How can product leaders fight climate change with climate tech products and communities? The scale and urgency of the transformation required to fight climate change has never been more clear. Building hardware and software products, acquiring the funding and creating a diverse community to enhance talent capacity and to drive innovation, is essential to tackling this global environmental crisis. In her debut episode of Product Talk, our host, Silicon Valley Bank Director of Product Maggie Wong, will be interviewing Thalo Labs Director of Product and Climate Tech Cities Co-Founder Alec Turnbull to discuss his transition to Climate Tech. Alec speaks on his growth journey as a start-up founder and product leader, as well as the climate tech communities he has built across the US and beyond.
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Show Notes
- Thalo Labs is a startup focused on decarbonization.
- Alec Turnbull shared his background and journey into climate tech.
- This journey involved online communities, fellowship programs, and an online Stanford class on energy.
- Thalo Labs focuses on continuous emissions monitoring devices for buildings.
- Scope two is a software platform for buying high-quality renewable energy.
- It emphasizes additionality and liquidity in the renewable energy market.
- The current process of buying renewable energy is complex and time-consuming. This is especially challenging for companies with multiple locations.
- Ever.Green and Ren.Inc are pioneering aggregate PPAs for decarbonizing supply chains.
- Thalo Labs is building hardware to directly reduce emissions in buildings.
- They collect real-time data through their devices.
- Alec believes building new technology is a significant opportunity in tackling climate change.
- Certain industries like real estate, transportation, and energy are not fully touched by the software revolution.
- There’s a messaging gap to bridge in these sectors.
- Working with climate tech products requires humility and knowledge to decarbonize existing industries.
- Alec Turnbull started a climate tech community in May 2021.
- It began with 8 people from an online Slack group and now has a newsletter with weekly events listings.
- Local communities play a crucial role in addressing climate change.
- The Climate Film Festival, launching in 2024, aims to change the climate narrative through artistic storytelling.