Water Is a Trillion-Dollar Industry Hiding in Plain Sight | Tom Ferguson, Burnt Island Ventures

Tom Ferguson runs Burnt Island Ventures, the first venture fund dedicated entirely to water. In this conversation he lays out the investing case for a $1.6 trillion market most people have never thought about: where water sits on the S-curve, what changed around 2020, what exits actually look like, and what it costs the person running a small fund. Guest: Tom Ferguson, Founder and Managing Partner, Burnt Island Ventures Host: Ravi Kurani CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:46 The S-curve, and where water sits on it 4:35 Why execution, not ideas, is the bottleneck 11:18 Why now: what changed around 2020 16:18 What exits actually look like in water 19:40 The capital spectrum: venture, PE, search funds 21:46 Private credit and the water bond market 24:37 Where water needs people right now 26:30 From Imagine H2O to raising Fund I 30:32 Why they pass on most water companies 35:01 The weirdest ideas that turned out to be good ones 41:09 Agriculture, and the next PFAS investment 42:13 AI, data, and what still has a moat 48:21 Long sales cycles as a moat 49:44 Growing up between London and the west coast of Scotland 55:40 The unromantic reality of running a fund 1:02:24 Water rights, and why he stays out of them 1:07:21 The best life advice, from The Wire 1:09:14 Where to reach Burnt Island (not with AI) LINKS Burnt Island Ventures: https://www.burntislandventures.com Tom's podcast, The Fundamental Molecule: https://www.burntislandventures.com/the-fundamental-molecule Full episode notes: https://www.liquidassets.cc/water-trillion-dollar-asset-class-tom-ferguson/ Liquid Assets is a podcast about water through the lens of business, technology and policy. Subscribe: https://www.liquidassets.cc