So, you want to get into climate tech? Do you have a great idea or just can’t wait to get your hands dirty on someone else’s project? But you don’t quite know how to get started? There is so much to learn and explore, where should you start? We have compiled the best content in a few bite-sized chunks for you to get started.
📚 Learn from experts in the field
🗞️ Articles
The climate crisis is a daunting challenge. But luckily there has been a lot of media coverage that you can sink your teeth into. Many media outlets have a dedicated climate or climate tech section. Here are just a few English-language sources, but there are many other sources that may be relevant to you.
📗 Books
For a more complete and engaging read that isn’t just doom-scrolling or brief spotlights, there are many books that can provide you with more in-depth guidelines and inspiration on how to get started. We asked 15 investors and founders for their book recommendations, and here were some of their most popular choices:
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster – Bill Gates
With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, Bill Gates has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet’s slide to certain environmental disaster and gives a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face.
Speed & Scale - John Doerr
Doerr lays out the practical actions, global ambitions, and economic investments we need to avert climate catastrophe. In Speed & Scale, Doerr presents a compelling 10-step plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050–the global goal we need to reach to ensure a livable Earth for generations to come.
Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson
Told entirely through fictional eye-witness accounts, The Ministry For The Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, the story of how climate change will affect us all over the decades to come. Its setting is not a desolate, post-apocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us – and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.
The Lean Startup – Eric Ries
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs—in companies of all sizes—a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late.
The Mom Test – Rob Fitzpatrick
Talking to customers is one of the foundational skills of both customer development and lean startup. We all know we’re supposed to do it, but nobody seems willing to admit that it’s easy to screw up and hard to do right. This book is going to show you how customer conversations go wrong, and how you can do better.
What you do is who you are - Ben Horowitz
Who are we? Ben Horowitz takes readers on a journey through culture, from ancient to modern and helps readers do what they need to do to become the kind of leader they want to be with lessons from history and modern organizational practice to help executives build and sustain the cultures they want.
Secrets of Sand Hill Road - Scott Kupor
Filled with firsthand experiences, insider advice, and practical takeaways, Scott Kupor demystifies venture capital and creates a guide for founders looking to grow their startups and for those seeking to understand venture capital as a driver for innovation, business, and policy.
Thirsty for more books?
🎧 Listen to others on a similar journey
You’re not the only one to embark on this journey. Hearing from other founders, investors, and experts about the winding ways they have found to work on climate can be a great way to get inspired, learn from the best, and get a few tips on how you can make an impact.
GreenBiz 350
GreenBiz 350 is one of the world’s first mainstream media companies focused on the ties between sustainability, successful businesses, and societies. The weekly podcast is about the people and companies making headlines in sustainable business and clean technology.
TED Climate
TED Climate brings the best ideas from experts around the world on how to solve the climate crisis. Host Dan Kwartler unpacks the problems and solutions behind big systemic issues in bite-sized episodes.
Techstars ClimateTech Podcast
This podcast dissects the solutions needed to combat climate effects and examines the technologies that will make them possible and breaks down common questions and queries about climate technologies and startups.
Techstars also has other podcasts for founders just starting out.
My Climate Journey
My Climate Journey is a series of interviews with the founders and investors working tirelessly to tackle climate change. This podcast shares conversations from those in the industry about the hurdles they are facing, what is driving them, and how their products or investments are playing out.
Tech 4 Climate Podcast
The Tech4Climate Podcast hosts climate tech founders, investors & experts from Silicon Valley and around the globe. They share their stories and personal journeys, as well as insights into the ecosystems that help others contribute to the fight against climate change.
Need more podcasts?
We have quite a bit to say on the matter.
✉️ Stay abreast of the biggest news
There is a lot happening out there. One of the best ways to keep an ear to the ground for all the news, events, jobs, accelerators etc. is to have it come directly to your inbox. We’ve compiled a list of the five best newsletters to subscribe to for you to get a better idea of what’s going on out there.
