Business for Good Podcast

What if the things you believe are best for the environment are actually making it worse? In this episode of Business For Good, Paul Shapiro sits down with Hannah Ritchie, data scientist at Our World in Data and author of Not the End of the World and Clearing the Air, to challenge some of the most widely held assumptions in sustainability.   Hannah explains why locally produced food rarely has a meaningfully lower carbon footprint than imported alternatives, why organic farming often demands more land to produce the same amount of food, and why nuclear energy is one of the safest and most land-efficient power sources available. She walks through the data behind each of these claims and explains how well-intentioned environmental orthodoxies can actually slow progress toward the outcomes they aim to achieve.   Things You Will Learn: Why buying local food does not significantly reduce your carbon footprint compared to choosing lower-impact foods from anywhere in the world. How the carbon footprint of keeping a dog compares to the average American's total annual emissions. Why nuclear energy has caused far fewer deaths per unit of electricity than fossil fuels over its entire history. Why cement production and air conditioning represent some of the most neglected opportunities for climate innovation.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: Food Miles vs. Production Emissions: A data-driven framework showing that transportation accounts for roughly five percent of total food system emissions, while on-farm production and land use change dominate the footprint of most foods. Land Sparing vs. Land Sharing: Two competing approaches to balancing agricultural production with biodiversity conservation, where intensive farming on less land is weighed against lower-intensity farming spread across more land. Per-Unit Safety Comparison for Energy: A method of evaluating energy sources by calculating deaths per unit of electricity generated, which consistently shows nuclear and renewables are far safer than fossil fuels.   #BusinessForGood #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein #SustainableBusiness

Episode Summary:  Five years ago, billionaire investor Jim Mellon came on Business For Good and laid out his thesis that cultivated meat and precision fermentation would transform the food system. Since then, venture capital has fled the space, plant-based stocks have cratered, and many startups have gone under. So why is Jim putting even more money in? In this episode, Paul Shapiro reconnects with Jim Mellon, Author of Moo's Law and Chairman of Agronomics, to find out what has changed and what hasn't. Jim reveals that his portfolio company, Clean Food Group, is producing precision fermentation-based palm oil, olive oil, and cocoa butter at a factory near Liverpool that is already sold out to buyers, including Mondelēz. He shares how media costs for cultivated meat have dropped from nearly $1,000 per liter to under three cents, and why he expects the company to go public later this year in what could be the first IPO of a precision fermentation company. The conversation also covers why the Middle East may become the next major hub for alternative protein infrastructure, how robotics could improve agricultural yields and reduce food waste, and what Jim plans to change in the updated edition of Moo's Law. He also explains why, despite personal wealth, no single investor can fund the scale of infrastructure this industry requires. Things You Will Learn: How precision fermentation-based oils are already reaching price parity with conventional palm oil, olive oil, and cocoa butter. Why cultivated meat media costs have dropped from roughly $1,000 per liter to under three cents in just a few years. Why the Middle East could become the next major hub for alternative protein manufacturing. What Jim Mellon plans to change in the updated edition of Moo's Law. How robotics and AI could reduce crop waste and improve agricultural yields globally. Tools & Frameworks Covered: Moo's Law: The idea that the cost of producing cultivated animal products will decline on a curve similar to Moore's Law in computing, driven by advances in media formulation, facility design, and scale. Precision Fermentation for Commodity Oils: Using microbial fermentation to produce bio-identical palm oil, cocoa butter, and olive oil at competitive prices with greater supply consistency and without deforestation. Infrastructure-First Scaling: Building dedicated production facilities and securing offtake agreements before going to market, reducing capital carry costs, and proving commercial viability to attract institutional investment. #BusinessForGood #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein #SustainableBusiness

Episode Summary:  What if the next great venture opportunity isn't in AI or fintech but in protecting nature itself? In this episode of Business For Good, Paul Shapiro sits down with Tom Quigley, Co-founder of Superorganism, one of the first venture funds built entirely around biodiversity protection.   With a freshly closed $26 million fund, Tom explains why over half of global GDP depends on healthy ecosystems, and why the degradation of those systems creates massive risk exposure for industries and supply chains worldwide.   The conversation covers how biodiversity investing differs from climate tech, why cattle is among the most destructive forces for tropical ecosystems, and where venture-backed startups can intervene across areas like AI-powered wildlife monitoring, bird-safe glass, forest microbiome restoration, and silvopasture transitions.   Things You Will Learn: Why over 55% of global GDP is moderately or heavily dependent on intact natural ecosystems. How biodiversity investing differs from climate tech and why it opens up categories like invasive species, bird-safe infrastructure, and soil restoration. Why cattle ranching is one of the most significant drivers of tropical biodiversity loss, hitting multiple vectors from deforestation to methane to runoff. How AI-powered camera systems are helping wind farm operators monitor and reduce bird strikes while defending against political opposition. Why bird-safe glass could prevent up to one to two billion bird deaths per year in the US alone, and what makes it an investable category.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: Biodiversity Venture Thesis: A three-pillar investment framework targeting companies that disrupt industries driving biodiversity loss, operate at the overlap of climate and nature, or build enabling deep technologies for conservation. Dynamic Curtailment for Wind Farms: AI-powered camera systems that identify bird species near turbines and trigger slowdowns or shutdowns in real time to reduce strikes while maintaining energy output. Forest Microbiome Restoration: A soil treatment approach modeled on human gut microbiome transplants that restores mycorrhizal fungal networks in degraded lands to dramatically increase timber yield and ecosystem health. Silvopasture Transition: A land management strategy that integrates trees into cattle pastures, providing alternative revenue through forestry, native biodiversity plantings, and improved livestock performance through reduced heat stress.   #BusinessForGood #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein #SustainableBusiness

Episode Summary:  What if AI could help prevent bird strikes, train collisions, and livestock attacks by communicating with wild animals in ways they already understand? In this episode of Business For Good, Paul Shapiro speaks with Sára Nožková, CEO and Co-founder of Flox Intelligence, about building AI systems designed to detect wildlife and guide animals away from danger.   Sára explains how her company combines machine learning, wildlife science, and real-world infrastructure applications to reduce human-wildlife conflict across airports, train tracks, roads, farms, and other critical areas. Rather than relying on blunt deterrents, Flox develops species-specific audio responses and adaptive systems that learn from animal behavior over time.   Things You Will Learn: How Flox Intelligence uses AI vision, sensors, and species-specific audio to keep animals away from dangerous infrastructure. Why airports, rail systems, farms, and public agencies have economic incentives to reduce human-wildlife conflict. How wildlife communication research is shaping a new category of AI-powered biodiversity solutions. Why solving physical, measurable problems may be one of the strongest long-term applications of AI. How mission-driven founders can combine software, hardware, and science to build practical climate and conservation businesses.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: Wildlife Intelligence: A practical AI category focused on detecting, interpreting, and influencing animal behavior to reduce conflict with human infrastructure. Adaptive Species-Specific Playlists: Tailored sound interventions matched to species, context, landscape, and behavior, then improved through repeated interactions. AI for Real-World Physical Systems: A framework for applying AI beyond software-only use cases by combining data, hardware, and scientific expertise to solve measurable problems in the field. #BusinessForGood #SustainableBusiness #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein

Episode Summary:  What if the most abundant protein on Earth has been hiding in plain sight inside green leaves? In this episode of Business For Good, Paul Shapiro sits down with Ross Milne, CEO of Leaft Foods, to explore how a new approach to food production could unlock massive amounts of high-quality protein directly from plants.   Instead of feeding crops to animals or waiting for plants to produce seeds, Ross explains how his team isolates Rubisco, a highly digestible protein found in every green leaf, through mechanical fractionation processes that separate proteins, fiber, and carbohydrates.   The conversation explores why Alfalfa is uniquely suited for this system, how Rubisco compares nutritionally to whey and egg proteins, and why leaf-based protein could become a fourth pillar of global protein production alongside meat, dairy, and seed proteins.   Things You Will Learn: Why Rubisco is the most abundant protein on Earth, and why humans rarely consume it directly. How isolating protein from green leaves could dramatically increase food system efficiency. Why Alfalfa is a powerful crop for scalable protein production. How Rubisco compares nutritionally with whey, eggs, and plant proteins. Why leaf-based protein could become a fourth pillar of global protein production.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: Leaf Protein Extraction: A mechanical fractionation process that opens plant cells and isolates protein, fiber, and carbohydrates for different food applications. Rubisco Protein: A highly abundant plant protein involved in photosynthesis that offers strong amino acid profiles and high digestibility for human nutrition. Systems Thinking for Food Production: Reframing the food system by removing unnecessary conversion steps (like feeding plants to animals) and extracting nutrients directly from plants.   #BusinessForGood #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein #SustainableBusiness

Episode Summary:  What if one of the highest-leverage climate and poverty interventions isn't a new technology, a policy mandate, or a venture-backed breakthrough, but simply making permanent contraception easier for men to choose?   In this episode of Businesses For Good, host Paul Shapiro sits down with Dr. Douglas Stein, a Florida physician known as "The Vasectomist," who has performed 45,000+ vasectomies and taken his work internationally, including providing free procedures and (in some cases) small cash offsets for travel and missed wages. Their conversation moves beyond the clinic into systems: fertility rates, infrastructure strain, unintended pregnancies, cultural and religious resistance, and the practical barriers that keep men from sharing the family-planning burden.   You'll also hear an honest debate about incentives, the limits of government policy, and the bigger question underneath it all: if we believe human ingenuity can solve hard problems, what would it look like to proactively reduce pressure on the planet through voluntary family planning?   Things You Will Learn: Why vasectomy adoption is less about medicine and more about behavior, trust, and access. How Dr. Stein thinks about incentives, and why he frames them as cost offsets. What policy and infrastructure gaps keep family planning from scaling in lower-income regions, even when demand is high.   Tools & Frameworks Covered: No-Scalpel Vasectomy Model: a simplified, low-instrument approach that enables portability and scale. Access + Friction Framework: why adoption depends on availability, education, and practical logistics (time, travel, wages). Systems Lens on Population & Biodiversity: connecting fertility trends to infrastructure strain, resource use, and biodiversity outcomes.   #BusinessForGood #SustainableBusiness #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein #FamilyPlanning

Episode Summary What if the global food system isn't "broken" in the way sustainability debates usually claim, and treating it that way leads to worse decisions?   Paul Shapiro sits down with Jan Dutkiewicz and Gabriel Rosenberg, authors of Feed the People, to unpack how industrial scale and trade created unprecedented food abundance, why "eat local" and small-farm nostalgia collapses at 8 billion people, and what practical policy levers can improve outcomes without fantasy. They explore a clear framework, more food, less feed, no fuel, why animal agriculture remains an inefficient use of land and protein, and how public policy can reshape meat demand by changing incentives instead of accepting forecasts as fate.   You'll leave with sharper systems thinking, grounded tradeoffs, and a clearer view of what scalable food system decarbonization can actually look like.   Things You Will Learn How to evaluate food system claims using systems logic instead of slogans. Why meat demand rises, and how policy can bend the curve without moralizing. What "more food, less feed, no fuel" implies for land use, emissions, and investment priorities.   Tools & Frameworks Covered More food, less feed, no fuel. Prioritizes crops for human food over animal feed and biofuels. Incentives over narratives. Shows how policy choices shape production, prices, and demand. Democratic hedonism. Meets people where they are, then reduces harm at scale.   #BusinessForGood #SustainableBusiness #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein #FoodSystemDecarbonization

Alternative meat looks like it is collapsing. Startups are shutting down, funding is drying up, and headlines are calling the category finished, but that reaction may reflect a misunderstanding of how technological revolutions actually unfold. Bruce Friedrich, President of the Good Food Institute and author of Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity's Favorite Food and Our Future, explains why most people will not change behavior for values alone, why price and taste are the real adoption gates, and why "only" $3 billion in cultivated meat funding is far smaller than it sounds when spread across years and companies. Paul and Bruce discuss what it will take to reach taste and price parity, why governments increasingly view alternative protein as food security and national security infrastructure, and why today's failures can be a normal feature of early-stage category formation rather than proof the model will not work. You will leave with a clearer, more evidence-driven view of what is happening now and what progress actually looks like. Things You Will Learn: How taste and price parity shape S-curve adoption in food, regardless of ethics or intent Why $3B in cultivated meat investment may be insufficient relative to comparable industrial innovation cycles How food security, geopolitical risk, and economic competitiveness are driving government interest in alternative protein Tools & Frameworks Covered: S-Curve Adoption – helps evaluate whether setbacks are normal in scaling technologies Eliminating the Green Premium – helps frame what it takes for sustainable products to win at mass-market scale B2B Enablement Strategy – helps identify leverage points that unlock category-wide progress   #BusinessForGood #SustainableBusiness #FutureOfFood #AlternativeProtein #PrecisionFermentation

Episode Summary A rice field does not look like the starting point for a scalable building materials company until you understand the economics behind it.   In this episode of Business For Good, Paul Shapiro sits down with Chris Guimond, Founder and CEO of Modern Mill, to explore how discarded rice hulls are being transformed into ACRE, a wood like siding, decking, and trim product designed to replace old growth lumber. Chris explains why deforestation is a supply and demand problem, how Modern Mill cracked the manufacturing and adoption challenges that derail most composites, and what it takes to raise significant capital to build real infrastructure in the United States. The conversation covers circular economy manufacturing, competing with billion dollar incumbents, and why climate solutions scale only when they outperform existing systems on cost, durability, and ease of use.   Things You Will Learn Why most sustainable materials fail at adoption and how to avoid that trap How supply chain location determines whether upcycling works economically What it takes to scale a hard tech manufacturing business in a legacy industry   Tools and Frameworks Covered Supply chain proximity strategy to control logistics costs and reliability Adoption first product design for builders and contractors Capacity planning to scale manufacturing without breaking trust   Episode Timestamps 05:10 – Why rice hulls present a hidden opportunity in building materials 08:56 – Cracking the code on turning agricultural waste into scalable products 13:20 – Why most composites fail to replace wood 25:20 – How logistics and location shape upcycling economics 35:10 – Scaling capacity before demand fully arrives   #BusinessForGood #SustainableBusiness #CircularEconomy #ClimateSolutions #FutureOfFood

What if the fastest path to reliable clean electricity is not a new reactor design, but a new place to put one?   In this conversation, Paul Shapiro speaks with Elizabeth Muller, CEO of Deep Fission, about a plan to place a conventional pressurized water reactor roughly a mile underground to use geology, gravity, and groundwater for containment, pressure, and emergency cooling, potentially cutting total nuclear costs by as much as 80%. They unpack how a narrow borehole reactor could serve always-on demand from data centers and industrial users, what "proven tech combined in a new way" really means, how safety and groundwater concerns are handled through regulation and engineering practices, and the practical milestones from pilot to commercial operation so listeners can evaluate what it would take for underground nuclear to scale.   Things You Will Learn How putting a conventional reactor in a mile-deep borehole can replace major above-ground systems and cut nuclear cost drivers. How Deep Fission thinks about worst-case scenarios, groundwater protection, and regulatory proof points. What milestones convert LOIs into power purchase agreements, and what timelines look like for early deployment. Tools & Frameworks Covered Geology-as-infrastructure – Uses rock, gravity, and water to replace containment and pressurization systems. Mature-tech recombination – Combines proven reactors, drilling, and geothermal heat transfer to speed time to market. Pilot-to-commercial pathway – Separates "go critical" demonstration from commercial electricity generation milestones.   Episode Timestamps 04:55 – Why a mile underground could cut nuclear costs by about 80% 08:47 – Borehole size, reactor dimensions, and how the hardware fits 09:31 – Replacement strategy, sealing, and stacking long-term operations 19:45 – Groundwater and safety concerns, what regulators need to see 21:43 – Timeline to power, DOE pilot program, and moving toward commercialization   #BusinessForGood #CleanEnergy #NuclearEnergy #EnergyInnovation #ClimateSolutions

If you've ever checked the ingredients on a baked good, you know how ubiquitous eggs are. They bind, they lift, they emulsify, they hold moisture — they're simply the structural engineers of cookies, cakes, and muffins everywhere. But they're also volatile: prices spike, supply chains break, and for anyone with an egg allergy or who's avoiding eggs for animal welfare or environmental reasons, eggs aren't exactly a welcome ingredient to find on the ingredient deck.  Enter Hadar Ekhoiz Razmovich, CEO and co-founder of Meala FoodTech, an Israeli startup that's figured out how to make peas do what eggs and hydrocolloids do, and has consequently raised several million dollars in venture capital so far. Meala's breakthrough lies in taking simple pea protein and using advanced biotechnology to unlock its hidden abilities — creating a single-ingredient powder that they say can whip, bind, and gel just like an egg in baked goods and alternative meat. No multi-ingredient formulations, no methylcellulose, no animal inputs — just plants doing some biochemical magic.  In this episode, Hadar shares how her background in R&D led her to tackle one of food science's toughest challenges: replacing eggs and hydrocolloids without sacrificing texture, taste, or cost. We talk about how Meala's technology works, what it takes to convince industrial bakeries to swap eggs for peas, and why she believes clean-label ingredients like this are the future of food.  Hadar is not just rethinking what we eat, she and her team are rebuilding the food system from scratch, one cookie, cake, and croissant at a time.  Discussed in this episode  Meals is backed by The Kitchen Food Tech Hub, DSM's venture arm, Milk & Honey Ventures, Lasenor, and EIT.  Our past episode with Milk & Honey Ventures' Beni Nofech.  More on Meala's egg replacer, GroundBaker, is here.  You can see two pending patent applications of Meala's here and here.    Get to know Hadar Ekhoiz Razmovich  Hadar Ekhoiz Razmovich brings over 12 years of leadership experience in the global food industry, with a strong focus on driving innovation and R&D across traditional food sectors. Throughout her career, she has led complex, multidisciplinary projects from early concept development to full commercial launch, consistently bridging technological capabilities with real market needs.  In 2021, she founded Meala FoodTech with a mission to transform the food industry. Under her leadership, Meala is pioneering clean-label functional protein that deliver superior texture, bite, and mouthfeel—without compromise and without undesirable additives. Her work empowers food manufacturers to create simpler, more natural, and better-tasting products, setting a new benchmark for next-generation of food.  Hadar is widely recognized for her strategic vision, deep industry insight, and ability to translate scientific innovation into scalable commercial solutions. 

What if planting trees could be not just good for the planet, but also a profitable business? In this episode, I'm talking with Ben Dell, the founder and CEO of Chestnut Carbon — a company that's raised nearly $400 million, including $250 million of that in 2025, to turn farmland back into thriving native forests across the United States. And he's already forging major carbon removal deals with the likes of Microsoft and Mercedes F1. Ben's journey is a fascinating one: he began his career in oil and gas private equity, helping fossil-fuel companies optimize their operations. But during the pandemic, he had what you might call a carbon epiphany. Seeing how few trustworthy carbon-removal projects existed, he decided to create his own — one that would make measurable, verifiable, and permanent carbon storage not just possible, but investable. In our conversation, Ben explains why carbon is a commodity, and how to prove you've really stored it. He talks about how Chestnut buys up marginal cattle-grazed land and restores it into biodiverse forests — with already more than 17 million trees planted. And he goes over why he proudly calls Chestnut "conservation for profit" — a business model that needs no subsidies, just land, good science, and a lot of patience. Ben also talks about the challenges of scaling a nature-based startup, the importance of grit over glamour, and why he believes restoring forests can be one of America's most investable climate solutions. So if you've ever wondered how capitalism might actually reverse deforestation — not cause it — this episode will give you a hopeful, grounded look at what that future could look like. Discussed in this episode Ben is a managing partner at Kimmeridge. Business Insider profile and a Wall Street Journal profile on Ben's work. Our past episode with author Mike Grunwald. You can see Chestnut's patent, "Systems and methods for forest surveying," here. Chestnut's offtake partnership with Microsoft and a similar agreement with Mercedes F1. Ben recommends podcasts such as Lex Fridman's and Invest Like the Best. Get to Know Ben Dell Ben Dell is a Managing Partner of Kimmeridge and oversees investment activity across the firm. He is closely involved in the screening of new geological opportunities and in the negotiation and execution of investment strategies.  Prior to founding Kimmeridge, Mr. Dell was a Senior Equity Research Analyst for Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (E&P) at Sanford C. Bernstein, where he was ranked first three times in the Institutional Investor Research Survey for coverage of E&Ps. Mr. Dell was also ranked for Natural Gas and for Oil Services and Equipment coverage. Mr. Dell joined Sanford C. Bernstein in 2003. Prior to joining Bernstein, Mr. Dell was employed at British Petroleum (BP) in its M&A and finance group. Before moving into the finance field, Mr. Dell also held positions as an exploration geologist and geophysicist across several of BP's regional business units.  Mr. Dell is currently CEO of Chestnut Carbon, a nature-based carbon removal developer and is on the Board of Caturus HoldCo, LLC., a large private natural gas producer in South Texas. He previously held positions as Chairman of the Board and interim CEO of Civitas Resources, Inc. ("Civitas"), a company that formed from the merger of Extraction Oil & Gas, Inc. and Bonanza Creek Energy, Inc.  Mr. Dell earned an undergraduate degree and a master's degree in Earth Sciences from St. Peter's College, Oxford.

What if one solution to fashion's waste problem is literally growing on our own heads? Every day, salons around the world toss out millions of pounds of freshly cut human hair — a clean, protein-rich, renewable resource that mostly ends up in landfills or incinerators. But what if that so-called waste could become the next sustainable textile? My guest on this episode, Zsofia Kollar, is the founder and CEO of Human Material Loop, a Netherlands-based startup turning salon hair waste into a high-performance fibre that behaves like wool — but with 43 times lower CO₂ emissions, 20 times less water use, and none of the animal cruelty or plastics. Their branded fiber, called Adara, is already being spun into things like carpets, curtains, and acoustic panels — and it's made from something we all grow ourselves. In this conversation, Zsofia and I talk about how she got the idea to build an entire materials company out of human hair, how her technology works, why hair is such a strong and versatile material, the "ick" factor of human-derived fibres, and how she's scaling her model so that salons and HML benefit alike. If you think using human hair in textiles sounds strange, stick around — because by the end of this episode, you might just want a carpet made from your own cut-offs. I'll let Zsofia make the case. Discussed in this episode Washington Post coverage of Human Material Loop's work. Vogue and CNN have covered their work, too. Zoroastrians sometimes practice sky burial on a Tower of Silence, in which vultures are allowed to consume a recently deceased human. Our past episode on human composting with Recompose. Get to Know Zsofia Kollar Zsofia Kollar is a forward-thinking entrepreneur passionate about sustainable innovation. Science and design are crucial in the company's development. After her experience running an independent design studio, Zsofia was driven to reimagine waste management, focusing particularly on hair waste. Her goal is to foster collaboration and innovation for a more sustainable future. Human Material Loop demonstrates that sustainability and economic growth can coexist. Zsofia's dedication extends beyond her CEO role—she's also a published author and university lecturer, inspiring others in design and sustainability. Her vision entails holistic sustainability, where science, design, and collaboration reshape waste management and drive innovation. 

When you hear the word nuclear, does your mind flash to mushroom clouds, Chernobyl, or maybe the glowing three-eyed fish from The Simpsons? Well, what if nuclear electricity — far from being an environmental villain — is actually one of the safest, cleanest, and most land-efficient energy sources we have? It turns out that former fashion model Isabelle Boemeke is on a mission to change how we think about nuclear energy. When she and I met a few years ago, in Italy of all places, she was known by many simply as Isodope, her online persona that blends fashion, futurism, and fission to make nuclear cool again. And now, in her new book Rad Future, Isabelle argues that nuclear power isn't just misunderstood — it's essential to solving climate change, land preservation, and numerous other important concerns. In our conversation, Isabelle details: Why fear of nuclear power stems more from cultural trauma than from science, Why nuclear electricity is safer and environmentally-friendlier than not just fossil fuels, but also solar and wind, What's fact vs. fiction when it comes to the world's biggest energy disasters, And why, despite all the excitement about fusion and modular reactors, maybe the smartest thing we can do right now is simply pick a proven fission design — and start building them fast. I always love when it turns out that the thing we thought was the villain is actually a hero, or at least better than what we thought. If you do too, this is the episode for you, as this episode may challenge your assumptions about what's truly "green" and is actually safe. Discussed in this episode The 2019 Amazon Rainforest fires and Australian fires that decimated massive amounts of wildlife habitat helped inspire Isabelle to focus on environmental concerns such as climate change. The 1975 Baquiao dam collapse killed hundreds of thousands of people. Isabelle recommends checking out www.whatisnuclear.com and the Decouple Podcast. Commonwealth Fusion recently raised $863 million. The US military is investing in small, mobile nuclear reactors. Paul recently read a sci-fi book about nuclear-powered wildlife called The Kaiju Preservation Society. Get to Know Isabelle Boemeke With her signature mix of humor, sharp research, and optimistic vision, her debut book, Rad Future, makes the case for nuclear electricity as one of the best tools to solve the climate crisis. Boemeke is also known as Isodope, the irreverent digital persona on a mission to make nuclear cool. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Save Clean Energy and board member of Nature is Nonpartisan and Nuclear Scaling Initiative, where she works at the intersection of policy, culture, and technology to accelerate pragmatic solutions. She delivered a TED Talk that has been viewed nearly 2 million times, led a grassroots campaign that helped delay the closure of California's Diablo Canyon Power Plant, and is a TIME Magazine "Next Generation Leader."

If you've ever changed a diaper, you might've wondered what happens to it after it goes in the trash. The answer, unfortunately, is that it'll sit in a landfill for hundreds of years—certainly longer than the baby who briefly wore it will live. In fact, every diaper you wore when you were a baby is still sitting around, at best in a landfill, or perhaps even in the ocean. And did you know the average American baby goes through 6,000 diapers before learning to use a toilet?  But what if fungi could change that? In this episode, I sit down with serial entrepreneur Miki Agrawal, the founder of Thinx (yes, the period underwear company), Tushy (yes, the bidet company), and now HIRO Technologies—a company using plastic-eating fungi to help disposable diapers return to the earth. Miki, who some have dubbed the "Queen of pee, poop, and periods," (I think they should shorten it to the "Queen of Secretions") shares how an opportune moment with her toddler and a children's book about fungi inspired her to launch HIRO. Her company's first product—HIRO Diapers—uses a packet of dormant, culinary-grade fungi that awaken when exposed to moisture and begin breaking down the diaper's plastic components, dramatically reducing its landfill lifespan from centuries to under a year, after which it simply becomes dirt. We talk about everything from the science of fungal degradation to the challenges of biotech entrepreneurship, from raising millions for an unconventional idea to why she believes reconnecting with nature is the ultimate form of innovation. Whether you're a parent, a sustainability enthusiast, or just fascinated by the intersection of biology and business, this conversation will make you rethink what "waste" really means.  Discussed in this episode It was the children's book Pacha's Pajamas that implanted the idea in Miki's mind about plastic-eating fungi.  You can buy HIRO Diapers here. You can see HIRO's original kickstarter, including video pitch, here. Miki recommends checking out the UN Millenium Goals for ideas of companies to create. Reuters discusses HIRO's launch and technology. Miki also started Thinkx (period underwear) and Tushy (bidets). More about Miki Agrawal Miki Agrawal is the creative force behind acclaimed social enterprises TUSHY (the modern bidet brand), THINX (period-proof underwear), and WILD (NYC's first gluten-free pizza concept), collectively valued at over $250 million. Miki is the author of best-selling books "DO COOL SH*T" and "DISRUPT-HER". Her latest company HIRO is a revolutionary nature-based start-up harnessing ancient technology - fungi - to help solve the global plastic crisis. Their first product is a baby diaper that returns to the earth with the help of friendly fungi. (They chose diapers to launch with because they're the #1 household plastic waste item that takes 400+ years to decompose in a landfill - and each baby uses ~6,000 diapers in their lifetime. Wild, right?) HIRO Diapers starts returning to the earth with the help of fungi - and they're soft, safe, high-performing and ready to change the game.  Recognized as one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People," a "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum, and named one of INC's "Most Impressive Women Entrepreneurs," Miki brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the stage as a keynote speaker. Her authentic talks have been validated by audiences at MindValley, EO, and Capitalism.com, who have voted for her as the #1 best speaker among hundreds of speakers.

Recently Alex Shandrovsky had me as a guest on his show, the Investment Climate Podcast to talk about The Better Meat Co.'s recent funding round. When it came out, more than one Business for Good listener heard it and told me they thought it would make a good episode to release to our audience too, so this episode is simply the conversation Alex and I had for his podcast. If you've been following the alternative protein sector (and the broader biotech sector), you've likely seen the wave of challenges that fermentation, cultivated, and plant-based startups have faced over the past few years. As recent AgFunder News reporting confirms, ag and food tech investment is at a decade-long low. One active food tech VC even declared that foodtech investing is "maybe as bad as it's ever been." Some days, building a startup in our sector can feel like being a player in Squid Game—with about the same odds of survival. While layoffs, bankruptcies, shutdowns, and cash-free acquisitions have been rampant in our sector lately, BMC has never conducted layoffs. Instead we've always been very frugal, and we tightened our belt even further in the past year, all while continuing to make important progress toward our aspirations of slashing humanity's footprint on the planet. This has been true in the midst of the three-year litigation we endured, the collapse of our bank and subsequent (temporary) loss of all funds, the painfully wintry investment climate for alt-protein, and other seemingly innumerable challenges. Our ethic of frugality will certainly continue in this new era of scaleup for our company.  This financing is hardly the end of our story. Receiving investor dollars isn't our goal; it's solely a means to the end of building a profitable business that will help put a dent in the number of animals raised for food. Raising a round is akin to having someone provide the clothes, tents, and food you'll need to climb Everest…but you still need to actually go climb the mountain—hardly a guaranteed outcome.  I've often said these days that we've shifted from what felt like a Sispyphean feat of fundraising to now merely a Herculean feat of scaling. Nearly all startups fail. The vast majority never see their seventh birthday, which BMC recently celebrated. Our company is still far from successful, but we now have a real chance to birth into the world a novel crop that can help feed humanity without frying the planet. We will judiciously use these new funds to work hard to finally let the Rhiza River flow.  Alex and I discuss the story of how this funding round came about, and where we may be going from here. 

When you think about climate change solutions, your mind might go to renewable energy, electric vehicles, or eating less meat. These are all of course important. But even if we stopped all emissions today, we'd still have too much CO2 in the atmosphere and would need to pull a lot of our emissions out of it. That's the bold mission of Aircapture, a California-based company pioneering modular direct air capture technology. On this episode, I speak with Matt Atwood, Aircapture's founder and CEO, about how his company is not only working to reduce atmospheric CO₂, but also profitably supplying it to industries that rely on the gas today—like beverage makers, greenhouses, and more. Instead of relying on fossil fuel byproducts or ethanol fermentation for their CO₂, companies can now get a cleaner, more reliable, and often cheaper supply directly from the air. Matt explains how Aircapture's approach differs from traditional large-scale carbon capture projects by focusing on on-site, modular units that can be shipped in a container and installed within weeks. These systems already commercially operate in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, giving customers local CO₂ while shrinking supply chain emissions. We dig into the economics of direct air capture, the climate math of whether it truly reduces atmospheric carbon, and the criticisms that it could provide a "moral license" to keep burning fossil fuels. Matt also shares how Aircapture recently raised a $50 million Series A—during a tough climate tech funding market—and what gives investors confidence that their model will scale where others have stumbled. If you've ever wondered whether pulling CO₂ out of thin air is realistic—or just hype—this conversation will give you a fascinating inside look. Discussed in this episode Our past episode with Make Sunsets about sulfur dioxide injections into the atmosphere.  We've done other episodes on geoengineering, for example on olivine spreading (Vesta and Eion), sulfur dioxide injections (Make Sunsets), direct carbon capture (Global Thermostat). Al Gore's skepticism about direct air capture. Matt recommends reading Ministry for the Future. Paul recommends Dan Carlin's The End is Always Near. Matt reflects on his earlier work with Algae Systems and why he thinks wastewater treatment improvements are so important.  Paul suggests tackling wastewater treatment with Neurospora species, as discussed here, here, here, and elsewhere.  Get to Know Matt Atwood Matt is a technologist, chemist, entrepreneur and pioneer in the DAC space. He has over 20 years experience in renewable and climate technology development and over a decade of experience with DAC and CO2 utilization technologies. Matt developed the world's first energy-positive wastewater treatment platform as Founder & CEO of Algae Systems. He has built and commercialized technologies in CO2, water, AgTech, waste treatment, and biofuels.

What if the biggest environmental culprits were hiding in plain sight—right on our dinner plates? While most environmental organizations train their sights on the energy sector, Mighty Earth has taken a bold, and often lonely, stand in confronting the meat industry's massive role in climate change, deforestation, and biodiversity loss. In this episode, I sit down with Glenn Hurowitz, founder and CEO of Mighty Earth, to unpack why the meat industry typically gets ignored by the environmental movement, and what he thinks needs to be done. Glenn has spent decades fighting for the planet, from working on federal public policy in Congress to launching powerful corporate campaigns that aim to guide the world's largest food companies toward more sustainable practices. In our conversation, he explains why mainstream NGOs often shy away from challenging the meat industry, and how Mighty Earth's strategy—focusing on supply chains, corporate accountability, and the expansion of animal-free proteins—aims to fill that void. We also dive into Mighty Earth's campaign to help supermarkets treat plant-based proteins not as niche novelties, but as core offerings. Glenn shares how enhanced meat products (think burgers that are part beef, part mycelium) can be a bigger environmental win than pure plant-based options alone, and why shifting market incentives—not just consumer behavior—is key to making real progress. If you care about climate action, animal welfare, or food innovation, this episode may challenge you to think bigger—and act smarter—about what it really takes to feed humanity sustainably. Discussed in this episode Glenn and Paul recommend the good work of Food Solutions Action. Our past episode with author Mike Grunwald. Quorn mycoprotein patties selling in London KFC at near price parity with chicken. Glenn references the Sierra Club's war on coal. Mighty Earth's campaign to guide supermarkets to do better on meat. Paul mentions that dozens of species go extinct every day, largely due to meat demand JBS's investment in Spanish cultivated meat production. Glenn's 2007 book, Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party. Glenn and Paul both recommend reading Regenesis. The UN report on nature finance Get to Know Glenn Hurowitz Glenn Hurowitz is the Founder and CEO of Mighty Earth, and has led environmental campaigns around the world for many years. He is a globally recognized leader on forests, agriculture, and climate change, and running strategic campaigns. He has played a leading role in transforming several industries, including the 90% reduction in deforestation for palm oil, establishment of new policies and practices for the entire rubber industry, and serious action in meat, steel, and elsewhere. In his previous role as Chair of the Forest Heroes campaign, he and his colleagues won the Benny Award from the Business Ethics Network for their successes in transforming global agriculture. He co-founded Chain Reaction Research, which provides major financial institutions with in-depth risk analysis of companies' sustainability risk. Glenn advises philanthropies, governments and non-profit organizations on strategy. Glenn has also worked extensively in politics. He is the author of the critically-acclaimed book Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, Politico, The American Prospect. He's appeared on many national media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, FOX, CBS, and NPR. He is a graduate of the Green Corps fellowship and Yale University, worked previously as Managing Director of Waxman Strategies, among other senior roles in the environmental movement.

It's rare that we contemplate where all the plastic we throw out goes, but rest assured that nearly none of it is being recycled. Simply put, it's usually cheaper to make new plastic than to recycle old plastic, even the plastic you put in the recycling bin. Because it takes plastic centuries to break down, this means for each one of us you could build a mountain of plastic from all the packaging we use over the course of our lives.  But what if plastic didn't have to take centuries to break down, and could actually biodegrade in a matter of days or weeks?  That's exactly the vision Luna Yu is bringing to life as founder and CEO of Genecis Bioindustries, a biotech company using fermentation to transform food waste into high-performance, truly compostable bioplastics. In this episode, Luna joins us—at 1 a.m. her time from a manufacturing run in China—to share the story behind Genecis, from her early days as a teenage entrepreneur in Canada to raising $17 million for her startup in the climate tech world. Luna walks us through how Genecis engineers microbes to turn low-cost industrial waste streams like glycerol into PHA, a biodegradable plastic alternative that's already being used in consumer products like Mad Tea and Mad Coffee. We discuss why Genecis is taking a direct-to-consumer approach, how they're preparing to launch in Sprouts nationwide, and what it will take to make sustainable plastics cost-competitive with petroleum-based ones. We also dive into Luna's big bets on the future—including cell-free biology, the promise of enzyme-only production systems, and her vision for a world where the most convenient option is also the most sustainable. If you're curious about the intersection of synthetic biology, circular economy, and product design—or you just want to hear from someone reshaping the future of plastic—this episode is for you. Discussed in this episode You can learn more about Genecis' technology by reading their patents and patent applications here. Luna is very inspired by Isomorphic Labs. Genecis is backed by Amazon and is a graduate of the Y Combinator accelerator. CJ Biomaterials manufactures PHA via fermentation.  Plastic has only been around since the 1950s but we believe it lasts for centuries. How do we know? Researchers simulate environmental exposure in labs by increasing UV radiation, temperature, moisture, and mechanical stress to accelerate plastic breakdown. They analyze how the polymer chains degrade and extrapolate those results to estimate natural-world decay timelines. Get to Know Luna Yu Luna Yu is the CEO of Genecis Bioindustries. She completed her Bachelors and Masters in Environmental Science at the age of 21 at the University of Toronto. During her Undergrad, Luna co-founded, grew and exited from two profitable software startups. The exciting advancements in fields of synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and machine learning led her to infuse her passion and experience together. This created Genecis, where biotechnology enables the conversion of food waste into high value materials.  

Plastic pollution is one of the defining environmental challenges of our time—microplastics are now found in our oceans, our soil, our drinking water, and even in our bloodstreams. But what if we could make high-performance materials that look, feel, and function like plastic—without being plastic at all? Enter Xampla. Born out of the University of Cambridge, Xampla is a materials science innovation company that's developed a new class of plastic-free, fully biodegradable materials that offer a drop-in replacement for the most polluting types of plastic. Their flagship line, known as Morro™, is made from natural plant proteins like those found in peas, potatoes, sunflowers and many other sources. It's already launched in the market with global brands for food service packaging, and it's able to eliminate the most polluting plastics in a whole range of products from barrier coatings for paper, microcapsules in personal and homecare products, and soluble films for homecare and edible applications. In this episode, I'm joined by Xampla's CEO, Alexandra French—a veteran of the chemical and materials industries with more than 25 years of global leadership experience. Since taking the reins in 2023, Alexandra has been leading Xampla through its next chapter: moving from a world-changing lab discovery to a commercially scalable solution. We'll talk about how Xampla's technology works, the environmental promise it holds, and how Alexandra is navigating the complex journey of building a startup at the intersection of science, manufacturing, and sustainability. We'll also explore the company's recent commercialization and the licensing business model it's pursuing.

What if we could grow nutritious, sustainable protein—not in months or weeks—but in just one day? This episode's guest is doing just that. Rather than going big with animal agriculture, MicroHarvest is going small with microbial agriculture.  A huge number of animals are used to feed both our pets and the animals we raise for food. Kate Bekers, the CEO and co-founder of MicroHarvest, is seeking to change that. She's running a fast-rising European biotech startup using fermentation to produce high-quality protein from microbes—in just 24 hours. Based in Hamburg and Lisbon, MicroHarvest is on a mission to reshape how the world thinks about protein production. Rather than growing plants or animals, they grow single-cell microbes in bioreactors, yielding a high-protein, micronutrient-rich ingredient that can be used in everything from animal feed and pet food to, eventually, human food. With 10 million euros raised and hopefully a new 30 million euro round on the horizon, their process is fast, efficient, and radically resource-light—requiring far less land, water, and energy than traditional agriculture. Already able to produce one ton of their product per day, MicroHarvest is proving that microbial protein isn't just a lab experiment—it's a scalable, real-world solution. In this episode, Kate shares what it takes to bring biotech innovation to market, and why she believes protein production should be faster, cleaner, and closer to the consumer. We talk about the company's entry into pet food and aquaculture, and what the future holds for sustainable protein made from the tiniest organisms on Earth. If you're curious about the future of food, circular economies, or how to build a business that's good for animals and the planet, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, I'm joined by one of America's most thoughtful national journalists: Mike Grunwald. You may know him from his work at Time, Politico, or The Washington Post, or from his critically acclaimed books about the Obama administration and the history of the Everglades. He's also now a contributing columnist at the New York Times. But for the purpose of this episode, Mike is here to discuss his third book, We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate. In this sweeping and deeply reported work, Mike tackles one of the most uncomfortable truths of our time: our global food system, especially animal farming, is a leading driver of climate change, deforestation, wildlife extinction, and more. But rather than simply doomscroll through the apocalypse, We Are Eating the Earth offers a clear-eyed, often witty, and ultimately hopeful exploration of how we might transform our food system to produce more food while using fewer resources. In our conversation, we discuss some of the biggest food and climate myths—like whether organic or so-called "regenerative" agriculture is necessarily better for the planet—as well as Mike's views on what will actually work to slash humanity's footprint on the planet. (Spoiler: eat less meat, waste less food, and use fewer biofuels are among his biggest points.) Mike also clarifies his views on animal welfare, including the welfare of chickens and pigs, and his (lack of) concern about falling fertility rates. It's a wide-ranging conversation that's got something for everyone interested in a future with fewer hungry people and more land rewilded.  

