#136 Hardware as an AI Moat, Design for Finance with the Climate Capital Stack, & More w/ Shaun Abrahamson (Third Sphere)

🌎 NYCW was a pivotal moment for many of us current or aspiring climate professionals. It brought together large swaths of diverse talent, all working in different assets to solve the climate crisis. Many of these gatherings were headlined by some of the smartest minds in climate and climate tech. An implicit goal we’ve had at the CleanTechies Podcast since then is to have as many speakers from the week as we can.

I’m excited to introduce the speaker of one of the most popular talks at NYCW and the Managing Partner of Third Sphere VC, Shaun Abrahamson.

---
🌎 If you'd like to see the full PodLetter, go to our substack to see all the written content that supplements the audio interview.  
---
🚨🚨🚨 Shoutout to our sponsor Net Zero Insights — Net Zero Insights is the leading market intelligence platform on climate information with all the latest you need on funding rounds, VCs, and the climate tech ecosystem. Use this link to schedule your demo and get a 10% discount!! 🚨🚨🚨
---

Shaun is an early-stage investor in the climate sector with a background in engineering and over a decade of focus on early-stage climate investments. Shaun’s engineering mindset involves constructing narratives with numbers and employing simple models to assess the viability of proposed ideas but combines that with the perspectives of advertising professionals, emphasizing the importance of understanding human behavior — a facet engineers might overlook.
--
Topics

• 4:10 Intro
• 8:10 Balancing returns vs. impact
• 11:36 Bad investment signals in climate
• 20:59 What is Third Sphere
• 27:47 Mistakes hardware founders make
• 31:39 Design for Finance
• 49:46 Which climate capital stack segments are underutilized 
• 1:00:51 Insights
  • 1:03:45 IRA
  • 59:24 Climate x AI
  • 1:08:39 Hardware MVP
  • 1:14:15 Building a company right now
• 1:17:47 Advice to founders
• 1:23:25 Advice to VCs

--

Links

**Connect with Shaun | Third Sphere VC
**For all your Climate, Renewables, and Sustainability recruitment needs, check out our sponsor NextWave Partners.
**This podcast is NOT investment advice. Do your homework and due diligence before investing in anything discussed on this podcast.
**Connect with Somil | Connect with Silas