Climate Cowboys

Mining isn't the bottleneck for critical minerals—refining is. Traditional metal refining takes months and relies on toxic chemical processes, driving the supply chain straight to China. In this episode, Nikhil Gupta (Founder & CEO of Determinant Materials) reveals how his team uses advanced fluid dynamics to replace months of acid leaching with microparticle refining in mere minutes, slashing costs by 50% and bringing critical supply chains back home. 🔥 Enjoying Climate Cowboys? Join our community of founders, investors, and builders reindustrializing the world. Become a paid subscriber to the Climate Cowboys Substack to unlock full founder breakdowns, deep-dive writeups, and exclusive content. In This Episode, We Cover: The Hidden Bottleneck: Why critical mineral security isn't about mining—it’s about processing. Months to Minutes: How Determinant Materials uses microparticle refining to separate metals at a macro scale. Geopolitics & National Security: China’s tungsten export bans, supply chain dominance, and why U.S. economic sovereignty depends on modular onshore refining. Reindustrializing America: Dropping modular refining units directly onto mine sites and defense primes. Key Episode Quotes: "Typical metal refining breaks materials down to the atom layer... We have a microparticle technology where we’re separating things at a bigger macro scale." "China banned the export of tungsten and the price went 10x overnight. China holds all that market power... To have real sovereignty, we need to have this processing here in the United States." Episode Sponsors & Partners: Lehmann’s Terms: Prepare for high-stakes media appearances, investor pitches, and TV spots with elite communications training. Learn more at ltmediatraining.com. Roosevelt Talent: Headhunting and candidate screening built specifically for energy tech, clean chemistry, and frontier tech startups. Save 50% on recruiter fees and build your all-star team. Connect with Roosevelt Talent. 📲 Stay Connected & Support the Show: 📩 Subscribe to the Newsletter: Climate Cowboys Substack This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

The "climate" label might be under pushback, but the demand for energy, critical minerals, and resource security is skyrocketing. In this episode, Chad Rickaby from ClimateDoor breaks down how successful climate tech companies are reframing their value proposition around national security, capital efficiency, and supply chain resilience to close multi-million dollar deals. Chad unpacks ClimateDoor’s acquisition of Standard Demand Partners, why AI investors are pivoting to energy, and how to build custom "company brains" to transform B2B sales—ditching cold email spam in favor of high-value human relationships. 🎧 Highlights Climate as National Security: Why baseload power, data center energy needs, and critical minerals are driving the next wave of VC. The "Show Me" Environment: What investors and enterprise buyers demand today (LOIs, traction, and unit economics over eco-narratives). AI-Powered Sales: How to use custom LLM workflows to research markets and uncover "warm paths" without automated email spam. Dual-Use & Sovereign Capital: Leveraging capital at the intersection of defense, energy security, and frontier tech. ⏱️ Timestamps 00:00 — Winning in a market where the "climate" label is under attack 04:00 — ClimateDoor's Standard Demand Partners acquisition 09:19 — The Canadian advantage: Government funding & raw resources 12:52 — The shift from "tell me" to "show me" for VC investors 18:12 — Resource security as the new national security 25:16 — European supply chain vulnerabilities & waste-to-value 29:03 — The winning formula: Clear value props & capital efficiency 37:49 — Dual-use defense capital & Arctic sovereignty 45:54 — AI in B2B sales: Replacing email spam with a "Company Brain" 58:33 — Why Canadian founders lead in pragmatic innovation 🔗 Links & Sponsors Guest: Chad Rickaby | ClimateDoor Host & Show: Silas | Climate Cowboys Lehmann’s Terms: Executive media and pitch training for high-stakes investor moments. ltmediatraining.com Roosevelt Talent: Executive search built specifically for energy tech and frontier startups. Save 50% on recruiter fees at Roosevelt Talent. Disclaimer: For informational purposes only. Not investment advice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode of Climate Cowboys, host Silas Mahner sits down with Sampriti Bhattacharyya, founder and CEO of Navier, at their headquarters in Alameda, California. While traditional maritime manufacturing remains antiquated and reliant on brute force, Navier is taking a fundamentally different approach: building all-electric hydrofoiling vessels that literally "fly" above the water—reducing drag by 90% and slashing operational costs by 15x. Sampriti breaks down her journey from MIT roboticist to building a generational American maritime company, her vision for a "generalized marine vessel platform" (the Nvidia chip of the sea), and why she chose conviction over hype when VC investors doubted her timeline. ⚡ SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE MOVEMENT: Become a Paid Subscriber: Unlock exclusive deep dives, founder insights at Climate Cowboys Substack. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 – Intro & What is Navier? Building the Generalized Marine Vessel Platform 02:47 – Why maritime innovation stalled and how efficiency unlocks economies 07:54 – Computing, manufacturing, and robotics: Enabling hydrofoiling tech 11:45 – Sampriti’s origin story: High-energy physics to MIT underwater drones 16:54 – Go-To-Market Strategy: Gathering real-world data with recreational boaters 20:59 – The "Nvidia Chip" of the sea: Separating the base layer from the payload 27:07 – Overcoming VC skepticism and ignoring funding hype 35:03 – 3 Guiding Principles: Scale, Range, and Reliability 46:07 – The Video Game Analogy: Choosing to play on "level seven" 55:54 – Rebuilding American maritime and the frontier builder spirit 01:03:50 – Expanding the frontier with optimism over "hall monitor" energy 🤝 SPONSORS: Lehmann’s Terms: Master your message for high-stakes media, investor pitches, and stage appearances. Learn more at ltmediatraining.com. Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Secured over $1.6B in grant funding with a 90%+ success rate. Discover grant opportunities at ClimateFinanceSolutions.com. Roosevelt Talent: Headhunting and talent acquisition for frontier and CleanTech startups at half the price. Find your next hire with Roosevelt Talent. 🔗 CONNECT & FOLLOW: Connect with Silas Mahner on LinkedIn Follow Climate Cowboys on LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

