Betting on Climate Moonshots, Earthshots, and Loonshots to drive massive returns💰

5min to uncover the truth about Moonshots 💥

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This Newsletter is starting to look shockingly parabolic. Thanks to all 1,928 of you! 🥳

Writing unique and differentiated content takes time. And I'm no journalist. So, seeing this level of growth is the best motivation to keep putting in the effort. 'Merci Beaucoup' for your continuous support 🙏

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I'll be honest, I'm the first to throw around the term "Climate Moonshot".

But have you heard of Earthshot, Loonshot, or Marshot? (jk, just made that one up ^^)

And, is there any evidence that they actually drive returns for investors?

Let’s explore.

What’s the difference between Moonshot, Earthshot, Loonshot?

🌚 Moonshot: The term comes from the Apollo 11 project in 1969, and the famous "We choose to go to the Moon" speech by President John F. Kennedy.
🌎 Earthshot: It comes from the Earthshot Prize launched by Prince William in 2020 to scale the most innovative solutions to the world's greatest environmental challenges.
🪲 Loonshot: It was coined by Safi Bahcall in his book: ‘How to Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries’. A Loonshot is an idea that was initially ridiculed, put down, or given little or no funding.

So to sum up, Moonshots are crazy-ambitious and crazy-expensive projects that could have a profound impact on the trajectory of humanity if they succeed. Earthshots are essentially Moonshots but focused on environmental challenges. And Loonshots are ventures with game-changing potential that nobody thought would work and whose founders were laughed at.

So, do they even work?

Moonshot success: The Apollo Program

Let’s go back to the Mother of all Moonshots. 400,000 Americans worked on the Apollo program. $25.4 billions was spent on it, which would be more than $150B in today's dollars, and accounted for almost 4% of the US federal budget 🤯

And they pulled it off! The world's imagination, locked onto TV screens to witness mankind's first lunar adventure, now had space to dream about the impossible.

Earthshot success: TBD

It is too early to tell. The program has only been in existence since 2021.

Loonshot success: The Radar

The Radar is a famous example of a technology that was roundly rejected by military brass and bureaucrats until it was almost too late. Experts considered it unfeasible and unfundable.

What could be Climate Tech’s big wins?

Climate Moonshot: Nuclear Fusion

That's an easy one. Fusion is the ultimate moonshot because everything is indexed on energy. Obtaining unlimited cheap energy would represent the biggest leap forward for mankind.

But Climate Tech is full of moonshot ideas: Direct Air Capture, Precision Farming using Biosensors, Photocatalysis for chemistry, Ocean Alkalisation, Enhanced Weathering, Space-based Solar Power…

Climate Earthshots: Hydrogen Electrolyzers, Rock Mineralization, Microbial Wastewater treatment. Here are all of the Earthshot Prize winners.

Climate Loonshots: Biochar Soil Enhancement, Atmospheric Water Capture, Smart Reflective Surfaces for Urban Cooling.

There are so many underdogs who may prove their tech, find the right path to the market, and prove their critics wrong.

Any evidence of ROI performance for Moonshot investors?

The key to winning in Venture Capital is to ALWAYS follow the Power Law!

Period.

2022-2023 was no exception. 10 companies drove most of the returns of the entire industry.

How many of those projects were Moonshots or Loonshots when they got started?

Actually, half of them!

What makes Palantir, Coinbase, and Snowflake moonshots? What were their crazy ideas?

Palantir (2003): Big data analytics for counter-terrorism.

Coinbase (2012): Democratizing access to emerging digital currencies.

Snowflake (2012): Data is the new oil.

Those were CRAZY ideas back then 🤯

So, should we fund crazy Climate ***shots?

Hell yeah!

Change is not happening fast enough or at the scale we need. Levels of climate anxiety and hopelessness are high and political interventions are happening too slowly.

Despite all these challenges, we remain OPTIMISTS. Investing in crazy ideas is truly one of the most effective ways to generate significant impact and financial returns 💰

Conclusion

We are embarking on an incredible pursuit of an impossible goal: tackling climate change.

There’s no evidence that those Climate ***shots projects will work.

But that is precisely the point.

Keep dreaming, my friends.

In just 6 months, OpenAI took the world by storm. Nobody had predicted it. With ChatGPT, they pushed the boundaries. Now, half of you use it every day (and so do I!).

Imagine the significance of achieving Nuclear Fusion, Direct Air Capture, and Photocatalysis for our civilization. There would be a clear before and after.

These projects are not for the faint of heart. They will test your patience.

But remember, every great leap for mankind began with a crazy bold step.

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Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1. Invest In Climate Tech Like A VC 🎓: Join over 200 students in my cohort-based course to learn how to find unique Climate Tech startups that will change the world, and how to start investing in them regardless of your budget.

2. Join my Climate investor community 🚀 Unlock access to groundbreaking climate deals. Dive into transformative deals like our recent nuclear fusion venture and two pioneering moonshot projects.

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