What if we could turn the mountains of food waste we generate every day into high-value chemicals that replace fossil fuels and palm oil—two of the most environmentally destructive inputs in our economy? That's exactly what this episode's guest is doing. Marc den Hartog is the CEO of ChainCraft, a Dutch biotechnology company using fermentation to convert agricultural waste into medium-chain fatty acids—essential building blocks for everything from fats for foods to lubricants to bioplastics and fragrances. Founded as a spin-off from Wageningen University, ChainCraft is pioneering open-culture fermentation process that offers a scalable, circular alternative to petroleum-based chemicals. And they're not just operating at the lab bench—in addition to having raised 40 million euros in investment so far, the company already has a pilot facility in Amsterdam producing 2,000 tons of fatty acids per year, with plans for a full-scale industrial plant underway. Marc joined ChainCraft after a distinguished career in the chemical industry, including senior roles at Corbion and other global players. Now, he's applying that experience to scale a cleantech company aiming to rewire one of the dirtiest parts of our supply chains—chemical production—into a model of sustainability. In this conversation, Marc and I talk about how ChainCraft's technology works, why food waste is a goldmine of untapped value and what it will take for his team to go from demo plant to commercial scale. If you care about the future of sustainable industry, the circular economy, or just finding smarter ways to deal with the waste we already produce, you're going to love this episode.

This episode's guest is someone who's spent her career studying—and championing—entrepreneurs who don't always fit the Silicon Valley mold. Dr. Lori Rosenkopf is the Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship at the Wharton School and the author of the new book Unstoppable Entrepreneurs: 7 Paths for Unleashing Successful Startups and Creating Value through Innovation. In this short guide, Lori explores how success doesn't have to mean dropping out of college to start a venture-backed unicorn in your garage. Instead, she highlights seven distinct paths that entrepreneurs can take to build impactful ventures, whether they're bootstrapped, mission-driven, or even working within larger companies. Drawing on her years of research and mentoring at one of the world's top business schools, Lori introduces what she calls the "Six Rs" of entrepreneurial mindset—Reason, Relationships, Resilience, Resources, Results, and Recombination—as core principles that help explain why some founders succeed where others falter. In this conversation, we talk about the entrepreneurs Lori profiled in her book—from disruptors and acquirers to accidental founders—and what their stories can teach us about resilience and innovation.  If you've ever thought "I'm not the typical entrepreneur," perhaps Lori will convince you that maybe there's no such thing. Discussed in this episode Lori discusses the work of Spirovant Sciences and its CEO Dr. Joan Lau. Paul recommends reading Shoe Dog and Super Founders. Wharton offers curriculum in Entrepreneurship & Innovation for both undergraduates and MBAs. The Venture Lab is Penn's home for student entrepreneurs.  Some entrepreneurs rely on SBA loans rather than equity investments.  The Hult Competition is a global competition that challenges university students to develop innovative social enterprises that address pressing global issues. Get to know Lori Rosenkopf Lori Rosenkopf is the Simon and Midge Palley Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. As Vice Dean for Entrepreneurship, she serves as Wharton's faculty director for Venture Lab, Penn's home for student entrepreneurs, and also their San Francisco campus. In a prior role as Vice Dean of Wharton's Undergraduate Division, she introduced a new curriculum and developed experiential classwork in the tech sector. For over thirty years, Rosenkopf has taught entrepreneurship and management of technology to more than 20,000 high schoolers, undergraduates, MBAs, and executives, connecting these learners to many of the most entrepreneurial alumni at Wharton and Penn through treks, panels, and classes. Rosenkopf received her PhD in Management of Organizations from Columbia University, her MS in Operations Research from Stanford University, and her BS in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University. She worked as a systems engineer at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Eastman Kodak between her degrees. Rosenkopf lives in Philadelphia with her partner, Allan, and their dog, Winston.

You've heard of carbon capture machines, but what if one of the most powerful tools for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere isn't high-tech at all—just crushed rock and rain? Meet Ana Pavlovic, CEO of Eion and the self-described "Crazy Rock Lady." Her company is pioneering a process called enhanced rock weathering, which uses the natural properties of a green volcanic mineral called olivine to pull carbon dioxide out of the air and lock it away—permanently. The best part? They do it on farmland, replacing conventional agricultural lime with olivine. The result is a two-for-one win: healthier soil for farmers and long-term carbon removal for the planet. It's nature's chemistry, accelerated—and rigorously measured using Eion's core technology, what they call a "soil fingerprinting" measurement technique. In this episode, Ana explains how Eion is turning geology into climate cash, why they're focusing on agriculture instead of oceans, and how they secured a $33 million carbon removal deal from Frontier, the coalition backed by Stripe, Shopify, and Meta. We also talk about farmer adoption, measurement challenges, and why Ana believes carbon removal can be both scientifically credible and scalable. So if you're interested in the wild new world of carbon markets, the surprising magic of crushed rocks, and what it takes to scale a climate startup from idea to impact, you'll dig this conversation. Let's rock. Discussed in this episode The 2020 Beerling paper: "Potential for large-scale CO2 removal via enhanced rock weathering with croplands" Eion's $33 million deal with Frontier and its deal with Perdue.  Eion's patent application for a soil fingerprinting verification technique  Our 2022 episode on enhanced rock weathering with Kelly Erhart from Vesta. Ana recommends reading Ministry for the Future. More about Anastasia Pavlovic Anastasia Pavlovic brings deep expertise in global operations and software with a passion for driving global change through local impact. Before joining Eion, Pavlovic led operations, commercialization, and growth for the Agoro Carbon Alliance, which works with farmers to sequester carbon in soil. Prior to the Alliance, Pavlovic commercialized software solutions in the US and Canada for Yara's Digital Farming organization. She has worked for venture-backed software companies scaling agtech and security products around the world. From West Virginia, Pavlovic holds dual B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Systems Engineering.

In the restaurant world, infant mortality is the norm. Nearly two-thirds of new eateries shut down in their first year. Only one in five lives to see its fifth birthday. So when a restaurant—not just any restaurant, but a plant-based fine-dining spot—thrives for decades, it's not just impressive. It's almost mythic. Enter Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby, the married duo behind Vedge, the acclaimed Philadelphia restaurant that's helped redefine what plant-based food can be. With nods from Bon Appétit, GQ, Food & Wine, and the James Beard Foundation, Rich and Kate have built more than a restaurant—they've built a movement. One that proves vegetables don't need to play second fiddle—they can own the stage. Now, I don't know how these two do it. My wife and I love each other, but even the suggestion of collaborating on a work project sends us both reaching for diplomatic escape routes. Yet somehow, Rich and Kate not only run a business together—they do it with passion, purpose, and of course, with pastry. Rich got his start in the '90s with Horizons, a bold bet on vegetable-forward cuisine back when people didn't even know how to pronounce "vegan," let alone what it meant. Kate joined with a background in hospitality, bringing a refined palate and a pastry chef's touch. But this episode isn't just about food. It's about values. About running toward the hard stuff. About how two people built something meaningful—together—and stuck with it through all the chaos the restaurant industry throws your way. If you're a foodie, an entrepreneur, or just a fan of staying married while doing the impossible—this one's for you.

Nick Cooney is one of the most prolific investors in food and ag tech. As the founder of Lever VC, he's helped deploy nearly $80 million from his first fund and has now closed more than $50 million toward his second $100 million fund. He's backed companies across the spectrum of sustainable protein—plant-based meat, cultivated meat, fermentation-derived proteins (including, in full disclosure, my own company, The Better Meat Co.), and more. But despite his deep roots in venture capital, Nick's latest project is about something very different: giving money away with no expectation of any financial return. In his new book, What We Don't Do: Inaction in the Face of Suffering and the Drive to Do More, from Simon & Schuster and Regalo Press, Nick challenges the reader with a bold moral argument: it's not enough to simply avoid doing harm—we have a responsibility to proactively reduce suffering where we can, including suffering we didn't cause. That includes using our time, our talents, and yes, our money, to help others—especially those we'll never meet. So how much should we be giving? While philosopher Peter Singer proposes 10% of your income as a moral benchmark, and Jesus went even further, telling his followers to sell everything and give to the poor, Nick stakes out a middle ground somewhere between Singer and Jesus of Nazareth: give until you feel it. Not until it hurts, necessarily—but enough that it makes a noticeable impact on your life. Because that impact could be life-changing—or even life-saving—for someone else. In this episode, Nick and I dive into the ideas behind What We Don't Do, and why our inactions—what we don't do—may be among the biggest sources of preventable suffering in the world. We explore the psychology behind why it feels easier to forgive inaction than harmful action, and how we can train ourselves to think differently. We also discuss the current state of the alt-protein industry, Nick's analysis of why venture capital has cooled off on the space in recent years, and what it'll take to bring investors back to the table. It's a rich and rewarding conversation with one of the most influential thinkers in the future of food. I found What We Don't Do to be both thought-provoking and motivating, and I think you'll feel the same. Whether you're a founder, a funder, or just someone who wants to do a little—or a lot—more good in the world, this episode is for you.

Palm oil is everywhere—from food to cosmetics to biofuels—but its production is a leading cause of deforestation, habitat destruction, and greenhouse gas emissions. What if we could have all the benefits of palm oil without the downsides? Enter NoPalm Ingredients, a Dutch biotech startup using fermentation to produce a sustainable alternative to palm oil—without the need for palm trees. Instead of chopping down rainforests, they're upcycling agricultural waste, feeding it to their specialty yeast, and brewing a fat with the same characteristics as high-end palm oil in the process.  The company's raised €6 million to date and has already done a trial run of its process in a massive 120,000-liter fermenter. In this episode, I'm joined by NoPalm's CEO, Lars Langhout, to talk about how microbial oils can disrupt a $60 billion industry, whether fermentation is the future of fats, and the challenges of scaling a sustainable solution. Could NoPalm Ingredients make deforestation-free oils the new norm? If they have their way, perhaps so.  Discussed in this episode The fateful short 2020 article that inspired Lars to start NoPalm Ingredients.  Lars was also inspired by Bowery Farming CEO Irving Fain. Lars recommends reading The Hard Thing about Hard Things and Radical Candor Our past episodes with Lingrove (tree-free wood) and Abiom (wood-fed meat). Get to know Lars Langhout Lars Langhout is the co-founder and CEO of NoPalm Ingredients, a biotech pioneer company he established in 2021 alongside Prof. Dr. Jeroen Hugenholtz. Leveraging his background in strategy consulting and an MBA (CBS '16), Lars leads the team in developing sustainable, locally produced alternatives to palm oil. Under his leadership, NoPalm Ingredients has achieved significant milestones, including scaling their fermentation process from benchtop experiments to industrial-scale production of 120m3 within three years. This innovative approach transforms agri-food side streams into high-quality, food-grade palm-oil alternatives. 

What if the fat in your butter, cheese, or even burger could be made without animals, without plants, without fermentation, and without agriculture at all? That's exactly what Savor is doing. Using a groundbreaking process that transforms compounds like CO₂ and elements like hydrogen into rich, animal-free fats that can mimic what animal fat does, this California-based startup is rethinking how we produce and consume one of the most essential ingredients in food. In this episode, I sit down with Kathleen Alexander, cofounder and CEO of Savor, to dive into the science behind their innovative fat production, why alternative fats could be the next big breakthrough in food tech, and how their approach could help fight climate change while making all types of foods, including plant-based meats and dairy, taste even better. So far the company has raised more than $30 million in venture capital, including from Bill Gates, and is now gearing up to start selling its new fat in restaurants and bakeries within 2025. Will humanity be able to divorce food production from agriculture? If Savor succeeds, that just might be the case.  Discussed in this episode Katheeen co-authored the paper Food Without Agriculture. Savor was incubated by Orca Sciences. Our past episode with Pivot Bio president Lisa Nunez Safarian. Kathleen and Paul both recommend Alchemy of Air and Not the End of the World. Kathleen recommends Long Life, Honey in the Heart. Smitsonian story on Savor's technology. More about Kathleen Alexander Kathleen Alexander has a strong background in materials science and engineering. She has worked in various roles, including as a CTO and CEO at Savor, a Project Director at Orca Sciences, and a Climate Solutions Consultant at KCA Research, Inc. Kathleen has a proven track record of designing and implementing innovative projects for climate solutions, with a focus on greenhouse gas reduction technologies. She has also conducted extensive research and modeling in the field of materials science, particularly in areas related to electrochemistry and battery performance. Kathleen's academic background includes a PhD in Materials Science & Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, further showcasing her expertise in the field.

We spend about 90 percent of our lives indoors, yet the air inside our homes and offices is often far more polluted than the air outside. Volatile organic compounds—better known as VOCs—are constantly emitted by furniture, cleaning products, and even the very walls around us. Formaldehyde, benzene, toluene—these chemicals sound like something you'd find in an industrial park, but they're actually in the places where we eat, sleep, and work.  Well, what if nature could give us a hand here? What if plants, and even microbes, could be supercharged to clean our air at a level that truly makes a difference? That's exactly the mission of today's guest: Patrick Torbey, CEO and co-founder of Neoplants. His company is using synthetic biology to enhance houseplants and their soil microbes with built-in air purification superpowers.  Right now, they are offering microbial powders called Power Drops to mix with water and sprinkle onto the soil of your own houseplants to super-charge their air purifying capacity. I already ordered mine and am using them now.  They also offer Neo Px, which is their all-in-one plant and microbe duo, including a Marble Queen Pothos.  The bottom line is that they claim their technology can make plants up to 30 times more effective at cleaning the air in our homes and offices than the plants we currently have today.  Their systems don't just filter air pollution but actually metabolize it into harmless compounds. In this episode, Patrick and I have a wide-ranging conversation about topics like synthetic biology, science fiction, nature vs. nurture, and of course, how his company's tech will both make money and make the world a better place. Already the company has raised more than $20 million in venture capital, with more still yet to come.  So, if you've ever wondered how science, business, and sustainability can come together to solve a problem hiding in plain sight—or in this case, plain smell—you won't want to miss this conversation.  Discussed in this episode You can order Neoplants' microbes for your houseplants' soil here. Our past podcast episodes with Pivot Bio (nitrogen-enhancing microbes) and Living Carbon (rapid-growth trees). Patrick discussed how reading Cosmos changed his life. There was also a 1980 TV Series by Sagan called Cosmos and an updated remake in 2014 by Neil deGrasse Tyson. Patrick discusses how China is planting forests outside cities to improve air quality. Patrick recommends reading science fiction, leading Paul to recommend a book he recently read, Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. More about Patrick Torbey Patrick Torbey is the co-founder and CEO of Neoplants, a Paris-based synthetic biology startup, engineering plants' genomes and microbiomes to have a positive impact on the air we breathe. Patrick has a PhD in genetic editing from ENS Paris, his expertise spans molecular biology, biotechnology, and entrepreneurship. He drove Neoplants R&D efforts for many years as CTO, and is now leading the company. Patrick is passionate about taking the "fi" out of "sci-fi." He is fascinated by the potential of deep technologies to change the world for the better, and convinced that we need more and better GMOs to face the challenges of today in a sustainable way.

It's no secret that the alternative protein startups are struggling these days. A combination of lower revenue, intense competition, and less available venture capital is leading to a contraction in the sector, with countless alt-meat and dairy companies conducting layoffs, declaring bankruptcy, and even folding altogether.  Enter Ahimsa Companies, a newly formed investment group acquiring promising but distressed plant-based brands. This isn't charity, though. Ahimsa's belief is that, with their consolidation strategy and pooled resources, these brands that are built on a strong underlying product can become profitable under the Ahimsa umbrella. As Ahimsa CEO Matt Tullman says in this conversation, pendulums swing, and many of these companies can be brought to profitability, meaning they could ultimately be sold at a much higher price than their valuation during this period in which plant-based products are in the valley. So far the company has acquired Wicked Foods, Simulate's Nuggs, Blackbird Pizza, an Ohio plant-based foods manufacturing plant, and more.  Matt is a man of many talents, as you'll hear in this episode. In addition to being CEO of Ahimsa Companies, he founded and sold his own education tech company, and is also the co-founder and CEO of Outlier Health, the parent company of supplement company Complement and of No Meat Athlete. He's both a missionary for plant-based lifestyles and a mercenary seeking to combine his passion for plant-based foods with profit.  Discussed in this episode Ahimsa Companies is looking for plant-based startups to acquire. Here's an analysis of their strategy and history. Interview with Matt in which he describes Ahimsa's goal by declaring that "we've got to step up and try to help these companies survive." Story about Ahimsa's acquisition of the Plant Plant in Ohio.  Both Paul and Matt are interested in AI's potential to enable human-nonhuman communication, something Noa Weiss discussed on a past episode. Matt recommends reading both The Hard Thing about Hard Things and The Surrender Experiment. Matt also recommends Paul Graham's essay, Do Things That Don't Scale. More about Matt Tullman Matt is the co-founder and Group CEO of the Ahimsa Companies – a private equity firm acquiring and operating best-in-class plant-based food and manufacturing companies. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Outlier Health, the parent company of  Complement and No Meat Athlete, which have served nearly 13 million people just in the past three years. He's also an investor in health/food/bev startups, and a contributor to Inc. Magazine.  Previously Matt founded a ed-tech firm that was ultimately acquired by Stride Education (NYSE: LRN). Matt is most proud of bootstrapping a business that was named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in 2021. He has dedicated his career to growing nutrition-first health companies to help catalyze the movement to a plant-based lifestyle for the mainstream consumer.

Did you know that it takes 140 liters of water to make a single cup of coffee? Turns out that coffee, as far as plant crops are concerned, has a fairly heavy footprint on the planet. And it's getting harder to farm, with climate change altering where and how many coffee beans can even be grown. You've heard of making meat without chickens, and milk without cows. Well, you can also now get coffee without beans. This episode's guest is the CEO of Minus, a startup reimagining how you enjoy your daily brew. Minus has developed an innovative way to replicate the rich flavor, aroma, and experience of coffee without using coffee beans at all. Minus' beanless coffee emits 86% less carbon than traditional coffee, uses 94% less water and utilizes 92% less land. Made from upcycled ingredients like date seeds and grape seeds, this alt-coffee is primarily marketed to women for reasons you'll hear from CEO Maricel Saenz. The traditional coffee industry is rife with challenges, from deforestation and water-intensive farming practices to the instability of supply chains caused by climate change. Minus aims to address these issues head-on with a sustainable, scalable alternative that delivers the same satisfying experience without the environmental baggage. We'll explore the science behind beanless coffee, the startup's journey from concept to reality, and the potential impact of this bold innovation on coffee lovers and the planet. Whether you're a caffeine connoisseur or just curious about how cutting-edge food tech is reshaping our world, this conversation is one you won't want to miss. Discussed in this episode You can buy Minus coffee from their website. Maricel recommends the Y Combinator Startup Library. Maricel also recommends reading Regnesis. Our past episodes on chocolate without farming cocoa and bean-free coffee. More about Maricel Saenz Maricel Saenz is a Costa Rican entrepreneur living in California with a strong passion for sustainability and innovation. She is the founder and CEO of Compound Foods, a food-tech startup that aims to reduce supply chains and food waste while creating sustainable and valuable products through fermentation. The company's first product, Minus, uses a beanless approach to reduce the negative environmental impact of coffee production and ensure a sustainable supply for the future. Maricel holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia and attended Singularity University's Global Solutions Program in 2017. She has a diverse background, having previously co-founded Nextbiotics, a synthetic biology startup that addressed antibiotic resistance. She has also worked in international development in South Africa and Cambodia, empowering women and working with local entrepreneurs. Maricel has also worked with Monitor Deloitte in corporate strategy and innovation consultancies.In recognition of her accomplishments and innovative thinking, Maricel was named on the 2022 Forbes' 30 under 30 list. Her work in sustainability and food-tech is making a positive impact on the planet and inspiring others to think creatively about how to reduce waste and create sustainable solutions.  

In this episode we're diving deep into the fascinating world of carbon recycling with a trailblazer who's reshaping how we think about waste and sustainability. Our guest is Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech—a company on a mission to transform our biggest environmental challenge into an economic opportunity. LanzaTech is pioneering a process that takes industrial emissions—the kind of harmful gases that typically contribute to climate change—and recycles them into valuable products like fuels, fabrics, and everyday consumer goods. The concept might sound like science fiction, but it's already science fact. LanzaTech's technology captures carbon emissions from sources like steel mills, refineries, and even municipal solid waste, then feeds those emissions to specially engineered microbes. These microbes act like tiny factories, converting carbon pollution into useful materials. Imagine jet fuel made from industrial waste or yoga pants created from captured carbon—it's not just possible; it's happening. In fact, at the very end of 2024, LanzaTech received a holiday gift from the federal government: a $200 million award from the Dept. of Energy. In this episode, Jennifer and I discuss the path LanzaTech took, including raising $400 million and taking 13 years prior to commercializing its first product. We also touch on her personal journey from her birth in Colombia to her taking the helm at LanzaTech. As you'll hear, this isn't just about reducing emissions; it's about completely rethinking the role of waste in our economy. LanzaTech's vision is one where carbon is no longer a liability but an asset—a resource that can be reused and recycled, over and over again. It's a powerful example of how businesses can align profitability with purpose, and it's precisely the kind of story that inspires hope in these challenging times. So, whether you're an entrepreneur, an environmentalist, or just someone curious about the future of our planet, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.  Discussed in this episode Jennifer recommends reading Quiet by Susan Cain. LanzaTech awarded up to $200 million in federal cash from the DOE LanzaTech is backed by Khosla Ventures. More about Jennifer Holmgren, PhD Dr. Jennifer Holmgren is CEO of LanzaTech. Under her guidance, LanzaTech is developing a variety of platform chemicals and fuels, including the world's first alternative jet fuel derived from industrial waste gases. Given her integral role in the development of this alternative jet fuel, she is also a Director and the Chair of the LanzaJet Board of Directors.  Prior to LanzaTech, Jennifer was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. While at UOP, she was a key driver of UOP's leadership in low carbon aviation biofuels, and under her management, UOP technology became instrumental in producing nearly all the initial fuels used by commercial airlines and the military for testing and certification of alternative aviation fuel. Jennifer is the author or co-author of 50 U.S. patents and more than 30 scientific publications, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2003, she was the first woman awarded the Malcolm E. Pruitt Award from the Council for Chemical Research (CCR). In 2010, she was the recipient of the Leadership Award from the Civil Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI). In 2015, Jennifer and her team at LanzaTech were awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Award, and she was awarded the BIO Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology. Jennifer was named as #1 of the 100 most influential leaders in the Bioeconomy in 2017 and received the Global Bioenergy Leadership Award in 2018, and the 2020 William C. Holmberg Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Advanced Bioeconomy. In 2021, she received the Edison Achievement Award and the Prix Voltaire Award. In 2022, she was included in ICIS's Top 40 Power Players ranking. Jennifer also has an honorary doctorate from Delft University of Technology. Jennifer is on the Governing Council for the Bio Energy Research Institute in India. The institute was set up by the DBT (Department of Biotechnology, Indian Government) and IOC (Indian Oil Corporation).  She also sits on the Advisory Council for the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University, the National Academies' Board on Energy and Environmental Systems (BEES), the External Advisory Committee for the Advanced Energy Technologies Directorate (AET) at Argonne National Laboratory, the Advisory Council for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the Halliburton Labs Advisory Board, the Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS International Advisory Council, and the Founder Advisory for The Engine, a venture capital fund built by MIT that invests in early-stage science and engineering companies.  Jennifer holds a B.Sc. degree from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

In this episode we're taking you on a journey to some of the most remote corners of West Africa, where energy access is scarce, and innovation is changing lives. Our guest is Nicole Poindexter, the founder and CEO of Energicity, a company that's bringing clean, reliable solar power to off-grid communities in countries like Sierra Leone, Benin, and Liberia. Nicole and her team are doing something extraordinary: building solar mini-grids that provide electricity to tens of thousands of people who otherwise rely on polluting and expensive energy sources—or have no power at all. And, impressively, Energicity is doing all of this while making a profit, already being an EBITDA-positive company.  In our conversation, Nicole shares how she transitioned from a background in finance—after an Ivy League education—to founding Energicity in 2015, driven by her vision to end energy poverty. We dive into how solar mini-grids are more than just a source of light—they're catalysts for economic growth, education, and health improvements in communities that have often been ignored. Nicole also talks candidly about the challenges of working in rural Africa, from financing to infrastructure to cultural dynamics, and how she tackles these head-on. One part of this conversation that resonated with me and I think will with a lot of founders is when Nicole says she takes to heart the saying: "Those who know how work for those who know why." So many people see a problem, and because they don't know how to solve it, they don't act. Nicole makes it clear that if you surround yourself with smart people of whom you can ask many questions, combining those who know how with those who know why can really lead to transformational results. So, if you're ready to get inspired by a trailblazer who's proving that business can indeed be a force for good, stay tuned for this enlightening conversation with Nicole Poindexter. Discussed in this episode Nicole was employed at Opower when it IPOed. TechCrunch on Energicity's work. Energicity has raised $10 million so far, and is seeking to raise another $30 million. Nicole recommends reading Atomic Habits and Dare to Lead. She also recommends checking out Entrepreneurs for Impact. Our past episode with African clean energy startup I-G3N. More about Nicole Poindexter From starting her career as investment banker, Nicole Poindexter has had a variety of leadership roles in finance, government, and business. Prior to her founding Energicity Corp, she was an early employee at OPower prior to its successful IPO and subsequent sale to Oracle, founding and growing the business development team. In that role, she brought together the skills of an operator and software product development with sensitivity to energy customer needs delivering USD 10's of millions in revenue for the company. She was inspired to start Energicity Corp both due to her deep seated commitment to developing renewable sources of energy and also her passionate desire to create economic opportunity for some of the world's poorest people through energy access.

Most plant-based meats in the US have centered around American staples like hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and sausages. But there's a world of meat consumption out there, and some of the most popular meat dishes are ones many Americans may have never even tried. In recent years, South Korea has seen great success exporting its culture around the world, with mega-popular K-dramas like Squid Game and The Parasite, K-pop like BTS, and yes, K-food like bibimbap. Now, South Korean plant-based meat player UNLIMEAT is bringing its twist on K-meat to thousands of US supermarkets. Already, the company's Korean-style alt-meats have been sold throughout Asia, including at Starbucks, Subway, Domino's, and more. And since they broke into the US market with a giant Times Square ad in 2022, the company is now making inroads into the American diet. With Korean-themed frozen products like bulgogi, pulled pork, and kimbap tuna, the company is betting that Americans will welcome new alt-meat offerings into their homes. In this episode, we talk with UNLIMEAT Co-CEO Ryan Chung, who's in charge of the American market for the young and growing company. While the brand was started in 2019, they've already raised well over $20 million USD, built a factory in Korea, and are shipping around the world.  As you'll hear, we discuss the challenges plant-based meat is facing these days and what might be done to overcome them, along with predictions for what the meat market may look like in 15 years. It's a compelling conversation with a leader in the space who's seeking to change the face of the alt-meat movement as we know it.  Discussed in this episode Ryan recommends reading The Innovators Paul recommends reading Quirky, whose author Melissa Schilling is a past guest on this show! Paul's photo of Quorn being marketed as essentially price parity with chicken in a London KFC. UNLIMEAT's partnership with Just Egg UNLIMEAT is available at Sprouts, Giant, Albertsons, on Amazon, and more. More about Ryan Chung Ryan Chung is a Co-CEO at UNLIMEAT, where Ryan also holds the titles of Head of International and Chief Strategy Officer. Ryan previously served as the Chief Operating Officer at BriteBelly and YBRAIN. He also worked at Tesla, handling various aspects of business operations. Ryan has a background in M&A from roles at Samsung NEXT and PwC, encompassing due diligence, post-deal value capture, and divestiture planning. With industry experience in technology, automotive, industrials, aerospace & defense, and consumer sectors, Ryan's expertise in operational strategy, new product development, and strategic analysis is well-rounded. Ryan holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a BA in Economics, International Relations, and Business Administration from Boston University.

Imagine trying to run a small business without a constant supply of energy. With electricity intermittency, you may not have access to wifi, a phone, a computer, a way to service your customers and more. One way to solve this problem is to have constant access to fossil fuels to run diesel generators, but this is an expensive and dirty way to operate, creating unsustainable costs for the business and the planet. Enter I-G3N, a South African company specializing in the design and production of advanced lithium-ion battery storage solutions for residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Their batteries provide reliable, cost-effective energy storage to support renewable energy systems, reduce reliance on unstable grids, and address load-shedding challenges in South Africa. By enabling more effective use of solar and other renewable power sources, I-G3N plays a critical role in promoting energy independence, reducing carbon footprints, and fostering sustainable economic growth in a region where access to consistent power is a pressing need. In this episode, we talk with I-G3N CEO and co-founder Sydney Phakathi about why he started the company, how he's navigated and funded running a start-up in South Africa—including having him and his co-founders not taking a salary for nearly a year—and what kind of an impact the company's making today. Discussed in this episode Sydney recommends reading Unfair Fight. Standard Bank backs I-G3N in pioneering local battery production amidst energy challenges I-G3N secures R20m investment More on the renewable energy sector in Africa. More about Sydney Phakathi Sydney Phakathi is the CEO and co-founder of I-G3N, a South African company specializing in lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries for energy storage. With a focus on addressing South Africa's persistent energy challenges, I-G3N provides scalable battery solutions for homes, businesses, and industrial applications. Sydney, alongside his co-founders, has driven the company's growth from its establishment in 2018 to a critical player in the renewable energy sector, emphasizing local manufacturing to mitigate the reliance on imports. The company has expanded its reach to other African markets, aiming to provide affordable and reliable energy solutions amid widespread power outages. Under his leadership, I-G3N has also championed youth empowerment, employing a predominantly young workforce and offering on-the-job training.

Eric Schulze loves the intersection of science and food so much that after many years as an FDA regulator, he decided in 2016 to leave the federal government to join the then-nascent Memphis Meats (now UPSIDE Foods). He'd go on to spend the next seven years working to advance the cultivated meat pioneer's science, technology, communications, and ultimate regulatory approval by the agency for which he used to work. Now, Eric's charting a new path for himself, founding GoodHumans, a consultancy aimed at assisting and even launching biotech startups seeking to bring their new innovations to the world. In this episode, Eric and I discuss the state of the cultivated meat movement today and where it may be heading. This includes the path to commercialization, the obituaries being written for the sector, the statewide sales bans on the product, and comparisons to other technologies. We even discuss our mutual love of sci-fi and give some recommendations to those of you fellow nerds out there.  Eric's a wealth of knowledge on all things alt-protein, so if you want both information and inspiration, listen to what he's got to say. Discussed in this episode Eric first learned about cultivated meat after the $18,000 meatball was unveiled in 2016. Our past episodes on this show with Uma Valeti and Teryn Wolfe, the latter of whom Eric has jointly launched a new company, Nexture Bio. Eric is a big fan of British physicist David Deutsch  Eric recommends reading The Science of Science (nonfiction) along with fiction such as The Name of the Wind, Three Body Problem, and The Maniac. Paul recommends Tender is the Flesh (fiction) and Frostbite (nonfiction). He also wrote a review of some 19th century animal protection literature recently.  Both Eric and Paul liked the films Gattaca and Elysium. More about Eric Schulze, PhD Eric Schulze, PhD is a professional molecular biologist, genetic engineer, and former federal biotechnology regulator, and most recently is the CEO of GoodHumans, a full-service strategy and design firm. He served as Vice President of Product and Regulation at UPSIDE Foods, where he led both design and development of the company's meat products as well as its regulatory-, policy-, and government affairs. Before that, he served as a U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulator, handling a portfolio of novel food and drug biotechnology products. As a civil servant, Dr. Schulze also served as a federal STEM education policy capacity within the National Science Foundation and currently works with the National Academy of Sciences on undergraduate STEM education transformation. He holds a doctorate in genetic, cellular, and molecular biology with a specialty in embryonic stem cell engineering and is trained in broadcast communication, speechwriting, and risk assessment.

We all know chocolate is sweet. The way that it's made—not so much.  From deforestation and climate change to child labor and heavy metal contamination, cocoa farming leaves a lot to be desired.  But what if we could make cocoa powder without having to chop down the rainforest and engage in so many other unsavory practices? That's what California Cultured is working on now. The Davis, California-based startup has raised $16 million to grow cocoa cells inside of bioreactors and has already produced some pretty tasty chocolate from this process, as I can personally attest. This isn't their CEO Alan Perlstein's first shot at growing food inside of bioreactors. As you'll hear in this episode, Alan was part of the team that a quarter century ago grew the world's first-ever cultivated meat (goldfish cells funded by NASA). He went on to found Miraculex—now Oobli—which grows sweet proteins inside of bioreactors. After running the company for six years, he's now embarked on a journey to divorce cocoa production from farming the rainforest, and he shares that story here. Can they compete on cost with farmed cocoa? How long before their cocoa makes its way onto the market? Most importantly, does it taste as good as the chocolate we eat today? These are all questions we bite into—and more—in this conversation! Discussed in this episode Our past episodes with the RAND Corporation and Oobli.  Our World in Data greenhouse gas emission chart showing chocolate similar to beef. Alan endorses starting your company through SOSV. California Cultured signs agreement with Japanese chocolate giant. Cocoa consumption's effect on muscle synthesis.  More about Alan Perlstein Alan Perlstein is a visionary entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the food technology industry. From his early career in one of the first cell-cultured meat labs to founding California Cultured, Alan has consistently pursued sustainable innovations to solve global food production issues. His passion lies in addressing the environmental and ethical challenges of traditional agriculture by using cutting-edge plant cell culture technology to create real chocolate and coffee without the harmful impacts of deforestation, child labor, and toxic chemicals.

If you follow the world of cultivated meat, you probably know that a few companies have gotten historic regulatory approval and have sold some limited quantities of product both in the US and Singapore. But earlier this year, Meatly—a company founded only in 2021 and with just a few million British pounds in their pocket—succeeded in getting regulatory approval to start selling its cultivated chicken meat…in pet food. This was the first-ever European approval for a cultivated meat product, and the first-ever approval for such a product in the pet food space. And as someone with a dog who sadly makes his distaste for plant-based dog food very clear, I can assure you that I'm eager to see if my dog Eddie will enjoy Meatly's debut product.  In this episode, I talk with Meatly CEO Owen Ensor about his journey from starting the company to now. We discuss the scale he's at, the cost structure of his product, the inclusion rates in pet food he anticipates, what stores he plans to sell in at first, how he'll fund the company, when he thinks cultivated meat may make a dent in total meat demand, and much more.  It's a riveting conversation with someone making headlines across the alt-meat world. Will pet food be the gateway for cultivated meat's market entrance? You be the judge. Discussed in this episode Owen became vegan after watching Cowspiracy. Owen's chart showing the timeline to regulatory approval for various cultivated meat companies. Paul's essay on pet food's contribution to total meat demand. Bond is another company growing chicken protein for the pet market. You can see Paul's dog Eddie enjoying it here. Our past episodes with Jim Mellon from Agronomics and Mark Post from Mosa Meat. Owen recommends reading Good to Great. More about Owen Ensor Owen is the Founding CEO of Meatly. Since establishing Meatly in 2021, with only £3.5m in funding, it has become the first company in Europe to get regulatory approval for cultivated meat, developed industry-leading technical processes, and created the world's first cultivated pet food products. Before establishing Meatly, Owen started his career at the Management Consultancy company Bain and scaled one of the world's first insect protein facilities.

Around the time his son was born in 2011, Beni Nofech saw a video that changed his life. After listening to an argument about the need to move away from the view that animals are mere commodities for humanity to use however we like, Beni adopted a vegan diet and soon found himself attending animal movement and alt-protein conferences. From there, he began making angel investments in food tech startups that could help animals, eventually leading him to leave his career in the medical device world to become a full-time venture capitalist in the alt-protein food tech world. Today, Beni runs Milk & Honey Ventures, an eight-figure investment fund with a mandate to place early-stage bets on Israeli food tech startups that are seeking to displace animals in the food system. He's backed some of the biggest names in alt-protein, including many companies who've been on this podcast before. In this episode, Beni and I discuss the state of alt-protein investing, whether he views the current apparent malaise as permanent or transitory, and what he sees for the future of this important industry.  I've known Beni since 2016 and can attest that he's a great guy with important insights from which anyone who cares about building a better food system will benefit. Discussed in this episode Beni was influenced to become vegan after seeing this speech online. Beni helped promote this 2016 fundraising video by SuperMeat, to which Paul donated. Beni served on the board of the Modern Agriculture Foundation. Beni recommends: Startup Nation, Clean Meat, Sapiens, and Calvin and Hobbes. Bonus: One of Paul's favorite Calvin and Hobbes strips.  The Good Food Institute's suggestions for white space in the alt-protein sector. Our past episodes with Oshi and PoLoPo. Pitch Milk and Honey Ventures at [email protected] More about Beni Nofech Beni is the Founding Managing-Partner of Milk & Honey Ventures - Israel's leading venture capital fund exclusively dedicated to the Sustainable-Protein industry. He has been a key player in the sector in Israel for over a decade, actively serving as an angel investor, entrepreneur, and advocate for the industry. His experience spans investments in over a dozen startups, including some of the most notable success stories in the global alternative-protein space today. Beni's passion is the effective acceleration of disruptive Sustainable-Protein technologies

You've heard of fruit leather, but what about making leather from fruit? Or more precisely, feeding fruit waste like mango pulp to bacteria which then convert those sugars into a leather-like material that can be useful for all types of purposes? That's exactly what Polybion, a startup in Central Mexico, is doing. Co-founded in 2015 by two brothers with a passion for using biology to save humanity from ourselves—as CEO Axel Gómez-Ortigoza puts it—Polybion has pioneered methods of turning the fruit industry's trash into what they hope will be their treasure. As you'll hear in this episode, Polybion has methods for treating fruit waste to make it economic as a feedstock in their fermentation system to grow cellulose into a leather-like material they call Celium. Already the company is partnered with fashion companies eager to put Celium into their menu of offerings. To sustainably feed and clothe ourselves into the future, it's imperative that we no longer go big with animal agriculture, but instead go small with microbial agriculture. Will Polybion's cellulose leather be a part of the solution? Time will tell. But for now, enjoy hearing the wild ride this company's been on from conception to pivoting technologies to getting a product out onto the market. Discussed in this episode You can see photos of Celium here. CNN on the partnership between Danish fashion brand Ganni and Polybion. Suzanne Lee was an inspiration for Polybion's founders. Ecovative also inspired them, and we did an episode with them too! Plastic-eating fungi offer hope Axel recommends reading Microcosmos and My Inventions. He also recommends watching the original Carl Sagan Cosmos TV series from the 1980s. (The 2014 remake with Neil deGrasse Tyson is also great.) Guillermo González Camarena was an engineer who served as an inspiration to Axel.  More about Axel Gómez-Ortigoza Axel Gómez-Ortigoza was born with an innate fascination for the mysteries of life, the natural world, and the universe, which sparked his lifelong passion for life sciences and finding solutions to complex problems. After completing high school, he decided to carry on the family tradition of engineering that had spanned three generations and pursued a career in bioengineering. With his expertise in Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Cell Culture, Murine Assays, Genetic Engineering, Synthetic Biology, and Origami, Axel became a skilled R&D scientist. At the young age of 22, he and his brother Alexis co-founded Polybion, a New Generation Materials Company, which soon earned Axel a spot as one of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35. Today, he serves as both CEO and CTO of his company, and his groundbreaking work has led to the development of the world's first Bacterial Cellulose Biomanufacturing Facility. Axel's tireless efforts have paved the way for the rapid advancement of bioassembled products, increased sustainability, and a more efficient transition toward a circular economy. He is convinced that the intersection of biology and technology is the key to solving the global health crisis. He envisions a future in which humans and nature can coexist in harmony.

Alt-meat today is typically made from soybeans, yellow peas, wheat, or some combination of those three crops. But there's a whole world of plants out there, and maybe some of them can be harnessed to widen the world of ingredients available to manufacturers, perhaps even offering better functionality and flavor. One of the problems though, is that making protein isolates from most beans or lentils can be pretty expensive, since these crops usually aren't that high in protein to begin with. One reason why soy protein is so much cheaper than pea protein, for example, is that the soybean is typically 30-40 percent protein by dry weight, whereas the yellow pea at best is more like 25 percent. So you need to grow fewer soybeans to get the same amount of protein. With chickpeas, the situation is even worse, as they're usually more like 20 percent protein.  Enter NuCicer, a startup in Davis, California that has leveraged the power of natural plant diversity to breed a chickpea with 35 percent protein and which they say has superior flavor and functionality compared to pea protein, a common ingredient in alt-meat today, explaining one reason alt-meat is often more expensive than animal meat.  They've done this by taking today's commodity chickpea—the only domesticated species within the Cicer genus—and bred it with wild relatives that never made it into the basket of legumes which were domesticated by the humans living in the Middle East thousands of years ago. The result is a chickpea with 75 percent more protein than the typical chickpea, reducing the cost of chickpea protein by about 50 percent. Already, NuCicer is growing its high-protein chickpeas on 1,000 acres across five states and is moving fast to scale up. Does a new world of alt-meats, high-protein hummus, and even chickpea-powered proteinaceous oatmeal await? The father-daughter duo that co-founded NuCicer certainly hopes so. That daughter, Kathryn Cook, serves as CEO and is on the show to tell you all about her journey from her first chapter as an aerospace engineer to now a CEO engineering a better chickpea.  Discussed in this episode NuCicer is backed by Lever VC and Leaps by Bayer. Kathryn's father Doug Cook conducted the pioneering research at UC-Davis that led to the two co-founding NuCicer. Kathryn recommends the book Think Again. Chickpea protein was popularized by Nutriati, which was acquired by Tate & Lyle in 2022. Rebellyous Foods was also founded by a former Boeing engineer, and we did an episode on them! More about Kathryn Cook Kathryn Cook is the CEO and co-founder of NuCicer. Kathryn started her career as a materials science engineer developing new raw material formulations and production methods. Shifting into product and program management, Kathryn managed multidisciplinary teams in both aerospace and machine learning technologies for natural language processing. Driven by the mission of enabling a more resilient, nutritious food system for our rapidly expanding population, Kathryn launched her career in food and agriculture. She is passionate about the urgent need to leverage breeding and biodiversity to improve our crop varieties and enable more delicious, nutritious ingredients.