ClimateTech VC
Climate Tech VC is packed with insights from those at the forefront of climate tech and innovation. It is full of highlights and summaries from important recent tech events, the biggest tech deals of the week, interviews with featured startups, job listings, opportunities, and events.
Climate Tech Action Network
The CTAN connects engineers, technologists, and entrepreneurs who are passionate about finding climate crisis solutions and want to work with established climate tech companies. Their newsletter is full of referrals and information on conferences, career fairs, and mentorship programs.
The Carbon Copy
The Carbon Copy is a newsletter from Carbon 180, a non-profit that works with players across the sector toward carbon removal solutions to a gigaton scale. The newsletter gives climate tech news and big deals in the sector along with events, tools and jobs and the best articles to read.
My Climate Journey
My Climate Journey is a podcast featuring thought-provoking conversations from around the climate space. The newsletter is jam-packed with links to their latest podcasts, climate careers, a job board, climate tech funding news, events, and other insights.
Startup Basecamp
Of course, we’re not going to shy away from an opportunity to plug our own newsletter, which we produce weekly for members. It is particularly aimed at founders and investors with news about weekly events, jobs, climate tech resources, and opportunities for growth and funding.
Still feeling newsletter deprived?
We have many more to choose from.
🌱 Get inspiration from other startups
Now that you are well appraised of the climate crisis, how do you begin to tackle it? Well, there are many different answers to that question and each startup has its own solution. There are a number of resources that break down the variety of climate solutions for you and show you what other climate tech startups are doing.
Project Drawdown provides an overview of climate solutions per sector, giving you specific actions that can be taken to mitigate climate change
The Solar Impulse Foundation lets you browse over 1000 examples of profitable solutions to climate change.
HolonIQ gives you analytical data for the global economy with a particular focus on climate tech and provides a list of the 1000 most promising startups in the sector
As you will have discovered, there are all sorts of amazing startups out there making impactful contributions to climate action. As a basecamp for startups, we have taken it upon ourselves to highlight their work and create a running list for investors and founders to see what is out there. Hopefully, these can provide you with inspiration and direction as you survey the climate tech landscape and get started on your own project.
Startups to Watch Series
Every week we feature 5 startups to watch in climate tech. These range from agtech to construtech, edutech to materials to carbon accounting, and represent startups from early-stage to Series B.
We are building a database of all the startups we have featured.
Startups by emissions sector
So, what do we do with the startups we feature each week? We add them to our running list which is classified per emissions category and shows all the startups we have featured.
Some sectors have more startups than others so we are always looking for more startups to feature. If you know of any, please submit to our list!
Startups Map
We have also sorted the information in our database into a map by emissions sector, in case that is a better way of understanding the data. This map is updated every few months.
🔧 Gather the best tools for your journey
There are a number of courses and communities that can help give you the tools you need. The courses are between 9-12 months and provide you with lots of networking opportunities.
Terra.do
Terra.do provides a curriculum-based entry into the climate space with courses, events, and a community. Their flagship Learning for Action course provides a good overview of the climate tech landscape.
Climatebase Fellowship
The Climatebase Fellowship aims to help professionals accelerate their careers in climate tech by building a community of top mission-driven talent and providing practical education and projects.
OnDeck Climate Fellowship
ODCT is a network of top founders, operators, advisors, and investors across the climate tech ecosystem with a goal of helping experts build relationships with each other and catalyze their climate impact.
Don't need a course, just a bit more of a leg-up?
Our Startup Toolkit may be able to help
If you feel you need a bit more of a boost, we are here to help. We have a few tools that can help you in our Silicon Valley Startup Toolkit. Using our experience, we designed a unique Step-by-step toolkit that will help you and your team grow faster. We are dedicated to connecting and sharing the most valuable knowledge from Silicon Valley to empower you to succeed in your startup adventure.
