Hey Will, thanks for chatting with me! Could you give a little history and share the story of starting up Climatize?
Climatize was born from the realization that traditional activism, such as the 2019 Global Climate Strikes, lacked tangible change. After joining over 100,000 protesters, we came to understand that once everyone went home, nothing would be different; reliance on cardboard signs as our best form of protest was a glaring issue.
Alba & I had started working together shortly before during a double Masters degree program and after joining the strikes together it was a problem so large that neither of us could turn away from the issue and felt the gravity of this insight demanded action.
What did Will and Alba do before running Climatize, and what do they do there now?
Will and Alba combine technical expertise with activism, boasting a combined 15 years of energy experience and dual MS degrees in Energy Engineering and Sustainable Energy Technologies. Prior to Climatize, our achievements include developing 15 solar arrays as an EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction activities), managing large-scale electrical projects, advising on emissions policies, and organizing community efforts alongside Greta Thunberg.
Will has a 10-year track record in renewable energy, particularly solar, with experience in every role, including finance, engineering, project management, and construction, where he has built 15 solar arrays in Santa Cruz county.
Alba worked as an energy consultant at Edenway during which she worked on an array of projects ranging from renewable energy, circular economies as well as policy including helping to establish Barcelona’s Low Emissions Zone, one of Spain’s more important climate bills.
What does your day to day look like at Climatize?
Every day is different, our schedule for one week is never the same during the following week.
For Will it ranges from pitching investors, product design, working with our legal and compliance teams, to recruiting new team members, setting the team strategy and managing the company’s finances.
For Alba, she’s meeting with renewable energy project developers for pipeline development, outreach to establish partnerships with government organizations, vetting renewable energy projects and aiding developers in onboarding their fundraisers to Climatize.
What skills did you bring to your startup, and what did you have to learn in starting Climatize?
Both Alba & I brought technical renewable energy engineering & finance expertise to Climatize. We quickly learned that the success of the company would be contingent upon the quality of the team members. We’ve had to learn the challenges of hiring and firing employees to find the right people who are culturally aligned, are top tier in regards to their skills and have the growth mindset necessary to experiment, fail & iterate quickly.
Climate change and renewable energy is a huge topic and industry. What does your company do that differentiates you and makes you a stand out place for people to support projects?
For one, Climatize is rewriting the narrative of climate change from one of sacrifice to opportunity. Climatize has transformed everyday people into active stakeholders in the energy transition. Many people feel like climate change is an urgent problem but feel powerless to make a difference. By making an investment through Climatize, there’s a competitive return – not a donation – so we’re not asking you an “or” question; rather, we’re offering a “yes and” solution. By providing the product in a way that’s accessible – starting with as little as $10 – we make it feel like everyone can be part of the solution. Finally, by seeing the final end product – a new solar project on a roof – we’re helping rebuild the trust that’s been lost in ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) and carbon credits. With Climatize, you can see that you’re having a real impact on someone’s life, earning a competitive return, and creating climate impact; all at the same time.
Where did the name Climatize come from? What does it mean?
Funny story: we turned on the spigot of terrible names and probably created 150 D-level names. We had to clear out all the water from the pipes before anything good came out.
I have to give credit where it’s due; my mom was the first to propose Climatize. During her career as a printing sales executive, she had experience working closely with brand creatives. She stressed the need to find a name that could evolve into a verb, like Google.
We came up with Climatize as an iteration of Climate, and fortunately, it is a real word which means “the process of organisms adjusting to their ambient temperature,” which seemed fitting for our work to mitigate climate change.
The final step was making sure the domain was available, and voila, we were off to the races.
Is there anything about Santa Cruz that helped you with growing your business? Were there any unique challenges that being based in Santa Cruz provided?
The accessibility of key stakeholders in Santa Cruz was helpful during our customer discovery phase. When we brought Climatize to Santa Cruz my first Google search was for the entrepreneurial community which brought me to Doug Erickson who has been a key enabler for us. If we were located in San Francisco I don’t believe we would have been able to access the same kind of entrepreneurial support that comes from an authentic desire for local innovation.
The only challenge I might point to is that our local venture capital ecosystem is still developing. Most towns can’t boast any venture capital at all so this isn’t necessarily unique however as Santa Cruz looks to expand its support for local entrepreneurs, this will be something I foresee developing to further support the local ecosystem.
What drew Will, Alba, and the team to renewable energy investing?
We interviewed hundreds of people after the Global Climate Strikes, asking, “What is it that everyone could contribute?” From that, a common thread emerged: capital. Through investing and finance, we can intervene at the most catalytic moment for a project, whereas as an engineer, I could only contribute to a handful of projects at any given moment. In addition to enabling the projects to come to life, we see an opportunity to create a new generation of stakeholders by enabling people to invest in the once-in-a-lifetime wealth creation opportunity, which further expands the coalition of proponents of the energy transition.
What should people be aware of when talking about supporting renewable energy projects?
Investing directly in renewable energy projects can be a great way to create tangible impact in the lives of the project participants, create quantifiable carbon reduction, all while earning a competitive return and diversifying your portfolio, since the returns are largely uncorrelated to the stock market. However, every investment has risks.
How does Climatize help filter projects and connect people with them? How do they find projects to recommend?
To clarify, Climatize does not recommend or match investors with projects. However, each project undergoes a robust screening process before being allowed to list its offering on Climatize. We use a proprietary due diligence checklist that was created in partnership with the Department of Energy as part of the process of joining the National Community Solar Partnership.
Are there any projects that Climatize is looking towards sponsoring in the future?
We look forward to expanding our platform beyond solar to offer both EV charging stations and energy efficiency upgrades. We expect that by the end of 2024, we will have hosted at least one of those new technology categories on the platform.
What aspirations do you have for yourself, or Climatize?
We aim to help fund $1 billion per year of renewable energy within five years. As for me [Will], I see climate change as the central problem of my life’s work. My goal is to create the most significant impact on carbon emissions within my lifetime, and Climatize is my vision of how to achieve this, first nationally and, eventually, globally.
We’re excited to scale our impact in communities across America. Every project on Climatize has a story, and when we see the joy that each solar project brings to the beneficiaries, it’s something we’re looking forward to replicating many times over as we build both a platform and a movement.
How can people engage with Climatize?
People can visit our website to learn more about how the company and platform work or download the app here.
Is there anything else we should know about you, the team, or Climatize?
Until the news is finalized I can’t comment however I hope to share an exciting announcement before May 17th.
Thanks Will, thats all the questions we have for you! Get your ticket to the NEXTies to come say hi to him, Alba, and other movers and shakers being highlighted at this years’ May 17th NEXTies awards! See you there!