Seafood consumption is going up around the world, including in the US, with salmon being the fish species Americans love to eat the most. (The only seafood Americans eat more is shrimp, who of course are crustaceans, not fish.)  The biggest wave of alt-meat so far has focused on beef replacement like burgers and sausages, given how many consumers already view red meat as bad for their health. But the perception that salmon is a healthy food is widespread, meaning that any effort to entice consumers to switch to alt-salmon will be swimming upstream in ways that alt-beef isn't.  Yet the need for fish-free salmon is as vast as the sea, both for animal welfare and ocean health reasons, but it's far more difficult to replicate salmon's texture than ground beef. Enter, Oshi, a three-year-old startup that's raised $14.5 million dollars to date and has invented new machinery to essentially build a fish-free salmon filet layer by layer.  In this episode, Oshi CEO Ofek Ron talks about his journey from being an animal advocate working at a nonprofit vegan advocacy organization to taking the leap to start his own alt-protein company. As you'll hear, at first he really had no idea how he'd remake salmon, yet still assembled a team of technical co-founders inspired by his desire and they have raised money based on their skills and not the idea.  Since then, they've invented new technology, released various iterations of their salmon filet, and now have entered more than a dozen US restaurants. For full disclosure, my own company, The Better Meat Co., works with Oshi, but I can assure you that my admiration for the company predates that partnership and the decision to bring Ofek on this episode is also independent of it.  So, will Oshi help turn the tides for our oceans and their finned inhabitants? Time will tell. But Oshi is certainly riding a wave right now that's taking them from across the Mediterranean to the shores of the US.  Discussed in this episode Ofek was influenced to become vegan after seeing this speech online. Ofek is a founding board member at the nonprofit Vegan-Friendly. He met his cofounders via the Good Food Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. You can see a photo of the Oshi salmon filet here. Paul loves fava bean tofu. More about Ofek Ron: Ofek is the co-founder and CEO of Oshi, a leading company in the plant-based seafood industry, where they have been at the helm for 3.5 years. Before Oshi, Ofek served as a founding board member and Vice President at Vegan-Friendly, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting veganism and animal rights. Prior to that, they were the CEO of Software Sources, a role that followed their entrepreneurial venture as the co-founder and CEO of Buzz Production, an event production company. Ofek holds a BA in Economics and Business from Reichman University in Israel. A dedicated vegan for 13 years, Ofek has been an active advocate for animal rights, notably co-hosting the largest animal rights protest in Tel Aviv in 2017. Outside of professional and advocacy work, Ofek is a proud parent of two and is married.

Not everyone gets a second chance of life. But Inna Braverman got just that, and is using her second chance to try to solve one of humanity's most pressing problems.  Born in Chernobyl, Ukraine, Inna was only two weeks old when the nuclear disaster nearly took her life. When her mom found Inna blue and unresponsive from the pollution spewed from the damaged reactor, she used her nursing skills to revive her baby and miraculously keep her alive long enough for paramedics to arrive.  A few years later, the Bravermans moved to Israel, where Inna would grow up to be a translator at an energy company in her early 20s. But as she learned more about the failed efforts to capture the energy of ocean waves, she wondered if there was a better way. This wondering led Inna to found her own company and start making some waves of her own.  In this episode, we dive into the world of renewable energy with a focus on the innovative efforts of Eco Wave Power, an Israeli startup seeking to revolutionize clean energy production. Founded by Inna when she was 24, Eco Wave Power is harnessing the energy of ocean waves to generate sustainable electricity from onshore locations. Now at 37, Braverman has led the company to the forefront of the renewable energy sector. Eco Wave Power's cutting-edge technology captures and converts the natural motion of waves into usable electricity, offering a viable and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Unlike many offshore wave energy systems, Eco Wave Power's approach involves attaching their wave energy converters to existing human-made structures, such as breakwaters and piers. This onshore method simplifies maintenance and reduces costs while maximizing energy output. Already, the company has installations at several locations, including one at the Port of Los Angeles. Eco Wave Power went public in the US in 2021 with an IPO on the NASDAQ (symbol: WAVE) and hasn't had to raise additional money since.  Throughout this episode, we'll explore Inna's journey from company inception to its current status as a pioneering force in the renewable energy industry. Eco Wave Power is not only contributing to the global shift towards sustainable energy but also demonstrating the potential of young entrepreneurs to make an impact on our planet's future. Discussed in this episode To view a photo of an Eco Wave Power installation, see here. The United Nations on Eco Wave Power's work. Inna recommends Sheryl Sandberg's book and TED talk. Forbes profile on Eco Wave Power in 2024. How wave energy works and why onshore may be more promising. The story of Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba. Why nuclear power is safer than using fossil fuels. More about Inna Braverman Technology entrepreneur, Inna Braverman founded Eco Wave Power in 2011, at the age of 24, and was recently chosen as one of the 100 most influential individuals in the world by medium.com (along with Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and others). Under her leadership, Eco Wave Power installed the first grid connected wave energy array in Gibraltar. She is also responsible for securing the significant projects pipeline for the company. For Inna, clean electricity is a very personal journey, as she was born two weeks before the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster and suffered respiratory arrest due to the pollution in the region. She got a second chance in life and decided to devote it to mitigating pollution. Inna has given three TEDx speeches and her personal journey as a female entrepreneur was documented in a virtual reality film by Google, under the name "Female Planet". She was also featured in Sanjay Gupta's "Tomorrow's Hero" in CNN for her impressive work in the wave energy field. Some of her notable awards include: "100 Makers and Mavericks" by Medium.com Wired's list of "Females Changing the World." "Eight young innovators with ingenious ideas for the future of energy" by Smithsonian Magazine The "30 most influential women in the world" by MSN.com

Imagine thinking it would be a good idea to try to help people eat more fruits and vegetables, so you start making whole foods smoothies for your friends and family. Soon you're selling them to more people than you personally know. Next thing you know, you're running an all-vegan frozen meal company with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, a billion dollar-plus valuation, and hundreds of thousands of customers all enjoying your whole foods plant-based meals.  That's the true story of Rachel Drori, founder of Daily Harvest, whose success with the company landed her on Forbes' list of America's Wealthiest Self-Made Women. But it wasn't all success along the way. Two years ago, after the company had achieved its unicorn status, tragedy struck. Dozens of people were sickened by one of their products, and it wasn't clear why. Some people were even hospitalized. In addition to the serious suffering of some of its customers, the crisis captivated national headlines, threatening to put an end to the Daily Harvest story after so much growth and success. Eventually, the root cause of the problem was found: A little-known ingredient called tara flour (not to be confused with taro flour) caused a seemingly allergic reaction in a small number of people—and policies were put in place to prevent a recurrence.  Yet, the story didn't end there.  In the two years since the tragedy, Daily Harvest has since branched out away from just direct-to-consumer sales and is now in thousands of supermarkets too, making it easier than ever for consumers to choose healthy plant-based meals. And as you'll hear in this conversation with Rachel, they've even achieved that lucrative land known as profitability.  So, how did this all happen, and what's next for Daily Harvest? Listen to the episode to find out. Discussed in this episode Rachel recommends Brené Brown's Power of Vulnerability TED Talk—apparently 65 million viewers agree. Daily Harvest is now sold at Kroger, Target, and more. Some Daily Harvest meals are about $5 per serving. Rachel landed on Forbes' list of America's Wealthiest Self-Made Women Our past episode with Doug Evans of Juicero.  More about Rachel Drori, Founder of Daily Harvest  Rachel Drori is taking care of food, so food can take care of you. As the Founder of Daily Harvest, Rachel and the company are on a mission to improve human and planetary health by making it convenient to eat more sustainably grown, organic fruits and vegetables every day.   Since launching the business out of the trunk of her car in 2015, more than 20 million pounds of sustainably grown fruits and vegetables have been delivered to consumers' doorsteps while supporting farmers' transition to regenerative and organic practices. Drori founded Daily Harvest with just 12 smoothies. The company, now valued at over $1 billion, offers meals and snacks for any time of day. In 2023, the company built on its successful direct-to-consumer business with its launch into national retail. Daily Harvest is now found in the freezer section of grocery stores across the country. Prior to Daily Harvest, Drori spent years honing her skills as a customer-centric marketing executive, leading teams at Gilt Groupe, American Express and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. She has been named one of Inc.'s "Female Founders 100". Drori graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.  She lives in NYC with her husband and two sons.

If America's roughly 180 million meat-loving dogs and cats formed their own nation, they'd reportedly be the fifth biggest meat-consuming country in the world. As pet-keeping has exploded in the developed world, so too has demand for all the chickens, fish, pigs, and cows to feed those pets. There's even been a trend toward human-grade meat in pet food, meaning pet food isn't simply the meat that would have gone into lower end uses.  This is of course a major environmental and animal welfare problem, and it can even be a problem for the pets who are consuming all that meat.  As a result, startups are being formed to provide an animal-friendlier way to feed our animal friends. One such company is Omni Pet Food. Based in Europe, the company was started only a few years ago but has now already sold millions of meals to European dog lovers, and is on track to bring in about £4 million in annual revenue, or about $5 million USD.  By using novel, animal-free proteins from plants, yeast, and algae, Omni claims that its pet food has real health benefits for dogs, and is actually preferred by many dogs to the conventional dog food they were previously given. The company has raised a couple million pounds in investor dollars, including even a crowdfunding campaign that generated £400,000 (half a million USD) in 15 minutes. With so much success in its first nascent years, Omni is aspiring to bring to the world the first-ever cultivated meat cat food by partnering with cultivated meat startup Meatly, which it claims it intends to do within 2024. Already, the company has secured a retail partner for its cat food made with chicken cells grown chicken-free. In this conversation with Omni CEO Dr. Guy Sandelowsky, we talk about everything from who the audience is for animal-free pet food, why non-vegetarians would choose to feed their pets vegetarian, what the future may hold, and more.  Discussed in this episode Omni went through the ProVeg Incubator. Omni's (future) cultivated meat cat food! Our past episodes with UPSIDE Foods (cultivated meat) and Wild Earth (plant-based dog food). Guy recommends reading The Lean Startup. Paul's blog on the rising meat demand from pet-keeping. More about Dr. Guy Sandelowsky Dr. Guy Sandelowsky, co-founder and CEO of Omni Pet Food, is a veterinary surgeon with over 10 years clinical experience and an MBA from Imperial Business School. 

Maisie Ganzler has never worked at an animal welfare charity nor an alt-protein company. Yet she's in the upper echelon of effectiveness when it comes to reducing the suffering of farmed animals. That's because she's served as an executive of a national food management company supplying 1,000 schools and corporate dining facilities, Bon Appetit Management Company, for decades. In her career, Maisie pioneered some of the first-ever corporate policies to require suppliers to stop using battery cages for laying hens and gestation crates for breeding pigs, meat reduction policies, and a whole host of other important animal welfare and sustainability initiatives.  When Bon Appetit would implement a policy like those mentioned, it was often seen as leading edge at the time, yet eventually would become the norm among food service companies. For example, Bon Appetit's 2005 cage-free egg policy would come to be adopted by McDonald's a decade later. Maisie even ran for McDonald's board of directors, backed by billionaire Carl Icahn, a campaign she writes that the fast food company spent $16 million to defeat. While she didn't make it onto McDonald's board, Maisie does sit on the board of directors of an alt-protein company called Air Protein, whose CEO Lisa Dyson has been a guest on this show before! So it was with great pleasure that I learned that Maisie has come out with her first book, which is part autobiography and part guide for others on how to create meaningful change in our food and agricultural system. The book, which just recently came out, is called You Can't Market Manure at Lunchtime: And Other Lessons from the Food Industry for Creating a More Sustainable Company. I read it and found it both informational, inspirational, and entertaining. What more could you want?  Well, maybe you'd want to hear Maisie's story straight from her rather than from me, so enjoy this conversation with a true pioneer for animals, farm workers, and everyone who wants to build a better food system. Discussed in this episode Josh Balk worked with Maisie on many animal welfare policies, and now runs The Accountability Board. David Benzaquen was a student who in 2005 helped catalyze Bon Appetit's cage-free policy, and who now is an executive in the plant-based food industry.  Maisie discusses the difficulties implementing the Better Chicken Commitment, leading Compassion in World Farming to extend its deadline for compliance. You can read more in CIWF's 2023 Chicken Track paper. Maisie recommends reading Civil Eats and the NRA Smart Brief. Our past episode with Resetting the Table author Robert Paarlberg. Walker Hayes' song Fancy Like has 146 million YouTube views, so it's not just Maisie and Paul who like it.  More about Maisie Ganzler Maisie Ganzler is the go-to expert on how companies can make positive change in supply chains and other entrenched systems. She's been interviewed by leading media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Fast Company, and Bloomberg, spoken at conferences around the world, written thought leadership pieces for Forbes, Huffington Post, and the San Francisco Chronicle and is frequently called upon for strategic counsel by start-ups and big business alike. As Chief Strategy & Brand Officer for Bon Appetit Management Company, a $1.7 billion onsite restaurant company with 1,000-plus cafés at corporations, universities, and cultural institutions in 33 states serving more than 250 million meals per year, Maisie tackled local purchasing, antibiotics in meat production, sustainable seafood, humane care of farm animals, climate change, farmworkers' rights, and food waste, positioning the company as the foodservice industry's undisputed leader in sustainable purchasing and holistic wellness. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration.

Many listeners of this show will be familiar with precision fermentation, or turning microbes into factories to produce proteins like those proteins that have historically been produced inside of chickens and cows. Think of companies whose founders we've had on, like Perfect Day and The Every Company. But, what if instead of using microbes as protein factories—and all the associated costs of bioreactors and other capex—you could simply turn plants into protein factories, and make actual animal proteins inside of the plants, which can then be extracted and sold? That's exactly what Israeli startup PoLoPo is doing inside of potatoes. Their first protein: Ovalbumin, or the protein that makes up most of the egg white's protein content. If you pay attention to ingredient decks on food packaging, you've probably noticed that albumin is an ingredient in many foods, often serving to help color and texturize foods, as well as serving as a high-quality source of protein. In fact, the global egg albumin market is valued at billions of dollars, with some estimates around $5 billion USD and others as much as $30 billion USD. Founded in 2022, PoLoPo has already raised a couple million US dollars to scramble that market with real egg proteins grown inside of potatoes. Since the process is totally animal-free, it should go over easy as a  vegan ingredient, but since it's an actual egg protein, those with egg allergies will still want to avoid cracking open a food with PoLoPo's Ovalbumin. In this episode, PoLoPo CEO Maya Sapir-Mir and I chat about her work as a plant biologist, how she teamed up with a vegan scientist to co-found this company, her passion for using bioengineering to help save the planet, and of course, how she plans to use the humble potato to displace some of the need for chickens in our food industry.  Discussed in this episode 2022 Food Navigator story on PoLoPo's technology. Our past episodes with The Kitchen and Aleph Farms.  As well, Paul recommends reading Resetting the Table, whose author we did an episode with too. Fellow molecular farming startup Moolec received approval from the USDA for its soybeans that contain pig proteins.  More about Maya Sapir-Mir Maya Sapir-Mir is CEO and co-founder of PoLoPo, a molecular farming pioneer producing proteins directly in common crops, beginning with egg protein (ovalbumin) grown in potatoes. She has nearly ten years of experience in the biotech industry and agricultural R&D, including senior management at a small cannabis industry startup. In addition to leading R&D on plants with commercial and medical applications, she managed collaborations with partners and customers. She holds a PhD in plant sciences and an MSc in plant genetics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a BSc in biochemistry from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She performed post-doctoral work at the Volcani Institute, Israel's leading agricultural R&D facility, creating a new area of research for the organization in Protein Identification, Extraction, and Characterization in plants and microorganisms.

Upon reading his obituary, Mark Twain reportedly wrote that "the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Whether Twain actually wrote this or not, the reality remains that today the reports of the death of cultivated meat are indeed quite real. Yet Bruce Friedrich, the president of the Good Food Institute, is here to tell you that he believes such reports are not based on science and are indeed greatly exaggerated.  Few people have done more to inspire others to pursue alternative protein—including cultivated meat—as a strategy to ameliorate world problems than Bruce. I've known Bruce since 1996, and one thing that's remained constant during the past three decades is that Bruce's commitment to reducing suffering on the planet is simply enormous. Whether in his role as part of the nonprofit animal advocacy world or the crusade he's been on since co-founding GFI in 2016 to render alternative proteins no longer alternative, Bruce's lodestar has always been: how can he do as much good as possible during his limited time on the planet? In this conversation, Bruce and I focus on the state of the plant-based and cultivated meat industries today, why he believes the critics are misguided, whether China will lead this race, how to respond to the new cultivated meat bans like those newly passed in Florida and Alabama, and critically: what it will take for alt-protein to no longer be alt. Discussed in this episode This episode is the 10th in our ten-part podcast series on cultivated meat. The previous nine episodes include Orbillion Bio, UPSIDE Foods, Avant Meats, BlueNalu, Eat Just, Fork & Good, Mosa Meat, New Harvest, and Aleph Farms. Dr. Elliot Swartz's presentation: The Cost Drivers of Cultivated Meat Production. GFI's Plant-Based Meat Production Volume Modeling 2030 analysis. GFI's numerous additional resources, including The Science of Cultivated Meat, Advancing Solutions for Alternative Protein, The Costs and Environmental Impacts of Cultivated Meat, and The GFI Startup Manual.  You can sign up to receive GFI's many newsletters and to be alerted to their many webinars and other events and resources at gfi.org/newsletters.  Bruce cites numerous laws, including Amara's Law (we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run), Wright's Law (for every cumulative doubling of units produced, costs will fall by a constant percentage), and even Newton's Third Law (for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction). Good Meat is now selling cultivated chicken at a butchery in Singapore. China's five-year plan for the future of meat. The cultivated meat documentary Meat the Future. Bruce recommends Hannah Ritchie's book, Not The End of the World. You can see Paul's review of it here. Ezra Klein's 2021 NY Times column, Let's Launch a Moonshot for Meatless Meat. Bruce's 2019 TED Talk. The Center for Strategic and International Studies' report: The Future Appetite for Alternative Proteins. Our past episodes with Ryan Bethencourt and Jason Matheny. An upcoming episode with Israel's albumin producer PoLoPo! More about Bruce Friedrich Bruce Friedrich is founder & president of the Good Food Institute, a global network of nonprofit science-focused think tanks, with more than 220 full-time team members across affiliates in the U.S., India, Israel, Brazil, Singapore, and Europe (UK, Germany, & EC). GFI works on alternative protein policy, science, and corporate engagement - to accelerate the production of plant-based and cultivated meat in order to bolster the global protein supply while protecting our environment, promoting global health, and preventing food insecurity. Friedrich is a TED Fellow, Y Combinator alum, 2021 "American Food Hero" (EatingWell Magazine), and popular speaker on food innovation. He has penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, Nature Food, Wired, and many other publications. He has represented GFI on the TED Radio Hour, New Yorker Radio Hour, the Ezra Klein Show, Making Sense (Sam Harris), and a variety of other podcasts and TV programs. Bruce's 2019 TED talk has been viewed more than 2.4 million times and translated into 30 languages. Friedrich graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown Law and also holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the London School of Economics.

If you follow the cultivated meat sector, you know that the last couple years have been tough. Some companies have gone under, others have gone into hibernation, and others have shed staff in cash-conserving layoffs. Major publications have published opinion column obituaries for this industry, yet the work goes on. Part of that work is that of Obillion Bio, a B2B cultivated meat company which successfully raised capital in 2024, surely a Herculean feat. Having now brought in $15 million, while the Orbillion technology is complex, the business model is simple: grow high-quality wagyu beef cells and then sell those cells to others who will create finished goods with them. In this conversation, Orbillion CEO Patricia Bubner and I chat about what makes them different from other cultivated meat startups, her work as a plant and fungal biologist prior to her career in mammalian cell culture, what she thinks are the best ways to scale, why she thinks she was successful in fundraising during a funding famine, and more.  Discussed in this episode Patricia is a fan of John Steinbeck's books. Patricia co-founded The Millet Project. Orbillion went through the Y Combinator accelerator program Patricia and Paul both recommend Hannah Ritchie book, Not The End of the World. You can see Paul's review of it here. AgFunder News on Orbillion Bio. More about Patricia Bubner, PhD Patricia Bubner is a PhD scientist and engineer focused on commercializing cultivated beef. She is the co-founder and CEO of Orbillion Bio, Inc. with the mission to make sustainable, nutritious, and flavorful cultivated meat at price parity.  Patricia grew up in Graz, Austria, surrounded by an abundance of local and regional foods. With farmers as grandparents, she learned early where food comes from and the hard work that goes into producing it. Her deep interest in food — and the molecular basis of food — led her to study chemistry. Patricia holds an MSc in Technical Chemistry and a PhD in Biotechnology from Graz University of Technology in Austria, and she conducted her postdoctoral research at the Energy Biosciences Institute at UC Berkeley. During that time, she also pursued her conviction of a more sustainable food system as a co-founder of the agriculture and food systems initiative, The Millet Project.  Prior to Orbillion, Patricia advised several technology companies and led the Analytics and QC teams at biopharma startups. During her time with the Bioprocess Science team at Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), she built and led a team dedicated to scaling bioprocess development for mammalian cells — the very systems required to commercialize cultivated meat. At BI, Patricia met and worked hand-in-hand with Orbillion co-founder, Samet Yildirim, on a novel bioprocessing technology now commercialized by Pfizer. Combining her experience in the biopharma, food, and sustainable materials industries, Patricia co-founded Orbillion Bio, Inc. Orbillion is a B2B cultivated meat technology company that brings commercially viable meat to the ever-growing $211B global ground beef market. Orbillion has developed a game-changing algorithm for the scale-up of cultivated meat that makes commercializing low-cost cultivated beef possible. Orbillion has raised $15M and is backed by The Venture Collective, Y Combinator, At One Ventures, Venture Souq, and Metaplanet among others.

No cultivated meat company has raised more capital than UPSIDE Foods. In 2022, after having already raised about $200 million in previous rounds, the company raised another $400 million in a Series C round with a company valuation north of the coveted $1 billion unicorn status. No company in the space has garnered more media attention, both positive and critical, than UPSIDE Foods. No company has as much volume of cultivation capacity as UPSIDE Foods. No company is as old as UPSIDE Foods, as it was the first startup formed to take this technology out of academia and work to commercialize real meat grown slaughter-free. It's also one of the few companies in the world to have been granted regulatory approval to actually sell cultivated meat, which it did in the US. So it was only fitting that this conversation with UPSIDE CEO Uma Valeti take place in person inside the beating heart of UPSIDE's EPIC (Cultivated Meat Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center) cultivated meat pilot facility in Emeryville, California. I often say that I'm Uma Valeti's first biographer, since I profile him in Clean Meat, but I certainly won't be his last biographer, regardless of whether he succeeds or fails. And the last time I visited UPSIDE Foods, in 2017, when the company was still called Memphis Meats, and I got to enjoy their cultivated duck. At that time, they had only a handful of employees. Now, as 230 UPSIDE employees worked away in the dramatically nicer building that houses EPIC, I first got to enjoy four different cultivated chicken dishes. I tried both chicken that was FDA-approved and grown in smaller cultivators, and chicken that was yet to be FDA-approved, which was grown in 2,000-liter cultivators. Spoiler: they all tasted great, and were easily discerned from most plant-based chicken in scent, flavor, and texture. After the tasting, Uma and I sat down for this frank conversation in which we discussed UPSIDE's past, present, and future. That includes details about the scale and capability at which they currently sit, why they paused their plans for their vaunted Rubicon commercial facility in Illinois, what expansions they're planning on making at EPIC in California, what Uma thinks about the obituaries some journalists are writing for the cultivated meat industry, when he thinks cultivated meat will reach 1 percent market share in the total meat market, and much more.  In this conversation, you'll hear Uma elaborate on how the technology has gone from being decried as impossible to now possible, and what remains to be seen is whether it will now go from possible to inevitable.  It's a fascinating and revelatory conversation with a man who has served in many ways as a face for the cultivated meat movement for many years, even prior to founding this company. Discussed in this episode This episode is the eighth in our multi-part podcast series on cultivated meat. The previous seven episodes include Avant Meats, BlueNalu, Eat Just, Fork & Good, Mosa Meat, New Harvest, and Aleph Farms. Our past episode with New Harvest founder Jason Matheny. A 2013 Washington Post obituary for electric vehicles. Nine states are now phasing out gas cars by 2035, and so are automakers like GM. Uma and Paul both endorse the work of the Good Food Institute. You can see a clip of Paul tasting UPSIDE Foods' duck in 2017 here. Uma is profiled in Clean Meat, which has an updated 2024 paperback edition now out.  Tyson Foods pulled out of its investment in Beyond Meat. Paul couldn't recall the exact name in the live interview, but he was referring to Potemkin villages in Russia. More about Uma Valeti Dr. Uma Valeti is the CEO and Founder of UPSIDE Foods. Uma earned a degree in Cardiology from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry, India. After residencies at Wayne State and SUNY Buffalo, Uma completed three fellowships at the Mayo Clinic. He teaches Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. In 2019, Uma was named a "Global Thinker of the Decade" by Foreign Policy magazine. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and SXSW.

Asia is leading the world when it comes to semiconductors, solar panels, wind turbines, and other technologies critical for the future. In a time when several US states are seeking to ban the sale of cultivated meat, Asia seems to be leaning into the technology, and one of the most mature companies in the space there is Avant Meats.  Founded in Hong Kong in 2018 and having raised about $15 million USD to date, Avant Meats is focused on making a dent in Asian seafood demand. In this episode, Avant founder and CEO Carrie Chan discusses why her focus is seafood, what scale she's at and where she hopes to soon go, and how long she thinks it will be before cultivated fish might reach one percent market share in Asia.  As you'll hear in this conversation, Avant Meats is already animal component-free in its feedstock for its fish cells, and it's cultivating inside a 250L bioreactor to generate the material for its public tastings. Now headquartered in Singapore, the company intends to grow there and eventually branch throughout Asia, a project for which it's currently fundraising. Discussed in this episode This episode is the seventh in our multi-part podcast series on cultivated meat. The previous six episodes include BlueNalu, Eat Just, Fork & Good, Mosa Meat, New Harvest, and Aleph Farms. China alone consumers 65 million tons of seafood annually.  Carrie points to how China rapidly transformed the small fishing village of Shenzhen into a metropolis, and what relevance this has for cultivated meat scaling. More about Carrie Chan Carrie Chan is the co-founder and CEO of Avant Meats. She's a seasoned business executive with a passion for the environment, particularly the impact of our food supply on the planet. With experiences in strategy and general management, she also managed major greenfield Capex projects from conception to revenue-generating operations. She is a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst 2022 and holds an MBA from INSEAD. Carrie co-founded Avant with Dr Mario Chin in 2018 in Hong Kong, the first cultivated fish company in Asia, and expanded to Singapore in 2021. Avant's technology offers a system to produce nutritious, tasty fish and functional proteins directly from fish cells at economically viable costs. The group's end-to-end technology platform also allows continuous new product development from scratch to production.   Avant aims to be a global leader in producing traceable and sustainably cultivated proteins in a fully contained environment for food, skincare, and functional applications. Avant now has a presence in Singapore and Greater China. Avant has also been awarded Technology Pioneer and Global Innovator by the World Economic Forum and featured in Reuters, Financial Times, TIME, Forbes, The Telegraph, South China Morning Post, and CCTV. For more information, please visit www.avantmeats.com. At Avant, Carrie provides the vision, guides the strategy and supervises the implementation. 

BlueNalu is one of the better-funded companies when it comes to cultivated meat. Having raised more than $100 million, including about $35 million toward the end of 2023—a notoriously difficult time to fundraise—their founder and CEO Lou Cooperhouse is optimistic about their path to success. But as you'll hear in this episode, Lou isn't working to compete against the commodity meats like chicken, pork, and beef. Rather, he's pursuing a strategy to compete against products that are exponentially higher-cost, like bluefin tuna, which can often sell for more than $100 a pound. In this conversation, Lou lays out his vision for a future BlueNalu factory with multiple 100,000 liter cultivators churning out some of the priciest oceanic delicacies. And because of this high price point, Lou thinks that his economic model is among the most attractive out there. We also talk about BlueNalu's collaborations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and US, and what he thinks the biggest barriers to success are, and more. Discussed in this episode This episode is the sixth in our multi-part podcast series on cultivated meat. The previous five episodes include Eat Just, Fork & Good, Mosa Meat, New Harvest, and Aleph Farms. BlueNalu's recent $33.5 million fundraise. Lou recommends reading Great by Choice and First, Break All the Rules Lou was a guest on the show more than four years ago in Episode 32! Lou is affiliated with the Rutgers Food Innovation Center. More about Lou Cooperhouse Lou Cooperhouse is recognized as a leading global authority in food business innovation and technology commercialization, with extensive leadership experiences throughout his 40-year career in the food industry.  He is a results-driven professional, and has led cross-functional teams in a wide array of industry settings that include: multinational corporations, foodservice and retail operations, new business startups, mid-sized and family-run companies, university entrepreneurship and innovation centers, and industry trade associations.   With his deep and diverse understanding of the food industry, Lou has spoken at hundreds of conferences throughout his career, specializing in food trends, disruptive technologies, and global best practices in business innovation and incubation.

When you think about cultivated meat, Thailand isn't exactly the first country that comes to mind. Sure, you may think about the US, Netherlands, Israel, and Singapore. But the Southeast Asian kingdom is where Israeli cultivated meat juggernaut Aleph Farms recently announced its first commercial factory will be.  Having just received Israel's first regulatory approval to sell cultivated meat—and the world's first regulatory approval for cultivated beef in particular—Aleph Farms CEO Didier Toubia discusses his company's rollout strategy with me in this conversation. As you'll hear, Aleph wants to start by selling limited quantities in Israel within 2024, but the company intends to operate its first plant in Thailand with what Didier calls an "asset light" pilot facility capable of producing 1,000 tons a year. For those of you who aren't mathletes, that's about two million pounds of finished cultivated meat product—"finished" meaning finished goods that are a hybrid of animal cells and plant-based ingredients as well. Of course, two million pounds is a vast quantity compared to the volume of cultivated meat that's been produced thus far, but it's not even a rounding error in Asia's meat demand, let alone global meat demand. So how long will it be before Didier thinks the cultivated meat sector will make a real dent in animal meat demand? You can hear his answer in this episode! Despite negative headlines surrounding the space lately, Didier claims he's more optimistic than ever before about his prospects for success, and that he's still fighting to have $1 billion in revenue within the next 10 years. You can hear him explain why he thinks that's realistic in this conversation.  Discussed in this episode This episode is the fifth in a multi-part podcast series on cultivated meat. The previous four episodes include Eat Just, Fork & Good, Mosa Meat, and New Harvest. We discussed Aleph Farms and the impact of the 10/7 Hamas massacre in Israel in our recent episode with Kitchen CEO Jonathan Berger. Aleph Farms' recent announcement to move to set up shop in Thailand, partnering with Fermbox Bio. Didier attended The Better Meat Co.'s Night Under the Fermenters. The global meat market is worth about $1.5 trillion. Didier's recent Fast Company op-ed explaining his regret about cultivated meat timeline predictions. More about Didier Toubia Didier Toubia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. He's a Food Engineer and Biologist who led two medical device companies and co-invented over 40 patent families; Co-Founder and CEO of IceCure – went public in 2010, and CEO of NLT Spine – acquired by SeaSpine in 2016. He was trained at AgroSup in Dijon, France, and was awarded with a specialized masters degree from ESCP Business School. Didier holds a joint Executive MBA degree from the Kellogg and Recanati business schools, USA and Israel.

When the New York Times recently ran an opinion column declaring the infant fatality of the cultivated meat industry, Isha Datar, CEO of New Harvest, was quoted as saying of the sector, "this is a bubble that is going to pop." Given that New Harvest is intended to promote and advance the field, what did Isha mean by this? She expounded on that thought in a 2,000-word commentary asserting that while she disagrees with the columnist's conclusion that cultivated meat can never become a viable reality, she believes that the sector has been plagued by "exaggerations, lies, and broken promises." In this episode, Isha and I talk about what she's referring to, the difference she sees between cellular agriculture via precision fermentation (e.g., Perfect Day and EVERY) and cellular agriculture aimed at producing actual animal meat (e.g., Eat Just and Mosa Meat), whether cultivated meat is more like flying cars (a far future technology) or electric cars from 15 years ago (not yet ready, but realistically possible), what pathway forward she sees toward actually fulfilling the promise to end the factory farming of animals.  Discussed in this episode Isha's first appearance in 2020 on this show, Episode 42 Our recent episodes in this podcast series on cultivated meat with Eat Just, Fork & Good, and Mosa Meat. New Harvest's thoughts on the recent NY Times opinion column on cultivated meat The EU's FEASTS program: Fostering European Cellular Agriculture for Sustainable Transition Solution The Tufts University Institute for Cellular Agriculture Isha recommends reading The Generosity Network by Jennifer McCrea More about Isha Datar Isha has been pioneering cellular agriculture since 2009, driven by a passion to see transformative technology create a better world. In 2010, Isha published "Possibilities for an in-vitro meat production system" in Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies; thus began her quest to establish the field of cell ag.  Isha became Executive Director of New Harvest in 2013. She co-founded Muufri (now Perfect Day) and Clara Foods in 2014, and soon after passed her founding equity to New Harvest in full to establish the first endowment for cell ag research. In 2015 she named the field "cellular agriculture" - officially creating a category for agriculture products produced from cell cultures rather than whole plants or animals. She is a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and also served as a Director's Fellow at the MIT Media Lab.  Isha has a BSc. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Alberta and a Masters in Biotechnology from the University of Toronto.

In 2013, Dr. Mark Post shocked the world when he debuted the world's first-ever burger grown from animal cells. Weighing in as a quarter-pounder, the burger carried a price tag of a mere $330,000—all of which was funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.  A decade later, what does Mark think about the movement and the industry he helped birth?  When his burger was debuted, a grand total of zero companies existed to commercialize what would come to be called cultivated meat, no serious investment dollars had flowed into cultivated meat research, yet hopes were high that such meat would be on the market within a decade. In this episode, Mark offers why he thinks his timeline predictions in 2013 were proven too optimistic, what he thinks the biggest hurdles to success were and are, and what inventions still must be made to give cultivated meat a shot at making a dent in the number of animals used for food. Discussed in this episode Mark recommends reading the journal Nature Food. Paul's book Clean Meat tells Mark's tale, and is coming out as an updated paperback edition on April 9, 2024! More about Mark Post Dr. Mark Post, MD/PhD, has had several appointments as assistant professor at Utrecht University, Harvard University, as associate professor at Dartmouth college, and as full professor at Eindhoven University of Technology and Maastricht University. He currently holds the chair of the Physiology Department at Maastricht University. He is visiting professor at Harvard, University of Modena and faculty at Singularity University.  His main research interest is the engineering of tissues for medical applications and for food. The medical applications focus on the construction of blood vessels that can be used as grafts for coronary artery bypass grafting. Tissue engineering for Food has lead to the development of cultured beef from bovine skeletal muscle stem cells in an effort to transform the traditional meat production through livestock.  Dr Post co-authored 165 papers in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals and received during his career over 50 million dollars in funding and awards from different sources including government, charity and industry. He presented the world's first hamburger from cultured beef in the August 2013 and is working on improvements and scaling up the production of cultured meat.  He received the World Technology Award from AAAS/Times/Forbes for invention with the biggest potential for environmental impact. Dr Post is CSO and co-founder of MosaMeat and of Qorium, two companies that aim to commercialize meat and leather applications of tissue engineering. He is CEO of Cell2Tissue, which is a developer of technologies in tissue engineering for consumer and health applications.

Some of the companies in the cultivated meat space are betting that massive stainless steel cultivators—think 100,000L to 250,000L—are the path to commercialization. Niya Gupta, CEO of Fork and Good, is thinking smaller.  She argues that there may be a more realistic path using a larger number of smaller tanks, void of the impellers that agitate the more conventionally used reactors in the sector.  Founded in 2018, the company was spun out of Modern Meadow, the first-ever cultivated animal product company which is now focused on materials like leather rather than meat. Having raised more than $20M in its first six years, Fork and Good just held its first-ever tasting of the animal cells they're growing, and as you'll hear in this conversation, it was a real success.  Does Niya think that the cultivated meat industry can make up one percent of the conventional meat industry's volume within the next decade? Listen to her insights in this episode for the answer to that question! Discussed in this episode Niya recommends reading Man's Search for Meaning, which she re-reads annually. Paul mentions that a quote from Man's Search for Meaning was read by the officiant at his wedding. That quote follows: "The truth – that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love." Niya also recommends reading Radical Candor and Mindset. Modern Meadow is profiled in Clean Meat, including the new (2024) paperback edition. More about Niyati Gupta Niya Gupta is the co-founder and CEO of Fork & Good, a cultivated meat company addressing the high costs of the industry with a novel and patented approach in cell culture that produces meat more efficiently than cows and pigs. Niya was also the CEO of Comcrop, a vertical farming startup in Singapore selling greens into major supermarkets. Prior to this she had spent more than 10 years in food and conventional agriculture businesses, including at McKinsey and Syngenta. She holds an MBA and MPAID from Harvard, and an Economics BA from Yale.

If you listened to the last episode, you already know that there's an updated paperback edition of my book Clean Meat that's coming out April 9, 2024. I announced in that episode that, aligning with that release, this show will be devoted for a couple months exclusively to interviews with leaders in the cultivated meat space, many of whom are profiled in the book.  And there's perhaps no person in the cultivated meat sector who's generated more headlines than Josh Tetrick, CEO of both Eat Just and Good Meat. Along with people like Mark Post and Uma Valeti, both of whom will also be guests in this podcast series, Josh was one of the first entrepreneurs to devote resources to trying to commercialize cultivated meat. And his company, Good Meat, indeed was the first company ever to win regulatory approval anywhere—in Singapore—and start selling real meat grown without animal cells.  In the new paperback edition of Clean Meat I detail the process of that Singaporean regulatory approval and the world's first historic cultivated meat sale. And while Good Meat has gone on to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and garner US regulatory approval as well, the company admittedly hasn't yet achieved the goals it set out for itself in the early days.  In the recent New York Times obituary for cultivated meat, the author Joe Fassler writes, "The book 'Clean Meat' describes Mr. Tetrick looking at factory drawings and saying, 'By 2025, we'll build the first of these facilities,' and by 2030, 'we're the world's largest meat company.'" Today, in 2024, Good Meat no longer has an aspiration of a 2025 major cultivated meat plant, and the idea of being the world's largest meat company by 2030 seems relatively  unlikely. But as you'll hear in this interview, Josh Tetrick remains cautiously optimistic about a future for the cultivated meat industry, despite negative headlines that are, at least for the time being, dampening some investors' enthusiasm for the space. In this episode, Josh and I have a frank discussion about the cultivated meat sector, how it may be able to scale, what the economics could look like, whether Josh thinks it's realistic to make a dent in total animal meat demand, and more.  Long-time listeners of the show will remember that Josh also was a guest on this podcast way back in 2019 on Episode 23. In that conversation, we discussed how he remains resilient in the face of adversity. I recommend going back and listening to that inspirational episode for sure, and I'm glad to have Josh back on the show to offer his point of view of where things stand in the movement to divorce meat production from animal slaughter today. Discussed in this episode Josh recommends reading Thinking, Fast and Slow. Our 2019 episode with Josh, Episode 23. A 2013 Washington Post obituary for electric cars.  More about Josh Tetrick Josh Tetrick is CEO & co-founder of Eat Just, Inc., a food technology company with a mission to build a healthier, safer and more sustainable food system in our lifetimes.  The company's expertise, from functionalizing plant proteins to culturing animal cells, is powered by a world-class team of scientists and chefs spanning more than a dozen research disciplines. Eat Just created one of America's fastest-growing egg brands, which is made entirely of plants, and the world's first-to-market meat made from animal cells instead of slaughtered livestock.  Prior to founding Eat Just, Tetrick led a United Nations business initiative in Kenya and worked for both former President Clinton and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. As a Fulbright Scholar, Tetrick taught schoolchildren in Nigeria and South Africa and is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Michigan Law School.  Tetrick has been named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business," Inc.'s "35 Under 35" and Fortune's "40 Under 40." Eat Just has been recognized as one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies," Entrepreneur's "100 Brilliant Companies," CNBC's "Disruptor 50" and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

I'm excited to announce in this short new podcast episode that there's a new, updated, paperback edition of my book Clean Meat that's coming out on April 9, 2024. Published by Simon and Schuster's Gallery Books, the new Clean Meat is now available for preorder everywhere books are sold.  Aligning with this new edition release, for the next couple months, this podcast is going to focus squarely on the issue that's animated my life for the past 30 years: how to wean humanity off our animal-centered diets. The extraordinary suffering of the literally trillions of animals who we farm and kill for food has plagued me for more than three decades, and alleviating some of their suffering is the cause to which I've devoted my entire career.   

