Taj Eldridge, Jobs for the Future
Today's guest is Taj Eldridge. He calls himself the DJ Khaled of climate and you’ll know why when you hear him speak.
Taj’s professional portfolio spans a variety of roles that live at the intersection of diversity, inclusivity, and climate. He’s currently involved in three exciting pursuits. As general partner at Include Ventures, Taj works with a team of experts to build a large and dynamic platform of women and historically underrepresented fund managers and founders, with the goal of opening new market opportunities for investors and driving alpha, environmental, and social governance. Taj is also leading CREST or the Climate Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow out of JFF (Jobs for the Future), which is a program that prepares people for climate resilient jobs in the United States and India. Lastly, Taj supports Klean Energy Kulture, an organization on a mission to transition black communities to clean energy by kicking off a series of experiences that tour historically black institutions and leverage music, gaming and sustainable fashion to promote sustainability and opportunities as a way of life.
These topics are each so important and they're also undeniably interrelated. In this conversation, Taj walks us through ways to think about diversity and inclusion, how they go together, and what types of initiatives can be most important to bring about the progress that we all desire. Jason and Taj have a great discussion about his personal journey, what motivates him, and how his theory of change has evolved from when he started doing this work many years ago to today. Then we talk about each of the initiatives he's currently involved with and also his framework for thinking about how to allocate his portfolio of time. This is a really exciting and insightful discussion. Enjoy!
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Episode recorded on October 27, 2022.
In this episode, we cover:
[4:31] Taj's portfolio of climate projects
[7:25] His journey at the intersection of inclusion and climate
[13:50] Inclusivity and how Taj's thoughts toward it have evolved over time
[17:32] His views on the state of the climate emergency
[21:07] How we can collectively balance the transition with education
[25:13] The role of pop culture and media influencing consumer decisions
[27:48] Taj's decision making process for projects he focuses on
[31:46] The exciting youth climate movement
[33:43] Frustrations around privileged climate conversations and the need for more inclusivity
[36:05] Blind spots in building a more diverse climate community
[42:23] The opportunity to create measurement tools for climate investing
[44:26] Innovating climate solutions outside of Silicon Valley
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Jason Jacobs (00:02):
Hello everyone, this is Jason Jacobs.
Cody Simms (00:04):
And I'm Cody Simms.
Jason Jacobs (00:06):
And welcome to My Climate Journey. This show is a growing body of knowledge focused on climate change and potential solutions.
Cody Simms (00:16):
In this podcast, we traverse disciplines, industries, and opinions to better understand and make sense of the formidable problem of climate change and all the ways people like you and I can help.
Jason Jacobs (00:27):
We appreciate you tuning in, sharing this episode and if you feel like it, leaving us a review to help more people find out about us so they can figure out where they fit in addressing the problem of climate change.
(00:41):
Today's guest is Taj Eldridge. I first met Taj when he was senior director of investments at the Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator or LACI. There he established both the LACI Impact Fund I and the LACI Debt Fund to allow clean tech companies to grow with diverse capital. Now he's involved in three exciting pursuits. Projects include or include ventures where he's general partner and that's a fund of funds where the team has worked together to build a large and dynamic platform of women and historically underrepresented fund managers and founders to open new market opportunities for investors and to drive alpha, environmental and social governance.
(01:20):
The next is called CREST or Climate Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow. And this is a five year program that prepares people for climate resilient jobs in the United States and India. And the last is called Klean Energy Kulture, and that's with a K for clean and a K for culture. And that organization's kicking off a series of block party experiences that tour historically black colleges and universities and leverage music, gaming and sustainable fashion to promote clean energy brands and opportunities as a way of life. Rappers like Atlanta-based T.I. And 2 Chainz are in talks to join the tour.
(01:58):
Now, I was excited for this one because Taj really lives at the intersection of diversity and inclusion and climate. And gosh, those topics are each so important and they're also so interrelated and no one's better than Taj in terms of walking me and walking you through how to think about that, the Theory of Change, how they go together, and what types of initiatives can be most important to bring about the progress that we all desire. We have a great discussion in this episode about Taj's journey, why he does the work that he does, what motivates him, how his theory of change has evolved from when he started doing this work many years ago to today. And then we talk about each of the initiatives he's currently involved with and also his framework for thinking about how to allocate his portfolio of time. Really exciting and insightful discussion and I hope you enjoy it. Taj, welcome to the show.
Taj Eldridge (02:50):
Thank you so much, man. I'm excited to be here. This is great and I appreciate you. Thank you.
Jason Jacobs (02:56):
Well, I'm so excited to have you and I have to say, because listeners only listen, they don't get to see you, I'm decked out in the most scrubby running clothes that one could possibly wear and you are like full on fashion plate from head to toe. So you're putting me shame over here.
Taj Eldridge (03:15):
Don't be. I fully believe that people have to bring their full selves into everything that they do. And for me, everything I try to wear is purposeful. So a lot of people see me wear these hats often, and I often say I wear many hats both literally and figuratively. But these hats, Jason, are made by a company called Apache Hat Company. And I wear them because I hear the term BIPOC often, and I think the audience may know that term stands for black, indigenous, people of color. One of the things I get angry about is that I always ask investors and people show me your eyes, not your eyes, but show me your eyes and BIPOC, Show me your indigenous companies that you're focusing on. Show me this pace. And especially in our industry of climate, a lot of the tribes have been stewards of this land long before any of us have gotten here. But are they part of the solution? And so that's why I do that on the hat, the clothes right now for your audience.
Jason Jacobs (04:02):
I wish you could see, audience. I wish you could see each Taj right now.
Taj Eldridge (04:06):
There's a seventies vibe, there's corduroy, but it's a sustainable corduroy that's made out of low water cotton as well. And so again, I try to make climate fun. I try to make climate sexy and make climate cool and give a little swagger to it as well.
Jason Jacobs (04:19):
Well, before we get too far down the path, Taj, maybe just give me and listeners a snapshot of how you're currently spending your portfolio of professional time. And I know it's a portfolio because I see your name everywhere.
Taj Eldridge (04:31):
Absolutely. One of the things I taught about, and shout out to an investor, his name is Adam Grant, I hope he's listening, we talked and he told me this fact that there are 96, 15 minutes in a day. What that made me think about is every minute that I try to utilize is going for something I care about. And what I care about is my community. I care about the environment. I care about the things we want to do. So one of the things I try to always do is make sure everything that my hand touches, that my time touches, that my name touches, focuses on the climate, the transition to energy transition, especially for communities and communities of color because I think they are the communities that most impacted.
(05:07):
I jokingly call myself, if any of your listeners are into music, there's an artist by the name of DJ Khaled. I jokingly call myself the DJ Khaled of Climate because similarly DJ Khaled is always positive. He's always given this idea of positivity and I try to do it myself, but he's always everywhere. He's always really kind of being a conductor of artists and I see myself as a conductor of the artists and the artists are the founders, they're the fund managers. And so I kind of see myself in that space. And that's really three main things that I think really kind of lift my portfolio. First is include ventures, which is a fund to funds that my partners and I started about a year and a half ago to make investments into fund ones, fund twos and fund threes. We made not only LP investments, but in April of this year we made grant investments or grants into 10 climate funds in the US and Europe.
(05:52):
And we did that because we realized that, and as you know and many people know who are on this call, that raising the fund is hard and it's costly and a lot of people may not have that money set aside to do so. And so we did those grants in April and we're gearing up for another round of grants in the end of the year in addition to LP Capital. In addition to that, I lead climate innovations at an organization called JFF, Jobs for the Future. That's in partnership with Aries Foundation to provide jobs around the climate space, 25,000 jobs that we want to do at the end of five years and ensure that 100,000 people know about these climate jobs. So I'm hoping that 100,000 people listen to this podcast and my job can be done on that end. And then lastly, one of the things I do, Jason, is that there's an organization that co-founded and an advisor of Klean Energy Kulture. And that whole idea is to bring a lot of people entertainment and sports into the climate space.
(06:44):
And we've been seeing it with rappers such as Drake making an investment in the Cedar Market based food company, the entertainer, hip hop artist Pusha T making investment in one of our firms, Spark Charge. Rappers such as Juicy J and 2 Chainz also making investments in Heliogen here in Pasadena. So we're seeing this idea of how can we influence the next generation of climate activists but make climate cool while doing so.
Jason Jacobs (07:05):
Awesome. And so Taj, tell me a little bit about your journey. How did you come to be doing all the work that you're doing at the intersection of inclusion and climate? And also, I mean, going back on the way back machine, how did those issues and causes become important to you in the first place?
Taj Eldridge (07:25):
Well, I will begin to say that I think there's a lot of difference between myself and some of my peers that gave me this journey. And I think that's also why I love you, because I think that your journey into climate has been different than a lot of the folks who are already there. And I think we need more people like us in it. I actually grew up in the south. I grew up in Texas back in the early eighties, late seventies and venture capital, private equity was not a common thing. I think the pathway for us was two spaces, either music or sports. And my parents definitely wanted me to go to school, but I wanted to be a rapper actually, which is why I referenced that whole idea by stepping up to the mic.
Jason Jacobs (07:58):
Do you rap?
Taj Eldridge (08:00):
I actually do, and I have a album out, so...
Jason Jacobs (08:02):
Oh, come on. Really? I obviously didn't do sufficient prep work cause I didn't find it.
Taj Eldridge (08:07):
Yeah, no you I make sure it's buried man. Cause we still can't scare our LPs. So I studied poetry and literature in undergrad and my whole thinking was, if I can't be in music, I'm least going to study the idea of poetry and literature. But needless to say, when I graduated I did not go into the entertainment industry. I did not put out an album. I worked at a bank and I worked in corporate banking and investment banking in Wells Fargo and UBS. And while I was at UBS, I ended up taking some of my bonuses and making investments as an angel investor first. Lost a lot of money in the very beginning. My wife was super pissed. But that really kind of put a bug in me to start thinking about this idea of, capital can change things.
(08:43):
And I ended up quitting my job and joining a firm. And the first startup company that I think really took off that had a lot of success was actually in the fashion business, a company by the name of Boswell. And Boswell was probably most known for dressing a lot of guys in the NBA. At one point the NBA made this transition from guys wearing baggy clothes and jerseys to various fitted suits. Well, Boswell was the guy who started that with the late Commissioner Stern. And so when I joined the firm, we ended up making clothes in the US and selling in China. We were the first fashion brand to do that.
Jason Jacobs (09:14):
This is a random aside, but was this before or after the time where the sport coach went down to the kneecaps?
Taj Eldridge (09:21):
It was after. If your folks remember the Malice at the Palace with my God Metta World Peace, shout out to Metta, I'm going to have to put you on spot brother, Metta has a fund too, you should interview him. He's doing a climate now. But Metta had that fight back in Detroit I believe. And after that, Commissioner Stern, late Commissioner Stern said, We need to have a dress code. We need to have something different. So that's when you start seeing the change from those suits that went down to their knees to the suits that were a little bit more European fitted. That was the company. Boswell did that black owned company here in LA. And what Damon John from Shark Tank, good guy Damon started his career in fashion, Damon gave us the greatest pieces of advice which was own your manufacturing. So we did a lot of the manufacturing in-house around the corner from American Apparel with Dove here in LA. But what we did differently is that we decided to, because basketball was huge in China, we decided to make here in LA but sell in China. So we were in six stores in China and Hong Kong and Taiwan and Japan and Asia I should say. That was doing the athleisure phase, which I'm pretty sure you're familiar with, give me your background.
Jason Jacobs (10:21):
Man. Because that's like the only thing I wear like 24/7.
