Clidemy has NO answers to the top 2 investor questions
And I’m pleased as punch!
While putting down approaches during the weekend for taking CliDemy – the Climate Academy to the next level, I was reminded of my investor friends who had been calling me about this last couple of weeks to check if I was seeking investments.
Clidemy is a platform we are building to provide effective climate education to a billion people worldwide by 2030.
They had two main questions:
1. What is the pain point you are solving?
2. What is your business/revenue model?
As they were friends, and as I was not seeking investments (they were calling me, remember!), I was at liberty to free my arms & mind, and this was how I answered:
1. 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭
Really? And you call yourself an entrepreneur!
Hold on, I am identifying…benefit points. You see, if you ask anyone if they need climate education, almost everyone would either say No or Not Sure – there seems to be no pain here.
Climate change is considered a “global pain point” and “not my problem”. As a result, very few think they really need any climate education.
But, given that climate action will touch almost every business endeavour, many segments can benefit from 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘥 climate education. An example: for college students/professionals, a focussed awareness of emerging, attractive climate tech career opportunities will be of great of help in advancing their careers. Other stakeholder segments with benefits from climate education include industries, government, schools, startups, investors, solution providers…
Climate action over the next few decades will involve trillions of $ in investments in many sectors. For hundreds of millions of people to derive benefits from these investments, effectively climate education could be the thing.
2. 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰
Blasphemy! You are a blot on IIMs & MBAs!
This was the real put off for my investor friends.
But you see, it is like this.
For us, who are developing a framework to provide a sustainable, long term solution on a massive scale to a critical, existential and complex challenge, trying to figure out right at the start how to make money is a fatal distraction that can wean us away from answering the far more important question: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 to 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 & 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦?
What climate education (& climate action) needs now is the right perspective, not the right biz model.
But will our venture ever make money? Who knows, it might even be super profitable – but don’t ask me how, now.
I presume – and even fondly hope – that this post has made Clidemy R.I.P for investors, traditional investors at any rate 🙂
See my LinkedIn post on this topic.