If you've spent any time in the startup ecosystem, you start realizing pretty quickly that the US isn't alone in producing a lot of startups, but that there are some very small countries, like Israel and Singapore, that consistently punch above their weight when it comes to new company creation. In fact, Israel is often known as the startup nation, and there's even a popular book on the topic with that very title.  And if you're in the startup food technology space, whether in Israel or elsewhere, there's one name you're sure to know: The Kitchen.  Founded a decade ago, The Kitchen has incubated some of the best known alt-protein startups out there, from cultivated meat-maker Aleph Farms to precision fermentation alt-dairy company ImaginDairy, to plant-based egg creator Zero Egg, and more. As you'll hear in this conversation, The Kitchen invests seven-figures in each startup that joins its incubator in addition to providing lab space, culinary equipment, governance and corporate setup advice, and more.  For the past decade since its founding, The Kitchen has been run by the same CEO, Jonathan Berger, and we've got him on the show this episode. Under his tenure, the incubator has made 27 investments in startups that have ultimately gone on to raise about $350 million USD.  In this conversation, Jonathan and I talk about everything from why Israel is so startup-friendly, to why it has so many vegetarians, to why the alt-meat industry has hit such a rough patch around the world, and how the Hamas massacre on October 7th has affected the Israeli startup community. It's a riveting discussion with someone who's been at the helm of the Israeli food tech space for many years. Discussed in this episode Our past episodes with VC Steve Jurvetson, Sabra Hummus CEO Joey Bergstein, and Israeli AI expert Noa Weiss. The Kitchen organizes the Food Tech IL conference. Jonathan recommends reading The Hard Thing about Hard Things. We also discuss The Startup Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle  More about Jonathan Berger Jonathan is one of the pioneers of the Israeli food tech community and has led The Kitchen, the first Israeli food tech incubator, since its inception in 2014. The Kitchen, owned by the Strauss Group and supported by the state of Israel, has been investing in early-stage Israeli food tech startups aiming to support "Better Industry, Better Food, Better World." Since Jonathan has been leading The Kitchen activity, the portfolio grew to 26 startups who have raised capital of over $340M. Jonathan brings a unique combination of experience in tech and food businesses serving in leadership positions. He founded and is still a director in Copia-Agro, an early stage ag tech fund. Jonathan is a board member in Aleph Farms, ImaginDairy, Amai Proteins, Zero Egg, and other food tech startups built by The Kitchen. Jonathan holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering & an EMBA from Kellogg and Tel-Aviv University.

Most startups are founded by entrepreneurs hopeful that their idea will be the next big thing and pad their bank accounts in the process. Yet sometimes companies are started not by enterprising capitalists, but rather by a far less likely progenitor: nonprofit charities.  That's exactly what happened when the nonprofit National Wildlife Federation decided to spin out a for-profit corporation devoted to advancing the charity's mission to protect wildlife. The company, Garden for Wildlife, is already selling native plants to homeowners seeking to make their yards a bit more nonhuman-friendly. The basic premise is this: Too much wilderness has been destroyed by humanity for us to only rely on parks and preserves to give wildlife a chance to survive. While much of the animal biomass alive today is comprised of the animals who we farm for food, if we want to give free-living animals like songbirds a chance, we need to turn over a portion of our lawns and corporate landscapes into wildlife-friendlier corridors, or what author Douglas Tallamy calls "Homegrown National Park" in his book on this topic, Nature's Best Hope. Take the state where I lived most of my life, Maryland, as one example. Maryland alone has more lawn than two times the land allocated to its state parks, state forests, and wildlife management areas—all combined. Sadly though, lawns are essentially biological wastelands capable of supporting less than 10 percent of life that a more natural landscape can support. So why do we do it? Why do we Homo sapiens like to create these nearly lifeless lawns wherever we go? In short, we do it because it makes us feel safe. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that humans prefer unobstructed views of our surroundings because that's what kept us safe on the African savannah where we evolved. As a result, as we've spread off the savannah and across the globe, we've transformed forested ecosystems into something akin to our ancestral home. And this isn't something that only started only once civilization was founded. Even tribal hunter-gatherers living in forests are often proficient at deforesting their surroundings.  So that's the bad news.The good news is that homeowners can actually do quite a lot to make their yards more welcoming to pollinators and other friendly creatures. The key is to ditch part or all of your invasive, water-thirsty lawn and replace it with a beautiful array of native plants and trees that will attract butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, and other amazing and harmless animals to your property. But where to start? That's where Garden for Wildlife comes in. Its entire business model is to make it easy for you to do just that without becoming an ecologist yourself. Just type in your zip code on their web site and check off which species you hope to attract, and they'll show you a menu of attractive plants native specifically to your region that you can order straight from their site, delivered to your front door. Profiled by Martha Stewart Living and Better Homes and Gardens, Garden for Wildlife has raised $5 million from investors (primarily its founder, the National Wildlife Federation) and is already bringing in an annual revenue of $1 million. The company is also crowdfunding now, meaning for an investment as low as $250, you can own shares in this startup. And we've got their CEO, Shubber Ali, on the show to talk all about it. While I've not personally used their services, my wife Toni and I four years ago removed our front lawn in Sacramento and replaced it with a tiny little meadow of native, drought-tolerant plants. Combined with a water fountain for avian visitors, since then our front yard has become a Mecca for hummingbirds, songbirds, and other little neighbors we love watching. And it's even become a frequent stop for our human neighbors, who we regularly catch photographing the flowering beauty and bringing their kids by to enjoy the sight. In other words, our own little Homegrown National Park has made life not only better for wildlife, but for a lot of humans, too.  This is an interesting story about one charity's decision to use the power of commerce to advance their cause. I'll let their CEO Shubber Ali tell you all about it. Discussed in this episode Check out Nature's Best Hope by Douglas Tallamy, which is entirely about this topic. Shubber recommends reading Last Child in the Woods. Shubber also recommends TED talks by Patti Maes and Simon Sinek Want to quickly identify birds by sound? Merlin's got you. My wife and I were influenced by Nancy Lawson's resource, The Humane Gardener. More about Shubber Ali Shubber Ali is CEO of Garden for Wildlife.  He is a father, husband, avid gardener, and loves nature - and it's those last two things that led to his current role.   He has spent over thirty years helping companies solve their most complicated and difficult problems through innovation, identifying growth opportunities, enabling technologies and platforms. He was the VP and Global Lead for the Elevate team at Elastic from April 2021 to June 2022, and prior to that he was one of Accenture's global leads for digital innovation from September 2017 to April 2021, where he worked with the National Wildlife Federation to create the Garden for Wildlife business.  He has also served as VP of Strategic Innovation at Salesforce. He has co-founded multiple consumer technology companies, some successes including Centriq (acquired) and Flaik (privately held), and some great learning experiences (aka "failures").  He serves as an advisor to numerous startups.  In addition, Shubber has served for 9 years on the Advisory Board to the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown (where he has also been an adjunct professor of Innovation Management  in the Executive MBA program) and a guest lecturer for the Emory University Executive MBA program.  Since 2014, he also has served as a member of the global advisory STAR program for Airbus.

Many times when we talk about technology that can improve animal welfare, we're talking about innovations that either have displaced or could displace the use of animals. Think for example about cars replacing horse-power, kerosene replacing whale oil, and animal-free meats displacing factory farming of animals. But can technology also be used to make better the lives of animals who are still being used? Long-time tech enthusiast and animal advocate Robert Yaman is betting on that idea, and has launched a new charity, Innovate Animal Ag, designed to help the animal-use industries implement such new technologies. In its first few months, the organization has already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and is now working to implement two technologies in particular which could reduce the suffering of vast numbers of chickens: in-ovo sexing of eggs in hatcheries and on-farm hatching of chickens used for meat. You may know already that the egg industry has little use for male chicks, and this type of bird grows too slowly for the male chicks to be of interest to meat producers. As a result, billions of male chicks are killed on the first day of their lives at hatcheries around the world, often by grinding, gassing, crushing, or other gruesome methods. Innovate Animal Ag, however, is proposing that hatcheries determine the sex of the egg long before hatching so these unfortunate males are never birthed into such an unwelcoming world in the first place. Led by Germany's new legislation on the topic, already many egg hatcheries in Europe have implemented the technology, and Innovate Animal Ag believes that producers in the US will soon benefit from this European innovation as well. This is a riveting conversation with an insightful thinker and do-er who's devoted his life to using technology to advance animals' interests. From starting his own cultivated meat company, to working at another cultivated meat company for years, to now launching his own nonprofit seeking to work with animal producers rather than just against them, Robert's someone whose opinions I'm always interested in hearing and I think you will be too. And as you'll hear in this episode, he's also a great musician! Discussed in this episode Robert founded Kiran Meats, a cultivated meat startup, and later joined Mission Barns where he worked to advance the cultivation of animal fat cells. Robert recommends reading The Innovator's Dilemma and the Stratechery blog. Robert's latest column for Poultry World. See the 2023 In-Ovo Sexing Review. You can listen to some of the latest music Robert's created on Spotify! He also used to be a professional singer, but sadly he claims in this episode that he's not that into karaoke today. Our past episode with Isha Datar, CEO of New Harvest. More about Robert Yaman Robert Yaman, the Founder and Executive Director of Innovate Animal Ag, spent his entire career in Silicon Valley. He started as an engineer at Google, and later moved into food tech, most recently running operations at a startup developing cell-cultivated animal fat as a food ingredient. Through this work, he's thought and written extensively on the lifecycle of new technologies as they come to market. In addition to being a self-proclaimed nerd about science, engineering, and manufacturing, he's passionate about finding ways to turn conflict into collaboration through aligning incentives.

Predictions abound for industries that allegedly will be upended by artificial intelligence, or AI. Will Uber drivers and truck drivers be replaced by AI-powered self-driving vehicles? Will writers and journalists be displaced by ChatGPT and its competitors? While many of our physical tasks have now been replaced by machines, it's possible that in the future many of our cognitive tasks will also be replaced by machines that can do a better and faster job than we can, and for a lot less money. This has relevance for many industries, but what about plant-based meat? Nearly all plant-based meat is produced through a technology called extrusion—basically a fancy way of saying a lot of pressure and a lot of heat. Extrusion technology is what transforms plant proteins like soy and pea into foods that are textured more like animal meat, and therefore can be turned into something like a Beyond or Impossible burger. But harnessing the power of extrusion can be expensive, slow, and finicky. Some refer to it as equal parts science and art, and it requires innumerable trial-and-error tests to get the texture you want. Parameters include temperature, pressure, moisture level, screw speed, feedstock ingredients, and more, meaning there are virtually infinite permutations of formulas you could test—requiring more resources than most small start-ups have. But what if AI could be used to better predict the results of extrusion tests, and could therefore help guide the experimental process, slashing the number of experiments actually needed? That's what Noa Weiss is betting, and it's why the long-time vegan founded GreenProtein AI, a new nonprofit organization spun out of Food Systems Innovations which is designed to assist for-profit companies in the alt-meat space with its AI and machine learning expertise. In addition to her career as a data science and machine learning engineer, Noa's driving goal for the past decade has revolved around working to wean humanity off its addiction to animal meat. Affiliated with both the Good Food Institute and Israel's Modern Agriculture Foundation, the AI expert is now taking her love of all things data and AI and marrying that love with her passion to help animals.  In this episode, I talk with Noa about how she thinks AI can be harnessed to make better-textured alternative meat, why she started GreenProtein AI, and where she plans to go next in her promising career. We even talk about sentience, from insects to machines! Discussed in this episode GreenProtein AI was spun out of Food Systems Innovations Noa's work has been profiled in Vegconomist, AgFunder News, Green Queen and more. Noa recommends the Getting Things Done methodology. She works with the Deep Voice Foundation to use AI to protect marine mammals like whales She also adheres to the principles expressed in Deep Work. For her personal health, Noa views Dr. Michael Greger's How Not to Die as essential Paul also recommends Dr. Greger's latest book, How Not to Age, and Jonathan Balcombe's Super Fly. More about Noa Weiss Noa Weiss has been working with data for over a decade, both in academia and in the tech industry. Prior to consulting, she worked for companies such as Armis and PayPal, utilizing big data and machine learning for fraud prevention, risk mitigation, and everything cybersecurity.  Today she works with both startups and more established companies, helping them use their data - and today's AI & machine learning technology - to drive success.Though she works with companies from all domains, she has a special focus on the field of Alternative Proteins and FoodTech. Noa also founded and leads the Israeli community of Women in Data Science, utilizes machine learning for whale preservation with the Deep Voice foundation, and offers her expertise with AI and data under the Good Food Institute mentoring program, as well as with the Modern Agriculture Foundation.

As a young man, GW Chew saw his family dying early of lifestyle-related diseases, and he thought maybe he could do something about it. With a last name like that—yes, "Chew" is his real last name—maybe GW was destined to become a chef—that's exactly what he did.  Because of his interest in Seventh Day Adventism, GW gradually became Chef Chew by experimenting with Seventh Day Adventist recipes, ultimately leading him down the path of opening up his own restaurant and now to being a plant-based meat manufacturer. His company—Something Better Foods—is already selling six different plant-based meats to school districts and some Whole Foods Market locations.  As you'll hear in this interview from Chef Chew, unlike most plant-based meat, he doesn't rely on extrusion of plant protein isolates, but rather uses a layer-ization process he pioneered using whole soybeans to make his brand of alt-meat called Better Chew. As Chef Chew says, "it looks like chicken; it tastes like chicken; but it ain't chicken!" In this conversation we talk about Chef Chew's life path, his alternative financing strategies for Something Better Foods, where he's been and where he intends to take the company.  Discussed in this episode Chef Chew went through the ICA Fund accelerator program. He recommends watching Live to 100 on Netflix. He loves the book Start with Why by Simon Sinek. He started with the Country Life Cookbook, which you can get for $2 on Amazon! Both Paul and Chef Chew love Butler's Soy Curls Our past episodes (51 and 108) with Plant Based On a Budget's Toni Okamoto More about Chef GW Chew GW Chew, aka Chef Chew, is the Founder & CEO of Something Better Foods Inc. and has been a vegan food inventor/restaurateur for over 15 years. Adopted at birth into a family with the last name "Chew," Chef Chew believes that he was born with a mission and purpose to change lives for the better, one chew at a time. Chef Chew grew up in the "country" amongst a family of very heavy meat eaters and noticed over time that a lot of different diseases, from diabetes to cancer, plagued the members of his family. He later discovered that many of those same diseases have been linked to poor diet and overconsumption of animal meat products. Inspired to begin living a healthy lifestyle, Chef Chew switched to a plant-based diet in 2001 and started experimenting with creating vegan food products in 2004. He painstakingly invented the Better Chew proteins in his mom's kitchen and has perfected the textures and taste over the past 15 years. As part of his mission to democratize the access of healthy food, Chef Chew most recently created the Better Chew Box to deliver healthy and affordable plant-based protein solutions directly to your community!

Did you know that nearly half of all pregnancies in America are unintended? And that percentage skyrockets when we're talking about teen pregnancies, more than three-quarters of which are unintended.  While teen pregnancies and teen births are thankfully at an all-time low in the US, we're still behind countries like the UK and Canada in this regard. A big reason teen pregnancies have fallen so dramatically in recent decades is simply that it's much easier to have access to contraceptives. But as evidenced by nations like the UK and Canada, there's still more work we Americans can do. After all, it's easy for men to get condoms everywhere, but not nearly as easy for women to get birth control. Females who have babies as teenagers are more likely to stay or fall into poverty, attain lower levels of education, have more health problems, and generally have worse life outcomes for the mother and child. I should note that I happen to be married to someone who defied these odds and turned out just fine despite being the product of teen pregnancy, but still, the statistics speak volumes. And in a world with eight billion of us and counting, it goes without saying that it'd be preferable if the only new people joining us were both intended and wanted by their parents. A big barrier toward that end is that if women want to go on birth control, typically they require a prescription from a doctor, which is of course a hurdle, especially for teens. That's a hurdle that Cadence OTC is working to overcome, and we've got their CEO Samantha Miller on the show to talk all about it. (Side note unrelated to this episode: Samantha's is also a plant-based foods advocate and is affiliated with the Good Food Institute!) Cadence has raised $35 million in venture capital over the past six years to bring to market over-the-counter (OTC) birth control pills for females, both in the form of OTC birth control pills and OTC morning after pills. As you can imagine, this is important work no matter what, but especially in light of the Supreme Court decision ending federal protections for abortion rights, greater and easier access to contraceptives is something all of us should be able to support. In fact, just this year, in 2023, the FDA for the first time approved an OTC birth control pills for women.  Impressively, Cadence just inked a deal with Lil Drug Store Products, which services 180,000 retail locations, including convenience stores, to start carrying Cadence's Morning After pill starting in January 2024. Not only will this pill be OTC, but it will be half the price of the leading Morning After pill. As Samantha points out, it's imperative that we make it as easy, cheap, and convenient for women to control their reproductive destiny, which is exactly what Cadence OTC is working to do.   Discussed in this episode Our past episodes on family planning with Your Choice Therapeutics (male contraceptives), Dr. Escar Guarin (World Vasectomy Day), and Family Empowerment Media (family planning in the developing world). Pew Reserarch Center says US teen birth rates are falling thanks to greater access to contraceptive care. Samantha recommends reading The Birth of the Pill and listening to How I Built This More about Samantha Miller Samantha serves as co-Founder and CEO of Cadence OTC, on a mission to increase over-the-counter (OTC) access to safe, effective, affordable contraceptives.  She is a small pharma executive leader with more than two decades of experience in strategic partnering, product and technology acquisitions, commercial planning, supply chain, regulatory management, and corporate financing.  Samantha started her career as a scientist, and quickly found her passion for building new companies. She has deep entrepreneurial experience having served as chief business officer for pharma start-ups InCarda Therapeutics and Dance Biopharm. She also led business development for mid-market ventures Theravance, Nektar, and Onyx, and values her early training at P&G Pharmaceuticals.   She has negotiated and closed more than 50 licensing & partnering agreements with a total aggregate deal value of over $3 billion, and she has led more than fifteen equity financing rounds with total funds raised >$300 million. Samantha holds a BS in biochemistry from the University of California, San Diego, an MSc in microbiology & immunology and an MBA from the University of Rochester.

Every time you take a step, you're creating energy. Sadly, that energy isn't captured and used to power your daily life. But what if it could be? That's exactly what Pavegen is doing. What started as a guy tinkering in his room to make tiles that generate electricity when depressed is now a multimillion dollar startup with flooring installations in more than 30 countries.  As you'll hear in this interview with Pavegen CEO Laurence Kemball-Cook, after much trial and error, he invented a light-generating tile which he clandestinely installed in downtown London in the middle of the night to see what would happen. The video he posted online went viral, and the next thing he knew he had a half-million dollar purchase order from a major shopping mall company. That set Laurence off to the races, sometimes quite literally with installations for runners, and now he's overseeing a team of 40 seeking to mass-produce energy-creating tiles for sidewalks, roads, dancefloors, football fields, and more all around the world.  And unlike some other types of clean energy, this technology doesn't depend on the sun shining or the wind blowing, but rather just people (or vehicles) passing over.  Pavegen's now launched a crowdfunding campaign to fuel its future growth, as it works to create its vision for a more sustainable energy future, literally one step at a time.  Discussed in this episode Video promo for Pavegen's crowdfunding campaign TechCrunch video on Pavegen's technology Yahoo Finance on Pavegen Laurence recommends reading The Lean Startup Laurence also recommends the How I Built This episode with Ring founder Jamie Siminoff Laurence is enthused by waterless toilets, like those that Bill Gates is pioneering (more on his partnership with Samsung here) More about Laurence Kemball-Cook Laurence Kemball-Cook is the award-winning founder and CEO of Pavegen Systems, an innovative clean technology company. Pavegen is a flooring technology that instantly converts kinetic energy from footsteps into renewable off-grid energy. This technology has been used across the world and installed in over 150 projects in more than 30 countries. Laurence has partnered with figures such as solar entrpreneur and artist Akon, football legend Pele and will.i.am to promote his clean-tech vision. He has also worked with some of the world's largest companies including Shell, Adidas, Heathrow and Europe's largest shopping centre, Westfield.

You probably already know why coral reefs are so important—after all, they're home to a quarter of all marine life. But do you know about seagrass?  Seagrass not only provides habitat for aquatic wildlife, but it accounts for 10% of oceanic carbon storage, despite only taking up less than one percent of the seafloor. It also produces oxygen, cleans the ocean, protects against coastal erosion and more. Sadly, humanity is destroying both coral reefs and seagrass forests, with oceanic warming and acidification taking a major toll, along with pollution and fishing. Because of us, the world's already lost half of all corals and a third of all seagrass just in the past few decades.  But what if humanity could be as effective at growing reefs and seagrass as we are at destroying them? Proving that is the goal of Reefgen, a startup pioneering not SaaS (software as a service) business model, but rather RaaS (robots as a service) business model. Reefgen has invented robots that can navigate marine environments with precision and plant baby grass and corals at rates that are orders of magnitude faster than a human could.  And there's a business in this RaaS model. Not only are companies that want to pay for eco-offsets willing to pay to robotically plant new reefs and grassbeds, but so do companies that economically depend on vibrant ocean ecosystems for their livelihoods.  Reefgen CEO Chris Oakes, a marine biologist turned venture capitalist turned entrepreneur talks about the company's trajectory, its pilot trials in Hawaii, California, Indonesia, and Wales, and how it's going to scale in order to turn the tides for our planet. Discussed in this episode Our past episodes with Coral Vita (coral restoration) and Drone Seed (forest restoration). BBC on Reefgen's seagrass work in Wales. ReefGen was birthed from Good Machines Studio. Reefgen's pending patent application Chefs using seagrass for rice! Chris recommends reading Why Startups Fail and Getting Things Done. More about Chris Oakes Christopher Oakes is a marine biologist who specializes in deep-tech product commercialization and corporate development. Oakes holds a B.A. and M.A. in Biology from Occidental College. Oakes has dedicated his career to molecular tools and diagnostics, robotics, sustainable aquaculture and venture building. As CEO of Reefgen, he is setting the company's vision around mechanizing nearshore planting operations and strategic direction to meet the scale of ecosystem restoration market needs in the face of climate change. During his time at Occidental, Chris worked with the Vantuna Research Group focusing on life history studies of nearshore marine fishes, marine environmental monitoring, time series analysis and spatial modeling. He also developed laboratory procedures and analytical techniques for morphology studies of gastropods. Former companies and roles include: COO Sustainable Ocean Alliance, VP Product and Market Development NovoNutrients, Development Manager Liquid Robotics, Regional Manager Laboratory Corporation of America, and Director of Strategic Alliances and Venture Portfolio at Deep Science Ventures. Chris is also a long-time board member and R&D chair at the non-profit Marine Applied Research and Exploration (MARE).

Maxime Sigouin was on the verge of homelessness, surviving on free meals from his local food bank. After getting laid off from work and having only about $30 in his bank account, Maxime struggled to figure out how he could afford to survive, let alone try to help his partner as she endured her own mentally and financially taxing fight with cancer. The answer, it turned out, was helping others. A vegan athlete, Maxime knew the secrets of how to lose fat and gain muscle, and he figured he could create a business to sell that coveted information to others.  As you'll hear in this interview, Maxime made more than $10,000 that first month of being a virtual food and fitness coach, and has since grown his company, Fit Vegan Coaching, into a seven-figure company, acquiring competitors along the way.  Today, Maxime has helped more than 1,000 people improve their lives through healthy plant-based eating, all while massively improving his own financial wellbeing at the same time. In this conversation, we talk about Maxime's journey, and he even gives free advice on how I can get a six pack. Enjoy! Discussed in this episode Fit Vegan Coaching has free 14-day trial Maxime was highly influenced by watching Forks Over Knives Maxime works with vegan bodybuilder Brian Turner Maxime wants to see more whole food plant-based meal delivery services like Whole Harvest Our past episodes with influencers Toni Okamoto (Plant-Based on a Budget) and Colleen Patrick-Goudreau (Joyful Vegan) More about Maxime Sigouin Maxime Sigouin is a highly accomplished fitness coach, entrepreneur, and athlete. He is the founder of Fit Vegan Coaching, a company dedicated to helping individuals adopt a healthier lifestyle through plant-based nutrition and exercise. With over 10 years of experience in the fitness industry, Maxime has helped over 650 vegans successfully transition to a healthier way of living and has become a respected leader in the health and wellness community.In addition to his coaching and business ventures, Maxime is a highly accomplished athlete.  He has competed in Ironman and Spartan races, as well as cycling events to raise money for cancer research.These achievements demonstrate his dedication to living a healthy and active lifestyle, and inspire others to do the same. Maxime's passion for fitness and commitment to promoting a vegan lifestyle have earned him a reputation as a leading voice in the health and wellness industry.  He offers a range of services through Fit Vegan Coaching, including one-on-one coaching, online courses, and community support, to help individuals reach their fitness goals. He also owns several fitness businesses that offer comprehensive health and wellness programs, including nutrition and exercise, to help people live their best lives.With a mission to help 1 million people by 2050, Maxime is dedicated to spreading the message of plant-based nutrition and exercise as the key to leading a healthy and fulfilling lif  

Did you know that nearly 10 percent of all CO2 emissions come from the creation of cement alone? That's more than from all aviation! We rarely think about cement despite the fact that our society would literally collapse without it. Roads, bridges, buildings, and more all depend on this material that's so ubiquitous we barely even notice it. In fact, concrete is by far the heaviest part of humanity's footprint on the planet, and today all the materials we've built with it are heavier than the weight of all living beings on the earth. In other words, the carbon intensity of cement production is a big deal. In this episode, we talk with Sublime Systems co-founder Leah Ellis about her effort to decarbonize cement production for which she's already raised $50 million.  As you'll hear, rather than heating up limestone to hellish temperatures to make cement—the currently dominant method—Sublime harnesses the power of electro-chemistry to convert calcium-bearing rocks into cement at room temperature, thereby slashing emissions. Already Sublime has built a $10 million pilot plant demonstrating the viability of its technology and it plans to make its commercial debut within 2023. Next step: build a full scale commercial factory that can really start making the dent in the climate crisis that Leah is seeking to make. Discussed in this episode The Romans were pretty good at making cement! Sublime Systems raised a $40 million Series A round in 2023 Patent applications from Sublime Systems CNBC on Leah's work with Sublime Systems More about Leah Ellis Leah Ellis is the CEO and co-founder of Sublime Systems, a company that aims to revolutionize cement production through its breakthrough low-carbon process. With a pilot plant in Somerville, Massachusetts capable of producing 100 tons of decarbonized cement annually, Sublime recently secured a $40 million series A funding to drive growth. Leah and her co-founder, Yet-Ming Chiang, developed the technology while she was an NSERC/Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Leah holds a PhD in chemistry from Dalhousie University, where she worked with Professor Jeff Dahn on lithium-ion battery optimization in partnership with 3M and Tesla. Leah was named among MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators under 35 and is among the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneers.

Nearly all startups fail. Often even founders with a successful exit under their belts have stories of entrepreneurial strikeouts prior to or after their home run. But every once in while there's a founder who seems to have the Midas touch who just keeps winning. No, I'm not talking here about Elon Musk. Rather, I'm talking about Yves Potvin. The classically trained chef pioneered the plant-based meat movement, founding Yves Veggie Cuisine in the 1980s, which was acquired for $35 million by natural foods giant Hain Celestial. One successful exit is rare, but Yves went on to then found Gardein, which brought alt-meat to even higher heights and was eventually acquired by Pinnacle Foods for $175 million. Rather than resting on his laurels and retiring into the Alt-Meat Hall of Fame (which if it existed he'd certainly be in it!), today Yves is betting that entrepreneurial lightning will strike a third time. He's just launched a new brand called Konscious Foods which aims to bring fish-free seafood to the masses, starting with sushi and other Japanese delights. Rather than relying on extruded plant protein isolates—the core of Gardein's products, along with most other alt-meats—Konscious is using whole vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, eggplant, and konjac as its core seafood replacers. But Konscious' frozen sushi, poke bowls, and onigiri don't taste like vegetable rolls. Rather, since Konscious acquired the IP of the defunct alt-seafood company Ocean Hugger Foods, the vegetables are prepared in such a way as to give the feel and taste of products like tuna, crab, and so on.  Already they're in Sprouts and Whole Foods (see their frozen sections), and you can even get sushi made at the Whole Foods sushi counter with their fish-free fish product.  In this interview, Yves and I talk about his life, success, struggles along the way, and lessons he's learned during his multi-decade career seeking to replace animals in the food system with healthier, more humane, and more sustainable options.  Discussed in this episode You can see Konscious' products here. Konscious Foods recently raised $26 million in venture capital. Konscious Foods acquired Ocean Hugger Foods' intellectual property. Yves previously founded both Yves Veggie Cuisine (acquired by Hain Celestial) and Gardein (acquired by Pinnacle, and now owned by ConAgra). Yves worked on Gardein with Tal Ronen, who later founded Crossroads Kitchen. Paul saw Quorn's vegan chicken sold at KFC UK at price parity with conventional chicken. Yves recommends reading Shoe Dog, Steve Jobs, and books by Brian Tracy. More about Yves Potvin Yves Potvin has dedicated his culinary career to creating healthy, tasty, convenient foods that can now be found in institutions across North America. In 2017, Yves bought Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver, and he is excited about training the next generation of chefs while infusing nutrition studies, sustainable practices and new technologies into the curriculum. Trained as a classical French chef, Yves successfully built two health-focused food companies. His first, Yves Veggie Cuisine, grew to become the largest refrigerated meat-alternative producer in North America. It was sold to the Hain Celestial Group in 2001. Yves then founded Garden Protein International in 2003 to create a meatless product line called Gardein, which redefined the plant protein category and became a game changer in this fast-growing segment. Gardein received many awards including Better Homes & Gardens' Best New Product Award 2014, Canadian Grand Prix Award (four years in a row), and the National Restaurant Association's 2014 Food and Beverage Innovation Award. Yves is now the founder and president of Konscious Foods, offering consumers with conscious and convenient plant-based seafood. Yves has been recognized for his career achievements, receiving the BC Food Processors Innovation Award in 2014, Mercy for Animals Innovative Business Award 2014, BC Export Award 2014 for Sustainability, and Canada's Top 40 under 40 Award from Financial Post magazine. Yves served on the UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems Advisory Board from 2007-2018, and on the BC Ministry of Agriculture Board of Advisors.

A big part of what keeps you alive—among other things—is nitrogen. The plants you eat need it to grow, so for centuries farmers have been applying it to soil to make their acreage more productive.  Prior to the 20th century, nitrogen fertilizer used to come from animal feces, blood, and bones—which is still common in organic agriculture today—but most row crops these days are fertilized with human-made nitrogen, produced by a high-energy reaction known as the Haber–Bosch process. (Or if you take Fritz Haber's view of things rather than Carl Bosch's, you might just call it the Haber process.) The creation of synthetic nitrogen is a big reason we can feed eight billion humans today, since it enables us to produce a lot more food from the same acre of land. But, there's much to be desired about how we fertilize crops today. Not only is it highly energy-intensive to fix nitrogen from the air and turn it into something bioavailable to plants, but the application of all that nitrogen also creates major runoff pollution and air emissions problems from our farms. But what if, instead of doing the hard work of turning nitrogen into ammonia ourselves, we could simply coax soil microbes to do it for us? That's what a startup founded in 2011 called Pivot Bio is doing. They've gene-edited microbes to restore their natural ability to convert atmospheric nitrogen and deliver it to crops by adhering to the roots of the plants. These nitrogen-fixing microbes are applied either in the furrow at planting or directly on the seed before planting, forging a symbiotic relationship that allows the plant to thrive with less synthetic nitrogen. And we've got Pivot Bio's president and chief operating officer Lisa Nunez Safarian on the show to talk all about it. Nitrogen, it turns out, is very big business, with the global fertilizer business nearly $200 billion in value. As you'll hear, Pivot Bio has raised a whopping $600 million-plus from venture investors with a valuation nearing $2 billion—or one percent of the entire global fertilizer industry. Lisa tells us in this conversation that Pivot's microbes were used on three million cropland acres in 2022, reducing the need for a huge amount of synthetic fertilizer, and generating about $50 million in 2022 revenue for Pivot Bio. Even if you don't know much about agriculture, I promise this conversation is a comprehensible and riveting one that showcases the potential for biotechnology to slow climate change, clean up the environment, and produce more food with fewer resources. Discussed in this episode Lisa and Paul both endorse The Alchemy of Air by Thomas Hager. Lisa recommends reading The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek as well as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage (both by Patrick M. Lencioni). Paul recommends Resetting the Table by Rob Paarlberg, who we had on this show! More about Lisa Nunez Safarian Lisa Nunez Safarian leads commercial, manufacturing, and product development at Pivot Bio. Dedicating her career to advancing agriculture and helping farmers achieve better outcomes, Lisa oversees the day-to-day operations to ensure we are meeting the nitrogen needs of our customers. Prior to joining Pivot Bio, Lisa held several leadership positions at Bayer and Monsanto. Most recently, she served as President, Crop Science North America for Bayer where she launched innovative technologies and go-to-market strategies that grew the business. Before this role, Lisa served as Vice President, North America for Monsanto where she was responsible for strategy, execution, and commercial transformation of the $12B U.S., Canada, and Latin America North seeds, traits, licensing and crop protection businesses.

One day, while walking through the park and looking at all the leaves on the ground, Mira Nameth had a thought: what could she make with all these leaves? Little did she know that her momentary thought experiment would lead her down an entirely new path in life. The lifelong vegetarian had a keen interest in design and materials, and she wanted to do something good for the world. Already aware of how much environmental and animal welfare harm the leather industry creates, Mira began working to bring a new kind of leather into the world; leather she calls Treekind.  After getting a grant from the UK government, Mira's new company Biophilica was born. Converting leaves and even agricultural byproducts into a plastic-free alt-leather, Biophilica's material creation process uses less than 1 percent of the water needed to make cow-based leather, all while being both animal-free and petrochemical free, too. Founded in 2019, her company's gone on to raise seven figures, hire more than a dozen people, and start selling Treekind in the high-end watch market, where you can now own a wristband that looks like leather, but was really made from leaves.  It's a fascinating and inspirational story that will "leaf" you wanting to know more! Discussed in this episode Biophilica got its start at an accelerator called Central Research Laboratory Their first grant came from Innovate UK They also went through the Fashion for Good accelerator, which became an investor of Biophilica's Sustainable Ventures and Rhapsody Ventures Partners also invested in the company Biophillica's first commercialized product is an alt-leather watch from ID Genève Biophillica's first patent was granted in 2023 Mira's father Ronald Nameth made a short documentary called Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable  Mira's been influenced by Socrates' view of beauty and Kant's categorical imperative Our past episodes on bioplastics, such as what TIPA is doing in Israel  More about Mira Nameth Mira Nameth worked as an art and creative director at digital agencies in New York and London for 15 years. In 2013, she had her daughter Nora, which changed her perspective and focus. Becoming acutely aware of the need for action against climate change, waste problems, and usage of concerning chemicals in materials, Mira started developing what was to become Treekind at the Design Master's Programme at the Royal College of Art and subsequently founded Biophilica.

Tuna are like the tigers of the ocean: apex predators essential for oceanic health. And just like with tigers, humanity has been waging an unprovoked war on tuna, causing their numbers to plummet in recent decades.  They may not be furry, but these finned beasts still need help, and help them is exactly what Impact Food is seeking to do. Founded in 2021 by a few recent UC-Berkely grads interested in doing something good for the world, the company has embarked on a journey to recreate whole muscle seafood without the fish. In fact, their CEO, Kelly Pan, is so interested in doing good in the world that she's a regular listener of this very show. So when I met Kelly at the Reducetarian conference in May 2022, I knew I'd be cheering her on, and I'm very glad to have her as a guest on this episode. Impact Food has now raised about $1 million in venture backing, gotten onto menus in California, including Pokeworks—the largest poke chain in the US—and is now raising a seed round to bring their whole muscle alt-tuna to thousands of menus nationwide.  Kelly tells her tale in this episode, including her past entrepreneurial endeavors and what she's seeking to accomplish now. I think you'll be impressed! Discussed in this episode: Impact Food was born out of the UC-Berkeley Alt-Meat Lab. Impact Food then moved to KitchenTown in San Mateo, Calif. Paul's blog on how food waste alters meat demand. Kelly recommends the book Delivering Happiness. More about Kelly Pan Kelly Pan is the Co-Founder & CEO of Impact Food. She is a foodie turned entrepreneur on a mission to build a more sustainable and resilient food system. With a degree from UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business, Kelly has led multiple interdisciplinary teams and launched impact-driven projects, including a skincare brand and a pro-bono consulting organization for small businesses. Through Impact Food, Kelly envisions a future of food that can reliably feed a growing global population while keeping fish in the oceans. She and her team are leveraging plants and biotechnology to create the most delicious and nutritious whole cut seafood alternatives. She is excited to bring tasty and accessible Impact Food to the masses.

Nearly none of the plastic we use—even what gets thrown in the recycling bin—actually gets recycled. One reason for that is that plastic manufacturers often include additives in their plastics which enhance the performance of the material, but reduce the recyclability of those plastics.  But what if there were a natural additive that could mimic the performance improvements of conventional plastic additives while improving recyclability? That's what MadeRight is betting on. The Israeli startup, founded in 2022, is growing mycelium—the root-like structure of fungi—to produce extracts that can be pelletized and sold to plastic manufacturers, improving both performance and sustainability.  Already, the company's raised $1.5 million USD from some big names in consumer packaged goods, hired half a dozen team members, and is making small amounts of its mycelial extracts as a proof of concept.  CEO Rotem Cahanovitc got the idea for such a company while living in Ethiopia and seeing families simply burning all their plastic waste to get rid of it. Why not make better plastics that could just be recycled or even composted, he wondered. And it would be even better if you could grow the mycelium on industrial byproducts, which MadeRight is doing. The company's now focused on scaling up to bring its slice of the plastic pollution solution to the market. Discussed in this conversation Our past episode with compostable plastic-maker TIPA. Food Navigator on MadeRight's process. MadeRight was part of the Fresh Start incubator in Israel.  New research (see Washington Post and NY Times) questions whether mycelium actually forms a "wood wide web." However, Rotem published this paper which sheds more light on the issue.  Rotem recommends Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion and NLP Practitioner. More about Rotem Cahanovitc Rotem Cahanovitc is a mycology enthusiast innovating the use of fungi, the great recyclers of the planet, to support the transition to a flourishing, sustainable circular economy. He founded MadeRight envisioning creative ways to use fungi as a platform to produce the industrial materials of the future, starting with packaging made right.

What started with a small grant from the National Science Foundation to two twin science-y sisters barely out of college is now a startup employing dozens of people that's so far raised more than $13 million to revolutionize how we make clothing. Here's how it works: You already know that plants take in CO2 and convert it into biomass, which we humans often like to turn into clothing. But what if we could bypass the plants, and just capture C02 being emitted from a factory and convert it with enzymes into fabrics that we could then wear? Not only would this magical process take emissions out of the atmosphere, but they'd also prevent the need to pollute in order to make the clothing we currently buy. That's exactly what Rubi Labs is doing, displacing the need to grow cotton by harnessing the power of biotech fermentation to capture CO2 from factories and convert it into textiles.  As you'll hear in this conversation, Rubi CEO Neeka Mashouf started the company with her twin sister Leila, and they've already partnered with major brands like H&M. Discussed in this episode Neeka recommends The World in a Grain and Rivers of Power. Neeka enjoys listening to the How I Built This podcast. Paul recommends the documentary Three Identical Strangers More about Rubi Co-Founders Neeka and Leila Mashouf were raised by the old-growth redwood forests and coasts of Northern California. Their family before them found refuge here after fleeing Iran in 1979, and told stories of how the walnut groves and sparkling shores reminded them of home. Neeka and Leila fell in love with trees and nature, the science of how they work, and the materials of which they are made -- both starting scientific research careers at age 15 and growing up to be scientists. At the same time, the twin sisters grew up immersed in the artistic world of fashion through their family's brand, Bebe Stores. They spent summers learning from merchants, designers, production experts, and manufacturers, magnetized by the beauty of fashion then later devastated by the environmental impact. Their unique upbringing inspired them to use science and invention to take action across the manufacturing industry to fight the destruction of our clean air, water, climate, arable land, and biodiverse ecosystems. They started Rubi in 2021 after inventing and prototyping the technology in a public biohacking lab, leveraging their deep scientific expertise in materials engineering and bioengineering.