Taj Eldridge (10:25):
And we actually made athleisure suits Jason, so there were travel suits. And so it was cool. And so what we ended up happening as we ended up partnering with McDonald's and we actually redesigned McDonald's uniforms. So if you google McDonald's new uniform design, that was our firm. I say all that to say in doing so, and I invested in a wine company after that as well, I started seeing a lot of problems with sustainability. I started seeing a lot of waste in clothing. I started seeing a lot of waste and lack of sustainability in the wine space. And that's what really kind of got me into this idea of sustainability.
(10:54):
So after the experience with the clothing company, after the experience with the wine company, I ended up working with the University of California. I led their accelerator in the city called Riverside, California, which is about an hour east of LA. And Riverside is a tech school and it's a climate school. And so that was my first foray in climate a number of years ago leading that accelerator. And I'm proud that we made Riverside the number four place in the nation for black entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur Magazine when I led, it because we really kind of did this idea of making it very inclusive and bringing the whole community in. Didn't matter if you have a degree, didn't matter if you went to the school. We really made entrepreneurship a way of life in the region and I'm really proud of that. And then subsequently I went to LACI, which is the Los Angeles Clean Tech Incubator. The incubator for the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles. And I was a senior director for investment launching the fund there. And we had great companies, I think your investor in Chargerhelp, we incubated Chargerhelp there with Camille and-
Jason Jacobs (11:48):
We're not, but we love Chargerhelp.
Taj Eldridge (11:51):
Okay, Okay. Yeah, I think it's a company where you're investing in that I saw. But definitely that was one of them. And then we launched Include about a year and a half ago. But I will tell you this, what double downed my idea Jason of focusing on climate and communities of color is about, in 2018 I got diagnosed with a disease called FSGS, it's a kidney disease. And what we find out is that kidney disease has environmental waste factors that got when I was younger and two of my other cousins who grew up with me also have the same disease and they've passed away since. So I'm the last one living.
(12:19):
And that really made me start thinking about climate as more than just about this idea of the world is warming and we have so many years. People don't give a shit about that. What they care about is money, their health and their lives. So if we talk about climate as a public health issue, we'll get more people to care about it. If we talk about climate as an economic issue, a way to build green wealth, we'll get people to care about it. And if we talk about climate as a social justice issue, meaning that the people who are most impacted are the ones who are providing the least greenhouse gas emissions, we'll get more people to think about it. So a long winded answer, man, to talk about my journey, but that's what got me here and that's why I do what I do and why I'm so passionate about it.
Jason Jacobs (12:57):
Well, there is about a million places we could go based on what you just laid out. And I feel like there could be a whole episode for each of them. But in listening, I'd be interested to better understand when you think about inclusion, I mean there's a whole long list of problems and potential things we can do to build a more inclusive society. And then when you think about climate on its own, as you know, it's incredibly complicated. And we just talked about some of the ways that they interrelate. But I'm curious just, how you thought about each of those or the intersection when you first started doing this work and then how that has evolved over the, I think you said decade plus, that you've been working in these areas.
Taj Eldridge (13:50):
Yeah. Well first of all, I think that for me inclusivity is more than just about the race and gender. I think we get caught up on that. And I think from now, and we talked about this in the very beginning, I think the controversy that's happening here in Los Angeles has shown us that even people of color can be discriminatory against each other. So I definitely want to make sure that we're understanding that for me, inclusivity not only means race and gender, it means geographic inclusivity. Because for me, talent is universal, opportunity is not. And there are people in West Virginia that need to have access to climate. They may have solutions that we're not thinking about. There are people in Memphis and so forth. In addition to that, I'm disabled. I'm partially blind. That's why we're a lot of the glasses that I wear, they're tinted. A lot of people think it's because I'm cool, which I am, but it's also because I'm blind in my right eye and I have been since birth.
(14:37):
So I think that's another thing that we rarely talk about in this industry of tech are people with disabilities. And when I think about things like autonomous vehicles, when I think about things like a lot of things, even the glasses I'm wearing now are glasses that have speakers in them, shout out to RayBan. And they're great because they allow me to not have to look at my screen all the time because my emails are read to me. So I think that we have to think about inclusivity very broadly. And I think that's been the problem with climate is that when we think about inclusivity in it, we just think about it again like race and gender sometimes or sometimes sexual orientation. But I think we need to build a true big 10 strategy when we talk about this idea of inclusivity and climate.
Jason Jacobs (15:14):
And what about, when you think about climate and the Theory of Change, how do you think about that? How has that evolved since you first started working in climate and then what's the interrelation between those two topics?
Taj Eldridge (15:32):
For me, what's changed definitely is the way I try to talk about it. And I think before I got in, I wasn't sick. I didn't have this illness that impacted me greatly. That's definitely one of the things that's changed in my trajectory of how I talk about climate, how I look at climate. Because when I'm talking about it now it's more personal. It's more about really kind of talking about this idea of, there are people who have asthma who live next to off-ramps and the transition to electric clean vehicles or even hydrogen vehicles could be something that benefit.
(16:02):
But I think the idea for me also in this Theory of Change that's come across is, I mentioned this project that I'm leading in partnership with WRI for Aries that's focusing on climate and workforce. And one of the first things I talked about is that, we have to ensure that we're talking to the communities that understand that there's a climate issue, but we also have to talk to the communities who don't believe in it. I'm going to Texas to speak about this, my home state. And I know that while Houston is doing a lot of work in the space of climate with Greentown Labs, a lot of their work, a lot of other places in the state are not. But I'm welcome to come and welcome to have these conversations, because I think that's where we need to have these conversations at.
(16:38):
So I think for me the change has been with the excitement around climate now from an investment standpoint, there's more investors come into to the space, there's more people to come into the space. I think there's a fear in our industry of greenwashing. People coming into the space who may not know. And I think for me that's cool. You should have people in this space who are going to make mistakes, who are going to fail, who are going to fail forward in making these decisions on what we're trying to do. Cause I think there are a lot of long term effects around climate environmentalism, but a lot of short term effects that we can do as well. And I think that that's one of the things I always think about.
Jason Jacobs (17:12):
And before we get into your specific piece and work that you're doing, if we just look at the issue from a bird's eye view, how do you think about the problem of climate change. for example, do you think of it like an emergency or how would you describe the problem itself?
Taj Eldridge (17:32):
Yeah, I definitely think it's an emergency. I definitely think it's something that we haven't talked about adequately. I mentioned earlier that my undergrad degree was in poetry and literature. My graduate degree is MBA and I did a PhD in geopolitical economics. One of the things I remember, there was a book called Words That Work from Frank Luntz. Frank Luntz was a lobbyist, is a lobbyist, that really did the Contract with America. Some of your listeners name remember that back in the nineties. And what I loved about the Contract with America was that they understood how to make people do things against their best interest and championed things that were against their best interests. Sorry for those who may have loved the Contract with America. But I think with the same thing with climate, we have to bring more people in.
(18:14):
And I think for example, the IRA is great, but there's still farther that the IRA can do. There's folks on the justice side who are saying that it needs to do more. And I agree however, I love the fact that we make small steps but we have to make small steps quicker to that point about the emergency of this as well. And so I think things like, this podcast, one of the things I love is fiction books, media, Robert Downey Jr's football coalition, John who's over there, a real good guy, they're doing some great work around media and climate and I think those things would help and the public really kind of getting behind this idea of what's happening within the climate. But I just think it needs to be talked about differently to get more people into it and more people championing what we need to do.
Jason Jacobs (18:57):
We're going to take a short break so our partner Yin can talk about the MCJ membership option.
Yin Lu (19:03):
Hey folks, Yin here, your partner at MCJ Collective. I want to take a quick minute to tell you about our MCJ membership community, which was born out of a collective thirst for peer-to-peer learning and doing, that goes beyond just listening to the podcast. We started in 2019 and have since then grown to 2000 members globally. Each week we're inspired by people who join with different backgrounds and perspectives. And while those perspectives are different, what we all share in common is a deep curiosity to learn and bias to action around ways to accelerate solutions to climate change.
(19:32):
Some awesome initiatives have come out of the community. A number of founding teams have met, nonprofits have been established, a bunch of hiring has been done, many early stage investments have been made as well as ongoing events and programming like monthly women in climate meetups, idea jam sessions for early stage founders, climate book club, art workshops and more.
(19:52):
So whether you've been in climate for a while or just embarking on your journey, having a community to support you is important. If you want to learn more, head over to mcjcollective.com and then click on the members tab at the top. Thanks and enjoy the rest of the show.
Jason Jacobs (20:08):
Back to the show.
(20:08):
Going back to you said something at the beginning basically, and if I'm getting it wrong, just correct me, but that the general public, you didn't say it this way, but what I heard was the collective good, right? They care about themselves, their families, their loved ones.
Taj Eldridge (20:22):
Yeah, I'm an economist, that's the fiscal science. People are selfish and, some people I should say, there are some people altruistic, but the majority of humans, we're selfish. And I think it is what it is.
Jason Jacobs (20:33):
Given that and given the type of systems change that needs to occur, how do we as a society, right, I'm not talking about we like me and you, but how do we collectively balance the transition that needs to occur and the risk and stakes in the long term with the short term sacrifice or more expensive cost or giving up things that you love or things like that, that might be a byproduct in the short term of trying to get us moving more aggressively?
Taj Eldridge (21:07):
Yeah, I think it's similar to education. Education is a cost for some of us. For some it's not a cost, but for some it's an expense, but it's an investment in yourself that will lead to hopefully, knock on wood, a better return in the future from an economic standpoint. And I think that's one of the ways that we can talk about this idea. You've heard me used the term green wealth and I use that term when I talk about the economic advantages of climate. I used to joke and say that, we talk about climate in a Catholicism way because we talk about guilt, we guilt people into doing the right things. And I think there's a space for that. But there also should be a space to say we're in the time right now where John Rockefeller was doing the same thing a hundred years ago with the transition of vehicles and industrial age when the new green age.
(21:51):
And I think that's one of the areas that you can get people to think selfishly about, oh it's an opportunity for me to make money, but in doing so I'm going to do good. And I think that there is a balance with that. I think even so for us as fund managers and in the investment space, we have to balance that, because we still have to provide a return to our investors. But we want to do good. And we don't believe those things are mutually exclusive. We think you can do good and still make a return, but I think that in our industry what we have to do is definitely still show people how they can benefit long term and short term. But I think there's a ways to do so.
Jason Jacobs (22:24):
There's people that would agree with your assessment that we're in emergency, but who say that doing small things over time and trying to keep it essentially as invisible as possible to the general population as they go about their lives, won't get us to where we need to go nearly fast enough and that the change that we need needs to be bigger and more disruptive. How do you react to that?
Taj Eldridge (22:52):
I agree. I think it has to be twofold, right? It has to be, I'll be honest, as citizens, and let's talk about from a citizen standpoint, corporation's actions are far more important and impactful than us. We guide that because corporations will make those decisions based on what the public is talking about. But it has to be dual. We have to do both. My standpoint and my thoughts is we are a capitalistic consumer society in this country. And so the way of the dollar, the way of the dollar spending is going to influence corporations. And I give you a perfect example. If a person books a flight on Google Flight or whatever, what you see right now is the amount of emissions for their flight. Now that wasn't there a number of years ago. That's something that just started happening. And what needs to happen is as more people make those decisions on the flight they're taking based on the percentage of those emissions that are reduced for their flight, that's going to make companies think about things differently.
(23:45):
I think about a Midwest company, Kohl's. Kohl's is here in southern California. I go into Kohl's. They literally have advertising that shows the sustainability of their products and clothing, how these clothes were sustainably sourced. And I think as more people know the importance of that and they see that and they see that it's a value and the cost comes down a little bit, all those clothes are super fly. Like the eco Nikes we were talking about earlier. I think that's going to do two things. That's going to allow the population to move the needle forward, but it's going to also allow the corporations to move the needle forward. Because that's what we really need. One of the things I hate a lot in our industry is this all or nothing idea that either all of the population has to do it, all the corporations have to do it. We have to do it in tandem, we have to do it as a village, we have to do it together.
Jason Jacobs (24:30):
So you're talking about education and inspiration and changing consumption patterns and things like that. I mean everything that I just heard was about choice, will choice be enough? So for example, it's been ingrained in us that the suburban dream is to have green grass and that in order to get green grass, especially when there's heat waves and droughts and things like that, you need to water the lawn more. Or flights. It's like frequent flyer and gold status and all that. And so people are actually incentivized to fly more whether they need to fly or not. Where do things like mandates or caps or more of a stick if you will, fit in?
Taj Eldridge (25:13):
I think they're needed. I'll be honest, from a political standpoint, I'm down the middle. I'll be very frank with you. So I think sometimes regulations can backfire. And I'll give an example of that later. But I think for me, and this is why I mentioned Klean Energy Kulture, I think a lot of times culture pop culture influences things. It influences how we make those choices and decisions. I think when we talk about the idea of, we look at things like HGTV, Magnolia Channel, they put a market on shiplap. Have you heard of the term shiplap?
Jason Jacobs (25:44):
I have not.
Taj Eldridge (25:45):
For all those folks who are into home building and home improvement, there's a young lady who has a show, a shiplap is like a side of a barn. They're literally running out of shiplap I think because everybody's putting in a freaking house. But I say all that to say that media has influenced that and I think media and pop culture can influence this idea of the decisions and the choices that we make for some of us and for those others, yes, regulations. But I think we have to be smart about it. And regulations also, this is why inclusivity matters.
(26:11):
I look at things like single use bags here in California that we ban and outlaw in stores. A lot of us who are immigrants, a lot of us who are people of color, we laugh at that term because those bags weren't single use for us. Those bags where multiple use, use those bags as hair caps and when you in the shower. You use those bags to pick up dog poop when you're walking your dog. You use those bags for trash cans in your bathroom. You use those bags for so many different things after you got them from the store that they were not single use. And then there were some studies that came out that taught us that a lot of these bags that we put in place of those single use plastic bags was just as detrimental. So I think there will continue to be unintended consequences when we try to have these hard wire regulations around it. But again, I think life is messy. The earth is messy. The solutions we are going to come to are messy as well. And I think for me, the key to that is, we can have that messiness as long as we are failing forward. We believe in failing forward in tech, we should have that same idea in climate.
(27:10):
The only difference is that, we don't have a lot of time. And to the point that I mentioned earlier about this is sense of emergency. So my whole thing is that we need to fall forward fast in this space. And that's why I'm so excited about a lot of the capitals coming in, a lot of the funds that are willing to fund a lot of these ideas that are able to fund fall fast and really try to think about some solutions.
Jason Jacobs (27:30):
Well, I mean we could keep going and going on the nature of the problem and the path forward generally. But I also want to make sure that we leave time to talk about your work. And before we get into the specific work that you're doing, I'm curious, just when you think about your portfolio of professional time, how do you determine what makes the cut?
Taj Eldridge (27:48):
Good question. I'm a father of three. I've been married for 23 years. And so for me first and foremost, if it impacts my family life, I don't do it. When I was a founder, my kids were little, I wasn't here as much and I regret it, I'll be very frank with you. This idea of grinding, this idea of working, burning the midnight oil idea that in my twenties and thirties and now I take a different approach and I try to balance that. So that's first and foremost. Secondly, I try to do things that I think are impactful and I'm a good person that understands that I love starting things and I want to partner with people who can contend those things. So some of the things that I would say, for example, we started this organization called GreenTech Noir at the top of the pandemic. And the whole idea was to get people, black people all over the United States, all over the world who are in sustainability and climate, a way to really partner and Neca Uzo who's at Aligned Capital, my mentee, love her to death.
(28:44):
What I realized is that when we started those organizations, you put people in place who can continue to work and you start and you step out of the way. And I think that's how I kind of look at a lot of the things that I do. This project with Aries is five years, so it's a timeframe with that. So I try to do things that are impactful early, but also I try to do it with a team and with partners that believe in what I similarly believe in so that way it can keep going. There's a phrase that my dad used to say all the time, which is "bury the man and continue to plan". And that's how I kind of operate and I look at things. So I look at things from a standpoint of this is a plan, we have a village around it, we have partners around it, but we can move forward.
(29:19):
But I will say, Jason, I'm still in the process of learning to say no to a lot of things. And it's difficult because I get excited about a lot of things, but also I think it allows me to say no, I may not be able to do it, but this person will, this person can and this person can speak. And I think that's what we all should do because that gives a lot of opportunity to grow this idea of all these activists that are there, these climate warriors. Because it's more than just my voice you'll hear, you'll hear other people's voices as well.
Jason Jacobs (29:45):
And when you think about the intersection of your skills and what fills you with energy, how would you describe your superpower and how do you think that that can be best applied to bring about the type of change that you aspire to see in the world?
Taj Eldridge (30:03):
I joke and tell people, and I put this on a video earlier, like I mentioned, I grew up in Dallas. Southern hospitality is ingrained in me even when I came to California. And it still is. I sincerely believe that's my superpower. The reason I say that is that I try to make people feel comfortable and build allies as opposed to enemies and competition. I think competition is healthy and I look at it like in basketball where you have people who will play against each other. Kobe used to say this all the time, that he wants to be the best, but that doesn't mean he has to denigrate somebody else. He can beat him, but you could still play together because you never know, that person may join your team. And so I think for me, I try to make sure that the things that I do have relevance, they're moving the needle forward on things as well. And that's how I kind of look at the way I plot my life out and what I try to do.
