This year's NYC Climate Week was electric. Sensible sneakers and refillable water bottles decorated Park Avenue as the entire climate tech world descended on the city for a week of nonstop networking. The sheer volume of goings-on was overwhelming, but we all know one cannot simply do everything. 'Tis a marathon, as they say.
Our firm focused on doing 1-2 quality things a day that allowed us to genuinely connect with people and/or learn something new.
Here's a quick rundown of what we hosted:
1) A breakfast on Tuesday: "Countdown to 2030: Climate Technologies Ready for Takeoff"
150+ early risers joined us to fuel up on coffee and commercialization, hearing from an all-star speaker lineup: Josh Brumberger (Utilidata), Alp Kucukelbir (Fero Labs), Tim Boeltken (INERATEC), and Giulia Siccardo (DOE).
2) A padel event on Thursday: "Early Morning Padel for Late-Stage Investors"
60+ players showed up at 8:00am on the courts in Williamsburg, swapping suits for rackets and well drinks for Gatorade, game-ready for some back-and-forth conversation & competition.
This was hands down my favorite event of climate week (though I did organize it...!)
3) A roundtable lunch on Thursday: "Financing the Built Environment Decarbonization"
We brought 30 investors, property owners, founders, and policymakers together for a lunch-and-learn in our office boardroom - sandwiches with a side of Central Park views!
4) A basketball tournament on Friday
84 Ballers and 100 or so Bagelers (spectating bagel-eaters) came out for the 2nd Annual Climate Cup – a 12-team tournament competing for Climate Week glory.
Pro-tip: there are way more Division 1 athletes who work in climate than you'd expect!
As shown in the photos, we also had a couple speaking gigs: John spoke about infrastructure and the energy transition at the Climate Capital Summit, and Alex and I joined a panel at NYU's Real Estate Decarbonization event
A few reflections:
We definitely went all out this climate week- hosting, speaking, and attending events every day.
It's all too easy to speed-date through panels and happy hours and play calendar Tetris to squeeze in just one more dinner. But in my opinion, the real wins come from slowing down - catch-ups that turn into brainstorming sessions, coffee breaks with no nametags, and moments of insight that surface when I least expect them.
My two (or three) cents:
You don’t need to be at everything... just the right things.
Creating opportunities for authentic connection is key. Sometimes, a game of padel or a casual lunch is all you need.
Showing up is enough. Leaving space for the unplanned opens the door to a kind of statistical serendipity: the magic that happens when you simply show up and allow the probabilities of connection to work in your favor.
I'm looking forward to planning and attending more high-value events in the future - reach out if you'd like to collaborate!
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