EVOLve_20: Olivia Pedersen [7/13/2022]
Olivia Pedersen, Founder and CEO of Sustaio
This interview is part #EVOLve Series with one of our @posi2ive community members — in partnership with Responsibly Ventures. Interviewees have been active in our weekly *VC Impact* community roundtables on Twitter Spaces [each Friday 3:30pm PT]. In each self-paced and self-authored interview, we ask impact Founders / Investors what they are doing to change the world, and why they’re motivated to focus on their area of impact. Hope you all enjoy!
Our drive is to create a shift in thinking in the consumer mindset from “consume more” to “consume smarter and regeneratively”. Our thesis revolves around the factors causing climate change being a behavioral issue but has been treated as a non-human issue
Twitter: @OliPedersen
The Interview
Top Sustainable Development Goals (SDG):
- 4: Quality Education
- 12: Responsible Consumption / Production
- 13: Climate Action
Impact verticals your venture focuses on:
- ClimateTech
- Financial Access / Democratization
- Sustainability
Please share what you’re building, your professional background, and what inspired this venture.
Sustaio provides consumer climate impact intelligence & data. We do this through the Sustaio Score, the consumer climate score, think of it as the credit score for sustainability. Sustaio is a B2B2C, Data-as-a-Service company. The Sustaio Score is a mechanism, leveraging both sides of the market (consumer & industry) to collectively work toward climate-smarter futures.
Background in the Athletic & Outdoor industry as a designer and guide. Self-taught programmer that figured out a way to make Sustaio possible in no-code/low-code environments. Design thinking expert, taking a human-centered approach to delivering this big idea to the world. The idea of Sustaio was discovered during my Master’s thesis research in Sustainable Design.
What’s the impact focus of your venture? And how do you plan to measure impact?
At Sustaio we are on a mission to empower humans to achieve climate-smarter living. We plan to measure impact through our Sustaio Score, the consumer climate score.
What’s driving your impact focus?
Our drive is to create a shift in thinking in the consumer mindset from “consume more” to “consume smarter and regeneratively”. Our thesis revolves around the factors causing climate change being a behavioral issue but has been treated as a non-human issue. With our business model Sustaio has uniquely positioned itself to create shared value & provide financial benefits for both sides of the market: industry & consumers.
What are some obstacles standing in the way of the impact you have planned?
Fundraising to complete the customer experience to deliver our product to the world.
How do you stay motivated?
I’m an outdoorist and I stay motivated by getting outside, and reminding myself of all the beautiful nature that makes life so amazing.
Tell us about your market, customers, and team.
MARKET SIZE: The global Green Technology & Sustainability market size to grow from USD 11.2 billion in 2020 to USD 36.6 billion by 2025, at CAGR of 26.6%
CUSTOMER: Mid-Market and Enterprise size software first companies, that have a hybrid work place
TEAM: We are a passionate team, all with a background and Masters degree that emphasizes in sustainable frameworks, lifecycle analysis, and ESG.
How do you keep yourself healthy — e.g., mentally, physically, emotionally?
Yoga, meditation, snowboarding, hiking, reading fiction and historical fiction, cooking good healthy food, talking with peers, not being afraid to ask for help, learning from others shared experiences.
What are you currently educating yourself on?
Venture capital; human behavior behind agreeing/disagreeing with climate change; how to be a leader.
What books, podcasts, or newsletters should our community read — to better understand your area of impact?
Systems thinking, human centered design, and circular economy.
- Books: Inconspicuous Consumption, Atomic Habits, Doughnut Economics, The Grid
- Podcasts: Sustainability Defined, How to Save the Planet
- Newsletters: GreenBiz, Utility Dive, Sustainable Brands
What do you do outside of work, that you like to brag about?
Snowboarding and vegetable gardening, if I can’t eat it, I don’t grow it… unless the bees can eat it, then I’ll grow that too.
How can the @posi2ive community support your efforts? (*Not public solicitation, nor securities offerings)
It can help us get the word out about this new form of corporate responsibility we are leading the charge in: Consumer Corporate Responsibility
Copyright 2022, all rights reserved. If you’re a Founder / Investor focused on VC Impact, we’d love to invite you to share your story here (#EVOLve) with the posi2ive community. If you’re an LP or GP in venture, we’d also love to have you apply to our private VC Impact Capital Community.