Silas Mahner previews NY Climate Week’s most exclusive event: the Climate Capital Summit by Equal Ventures. Gathering over $1.3 trillion in climate capital and federal funding, this invite-only summit on September 24th features legends like Sophie Purdom, Leticia Webster, Jonathan Silver, and Jim Coulter. Space is strictly capped at 400 people. Listen to this for the full scoop and discover how to request an invite. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe

#291 Building Physical Infrastructure at the Speed of Software | Cole Ashman | Pila How Pila is decentralizing home energy storage, cutting $7,000 in installation soft costs, and upgrading the grid one smart node at a time. Listen: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts Key Quotes “We’re reinventing the home battery by spreading it out throughout the home... they automatically recognize each other, they communicate over this mesh network.” – Cole Ashman “A whole home battery today is gonna cost like $15,000. About half of that is soft cost installation, design, permitting, like BS.” – Cole Ashman “The power grid that we have is built around like the worst case. You know, like we’ve built a 10-lane super highway, but on most days the utilization is 40%.” – Cole Ashman “Software is becoming so easy to replicate in the world of LLM-generated code... having a physical place in the world and a platform that’s generating new useful data is being so much more interesting and defensible.” – Cole Ashman Episode Overview Whole-home backup power traditionally requires $15,000 upfront, expensive electrical work, and months of permitting. As retail electricity prices skyrocket and outages multiply, home energy resilience remains out of reach for most people. Cole Ashman, Founder & CEO of Pila (ex-Tesla, Span), is fixing this with modular battery nodes that plug straight into standard wall outlets. Operating over a wireless mesh network, Pila delivers instant outage protection and load balancing with zero installation costs—making energy storage accessible to renters and homeowners alike. Key Topics Covered: Positioning CleanTech: Why pitching safety, comfort, and savings beats leading with "climate." Hardware Moats: How physical infrastructure protects against AI software replication. Grid Economics: Using distributed batteries as shock absorbers to lower peak-demand costs. Check Out Our Sponsors! Lehmann’s Terms: Executive media training and message positioning for CleanTech leaders preparing for high-stakes investor pitches and national press. Learn more. Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Expert grant funding strategy. Secured over $1.6B in non-dilutive government funding for climate tech startups with a 90%+ success rate. Learn more. Roosevelt Talent: Technical headhunting for frontier and energy tech companies. Delivering top 5% candidates at half the price of traditional recruiters. Connect with Roosevelt. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro & The Pila Solution: Modular batteries for every outlet 04:33 – Un-stealthing and fundraising against rising retail power rates 08:19 – Storytelling: Sell reliability and savings over climate anxiety 16:36 – Bypassing the $15K installation barrier and permitting bloat 18:40 – B2B Playbook: Deploying networks across multi-family real estate 21:54 – Smart Monitoring: Predicting appliance failures via outlet data 34:19 – HardTech Moats: Why physical infrastructure wins in the AI era 43:00 – Hardware Velocity: Tesla Energy takeaways on scaling manufacturing 54:07 – Grid Optimization: Distributed batteries as shock absorbers Links & Resources Guest: Cole Ashman | Pila Energy Host: Silas Mähner on LinkedIn Socials: Climate Cowboys on LinkedIn | YouTube Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe