How part time consulting roles became full time offers
In my last article on job hunting in a bad job market, I referenced Florian’s story who landed a Chief of Staff role at a Series A heat pump startup called Quilt (and got an offer from another carbon removal startup!).
Instead of the traditional job hunting process where you apply for hundreds of job postings, compete against thousands of other applicants, and jump through hoops in the interview process...
Florian gained conviction on a few climate areas that could fit with his business background, created roles that didn’t exist, and got paid to work on strategic projects along the way.
This week, I interviewed him step by step on how he did this:
1) Learned the climate space by launching a podcast
2) Networked into two VC-backed climate startups: Spiritus, a seed stage, low-cost DAC startup backed by Khosla Ventures, and Quilt, a Series A heat pump startup backed by Energy Impact Partners and Galvanize Climate Solutions
3) Secured part-time opportunities at both startups
4) Worked part-time for both founders before landing offers from each of them!
5) Defined the role collaboratively with the founder at Quilt
If you’d like more interviews of folks who broke into climate technology through unconventional means, please hit the like button so I know to publish more. In our next issue, we will return to our solution deep dives.
1) Can you share more about how you learned about climate technology and the role you were seeking?
I knew I wanted to land a Chief of Staff role at a climate startup but quickly realized that roles are rarely posted. When they are posted, thousands apply; by then, it is too late. I knew that I needed to get in touch with the CEOs of these startups before they posted the roles.
So I started thinking about how to add value to these people and develop the relationship early. At that time, I was in business school and knew that as a student, people are more open to speaking with you. This is why I started “Down to Zero,” a podcast and newsletter where I can interview climate startup founders, learn about their challenges, and learnings about how to build a great climate company
The podcast helped me dive into different climate sectors and build my brand within climate technology. I began to build my mental model of climate technology where I mapped out the climate space by technology (software, hardware, deep tech, etc) and how these technologies intersect with different verticals. This helped me know which spaces excited me and could work well with my more business-oriented background.