Exploring the next big thing in climate tech 🌎
July & August 2023 Newsletter - Part 1
Welcome everybody🎉 I’m Allison, a Peruvian Rise Global Winner and incoming student at UCSD interested in climate change and nanotech. If you want to be updated of my day to day, follow me on Instagram!
Being able to explore, research, and develop a new and innovative idea to improve the energy storage industry in only two weeks sounds insane. But it’s what happened to me during my time at Ari Global.
Participating in a two weeks sprint at Ari Global allowed me to connect with a like-minded community of passionate young people interested in solving the climate crisis with a technological (and entrepreneurial) approach.
There I found
. Mafer is a Peruvian Rise Global Winner, like me. We have met each other before, but seeing her in the same session than I was a funny coincidence since neither of us knew that we both got into the same cohort of Ari Global.After exchanging ideas and working together during our sessions, we realized that our interests and thoughts aligned, so we partnered together to create SaveHeat.
In short, SaveHeat is a new proposal of a thermal battery aimed to enhance long-term energy storage.
Instead of creating a battery to store electricity, our idea is to store heat, which is 2x more efficient, since thermal storage has 50% less conversion losses.
In addition, we also incorporated in our design Aluminium Oxide, a metal oxide nanoparticle that will prevent heat losses and offer corrosion resistance. In other words, we are also using nanotechnology to enhance the performance of our battery model.
Shaping this idea was a hard-work process of 10+ hours invested in research, organizing information, crafting understanding of the science and business concepts behind our idea, and preparing for pitching. All of that pushed us to develop the thinking of a scientist entrepreneur, but it also brought us great results. Ari Global gave us the opportunity to pitch our idea to Sofia Sanchez -a 776 climate fellow and Stanford researcher-, Nate Padgett -co founder of Studio 45-, and Ayodeji Babatunde -a venture capital investor.
Presenting in front of that type of experts exposed me to a situation that allowed me to grow as a co-founder. The kind of feedback that Mafer and I received for SaveHeat made us realize our weaknesses and strengths, and helped us rethink how we approach and present problems and solutions.
The Pitch was the last event we had in the program, so of course SaveHeat wasn’t the only project presented. I had the privilege to learn about all the incredible solutions of my peers and be fascinated by how those ideas could make a big change in the climate tech industry.
There were some prizes and recognitions at the end of that session, and I was delighted to know that Mafer and I won the Elon Musk’s award (largest impact and best technical idea) and the Overall Winners Award!
We won merch, but also the opportunity to speak in a 1-1 meeting with a Venture Capital investor from Lux Capital. Amazing, indeed.
Personally, this whole experience was a huge privilege that one rarely gets, but the one that sets you apart.
And this is what Ari Global is like. A 2 weeks sprint program to explore the next big thing in climate change and receive CEO level training to level up your skills and mindset.
You get involved in a community of people who want to change the world and that inspire you to do the same. We all have different specific passions, but we all work to solve the climate crisis using science and innovation.
In those 14 days I was able to explore and understand more topics in climate tech than during my last year of high school.
Michael and Quinn -my directors- were also the best mentors I could have asked for. I started the program 3 days later than the rest of my cohort due to my trip to London and Oxford to attend the Rise Residential Summit. This delay was a big insecurity I had at the beginning of the program, however there were some factors that allowed me to succeed.
Having 1-1 coaching with my directors helped me to catch up with them and my goals and next steps. This not only allowed me to succeed in the program, but their advice also helped me improve my overall performance in different aspects of my life. Even as an alumni, I still get their support.
Getting involved with the community also played a crucial role. Speaking with my peers and hosting a convo on carbon capture were experiences that exposed me to dive deeper into climate tech topics while creating great connections with them.
Basically, being a proactive member of Ari Global was what helped me go ahead by the end of the sprint.
Regarding the sessions, my favorite ones were carbon capture and synthetic biology. During both of them we had the opportunity to explore those technologies, and through activities during the session (like researching Carbon revenue and creating a deck presentation on how we can CRISPR trees to preserve rainforests) we learned to design high standard slides and to break down a problem.
I was surprised to notice the importance of both skills when you want to find solutions and pitch them, since you will look more professional and will portray that you sought understanding of the topic. In other words, it shows you know your thing.
Besides technical knowledge and skillset, Ari Global also taught me how to train my mind and exposed me to mindsets that really made a difference in my performance.
For instance, being able to figure it out can make a difference between the type of results you get when exposing yourself to new situations. Being able to recognize that you can discover patters, methods, or any other thing on your own, is a blessing. You won’t have someone to teach you everything all the time, it’s important to be more independent in your learning.
And also, training boss mentality can totally change how you approach a situation, whether is new or not. Believing in yourself, taking responsibility, and acknowledging that you are a leader and can succeed in different scenarios will give you the confidence to accomplish your goals.
To conclude, Ari Global was one of the most insightful and immersive climate-related experiences of the past few weeks. And I would like to encourage everybody interested in startups and climate tech to request and invite and apply.
Exposing myself to all this knowledge, being surrounded by experts and passionate young people, and receive coaching from admirable individuals was a life-changing experience for me. A experience that gave me the tools to design and follow my own climate entrepreneurial journey.
By the way, if you would like to know more about Mafer and I’s project, make sure to check out our article!
I wish you an amazing new month and don’t forget to follow me on social media <3
glad you had a great experience in the summer program, and excited to see what you do next with your experiences!