If you listen to this show, you probably already think that we need to slash human emissions to prevent catastrophic climate change. In many ways, our species has been engaged in a massive, uncontrolled geoengineering project that's heating up the planet to the point where wildlife extinction, massive floods and fires, and other tragedies are now simply routine. So far, humanity's geoengineering has largely been limited to heating the earth up. But what about purposeful geoengineering to actually cool the planet down? In other words, while we're waiting to get our act together on emissions, why not reflect some of the sunshine beaming onto our pale blue dot back into space, so we can shade ourselves and keep cooler in the meantime? The idea's been discussed in sci-fi literature for decades, and is even being researched by the federal government right now. (See here, here, and here, for example.) But one serial entrepreneur decided to take the earth's climate into his own hands and start his own geoengineering company, Make Sunsets. The idea is simple: When volcanoes erupt, they spew sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, reflecting a small amount of sunlight back into space, thereby tangibly cooling the planet temporarily. So, figured Make Sunsets CEO Luke Iseman, why not just put the sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere himself? So Luke bought a balloon on Amazon, filled it with helium to make it rise along with a couple grams of sulfur dioxide as payload, and he let it go. Fast forward a year later, and his launch has been condemned by many around the globe as irresponsibly hubristic, yet also praised by many who see such geoengineering as the best of a list of bad options. If he could do the same thing as the initial launch but orders of magnitude greater, he could meaningfully cool the planet down to prevent some of the worst effects of climate change, at least for a year or two, unless he was continually doing it.  As Luke says, "Every day that we don't inject sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere as responsibly as the state of the science will let us and as much as we can economically, species are needlessly going extinct and people are dying." So far Make Sunsets is still a tiny startup: two employees with about a million dollars of venture capital raised, though from some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. They're already selling cooling credits—think carbon credits, but instead of removing CO2 from the atmosphere they're just cooling the planet down without actually altering CO2 levels. He's clear that sulfur dioxide injections into the stratosphere are a means of simply buying ourselves time to get our emissions under control, not a replacement for emissions reduction. So, see what you think. Is Make Sunsets a planetary savior or an well-intentioned but potentially apocalyptic idea? I really enjoyed talking with Luke and I think you'll enjoy listening. Discussed in this episode The controversy caused by Make Sunsets has been covered on CNN, NY Times, CNBC, The Guardian, Washington Post, and more.   Luke was inspired to start Make Sunsets after reading Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson. Paul learned of Make Sunsets via the Wall Street Journal's podcast. Luke's initial launch caused the Mexican government to act against him. Luke recommends How to Blow up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm, The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, and The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Paul mentions Snowpiercer, a story about a global winter unexpectedly befalling earth after a project similar to Make Sunsets. Our past episodes with philosopher Peter Singer and carbon capturer Graciela Chichilninsky. Interestingly, Peter Singer recently endorsed the idea of at least researching geoengineering. Luke maintains a list of companies he'd like to build, and one idea in particular he just can't get out of his head. More about Luke Iseman Luke Iseman is cofounder of Make Sunsets, a startup that launches reflective clouds to fight global warming. They have deployed over 3000 ton-years worth of cooling for paying customers, and their mission is to Cool Earth by 1C before 2030. Previously, Luke was founder of several hardware startups and Director of Hardware at Y Combinator.

Every piece of plastic you've ever used still exists somewhere on the planet, from the ziplock bag of leftovers to the bag of chips to the packaging holding in all the grapes you picked up at the store. We used to ship all of our plastic waste to China, but in 2017 they stopped taking it, so the vast majority of our plastic, including what we put in the recycling bin, at the very best just ends up in a landfill, and at the worst ends up in the ocean.  Enter TIPA, an Israeli startup promising to revolutionize plastic packaging by making it fully compostable. That means you could take the bag your grapes come in and just put it in your backyard compost. That's a big deal, because a lot of packaging labeled "compostable" is actually only compostable under industrial composting conditions which are much higher heat than what you'd typically get in a home composting system or if the product ends up in nature. TIPA's already raised $130 million USD in venture capital funding, employs more than 60 people in Israel, the US, and Europe, has developed numerous plastic replacement products that are now sold on several continents, recently acquired another startup in the space, and is working feverishly scale further so they can turn off the faucet of plastic pollution humanity is dumping into our environment every year. TIPA is Hebrew for "droplet," and in this conversation with TIPA's founder and CEO, Daphna Nissenbaum, we chat about her journey from a software engineer to a plastic revolutionary, what the difference between biodegradable and compostable is, what her alt-plastic is actually made of, and more. Most entrepreneurs dream of having the success Daphna's had so far in terms of fundraising and product launches, so it was fun to hear her story. Discussed in this episode TIPA raised a $70M USD Series C financing round. Inc Magazine on Daphna's fight to make all plastic compostable. TIPA acquired Bio4Pack in $8M USD deal. You can see a range of TIPA's compostable packaging here. Many products sold in the US come in TIPA alt-plastic, like these. As an example, you can see what a TIPA bag looks like by checking out these Sunrays brand grape bags. As you can see it really looks just like a normal grape bag! Plastic-eating microbes could help degrade current plastics. More about Daphna Nissenbaum Before launching TIPA®, Daphna was CEO of the Caesarea Center for Capital Markets and Risk Management at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya. Previously, she held various management positions at SPL World Group Ltd, a provider of revenue and operations management software, prior to which she held the position of project manager at Whelty Lager Ltd., located in Boston MA, USA. Daphna holds an MBA specializing in Marketing and Entrepreneurship from IDC Herzliya (graduated with honors) and a BA in Economics and Software Engineering from Bar Ilan University. She graduated the elite Israel Defense Forces software engineering program (Mamram) and served in the Israeli Navy software unit as an officer (ranked Captain). Today, Daphna is leading the TIPA® team in the movement to revolutionize packaging systems and rid the world of plastic pollution. TIPA® fully compostable flexible packaging replaces conventional plastic, turning waste into resource, a crisis into an opportunity.

Did you know about the correlation between declining smoking rates and increasing hummus consumption? It's true—a decade ago, as American smoking rates were falling, hummus consumption began ascending, leading numerous tobacco growers to convert their fields to chickpea production instead.  Hummus is also a favorite of those seeking to eat plant-based while still getting a satiating snack or meal. In fact, in the Middle East, the birthplace of hummus, it's not eaten as a dip like it is here in America, but rather hummus itself is the bulk of the meal, enjoyed literally by the bowlful as I've personally witnessed—and enjoyed—while in Israel.  Some people even think that hummus may be among the key ways to unite the Middle East, where various cultures have been enjoying hummus for thousands of years. But one place where hummus hasn't been enjoyed for millenia: North America. But one Israeli company set out to change that, Sabra, which has caused an explosion of interest in hummus since it entered the market, especially since the company sold half of its shares to Pepsi. Since then, Sabra has rapidly accelerated hummus' popularity here in America.  Today, Sabra sells hundreds of millions of dollars of tubs of hummus and is by far the largest player in the sector. In this interview, we chat with Sabra CEO Joey Bergstein about all things hummus, including why he thinks hummus is such a force for good in the world—including why chickpeas are the OG of regenerative crops—and how Sabra can do even better.  Discussed in this episode The switch from tobacco growing to chickpea growing. NuCicer, a cool startup breeding a higher protein chickpea. Joey recommends listening to Revisionist History podcast. Long before Joey was CEO, in 2014 Sabra petitioned FDA for a standard of identity for hummus, something about which Joey says in this interview the company is no longer concerned. TODAY Show ranking of 10 hummus brands, with Sabra ranking #1. Some past episodes of ours on plastic include Footprint, Radical Plastic, AMP Robotics, Plastic Bank, Notpla, and Outlander Materials. The myth of plastic recycling, via NPR. More about Joey Bergstein Joey Bergstein joined Sabra in August 2021 as President and Chief Executive Officer. He and the Sabra team are on a quest to unit and delight the world around planet positive food. Prior to joining Sabra, Bergstein led Seventh Generation as Chief Executive Officer since 2017 following successive leadership roles since he joined in 2011. Together with his team, he transformed the business through sustainability-driven product innovation, advocacy-led marketing, and deep partnership with retailers. This combination more than tripled revenue during his tenure, all while building a purpose-driven culture and pursuing the company's quest to transform the world into a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable place for the next seven generations.    A graduate of University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business, Bergstein began his career at Procter & Gamble where he held marketing leadership roles over ten years across North America and in Europe.  He then took on leadership roles in the beverages industry, serving as VP beverages industry, serving as VP Global Business Development and then VP Marketing at Molson and then as Senior Vice President of Global Rum at Diageo where, Joey led a global team that doubled the rum business to over $1 billion, transforming Captain Morgan into the fastest growing premium spirit brand in the world.     Joey has been recognized by CERES for his leadership addressing Climate Change receiving the 2020 CERES BICEP CEO Award and by his fellow Ivey Alumni receiving the 2020 Ivey Alumni Achievement Award.  Joey and his wife, Andrea, founder of Scribblitt.com, now live in New York City. 

There are several dozen startups, including one that I cofounded, laboring to scale mycelium fermentation to a point where it can start making a dent in demand for animal meat. One company though, has been doing this for decades: Quorn Foods.  While most alt-meat is made from pea, soy, or wheat, Quorn dominates the portion of the market made from mycelium, controlling more than 99% of the mycoprotein-based alt-meat sector. Partnered with companies like KFC, Quorn is the number one alt-meat brand in the EU, even though it's still a smaller part of the US market. That may be changing soon, though. In this conversation, we hear from Quorn's CEO Marco Bertacca about where the company's been and where it's going, including its plans in the US. He reveals which fungi protein startup Quorn recently invested in, whether Quorn intends to build its own fermentation assets in the US, when the company intends to remove all egg whites from its products, and why he thinks Quorn seems better suited as a chicken alternative than beef. Interestingly, he also claims that Quorn is already competing on cost with some chicken products today. I was impressed by Marco's humility in this interview, including when he's talking about where he thinks Quorn has come up short in some of its expansion plans. Interestingly, he and I also chat about why he felt it was important for him, when starting as CEO four years ago, to work for weeks undercover as a factory worker in a Quorn plant before getting behind a computer. The job, Marco claims, has been very gratifying for him, noting that he's married to someone who never eats meat, and he's become someone who eats meat only once per month. Marco even notes that his children are more proud of him today than ever before because of his work to create a more sustainable food system.  I think you'll appreciate that sentiment even more after listening to this conversation with the man at the helm of the fungi fermentation revolution—enjoy! Discussed in this episode Paul's new talk on the TED website about fungi fermentation. Paul's favorite Quorn products are the Spicy Chiqin Patties and Fish Sticks. The history of Quorn. Quorn was acquired in 2015 for $831 million by Monde Nissin. Monde Nissin's 2021 billion-dollar IPO for Quorn. Quorn's 2021 announcement that it would invest $335 million in the US market. Marco's first weeks on the CEO job were spent as a factory worker. The Fungi Protein Association, of which Quorn is a founding member Our recent episode with Prime Roots CEO Kimberlie Le. More about Marco Bertacca Marco Bertacca joined Quorn Foods as CEO in January 2020, bringing over 25 years of global food and drink experience to the company.  Prior to moving to the UK to undertake the role, Marco was based in the Philippines where he was the Managing Director of Alaska Milk Corporation, a Friesland Campina Company, for over three years. He first moved to South East Asia in 2013, taking the role of Business Development Director in Singapore for Friesland Campina. He went on to hold a number of MD roles across Singapore and Thailand. Before joining Friesland Campina Marco was President of Europe at CSM Bakery Products, and began his career working for Unilever for 10 years, leading the company's supply chain operations. Marco joined Quorn Foods with the ultimate goal of encouraging more sustainable diets, for the health of both people and planet. Under his leadership, the business announced it will be the first major food brand to roll out carbon labelling on its products, and has committed to achieving Net Positive status by 2030, by which time he has set the ambition to serve 8 billion servings of Quorn a year, the equivalent of one serving for every person on the planet.

Twenty years ago, Jason Matheny was a public health student who in his spare time was crusading to create a meat industry that would be less reliant on animals.  In 2004, after he founded New Harvest to popularize cultured meat, his fame grew. The New York Times profiled him in its annual "Ideas of the Year" feature in 2005. That same year Discover magazine named cultured meat one of the most notable tech stories. For the next several years, Jason was the face of the movement to grow real meat without animals, traveling the world to persuade governments and food companies alike that they should be investing in a future where people would eat meat, but not animals.  By 2009, now armed with his BA, MBA, MPH, and PhD, Jason began turning his attention toward preventing the more immediate and potentially catastrophic risks humanity faces. After leaving New Harvest, he eventually rose to become the director of Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), a federal agency that develops advanced technologies for national intelligence. Running the federal intelligence agency would eventually lead Jason to helm a national security center at Georgetown University, followed by a high-profile national security role in the Biden White House, to now being the CEO of the Rand Corporation. He was even named one of Foreign Policy's "Top 50 Global Thinkers." As you'll hear in this interview, Jason shifted from his work on cultivated meat toward national security as he became convinced that technology can vastly improve both human and animal welfare, and that the only real threat to technological advancement is an apocalyptic catastrophe like a synthetic virus or asteroid. He still cares about the welfare of those of us living today—human and nonhuman alike—but Jason's primary preoccupation has become reducing civilization-threatening risks so that our species can keep progressing into the deep future. I think you'll find this conversation with this leading thinker as riveting as I did. Jason even talks about what technologies he hopes listeners will pursue to mitigate existential risks, so be sure to listen closely! Discussed in this episode Jason recommends reading The Precipice by Toby Ord. Jason passed the New Harvest torch onto Isha Datar, who was our guest on Episode 42. Our Episode 89 with Rep. Ro Khanna regarding his legislation relating to national security implications of losing the alt-meat race. Paul's thoughts in The Hill on government funding for alt-meat. More about Jason Matheny Jason Matheny is president and chief executive officer of the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.  Prior to becoming RAND's president and CEO in July 2022, he led White House policy on technology and national security at the National Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Previously, he was founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University and director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), where he was responsible for developing advanced technologies for the U.S. intelligence community.  Before IARPA, he worked for Oxford University, the World Bank, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Center for Biosecurity, and Princeton University. Matheny has served on many nonpartisan boards and committees, including the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, to which he was appointed by Congress in 2018.  He is a recipient of the Intelligence Community's Award for Individual Achievement in Science and Technology, the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He was also named one of Foreign Policy's "Top 50 Global Thinkers."  Matheny holds a Ph.D. in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University, an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.B.A. from Duke University, and a B.A. in art history from the University of Chicago.

You probably already know that using animals to make materials like leather has a lot of downsides. But using petro-chemicals and intensive crops like cotton, while better than animal products, is still pretty suboptimal for the planet. Keel Labs thinks it has a better idea. Rather than relying on animals or terrestrial plant agriculture, it's seeking to use kelp—yep, seaweed—to make the next generation of materials. Kelp grows much more quickly than land-based plants, sucks C02 out of the air, requires no water, fertilizer, or pesticide inputs, and generally speaking makes the oceans healthier.  Conceived by undergrad students in 2017, the company has now raised nearly $20 million from venture capitalists betting that kelp will be the next big thing, has two dozen employees, and is making kelp-based yarns at its North Carolina headquarters. In case you're as maritime-challenged as I am and don't know what "keel" means, a keel is the structural spine of a ship, from the bow to the stern, functioning to create balance between the ocean and to keep a ship's momentum moving forward. The B2B company doesn't intend to sell its own kelp clothing as much as it intends to produce the natural yarn that fashion designers can use to create humane, climate-friendly materials.  Are the tides turning for sustainable materials? Keel Labs co-founder Aleks Gosiewski thinks so and sees an ocean of opportunity in kelp. Enjoy hearing her inspirational story. Discussed in this episode Keel won the Biodesign Challenge competition. Keel Labs went through the Indie Bio accelerator. Horizons Ventures invested in Keel Labs. Keel Labs was once housed in the same space as Modern Meadow. Modern Meadow spun off the cultivated meat company Fork and Good. Our past episode with Pinatex (leather from pineapple leaves). Aleks recommends reading Bio Design, Material Ecology, Shoe Dog, and Steve Jobs Aleks thinks you should attend the Design Indaba conference in South Africa After the interview, Aleks confirmed that the organisms that Kelsun is exposed to during composting or landfilling are much more varied (and suited to use carbohydrates as food) and numerous than the organisms present during regular wear or use of Kelsun. She says Keel has further validated this by conducting in-house vermicompost tests and official marine and landfill biodegradation tests. More about Aleks Gosiewski Aleksandra Gosiewski is the Co-Founder & COO of Keel Labs, an innovation platform expanding the potential of the ocean to accelerate the planet's development towards a more sustainable future. With a background in fashion design and economics, Aleks is driving the development of Keel Labs' business and R&D operations to scale the production of Kelsun, the company's flagship product. As a systems thinker, Aleks connects the dots between supply chain logistics, financial planning, and business development. Aleks is a Forbes 30 Under 30 member, a testament to her unique and pioneering perspective on the intersection of science and design.

In 2021, a lengthy analysis was published by a now-defunct online news outlet concluding that cultivating animal cells at commercial meat industry scale was simply a pipedream. Josh March didn't really disagree. But he thought if you could bioengineer the animal cells to get more comfortable at production scale, and add those finished cells into otherwise plant-based meats, you could both commercialize meat cultivation and make animal-free burgers taste even better. Not only did March persuade himself of it, but he persuaded investors, too. In 2022—a very difficult time for startups to raise VC cash—March's startup, SciFi Foods, raised $22 million to bioengineer better animal-free beef. Of course, many in the cultivated meat world shy away from talking about or practicing bioengineering for fear that it will turn consumers off. But not March. He's betting big that technologies like bioengineering and CRISPR are actually the only path to success in this field, so he's going all in.  In this interview, we talk all about Josh's story, including two previous startup acquisitions, his motivations for doing this work, and what he sees as the future of meat. Discussed in this episode Josh became interested in cultivated meat after reading The Singularity is Near and Player of Games We discuss the 2021 Counter story on cultivated meat's prospects Josh recommends reading How to Get Rich Paul recommends reading Tender is the Flesh Josh is currently reading Mythos Paul references Circe as a female-centered retelling of Greek mythology BTW, Josh is the author of Message Me: The Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging and Artificial Intelligence More about Josh March Joshua March is the co-founder & CEO of SCiFi Foods, on a mission to disrupt the $1.2T meat market by leveraging the power of genetic engineering to make cultivated meat (real meat grown from cells) a commercial reality. He was previously the Co-founder & CEO of Conversocial, a digital care platform for messaging that works with many of the biggest brands in the world (acquired by Verint).

The Business of Being an Author and Influencer with Toni Okamoto of Plant-Based on a Budget This is a special episode of this podcast, because the guest is not only an entrepreneur making money by making the world a better place, but she also just happens to be my wife. Toni Okamoto is the founder and CEO of Plant-Based on a Budget, and she has her fourth cookbook coming out right around the time that this episode drops! Long-time listeners will recall that Toni was actually the co-host of this podcast for the first 20 episodes, and medium-time listeners will recall that she was an interviewee two years ago on episode 51 when her last book came out. It was a fun interview that I recommend going back and checking out, but this is even more fun and doesn't require knowledge of the first episode to enjoy. When Toni and I first met, Plant Based on a Budget was just a passion blog she did in her free time. Fast forward to today, and with no external investment, just through revenue generation alone, Plant-Based on a Budget is now a profitable company employing five people and reaching millions with a message of how to save money by eating in a way that's better for you and for the world.  In addition to talking about Toni's latest book, Plant-Based on a Budget Quick and Easy, we also talk a lot about the business of being an influencer, how being the CEO of a profitable company that puts her in the spotlight has changed her life, and more. I had fun doing this interview, and I hope Toni did too. You be the judge.  Resources discussed in this episode You can get Toni's new cookbook here. Our past episode 51 with Toni. Toni recommends listening to the Food Blogger Pro podcast, including a recent episode with Toni about her business. Our past episode with Moby and his new documentary Punk Rock Vegan Movie. Alfonso Revilla's stellar photography. Paul recommends following science and engineerinfluencer Mark Rober. Vox's story on the trend of kids wanting to be influencers. Investor Seth Bannon's tweet arguing that influencers aren't creators, but rather entertainers. More about Toni Okamoto Toni Okamoto is the founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, the popular website and social media platform that teaches millions how to save dough by eating veggies. She's also the author of the Plant-Based on a Budget Cookbook, and the co-host of The Plant-Powered People Podcast. Okamoto's work has been profiled by NPR, NBC News, Parade Magazine, and she's a regular presence on local and national morning shows across the country, where she teaches viewers how to break their meat habit without breaking their budget. She was also featured in the popular documentary What the Health. When she's not cooking up a plant-based storm, she's spending time with her husband and their rescued dog in Sacramento, CA.

President Biden recently signed into law the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, new legislation that ends the FDA's mandate that all drugs be tested on animals prior to human clinical trials. The new law doesn't prohibit animal testing, but it does give companies the choice of whether to conduct animal experiments or not, and could lead to many fewer animals being used as test subjects.  If we don't use animals as test tubes prior to human clinical trials, what should we use? Emulate claims it has the answer. The organ-on-a-chip company's CEO Jim Corbett testified before Congress in favor of the new legislation and says his company's products deliver much more reliable data than does animal experimentation.  And why shouldn't it? We all know that rats (the most popular animal on whom to experiment) have pretty different biologies than humans. For example, people with pet rats are regularly warned not to give their rats onions since it can sicken them. We all know dogs are apparently not supposed to eat chocolate. Yet humans do just fine eating these foods that are toxic to rats and dogs.  So what if we could test on actual human cells that have been placed on chips which mimic the functions of a human body? In this episode, Jim discusses Emulate's technology, its promise to slash the number of animals used for testing while delivering safe drugs to market more quickly, who opposes their efforts, and where this is all leading us.  Emulate so far has raised a whopping quarter-billion dollars of venture capital investment, so someone believes that these folks are onto something big. Time will tell, and for now, their CEO will tell you the Emulate story. Discussed in this episode Emulate was birthed from Don Ingber's lab at Harvard with funding from DARPA Fast Company and WIRED on Emulate's work. Nature Communications Medicine Performance assessment and economic analysis of a human Liver-Chip for predictive toxicology (2022) Science Translational Medicine Reproducing human and cross-species drug toxicities using a Liver-Chip (2019) Jim recommends the book Endurance to would-be startup founders Jim credits the Center for a Humane Economy with leading the passage of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0. More about Jim Corbett Jim Corbett has served as a leader of successful international businesses across diverse sectors, including biotechnology, medical imaging, analytical instruments and in vitro diagnostics. His experience ranges from Fortune 100 companies to entrepreneurial start-ups.  Until becoming the CEO of Emulate, he served in leadership roles at PerkinElmer during an 11-year tenure, including Executive Vice President and President of Discovery & Analytical Solutions. His other roles at PerkinElmer included President of Diagnostics & Life Sciences, Senior Vice President of Life Sciences Solutions, and Vice President of North America Genetic Screening. Prior to PerkinElmer, Corbett was President of ViaCell, Inc. which was acquired by PerkinElmer in 2007. Previously, he co-founded CADx Systems, a company focused on the oncology market, where he held the position of Executive Vice President and Director with responsibility for worldwide sales and marketing, technical support and business development. Following the 2004 acquisition of CADx by iCAD, Inc., he was named Chief Commercial Officer.  In addition, Corbett worked for Abbott Laboratories for 14 years in a variety of sales and marketing positions including Worldwide Marketing Manager for Abbott Diagnostics Immunoassay Systems and Region Manager for Abbott Diagnostics. Corbett holds a Bachelor of Science from The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

You've heard of the companies seeking to build new brands of animal-free meat, but you hear a lot less about the B2B companies working behind the scenes to give those pioneers the tools they need to succeed. One such company, Matrix FT, recently debuted what it's calling Ohio's first cultivated chicken nugget, featuring chicken cells grown on the scaffolds and microcarriers it produces. Via a technology called electo-spinning (more like this than this), Matrix FT is creating edible, animal-free, cost-effective ingredients that cultivated meat companies can use in their media to more effectively grow their meat. And now the company's starting to work with plant-based meat companies to improve texture, as well. Recently Matrix FT's founder and CEO Eric Jenkusky stepped down from his role, and their executive Teryn Wolfe assumed the helm of the company. In this interview, we talk with Teryn about what circumstances in her life led her to be running an alt-protein food tech company, what she views as the big hurdles in the space, and why she thinks it's taking longer for cultivated meat to reach your plate than many had predicted. Discussed in this episode Using electro-spinning for plant-based meat (cool tech here on this too) Using electro-spinning for cultivated meat Teryrn recommends the Good Food Institute's deep dive into cultivated meat science She also recommends New Harvest's resources About Teryn Wolfe Teryn Wolfe is the Interim CEO at Matrix Food Technologies, where she was the former Vice President and Director of Corporate Development and Strategic Relationships. Before joining Matrix F.T., Teryn founded and managed Measurement Matters, based out of  Colombia. She is also the founder of a startup that helps female artisans and entrepreneurs get their products to market, and a NGO. She is  Fulbright Research Scholar Alumni, a former Adjunct professor and possesses a diverse, international professional background, marked with unique experiences that have been driven by curiosity, determination and desire to deliver on creating meaningful, positive change in the world. Teryn lives in Columbus, Ohio with her son, Adrian, and her dog, Penny Lane. She spends her free time reading, cooking, playing, conjuring up new business ideas and planning logistics of adventures to come! 

Usually when you hear about meat's connection to methane, it's about all the methane that cows are emitting into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change. What if, however, you could capture methane before it goes into the atmosphere, and feed it to microbes which in turn convert it into protein-packed ingredients to make alt-meat? Sounds like magic, but it's not magic, it's science! And it's a science that Dr. Ezhil Subbian and her team at String Bio are advancing right now. The India-based company in 2022 closed its $20 million Series B round and is now scaling up to commercialize its microbial protein ingredients. In this interview, Dr. Subbian and I talk about how she started the company, why she moved it from Silicon Valley to Bangalore, India, where they get the methane to feed their microbes, and much more. It's a fun conversation with someone passionate about fermentation and seeking to scale it in a part of the world where it's desperately needed—where meat demand is rising the fastest: Asia. So enjoy this conversation with a real pioneer in the microbial fermentation space as she tells you her story of going from biotech researcher to startup CEO. Discussed in this episode Our past episode with Zero Acre Farms. Ezhil recommends Meditations by Marcus Aurelius  Paul's favorite quote from Meditations: "Everything that happens is either endurable or not. If it's endurable, then endure it. Stop complaining. If it's unendurable … then stop complaining. Your destruction will mean its end as well." Ezhil recommends The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee  Finally, Ezhil recommends Good to Great by Jim Collins More about Ezhil Subbian, PhD Ezhil is a scientist, innovator, thinker, hiking enthusiast and a citizen of the world. Ezhil is driven by a passion to leverage the power of biology to deliver sustainable and cost-effective solutions. Her experience in biobased product development over the last 20 years helps her bring deep technical expertise to the work at String. Ezhil's work was most recently recognized with the Women Transforming India Award 2018 from United Nations/NITI Aayog. Ezhil completed her degree in Industrial and Biotech engineering from Anna University, Chennai, and then went on to do a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. She then worked for over 12 years in Silicon Valley's Bay area as part of the biotechnology industry. She worked as a scientist and technical lead across multiple companies before becoming a consultant and then starting up. Ezhil is a scientist, innovator, thinker, hiking enthusiast and a citizen of the world. Ezhil is driven by a passion to leverage the power of biology to deliver sustainable and cost-effective solutions. Her experience in biobased product development over the last 20 years helps her bring deep technical expertise to the work at String. Ezhil's work was most recently recognized with the Women Transforming India Award 2018 from United Nations/NITI Aayog.

Nearly none of the plastic we use gets recycled. Even the plastic we throw into the recycling bin often ends up in landfills since it's just not economical to recycle the plastic, especially now that China has banned imports of American plastic waste. So what are we going to do with the vast oceans of plastic we love to use? Shelly Zhang has an idea. As you'll hear in this episode, the death of Shelly's father led to the birth of her company, Molten Materials. Armed with her PhD in engineering, Shelly has pioneered a method of taking plastic waste and upcycling it into pavement sealers, asphalt rejuvenators, and more. In other words, she's betting that she can take our trash and turn it into her treasure, all while solving the pressing problem of what to do with all our plastic waste.  Already, Shelly's earned seed investment, hired a dozen team members, filed for various patents, and is now readying her first-ever product, an upcycled-plastic DIY pavement sealer you can use on your own driveway or other cracked surfaces.  Her story is an inspirational one, moving to the US from China, earning her PhD, and now founding her own company. I think you'll be impressed, so let me allow Shelly to tell you her story herself. Discussed in this episode Shelly recommends Shoe Dog by Phil Knight Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, by Richard Feynman Our past episode on nuclear waste with Deep Isolation CEO Elizabeth Muller More about Shelly Zhang Shelly Zhang earned her PhD from California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 2020 Shelly founded Molten Materials, her vision is to create a clean and sustainable world for future generations by replacing big oil. She believes that through technological innovation, it is achievable to solve the toughest problems our world faces."

Is Sugar by Another Name Just as Sweet? Ali Wing and Oobli Are Fermenting Their Way to a Sweet Protein Future We all know that eating too much sugar isn't good for us, but millions of years of evolution led us to love sweet foods. After all, they provide us with a quick boost of energy needed in an ancestral environment where we were largely active throughout the day. Of course, today most people in the developed world are far from being active all day, yet we still crave sugar and eat it in an abundance far greater than what was available to our distant ancestors from whom we descend. There've been plenty of attempts to create sweetness without the negative effects that go along with eating the refined sugars we seem to love so much. From older products like aspartame to newer ones like stevia or allulose, a pot of gold awaits those who can help humanity satiate our sweet tooth without contributing to the health crises we now face. To that end, we're talking today with Oobli CEO Ali Wing about her company's efforts to commercialize the world's first sweet proteins. Yes, you read that right: sweet proteins. In 2022 Oobli closed a $25 million Series B round, bringing the company's total fundraising to date to $40 million.  So, how do they create sweet proteins? As you'll hear Ali describe in this episode, some plants naturally produce proteins that happen to be sweet as an evolutionary trick. It'd be difficult to mass produce those plants, but via microbial fermentation, Oobli has figured out how to produce the bioidentical proteins themselves.  I had the pleasure of enjoying some of Oobli's pre-market products and I certainly couldn't tell the difference myself. I was especially excited to try the company's chocolate bar which tastes as sweet as a full-sugar bar, but with 70 percent less sugar.  It's an exciting way to sweeten the food industry without turning our health sour. I think you'll enjoy hearing Ali tell you the story of how she and her team intend to make your life, and your health, a little bit sweeter. Discussed in this episode Paul recommends Sugar: A Bittersweet History by Elizabeth Abbott Ali recommends Loonshots by Safi Bahcall Ali also recommends John Doerr's books Ali mentions this study about the metabolic impacts of alt-sugars More about Ali Wing A growth CEO, Ali is best known for tackling big consumer problems, brand strategy & building high performing, agile teams. Specializing at the intersection of consumer brands, technology & healthy living, Ali's value creation track record crosses CPG, retail, technology, healthcare & biotech.  Ali is currently the CEO & Director of Oobli, Inc., a food technology company leveraging precision fermentation to disrupt sugar. Prior to Oobli, Ali served as the Chief Consumer Officer of Bright Health Group, EVP of Digital/Chief Brand Officer at Ascena Retail Group, Founder/CEO/ Chairwoman of giggle, an EIR for a variety of venture-backed consumer software & technology companies & a Corporate Securities Attorney in the Silicon Valley.  Ali launched her career at NIKE in brand leadership & strategy. In addition to her operating role at Oobli, Ali currently serves as an independent director on the boards of Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ: CASY) & Worldwide Orphans (WWO), & acts as an advisor to several growth technology companies.  Previously Ali served as an independent director for Bazaarvoice (NASDAQ: BV) until it was sold to Marlin Equity in early 2018. Ali lives in the California with her husband, has an only son in college & holds a dual JD / MBA from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.  Ali has completed Harvard Business School's 2020/2021 Corporate Governance Certificate Program & was recognized among Women's Inc Top 100 Corporate Board of Directors in 2019.

The inside of the earth's pretty hot. How hot? As hot as the surface of the sun. Seriously.  That heat could generate unbelievable amounts of clean geothermal energy to power our civilization—if we could reach all the way down there. You see, to get to fossil fuels like oil and gas, we only need to drill down a couple kilometers. In places that have volcanoes, like Iceland, you can fairly easily reach down into hellish parts of the earth to harness geothermal energy, but most human populations tend not to be crowded around active volcanoes for obvious reasons.  In the places where power plants typically exist—near human civilization—we'd need to drill more like 10-20 kilometers down, which just isn't really possible with conventional drilling techniques.  Enter Quaise Energy, a four-year-old startup that's raised $70 million so far to drill deeper than humans have ever gone. Their plan isn't to use mechanical drill bits, which are limited in their utility at such deep depths, but rather to vaporize rock using microwaves.  Their plan is as bold as it is simple: Drill thousands of these eight-inch-wide but super-deep holes right next to existing power plants. That way, the plants can run on geothermal energy and stop using coal to create the energy we all use daily.  If it works, it's a rapidly scalable solution to quickly slash our fossil fuel use and avert the most catastrophic climate scenarios. Our guest in this episode is Quaise Energy's CFO, Kevin Bonebreak, a guy who spent most of his career in the conventional energy investment world, and is now working to bring about a cleaner, safer, and saner way to power human civilization.  Discussed in this episode Kevin recommends books by Vaclav Smil, including his works on energy Kevin also recommend reading Loonshots MIT on Quaise's holes Bloomberg on Quaise's gameplan Quaise's latest (2022) financing round of $52 million More about Kevin Bonebrake Kevin Bonebrake is the CFO of Quaise Energy. He joined the startup from Lazard, where he was a Managing Director in the financial advisory business focused on the energy industry. Prior to joining Lazard in 2017, Bonebrake was a Managing Director in Morgan Stanley's Global Natural Resources investment banking practice and was a Vice President with Citigroup's Global Energy, Power and Chemicals investment banking team. Bonebrake completed his graduate research in industrial laser applications in the Naval Architecture department at the Helsinki University of Technology and was a member of the intellectual property licensing team at Delphi Automotive.

This is a cool episode, because Grant Canary has found a way to make money by cooling the planet—with trees! In episode 98 with Maddie Hall, we learned about how her startup, Living Carbon, is bioengineering trees to grow faster so we can reforest the planet faster. And in this 101st episode, we'll hear about a different approach to reforestation. Every year, millions of acres of forests in the US burn down, and the number of acres burning is increasing annually. We know that trees not only provide critical wildlife habitat, but they're an important part of keeping carbon out of the atmosphere, yet literally billions of trees burn up in wildfires each year. Regardless of how fast those trees grow, just imagine how much time it would take to hand plant enough seeds to replace billions of burned trees. Enter Drone Seed. Founded in 2016, the company's raised well over $30 million from venture investors so far to essentially automate the reforestation process.  Rather than planting seeds by hand or even randomly from the air, the 100-person startup's drones survey the burned land, plan the mission, and then strategically drop pucks filled with seeds and the nutrients they'll need to grow in the areas they're most likely going to take root.  The company is already selling carbon offsets to companies like Shopify, proving that sometimes it can be more profitable to grow a forest than to cut one down.  Discussed in this episode Grant recommends The Lean Startup, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, and Multipliers Shopify's Planet app Mark Rober video TechCrunch story and CNBC story about Drone Seed More about Grant Canary Grant Canary is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DroneSeed, which reforests after wildfire using heavy lift drone swarms. It was founded to make reforestation scalable and mitigate the worst effects of climate change. It recently acquired subsidiary Silvaseed which has been expanded to be the largest private seed bank on the west coast. The company is now a one-stop-shop for reforestation providing seed, seedlings, aerial seeding, and financing via carbon credits. Grant has focused his entire career on sustainability—working at Vestas wind energy in China, the US and Denmark, and for the US Green Building Council in its infancy. He has had one prior acquisition. He founded Biosystems Co., in Bogotá, Colombia that utilized food waste to feed insect larvae for use as industrial fish feed— alleviating overfishing pressure and utilizing food waste. He worked with the acquirer to scale that company to a 60k sq ft insect protein factory which is going strong today. Grant is a pacific NW native growing up in Oregon playing chess, then poker, then improv. By virtue of DroneSeed he is a Techstars Seattle Alumni ('16), Mulago Foundation Fellow, and Grist list of 50 Fixers.

If you're familiar with the Silicon Valley world or venture capital space, Steve Jurvetson is a name that needs no introduction. For the rest of you, Steve's a legendary venture capitalist perhaps best known for his early backing of companies like Hotmail, Skype, Paypal, Tesla, SpaceX, and more. He sat on Tesla's board of directors for years, and currently sits on SpaceX's board, too. These big bets he's taken on then-risky and out-there companies have led Steve to astronomical financial success (pun intended), but also to become an influential thought leader on space and technology issues, along with others. He was also an early backer of the cultivated meat industry, investing in Upside Foods' Series A. In 2016, President Obama appointed Steve as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. Steve's also been honored as one of "Tech's Best Venture Investors" by Forbes, and as the "Venture Capitalist of the Year" by Deloitte. The dude's a pretty prolific photographer too, it turns out, as I've learned. In fact, if you enter his name into Google without hitting enter, one of the dropdowns you get served is Steve Jurvetson Flickr!  Today, Steve runs a venture capital fund called Future Ventures with his business partner Maryanna Saenko, and for full disclosure, as you'll hear in this interview, Future Ventures is an investor in my own company, The Better Meat Co. But as you'll also hear in this interview, that doesn't stop us from discussing taboo topics like Steve's personal wealth, how he spends his money, and more.  Other interesting topics we explore include: What led a deep tech investor like Steve to invest in alternative meat? How many startup pitches does Steve hear weekly?  What makes a good pitch, and what gets him to cross the finish line to actually wire investment dollars? What company does Steve want you to start and pitch him on? What does Steve think you should look for in a cofounder? For what does Steve think his future self will condemn his current self? What would be one of the greatest discoveries ever, in Steve's view? What happened in his life when Steve stopped drinking? What does Steve suggest you try as "the funniest google exercise"? In all, it's a riveting conversation with one of the most consequential names in business, including businesses that are seeking to do good in the world.  Resources referenced in this episode NASA's Planetary Protection Division and Paul's thoughts in Astronomy magazine about its implications Massive liquid water oceans in our solar system, such as on Europa and Enceladus Europa report, which Steve still needs to see Steve's thoughts on Boston Consulting Group's report on where best to invest for the climate Steve's review of Paul's book Clean Meat (which he reviewed before the two knew each other) Other books Steve's enjoyed: Steve Jobs, The Founders, and Code Breaker More about Steve Jurvetson Steve Jurvetson is an early-stage venture capitalist with a focus on founder-led, mission-driven companies at the cutting edge of disruptive technology and new industry formation.  Steve led founding investments in several companies that had successful IPOs and others that were billion-dollar acquisitions, representing $800 billion of aggregate value creation. Some of those early VC investments include Planet Labs, SpaceX and Tesla. Before co-founding Future Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson,  Steve was an R&D Engineer at Hewlett-Packard, where seven of his chip designs were fabricated.  He also worked in product marketing at Apple and NeXT and management consulting with Bain & Company.  He completed his undergraduate Electrical Engineering degree at Stanford in 2.5 years, graduating #1 in his class, and went on to earn a MSEE and MBA from Stanford.  In 2017, Steve received the Visionary Award from SV Forum. In 2016, President Barack Obama appointed Steve as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. Steve has also been honored as one of "Tech's Best Venture Investors" by Forbes, and as the "Venture Capitalist of the Year" by Deloitte.

As we continue to empty the oceans, our species' demand for fish only seems to increase. But what if we could eat all the bluefin tuna and salmon we wanted without having to harm fish and other aquatic animals? That's the vision that companies like Wildtype are working toward. Founded in 2016, this cultivated fish startup has raised $120 million so far and now has 60 employees who are growing real fish meat without the fish. I've enjoyed their product now twice, both pre-pandemic and recently, and enjoyed it both times.  Wild Type salmon that I recently enjoyed while in their San Francisco HQ. Today, Wildtype is building serious cultivation capacity to help turn the tide for the oceans, and in this episode, we discuss the company's origins, the role bird poop played, and what the company's up to today. We even discuss the co-founders' first company idea which they abandoned in favor of Wildtype: a redesigned Neti pot that would've been called The Schnozel. (They never trademarked this, so maybe one day you'll be able to buy that Schnozel of your dreams.) In addition to chatting about whether it's faster and cheaper to grow fish cells compared to mammalian and avian cells, co-founders Justin and Arye open up about what impact it's had on their personal lives to have gone from normal jobs to running their own company. We also talk about the perennial question in this industry: If the FDA gave them approval today, how soon would it be before we see Wildtype fish on restaurant menus? Discussed in this episode Our past episode with BlueNalu New Harvest founder Jason Matheny recently became CEO of the Rand Corporation The 2018 book Clean Meat (still highly relevant!) Bored Cow's great chocolate milk made with Perfect Day's animal-free whey protein More about Justin Kolbeck and Aryé Elfenbein Justin Kolbeck is co-founder and CEO of Wildtype, which is on a mission to create the cleanest, most sustainable seafood on the planet. Before Wildtype, he spent nearly five years as a consultant at Strategy& (not a typo!) helping companies develop and launch products, grow into new markets, and operate efficiently. Justin started his career as a Foreign Service Officer, serving in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, and Washington DC.  He is a graduate of the Yale School of Management, L'Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris, and UC Berkeley. Aryé Elfenbein is co-founder of Wildtype, where he directs the company's scientific research. Aryé completed his MD and PhD at Dartmouth and Kyoto University; he completed his clinical training in internal medicine and cardiology at Yale. Prior to Wildtype, he completed a fellowship in regenerative cardiovascular medicine research at the Gladstone Institutes / UCSF. He currently practices cardiology in the critical care setting.