(30:50):
But I definitely think the superpower I have is this idea of convening, this idea of having a southern hospitality. It makes people get excited about it. I don't know if you've ever read the book, I've seen DJ Khaled speak and the reason I joke and I call myself the DJ Khaled of climate is because, one of the things that DJ Khaled does awesomely is, that he brings this air of anybody can do anything when he talks to people, when he works with people, he makes you feel like nothing is impossible. And I think for me, I want us to think about that the same way in climate we're going to solve this issue. It's not impossible. And I think that that's what I want to kind of bring to it. And I think that's my superpower is always thinking about ways to move forward.
(31:29):
Negativity. Is there negativity in the world? Yes. Is there negativity that we are around? Yes. But I think about is people would say that people want to take Ws for wins and Ls for losses. I look at Ls as learnings. I think that's one of the ways that I try to use that background and that piece in the industry.
Jason Jacobs (31:46):
And when you look around at all the different things that are happening in the world as it relates to the decarbonization and the clean energy transition, what are some of the pockets of light, if you will, that are giving you most excitement or optimism?
Taj Eldridge (32:03):
I am most excited, and I will say this, no knock on Greta, she's brought a lot of attention to the climate space. But there were youth before her that we rarely acknowledge, including Little Miss Flint, who talked about the water crisis in our own country, who's mentioned that. There are a number of Native American voices in this country, they talked about as well. So I think the thing that gets me excited is a group called Earth Guardians on the youth side that's doing a lot of work in the climate space. So I get excited by the young people, Sophia Kianni, I think she's speaking at COP27. I get excited about seeing those voices. A lot of the young investors that are at Align Capital, that are at EIP that I've met just recently. So those men and women are what, I'm smiling right now because I get excited about them, because I think that once you and I are old and gone and decrepit, they will be here continuing to fight and they will make it infinitely better than we can.
(32:57):
And the reason I'm excited about that, I said it is because, I recently posted a post that talked about ancestral mathematics. I think about things in ancestral mathematics. I don't think about things on the standpoint of next quarter, next year or even my lifetime. There are 4,096 ancestors plus that came before me, that punched my ticket to be here and I'll do the same for others. So I think about a lot of these youth and how they'll do things far greater than we will. Because we've done things far greater than the generation before us. And so that's what makes me excited and I'm happy about.
Jason Jacobs (33:28):
What about the flip side? What are some things that are happening that are frustrating to you? Or maybe ask slightly differently, what are some bottlenecks or clogged arteries in the system that you wish would shake free?
Taj Eldridge (33:43):
Yeah, I think one of the things that's frustrating, and I'm actually going to put it out there, sorry, Marilyn. Marilyn Wade is a good partner who's at Climate Finance Fund. But Marilyn and I have been talking about doing a climate week in Jamaica. And the reason for that is I feel like a lot of the conversations, whether it's COP, whether it's New York Climate Week, is very privileged. And a lot of the voices that are impacted aren't there. And I'm grateful. I went to Climate Week, I may go to COP depending on how my health is. But I think about man, when Hurricane Ian rolled through the Caribbean in Puerto Rico and the devastation that was there, how many of our conversations are talking about that and building jobs there and building climate resilient jobs and really kind of focusing on that.
(34:23):
And so I think that's one of my frustrations, is that I feel like the voices that need to be heard aren't heard. And I've already mentioned the indigenous voices that I think need to be included in these conversations. And I think the bottleneck too for us is thinking one size fits all. I'm an investor, I own a fund of funds. I invest from a venture standpoint, but I realize venture isn't the only way and it should not be the only way to provide climate solutions. I'm proud of people like Donnel from BlocPower who just created the Upside Tech Alliance and partnership.
Jason Jacobs (34:52):
We are investors in BlocPower.
Taj Eldridge (34:56):
Okay, that's what it is. We co-investors there. So definitely. Yeah, I did that. I know it's one we're co-investors in. But I'm very proud of Donnel, I tell him this all the time. And I think that's something that I want to see more of. I think we need to be more creative around the solutions and that I don't think that the traditional two and twenty, I don't think that the traditional way that we look, the tech is going to be sufficient for it. So I think that's one of the things that I'm... I think a bottleneck for us is that we're not thinking creatively about the solutions and how to fund those solutions.
Jason Jacobs (35:26):
So if you look at the MCJ community, I mean it is more diverse than the typical Silicon Valley echo chamber, but it's not really diverse enough. So there's a lot of people, for example, that look like I do, that grew up in tech that probably fit into that privilege bucket that you're describing. So for me and for others that are listening, that are coming in from traditional tech and with a solutions mindset and optimist and full of ambition and piss and vinegar and looking to anchor and have a big impact, what do you want us to hear? What blind spots do we have? What should we know going in that wouldn't be obvious to the naked eye?
Taj Eldridge (36:05):
Yeah. Well first I would say that I think there's a misnomer to just lump all white men as non-diverse. Because I think that when I think about diversity and I think about privilege, I also think about access. Because I think there are some people who may look like me who grew up way wealthy than I did. And we have a different take on things.
Jason Jacobs (36:21):
His real name is Clarence. He went to private school.
Taj Eldridge (36:24):
Yeah, exactly. That's the dream.
Jason Jacobs (36:28):
That's one of my favorite movies by the way. But that's a total aside.
Taj Eldridge (36:30):
Yeah. So I think that's one of the things we have to think about, right? We have to think about that, it can't be the way. Because one of the things I think about too is I grew up in the south and I went to school in rural East Texas and there are people there, white people, white men, what have you, that are just as poor a lot of people in the inner city. And I think that, well making a mistake, and I'll be honest, we've already made a mistake politically of not listening to everybody. That's kind of how we got into a situation we were in recently. And I think that's one of the things we can do in climate is make sure that we're listening to everybody and we're bringing those voices in. But I think to your question though is, one of the things I try to do, and even though I'm talking a lot here, so my apologies, but I think we need to listen more.
