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Investment Climate Podcast

Investment Climate Podcast

Alex Shandrovsky 122 Episodes Aug 20, 2026

We are uncovering the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.

Episodes

CPG Venture Math Behind a Series A, and Making Founders "Whole" on Dilution - Iris Ventures
CPG Venture Math Behind a Series A, and Making Founders "Whole" on Dilution - Iris Ventures Aug 20, 2026 00:38:36 Episode 121: Iris Ventures: Florian Wojewodzki on the CPG Venture Math Behind a Series A, Making Founders "Whole" on Dilution, and the Health-and-Wellness SupercycleIn this episode — the show's first growth-stage consumer/CPG investor after 130 episodes — I sit down with Florian Wojewodzki, Partner at Iris Ventures, an early-growth, consumer-focused fund headquartered in Barcelona with a satellite
Re-Examining Tech Adoption: Lance Lively on Market Pull, CPG Unlocking, and Beyond Meat’s Missteps
Re-Examining Tech Adoption: Lance Lively on Market Pull, CPG Unlocking, and Beyond Meat’s Missteps Aug 18, 2026 00:47:16 Episode 120: Re-Examining Technology Adoption: Lance Lively on Market Pull, CPG Unlocking, and Beyond Meat’s Missteps In this episode, I speak with Lance Lively, founder of Livelyhood and former executive at The Every Company and BioLumen. Lance breaks down why the alternative protein industry hit a commercial plateau despite early techno-optimism, challenging standard S-curve adoption models and
On Landing DSM as a Strategic Lead, & Why He Chose B2B Over Building a Brand- Lorenzo Pessini, NOUS
On Landing DSM as a Strategic Lead, & Why He Chose B2B Over Building a Brand- Lorenzo Pessini, NOUS Aug 12, 2026 00:42:29 Episode 119: Nous: Lorenzo Pessini on Landing dsm-firmenich as a Strategic Lead, the Clinical Study That Closed the Round, and Why He Chose B2B Over Building a BrandIn this episode, I speak with Lorenzo Pessini, the 27-year-old CEO & Founder of NOUS, an Italian food-tech company building the functional ingredients of the future for food, beverage, and nutraceuticals. NOUS just closed a €2.315M
Being "Found" by Investors, Pivoting from Product to Platform, Turning LOIs into Paid Pilots - XiA'H
Being "Found" by Investors, Pivoting from Product to Platform, Turning LOIs into Paid Pilots - XiA'H Aug 10, 2026 00:25:30 Episode 118: XiA'H: Dan Cabral on Being "Found" by Investors from Monterrey, Pivoting from Product to Platform, and Turning LOIs into Paid PilotsIn this episode — a first for the show, our first founder from Mexico — I speak with Dan Cabral, CEO & Co-Founder of XiA'H, a Monterrey-based biotech that discovers, develops, and scales science-backed functional ingredients from nature using biotechn
On Ghent's Founder-Friendly Spin-Out Playbook, and Why Lean Beats Big in AgTech- Chiara Guidi, B-COS
On Ghent's Founder-Friendly Spin-Out Playbook, and Why Lean Beats Big in AgTech- Chiara Guidi, B-COS Aug 5, 2026 00:27:02 Episode 117: B-COS: Chiara Guidi on Ghent's Founder-Friendly Spin-Out Playbook, Plant Vaccines Over Pesticides, and Why Lean Beats Big in AgTechIn this episode, I speak with Dr. Chiara Guidi, Co-Founder & CEO of B-COS — a University of Ghent spin-off, incubated at Biotope by VIB, that is building "plant vaccines": carbohydrate bioactives (chito-oligosaccharides) produced by precision fermentat
Landing a Strategic Corporate Lead, and Structuring University IP - Just Meat Protein
Landing a Strategic Corporate Lead, and Structuring University IP - Just Meat Protein Aug 3, 2026 00:31:33 Episode 116: Just Meat Protein: Ellie Whelan & Aarti Tobin on Landing a Strategic Corporate Lead, Upcycling Chicken into Whey's Rival, and Structuring University IP That Investors Will BackIn this episode, I speak with the two women behind Just Meat Protein — Ellie Whelan, CEO & Co-Founder, and Dr. Aarti Tobin, Chief Scientific Officer and the scientist behind the technology — fresh off cl