What's the most old-school way to capture carbon from the atmosphere? Trees! But is there a new school way to help trees stand up to the task of quickly removing the carbon humanity's been spewing into the atmosphere in recent centuries?  Living Carbon is pioneering an exciting new field in which it's enhancing trees' natural ability to photosynthesize, causing them to grow dramatically faster and therefore capture carbon more quickly. You see, trees are essentially just big columns of carbon, and when we cut them down—something humans seem to like to do quite a lot—all of that carbon in the trees, and much of what was stored in the soil underneath those trees, gets released back into the atmosphere, heating up the planet. One problem with relying on tree-planting to recapture that carbon is just that trees take such a long time to grow, and we just don't have the luxury of time as the climate heats up. So Living Carbon is bioengineering trees that just grow a lot more efficiently at the beginning of their lives, and in turn making money in part from the carbon credits they can generate. Now, there are other benefits of trees aside from carbon capture, including that they provide critical wildlife habitat, shade, and more, and it'd be better if we had millions more large trees without having to wait a large number of years. That's where Living Carbon comes in. This three-year-old startup has raised $15 million and has successfully engineered two species of trees to grow so quickly that they have up to 53 percent more biomass than comparably aged trees of their species.  They've already done trial plantings and their CEO, Maddie Hall, says in this interview that they intend to plant 4-5 million of their enhanced trees before the end of 2023. Not too shabby, and that's just the start. They're also working on drought-resistant trees so we can still have forests in places that climate change is drying out. In this interview, we talk about what Living Carbon is doing and why, we discuss the controversy over whether anything "natural" is better than "human-made," and of course, why it's a good idea to genetically engineer trees that will help fight climate change, something that as you can imagine, elicits a number of differing views.  Discussed in this episode CNN short video on Living Carbon Bill Gates' book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster Maddie recommends Nonviolent Communication The number one cause of deforestation: meat production

Not plants, and not animals, fungi are an entirely separate kingdom of life, and they can do some really amazing things. For example, two episodes ago you heard from a startup called Funga that's seeking to implement fungal transplants in forests to enhance the carbon-capturing capacity of the soil. And you may know that my own company, The Better Meat Co., uses fungi fermentation to recreate the meat experience without animals.  But Bosque Foods is putting fungi to work in a very different way from what I do during my day job. They're not fermenting fungi in stainless steel fermenters. Rather, they're practicing what's called solid-state fermentation to create high-protein foods that will be center-of-the-plate for sure, but they're not seeking to mimic meat per se. They've raised $3 million in venture capital so far and are making products that at least from the photos I see online, look fungally fantastic.  In this episode I sit down with Bosque Foods CEO Isabella Iglesias-Musachio and chat about her lifelong passion that started her on this path. We discuss all types of cool things, including what to call the products she's making, how she intends to upcycle agricultural byproducts as a feedstock for her fungi, her pathway to commercialization, and more. So if you're interested in yet one more way fungi may save us, enjoy this episode. I think you'll be inspired by Isabella's story. Discussed in this episode Our past episodes with Funga (fungal forest transplants), Perfect Day (animal-free real dairy), and Aqua Cultured Foods Isabella recommends the How I Built This Podcast Article in the journal Nature on biochar from human feces More about Isabella Iglesias-Musachio Isabella is a passionate citizen scientist with an academic background in sustainability and agriculture, and a proven track record in helping tech startups scale internationally. She's now forging her own path in the food & biotech industry, with a focus on alternative protein and fermentation. At TechShop, as General Manager and then Director of Operations, Isabella played an essential role in building and managing multiple makerspaces in the United States and in France. Alongside the CEO, she oversaw the first international TechShop expansion to France, and gained experience in adapting an innovative startup to a new market and culture. More recently, Isabella decided to combine her skills in business development and expansion with my academic interest in food systems and agriculture. She joined Infarm, a leading ag-tech startup in Berlin, to build and head their first new market expansion team, and to establish their operations in the United States, Canada, and Japan. Beyond managing an all-star team to meet our growth goals, she was a key stakeholder in partnership building with major international retailers in North America and Asia (Kroger, Sobeys, Kinokuniya). Isabella's a life-long learner of food science, biotechnology, sustainability, and fermentation, as well as a passionate foodie, brewer, and fungi enthusiast. Today, she's merging her passions with her skills in business management, and forging her own path as an entrepreneur. Isabella's ultimate goal is to help accelerate the world's transition to environmentally sustainable, equitable, and animal-free protein.

Sure, we need to stop emitting greenhouse gases. But even if we stopped all emissions today, there are so many that we've already put into the atmosphere that we need to remove them. Some folks are trying to build massive machines to suck C02 from the air, but Kelly Erhart has a different idea: just accelerate the earth's natural geochemical processes to remove that same C02 and safely deposit it in solid form at the bottom of our oceans. How to do it: Turns that when water touches this volcanic rock called olivine, the rock naturally removes C02 from the air. This process takes eons normally, but if you grind the olivine rock into a fine sand and spread it out over beaches, you can greatly accelerate the carbon-capturing capacity of the rock, while also protecting coastal communities.  Sounds like a noble idea, and when you combine it with the capacity to sell carbon credits, it sounds like a profitable idea, too. That's why Kelly Erhart founded Vesta in 2019. Her company's raised $6 million in equity so far (along with an additional $6 million in philanthropic dollars) and is now poised to raise a much larger Series A round so they can get into the olivine sand spreading business.  They're already conducting pilot programs in the Caribbean and say they'll soon be ready for much bigger footprint—or sandprint—projects that will make a tangible dent in the climate crisis. Discussed in this episode Our past episodes with Phoenix Tailings (valorizing mining waste). Funga (soil carbon capture), Global Thermostat (direct air carbon capture), and Coral Vita (regrowing coral reefs). TED talk by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson: "How to find joy in climate action" CarbonPlan: Data and science for climate action More about Kelly Erhart Kelly Erhart is Co-founder and President of Vesta. A believer in humanity's ability to become a "net-positive" to nature, Kelly has spent her career commercializing sustainable technologies and climate solutions through creative non-profit, for-profit, and hybrid organizations. Vesta is developing an ocean-based climate solution called Coastal Carbon Capture. Coastal Carbon Capture has the potential to be a billion-ton-per year NET solution with co-benefits such as lowering ocean acidity and helping to protect vulnerable coastal communities from sea level rise and erosion.

You've heard of flora (plants). You've heard of fauna (animals). But have you heard of funga? That's the relatively new way to describe this third kingdom of life on earth: the vast number of species of fungi which aren't plants nor animals, but are a different branch on the tree of life. And it turns out that fungi are a lot more important than many in the past have realized. In fact,  they seem to play a major role in just how much carbon the soil is storing. Certain fungi, it seems, are particularly effective at sequestering carbon than others and in making trees grow a lot faster. Some even say that a one percent increase in soil-based carbon could be sufficient to stop an increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. Enter mycologist and entrepreneur Colin Averill and his new startup Funga. Having just raised a million dollars of seed venture capital, he's seeking to start reforesting depleted land and converting it into biodiverse carbon sinks much faster than would otherwise occur.  Think of it kind of like a fecal transplant (yep), but instead, it's more like a fungal transplant. It may sound disgusting, but we know that you can take feces from a healthy person, inoculate (aka insert) a sick person with them, and the good microbes populate the colon of the sick person, turning them well. Similarly, you can take rich, biodiverse soil from a healthy, old growth forest and inoculate agriculturally depleted land with it, and biodiverse life returns, causing trees to grow up to three times faster than they normally would (wood?). So, how do you make a business out of reforesting ex-agricultural land? Let Colin give you the scoop (of soil) on how he and Funga are going to monetize this type of carbon capture.  Discussed in this episode In a Vox story on deforestation, they note: "It's not toilet paper or hardwood floors or even palm oil. It's beef. Clearing trees for cattle is the leading driver of deforestation, by a long shot. It causes more than double the deforestation that's linked to soy, oil palm, and wood products combined, according to the World Wildlife Fund." Local FOX coverage of Funga's work. Our past episodes with Global Thermostat (direct carbon capture) and Coral Vita (rehabilitation of coral reefs). This CNN story about a startup called Living Carbon making faster-growing trees. Colin loves the book Entangled Life and the podcast My Climate Journey. More about Colin Averill Dr. Colin Averill is a Senior Scientist at ETH Zürich's Crowther Lab, where he and his team study the forest microbiome. How does incredible microbial diversity affect which trees are in a forest, forest carbon sequestration and climate change forecasts? He focuses on the ecology of mycorrhizal fungi - fungi that form a symbiosis with the roots of most plants on Earth. In addition to his academic role, he is the Founder of Funga PBC, a new startup harnessing forest fungal networks to address the climate crisis. He is also co-founder of SPUN – the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks – a non-profit dedicated to documenting and protecting mycorrhizal fungal life across the planet.

At age 18, Jeff Nobbs founded an ecommerce company, building it into a valuable enough startup that it was acquired in what Jeff calls a "life-changing" event. After then opening a restaurant that now has two locations in the Bay Area, Jeff decided that there'd be a third entrepreneurial act in his life, this time focused on fixing fat. What's wrong with fat today? Well, Jeff argues that the way we grow plants to make oils like palm, soy, coconut, canola, and more is just pretty taxing on the planet. It's often not that good for us, either. So instead of farming plants to extract the tiny amount of fat that's in them, why not just farm microbes that produce vast quantities of fat and save a lot of land in the process? It would be especially beneficial if these microbes were adroit at making monounsaturated fats, or the so-called "good fats" we associate with avocados, olives, and so on. It turns out that producing fat via microbial fermentation is pretty efficient. A life cycle analysis conducted by Jeff's new company, Zero Acre Farms, found that their fermentation process uses far fewer resources than farming soybeans, which are a pretty efficient plant. Founded in 2020, Zero Acre Farms now has three dozen employees and just closed a $37 million dollar financing round. Its first product, a cultured oil, is now available to purchase from their web site. I tried it in my own kitchen and can attest that indeed, the oil performed and tasted quite good. It's an impressive journey that Jeff's been on, and with tens of millions of dollars now at the mid-30s CEO's disposal, it's sure to be quite a ride as they scale up and see how many acres they can free up by switching the world to their lower-footprint fats. In this episode, Jeff recommends  Dale Carnegie's books Peter Drucker's books Think and Grow Rich Scaling Up High Growth Handbook   More about Jeff Nobbs Jeff Nobbs is the co-founder and CEO of Zero Acre Farms, a food company replacing destructive vegetable oils with healthier, more sustainable oils and fats made by fermentation. Jeff has co-founded several startups to offer better quality ingredients and nutrition-forward food to people and communities, including the fast casual restaurant chain Kitava. In 2020, after seeing a drastic decrease in accessibility to fresh food, Jeff co-founded HelpKitchen to connect food-insecure individuals with partner restaurants for a free meal via SMS. Jeff also served as the chief operating officer for Perfect Keto and General Manager of Rakuten, which acquired his first company Extrabux. Jeff writes about health, nutrition, and sustainability at jeffnobbs.com and @jeffnobbs.

You know how you put all your recycling—cans, bottles, cardboard, etc.—into the same bin? Well, have you ever wondered how all that stuff gets sorted out at the recycling factory? It's done mostly by humans.  If you watch a video about how it's done, rest assured you're not likely to apply for this job. These folks are standing at a conveyor belt with recyclable trash whizzing by them at every moment and they need to pick pieces off the line to put into the proper bins at a rate of 40 items per minute! It's tough to watch the work for 30 seconds, so imagine how tough it must be to do that work for hours every day.  Well, Matanya Horowitz had a different idea. He'd been obsessed with robots since he was a kid, and fresh out of his PhD program, he wondered whether he could teach robots to sort trash more effectively and efficiently than humans.  The dude started in 2014 by dumpster diving with his girlfriend to get trash which he could start training his AI on. Then he got some government grants to hire himself and a couple others. Fast forward to today, and Horowitz's AMP Robotics has raised $75 million from investors, employs 250 humans, has deployed a similar number of robots at recycling factories on three continents that have now sorted billions of pieces of trash, and has even opened their own recycling factory in Ohio.  Their robots pick at a rate of anywhere from 80 to 120 pieces per minute, don't need breaks, don't get covid, and importantly, they alter the economics of recycling to make it far more likely that what goes into the recycling bin actually ends up getting recycled. In this episode, we talk all about the economics of AMP's robots, the trajectory Matanya took from being an academic roboticist to becoming a CEO, the role venture capital has played in the company, what mistakes along the way were made, whether he thinks robots will ever become sentient, and more. It's an impressive and inspirational story from a scientist who's using his business to help solve a pressing sustainability problem for humanity. Discussed in this episode Matanya is influenced by the Jewish tale of Golem He's also a big fan of Isaac Asimov's work And he recommends reading The Innovator's Dilemma and Paul Graham's essays Matanya gave a cool TEDx speech about robotics   Want to read a transcript of this episode? You're in luck!    More about Matanya Horowitz Dr. Matanya Horowitz is the Founder and CEO of AMP Robotics™ an industrial artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics company that is fundamentally changing the economics of recycling, by lowering processing costs and extracting maximum value from waste streams. Matanya developed and commercialized AMP's breakthrough AI platform, AMP Neuron™, and robotics system, AMP Cortex™, which automates high-speed identification, sorting, picking, and processing of material streams. AMP's machine learning technology continuously improves performance adapting to the complex, ever changing material characteristics of municipal solid waste, construction and demolition (C&D), e-waste, and metal scrap. Recognizing attributes down to the SKU and Brand level, AMP can provide unprecedented data transparency and insights on waste streams to inform decisions and unite the value chain of circularity. Matanya was just individually recognized as Waste360's '2019 Innovator of the Year' award, in addition to being named to their '40 under 40' list. AMP has received numerous awards and international recognition, including The Circulars 2018 Award for 'Circular Economy Top Tech Disruptor' at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the NWRA's (National Waste and Recycling Association) '2017 Innovator of the Year' award. Matanya earned multiple degrees including a BS in Electrical Engineering, BS in Computer Science, BS in Applied Mathematics, BA in Economics, and MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder. Matanya holds a PhD in Control and Dynamical Systems from the California Institute of Technology with publications and research in control theory, path planning, and computer vision.

For decades, the alt-meat movement has focused on ground meats like sausages, burgers, nuggets, sticks, and more. That's because it's just a lot less difficult to create these ground products than a more structured product like a steak or chicken breast. Still difficult, but less difficult. Several companies now though are trying to reach that holy grail of whole cut products, and one of them is Chunk Foods, hailing from the holy land of Israel.  As you'll hear in this episode, Amos Golan was a guy fascinated by chemistry. He tried a couple business ideas that didn't take off before starting to try to make steaks in his kitchen by putting soy through a fermentation process. After many failures, he finally created something he thought was worthy of showing to investors, one of whom was interested enough that they put in $50,000.  Fast forward to today and Amos has been making quite a lot of innovations in his process, is making a steak that I tried and really enjoyed, is overseeing a team of a dozen people, has raised millions of dollars, and claims his steaks are going to be hitting the United States by the end of 2022. Time will tell if that prediction pans out, and I certainly hope it does, but Amos has an impressive story that offers a good reminder to never give up, and that the most meaningful work of your life may still be ahead of you. Books Amos recommends in this episode Venture Deals Never Split the Difference The Periodic Table (memoir) More about Amos Golan Amos Golan is the founder and CEO of Chunk Foods. He has a deep passion for innovation and solving hard problems, and a solid background in science, engineering and design.  Amos graduated from the Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program For Outstanding Students at Tel Aviv University where he obtained an MS.c. in Organic Chemistry. He later moved to Boston and gained a second Master's degree focused on Human-Computer Interaction from the MIT Media Lab where he conducted research and worked on various futuristic projects with fortune 500 companies.  After serving in various roles with startup companies in fields such as ag tech, chemistry and biotech, Amos joined Ferrero's Open Innovation team in NY as the youngest member of its leadership team. At Ferrero, he led some of the company's most cutting edge innovation projects in biotech, food tech, age tech and digital technologies, trying to address pressing challenges around supply chains, climate change and ingredient sourcing, better-for-you nutrition, and sustainability. Amos loves food and cooking, and attended the Cordon Bleu culinary school, where he was trained in classic French cuisine and worked in several restaurants in Tel Aviv.

If you follow the meat or the alt-meat industry closely, chances are high that you've read Lisa Keefe's work. As the editor-in-chief of both Meatingplace magazine and now Alt-Meat magazine too, Lisa has been both reporting on and editorializing on all things meat for the past 15 years. She's also the creator of the Meatingplace podcast and is a frequent commentator on everything from trends to controversies and more in the meat space. While she's not a meat company executive, as a meat media (meat-ia?) executive, Lisa's spent much of her career watching what's happening as far as plant-based and cultivated meat goes, as well as animal welfare changes occurring in the ag industry too. As you'll hear, she certainly views animal agriculture as a desirable industry worth keeping around, yet she's very open-mined about animal-free proteins, as evidenced by the existence of her newest creation, Alt-Meat magazine. In this interview, Lisa discusses her latest trip to Israel where she tried various cultivated meat products, her views on why plant-based meat hasn't taken as much market share as plant-based milk yet, why the pork industry hasn't advanced cage-free animal welfare changes like much of the egg industry has, and more. I always learn from reading Lisa's work, and I learned even more by chatting with her for this episode, and I'm confident you will too. So, if you've ever wondered what meat industry insiders think about the alt-protein and animal welfare worlds, now's your chance. 

Our guest in this episode, Dr. Esgar Guarin, is on a crusade to promote vasectomies, and even gave up his previous medical career to focus on simply being a full-time vasectomist as part of his commitment to making the world a better place. That's right: his entire business is one thing and one thing only: helping men take greater responsibility in their reproductive lives and averting unwanted pregnancies.

Many already believe that fostering an alt-protein industry in the US is important for helping the environment, but is it also going to protect American national security? We're already importing much of our clean energy tech from Asia, but will we soon be importing our clean protein from other parts of the world, too?  Congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California representing Silicon Valley, doesn't want that to happen. He's not only called on USDA to invest in alt-protein, he's recently introduced a bill in Congress calling on the Director of National Intelligence to submit an intelligence report on the effects of increased production and consumption of alternative proteins on American national security. The bill even calls for the DNI to explore whether, and to what extent, progress in the production and consumption of alternative proteins made by foreign countries like China constitutes a competitive threat to American economic interests.

While it's a charity, Family Empowerment Media tries to run like a business in that it relies heavily on measurable, evidence-based strategies that produce a significant return on their investment. Though the return they're seeking isn't a financial one, but rather is in the form of the social change they're working to create, mainly by empowering the use of family planning by families that are seeking to have fewer children in developing African nations.  Started in 2020, the sole mission of the group is to create radio content featuring Nigerian families talking about their positive experiences with family planning. Not only are donors backing these social entrepreneurs, so is the Nigerian government. Why?  On average fertility rates in Nigeria stand currently at more than five children per woman. Generally speaking, the poorest countries tend to have the highest fertility rates while wealthier countries have lower fertility rates. So while in many African countries each woman often has on average more than five children, in wealthier parts of the world, like South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, each woman has on average less than two children. The US is also at less than two children per woman, though immigration to the US prevents the country's population from shrinking.

If you've been listening to the show for some time, you know that replacing animals in the food system is a topic very close to my heart. While the meat and egg industries in the grand picture have still been largely unaffected by plant-based competitors, that's not the case in the milk industry, where the explosion of plant-based milks has very tangibly cut into demand for cow's milk. Gone are the days when almond milk and soy milk were for vegans—now they're for everyone.  But just a few years ago, a new entrant into the plant-based milk world emerged. In 2015 oat milk was far less than 1 percent of the plant-based milk world. In fact, people hearing the term "oat milk" were probably more likely to think they'd heard people talking about "goat milk." Not anymore. Thanks largely to one company, Oatly, oat milk is now the belle of the alt-milk ball. After three decades of toiling away far out of mainstream consciousness, Oatly has boomed, leading to its mega-successful 2021 IPO.

I try to read any new book that comes out on the topic, and that includes Richard Munson's new book Tech to Table: 25 Innovators Reminaging Food. I really enjoyed reading this book by someone who's far more well-known for his deep-dive biographies of visionaries like Nikola Tesla and Jacque Cousteau, but now has written a new book featuring dozens of entrepreneurs seeking to create a more sustainable food system. And they're doing this not by returning to 19th century agriculture, but by embracing 21st century food and agriculture technology. In this interview we discuss everything from how new tech can displace old jobs, why some environmentalists don't seem that down with new tech that could benefit the environment, and what the future of food and ag may bring. It's a wide-ranging conversation about a book with a wide-range of topics and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

For those of you who've been enjoying Business for Good for some time, today's guest may sound familiar. That's because Kim Le is not only our guest on Episode 85, but she was also our guest on our 49th episode back in 2020. If you've not heard it, I do recommend you go back and check it out, which will be helpful in seeing just how much has changed for this young startup which was cofounded by undergrads and has raised $20 million so far.  As you'll hear in this episode, Prime Roots is undergoing quite a transformation as it settles into its new 20,000 square foot production facility in Berkeley. I was fortunate enough to visit the Prime Roots HQ, which is where we taped this episode in person, right after I'd enjoyed their new products, which were truly phenomenal.

One of the most common questions I get from listeners is: how can I invest in companies you feature on the show? Well, most of them are startups backed by VC dollars, and that means the average retail investor isn't typically going to be able to invest in these early stage private companies.  But what if there were a way to invest money in an index fund that only included companies actively working to replace the exploitation of animals in our economy? It turns out that there is now such a fund, and it was co-founded by Elysabeth Alfano. Perhaps most well-known as the host of Plant-Based Business Hour, Elysabeth has now started the VegTech™ Plant-based Innovation & Climate ETF, which is traded on The New York Stock Exchange as EATV.  Think of it like the S&P 500, but instead more like the Plant-Based 40. That's because this Exchange-Traded Fund is a collection of 40 publicly-traded companies up and down the animal-free supply chain. This isn't companies that simply don't use animals, but rather companies actively involved in actually replacing animal use. That includes well-known players like Beyond Meat and Oatly, but also the ingredients companies that supply them and more. The basic bet is that over time, the inefficiency of animal use will drag down the companies that are  dependent on it, while animal-free companies will thrive.

Humanity's relentless demand for seafood is emptying the oceans with little end in sight. Does the path to freeing fish from us run through fungi fermentation? That's exactly what Anne Palermo is betting.  As you'll hear in this interview, Anne is a former asset manager at Morgan Stanley who decided mid-career that she wanted to start her own chocolate company. After growing her first startup to millions in revenue, this mom of three got hooked on the need for animal-free protein and pivoted to start a new company focused on saving the oceans. Anne began growing mycelium—the root-like structure of fungi—on wet cardboard in her kitchen and to her pleasant surprise, she found that she could tune the mycelium into various kinds of whole muscle seafood mimicry. Soon, Aqua Cultured Foods was born. Fast forward to today, just one year later, and Anne has raised millions of dollars, hired staff, filed provisional patent applications, partnered with a major food company, and more. Anne's vision involves turning the tide on the war that humanity is waging on oceanic animals while still allowing seafood lovers to enjoy their favorite foods, but just made via fermentation rather than fishing.

You know when you get a food product like those Beyond Meat sausages and see that instead of plastic, it's in one of those biodegradable trays or bowls? Have you ever wondered how they do that? I mean, that bowl needs to repel oil and water from its surface without getting soggy, but still be actually biodegradable. Seems impossible. Well, it turns out that this feat isn't only a great technological innovation that helps replace plastics; it's also a great business, as Troy Swope has proven.  Founded in 2014, Troy's company Footprint grew from humble roots to now having 4,000 employees, $50 million in annual revenue, and production facilities around the world.  With all this success, the company is seeking to go public later in 2022, reportedly with a valuation of $1.6 billion. It's quite a story, and one that proves that some of humanity's most pressing problems, like plastic pollution, are also some of our best business opportunities. 

This is a story about how one man entered startup life, rose to great prominence, got battered in the press and endured a very public downfall, and then got back up again and kept pushing his life's mission to improve public health forward.

When it comes to food, we often hear that switching to organic, local, non-GMO production methods are what's best for the planet. But, what if the preponderance of scientific evidence doesn't support such claims, and that actually both the planet and public health are better off with the synthetic fertilizer banned by organic standards; that buying local may not be better for the planet; and that it's perfectly safe to eat genetically modified plants? This is indeed what the science shows, says author and Harvard professor Rob Paarlberg in his new book, Resetting the Table: Straight Talk about the Food We Grow and Eat. Paarlberg doesn't claim that so-called industrial agriculture is good for the planet, but he does argue that such 21st century food production methods are far preferable for the planet than if we were to try to return to the more extensive, pastoral systems of humanity's past.

For real: What were you doing during your sophomore year of college? Probably not what Jessica Schwabach was doing, which was starting her own plant-based meat company. Two years later, Jessica has gone through two prestigious accelerator programs, created products that have been sold in dozens of stores, and just raised a $4 million seed round, including investment from food giant Nestle. Just what is this new founder CEO doing that has so many people so interested? Well, she and her team at Sundial Foods have created some alt-chicken wings, with skin and all, that are apparently knocking people's socks off.

A year and a half ago, a guy few people had ever heard of came on to this show's 44th episode to talk both about the business of police reform as well as his new book advocating plant-based eating. A former police officer, at the time of our interview he was the Borough President of Brooklyn and certainly had nearly no national profile. I mentioned in the episode that he was reportedly considering a run for New York City's mayor's office and that some people were even considering him a frontrunner. Well, those pundits turned out to be right, as Eric Adams eventually announced his mayoral candidacy, dispatched his Democratic rivals in the primary, including far better known candidates like Andrew Yang, and then overwhelmingly beat his Republican opponent on Election Day. Now, Adams is about to be inaugurated as the first vegan mayor of America's largest city, and his plant-based diet isn't incidental to his platform. He has big food policy plans, some of which he foreshadows in this interview, which we're re-releasing here as Episode 78 now that Eric is virtually a household name due to his successful mayoral bid. In this interview, Adams talks about how his experience of being beaten by the police while in custody as a black teenager led to him become a police officer himself for two decades, and then ultimately to a life in politics.  After serving in the police force, Adams was elected as a state senator in New York where he championed police reforms, including opposition to the then-stop-and-frisk policy, he served two terms as the chief executive of New York City's most populous borough, Brooklyn, and of course is now set to become mayor, with many pundits calling him the future of the Democratic party and even a potential future presidential contender.  In addition to discussing technologies from the private sector he believes could be helpful in preventing lethal use of force by police, we also discuss how Adams' adoption of a plant-based diet reversed his diabetes, gave him back his health, and what he thinks private businesses can do to advance public health. And yes, he talks about what he thinks government should be doing to promote better health outcomes through diet, so maybe this interview will serve as a nice foreshadowing of things to come as Adams prepares to take the reins of power in the Big Apple. Who knows, maybe they'll be eating more apples!

Welcome to our first-ever episode taped before a live audience! That's right, episode 77 was taped on-stage at the Cultured Meat Symposium in San Francisco before a live audience, and now you get to be a part of it. This is a story of two people who despite not having experience in the cultivated meat space felt so strongly about building a community around it that they started their own podcast, called Cultured Meat and Future Foods, their own conference, the Cultured Meat Symposium, and are now working on a children's book about cultivated meat together as well.

There's already plant-based pet food, but what about growing actual animal meat for all of our carnivorous best friends? The company featured in this episode, Because Animals, is trying to do just that. And they're starting with cultivated mouse meat for your cat. That's right: cats have been eating mice for millenia, but just maybe they're about to start eating cultivated mice. Because Animals debuted what they call their Harmless Hunt Mouse Meat Cookies at a recent pet industry conference, and in this episode, we hear all about those very special cookies.

In 2019, two friends were both working in the alt-protein sector, one at the Good Food Institute and the other at Eat Just. Even though Aylon Steinhart and Thomas Bowman were both doing great things to advance the animal-free protein movement, they wondered if they should try their own hands at co-founding a food tech start-up that would put cows out to pasture and mimic dairy with plants. After serious deliberation, they both left their secure jobs to team up and found Eclipse Foods. A couple years and $15M of investment later, Eclipse is expanding, is now in Northern California Whole Foods Market locations, and is pushing the boundaries of what counts as great dairy-free ice cream. They're pushing so hard, in fact, that as you'll hear in this episode, a recent blind taste test of more than a dozen people at The Better Meat Co. found that a plurality preferred Eclipse over two other brands: Oatly and Forager. It's a compelling tale of how two friends banded together to create something out of nothing in their effort to build a more humane and sustainable food industry that's just as sweet—without relying on the exploitation of animals.

It's not every day that hard-nosed financial journalists write about our ethical obligations to animals, let alone do they devote an entire book to the topic. Yet that's exactly what Financial Times journalist Henry Mance has done. In his new book, How to Love Animals in a Human-Shaped World, Henry takes his readers on a wild ride through our relationship with animals, including getting a job working at a slaughterhouse himself. Henry repeatedly weaves personal experiences like this one into his narrative, while also making prescriptions for a bold reshaping of the parts of our economy that currently involve animal exploitation.  In this episode we chat about everything from whether moral persuasion can work without technological advances, what can be done to reduce demand for animal-based meat, what the financial implication of Henry's prescriptions would be, and more.

Whether we like it or not, one fact of modern living is that every day we're creating greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution. But should our final act on the earthly stage also necessitate one last pollutive hurrah?  Katrina Spade is on a mission to offer a better way to deal with human corpses, and it involves a process called natural organic reduction. It's essentially a fancy way of saying she's invented a method of accelerated composting for your body. Rather than cremating your corpse, which involves substantial pollution, and rather than burial, which typically means sealing your body off from nature with concrete liners, hermetically sealed caskets, preservatives in your body, and more, Katrina wants to turn your body into healthy, rich soil, within just one month. After founding Recompose, Katrina helped change laws in three states now (Washington, Oregon, and Colorado) to allow her method, and has already opened an operational human composting facility in Seattle. In addition to dozens of composts completed, they have nearly 1,000 paying customers who've already pre-ordered their own composting, just in the same way you might pre-order a plot in a cemetery.  So far Recompose has raised about $12 million from investors (including author Margaret Atwood!) and is just getting started in their effort to empower you to give nutrients back to the planet when you're done with your body.

Sure, diamonds—including lab-grown—may be forever. But does plastic also have to be? Not so, according to Kristin Taylor, CEO of Radical Plastics. After a multi-decade career in the plastic industry, including working at a small company you may have heard of called ExxonMobil, Kristin decided to take the entrepreneurial plunge and form her own startup, Radical Plastics, to help plastic manufacturers make their conventional plastics actually biodegradable.  Radical Plastics is essentially asking the question: what if all that plastic lining our highways or floating in the ocean would actually biodegrade? That's the promise of the technology that they're pioneering. They've discovered a mineral concoction that when added during the manufacturing of conventional plastic—at even less than one percent—will eventually convert that plastic into food that microbes will recognize and eat. In other words, they can make conventional plastic, once it's in the environment, actually biodegrade. It's an exciting story, and one that just might reduce humanity's footprint on the rest of the planet.

Doni Curkendall was born and raised in Mexico, came to the US as a seven-year-old, and when she entered the workforce started as a receptionist at Goodwill. As the years went on, Doni was continually promoted, got her MBA, and eventually was a Vice President at Goodwill overseeing more than 200 employees. But two and a half years ago, as fate would have it, Doni and I began exploring whether Doni could help run my own then-one-year-old, The Better Meat Co.   For the past 2+ years, I've often said that I may be the face of our company, but Doni is the backbone, serving as our Executive Vice President and overseeing all of our operations and logistics. She's truly integral to the enterprise, and in this episode, Doni shares her secrets about what she's looking for in job applicants, what the transition from nonprofit exec to scrappy startup has been like, how she thinks about compensation packages in Startupland, and more.   It's a compelling insider look at startup life, so listen up, and I'm sure you'll be as impressed with Doni as I am.   Discussed in this episode   Past episodes with Goodwill Industries, Your Choice birth control, and Toni Okamoto. Doni has been inspired by Maurice Hilleman. Doni recommends both How I Built This and Radiolab.   More about Doni Curkendall   Doni's driving passion in life is to use the power of business to help solve social problems. Before serving as the Executive Vice President of The Better Meat Co., as VP of Operations of Goodwill Industries of Sacramento Valley and Northern Nevada, Doni worked to help people with disadvantages achieve self-sufficiency. By the end of her nine years at Goodwill, she was managing operations for $10 million in annual revenue and oversaw a team of 250 employees. She earned her MBA from California State University, during which time she also served as a career mentor for Women's Empowerment, an organization helping homeless women gain meaningful employment. In her spare time, Doni reads Spanish literature, hikes with her dog Penny Lane, and, as her dog's name implies, loves listening to The Beatles.

You've probably heard of Beyond Meat's big IPO and their success as a publicly traded company. Sure, they were the first plant-based meat company to go public, but are you aware that The Very Good Food Co. is the second?  As you'll hear in this episode, what started just a few years ago as a dude selling his own plant-based concoctions at a farmers market on a Canadian island has turned into a publicly traded company with a $300M market cap. In between was a kickstarter, a plant-based butcher shop, an appearance on the Canadian version of Shark Tank (Dragon's Den), and more. The Very Good Food Co is now selling a wide array of butcher-type plant-based meats throughout North America, they acquired a plant-based cheese company, they just opened a new production factory in California, and recently posted their first million-dollar month.   Their CEO Michelle Scott here discusses their journey, when they'll be at price parity with conventional meat, labeling challenges, and more. It's an impressive story, and one that just might inspire you to follow in their footsteps. Discussed in this episode Mitchell discusses books like The Lean Startup and Clean Meat. Paul recommends Shoe Dog, Conscious Capitalism, and The Charisma Myth. Paul discusses his plant-based turducken, the Fieldyondible! More about Mitchell Scott Mitchell Scott is the CEO of The Very Good Food Co., the world's second plant-based meat IPO. The company has seen substantial success since its flotation in the Canadian stock market in 2021. The Very Good Food Co. designs, develops, produces, distributes, and sells a variety of plant-based meat and other food alternatives. Mitchell has a passion for building world class companies that leave a positive impact on the planet. His mission is to employ plant-based food technology to create products that are delicious while maintaining a wholesome nutritional profile. They've launched the Very Good Cheese Co with more lines of products coming in the near future. 

So often you hear about start-ups that raise millions or even tens of millions of dollars from venture capitalists before beginning to generate revenue and start making a dent in the marketplace. That is very far from the story of our guest in this episode. Meet Deborah Torres, founder and CEO of Atlas Monroe, a start-up making plant-based fried chicken. As you'll hear, a chance encounter with a stranger in a supermarket led Deborah to become vegan, which ultimately transitioned her whole family into a plant-based lifestyle. Pretty soon Deborah was making her own plant-based fried chicken, and people really liked it, leading her to offer it as a one-off at a VegFest in Chicago. Well, one thing led to another, and the next thing you know Atlas Monroe won the best chicken at the National Fried Chicken Festival. That's not just best vegan fried chicken--that's the best fried chicken of all the fried chicken offered at this festival.  As the company's fame grew, Deborah found herself on Shark Tank being offered a million dollars to buy her newly formed company, an offer she promptly rejected. Today, just a couple years later, Atlas Monroe operates its own factory, is on track to bring in $5M in revenue in 2021, and just keeps expanding.  Amazingly, Deborah has achieved all this without ever taking outside investment, and she continues to own 100% of her company. It's an inspirational tale of an entrepreneur bootstrapping her way to success.  Discussed in this episode You can watch the Atlas Monroe pitch on Shark Tank (best viewed at 0.5x speed since this clip is sped up) Deborah recommends exploring Small Business Association loans and Lendistry The Simply Raw documentary had a profound impact on Deborah's family Paul ate Atlas Monroe chicken from Pure Soul in Sacramento Clean Eating magazine's interview with Deborah Torres More about Deborah Torres Deborah Torres is the founder and CEO of the world's largest vegan fried chick'n manufacturer - ATLAS MONROE. Atlas Monroe was the first and only vegan company to be invited to the National Fried Chicken Festival and was named best fried chicken dish out of all the conventional chicken by Time Magazine's Extra Crispy. Atlas Monroe was also featured on ABC's hit show, Shark Tank, in a viral episode where Ms. Torres turned down $1 million dollars from Mark Cuban and Rohan Oza. Atlas Monroe has been featured on Yahoo!, Black Enterprise, NBC, VegNews, AfroTech, Clean Eating Magazine, Medium, Forbes, Plant Based News, LiveKindly, and more. Now this plant-based production company has recently acquired a multi-million dollar manufacturing facility and their products are sold and shipped nationwide. In addition to delectable plant-based fried chick'n products the company also specializes in all vegan, non-gmo, plant-based bacon, apple wood-fired ribs, deep fried and stuffed turkeys, signature sauces, decadent cakes, and much more mouthwatering items.

How often do you use Google's services? If you're like me, it's many times per hour. So you may think you know all about Google.com. But how much do you know about Google.org? In short, Google.org is the company's foundation that gives away $200M a year in grants both to social enterprise startups and to nonprofit organizations seeking to use technology to advance their missions. For all you startup founders out there, note that these are dilution-free non-equity grants, or essentially free money as opposed to investments, so listen up. And in this episode, we've got Google.org's director of product impact, Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink. In it, she tells us about what kinds of companies and charities they support and why, and she discusses what kinds of grant applications she wishes they saw more of. For example, we hear about Google.org's work to collect emissions data and make it public, to put up eco-acoustic sensors in rainforests to help catch those who are poaching or deforesting, and even just to give money to those in developing countries who need it the most. So take a listen and just maybe you'll be working with Brigitte and Google.org yourself in the near future. Discussed in this episode WattTime: Tech solutions to automate emissions reduction. Carbon Tracker: Aligning markets to shift investment away from fossil fuels. Climate Trace: Publicizing the sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Rainforest Connection: Using eco-acoustics to prevent poaching and deforestation. Give Directly: Giving money directly to those who need it. Brigitte recommends reading both Just Mercy and Chasing the Flame. Google.org's climate podcast, which you can find here. More about Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink is Head of Product Impact at Google.org, where she leads initiatives that leverage emerging technologies and Google's expertise to address global challenges. She is currently focused on how AI can be used for social impact through efforts like the $25M Google AI Impact Challenge.  She previously led programs focused on how technology can improve global education, innovation for people with disabilities, and crisis response.  Prior to Google.org, Brigitte was a strategy consultant for nonprofits and foundations at The Bridgespan Group and worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and International Relief and Development, focusing on innovative approaches in post-conflict transitions. She has an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia.

You've likely noticed that there's been an explosion of investment into the animal-free food space, with producers of alt-meat, milk, and eggs advancing weekly. But why isn't there anything comparable happening in the animal-free materials space? Sure, we've had plastic-based leather alternatives (aka pleather) for a long time, but in terms of products not derived from animals or fossil fuels, what's out there on the market at scale? Turns out, just not that much.  Enter the Material Innovation Initiative, a relatively new nonprofit organization started by veterans of the animal welfare and animal-free food space. Their goal: to be the Good Food Institute of animal-free materials, helping to attract investment and entrepreneurial activity to build a new industry of animal-free fur, leather, silk, and more. And we've got their CEO Nicole Rawling on this episode to regale us with the importance of building such an industry, and how there's a massive white space there just waiting to be filled. So, are you thinking about starting your own company to help animals and the planet? If so, after listening to Nicole, you just may think you'll have a more open field if you go into alt-materials. With that, let her make the case to you herself.  Discussed in this episode: Consumer research finding that among those who prefer animal leather, 80% are open to purchasing leather made from plants or grown from animal cells in a factory.  The RethinkX report and Dr. Liz Specht's GFI blog about it. Our past episodes with Pinatex (pineapple leather), Mycocycle (construction waste bioremediation), Bolt Threads (fermentation-produced silk and leather), and Goodwill (used goods). This episode is sponsored by the great folks at The Very Good Food Co. More about Nicole Rawling: Nicole is an experienced attorney and nonprofit executive. She co-founded the Material Innovation Initiative after identifying the rich potential of the next-gen materials market through her work catapulting plant-based foods into the mainstream. In her previous role as director of international engagement at the Good Food Institute, Nicole worked with key audiences around the world including companies, entrepreneurs, scientists, investors, and government officials to promote the development of alternatives to animal products. Her expertise in the field and in bringing together stakeholders made her a sought after speaker at conferences and high profile meetings in locations like Israel, Estonia, Poland, London, Brazil, India, and across the U.S.

