The Next Generation of VC: Meet Piva Capital’s 2021 Summer Associates
In 2020, Piva’s Summer Associate Program (SAP) was launched to provide hands-on experience in energy & industry venture investing, to passionate MBA students looking to build a career in venture capital. Last year’s program, while challenging during the pandemic, was a great success. We learned tremendously from the six deep dives completed and uncovered numerous new exciting deals, while Summer Associates earned their first VC chops.
The SAP is designed to empower aspiring venture capitalists to build a unique investment thesis, learn about the venture ecosystem, and build their own networks. Throughout the program, each associate tackles two deep-dive topics, where they dig into a specific sub-sector of Piva’s scope of focus, and develop a unique investment thesis on the space. This year’s focus areas are around carbon removal, the future of work, waste to value, the future of aviation, and bio-fermentation in both consumer and industrial applications.
This year we welcome another three outstanding, aspiring VCs — Whitney Chu, William Dean and Daniel Ketyer. Meet them below, and hear what’s driving them each this Summer.
Whitney Chu, Stanford Graduate School of Business
“I’m passionate about the intersection of climate change and frontier technology, and how together, they can change the way we live.”
About Whitney
Whitney recently graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she co-founded Galvanizer, an incubator for female founders that has expanded to over 100 founders across the top seven US business schools.
Before that, she worked in product management, operations, and finance at Uber, and as an investment banking analyst in the energy group of Jefferies.
Whitney hails from Houston, Texas which means she loves sunshine, line dancing, and great barbecue. In her spare time, she likes to drive up to Tahoe to ski and bake whilst pretending that she is a contestant on the Great British Baking Show.
Q&A with Whitney
What’s a top macro trend in the future of energy & industry space you’re following? What do you think the impact of that trend will be on companies & investors in the space?
Coming from mobility, I’ve been following the electric vehicle industry over the years. It’s very promising to see the growing adoption and production of EVs, not only for personal use but also for commercial use. The biggest problem is the limitations of batteries — the cost and scarcity of raw materials, short life spans, weight, and efficiency. That means tons of opportunity for new companies and ideas to emerge — ranging from alternative fuels like hydrogen and biofuels to a circular economy around battery recycling to innovative financing solutions for commercial EVs.
What drew you to Piva’s Summer Associate Program?
Simply put — the people and the ideas. The Piva team has a similar outlook as Impossible Foods — that the quality of the product has to be just as good if not better than its competitors and cannot solely rely on impact measures. I agree — we can do both — innovate to create better solutions overall that are also good for our planet. Secondly, I believe that great investors are empathetic and bold in thinking differently. I’ve already seen this in how the Piva team has designed their program differently than other venture programs. The program is focused both around deep dives and company due diligence, more so than just sourcing, resulting in a win-win for both sides.
What are you most excited to learn through the Piva’s Summer Associate Program?
I’m excited to dive deeper into my focus areas this summer: consumer applications of bio-fermentation and the future of work. I can’t wait to learn more from experts in each area and about the exciting companies that are trying to solve the biggest challenges of our generation in unique ways. Also, as an aspiring entrepreneur, the program is an incredible opportunity for me to see how different founders pitch themselves and how investors make their investing decisions.
William Dean, Stanford Graduate School of Business
“My passion lies squarely where Piva’s lies: helping build groundbreaking companies in the future of energy, industry, and materials. The slate of exciting deals that Piva has announced over the past two years represents a dynamic and transformative set of businesses with profound potential in climate — that is the work to which I am fully dedicated.”
About William
William grew up in Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC. He studied Organic Chemistry at Harvard and then joined a small water/energy startup called Cambrian Innovation (spun out of MIT) where he spent six years helping scale the commercial side of the business. While at Cambrian, he helped shift the company’s business model from capital purchase to infrastructure-as-a-service through project finance, then spent his final two years running the sales and marketing department.
He is now pursuing his MBA at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business where he is focused on the intersection of entrepreneurship and climate. He started his investing career as part of the GSB’s Impact Fund Energy & Environment team, focusing on industrial decarbonization.
William is an avid outdoorsman, a passion he discovered while working for the National Parks Service. He is a competitive ultimate frisbee player, who loves the process of building teams, both professional and otherwise.
Q&A With William
What’s a top macro trend in the future of energy & industry space you’re following? What do you think the impact of that trend will be on companies & investors in the space?
NFTs. Just kidding. The fruit is farther up the tree. The low-hanging fruit has been picked. Broadly speaking, renewable electricity production and stationary storage technology have been solved; electrification of personal vehicles, too. Energy and auto manufacturing are enduring a multi-decade systemic disruption. The next suite of industries to face this level of change represents a massive market opportunity. To name a few: liquid fuels (touching aviation, maritime transportation, and chemical production); industrial materials (touching steel, cement, and composites); heating energy (touching just about everything).
