Powering through Uncertainty: an AI and Innovation Gold Mine
This isn’t your usual climate tech event. It’s not about press releases, polished pitch decks, or panels you’ve already heard. This is about the emotional resilience, and tangible shifts necessary it takes to face headwinds and navigate what’s next—sometimes in the trenches—with grit, smarts, and a drive to build better solutions.
Because let’s be honest: the climate world is ffing hard. And we need to have each others’ backs.
This gathering is for the founders, funders, and operators in the thick of it—navigating enterprise customers, thorny leadership challenges, and the mental load of building through uncertainty.
How do you lock in big customers, scale a team without breaking the culture, and stay grounded when the going gets hard?
Through candid insights from a seasoned CEO who has led through shaky times without a playbook, actionable advice from coaches who’ve guided leaders through similar storms, and peer-to-peer feedback sessions, gearing you up to navigate your toughest business challenges head-on.
Date: Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Tentative Agenda
3:00pm - 3:30pm — Networking / Check in
3:30pm - 4:00pm — Fuel for the Climb with Van Jones
4:05pm - 4:35pm — Financing the Next Swing Panel: A Case Study
4:40pm - 5:10pm — Leading When the Playbook Breaks Ted Talk
5:15pm - 6:15pm — CEO Coaching Panel & Peer Circle
6:30pm - 7:00pm – Happy Hour
What’s Happening
Fuel for the Climb – Van Jones, CNN Host and Founder of Dream.Org and Magic Labs Media, opens with hard-won wisdom from the political trenches—sparking the courage, connection, and conviction for the climb ahead.
Financing the Next Swing Panel: A Case Study – The debut of a new financing model designed to close the price parity gap and fast-track sustainable materials to commercial scale. The group will unpack the opportunities, challenges, and realities of aligning innovators, funders and corporates that could redefine how these solutions can scale.
Leading When the Playbook Breaks – A seasoned founder shares raw lessons from the trenches of scaling - navigating the leap to enterprise, steering through market headwinds, and layering in AI without breaking what worked. Expect unfiltered insights on what bends, what breaks, and what endures.
CEO Coaching Panel & Peer Circle – Veteran coaches share raw, in-the-trenches stories from working with startup CEOs - from burnout and co-founder conflict to culture strain—the patterns, pivots, and personal moments that have shaped real leadership, and the frameworks that actually work under pressure. Attendees then carry those insights into small, high-trust groups to share their own challenges and trade rapid-fire feedback. Leave with practical tools, fresh clarity, and the reminder you’re not navigating headwinds alone.
Live Flower Art – As the conversations unfold, a surprise floral artist sculpts an evolving installation that mirrors the day’s emotional arc. By the end, the piece stands as a living symbol of the room’s resilience, creativity, and connection.