It's often that we hear about some really cool and promising new technology that's allegedly going to change the game, but only once that tech is scaled and commercialized. In this episode, however, we're featuring a start-up that not only has a very cool technology, it's already commercialized it with hundreds of customers, including some very big names in the fashion world.  Mélanie Broyé-Engelkes is the CEO of Ananas Anam, makers of Piñatex. For those of you not fluent in Spanish, "piña" means pineapple, which gives you a sense of what Melanie and her team are doing with their B2B materials start-up. When it comes to leather alternatives, most are made from fossil fuel-derived plastics. Aside from the obvious environmental concerns, there are functionality concerns with such plastic products, too. We often hear about really encouraging new sustainable materials like mushroom leather, cactus leather, and even leather from collagen that was grown in a controlled environment. But as promising as those solutions are, they aren't yet really commercialized in any meaningful sense yet. Enter Piñatex. It's a leather alternative that's made from the leaves of the pineapple plant, which are typically considered an agricultural waste product. These upcycled leaves are converted into a functional and luxurious-feeling material that can be used for everything from shoes to handbags, and more.  And indeed, that's already what's happening. Today brands like Hugo Boss, H&M, and hundreds of others, are using Piñatex in their designs, setting Ananas Anam apart from many other alt-materials makers. In this episode, Melanie shares the company's origin story, telling us where they've been and where the pineapple revolution is going. Discussed in this episode  Brands currently using Piñatex.  What pineapple plant leaves look like. Melanie recommends Lean In, Shoe Dog, and The Ride of a Lifetime. Our past episode with Bolt Threads on mushroom leather

How often have you wished that more billionaires used their money to do good in the world? Well, you're in luck, because in this episode we talk with British billionaire Jim Mellon. In recent years Jim's been most well-known for his work on human longevity research, which we discuss. But he's also become fixated on ending the factory farming of animals. As a result, Jim has learned an immensity about alternative protein and has invested in dozens of start-ups in the space via his fund Agronomics. He's even just published a book on the topic, Moo's Law, in which he discusses his views on the industry, which companies he thinks will be winners, and yes, which he thinks won't make it.  As you'll hear in this interview, Jim has little hope that humans will give up eating meat, so he's betting instead on simply making meat without the animals.  In this conversation we discuss when he thinks such clean meat will be price comparable to conventional meat, whether price parity is sufficient, where he sees white spaces, and more.  So enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with a truly interesting person who's given a lot of thought to just how he can use his role as an investor to solve some of the most pressing problems we face. Discussed in this episode Our past episodes with philosopher Peter Singer, BlueNalu's Lou Cooperhouse, and Shiok Meat's Sandhya Sriram. The Good Food Institute Startup Manual. More about Jim Mellon Jim Mellon's investment philosophy is underpinned by his ability to recognize emerging trends that give rise to new industries or major shifts in markets. This includes the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, as foreseen in the first book Jim co-authored entitled Wake Up!, and subsequently in the new science and technologies detailed in Cracking the Code and Fast Forward.  More recently Jim has established himself as a thought leader in the nascent field of aging research and longevity as well as a key investor in alternative proteins, through his company Agronomics. He is interested in keeping the world healthy and properly and ethically fed and forecasts great investment opportunities in both these areas.  Jim Mellon also runs Master Investor to provide tips and forecasting insights to the investor community. His wealth of knowledge and vast experience allows him to capitalize on sound investments upon which he has built a worldwide business empire. Jim is serially amongst the top 10% in the Sunday Times Rich List and holds a master's degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Our oceans are in dire trouble, and a big part of the reason is because we're killing so many aquatic animals for food. But if you want hope, look no further than Monica Talbert, whose story is sure to inspire. Monica was born into the seafood industry, and for years has been running her family business, Van Cleve's Seafood, from the Eastern Shore of Virginia. But as you'll hear in this conversation, a series of events led her to start experimenting with plant-based seafood recipes. And while it's no longer major news for conventional meat companies to develop plant-based lines since so many are admirably already now doing that, Monica announces in this episode something far more inspirational.  What started as a supplemental form of business has now become a passion for Monica so much that she's personally essentially gone plant-based, and announces in this episode that she's phasing out the legacy conventional seafood side of her business entirely to focus exclusively on growing the Plant Based Seafood Co. If anything, they might keep Van Cleve's Seafood around but rebrand it as Van Cleve's Seaweed, selling only, as you can guess, delicious sea vegetable products.  So far the Plant Based Seafood Co. is winning innovation awards, earning investment from venture capital funds, and is rolling out products nationwide. Monica's goal is to grow it not just as big as Van Cleve's Seafood, but to go much bigger, and produce enough sustainable seafood, ie, plant-based seafood, to feed the world and save the oceans in the process.  Discussed in this episode Netflix's mega-popular documentaries Seaspiracy and My Octopus Teacher Patagonia's film Unbroken Ground  This American Life episode on pig rectums being passed off as calamari Crustastun technology for rendering lobsters unconscious prior to boiling Monica found Daring Greatly by Brene Brown useful, and is inspired by Teddy Roosevelt's Man in the Arena speech

Landfills are, well, filling up. We're running out of places to put our trash, and the trash we've landfilled won't decompose for centuries.  But, what if we could take a lot of trash and seed it with fungal cultures that would eat it and render it no longer toxic within just a few weeks rather than having to wait centuries? That's exactly what Mycocycle is planning to do, and we've got their CEO, Joanne Rodriguez, on the show to talk about it. After a decades-long career in construction, Joanne founded Mycocycle and with her team has been training fungi to eat construction trash, especially asphalt, and plan to sell that service to municipalities and landfills. As if that weren't enough, she then plans to take the fungi mycelium they've grown and sell it as a biodegradable packaging material. Pretty cool, huh? Well, what might be even cooler is that you yourself can invest in Joanne's company right now! Normally, startups on this show are only seeking funding from deep pocketed venture capital firms. But Mycocycle is taking a different approach, seeking to raise their first round from hundreds of individuals via StartupEngine.com, with a minimum investment of only $262.  So take a listen to the company and the mycelium that Joanne is growing. It's an impressive story, and one that might even involve you! Discussed in this episode You can invest in Mycocycle here! Mycocyle went through the LatinX incubator. Mycocycle's pending patent application. Joanne was inspired by Daniel's story. Joanne recommends books like Mycelium Running and Radical Mycology We reference past episodes with Coral Vita, Ecovative, and Bolt Threads. More about Joanne Rodriguez Founder and CEO of Mycocycle, Joanne Rodriguez has worked across the construction products industry for 30 years. She is a subject matter expert in sustainable technologies–like zero waste and the circular economy, and she has experience leading diverse teams to unprecedented growth. Leading the sustainability efforts for a major roof manufacturer, Joanne discovered the issue of the unsustainable and growing problems related to disposing of construction and demolition materials. A frequent national speaker, she carries a vast network of contacts across manufacturing, architecture and design, government leadership, and sustainability. She has served on boards with the US EPA, the Constructions Specification Institute, the US Green Building Council, and has served as a subject matter expert at convenings of the United Nations, Clinton Global Initiative, ecoAmerica, GreenBiz, and Resilient Cities Summits. Joanne is a Certified Permaculture Designer, a Construction Documents Specialist, holds a Professional Certificate from Cornell University in Climate Change Communications, and is a LEED Accredited Professional through the US Green Building Council.

Typically on this podcast, we showcase entrepreneurs and business titans alike who are using the power of commerce to try to solve serious social problems. Occasionally we've had on nonprofit leaders, and in this episode, we've again got a very special guest who also is not a grinding entrepreneur. But this guest is someone who's inspired many mission-oriented entrepreneurs, myself included, along with millions of others trying to do good in the world. In fact, it's hard to think of many people on the planet who've led a more impactful life than this episode's guest.  Peter Singer is an author and ethicist, and has been routinely called the most influential philosopher alive. He's widely credited with kickstarting the modern animal protection movement with his 1975 mega-bestseller Animal Liberation, and with popularizing what's now called the effective altruism movement through his early writings on poverty and more recently with his 2009 book The Life You Can Save. Many of the business leaders we feature on this show, especially those in the animal-free protein space, are motivated by philosophical underpinnings to their work that are likely related to or even directly stemming from Peter Singer's writings. In this interview Peter doesn't disappoint nor does he shy away from tough subjects. We discuss a wide range of topics, including his views on the role technology and entrepreneurship play in helping animals along with the role charities play, too. We get into whether he has any regrets over publicly taking certain views in his 50-year career. And we discuss whether he thinks animals are better off today than when he first wrote Animal Liberation in 1975. Peter offers his views on the ethics of eating oysters, adoption of children vs. procreation, colonizing other planets, and more. And now that he's in his mid-70s, he also talks about what he hopes his obituaries will say, which hopefully won't be written for a long time. Whether you agree with Peter on a particular issue or not, there's no doubt you'll come away from this interview with a great appreciation for his commitment to doing the most good he can in the world.  Discussed in this episode We discuss some of Peter's books, including Animal Liberation, The Life You Can Save, How Are We to Live?, The Most Good You Can Do, Practical Ethics, and a new book Peter edited called The Golden Ass. The latter led us to discuss the Biblical story of Balaam and his donkey. We also discuss The Three Body Problem, a mega-popular Chinese novel in which Animal Liberation plays a role. Peter Singer and Paul Shapiro have jointly published two op-eds (in 2006 and 2012 respectively) about the cage confinement of animals on factory farms.  When it comes to animal-saving technology, Peter personally invested in Gourmey, a cultivated foie gras start-up, and he donates to The Good Food Institute. Speaking of technology advancing ethics, we talk about Susan B. Anthony's 1896 view that bicycling "has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world." Peter is an editor of the Journal of Controversial Ideas. Peter recommends Better Angels of Our Nature, Moral Tribes, and The Precipice. A Chinese fast food company swapped eggs from its menu for plant-based Just Egg. Peter recommends donating to charities recommended by The Life You Can Save. Peter hopes there'll be more investment in fusion nuclear energy. Our past episodes with nonprofit leaders  New Harvest's Isha Datar and Goodwill's Lori Dearwester More about Peter Singer Peter Singer is often referred to as the "world's most influential living philosopher." He's best known for his work on the ethics of our treatment of animals, he's often credited with starting the modern animal protection movement, and he's had a major influence on the development of effective altruism.  He's also known for his controversial critique of the sanctity of life ethics in bioethics. Several key figures in the animal movement have said that Animal Liberation, first published in 1975, led them to get involved in the struggle to reduce the vast amount of suffering we inflict on animals.  To that end, Peter co-founded the Australian Federation of Animal Societies, now Animals Australia, the country's largest and most effective animal organization. His wife, Renata, and I stopped eating meat in 1971. Peter is the founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization based on his book of the same name.  It aims to spread his ideas about why we should be doing much more to improve the lives of people living in extreme poverty, and how we can best do this. You can view his TED talk on this topic here. His writings in this area include: the 1972 essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" in which he argues for donating to help the global poor; and two books that make the case for effective giving, The Life You Can Save (2009) and The Most Good You Can Do (2015). Peter has written, co-authored, edited or co-edited more than 50 books, including Practical Ethics, The Expanding Circle, Rethinking Life and Death, One World, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason) and The Point of View of the Universe (with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. His writings have appeared in more than 25 languages. Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1946, Peter was educated at the University of Melbourne and the University of Oxford.  After teaching in England, the United States, and Australia, in 1999 he became Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University.  

Did you know that two of every five births in America are unplanned?  That's not to suggest that an unplanned baby is going to be an unloved baby, of course, but family planning does tend to offer advantages, especially for families with fewer means, since high birth rates make it particularly difficult for children to escape a vicious cycle of poverty. (See more from the charity Having Kids.) Smaller family sizes not only are helpful for poverty reduction, but they also have environmental benefits for a planet currently experiencing exponential growth of the human species and all the associated concerns that come along with it, from climate change to deforestation and more. Unfortunately, despite major revolutions in science and technology in recent decades, innovation in contraception just hasn't kept pace, making it harder for both men and women to more thoughtfully decide when or even whether to procreate. Admittedly, women have lots of contraceptive choices, but they tend to have some pretty unsavory side effects, especially those that are hormonal in nature. Men, on the other hand, basically have two choices: condoms, which aren't always the most popular, or vasectomy, which can be daunting for obvious reasons.  As a result, the burden of pregnancy prevention has typically fallen disproportionately on women. Enter Your Choice Therapeutics, an early-stage contraception start-up developing non-hormonal, non-permanent methods of contraception for both women and men to use. As you'll hear from company CEO Akash Bakshi, Your Choice started as an idea in a UC-Berkeley lab, ended up going through the prestigious Y Combinator accelerator program, and is now a funded startup aiming to bring new contraceptive categories to market. One is a contraceptive gel that's both effective at reducing the risk of pregnancy and STDs, and the other is an oral, non-hormonal pill that men can take to render their sperm temporarily unable to impregnate a woman's egg. Considering how high the stakes are, it's about time contraception innovation is featured on this show. So enjoy hearing the story of one startup seeking to make it easier for us to make fewer of us. Discussed in this episode History of contraceptives History of vasectomy in particular Akash recommends NSF I-Corps  Our past episodes on direct air carbon capture and water filtration More about Akash Bakshi Your Choice Therapeutics CEO Akash Bakshi completed his undergraduate work in Biochemistry and Cell Biology at UC San Diego and then went on to pursue his graduate degree at the University of Queensland. Upon completing his research career he began his professional career in the commercialization of research at various organizations including UniQuest, UC Davis, and most recently at UC Berkeley. His work has resulted in numerous collaborations valued at over $10M. ​

Founded in 2017, New New Age Meats is practically old school when it comes to cultivated meat companies.  In mid-2018, the nascent startup debuted its first sausage made with cells from a living pig who the company biopsied at a nearby farm. Rather than being made entirely of animal cells, that historic sausage was part animal and part plant, and that's the point, according to co-founder and CEO Brian Spears.  In this episode, Brian argues that you don't need to make cultivated meat products entirely from animal cells. He argues instead that you can not only control costs by combining plant proteins with animal cells, but you can actually create novel and superior culinary experiences when you're not simply relying solely on animal cells to do the job alone. In 2021, having already raised $7 million, New Age Meats is opening a Series A round to help it build a pilot plant and ready its hybrid meat products for actual commercialization. In this episode we hear about Brian's journey from leaving another startup he founded and ran for eight years to enter the alternative protein space instead. We also discuss why Brian uses the term "cultivated meat" to describe his products, and when we can expect to see more of New Age Meats' products.  And yes, we even talk about Brian's passion outside of the clean room: on the ballroom dance floor. Discussed in this episode:  New Age Meats' 2018 sausage debut Indiebio accelerator program that incubated New Age Meats Sam Harris' episode with Uma Valeti of Memphis Meats was influential in Brian's decision to start New Age Meats Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy New Harvest and the Good Food Institute Brian recommends reading Thinking Fast and Slow Paul recommends reading Shoe Dog Paul's book Clean Meat More about Brian Spears: Brian Spears is the founder and CEO of New Age Meats -- making meat from animal cells instead of animal slaughter. Previously, he spent eight years as co-founder of Sixclear, creating software and products to automate the research labs and production environments of customers such as NASA, Cisco Systems, Sandia National Labs, and GE Healthcare. He is a chemical engineer with 12 years of industry experience in laboratory and industrial automation.

If you've ever heard of Bolt Threads, you may know them as one of the OGs in the space of growing animal products without animals. After all, since they were founded way back in 2009 they've been creating spider silk via synthetic biology and fermentation. But the company's headlines these days typically don't relate to spider silk at all, even though it's still an important part of the company. In a turn of events that they'd never have predicted at the outset of their startup, Bolt Threads has dove headfirst into growing mycelium (root-like threads of fungi) that can be harvested within days and turned into eco-friendly leather alternatives.    The result? Bolt Threads recently inked a deal with Adidas to commercialize its mycelium leather with the first shoes hitting the market in 2021. What was started as a project more than a decade ago by some students who applied for government grants is now a VC-backed startup that's raised more than $200 million, has celebrity endorsements, and is on the verge of entering its first major commercialization 11 years later. It's a wild ride they've been on, and Bolt Threads co-founder David Breslauer has some important insights for anyone seeking to use business to solve social problems.  Discussed in this episode Bolt Thread's mycelium-based leather, Mylo. Bolt's partnership with Adidas to use mycelium-based leather. A spider silk tapestry made with the silk of one million spiders. Bolt marketed 50 spider silk neck ties. Fungi that consume plastic and even radiation in the Chernobyl reactor. Steve Jobs' famous insult response. The book Clean Meat briefly discusses Bolt Threads' work. About David Breslauer David Breslauer is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Bolt Threads. He leads technology innovation at Bolt, creating and incubating biomaterials for improved consumer products. His obsession with biomaterials began with graduate research on silk during his Bioengineering Ph.D. at UC Berkeley and UCSF. David has an orange belt in Krav Maga and is a great admirer of stencil graffiti.

Of all the major meat companies, none has embraced plant protein in the way Canada's largest meat company, Maple Leaf Foods, has. Not only has the company acquired two well-known plant protein brands—Field Roast and Lightlife—but it's dramatically expanded those brands' reach, enabling more meat consumers to enjoy these products.  In fact, Maple Leaf has put nearly a billion dollars so far into acquiring and now growing their plant-based protein lines. Part of that includes building a $100 million tempeh plant along with a $310 million plant-based meat plant, both in Indiana. These are the kinds of numbers that even the biggest alt-protein start-ups dream of, yet it's a meat company that's making it happen. In this episode, we talk with Adam Grogan, an executive at Maple Leaf's plant protein division Greenleaf Foods. We're also joined by the company's Chief of R&D, Jitendra Sagili, a meat industry veteran who's in charge of a team of 90 food scientists, many of whom are working to innovate the best new alt-proteins for the meat-eating consumer. We talk about a lot of things, including whether Maple Leaf sees plant-based meat as cannibalizing their core products or merely as supplemental to them. We discuss their efforts to put plant protein not only into the meat aisle, but also into the meat itself. We learn that ironically, Lightlife was a vegetarian but not vegan brand pre-acquisition, and it took a meat giant like Maple Leaf to convert all their products to be animal-free. And we learn that in just a few years since acquiring Field Roast, Maple Leaf has tripled the size of the business. And yes, we also touch on the controversial ad that Lightlife placed criticizing fellow plant-based meat purveyors and get their thoughts in retrospect about it. (Here's Impossible Foods' response.) It's a riveting conversation offering a window into the world of a major meat company that's trying to diversify its protein portfolio as a way to reduce its footprint and win the consumers of the future. Discussed in this episode Maple Leaf is spending $100 million on a new tempeh plant and $310 million on a new plant-based meat plant. Jitendra recommends books like Mind-Gut Connection and Food Foolish. Adam is a fan of Veganuary, and he recommends books like The Wicked Healthy Cookbook and The Noma Guide to Fermentation. Our episode with Irina Gerry of Change Foods. Our episode with Kristie Middleton of Rebellyous Foods. Our episodes on plastic alternatives with Notpla and Outlander Materials

You've heard the old adage: Humans plan, and God laughs. That truism could nicely describe Irina Gerry's life, which has been pretty remarkable so far. She started out growing up in communist Russia, but with fate helping to defy odds, Irina ended up coming to the US and attending Harvard Business School. She eventually worked at one of the biggest symbols of capitalism on the planet: Procter & Gamble. But soon, Irina was in the dairy industry, working at milk product behemoth Danone, or sometimes known as Dannon in the United States, managing their plant-based brands Silk and So Delicious. After years of spending time advancing alt-dairy within the walls of one of the world's biggest dairy companies, fate struck again in Irina's life. Following a chance virtual meeting on Linkedin during the pandemic with the CEO of a brand new, pre-revenue, animal-free dairy start-up, Irina decided to leave the comfort and safety of a good job at a major company to try her hand at entrepreneurship.  So she left Danone to become the Chief Marketing Officer of Change Foods, a company recently started by Australian plant-based entrepreneur David Bucca that's using microbes to brew real dairy proteins without the use of a single cow. So far they've raised nearly $1 million and are seeking an additional $5 million in 2021. Change Foods has already brought on other heavy hitters from major food brands, and their first product, they claim, will be cheese that melts and performs just like conventional cheese.  In this episode we discuss Irina's journey from corporate Goliath to start-up David, just what makes Change Foods different from other precision fermentation start-ups, and what Irina thinks are examples of great—and not-so-great—marketing in the plant-based space.  We also get into why plant-based milk has become so much more successful than plant-based meat, at least so far. And we discuss the vexing question: is real dairy brewed from microbes vegan or not? After all, it's real dairy protein, so if you're allergic to cow's milk, you'll be allergic to this. But no animals were used, so how should marketers describe this kind of food? So enjoy learning about the brave new world of sustainable protein and a remarkable life journey so far in this episode! Discussed in this interview: Our past episode featuring Perfect Day's co-founders. Forks Over Knives had a big impact on Irina. Irina recommends The Tipping Point by Malcomb Gladwell. Paul's article on how cheese consumption is increasing even while milk consumption is declining. The RethinkX Report on the future of animal agriculture. Irina praised companies like Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, and Miyoko's. She also questioned Lightlife Foods for its ads attacking fellow plant-based companies.

If you're a regular listener of the show, you likely already know that reducing humanity's reliance on animals for food is one of the most pressing challenges the world faces at this moment. But meat demand just keeps rising and we're raising more animals for food today than ever before. One thing keeping meat alternatives merely as alternatives is that plant-based meat is still sold at multiples over the cost of animal-based meat. In other words, lowering the cost of meat alternatives seems like a true business and moral imperative. Kristie Middleton has spent her life trying to move our food industry away from animal usage and toward plant proteins. She knows as well as anyone just how critical price is when it comes to influencing institutional purchasing decisions. After spending two decades working for animal welfare charities, including authoring a book on meat reduction, she's now left the life of a nonprofit animal activist behind and embraced an executive role at an early-stage plant-based chicken startup called Rebellyous Foods.  Their goal is very simple to understand but incredibly difficult to achieve: compete on cost with commodity chicken. In this episode we talk about Kristie's transition from the world of charities to the work of building a company aimed at helping animals. We also discuss how Rebellyous Foods intends to bend the cost curve of plant-based meat and what they're doing with the $12 million they've raised from venture capitalists so far. It's an inspirational tale for anyone interested in making the world a better place for all animals, human and nonhuman alike. Discussed in this episode Kristie's book MeatLess: Transform the Way You Eat and Live — One Meal at a Time Meatless Mondays in LA schools, which Kristie helped implement Great by Choice by Jim Collins Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki Christie Lagally, the founder and CEO of Rebellyous Food Our past episodes featuring Toni Okamoto and Colleen Patrick Goudreau. Food Biz Wiz podcast with Alli Ball Startup CPG More about Kristie Middleton Kristie Middleton is vice president of business development for Rebellyous Foods and the author of MeatLess: Transform the Way You Eat and Live—One Meal at a Time. Prior to joining Rebellyous, Kristie was Managing Director of Farm Animal Protection at the Humane Society of the United States, where she built and led a team of foodservice professionals working with foodservice management corporations and institutions across the U.S. to help them reduce meat purchases and incorporate more plant-based options into their menus. Kristie has partnered with the nation's biggest school districts including Los Angeles, Detroit, and Boston and some of the world's largest food companies to implement plant-based initiatives such as Meatless Monday.

We may hear a lot about solar power and renewable energy, but sadly, our civilization is still voraciously addicted to fossil fuels. Even in a technologically advanced country like America, nearly all — about 90 percent — of the energy we use still comes from non-renewable sources. This not only causes serious environmental damage to extract from the earth, but also is a leading cause of climate change that's driving countless species to extinction, including possibly own our species if we don't get our act together. The effort to collect energy from the sun's rays has come a long way, but it's still largely dependent on finding roofspace or large tracts of land to put unappealing blue-grey solar panels. But what if we could collect solar energy through crystal clear film that we could affix to virtually any surface, including the windows of skyscrapers? By making it possible to invisibly turn outdoor objects like windows into solar energy-collecting devices, we could transform the ways our cities and homes get their power. That's exactly what Ubiquitous Energy is seeking to do. The start-up has raised $30 million to commercialize technology that began in an MIT lab that uses invisible film placed on windows to harvest solar energy. And we've got their CEO, Susan Stone, on this episode to tell us all about it.  It doesn't look like humanity's energy needs are going to subside any time soon. If anything, we're going to need more power, not less. And that's why innovations like Ubiquitous Energy's are so important: since they allow us to have our energy and eat it too, or maybe have our energy, and heat our homes, too.  Discussed in this episode Our past episode on Ornilux bird-friendly glass Statistics about solar and other renewable energy in the U.S. Our recent episode with John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market Susan recommends Play Bigger by Al Ramadan Susan recommends a Fast Company story by Andrea Kayal about how to hire nice people More About Susan Stone Susan Stone is CEO at Ubiquitous Energy. She has been a longtime board member and investor in the company. Prior to joining Ubiquitous, she was the founder and CEO of Sierra Wasatch Capital, an early stage venture capital firm, and managed early stage investing for Riverhorse Investments, Inc. Susan has also worked at JPMorgan in New York and Houlihan Lokey in Los Angeles as an investment banker focused on mergers & acquisitions. Stone holds an MBA from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and a bachelor's degree from Yale University.

Most start-ups fail. Many that don't fail still don't have spectacular results. Chris Bryson, however, defied the odds by founding and running a company that was so successful Instacart acquired it for a reported $65 million. Rather than retiring to a tropical beach with regular daiquiri service, Chris charted a different course for his new life. Instead of leisurely enjoying the financial fruit of his labor, Chris has decided to use his wealth to invest in alternative protein start-ups seeking to displace animals in the food industry's supply chain. Convinced that the most good he can do in the world is help divorce meat production from animal farming, already he's seeded a number of plant-based and cultivated meat start-ups with cash to hopefully drive them to the same kind of success he had as a start-up founder. Additionally, Chris has also decided to try his hand at serial entrepreneurship and is starting his own alt-seafood venture himself, too.  Will Chris be like Lebron and bring home another championship for a different team? Will he be like Jordan and move from being a player to a coach for his investees? How did becoming a multimillionaire change his life? Hear his inspirational tale in this podcast about Chris' wild ride to try to do good in the world.  Discussed in this episode Unata, the company Chris founded and sold to Instacart Rebellyous Foods, Plantible Foods, Avant Meats, Cultured Decadence, four startups in which Chris has invested Paul's review of A Traitor to His Species, a biography of ASPCA founder Henry Bergh Chris says Ashlee Vance's biography of Elon Musk was inspirational to him.  Christie Lagally's analysis showing that plant-based meat is still less than one percent of the total meat market. I am an Animal, HBO's documentary on PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk The Good Food Institute, a charity helping advance sustainable protein solutions More about Chris Bryson and Unata Chris Bryson served as the founder and CEO of Unata, an enterprise software provider (acquired by Instacart in 2018) that powers the eCommerce & digital experiences for major grocery chains. Recognized as the 52nd Fastest Growing North American Tech Company (PROFIT 500 2016), Canada's #2 best small business workplace (Great Place to Work 2017), and one of Canada's Top 20 Most Innovative Companies (CIX Awards 2016). He holds a bachelor's in commerce from Queen's University. 

Meat from a cow who's eaten an entirely grass-based diet is typically called "grass-fed meat." So when you're making plant-based meat with wood as your feedstock, is it called "wood-fed meat"?  No matter what you call it, Arbiom has raised about $30 million to produce it. Arbiom CEO Marc Chevrel is taking wood and subjecting it to a yeast-based fermentation that allows him to, within just one week, produce a high-protein food which can be used both for human and animal purposes. Just think about how long it takes to raise an animal for food, yet Marc harvests his protein in just one week. Right now, billions of wild fish are killed and fed to farmed fish, farmed land animals like pigs, and to our pets in dog and cat food. What if Marc's yeast could replace the need for all those fish to be taken from the sea? Even more, he's turned his wood-fed yeast into plant-based meat which he asserts is quite tasty, and he says, very affordable.  So, is wood-fed meat the future of sustainable protein? Marc Chevrel thinks so. Enjoy this episode and you the judge. Discussed in this episode Feedstuffs: "Arbiom achieves milestone in scale-up of 'wood-to-food' technology" The Spoon: "The Latest Ingredient For Alt-Protein? Wood." Food Ingredients: "Arbiom's alternative protein product has 'lowest impact on climate change'" More about Marc Chevrel of Arbiom: Marc Chevrel has been a manager in industrial fields for more than 20 years, with a varied experience in energy, chemistry, manufacturing, engineering and services. He was the head of the regional office for industrial environment in Northern France before working for the French Energy Regulatory Commission as head of the electricity markets. He then joined the nuclear engineering and manufacturing company Areva, where he held various management roles, including leader of industrial business units with a work force of several thousand people, and sales of about 1 billion dollars.  Marc has a wealth of international experience and he has worked and lived in four countries (France, Germany, Japan and the USA). Marc is a graduate from both École Normale Supérieure and Mines ParisTech and holds master's degrees in mathematics and engineering.

This is of course a historic election for many reasons, one of them being that there's very high concern about how the votes will be counted. We're just days away from the final day to vote and we've got news stories about the Russians and Iranians gaining access to certain voter records in the US — it's crazy! One need look no further than 20 years ago when disputes over how to count the ballots in Florida led the US Supreme Court to step in and end the state's recount, handing, by a 5-4 ruling, George W. Bush the presidency over Al Gore. Well, the events of 2000 may seem tame compared to what could happen on election night 2020 and the following days. This time we have not only a pandemic gripping our nation, but a president who regularly rails against mail-in voting as allegedly fraudulent and who assuredly will claim that the election results are fake. Recall that even after his electoral college victory in 2016, president-elect Trump maintained, without providing any evidence, that his loss in the popular vote was only made possible by millions of so-called fraudulent votes. Turns out, however, that there's one thing everyone should be able to agree on: We need better technology to improve the security of our elections, from the news people are seeing during election season to the counting of the actual votes on election day and beyond. In this episode, we have one of the nation's foremost experts on cybersecurity, Dr. Aaron Brantly, the founder and director of the Tech4Humanity Lab at Virginia Tech. In addition to having worked at the U.S. Army Cyber Institute and at West Point, Aaron has written four books on cybersecurity and has traveled the world to promote democracy and protect elections abroad. Few people understand the cyber threats we face better than Aaron, and the opportunities for businesses to create technology that can help safeguard our electoral processes and therefore our democracy.  As you'll hear, Aaron and I talk about everything from what threats he sees as the most serious, to why we don't yet have secure online voting, to how other countries handle their election security. And at the end of our conversation, Aaron gives his wish list of startups he hopes will be founded that could be both financially lucrative while also protecting the integrity of our voting systems. So if you care about protecting our democracy's electoral process and how digital innovation can help, this is the episode for you. Discussed in this episode: Aaron Brantly's personal site Aaron's four books on cybersecurity The Tech4Humanity Lab at Virginia Tech Aaron recommends both Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society by Ron Deibert and Attack Surface by Cory Doctorow Two documentaries: The Social Dilemma and All-In: The Fight for Democracy More about Dr. Aaron Brantly Aaron Brantly, an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Tech, has worked on issues related to cybersecurity from multiple angles, including human rights and development, intelligence and national security, and military cybersecurity. His interests span the political science and computer science divide. He is currently working on a yearlong project on cyber deterrence funded by OSD Minerva R-Def. He also is the founder and director of the Tech4Humanity Lab at Virginia Tech. Aaron holds a PhD in political science from the University of Georgia, and his principal areas of research include cyber conflict and security, terrorism, intelligence, big data, and Internet governance.

This is a special episode, because the guest holds many interesting titles for our purposes: Toni Okamoto is the founder of Plant Based on a Budget, a successful author, the creator and former co-host of this podcast, and...she happens also to be my wife. And Toni has a new book coming out! This is her third cookbook, entitled The Friendly Vegan Cookbook, which is coauthored with Toni's business partner and friend Michelle Cehn. Now, before you think this is just some act of nepotism to promote my wife's new book (which is certainly worth promoting, nepotism or not!), as you'll soon hear, Toni has a fascinating tale to tell about her success as an entrepreneur. In this episode we chat about what led her to leave the comfortable life of a paycheck and benefits to take a bet on starting her own company based on her passion: helping people save money by eating plant-based.  With no outside investment and just by bootstrapping with revenue she's brought in, Toni has built her company into a powerhouse, providing jobs for six people (plus herself) and reaching vast numbers of people with a potent message about how to live more sustainably each day. It's normally taboo to talk about how much money someone makes, but Toni gets into the specific numbers here to offer details about her business' various revenue streams. So if you've ever wondered how social media influencers actually make a living and what their lives are like, including the barrage of both encouragement and criticism they receive online daily, this episode will answer that plus a whole lot more.  Discussed in this episode Toni's three books Plant-Based on a Budget's meal plans Smart Passive Income Podcast and the Startup Podcast Alfonso Revilla Photography Reynaldo's Soy Chorizo Eddie the Pittie on Instagram About Toni Okamoto Toni Okamoto is the founder of Plant-Based on a Budget, the popular website and meal plan that shows you how to save dough by eating veggies. She's also the author of the Plant-Based on a Budget cookbook, The Super Easy Vegan Slow Cooker Cookbook, and the Friendly Vegan Cookbook. She's also the co-host of The Plant-Powered People Podcast.  Okamoto's work has been profiled by NBC News, Parade Magazine, and she's a regular presence on local and national morning shows across the country, where she teaches viewers how to break their meat habit without breaking their budget. She was also featured in the popular documentary What the Health. When she's not cooking up a plant-based storm, she's spending time with her husband Paul Shapiro and dog Eddie in Sacramento, Calif.

When this podcast was first launched in 2018, the very first guest was Whole Foods Market CEO and co-founder John Mackey. In that episode, we talked about his book Conscious Capitalism. Well, John has a new book out now, Conscious Leadership, and to commemorate our 50th episode, he rejoins the podcast for a second conversation and rest assured, John does not disappoint. In this episode we cover a wide range of topics: What did John learn from an attempted (unsuccessful) coup at Whole Foods to oust him from the CEO position? In which cultivated meat company did both Whole Foods Market and John personally take an investment position? What does he think future generations will think about our treatment of animals? Why does plant-based cheese sell better when it's not located in the dairy section? Will there be a post-Whole Foods chapter in John's life? Enjoy the full episode, and all of these questions (plus more!) will be answered.  Discussed in this episode Several books by John Mackey John's 2018 interview Business for Good  Seth Goldman's 2018 interview on Business for Good Paul's book Clean Meat Paul's definitely-not-repulsive immune-boosting covid concoction World Wildlife Fund's report showing humans that have decimated nearly 70% of wild animals in half a century. John's book recommendations: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, Essential Spirituality by Roger Walsh, and Path with Heart by Jack Kornfield Whole Foods Market History Whole Foods Market was founded in Austin, Texas, when four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format. Co-founders included John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a staff of only 19 people. It was an immediate success. At the time, there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States. In 2017, Amazon purchased Whole Foods Market for nearly $14 billion. As of 2020, the company operates more than 500 store locations.

Think about how many plants there are: hundreds of thousands of different species. Yet when you look at plant-based meats, nearly all are made of one or more of just three of those plant species: soy, wheat, and pea. And there's good reason for it: those plants are relatively cheap and plentiful, they taste good, and they function quite well as alt-meats under certain conditions that have been studied at length.  But what if it were possible to make meat alternatives with a different species than one of those three? In fact, a species so different it's not even a plant at all. That's exactly what Kimberlie Le of Prime Roots is doing. Instead of seeking to build a supply chain for a new kind of plant protein, Kim is creating her own supply chain for making animal-free protein, brewing a fungus called Aspergillus oryzae into whole food meat alternatives. For those of you not familiar, fungi are not plants nor are they animals: they're an entirely different kingdom of organisms. We typically associate fungi with mushrooms, but mushrooms are just the fruiting body of a fungus, kind of like an apple on a tree. And in fact, most fungal species don't even produce mushrooms anyway. But back to aspergillus: It's also known as koji, and humans have been enjoying this particular fungus for centuries in the form of soy sauce, miso, sake, and more. But rather than using it as a processing aid, Kim's start-up Prime Roots is simply using fermentation to collect the biomass of the fungus itself and turning it into animal-free meat.  As you'll hear, the idea for the company came to Kim while in a college course. Three years later, she's now raised millions of dollars, is operating a 12,000 square foot production facility, and has already released a flagship product, bacon made from koji. So enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with an entrepreneur who's betting that the next big thing in plant-based meat isn't going to be plants at all. If Kim has her way, just maybe the next big trend among advocates for local, artisanal protein won't be farm to table, but rather will be fermenter to table, with Prime Roots brewing the way forward.  Discussed in this episode: Prime Roots job openings Rebellyous Foods CEO Christie Lagally's thoughts on plant-based meat industry Paul's thoughts on just how much alt-meat is out there. My Food Job Rocks podcast interview with Hodo Foods CEO Minh Tsai Past Business for Good episode with Perfect Day's co-founders Quorn mycoprotein products The Choice by Edith Eger Pathfinder family planning efforts

Think about how much metal you use in your life. Your phone. Your canned drinks. Your car. Well, for every ounce of metal in our lives, there are several ounces of often-toxic sludge left behind from the extraction process at the mine. In other words, in a car there might be a ton of aluminum, and to get that aluminum for that one car, there's enough red mud--the industry term for the waste product of mining--to fill a swimming pool. In fact, our metal mining produces such huge volumes of these so-called tailings ponds at mining sites that there's enough of it to cover all of California in a foot-deep pool of sludge. Sure, plastic straws may get the attention, producing tens of thousands of tons of waste per year. But the mining industry produces tens of billions of tons of hazardous waste each year. Now, these days if you follow the sustainable food world you hear a lot about upcycling in the food industry. We've even featured companies on this podcast using agricultural byproducts to make new and valuable goods. So, two young students thought, why not do the same with tailings ponds at mining sites? After all, there's still a lot of titanium, aluminum, iron, silica, and more importantly, rare earth metals, left behind in these ponds simply because they're difficult to extract. But difficulty hasn't stopped Nick Myers and Thomas Villalon from experimenting and finding a way to extract value from these ponds of mining waste.  After successfully experimenting for months in their backyard with materials given to them by a refinery, Nick and Thomas went on to found their start-up, got accepted to the prestigious Techstars accelerator, won a quarter-million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, have filed for provisional patents on their process, and have now raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from investors. In short, they're ready to get to work. It's an inspiring tale showing how some innovative folks who see solutions where others see problems can really make a positive difference in the world. I think you'll be as impressed by Nick and Thomas as I am, so sit back and enjoy hearing the story of Phoenix Tailings as told by its cofounders. Discussed in this episode: Past Business for Good episodes with Outlander Materials and Deep Isolation Regrained nutrition bars using beer brewery waste The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi

Normally on Business for Good, we focus on companies using innovative commerce to solve serious social problems. In this episode though, we're focusing on a less traditional type of business: the life of a solo-preneuer. That's to say, the life of a business person who isn't trying to build a team and grow into a huge company, but rather someone who goes it alone and makes a business work essentially by themselves. If you're interested in the plant-based world, you likely know Colleen Patrick-Groudreau's name, since Colleen is essentially a brand unto herself, often known as the Joyful Vegan. In fact, The Joyful Vegan is the name of her latest (and 7th) book. A long-time advocate for pragmatic and friendly animal advocacy, Colleen has built her own empire of revenue streams that allow her to earn money by putting out her positive message of compassion and joy into the world.  Many people who want to promote animal-friendly eating may go work for an animal charity or work for a company making alternative protein. Those are of course cool things to do. But Colleen has for decades now successfully charted a different path of advocacy, and has made a good business out of doing so.  Whether it's earning revenue from her books on vegan eating, from sponsored vegan-friendly vacations, from online cooking classes, and more, Colleen has a truly diversified approach to ensuring her own living while urging the rest of us to adopt a live and let live mentality toward other animals.  As you'll hear in this interview, Colleen really was an influencer long before there was social media. She was collecting small contributions from fans of her work long before there was Patreon. She was podcasting for animals long before most people knew what a podcast was. And she was writing plant-based cookbooks, of which she's sold more than a quarter million copies, long before there was an internet full of unlimited plant-based resources. In other words, Colleen really is an OG of plant-based advocacy. So enjoy listening to her story of how she got started and how she's made her business of advocating compassion for animals work for so long.  Discussed in this episode Colleen's web site with all her resources, including books, videos, cooking classes, and more. Colleen's conversations with Paul on his podcasts Animology and Food for Thought. Books by Joseph Campbell Bond pet food, which is seeking to make clean meat pet food. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau Bio: Colleen Patrick-Goudreau's compassionate living philosophy is propelling plant-based eating into the mainstream and forever changing how we regard animals. A recognized expert and thought leader on the culinary, social, ethical, and practical aspects of living compassionately and healthfully, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is a speaker, cultural commentator, podcaster, and award-winning author of seven books, including the bestselling The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan's Daily Companion, On Being Vegan, The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, and her newest book, The Joyful Vegan: How to Stay Vegan in a World That Wants You to Eat Meat, Dairy, and Eggs. She is an acclaimed speaker and beloved host of the inspiring podcast, "Food for Thought," which has been voted Favorite Podcast by VegNews magazine readers several years in a row. She launched a spin-off podcast called Animalogy in 2017. Along with fellow advocates, she recently formed a political action committee called East Bay Animal PAC to work with government officials on animal issues in the San Francisco Bay Area. Colleen shares her message of compassion and wellness on national and regional TV and radio programs, including a regular segment on Good Day Sacramento and as a monthly contributor on National Public Radio (KQED). She has appeared on the Food Network, CBS, PBS, and FOX; interviews with her have been featured on NPR, Huffington Post, U.S. News, and World Report; her letters and editorials are published in publications such as The New York Times and The Atlantic Magazine, and her recipes have been featured on Epicurious.com and Oprah.com. Colleen lives in Oakland, CA with her husband David and two cats, Charlie and Michiko.