On Crossing to the Other Side of the Table, & Off-Take Agreements Over LOIs-Darko Mandich, gener8tor
On Crossing to the Other Side of the Table, & Off-Take Agreements Over LOIs-Darko Mandich, gener8tor Jul 29, 2026 00:33:41 Episode 115: BEAM Circular Accelerator (Powered by gener8tor): Darko Mandich on Crossing to the Other Side of the Table, Off-Take Agreements Over LOIs, and Turning Almond Waste into a BioeconomyIn this episode, I catch up with my friend Darko Mandich — Managing Director of the BEAM Circular Accelerator (Powered by gener8tor) and Ag Practice Chair at gener8tor — for a rare look at fundraising from
Raising Friends-and-Family in a Frozen Market & Giving a VC Goosebumps in 5-Mins - Saku Biosciences
Raising Friends-and-Family in a Frozen Market & Giving a VC Goosebumps in 5-Mins - Saku Biosciences Jul 27, 2026 00:29:09 Episode 114: Saku Biosciences: Mark van Zee on Raising Friends-and-Family in a Frozen Market, Betting on the Jockey, and Giving a VC Goosebumps in Five MinutesIn this episode, I sit down with Mark van Zee, Co-Founder & CEO of Saku Biosciences, who just closed a $940K round with Big Idea Ventures coming in as the institutional lead. It's a refreshingly different conversation for this show — ins
Treating Every Investor as "One Shot," Selling w/o Selling, and Fundraising as a Probability Matrix
Treating Every Investor as "One Shot," Selling w/o Selling, and Fundraising as a Probability Matrix Jul 22, 2026 00:28:26 Episode 113: Rainbow Crops: Giacomo Bastianelli on Treating Every Investor as "One Shot," Selling Without Selling, and Fundraising as a Probability MatrixIn this episode, I welcome back Giacomo Bastianelli, Co-Founder & CEO of Rainbow Crops — and one of the first founders to return to the podcast, because eighteen months ago we were talking about his pre-seed, and today he's just closed a €9.7
On Treating the Raise Like a Sales Process, 110-Slide Data Room, & Turning Complex Into Compelling
On Treating the Raise Like a Sales Process, 110-Slide Data Room, & Turning Complex Into Compelling Jul 20, 2026 00:38:03 Episode 112: Michroma & We Are Palta: Ricky Cassini and Alan Valicenti on Treating the Raise Like a Sales Process, the 110-Slide Data Room, and Turning Complex Into CompellingIn this episode, I sit down with two Argentinians who have been building together for almost six years: Ricky Cassini, Co-Founder & CEO of Michroma, the precision-fermentation startup making natural food colors from f
On Out-Scoping University Research, Techno-Economics, and Avoiding False Assumptions- Elissa, Twynam
On Out-Scoping University Research, Techno-Economics, and Avoiding False Assumptions- Elissa, Twynam Jul 8, 2026 00:19:30 Episode 111: Twynam Management: Elissa Glorie on Out-Scoping University Research, Techno-Economics, and Avoiding False AssumptionsIn this episode, I catch up with Elissa Glorie, Investment Manager at Twynam, a deeply specialized venture capital firm focused on early-stage global decarbonization. Elissa gives us an exclusive look behind the scenes of their thesis-driven investment engine, detailing
On Surviving the Long Game, and Renegotiating a "No" - Sérgio Pinto, Cellva Ingredients
On Surviving the Long Game, and Renegotiating a "No" - Sérgio Pinto, Cellva Ingredients Jul 6, 2026 00:24:34 Episode 110: Cellva Ingredients: Sérgio Pinto on Surviving the Long Game, Renegotiating a "No," and Upcycling Coffee Side-StreamsIn this episode, I sit down with Sérgio Pinto, the unyielding founder and CEO of Cellva Ingredients, who shares one of the most intense, relentless fundraising stories you will ever hear. Sérgio reveals how he turned a critical, last-minute "no" into a 20 million Reais (

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