I am on a train ride from Paris to Barcelona, my hometown, trying to catch up on an endless ‘to do’ list. I have now decided to stop my hectic morning to take some time for myself and write. It is a very special day for me, and I want to spend some minutes to acknowledge and share it. Two years ago, I decided to embark on my journey as an entrepreneur.
Little did I know back then what this meant and how it would impact my life…
How it all started
Climatize (formerly known as Seeds), is a climate FinTech mobile app that allows you to invest in community energy projects and cleantech scale-ups with as little as your spare change. The start-up was born after my co-founder and I attended the Global Climate Strike in Barcelona. There, we realised the people’s collective will to make a difference and the little tools we have at our disposal to take tangible climate action. We started to ask ourselves “How can we use this collective energy to fuel the energy transition?” After some time, we realised the answer was easy. Everyone has a little spare change that can make a big difference.
Our journey: Pursing a master’s degree while working on a start-up
We worked on the ideaduring Innovation & Entrepreneurship Journey at ESADE Business School as well as entered the ESADE eWorks accelerator programme. In October 2020, things were beginning to shape, and we decided to establish our start-up. Pursing a master’s degree while working on a start-up was challenging but, I felt extremely fortunate to have an excellent team who I could trust and count on. Together we pushed through the hardest months and celebrated big wins. During mid-2020, we received a non-dilutive grant by the New York State Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA) in addition to having the opportunity to participate in the Venture for ClimaTech (V4C) Accelerator. Now that we have graduated, we are working at Climatize full time!
Learnings
We still have a long way to go as a company and I definitely have a lot to learn. But still, I would like to share with you some learnings which might help many planning to follow this path!
- Know your mission: Verbalise it and act on it!
- Powerhouse Team: You must build a culture and gender diverse team where the members come from different backgrounds, have clearly defined roles, and share the same expectations.
- Honest communication: Both with your colleagues and partners.
- Plan: Define clear phases and set milestones based on your priorities.
Women-Led start-ups only received 2.3% of VC funding in 2020
Becoming a female entrepreneur is an uphill battle, the data speaks for itself. Luckily, we’ve got each other’s back! EIT InnoEnergy Master School is set to encourage more females into its programmes. With numbers modestly increasing every year (we make up around 30% in the Master School which is huge for this industry), I would say we are on the right track to contribute to the shortfall of skilled engineering labour. I have met amazing women who are disrupting the energy sector and joined organisations and associations where female founders support each other. There’s also a growing number of VCs that give priority to women-led companies, gender and culture diverse teams. We are making huge progress, but we need to continue pushing to gain ground in a male-dominated industry.
Just go for it!
Being a founder is exciting, but it comes with huge responsibility, and, at times, very hard decisions have to be made. I always knew I wanted to use my education and learnings from Master’s in Renewable Energy to build something meaningful. However, I must warn you. Aligning your values with your work comes at a cost: it becomes harder and harder to separate your personal and professional life. Still, it is a beautiful path of self-discovery and growth were you have the tools to make a tangible impact in the things you care about the most.
I encourage all of you to follow your passion and to give it a try. You won’t regret it. I know I don’t.
by Alba Forns, EIT InnoEnergy Master School graduate