicians on all sides are now wary of associating themselves with the term, he said, which was inhibiting progress. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, made several policy U-turns last year, including delaying the changeover to electric vehicles, while the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, watered down a promise to invest £28bn a year in a green economy.
“It’s the culture warriors who have really taken against it,” said Stark. “A small group of politicians or political voices has moved in to say that net zero is something that you can’t afford, net zero is something that you should be afraid of … But we’ve still got to reduce emissions. In the end, that’s all that matters.”
The real fight was to make the UK’s economy competitive with other countries that were investing heavily in renewable energy, electric vehicles and other green technologies that were the focus of innovation and investment around the world, he said.
“If it [net zero] is only a slogan, if it is seen as a sort of holding pen for a whole host of cultural issues, then I’m intensely relaxed about dropping it,” he said. “We keep it as a scientific target, but we don’t need to use it as a badge that we keep on every programme.”
Stark gave the example of heat pumps, which have been demonised in some quarters despite offering a low-carbon and potentially low-cost alternative to gas boilers.
“It’s very strange that some see heat pumps as an enemy of the people,” he said, in an interview with the Guardian before leaving his post this Friday. “This is a remarkably sensible technology that we’ve known about for a long time, a straightforward technology to put in your house to keep it warm, or to keep it cool in the summer. But in this country, they’ve taken on a totally different totemic role, as a technology that is being somehow forced upon the populace. I think that’s very dangerous.”
Policymakers should focus instead on what lies behind net zero – investment in the UK’s economy, in ways that would not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions but cut energy use, improve national security, clean up the air and protect nature and the countryside, he added.
“We are talking about cleaning up the economy and making it more productive – you can call that anything you like,” Stark said.
He has been chief executive of the CCC, the statutory body that advises government under the 2008 Climate Change Act, since 2018, under the chair John Gummer (Lord Deben), the former Conservative environment minister. Stark, who will move to the Carbon Trust, a consultancy set up by the government to help businesses cut emissions, leaves at a time when the organisation is without a permanent chair, as Deben left last year and the devolved governments have rejected the Tories’ choice as the new chair.
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The American Climate Corps is now hiring
The Biden administration aims to sign up 20,000 people in the program's first year.
You can now apply to be one of the first members of the American Climate Corps. President Joe Biden declared that the program was open for applications on Monday with 273 jobs currently listed on the White House’s website, including coastal conservation in Florida, stream restoration in Montana, and forest management in the Sierra Nevada. The administration said the number of openings will soon reach 2,000, with positions spanning 36 states plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.
“You’ll get paid to fight climate change, learning how to install those solar panels, fight wildfires, rebuild wetlands, weatherize homes, and so much more,” Biden said at a press conference on Monday at Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park, originally built in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps, a model for the Biden administration’s new program. “It’s going to protect the environment to build a clean energy economy.”
It’s part of an Earth Day-related policy push from Biden, who also announced $7 billion in grants to install solar power and reduce energy costs for 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged households. The moves might appeal to the young people who were crucial to Biden’s 2020 victory over President Donald Trump and who, according to polls, have been souring on his performance in the White House. But this same demographic supports climate action, according to a poll taken last week by CBS News and YouGov, with more than three-quarters of those surveyed from both parties saying they wanted the U.S. to take steps to address climate change.
Monday’s announcements also offered a glimpse into what climate corps positions might be available in the future, as the White House looks to employ 20,000 people in the program’s first year, with a target of 200,000 in five years. A new partnership with TradesFutures, a nonprofit construction company, suggests that members could help fill the country’s shortage of skilled workers who can install low-carbon technologies like electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps, while at the same time gaining skills toward getting good-paying jobs. The White House is also planning to place American Climate Corps members in so-called “energy communities” — such as former coal-mining towns — to help with projects like environmental remediation.
The pay for the listed jobs ranges dramatically depending on location and the experience required. On the lower end, coastal restoration jobs in Puerto Rico offer the equivalent of $12.50 an hour. On the upper end, a position for a biological technician in Idaho that requires experience in identifying plants and managing invasive species pays $23 an hour. The lengths of the terms are all over the place, with some as short as two or three months, though most last at least several months, and the website says that some jobs can be extended or renewed.
Biden first announced that he planned to revive a version of FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps during his first days in office in 2021. But the program took a while to get off the ground after its funding got cut during negotiations with Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate bill Biden signed in 2022. In time, the Biden administration cobbled together funding from a bunch of different agencies to start the program, but it’s much smaller than climate advocates had hoped. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York and Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts had called for 1.5 million jobs over a span of five years in legislation introduced in 2021.
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