?? Entrepreneurs for Impact #141: Climate Robots, VC Returns, Kindness App

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Today’s topics.

1. ?? Invest in climate robots? Here are 200+ to choose from. [spreadsheet]
2. ?? Financial returns in VC and private equity for the last 23 years. [graphs]
3. ?? Honestly, do people really care about future generations?
4. ?? I hate video games for my kids. But I love this one.

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P.S.

If you’re a growth-stage climate tech CEO who wants to learn from 70+ other CEOs and investors in a private community of vetted peers, apply to be an EFI Climate Fellow. Apply for early action by Friday, March 8.

1.

?? Invest in climate robots? Here are 200+ to choose from.

“The future is already here — it's just not evenly distributed.” - William Gibson

Sorry to beat a dead horse. (I’ve been reciting this for 15+ years.)

But it is fitting.

And you should pay attention because…

“Elon Musk says to expect roughly 1 billion humanoid robots in 2040s” (Fox)

And we know he’s never wrong on his projections. ??

Luckily, the 200+ robot applications in the Google Sheet below are aimed at tackling climate change, not you.

Get free access here.

Thanks to Brendan Anderson at Climate People (recruiting) for bringing this to my attention.

2.

?? Financial returns in VC and private equity for the last 23 years. [graphs]

News flash — Investors are not always right.

I speak from personal experience in private equity (PE) and angel investing. ??

Below you can see VC and PE financial returns between 1999 and 2022.

(Older vintages are realized. Newer years are projected.)

Three takeaways:

• Returns vary greatly by vintage (the year the fund started). Luck matters.
• There is great variation between the top and bottom deciles. Skill matters.
• PE offers lower volatility and rarely loses money. On the other hand, VC…

Get access to 60 pages of investment return benchmarking from Pitchbook.

?? Apply to be an EFI Climate Fellow.

If you’re a growth-stage CEO in climate tech, sustainability, or renewable energy, and if our Manifesto below at EFI (Entrepreneurs for Impact) sounds like you, then apply to be an EFI Climate Fellow via early action by Friday, March 8.

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For some people, their work is their mission. It’s not a job or a career.

At EFI, our Climate Fellows simultaneously pursue audacious climate goals and profits.

Big problems = big opportunities, not sacrifice.

People tell them the odds are stacked against them. In response, they say, “Cool. What’s on my calendar today?” They know there are outsized benefits in doing hard things.

They’ve won Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of the Year award, raised $100M on “science projects”, and sold ventures to Fortune 500 companies.

They’ve read thousands of pages of history during sabbaticals after selling companies, learned sales skills as street musicians, and conducted research in Central America’s rainforests.?

And collectively, they’re building billions of dollars of value for climate solutions, rallying thousands of women in climate tech, and targeting the removal of gigatons of GHGs from the atmosphere.

They’re choosing optimism over pessimism, innovation over the status quo, and solutions over problems. They know that the best way to predict the future is to create it.

In this community, we’re building our brain trust, our personal advisory board, and our tribe so we can do what seems impossible: Tackle climate change through entrepreneurship.

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Apply to be an EFI Climate Fellow.

3.

?? Honestly, do people really care about future generations?

I want to believe so.

And this survey** result from 60,000 people around the world — “Why should we act on climate change?” — says it’s true.

Even across “cultural context, stage of economic development, education on the issue, and energy infrastructure.”

But sometimes people say what they want others to hear.

Regardless, I feel a little better about humanity right now.

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** Research conducted by Potential Energy, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, and the Meliore Foundation

4.

?? I hate video games for my kids. But I love this one.

I exaggerate slightly. Minecraft has some redeeming engineering training.

But when my daughter showed me the Kinder World app, I was amazed.

It is “rooted in mindfulness and well-being research, translated into scientifically proven activities to support your wellbeing journey.”

Three of its key activities are:

1. Emotional Naming: Fill a sand jar with your daily moods and emotions to build self-empathy and stay in touch with your feelings.
2. Daily Gratitude: Answer short gratitude prompts to help you savor positive experiences and shift focus from difficult emotions.
3. Pause & Breathe: Take a break from the chaos and find calm within yourself using tactical breathing.

And “grow” indoor plants “with soothing self-care exercises,” such as box breathing.

It’s like she took a page from my morning meditation practice. ??

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That’s all, y’all.

Make it a great week because it’s usually a choice.

~ Chris

Dr. Chris Wedding

Founder @ Entrepreneurs for Impact

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P.S. Over 100,000 CEOs are members of CEO peer groups. Are you? Check out our community for climate tech CEOs at Entrepreneurs for Impact. We’re a private community of 70 CEOs and investors representing over $15B of market value for climate solutions.

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(As these photos show, I’m an actual human writing this newsletter. Not AI. ??)