(37:08):
And I think a lot of times too, when I talk to founders or fund managers, I kind of sit back and listen. And I think a lot of times for us as investors, we want to impart this wisdom. Especially those of us who are former founders. You're a former founder, I'm a former founder. We want to impart this wisdom because we have it. But I think a lot of times we need to sit and listen and listen to what are the problems that they're articulating. Because they may be talking about the solution, they don't even realize it. And I'll give you a perfect example here in California, in southern California, the scooter, the micro mobility was ubiquitous in LA you couldn't go anywhere else without a Bird or Lime somewhere. Great, it was awesome. But for some people, by simply putting a basket on the back of that scooter, it changes the use case.
(37:51):
And the reason I mentioned it, if you go to some places that have a food desert that has horrible public transportation, you put a basket on the back of that scooter, it allows that person to go to that place and to carry their stuff back and forth. Something very simple. But if you never lived in a food desert, that wouldn't be reality to you. And there are black and white folks who don't live in a food desert, but there are white and black folks who do live in a food desert. And so I think that's one of the things to think about.
(38:16):
I think that another thing to think about too is that one of the things I never understood in LA, and I'm going to call them out, I do not understand why Kaiser charges people to park at the hospital. I do not understand it. So if you're sick and you come to the hospital, if you don't have a dollar five, whatever it costs to park, you SOL. I don't understand it. So there's a company called Circuit in LA that incubated it in LA that provides free rides with their electric vehicles to those facilities and to all the community and the way they make their revenue is with advertising.
(38:49):
So for me, I think again, the person who founded that was a person of color. So I think that for me that's where diversity comes in and that's why diversity is important because it allows us to think about things with different use cases that can probably also bring revenue to our investments as well.
Jason Jacobs (39:01):
And you mentioned how venture isn't a fit for everything, but it is a fit for some things. And so what about specific to the venture world, as more venture dollars are flowing into climate tech, what message do you want those investors to hear and those founders that are starting venture back companies? And the reason I ask is that on the one hand I think it is important to understand the big picture and how everything fits together and how your piece is just one little piece of the bigger pie and there's no silver bullets. But on the other hand, without the manic focus and obsession on one thing, it's hard enough to get that thing right with the manic focus and obsession on one thing. But if you don't have manic focus and obsession, I feel like you don't stand a chance. So how do you reconcile those two things?
Taj Eldridge (39:45):
Yeah, no definitely. I think there's two different things you're talking about. I think for your question about venture, I'll give you a perfect example. I started out by saying that when we started our fund of funds, we provided not only LP capital but grant capital to attend climate funds. And we allowed those funds to use those funds for legal, to hire, to think about processes to assess their portfolio for ESG. So I think that that's one of the things that's been happening. I was on the board of the CIGP, the Community Investment Guarantee Pool. And our whole job there was to think about alternative ways to help build climate finance. I mentioned her name as well, Marilyn Wade. She leads Climate Finance Fund. And she's also thinking about alternative ways to really take venture to new depths. And when I say venture the way it works with the two and 20 model, that's what I'm referring to.
(40:34):
I think for example, like the Upside Tech Alliance, there's opportunities for private equity to come in and do project finance where you can reduce a lot of the dilution that's there but you really kind of combine it. The reason I keep mentioning BlocPower and the Upside Tech Alliance is because I think it makes perfect sense for them to combine and then deploy it in certain cities and just really kind of test it, use those cities as pilots. So I think that there's an opportunity for that.
(40:56):
But I think to your other question though about focus, I think that's more on the founder side and I do think that founders need to definitely make sure that they're focusing and have that focus. One of the things I do see a lot is people going different places. And I'm always about, I tell my children this as well, is that be good at one thing first and then move on to the next. But be good at that one thing first, practice, practice, practice. No Allen Iversons over here. And so I think that you'll see that a little bit more in some of these founders now.
(41:23):
But I think also what's happening too, what I'm excited about, you're seeing founders invest in other founders. You're seeing fund managers who are raising emerging funds like Genius Gale with Katherine investing other funds. So I think those things are going to happen and you're seeing that those things happen as well.
Jason Jacobs (41:38):
One challenge I've seen is, so someone might come in with a climate tech company, it could be a carbon marketplace, it could be resiliency planning, it could be a new type of battery technology or things like that. But given the nature of the problem, it's so complicated and it takes so long to get your bearings in actually how to think about it. And I'm four years in, forget about even solutions. I'm just talking about the problem and it's like I'm learning more every day. I feel like I know very little. And so my question is, given how complicated and interrelated it is, if you don't measure then there's no accountability and you can't improve and you don't know how you're doing. But at the same time, how do you know what to measure given how complicated and interrelated the problem is?
Taj Eldridge (42:23):
I look at that as an opportunity. There is an opportunity because I think you're right. I think for us we use the CRANE tool, which was developed by Prime Coalition to assess the effectiveness from the portfolio. There's a few other companies that are thinking about it as well. But I think that's a really great opportunity for somebody who's listening right now who's thinking about a business opportunity. It's an opportunity to really kind of create measurement tools about the investments that we make, about the impact that we're doing. Because I think that's still the wild west. And even though it sucks, but again, I look at it as an opportunity because it's an opportunity for a whole genre of new businesses to come up to start really kind of assessing the investments that we're making, the things that we're doing. Because what we don't want to do is just go in a circle.
(43:03):
The other thing I would say too, to that point, and again, I used to be at a university, a lot of people discount that there are a lot of opportunities that you can test out and partner with universities with and get grant and capital. Focus on SBIRs and all those things before you into venture that I don't think a lot of folks in this industry take advantage of.
(43:21):
Secondly, I'm a former banker, so debt is another thing that I just don't understand that founders don't look at. And a lot of times founders are like, Well I don't want take that personal debt on that's risk. Well you want me to take risks as an equity investor. So I think that those are the things that I want to see more of in this space is, think about creatively and on the debt side, somebody tweeted and I was going to do my Twitter voice, we talked about that earlier. Somebody tweeted and talked about, somebody announced their raise, but they didn't talk about the raise being partially debt. Who gives a... You know, I get so upset when people be so fixated on how much a company's raising. I don't care about that. What I care about is their impact. I care about who they're impacting. I care about what customers they have.
