Piva Capital’s Summer Associates Program: Meet the Class of 2023
By Daniel Ketyer, Piva Capital
Every summer we look forward to welcoming a new group to join Piva Capital through our Summer Associates Program (SAP). Now in its fourth year, the program empowers aspiring venture capitalists to build a unique investment thesis, learn about the venture ecosystem, and develop their networks. Throughout the program, each associate tackles one deep dive topic, digging into a specific sector within Piva’s area of focus and creating a unique investment thesis on the space.
For someone new to the venture capital industry — as I was when I joined the Summer Associate Program in 2021 — the program offers a glimpse into day-to-day life as a venture capitalist at Piva, with access to the full team, including our exceptional set of Venture Partners and Senior Advisors.
We are excited to introduce three aspiring VCs — Audrey Atencio, Lee Larson, and Charlotte Ross. Get to know them below, and find out why they are excited to participate in Piva’s SAP.
Audrey Atencio, Harvard Business School
Raised in Northern New Jersey, Audrey earned her B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. After graduating from Georgetown, she served a one-year fellowship at the United Nations World Food Programme in Uganda, supporting climate resilience projects for pastoralist communities in Northern Uganda. From there, she spent seven years at One Acre Fund, delivering financial, logistical, and training services to smallholder farmers in Rwanda and Zambia.
Before starting at HBS, she worked for Copper Cow Coffee as the Sustainable Supply Chains Operations Intern to determine CCC’s social and environmental sustainability priorities and develop the supply chain strategy to enable the company to meet these goals and position itself as a sustainability leader. She also served as a judge in multiple “venture philanthropy” competitions, in which nonprofit or for-profit social enterprise teams submit proposals or pitches for non-dilutive grant funding.
On the personal side, she loves travel and getting to know new places and cultures, having recently spent three weeks traveling around India.
“I want to drive capital and talent into solutions that build a better food system, producing and moving more food efficiently with fewer carbon emissions.”
Q&A and with Audrey:
What’s a top macro trend in the future of energy & industry space you’re following?
The increasing electrification of everything — especially cars! — is going to force more pressure on our grid. We need more power generation, ideally from renewable sources — but also more/better ways to hook up new (renewable) power sources into the grid and more effective grid management systems. Emerging economies are looking to radically scale up their power generation to allow their economies to flourish. Offering economical alternatives to fossil fuel-based power generation could allow these countries to decarbonize their own development without barriers to their economic growth.
In agriculture, we need better inputs (seeds and fertilizer) and systems (equipment, irrigation, and management practices) to accommodate shifting weather patterns that will change what and when each region can produce. Especially if agricultural productivity is reduced, we will need to waste less of what we produced — and investing in that waste reduction will likely be more economically viable.
Looking forward — what are some of the macro trends you believe will define the next generation of VC?
While climate tech as an industry is thought to be “future-proofed,” individual companies or solutions are not. I expect to continue to see investors diversify across multiple sectors and bets to accommodate risk.
New and improved blended finance structures could open new and riskier markets and sectors for private capital investment in climate solutions — with a particular impact on emerging markets.
What drew you to Piva’s Summer Associate Program? What are you most excited to learn during your time at Piva?
I am very excited to get the chance to learn from Piva’s strong and committed team, which has such deep experience working at the intersection of technology, investing, and building companies — both to develop my own investment thesis in my “deep dive” and to support deal work. I’m excited to learn how Piva supports its companies to solve complex technical challenges and commercialize solutions, adding value through its own team’s understanding of industry.
Coming into the climate tech space without a scientific background, I want to learn the best questions to ask to evaluate teams, business models, and technical solutions; and to determine how I can use my background in operations and international management to support companies to problem solve and scale their businesses.
Lee Larson, Yale School of Management
Originally from Portland, Maine, Lee studied Economics and History at Wake Forest University and is now pursuing an MBA at the Yale School of Management. He started his career at Deloitte Consulting and also worked in ESG and sustainability strategy advisory for Boston Consulting Group. Prior to his MBA, Lee was on the impact and ESG team at TPG Rise Climate, where he discovered a passion for decarbonization technology and working with innovative companies.
At Yale, he helped launch a student-run VC fund called the Meng Impact Investing Fund, where next year he will be serving as Co-CIO and head of investment strategy.
Growing up in Maine, Lee has a passion for hiking, sailing, skiing, and exploring the outdoors. He also loves music, having played in a rock band and recently studying classical vocal performance.
“One thing that originally attracted me to VC was the ability to keep learning every day, and so I hope to see some really interesting and novel technology approaches to climate, energy, and industrial problems.”
Q&A with Lee:
What do you believe are the biggest challenges that industry is facing today?
The pandemic demonstrated that supply chain resiliency and transparency can present a major challenge to energy and industrial companies. Many manufacturers took the stability of international trade and the ability to continually pivot to lower-cost suppliers for granted. We live in a different world now, and firms need improved analytics and technology to understand their global operations at a granular level. This is especially important in a world where consumers are increasingly price-conscious, expect goods to be delivered on demand, and care about the sustainability practices of upstream suppliers. Companies like Worlds and OneRail are helping improve supply chain transparency and resiliency through AI, automation, and “digital twins” that enable businesses to understand and manage their sourcing and logistics risks.
