Climate Tech Founders on the Decade Ahead.
Five climate-tech founders on what realistic, fundable, deployable progress looks like in the next ten years — and what they are tired of being asked.
Climate tech has spent the last few years oscillating between euphoric optimism and grim fatalism. The founders we spoke to occupy a more interesting middle ground: serious, unsentimental, and stubbornly ambitious.
They are building hardware that ships, software that is measured in tonnes rather than impressions, and businesses that intend to be profitable long before they are heroic.
What changed in the funding landscape
A few years ago, climate-tech rounds were closed on vibes. Today, the founders we spoke to describe a tougher, more rigorous bar — but a healthier one. Investors are asking better questions. Founders are giving sharper answers.
“The romance is gone, and honestly, it is a relief. We can finally just build.”
The questions they are tired of
Almost universally, the founders said they are exhausted by the same handful of questions: about silver bullets, about geoengineering as a deus ex machina, about whether any of this matters at all. Their answer, in different words, was the same: get out of the way and let us work.
Written by
Daniel Okafor
Staff Writer
