Ready for part 2? Click here!

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Have you ever heard of The Villain Test?

We hadn’t either until we met today’s guest.

Sophie Bakalar (@sophiebakalar) joins us today, a partner at Collaborative Fund, a venture capital firm that’s been in climate tech for years and is tripling down on it today. 

Her background spans credit derivatives trading, founding her own successful business, and beyond! All of this has prepared her to make waves as a climate tech VC.

And she is going to help us discover how The Villain Test challenges conventional thinking and is used to spark positive change.

To know Collab Fund, is to know their investments: they’ve invested in leading innovations that are bringing the future faster: Companies like: 

• AlgiKnit (seaweed yarn)
• Amogy (zero emission tractor)
• Brimstone (CO2 negative cement)
• Eat Just (cell-made chicken & beef)
• Rubi labs (carbon negative fabrics)
• Verne (hydrogen storage for heavy duty vehicles)
• Zelp (methane reducing cow-wearable tech)
• Endless West (engineered whiskey)
• MeliBio (sustainable honey)
• Square Roots (3-week long basil)

You can see that Collab Fund was one of the earliest funds to start investing in this space. So what else do we talk about?

We dive deep into…

• Collaborative Fund’s game-changing approach to rapid, catalytic funding through their Shared Future fund
• Sophie shares her vision of a future where abundance thrives, leaving behind the notion of sacrifice.
• Plus, we dive into the burning question: Can you actually make a profit while doing good for the environment?

Are you ready for a flurry of ideas? Tune in to Sophie talking about the frontiers of sustainable innovation. 

Mayhem On! Please don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify or your favorite podcast app. It keeps us producing new episodes for you 🙏🏼

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Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, or on your favorite podcast platform. 

Show Notes

• [4:27] Why in the world do you not use an alarm clock?
• [5:37] You were able to condition your body to wake up at that specific time? Or vice versa?
• [7:47] How has taking a long morning changed your life?
• [8:33] Simplicity is important in your life. How come?
• [12:45] How has climate change affected your life so far?
• [13:53] When did you start thinking about these issues?
• [17:22] Wasn’t 2016 when you started working at Collab Fund?
• [19:39] What is The Villain Test? Why is it important to you?
• [23:01] When Sophie gets most passionate about what Collab Fund does
• [24:41] What’s the value Collab Fund brings to a climate tech company?
• [28:16] Tomas talking about the Shared Futures Fund and the ‘network of networks’
• [29:55] What’s your specific investment philosophy?
• [34:22] Do you think differently about these startup companies (in climate tech)?

Links From Episode

• Connect with Sophie: Twitter | LinkedIn
• Connect with Craig Shapiro (Co-founder of Collab Fund): LinkedIn
• Follow Collab Fund: LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog
• What’s The Villain Test?
• The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma
• Apple Notes app
• The Fallacy of Multitasking
• The Paris Agreement
• An Inconvenient Sequel
• Cloud Paper (bamboo toilet paper)
• Climate Mayhem episode with Cloud Paper
• Collab’s Sustainability Board
• Good Eggs
• What is IP (intellectual property)
• What is a commercial strategy

Do you think impact investing and sustainable finance have the potential to drive significant change in our society and environment? Share your opinion below.