E78: Attracting capital, both financial and human, during the climate tech "digestion" phase

In this episode, Nick sits down with Silas Mähner, founder of ErthTech Talent and the host of the CleanTechies podcast, to unpack how climate tech has evolved since 2020. Starting from Silas’s upbringing in rural, conservative Wisconsin and his accidental entry into renewable energy recruiting, they trace his journey from a deep skepticism of renewables to seeing cleaner, greener, more sustainable technologies and businesses as a once in a century industrial opportunity as part of which “everything we touch physically can be reinvented.” Nick and Silas also explore how political backlash, culture wars, and corporate pragmatism have reshaped the climate narrative: Even as the term "climate" loses favor in many business circles, especially in the U.S., many of the world’s largest companies are still quietly committing to technologies that cut emissions and drive other sustainability outcomes because they make good business sense, too.

From there, Nick and Silas zoom out to discuss Silas' priviledged vantage point into the recruiting and company building side of the space. Drawing on his work placing sales talent and hardware engineers into early stage companies, Silas explains why traditional recruiting models are structurally misaligned with pre-seed and seed stage climate tech startups, and how Earthsearch flips that script by stripping out overhead and lowering fees so founders can access high impact hiring support far earlier. For Silas, helping a first time founder land a key early hire is another way of bending the curve on the energy transition.

Finally, Nick and Silas use their joint focus on storytelling and media to probe bigger questions surrounding who feels “invited” and excited about climate work, how to tell compelling narratives without needing to rely on climate prerogatives, and why narrative and incentive design are often just as, if not more important, than the technologies, policies, and businesses in question themselves.

Timestamps:

00:01:46 - Guest introduction: Silas Mähner, founder of ErthTech Talent

00:02:08 - Evolution of "climate tech" and narrative semantics

00:02:44 - Silas background and entry into Clean Tech

00:07:29 - Silas' founding of EarthTech Talent and the Cleantechies podcast

00:13:25 - Innovations in recruitment business models

00:18:12 - Hiring, narrative, and market trends across the climate tech landscape

00:25:18 - Insights on building a durable company culture

00:32:15 - The role of storytelling in recruitment and capital raising generally

00:39:20 - The importance of maintaing and creating a positive worldview and vision

00:41:00 - Challenges and opportunities in the current climate tech environment

00:45:00 - The human touch to all things capital allocation, recruiting, and fund raising

For more from Silas, be sure to follow him on LinkedIn, check out his podcast, and connect with ErthTech Talent, whether you're a job seeker or a company looking for stellar hires.

For more from Nick, follow him on LinkedIn, X, and subscribe to his newsletter, Keep Cool.

Thank you so much.