As the focus of technology development shifts in these directions, investors will need to bring an even more complex mix of technical competence and market knowledge to the table. Innovative financing will be needed for first-of-a-kind project development. Strategics in these areas will start to lean into the accelerating change, creating unique partnership opportunities and adding technical expertise as an amplifier.
What drew you to Piva’s Summer Associate Program?
The team — every member of this team is outstanding, from the recent additions to the original investors, to the supporting experts. In researching the firm and meeting the people, I was struck by the singular depth of industrial experience that Piva’s leadership brings to the table in this space — this team is not only passionately committed to finding and supporting visionary entrepreneurs, but they have the technical and market experience to deliver on that support.
What are you most excited to learn through the Piva’s Summer Associate Program?
I have a lot to look forward to this summer with Piva — in particular, I am excited to learn about two key parts of the investment process.
First, how to identify and understand what could make a winning team. The leadership of a growing company counts for a lot, from attracting talent to bringing in capital, to understanding how to win in a market. I am keen to see how some of the best investors in the space evaluate a team and build that level of belief. And then, how they move forward in supporting that team!
Second, the nitty-gritty behind due diligence — I am excited to go through the process of evaluating everything from financials and market analysis to competitive landscaping, technology, and beyond. I spent years supporting the fundraising efforts at Cambrian, and I look forward to seeing how the other side of the table evaluates projects and uncovers enthusiasm and belief in opportunities.
Daniel Ketyer, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
“At Duke, I founded an energy club and supported the annual Duke Energy Conference, where I organized a cleantech venture capital panel. This was my first exposure to VC; through the process, I met 10+ investors doing what sounded like a dream job — funding the companies building the future of energy and industry and addressing climate change. ‘Climate Tech VC’ became a North Star as I built out my career.”
About Daniel
Daniel grew up in Western Pennsylvania amidst the early 2000s fracking boom, where he became very aware of the issue of energy. Daniel attended Duke University, where he founded the undergraduate energy club. After graduating from Duke, Daniel spent 3.5 years in the M&A strategy group at Deloitte, working with large corporate clients to respond to the energy transition through M&A and strategic partnerships. Additionally, Daniel worked on the investment team at Kohlberg & Co, a middle-market private equity firm in New York.
Daniel is passionate about increasing access to clean energy globally. He has developed and implemented strategic growth initiatives at both d.light, an off-grid solar firm in Kenya and Nuru, a solar mini-grid developer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He is now an MBA candidate at the University of Michigan focusing on climate tech innovation. At U of M, he leads climate tech investing at the Wolverine Venture Fund (WVF), an MBA and PhD-led VC fund that manages about $10M of the University of Michigan’s endowment.
Q&A with Daniel
What’s a top macro trend in the future of energy & industry space you’re following? What do you think the impact of that trend will be on companies & investors in the space?
One trend is the exponential cost decline of wind, solar, and li-ion battery storage and the opportunity that unlocks across the economy — and particularly in the industrial sector. Two impacts I think are most important.
First, low-cost renewable energy fundamentally improves the economics of industrial processes where electricity is a key input, processes like green hydrogen or new forms of steel production, or even carbon removal technologies like direct air capture. Affordable clean electricity gives us a better shot at hitting industrial decarbonization targets with or without policy support.
Second, it creates new demand for raw material inputs like steel and cement in wind turbines, like lithium in batteries. Investing in the inputs to the energy transition — companies like Solidia in cement and Boston Metal in steel manufacturing, or those focused on battery mining and recycling — will enable us to transform our economy and reverse climate change while creating massive wealth for investors.
What drew you to Piva’s Summer Associate Program?
Piva’s program offers access to a world-class team of investors and advisors. Whitney, William, and I have a unique opportunity to learn from the VC investing experience of the whole investing team, not to mention the decades of experience from the venture partners and advisors. I am eager to learn best practices and hear tough lessons from the best investors in the business.
In addition to the team, I was drawn to the high level of responsibility entrusted in the Summer Associates. We are joining the investment team, supporting live investments, development theses on emerging industry verticals like carbon removal and air travel. We are not completing “nice to have” projects but rather joining the Piva team as investors. I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute.
What are you most excited to learn through the Piva’s Summer Associate Program?
I am excited to learn how the Piva team forms relationships with founders and selects high-performing teams to invest in. My experience at Deloitte and Kohlberg focused on late-stage deals involving large, established companies, where there is a trove of market and financial data to inform investment valuation. I’m excited to learn more about the people side of VC, the non-financial side of valuation. I plan to take these learnings and maximize my value as a VC investor this summer at Piva, next year at the Wolverine Venture Fund, and beyond.
We’re excited to work with Whitney, William, and Daniel this summer and cannot wait to share their stories and insights as new talents in industrial and energy tech VC!