Maybe you own some things from Goodwill or at least have donated unwanted items to them. But when you think of Goodwill, what comes to your mind?  Maybe you think it's just a chain of thrift stores selling used goods. Turns out, not true. Goodwill is actually a nonprofit organization focused on helping the homeless and others experiencing hard times. And it just turns out that the charity happens to fund its good work for the less fortunate via a chain of used goods stores at which you've probably shopped.  In other words, the public-facing stores you see all the time are just the revenue-generating engine for this charity to do its good deeds. It's a fascinating business model, and on this episode we've got Goodwill exec Lori Dearwester to tell us how it all works. If you've ever wondered what happens when you donate a bag of goods to Goodwill, what happens to the things that don't sell, and what happens if you try to reclaim a donated item, this episode will answer all your questions.  Discuss in this episode Goodwill's online store. Lori recommends Radical Candor by Kim Scott Past episodes with Wild Earth CEO Ryan Bethencourt, Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey, and TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky. Eddie the Pittie's IG account!

Oftentimes when Westerners think of India, we tend to think of it as a land of vegetarians. It's true that India has given the world some pretty awesome vegetarian food, and it's also true that per person meat consumption is low in India relative to America. But the hard truth remains: the majority of Indians are not vegetarian and their per capita meat consumption has been skyrocketing in recent decades.  So what can be done to satisfy the palates of the hundreds of millions of Indians who want to eat more meat? Well, just like in America, part of the solution is almost certainly going to be giving consumers the experience of meat that they want, but without having to raise so many animals. And that's exactly what Good Dot is doing. Four years ago, this company didn't exist. Today, Good Dot has nearly 200 employees and is producing a wide variety of plant-based meats for the Indian consumer. The company's even now opened up its own chain of all-plant-based fast food kiosks, too. And as you'll hear, unlike the plant-based start-ups in the US, Good Dot is already competing on cost with the animal products they're seeking to displace. In this interview, we hear from the company's CEO, Abhishek Sinha, a man who by his own description was an animal-loving government bureaucrat who decided he wanted to do more for animals with his career. And as a result, he claims he's happier and more fulfilled today than he's ever been before. You already know there's a plant-based meat revolution happening in the US, Europe, and China. Now get ready to hear about how it's unfolding on the Asian subcontinent too. Discussed in this episode:  Hodo Foods, which made tofu cool again Global Food Partners, a firm helping food businesses implement farm animal welfare standards

There are few people with more credible voices on police reform than Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.  As you'll hear in the interview, Adams talks about how his experience of being beaten by the police while in custody as a black teenager led to him become a police officer himself for two decades, and then ultimately to a life in politics.  After serving in the police force, Adams was elected as a state senator in New York where he championed police reforms, including opposition to the then-stop-and-frisk policy, and he's now in his second term as the chief executive of New York City's most populous borough, Brooklyn. And while it's still early, Adams is already considered by many as a frontrunner in the November 2021 mayoral race in America's largest city. (Current New York City Mayor Bill di Blasio will be termed out of office.) In addition to discussing technologies from the private sector he believes could be helpful in preventing lethal use of force by police, we also discuss how Adams' adoption of a plant-based diet reversed his diabetes, gave him back his health, and what he thinks private businesses can do to advance public health. Discussed in this episode The 8 Can't Wait platform of police reforms backed by President Obama Bola Wrap technology to safely and painlessly detain people How Not to Die by Michael Greger, MD You Are the Placebo and other books by Joe Dispenza

Let's face it: even though we all know there's a huge problem with single-use plastic bottles, right or wrong, most Americans just don't trust tap water. Tens of thousands of plastic water bottles are thrown out every minute, with nearly none of them actually being recycled. In fact, thousands of years from now, our plastic waste may be some of the most obvious relics remaining of our civilization.  But one serial entrepreneur, Rich "Raz" Razgaitis, is trying to make plastic-free tap water cool again, and wants you to think of single-use plastic water bottles as if they were as socially unacceptable as cigarettes. And so far he's raised $25 million in venture capital to wage his purified tap water crusade. Raz co-founded FloWater with the goal of placing his water purification machines in thousands of public places, making clean tap water available for free to anyone passing by. FloWater machines are already displacing water bottles in major offices like Red Bull, Microsoft, Airbnb, Google and Target, as well as more than 100 hotels and dozens of school districts and concert venues in all 50 states. Hear Raz's inspiring story in this episode, as the FloWater team continues seeking to transform our perceptions of tap water and put an end to single-use plastic water bottles. Discussed in this episode Raz's TEDx talk: Bottled Water is the New Cigarette Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins The Obstacle is the Way and Conspiracy, both by Ryan Holiday

If you're a regular listener of the show, you may recognize the name of this episode's guest since she's been mentioned on at least two past episodes. Isha Datar is a cofounder of both Perfect Day and Clara Foods, companies respectively growing real dairy and egg proteins from microbes and which were the subjects of Episodes 21 and 34.  Yet Isha is perhaps best known not for her work cofounding for-profit start-ups seeking to build a more sustainable food system. Really she's better-known for her role as the executive director of New Harvest, a nonprofit organization advancing the field of "cellular agriculture"—a term, by the way, that Isha coined.  You'll hear in this interview what role Isha thinks nonprofits like hers should play in a nascent industry whose start-ups are attracting hundreds of millions of dollars of venture capital. As well, Isha discusses the fact that many of the people now working at cell ag start-ups have come through New Harvest and its ecosystem. Also discussed in the episode are controversial topics like what to call meat grown from animal cells, when that meat may hit the market, and whether it will be more of an evolution or a revolution in the meat industry. Really, there's something in this interview for everyone! Discussed in the interview: Isha's 2010 academic paper that launched her career in cultured meat: "Possibilities for an in vitro meat production system" Isha's 2013 TEDx talk that helped her candidacy to run New Harvest: "Re-Thinking Meat" Our episode with Perfect Day discussing Isha's role cofounding the company Our episode with Clara Foods discussing Isha's role cofounding the company Clean Meat, Paul's book in which Isha is a central character The Generosity Network by Jennifer McCrea Mission Barns, a startup growing real animal fat without animals Modern Meadow, a company that fed both Isha and Paul cultured beef in 2014 Jason Matheny, founder of New Harvest

In many countries, walking down city streets vividly brings to life two serious problems: plastic pollution and poverty. While there are charities trying to address both of these concerns, serial entrepreneur David Katz in 2013 thought there was an opportunity to marry the two issues and build a profitable business out of it. The result: Plastic Bank. Today, there are tens of thousands of low-income people in countries from Haiti to Egypt who are collecting plastic refuse from waterways and other polluted areas, bringing it to a Plastic Bank collection center, and getting credit via a smartphone app that they can then go spend on their needs. Already, the company collects about 50,000 plastic bottles per 45 minutes. Rather than viewing those bottles as plastic "waste," David thinks of them as "social plastic," which he helps convert into materials that Plastic Bank then sells to major plastic users.  Just how much can Plastic Bank get for all that social plastic? David says the company is projecting in 2020 annual revenue of $65 million. As David puts it in the interview, charities look at money and ask, "How do I deplete it as slowly as possible and make an impact?" Entrepreneurs look at money and ask, "How do I multiply it as quickly as possible and make an impact?" Discussed in this episode David's TED Talk: The Surprising Solution to Ocean Plastic  Plastic Bank's Plastic Neutrality campaign Chris Jordan environmental photography

Some states are beginning to open their economies after weeks of shutting down to try to flatten the COVID curve. But there are some things that we really want to keep sheltered in place...and never come out.  here are hundreds of thousands of pounds of nuclear waste largely stored by nuclear power plants around the world. And all of that extremely dangerous material—which will remain extremely dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years—has no permanent place to go.  In the US, the government allows private companies to temporarily store nuclear waste, but it's illegal for private companies to actually dispose of it. That's the government's job, and it just hasn't happened. Enter environmentalist Elizabeth Muller. Her company Deep Isolation has pioneered what she says is a safe method of storing nuclear waste deep underground—really deep.  Elizabeth argues that such storage, which would still allow for the material to be recovered if desired, would keep ground-dwelling earthlings like Homo sapiens and other living beings safe from our civilization's nuclear waste for perhaps a million years, and she's attracting venture capital from investors who've already pumped $14 million into her company.  These social impact investors are betting that Elizabeth will be able to make a real impact by helping solve one of our society's most intractable problems: safe nuclear waste storage. Discussed in this episode NPR on Deep Isolation's work Radwaste Solutions magazine, Liz's favorite publication The World Without Us by Alan Weisman Berkeley Earth, the nonprofit environmental group Elizabeth co-founded and runs HBO's Chernobyl series which focuses on the infamous Soviet nuclear energy accident Netflix's Inside Bill's Brain series which discusses next-gen nuclear power

What do you get when you combine executives from Unilever and Nestle with alt-protein investors and $200 million? In 2020, it turns out you get a new company devoted to doing for plant-based chicken what Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods have done for plant-based burgers.  Already The LiveKindly Co. has announced the completion of a $200 million funding round, installed a former Unilever CEO as its own CEO, acquired two plant-based meat companies, and partnered with one of Europe's largest poultry companies.  As you'll hear in this interview with company founder Roger Lienhard and CEO Kees Kruythoff (former CEO of Unilever North America), they intend to use their extensive food industry experience and massive capital to revolutionize the chicken industry. And it will all begin with a new, all-natural plant-based chicken that contains only four to six ingredients and, they say, will be cheaper than chicken within three years. Discussed in this episode LiveKindly Media, the news source run by Jodi Monelle acquired by The LiveKindly Co.  LikeMeat, a German plant-based meat company acquired by The LiveKindly Co.  Fry's Family Food, a South African plant-based meat company acquired by The LiveKindly Co.  PHW Group, Germany's largest poultry company Blue Horizon Ventures, the VC founded by Roger Lienhard Unilever sustainability initiatives  True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership by Bill George Enactus, a global network for social entrepreneurship whose board chairman is Kees Kruythoff Episode 38: Making Plastic Disappear with Notpla's Seaweed Packaging

Today, everyone knows what plant-based meat is and chances are they've at least tried it. In many ways, those people have Seth Tibbott to thank. Seth, who in 1980 founded Turtle Island Foods (maker of the iconic Tofurky brand) and served as its CEO for more than three decades, is now releasing his autobiography: In Search of the Wild Tofurky: How a Business Misfit Pioneered Plant-Based Foods Before They Were Cool. Rest assured that if you're interested in entrepreneurialism to save the world, this is the perfect book to read while sheltering in place during a global pandemic. In the book, Seth tells the tale of how ill-prepared he, as a hippie-turned-entrepreneur, was to run a business when he started out. In fact, the company remained unprofitable for more than 15 years until finally turning out new products that helped to pave the way for the explosion of plant-based meat popularity we're experiencing today. So take a moment while social distancing and listen to Seth's inspirational story of repeated (and repeated) business failures, followed by enormous success, both financial and social. After listening to his tale here, you'll surely want to order his new book! Discussed in this episode Books: Diet for a Small Planet, Shoe Dog, Eating Animals, and Stephen Gaskin's works Philip Wollen speech on animals Wild Wild Country on Netflix The Guardian on Eddie the pitbull's foster-to-adoption story Paul Shapiro's column in Scientific American about pandemics and raising animals for food

When two college students were concerned about the plastic packaging choking our waterways, they wondered if they could invent a better way to contain companies' liquids.  Rodrigo Garcia Gonzales and Pierre Paslier began ordering ingredients off Amazon and Alibaba and tinkered away in their kitchen. With a rough prototype in hand, they decided they'd launch a Kickstarter to see if there was interest in a new company that would make alternative packaging from seaweed. The result: A million dollars poured in and Notpla became a reality. Blown away by the response, the two kept pressing forward, and seven years later, they've now raised over $6 million, have dozens of employees, and are working with food giants like Unilever and more to make plastic packaging disappear. Hear Rodrigo and Pierre's inspirational tale in this episode! Discussed in this show Mashable video on Notpla's "edible water" (19 million views) New York Times on Rupert Murdoch's son's investment in Notpla Fast Company on Notpla's products CNBC on Notpla's work with Just Eat Episode 27 with Tom Szaky of TerraCycle on recycling the "un-recyclable" Paul's article in Scientific American about factory farming of animals and pandemic risk

You already know about plant-based meat. You're also familiar with meat grown from animal cells, often called cultivated meat or clean meat. But have you ever heard of making protein—and therefore the building blocks of meat—straight out of thin air? Dr. Lisa Dyson was reading 1960s-era NASA research about how to feed astronauts on long-distance cosmic trips, when something truly out of this world caught her attention. Of course, on long-distance cosmic tourist trips, we'll need ways for astronauts not only to conserve food they've brought from our home planet, but also to produce food on-board.  As a result, NASA at the time was exploring growing protein not from animals or plants, but right out of thin air. Sound like science fiction? Well, half a century later, Lisa and her team at Air Protein are already doing it, and they've recently even made what she called "air-based chicken." The photos of the air-based meat look truly delectable.  Lisa asserts that her air protein takes a tiny fraction of the resources needed to produce even plant protein, which is a driving force motivating her to commercialize her air-based meat in the near-term. Her goal: help save the planet and the animals who call it home, including us Homo sapiens. Discussed in this episode 1967 NASA research that kicked off Lisa's interest in the topic Food Dive profile on Air Protein Episode 22 with Graciela Chichilnisky on carbon capture The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni Who by Geoff Smart and Randy Street

The challenge of climate change can seem daunting, but trying to solve daunting challenges is exactly what Google X does. One former employee of Google's moonshot factory, Kathy Hannun, is on a mission to help wean your home off of greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. Her strategy: make it so easy for you to convert your home to geothermal energy that you just have to hire her startup, Dandelion Energy, to do it.  

In many ways, Ryan Bethencourt is an OG of the biotech alt-protein scene. As a cofounder of biotech accelerator Indiebio, he was part of the team that wrote the first-ever investor checks to now well-known names in the field, including Memphis Meats, Clara Foods, and Geltor. In addition to Ryan's pioneering work to incubate and fund companies seeking to create more sustainable protein sources, he's now the cofounder of his own startup, Wild Earth. The company makes clean protein dog food that's attracted big-name investors like Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, earning a total of $16M in investment so far. In this episode we talk about what it was like for Ryan to go on Shark Tank, including what techniques he used to keep calm to win an unlikely investment on the show.  We also discuss how Ryan's childhood love of both sci-fi and animals forged into one path as an adult, leading him to make early bets on crazy ideas like growing meat and eggs outside of animals—long before it was cool, and of course to eventually starting his own company. So enjoy this wide-ranging and fascinating conversation with a real pioneer in the alternative protein world. And if you listen to the very end, you may even get to hear my reaction to eating some of Ryan's new dog food.  Discussed in this episode: Ryan welcomes hearing from you! He's at [email protected]  Bloomberg profile on Ryan Bethencourt Ryan Bethencourt on Shark Tank The new Berkeley incubator Cell Valley Labs Zero to One by Peter Thiel Arturo Elizondo's Business for Good episode HappyFeed app and Calm app The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula Guin The Slaughterer by Isaac Bashevis Singer Grant by Ron Chernow  

By the time he was 22, Arturo Elizondo had already interned in the White House and for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. But as the recent college grad learned, making the world a better place via public policy is a long and arduous road, and he wanted to make a difference faster. With a zeal to create an alternative to the factory farming of animals, Arturo bought a one-way ticket to San Francisco with no job, no apartment, and no plan. He just wanted to get involved in the alt-protein world in some way. His first thought was to explore working at VCs to fund the space, or maybe getting a job at one of the companies already founded. But as you'll hear in this conversation, a chance meeting at a conference resulted in Arturo becoming the 22-year-old CEO of a new biotech startup, Clara Foods, that would soon work to make real egg proteins without using chickens.  Well, today, Arturo is 27, Clara Foods has since raised $50 million in venture capital, and the company is about to commercialize its first products. It's an inspirational tale, and one that proves you need not be a superhuman to do something truly super for the world.  Discussed in this episode Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Lighter, New Harvest, and JUST

How do people with ideas for businesses to save the world find cofounders? If you're fashion designer Michalyn Andrews, you read journal articles by scientists doing awesome things in biotech, cold-email them to ask them to meet up, and make the proposal at a Starbucks.  Her dream: to make real leather from cows to lighten the burden we're placing on animals and the planet. She and her new cofounder spent the next two years in stealth mode, researching, developing, patenting, and quietly raising a million dollars. They've been quiet...until now.  Provenance Bio is now coming out of the shadows and is ready to start talking about its big plans to keep people wearing leather, but instead of it coming off the backs of cows, they're leaving those cows out to pasture and making real leather, animal-free. So enjoy the story in this episode of how this early-stage company got founded, raised seven figures of cash, and is now working to scale up and get into the business of doing good.  Discussed in this episode Books Michalyn recommends: Blue Ocean Strategy and Blue Ocean Shift The world's first clean leather-bound book.

You've likely heard the story about the Jew who was said to have taken a small amount of fish and multiplied it to feed thousands. Well, in 2020, there's another innovative Jew, Lou Cooperhouse, who is literally multiplying the fish—or at least their cells—in the hopes of again feeding the masses, and saving our planet at the same time.  Lou's company, BlueNalu, has raised millions of dollars to culture fish cells into real fish meat that looks and performs just like conventional fish, but without the mercury, microplastics, nor oceanic exploitation. Perhaps most interesting about Lou is that unlike many other cultivated meat startup founders, Lou doesn't come from a background of animal or environmental advocacy. Indeed, as you'll hear in this interview, Lou worked for decades in the conventional food industry, including making chicken nuggets for ConAgra, before deciding to change course and start making meat without animals. We taped this show at BlueNalu's HQ in San Diego just a short distance away from the Pacific ocean, right before the company revealed its latest offerings: whole muscle meat yellowtail that it grew without the fish—and how impressive it was.  Will BlueNalu's work help make an ocean trawler seem as archaic to future generations as whaling ships seem to us today? Find out in this 32nd episode of Business for Good!  

Plastic is amazing at doing so many things—except going away. As the planet increasingly swims in humanity's plastic garbage (nearly none of which gets recycled and virtually all of which will last for centuries), Lori Goff is betting that biotech will be part of the solution to creating functional plastic alternatives that are so biodegradable you can eat them.  As you'll hear, Lori is using the waste water from beer brewery waste, subjecting it to a specific type of fermentation, and then creating an alternative to plastic wrappers. Her company has been personally bootstrapped until recently, when she started winning governmental grants in the EU. Lori is already making her wrappers, made of a material she calls Unplastic, and her goal is to start selling them to companies as an alternative to their plastic wrappers in 2020. While wrappers are the low-hanging fruit, her company Outlander Materials has its eyes on other applications as well. This is just one more way that when science, technology, and commerce merge to solve a serious social problem, in this case plastic waste, business innovators like Lori Goff can be an enormous force for good.  Mentioned in this episode The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking The World in a Grain of Sand News coverage about Outlander Materials Ideas for new companies Lori says she hopes you'll start:  Alt-cheese made from field beans Using purpurin as a cobalt replacement in batteries Turning desert sand in concrete

In the 29 previous episodes of this show you've heard about pork without pigs, milk without cows, diamonds without mining, and even wood without trees. Well, on this 30th episode, we're exploring the brave new world of coffee without the bean. Turns out that there's a lot of deforestation for coffee growing, and climate change is making the situation worse. In fact, experts predict that the amount of land suitable for growing coffee is expected to shrink by an estimated 50% by 2050. But, what if you could make coffee out of agricultural byproducts, like watermelon seeds and sunflower seed husks? Think it wouldn't taste as good? Well, according to a Seattle-based startup called Atomo, they've not only recreated the exact taste of coffee, but they go on to claim that in blind taste tests of their brew vs. Starbucks, 7 out of 10 people preferred the taste of their so-called molecular coffee. Company cofounders Andy Kleitsch and Jarret Stopforth began with a successful Kickstarter, giving them enough funds to do the food science necessary to crack the coffee code. After putting out a press release about their prototype, investors came calling, and literally within days they'd signed a terms sheet for $2.6M. Now, Atomo is brewing, making coffee in which they can precisely control the amount of caffeine, and much, much more. It's a fascinating tale of one more way in which food tech innovation may help alleviate pressure we're placing on the planet. So sit back and maybe enjoy a cup of coffee while listening, and know that that cup in the future may be even tastier for you and better for the planet.  Books discussed in this episode Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why Taste: Surprising Stories and Science About Why Food Tastes Good Man's Search for Meaning

What do  you get when you combine a Google leader, a dairy industry executive, and an engineer? Apparently, if you're in Singapore, you get a new startup producing real cow's milk-- without the cow: TurtleTree Labs. Rather than trying to turn plants into milky beverages like many alt-dairy companies are, and rather than using yeast to make certain components of cow's milk, like Perfect Day is doing, TurtleTree Labs is using bovine stem cells, expressing them as mammary glands, and producing whole cows' milk that they claim is a 1:1 match for milk that was squeezed from an actual udder. The company got its start with three business-minded folks, including the former CFO of a well-known California dairy company called Clover Sonoma, thinking they were on to something. In fact, they're so convinced that their idea and execution will be a winner that they've already filed for several patents and have even put half a million of their own dollars into their startup.  So sit back and be inspired by their story as told by CEO Fengru Lin.  Discussed in this episode Past Business for Good interviews: Perfect Day episode and Shiok Meats episode How scientists helped give diabetics real human insulin without using human donors. How cheese cheese consumption drives milk production, even when fluid milk consumption is down. The documentary series "Genius." (It's called American Genius for US viewers.)

You've heard the folklore time and again: a group of young idealists starts a company in their garage with dreams of one day changing the world. In the case of Fenix International, they too started in a garage, but this garage happened to be in Uganda, and those idealists happened to be a group of ex-Apple engineers. The problem they were trying to solve: Lots of rural Africans just don't have access to safe, clean energy. As a result, they either burn kerosene or local trees, both of which are polluting and create real hazards in the home, or they simply live in the dark when the sunsets. Well, these engineers wanted to be a source of light for such families, literally. Their goal: create the cheapest possible solar panels and energy storage that could be affixed to roofs, often made of thatch, and help power homes that are too far away from any grid. They called their company Fenix International, and Lyndsay Holley Handler, employee #1, would be their CEO.  As you'll hear in the interview, Fenix got right to work, raising capital and inventing low-cost solar panels that help transform the lives of their new owners. Not only do test scores for kids improve in homes with the solar panels (since they can study at night), but local entrepreneurs like tailors can receive more income by staying open later. There's also evidence that these solar panels are helping advance gender equality and even lowering birth rates.  With a profitable business model that's tangibly improving the lives of rural Africans and employing 1,100 people, Fenix solar panels are now sitting atop hundreds of thousands of homes in six countries, benefiting three million people. Not too shabby for a company that began in a garage in 2009. The startup went through series A and B financings before more recently getting acquired by a larger energy company, allowing for some cofounder exits. This was recorded in October 2019, just a couple days after Lyndsay stepped down as CEO of Fenix. With such an impressive track record behind her, what will Lyndsay do next? Well, as the head of the Ugandan Ultimate Frisbee Association, maybe she'll have a little more time to play. But then, she's got new business plans to keep making a difference. Listen to the interview to hear her story! Mentioned in this episode Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh

You know the story: there's a bright college student who drops out of an Ivy League school to embark upon an entrepreneurial journey, founding his own company and building it into a major success along the way. No, we're not talking about Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates here.  Instead, we're talking about Tom Szaky, an immigrant whose family fled Hungary after the Chernobyl disaster, eventually sending him to Princeton, where he dropped out to launch his startup called TerraCycle. Their goal, as the company touts, is to make "recycling the unrecyclable not only feasible but desirable and profitable!" The basic idea is to take trash that no else is going to recycle and find ways to profitably reuse or recycle it.  While Tom founded TerraCycle as a teenager, the company is now partnered on such trash repurposing projects with major brands like Coke, Pepsi, Proctor & Gamble, and more. As a result, TerraCycle now has more than 300 staff and brings in nearly $50 million in annual revenue. Hear their story in this latest episode! Mentioned in this episode HBO's Chernobyl series Natural Capitalism by Paul Hawken The Future of Packaging by Tom Szaky  Birds using cigarette butts to line their nests to prevent mites TerraCycle's Loop program

Many of the people running plant-based and clean meat companies are vegetarians themselves who often have come out of the animal protection or environmental communities.  Not Rody Hawkins.  The man who brought you Oscar Mayer's Lunchables and other notable products such as Slim Jim is now hoping you'll buy his soy-based meats. After spending 30 years in the meat industry, Rody co-founded and is the CEO of Improved Nature. You might not have heard as much about Rody's food tech start-up as some of the more well-publicized names in the field, but he's already raised millions of dollars and is selling in the US and abroad.  In this episode, listen to the unlikely story of a meat man who's now on a mission to efficiently feed the world with plants.  Discussed in this episode Improved Nature web site Rody offered his email: [email protected]  Perky Jerky using Improved Nature plant protein Dr. Michael Greger on why soy helps prevent cancer Famed sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clark Books that have influenced Rody How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie I Am by Matt Fry

For a lot of people, when they walk by someone who's homeless, their inclination may be to look the other way. One day for Jasmine Crowe, however, she not only didn't look the other way; she saw a profitable business opportunity in helping connect the hungry with perfectly good food the rest of us are throwing away. Sound like a pipedream? Well, today many major food users, including the NFL, the Atlanta airport, and Netflix pay the startup Jasmine founded to take their unsold food and deliver it to the hungry. And it turns out, thanks to federal tax law, it's profitable not only for Jasmine's company, but for those corporations paying to have their unwanted food go to the homeless, too. So far, Jasmine's company Goodr has diverted more than two million pounds of food from landfills and into the stomachs of the homeless—all profitably. In this episode, we talk with Jasmine about her business model and how it's helping the hungry while protecting the planet at the same time.  Resources discussed in this episode: Jasmine's company: Goodr Jasmine's TEDx talk: Hunger is not a question of scarcity Jasmine on NBC Nightly News: A "do-goodr" who rescues and delivers food to the hungry Jasmine on Oprah's Super Soul: Everyone Deserves A Meal Books that have influenced Jasmine: Good to Great and Blue Ocean Strategy

Should employers really make their employees wait two weeks to get paid? You may not think it's that important, but imagine if you had less than $400 in your bank account right now. You might start wondering why, in today's digital age, you have to wait 14 days to get paid for work you did two weeks ago. Well, our guest—a rocket scientist-turned fin-tech-entrepreneur—says there's no reason employees should have to wait. It's their money, Safwan Shah says, and they should have access to it on demand. And if they don't, the employer is essentially using the employee as a source of credit for itself, and at zero interest no less. In addition to founding his own payroll-type company to address this problem—which incidentally recently raised a $20 million Series B round—Safwan wrote a fascinating book on the topic. His company, PayActiv, is now in business with the likes of major employers like Walmart and Uber, helping to fulfil what Safwan calls his life's mission: to eliminate financial suffering of the neediest.  In this episode, Safwan offers a history of why we have the two-week pay period in the first place, and even gets biblical on us, citing the thoughts of both Moses and Mohammed. Yes, it turns out they both prescribed that employers pay employees for their labor right away. So listen to Safwan drop some ancient and modern knowledge on using timely payroll to help the poorest among us. Discussed in this episode Safwan's book, It's About TIME: How Businesses Can Save the World (One Worker at a Time) Safwan's company, PayActiv

When Josh Tetrick in 2011 cofounded Hampton Creek, later renamed JUST, the idea of applying tech to food to solve public health and sustainability problems was just very far from many investors' and would-be entrepreneurs' minds.  For Tetrick, however, there was an opportunity to create a profitable business that could address so many of the problems he was concerned about: food sustainability, climate change, public health, animal welfare, and more. Hampton Creek, pledging to compete with the egg, got off to a beginning most startups could only dream of. Major VCs pumped cash into the company. National sales followed. Fawning media attention ensued. The good times, however, weren't always so good. Soon they faced litigation from Unilever. The American Egg Board ran a clandestine campaign to try to undercut them. Negative media attention began hitting the company. There were federal investigations, which though they resulted in no finding of wrongdoing at all, still fueled more negative press attention. They lost customers and board members, even drawing headlines predicting the company's expiration date was up. Today, those who'd been betting against Tetrick and JUST appear to be the ones with plant-based egg on their faces. The company is flying high with stronger sales than ever before, even inking a deal with restaurant giant Tim Horton's to be the first major fast food chain to offer a plant-based egg breakfast option. Food Dive even named Tetrick its Executive of the Year in 2018, noting that the overcoming the hard times makes his work "all the more impressive."  In this interview, Josh talks about how he tries to remain calm and  resilient in the face of both success and adversity. He talks about why he doesn't believe the headlines about his own company, both when they're good and when they're bad, since neither may be right. And he talks about what types of companies he wants new food entrepreneurs to start.  As you'll hear, Josh's thinking has evolved quite a lot in the eight years since JUST was founded, with him shifting from thinking he was competing against egg companies to realizing that they could be his best partners in bringing plant-based egg products to consumers worldwide. We also delve into Josh's thoughts on cultured meat and his famous prediction which never panned out about 2018 being the year that such slaughter-free animal meat would first get sold in the world.  Will Josh run more full-page ads in the 2020 election like he did in the 2016 election? Find out in this 23rd episode of Business for Good!

There are few people who know more about climate change than Columbia University's Graciela Chichilnisky. Not only did she propose and design the carbon credits trading system under the Kyoto Protocol, she also was a lead author of the 2007 report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the Nobel Prize. Not too shabby. Prof. Chichilnisky, however, isn't relying solely on the world's governments to solve our climate crisis. The double-PhD is the CEO of Global Thermostat, a startup that's raised $52 million so far to inexpensively suck CO2 out of the atmosphere.  If she succeeds, we could quickly, as the name Global Thermostat implies, set the temperature of the planet, thereby perhaps averting a climate doomsday scenario that many experts warn is already unfolding.  In this interview, we'll hear how the technology works, where it stands now, and how Prof. Chichilnisky responds to concerns raised by critics about her plan.  Mentioned in this episode Carbon Negative video Washington Post profile on Global Thermostat Bill Gates touts Global Thermostat in MIT's Technology Review

Ryan Pandya and Perumal Gandhi were both in their early 20s when they were e-introduced to each other by another person they'd never meet in person either, Isha Datar. A series of online chats led to the idea of jointly creating a company that would put cows out to pasture by making real dairy proteins without the involvement of a single cow.  Five years later and $60 million in venture capital raised, their start-up, Perfect Day, is poised to sell its first-ever product, and in this episode, Paul Shapiro gets to sample it in the company's Northern California HQ.  Hear not only what Paul thought of the world's first-ever ice cream made with real whey protein that was grown without animals, but also the inspirational story of how these first-time entrepreneurs—still in their 20s!—started and grew their business to this point. 

Have you ever wondered what makes the most successful inventors tick and whether you could develop more of those traits? That exactly what NYU business school professor Melissa Schilling thinks about all the time. And it's the subject of her riveting book, Quirky.  

Paul Rice has devoted his life to trying to give the farmers who grow our food a fairer shake. That crusade has taken him from the coffee farms of Nicaragua to founding his own certification program for fair trade that now certifies a wide variety of products you probably buy all the time, from coffee and tea to sugar and even clothing.

In this episode, we hear from Shiok's CEO, an impressive serial entrepreneur and scientist Sandhya Sriram. She shares her journey of getting her PhD and eventually quitting her secure job after one fateful phone call to start her own cultured meat company in Singapore.

Biokleen is a textbook case of conscious capitalism, and we've got their managing director, Barry Firth, on the show with us this episode!  

When you think about picking a career that'll help make the world a better place, do you think of working at the largest fast food company in the world? You may not, but that's indeed what Bob Langert spent his career doing. The former McDonald's executive was at the forefront of many of the decisions the restaurant behemoth made relating to social responsibility, from retiring styrofoam containers to paying tomato pickers more to improving farm animal welfare. Now retired, Bob has a new book out about his career spent trying to help the fast food chain do better. It's a candid look at where he thinks his former employer got it right and where he believes they came up short. If you've ever wondered how a major corporation makes decisions about improving its sustainability footprint, this interview is for you.

Sara Polon is saving the world, one bowl of soup at a time. The entrepreneur who recently was on Shark Tank and the TODAY Show has a lot to say, but for a change, this entrepreneur isn’t talking with us; she’s talking with our friend Adam Yee of the My Food Job Rocks Podcast! This first-ever Business for Good Podcast showcase involves trading an episode with another podcast. They recently showcased our episode with Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey, and now we’re reciprocating by showcasing their fascinating and fun interview with our friend Sara Polon, cofounder of Soupergirl. In this interview, you’ll learn more about the food industry--the topic of Adam’s podcast--but especially about Sara’s decision to start a new chapter of life devoted to conscious capitalism and how she grew from one plant-based soup shop to having national distribution and multi-millions in revenue. Enjoy!

If you're in management, you have to think all the time about whom to hire. But have you ever wondered....who would Jesus hire? That's the question Father Greg Boyle asked himself many decades ago, when he became moved by the plight of gang members trapped in a cycle of crime and punishment. Think about it: would you hire an applicant who'd served time for a violent felony? Well, Father Greg offers felons such second chances all the time.  

It's not every day that someone charges themselves with a crime, but that's exactly what the founder of a chocolate company that's just starting to get distribution throughout the US did. You may have seen their packaging popping up in the candy aisle: bright oranges and blues with massive text saying TONY's real big on it. But if you happened to try it out, before you even take a bite you'll know it isn't an ordinary bar of chocolate. Tony's Chocolonely's makes it clear inside its packaging that this company exists for one sole reason: to end modern slavery in the cocoa industry. It was started by a Dutch journalist named Tony who charged himself with the crime of being complicit in slavery simply by being a consumer of chocolate. Somehow he actually got in front of a judge in the Netherlands and brought former child slaves from West Africa to testify against him and against the not-so-sweet side of the chocolate industry. Tony may not have been convicted of a crime, but he did leave the courtroom with a conviction to try to end this dark practice by starting his own chocolate company that would try to guarantee that only free and fair labor was used to make his chocolate bars. And, as you'll hear in this interview, his company, Tony's Chocolonely's, went from zero to the #1 chocolate bar in the Netherlands. And in 2015, the company started in the US too, offering slavery-free chocolate that's quickly gaining popularity among Americans. We're fortunate to have the US manager of Tony's with us on the show, Michelle Wald, who's a wealth of information not just about the problems in the cocoa industry, but about how businesses can be a part of the solution.  

For decades conservation charities have been trying to save the oceans, but sadly, the tide hasn't turned in their favor. In just the past 40 years, we've killed off half the world's coral reefs, with 20% dying in the past three years alone. What if entrepreneurs could harness the power of business to actually make it profitable to quickly rebuild coral reefs? That's the bet Coral Vita is making. The Bahamas-based start-up is pioneering on-land coral farming techniques that rapidly grow corals at 50 times the pace they'd normally grow, then transplanting them onto imperiled reefs. Meet the company's cofounder and chief reef officer, Sam Teicher, and learn not just what we're doing that's killing coral reefs, but how for-profit coral farming could just bring them back.

When you think about someone using their business for good, you don't usually think of a rock star. And when you think of a rock star, you might think hedonistic living and self-aggrandizement. Well, despite the fact that Moby has sold more than 20 million records worldwide and is so famous in fact that he only goes by one name, his life is driven toward one primary purpose: to alleviate suffering on the planet. He's tried to do this not only by using his albums to promote compassion for animals, but also by opening an all-vegan restaurant in LA, Little Pine. And in this episode, we talk with him about all of that, and a lot more. So sit back and enjoy hearing about Moby's philosophy on life, his trials and tribulations, and his efforts to use the power of his various businesses to make the world a better place.

Human rights and environmental advocates have tried to reform the diamond mining industry, but what if the answer was as simple as just growing diamonds in a lab? That's what start-ups like Ada Diamonds are betting on. This husband-wife cofounder duo, Lindsay Reinsmith and Jason Payne, sell sell lab-grown diamond jewelry that's molecularly identical to naturally-formed diamonds, but for only two-thirds the price. Learn all about how these diamonds are made, who's buying them, and why the future of the jewelry industry may indeed be more cultured.

Hear from the founder and CEO of Lingrove, Joe Luttwak, in this new interview about his journey from working at Ferrari to founding a guitar company to now founding and running a company whose goal is, just like Dr. Seuss's Lorax, nothing short of saving the trees. And, it's the first interview we've done where a guest plays a musical score live for us, all on a wood-free acoustic guitar, of course. Enjoy!

Toilets drastically improve health, life expectancy, school attendance rates, and more. And this episode, we've got someone who says every trip you make to the toilet can be a feel-good experience--since the company Simon Griffiths started, Who Gives a Crap, was founded for one reason: to give people in the developed world toilets. Hear what Simon learned at a school for social entrepreneurs. And about his experience sitting on a toilet for 50 uninterrupted hours--on livestream--in order to raise money for his kickstarter. And why he holds regular "happiness meetings" with his coworkers.

His Royal Highness Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal isn't your typical vegan. A son of the man TIME magazine calls the "Arabian Warren Buffett," he uses his wealth and influence to build a more sustainable world, supporting everything from plant-based and clean meat start-ups to virtual aquariums and clean energy. In this interview, Toni Okamoto and Paul Shapiro go deep with Prince Khaled, covering not just his investment strategy and the role entrepreneurs play in solving social problems, but also a host of other topics. Does he think teens should go to college? What about the status of women in Saudi Arabia? What led him to join JUST's board of directors? What does Islam have to say about the treatment of animals? More info: Meet the vegan Saudi prince who's turning the lights on in Jordan What happened with Grazia sat down the Fresh Prince of Saudi?   Discussed in this episode: World's First Animal-Free Leather-Bound Book on Ebay for $10,000

You know that feeling: You've been patiently waiting for your avocado to ripen for days, trying to divine that perfect moment to cut it open and see nothing but lush, gorgeous green fruit. Instead....as you open it up, whatever green you were hoping for is polluted by brown, rotted yuckiness. Letting fruits and vegetables go bad before eating them is part of the massive food waste problem, and Michelle Masek's company, Apeel Sciences, is helping solving it. With $110 million in funding, including from Bill Gates, they've created an invisible, organic, edible spray that farmers or grocers apply to their produce--like avocados--that makes it last at least twice as long. Miraculous? Seemingly, but it's just another example of a company using its business to do good in the world.

Black pollution is the new green in India, as Bharti Singhla points out in this episode. A chemical engineer, Bharti's the executive vice president of strategy for Chakr.in--a start-up founded in 2015 that's innovating a way to clear the air in a nation that according to the WHO has 14 of the 15 most polluted cities on the planet.   How are they doing that? Well, Chakr's invented a shield that captures deadly black diesel exhaust and converts that pollution into ink that Chakr then sells. Already some big Indian emitters are capping their diesel pipes, and Chakr is winning all types of grants, awards, investment, and yes, media attention. Even the prestigious World Economic Forum has taken note of the young start-up, profiling them as an innovative environmental problem-solver, and the company founders were named in Forbes' 30 under 30 list of social entrepreneurs.

Seth Goldman started his career three decades ago thinking that if he wanted to make an impact on public health and agricultural sustainability, he'd need to explore a career in nonprofits or public policy. Fast forward to today and Seth's company, Honest Tea, has helped slash billions of sugar calories from the American diet, caused other major drink brands to do the same, and created a sustainable livelihood for organic tea farming families throughout Asia. Despite Coke purchasing Honest Tea in 2011, Seth still lives in the same house as when he cofounded the company in 1998.

You rarely see wildlife advocates protesting window construction. Why not? Windows kill upwards of a billion wild birds in America alone each year. (That's not a typo: billion with a 'b.') It's as if we're primed to think the carnage isn't so bad because there was no malintent; no one went out and purposefully killed a billion birds. Yet the result for the birds is sadly the same: our windows are among the biggest wildlife slaughterers on the planet. Fortunately, we don't have to take out our windows or keep the blinds down all the time. There are now glass brands like Ornilux that to us are transparent to the human eye, but that birds can actually see. And some cities are even requiring new buildings to be constructed with them. Learn more from Ornilux's Lisa Schon as she discusses with Toni and Paul how her business is doing good.

As a student, John Mackey was an idealistic hippie who worked in a vegetarian co-op while studying religion and philosophy. He never took a business class during his whole academic career. In other words, he wasn't exactly the guy people would've placed bets on to become a businessman, let alone one who'd launch a natural foods empire called Whole Foods Market that would get purchased by Amazon for $14 billion. (Note: John long ago stopped taking a salary and even donated all of his Whole Foods stock, so he didn't see a penny of the sale.) Listen to John discuss with Toni and Paul his thoughts on everything from venture capitalists and labor unions to Whole Foods' sale to Amazon and of course how to do good in the world via business. John's Books: Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity More info: Conscious Capitalism, the organization John cofounded