Taj Eldridge_E1: From Story to Impacts in Venture [3/16/2020]

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4 min readDec 24, 2020

Taj Eldridge: Impact Investor & Senior Director at LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI)

https://anchor.fm/posi2ive/episodes/Taj-Eldridge_E1-Story-to-Impacts-in-Venture-3162020-eom6au/a-a49uacn

Note: References with links are listed at the end of the show notes.

INTRO:

1:00 Everything that connects us is about a story. Discusses stories and math stemming from his background in econ and literature — ties into the story of decision making.

1:45 How Founders can approach the problem / issue and apply a good story with numbers, and balance concerns when pitching.

2:45 EV and proptech story augmented for different investors authentically.

3:50 How comedy can inform your engagements, and the importance of energy.

SECTION1: Natural Philosophy and Story

4:52 “Natural Philosophy” and how it relates to Impact Investing.

5:15 Deciding routes on impact, with an economic lens.

6:01 Ethical values driving future demand.

6:21 Experiential study in his PhD, and how to use tactile learning.

6:50 Discusses LACI’s fund, coupled with art / science tying back into story.

8:15 Set and setting, and natural connections in smart homes. The human connection and natural connections drives engagements.

10:12 Coaching Founders and how engineers can develop a stronger human connections. How language appreciation and emotion is a key to connecting. Talks about LACIs sustainability projects with four artists per year.

11:32 Creativity is fed by connection with community, art, and nature.

12:01 “Organic Intellectual” as a focus for Founders.

12:27 How creativity ties into the growth process.

12:37 How to coach and inspire Founders.

13:45 The importance of intellectual diversity.

14:12 Getting past roadblocks through respect for different worldviews.

15:49 Experience producing locally and selling internationally, and how to tap into desire through the practical use of economics.

16:41 Fickleness in brands, and applied to CPG stories17:25 Gamification and game theory benefits for startups.

17:55 Experience with VC Family Feud in LA.

SECTION2: Inclusion and Diversity in SoCal

21:00 Discussing talent / genius and how it relates to mindset.

21:21 Experience growing up in Texas.

21:30 Reginald F. Lewis mentor from afar; Harvard educated lawyer in private equity and first African Amirican billionaire.

22:25 How Steve Case (former CEO of AOL) philosophy focused on fly-over states

22:51 Arlan Hamilton’s work with “Underestimated Founders”.

22:26 How can mentorship be used to create a mindset of inclusion and diversity?

22:37 How Southern Hospitality has molded his own mindset. How authenticity drove his own focus and comfort in success. Mentions Steve Case’s flyover-state thesis.

24:19 Time is finite, asks Founders to pay-it-forward. Creates a culture, and not just about a person — relates to “bury the man, and continue the plan.” How banking and investment banking shaped him initially.

25:06 Importance of efficient mentorship, and work with pro-bono mentorship with StartupStarter.

26:00 Drunk off wine in Napa (startup @ilikethisgrape).

SECTION3: Cleantech 1.0/2.0 and LACI

26:23 LA’s advantage in startup space. Storytelling (movies / music) as a differentiator.

26:46 Grit of Honey, and how they pulled together financing — recently acquired by Paypal for $4B. In his view, SoCal tech scene is based on collaboration between accelerators and funds.

27:25 Equates the SoCal tech scene to the music scene — analogy: startups are the artists and funds are the record labels, and incubators/accelerators are the radio stations (amplifying signals!).

28:29 Highlights Cleantech 1.0/2.0 and the types of Founders in SoCal/LA.

28:30 Excited about Envoy, a company LACI backs. Arcady at FreeWire also mentioned.

28:50 Recent trip to Costa Rica, and ideas surrounding CleanTech in Central America. Talks about Internationalization funds from Quingdao China and Abu Dhabi entering CleanTech.

29:55 Reason we see such an international interest, is from the “Universal Problem” standpoint. CleanTech 2.0 isn’t needing government support, as the unit economics have improved. Startups focusing more on impact and relevancy to society. Loves a company called Xeal, approaches biz from a needs standpoint first with EV charging, and impact as a byproduct.

30:30 Talks about prospect of Cleantech accelerator partnership in the Galapagos. Also discusses PledgeLA work with Mayor of LA and Annenberg Foundation. Also co-authored a paper with one of LACIs interns Alpha Barry, on need for CleanTech in places like China / Africa (See link below)

32:22 Trends in CleanTech: “Corporates” Corporate Ventue Capital (CVCs) entering at earlier seed stages, Family Offices directly, and PE entering into hardware space. Also from famous actors, including shoutout to Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation, and the Hammer Family Foundation.

33:36 The role for activism and capital deployment

34:00 Discusses LACIs current 2 year cohort, and their portfolio fund.

SOURCES:

-Taj Ahmed-Eldridge https://www.linkedin.com/in/tajahmadeldridge/

-Backgound on Taj’s path to VC https://medium.com/@Econoahmad/my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantastic-path-towards-being-a-vc-87257a8391c6

-LA Cleantech Incubator (LACI) https://laincubator.org/

-Natural Philosophy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_philosophy

-Organic Intellectual https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Gramsci

-Freakonomics https://freakonomics.com/

-AmpAire https://www.ampaire.com/

-Mitch Kapor (Kupor Capital) https://www.kaporcapital.com/

-Reginald F. Lewis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Lewis