(44:02):
That being said, we have to change this idea of what the market sees. We have to change the idea of what it means to be a founder. And it starts here. It starts with the podcast and the people who are doing well. And that also.
Jason Jacobs (44:15):
And when you think at the system or the structural level, if you could change one thing outside of the scope of your control that would most accelerate our progress, what would you change and how would you change it?
Taj Eldridge (44:26):
I'm sorry, I'm going to say this. I'm probably going to get a lot of arrows my way. I would change the idea that you have to go to Silicon Valley to be successful. Maybe for SaaS, maybe for everything else. But we're talking about issues around climate that are, in my opinion, place based innovations. You may have a company that's in Florida that's building something, that's a climate resilient company, that's looking to impact the way the hurricanes impact that region. And that's impactful for that region and other regions abroad. You might have companies in the Pacific Northwest that's looking at fire retention and things of that nature or drones for fires. And yes, it can be used for other areas, but I think, and I hope that we really kind of think about this idea of place space innovation and really kind of support.
(45:08):
And I think also too, the pandemic has did that, right? The pandemic has made people rethink living in cities. We've created this whole idea of digital nomads. One of the frustrating things for me is that, we feel like we can solve the climate crisis in a silo. We solve in California, we're not done. We solve it in the United States, we're not done. We have to think globally about these issues. And so that's one of the things I hope that we do more of is more cross-border collaboration. And that's one of the reasons that we provided funding to US funds and European funds for that very fact. So that's one of the things I would hope we see more of is more cross-border collaborations early, for early stage companies on climate solutions.
Jason Jacobs (45:47):
And what about in terms of your portfolio of professional pursuits? I mean, I know you've got three big things that you're working on now. What message do you want to leave with listeners in terms of the things that you're working on and who do you want to hear from, if anyone?
Taj Eldridge (46:02):
Yeah, definitely. I think three big initiatives that I should say I'm proud of Greentech Noir. Like I mentioned Neca Uzo, who's with Align Capital, a really great firm. We started that at the top of the pandemic as a way to really kind of get a lot of the black voices and sustainability together. And it's a group of Slack channel and we have allies there too on LinkedIn. And it's a group of investors, founders, accelerator folks. And what I love most about it is that we have these conversations to really kind of grow the people who are there, job opportunities. So I'm really proud of that. Secondly is Klean Energy Kulture. As I mentioned it was just announced, they had an article in ImpactAlpha, really great magazine, one digital magazine I love.
(46:44):
But what I love about Klean Energy Kulture's that this idea of bringing entertainers into climate. Because I think we need it, right? It goes back to your question about how do we get people to do those choices? And I think unfortunately those choices are selfish and they're based upon this idea of pop culture. We have it, let's use it.
(47:00):
And then thirdly, as I mentioned, include ventures to fund the funds. We make these investments. We're making some investments this week. And again, as an example, we probably want to announce that.
(47:09):
I love the way that you kind of talk about the investments that MCJ makes. And I think for us, what I'm interested in is, I don't want to talk about any of my companies until they have a new customer that make a new impact as opposed to just, I gave them money. And so that's how I'm looking at. Funds too. Same thing with the funds.
(47:24):
And then fourthly, I mentioned CREST is a project with Aries. CREST stands for climate resilient employees who have a sustainable tomorrow. It's funded by the Aries Foundation and it's managed by JFF, who I'm leading the US portion of, which has a portion of the 25 million, about 19 of the 25 million. And then WRI who has a portion of the 25, about 6 million of the 25 in India. And again, what I love about that, it goes back to this idea of that, we're not solving the credit crisis just by doing it in United States. We have to do it globally. And I love the fact that Aries thought about us doing it in the US and in India initially. And the whole idea there is around workforce and climate and building those jobs.
(48:04):
So to answer your question about who would I love to talk to, I would love to talk to mayors. I would love to have conversations with mayors. I would love for mayors to install a chief sustainability officer like my fraternity brother and the mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens did in the city of Atlanta. They have a chief sustainability officer I'd love to get in touch with. The first chief sustainability officer of the city of LA was Matt Peterson, who now leads LACI who was there when I was there. So I would love to talk to those because I think that we have to intertwine entertainment policy and capital to find solutions for this as opposed to just one avenue.
Jason Jacobs (48:38):
And Taj, is there anything I didn't ask that I should have? Or any parting words?
Taj Eldridge (48:43):
You didn't ask me what I'm wearing, man.
(48:47):
I thought this was going to be like Joan Rivers and we're like, Hey, I could describe this 1970s chocolate tobacco corduroy I'm wearing because it is fall, but it doesn't feel like it. No, but this has been great, Jason. I enjoyed the conversation. I love it because again, it's conversational and I hope the audience got a lot of things out of it. What I would say is that, we don't have the right answers, but we have our answers and I think that's what it's about. And we need to make sure that people keep going into the chorus and talking about it.
Jason Jacobs (49:15):
Well, Taj thanks so much for coming on the show. Really proud to have you in my tribe and excited to keep the dialogue going and find more ways to collaborate with you. You're doing really important and impactful work.
Taj Eldridge (49:27):
Thank you, brother. Man, I appreciate it. Thank you listeners and thank you My Climate Journey.
Jason Jacobs (49:32):
Thanks again for joining us on the My Climate Journey podcast.
Cody Simms (49:35):
At MCJ Collective, we're all about powering collective innovation for climate solutions by breaking down silos and unleashing problem solving capacity. To do this, we focus on three main pillars. Content like this podcast and our weekly newsletter. Capital to fund companies that are working to address climate change. And our member community to bring people together as Yin described earlier.
Jason Jacobs (49:57):
If you'd like to learn more about MCJ Collective, visit us at www.mcjcollective.com. And if you have guest suggestions, feel free to let us know on Twitter @mcjpod.
Cody Simms (50:12):
Thanks and see you next episode.
