A ClimateTech Founder in Arkansas

As a founder in the European ClimateTech space, I’ve had the luxury of being used to one thing: people tend to agree that climate change is a real thing. So, in every Sales pitch over here, that was the one thing I didn’t have to convince the banks about. The questions relate more to competitive differentiation, the sources of our data, the ROI, our pricing, etc. — you get the memo.

Well, I travelled to Arkansas to meet a range of banks as part of a fintech accelerator run by the incredible Venture Center in Little Rock. Basically, we have 30 minute meetings with community banks, from all across the US. The programme is amazing and a fast track way to understand what parts of the US we can target as a company first. This is the incredible work of the people at the Venture Center, which have been extremely helpful in helping us expand to the US.

Most importantly, the Venture Center has given us the opportunity to spread the word across the US and really given us a shot, something I’ll forever be thankful for.

I assumed that all the meetings that were set up would go smoothly. I ignored the warning signs that I was given by various members of the Venture Center community and some of our cohort members about my topic being slightly “political”. Being a naive 25 year old liberal German living in the city of London, I thought to myself: “Well, I assume that around 80% of the market will want to buy my product.”

Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

First and foremost though, I just want to say that the people of Arkansas are some of the kindest I’ve come across in my entire life. Also, those that tend to be in Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas have a bit more of a progressive view on the topic of climate change, including everyone involved in the programme.

It just seems like the priorities and views on certain topics, including climate change, tend to be a bit different outside of the major cities. And yes, climate change is a highly political topic.

Walking on stage first thing on a Monday at an event organised by the Venture Center, pitching to 100 community bankers, I was sure that people thought our product was the sh*t. I went on stage confident, speaking about greenhouse gas emissions and regulations, as well as the incredible opportunity for banks to use our product to engage consumers. Forgetting for a second that my audience was slightly different.

I walked off the stage. I killed it. I’ve refined my pitch over the last months.

I then scheduled the first meetings with banks. Those banks that were from more coastal regions showed genuine interest in my product, as well as some banks from more “liberal” areas across the country. The Venture Center did an excellent job at preparing me for these meetings.

75% of the banks I spoke to during the event week and the following weeks after, however, were from the Midwest and the South of the US. Before going into any more detail here, let me just quote a couple of comments I received from bankers across Arkansas, Texas and Kansas:

Yup. Right in the feels. Hard to take.

And to be honest, a part of me understands it. Many of these regions have been built around the oil and gas industry. Regulations and the move to renewable energy directly threat families and generations of individuals that have worked in the industries for decades. Originally from a town myself that was strongly dependent on coal mining, I’ve had a first hand view of what it means to work in a dying industry.

So, I thought to myself, how can I change their mindset. I took it as a challenge. I was thinking: “Is there any way to convince them with financial incentives?”

GenZ and Millennials! That’s it. Customer acquisition, young people care about the climate. I refined my pitch to revolve around acquiring and retaining GenZ and Millennials as customers. That pitch went down much better, and to be honest it’s also an extremely valid pitch.

I also educated banks on Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and how it actually gives bootstrapped families financial benefits, through rebates and subsidies for installing electric heat pumps, buying electric vehicles and also using renewable energy.

The ROI is Europe and the US is the same, the pitch is very different.

It’s only a matter of time until this becomes mainstream in the US. For those banks and fintechs we work with in the US: you are pushing this movement forward. You are setting a new standard. You are the very reason that this will become increasingly important to the end consumer / business.

We’ve been able to get some more specific interest in our product from a range of banks that genuinely care about the topic. The Venture Center also has been incredibly helpful in supporting me with the messaging towards banks, and how the pitch can be refined to appeal to community bankers across the country.

As a company, it’s our responsibility to work with those banks that truly care about the topic and empower them to act as the pioneers in the space.

I can’t wait to spend the next weeks engaging with more bankers and our cohort at the accelerator.

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