What’s a top macro trend in the future of energy & industry space you’re following?
The changing regulatory incentive environment, especially in the United States. When Janet Yellen spoke at Yale this year, she often referred to the Biden Administration’s philosophy of “modern supply-side economics” that rewards firms for onshoring manufacturing jobs, conducting industrial R&D, and building sustainable infrastructure here in America. The American Rescue Plan, CHIPS Act, and Inflation Reduction Act all include substantial subsidies to encourage more renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure construction. Energy and industrial firms will be balancing these subsidies against the higher interest rate environment, inflationary pressures, and the rapidly changing technology environment they find themselves operating. However, the tailwinds provided by recent government industrial policy have the potential to shape where, when, and how innovative energy and manufacturing technologies are deployed for decades.
Looking forward — what are some of the macro trends you believe will define the next generation of VC?
It’s well known that women and people of color receive a very small portion of venture dollars, around 1–3% each. VC investing has also been shown to suffer from location bias and syndication bias. I believe (and hope) that an increasing awareness of implicit biases, combined with new technologies and tools, can unlock value for savvy investors and underserved founders from non-traditional backgrounds. There’s a huge opportunity here to find and support the female- and minority-led businesses of the future, which many traditional VCs are missing because of their focus on finding a “founder type” that matches their preconceptions. I believe the next generation of VC will be more aware of these biases and prepared to address them through innovations in the pitch process and by reducing reliance on personality-based interviews. The next big macro trend is finding and funding these overlooked founders building the next generation of climate tech unicorns.
What drew you to Piva’s Summer Associate Program? What are you most excited to learn during your time at Piva?
The balance of conducting deep dives into a particular industry with the ability to contribute to the day-to-day work of the deal team was very compelling. I’m excited to learn from the experts in Piva’s network and help formulate a topic-based thesis to inform future investment strategies. I’m passionate about the energy transition and always thrilled to learn about new technical approaches to the significant challenges of our lifetime. I’m also excited to see how sourcing, diligence, and deal execution happens for midsize venture companies. The balance of deal work and thinking about the longer-term fund strategy will be beneficial next year as I help shape the investment strategy for the student-led Meng Fund at Yale.
Charlotte Ross, MIT Sloan / Harvard Kennedy School
Charlotte grew up in Boston and attended Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. She is currently pursuing a dual MBA program at MIT Sloan and a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Her previous work experience includes four years working at startups in the health and financial technology sectors in business operations, strategy, and product roles. She also consulted with an environmental conservation non-profit on fundraising and strategic projects.
While at school, she has worked with the Massachusetts state government on their roadmap to decarbonize all governmental operations, the Harvard Belfer Center on electricity grid policy research, SYSO on establishing operations in energy markets, and Mantel on preparing for its carbon capture demonstration project. She also leads the MIT Climate & Energy Club’s consulting program with industry partners.
Outside of work, Charlotte who is one of SIX sisters, loves the outdoors, including trail running, mountain biking, hiking, canoe tripping, and skiing. She also loves to read, draw, and solve (or attempt) crossword puzzles.
“When I think about the biggest problems that society is facing today, some of the first topics that come to mind are the impacts of climate change, artificial intelligence, and global health crises.”
Q&A with Charlotte
What’s a top macro trend in the future of energy & industry space you’re following?
One of the trends I am following at the moment is cost-effective solutions for long-duration energy storage. When working for a startup last summer that runs an optimization platform for solar and storage assets, I saw firsthand how the use of intermittent, renewable energy is tightly limited by the battery storage options currently used by most players in the energy market. As the costs of renewable energy technologies continue to decline, the need for scalable and affordable long-duration storage will become increasingly vital for maximizing the utilization of renewable energy resources.
Looking forward — what are some of the macro trends you believe will define the next generation of VC?
When I think about the biggest problems that society is facing today, some of the first topics that come to mind are the impacts of climate change, artificial intelligence, and global health crises. I believe VC will be increasingly focused on not only helping directly address the challenges that emerge from each of these areas but also considering how organizations in parallel sectors may be indirectly impacted by these same issues.
What drew you to Piva’s Summer Associate Program? What are you most excited to learn during your time at Piva?
I was excited to find a role in the climate technology space that would help deepen my understanding of high-level trends in climate and energy. I am also particularly interested in the challenges of decarbonizing heavy industry, so I was drawn to Piva’s focus on energy and industry. While this initially drew me to apply to Piva, I was incredibly impressed by the team throughout the application process, so it was the people I would be working with that ultimately made it an easy decision for me to accept the role. Everyone on the team shares a strong level of knowledge, passion, and curiosity. As someone who has always worked on the startup side, I was excited by the opportunity to receive coaching and guidance from these team members during my first experience on the VC side.
